Well, dudes, I’m back from Anime Expo 2009! And I gotta say, this might have been one of the best ones yet. I tend to go every other year, since dragging a family of five all the way out to where ever AX is at is a lot of work. My first year was 2005, then I went 2007, and then of course, 2009.

Well, we left on July 1st to get there for AX Day 0. Nothing was happening, no one selling or any events or anything, but people who pre-registered would be able to come and pick up their badges. You’d think people who pre-reg’d would have it easier than those coming at the last minute, right?

WRONG

We stood in line for two and a half hours. Probably two hours of that was outside in the sun. We were expecting to pop in for five minutes, grab our badges, and go, but... that did not happen. It was long, painful, and sweaty. Oh, and annoying, loud men shouted stupid memes that no one thinks is funny anymore (THE SHADE IS A LIE LOLOLOL no please shut up). BUT I saw a really cute Rin, Len, and Kaito. I felt really bad for the Kaito because she looked like she was dying in all those warm clothes. XD I even shouted, “Nice day to wear a muffler, Kaito!” and she was all, “It’s gonna be hot all week anyway, I might as well get used to it!”

After we got out of that hellish line, we were tired and sweaty, so we grabbed some food and went to our hotel to take showers. Our hotel room was kinda crappy, by the way. I mean, I know it’s hard to get a good hotel for cheap in LA/Hollywood, but still. The ground and walls were really kind of nasty, there was mold in the bathroom, and the AC was stupid and came off and on all night, which kept a lot of us awake because it was so loud! Oh, and the beds felt like laying on a floor with a blanket on it. xD Nooooot comfy. But oh well.

Day one

Day one is always really exciting. We grabbed photos of random good cosplayers all week, and people grabbed LOTS of photos of us. @_@ My brother, who was Link, obviously got the most because he is little and adorable. I got a lot of photos too, not to brag or anything~ My sister was a more obscure character (Adeleine from Kirby 64), but the people that DID recognize her were really excited since I didn’t see a single other Adeleine cosplay.

We met up with , her sister, brother, cousins, and grandparents, but she got the great idea to break her toe the previous day by jumping down the stairs!! So she had a cane and had to hobble around the convention. :< I wish we could have brought her a wheelchair or something, I felt really bad for her. But I was glad to see her, since I haven’t in a really long time. Shortly after we met them, a random girl asked me for a hug and ran off, and ~SassyLostie was like, “...Who was that?!” and I said, “Uh, I have no clue. xD”

Several people asked me for a hug throughout the con. :0 I didn’t mind, I like hugs. I got the idea to ask some really cute cosplayers for hugs, too. I saw an adorable Italy and said, “Can I have a hug”, and he (well, I think it was a girl cosplaying, but you know) put his arms out and said, “Hagu, hagu~!” It was SOOOO cute!

So anyway, with ~SassyLostie and her family in tow, we went to see AX Idol. There were some really good singers, but to be honest, it was boring me a bit, so we left for lunch. We ate together and saw a Servbot with a chainsaw. I wish I had gotten his photo. D:

Afterwards, we split up and intended to meet at the exhibition hall where all the booths and artists were selling things, but we got lost because there was a HUGE line to get in! My family intended to get out of the line, but I think we somehow unintentionally ended up in the exhibition hall, skipping the line entirely. xD Oops! I felt a little bad, but there was no way we were standing in another line.

The first thing I did was hunt down ’s booth, because I knew I wanted to buy some prints from her. She had a whole bunch of adorable prints (you should go to her gallery and look at them!). I grabbed a Mother 2 print and my sister got a Mother 1 print. I also got one with Rin and Len. :> I should have drawn something in her guest book! I only signed my name...! Sorry!!!

I ended up going back the next day to see if she had anything new, and again on the third day to commission a sketch XD;;; She drew Gingerbread and Dustin for me!!! It is SUCH a cute picture, I kept pulling it out and smiling at it afterwards~ thanks again, Lark! <3

After that, we tried to look at all the booths and art tables. There was quite a lot, so we spent a lot of time there,

Somewhere along the lines, I got to meet one of Other Age’s creators!!! She had an art booth and I recognized one of the Other Age characters. I think it was ~muhoho-seijin (uhh, or was it `zeiva?) but I’m not sure. It was an honor. I intended to go back another day and buy stuff, but I couldn’t find her booth again...!! |||orz

At a booth with lots of figures, I grabbed a Len nendroid. <3 He was just so cute, I couldn’t help myself. Mom ended up buying a Rin nendroid for me on the last day, so I’m really happy!! They go together!

Well, after looking at all that stuff, we were tired and it was getting late in the day, so I sat in a hall with my siblings while mom and dad went to get coffee. After a while (the line was really long for Starbucks!), dad came back and said, “Hey, we found your friend, Trisha!” ( )

And of course I was like ASDFGHJKL TRISHA because I haven’t seen her in two years, and ran over to the Starbucks and sneaked up from behind and GLOMPINATED HER. She was wearing a wig, so I almost didn’t recognize her, but she was cosplaying as Edward Elric and looked totally awesome. We freaked out and it was wonderful. Definitely the most exciting part of that day.

We went together to a “chibi clay model” class that my sister and mom wanted to go to, but it was slow, bad, boring, and lame. So we left. xD Really, it sucked. So we went for dinner, because we were all hungry. It was really nice to be able to drag her around and eat together~

After that, we went back to the convention and caught the last bit of Bang Zoom’s voice acting class. Man, I wish they’d pick me to come up and voice act one of these years~

Day two

Mom had a wardrobe malfunction, so before we went to the con, we stopped by a nearby mall-type thing and remedied the issue. I bought a cute pink dress while we were there, too. We had lunch at Carl’s and apparently someone recognized me (I was already in my Miku costume), because a group of guys asked for my photo. Either that, or they were creepers. Regardless! We went to the con and look at art again, since with people crowding around, it’s hard to get a good look at everything. I bought some line art pens at the Copic booth, and wanted to get some Copics, but chickened out at the prices.

Also, I went to get the Adventures in Voice Acting DVD from Bang Zoom’s panel, and guess who was sitting there? Crispin Freeman!! I was really shocked. I wish I could have talked to him, but there was a line and I wouldn’t have known what to say anyway. xD

We went to a Copic panel because any excuse to play with other peoples’ Copics is a good idea. It was really fun. There was two people sitting next to me, a guy and a girl, and they were really nice! While I was coloring and doing my own thing, the guy (I didn’t think to ask their names ahhhh LOL) leaned over to look and exclaimed, “What is she even doing here?! She already knows what she’s doing!” xDDD

Afterwards, we met up with Trisha and went to a panel about making shoujo manga digitally. I didn’t really learn anything, but the panel lady was a cute little Japanese woman who said things like “totarry”. LOL. I enjoyed watching her draw, anyway.

My sister and mom left mid-panel because there was a resin figure panel going on at the same time they wanted to see, but apparently, the panel guy talked like a sailor and showed porny figures and SCARRED MY POOR BABY SISTER so they ran away and came back to the shoujo panel. Totally not okay. That guy needs to get reported, because panels are supposed to stay PG-13 or else be labeled as being for adults. That pissed me off. My little seven year old brother was with them, too!!!

And we ate dinner with Trisha again, this time in a sushi place in Little Tokyo.

Day three

We started this day out with a Photoshop 102 class. We learned channels, flats, and screentones. I had actually gone to a similar class for AX07, but it didn’t make ANY sense. This time it was really good, I learned a lot. I told this to the panel lady (who was really nice and answered a bunch of my questions), and she was like, “Oh no, I think that was me who taught that class! I’m sorry it was so terrible!” and I felt bad. xD

After the class, we ate lunch in the convention’s cafeteria type thing and met up with Trisha. While we were eating, a Neru cosplay hugged me from behind and surprised me. I turned around and was all, “Whoa, Neru! Wait, aren’t you supposed to hate me?” And she said, “Oh... yeah” and shoved me. xDDD It was really funny. She told me that a bunch of Vocaloid cosplayers were gathering downstairs and that I should come. Trisha, my sis, dad, and brother went to go see a Brawl meet-up, so I went with mom to see the Vocaloids.

There was a ton of really good cosplayers! I felt a little out of place, because I didn’t have a camera and didn’t know what to say/do with them. Someone started playing World is Mine on their iPod, so me and other Miku started singing together.

After a while, I got bored and decided to leave, but before I left, I shouted for all the Kaitos to gather with me for a group shot!!! I thought it was a hilarious idea, and they were all really nice and gathered behind me for a photo. One of them called it “some kind of weird Kaito harem”. xDDDD I only wanted a quick picture, but more people kept coming in for photos, so I ran away at some point and they were all, “Miku, nooooo~!”

It was really hilarious. I enjoyed it a lot. xD

My mom and I headed back to artist’s alley, because I went back to Lark’s booth to commission her. The Copic panel from the previous day had broken my will and reminded me how much I like Copics. ;_; So I gave up and spent the rest of my money on 36 Copics. xDD It was like 130+ dollars BUT THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY.

But... yeah. I was broke for the rest of the con. Which made me sad the next day, because I saw Miku CDs and wanted to buy them. But... no go. xD Oh well.

My mom and I bought coffee for everyone and decided to go to the Copic panel, even though it was the same thing as yesterday. It was an opportunity to draw with Trisha, who I must say has improved SOOOOOOO much since the last time I saw her art. It was AWESOME to be able to see her draw, I was really shocked!

We went back to the artist’s alley, because my sister had seen a wonderful Link print she wanted to buy, but the artist hadn’t been there. xD We got it this time and the artist even signed it. It’s really lovely.

Trisha and mom wanted to go to the Gaia panel for a chance at free stuff, but I haven’t played Gaia in 1394781236460 years and had no idea what was going on. xD And they unfortunately didn’t get anything in the end. But I left in the middle of the panel with my dad, sister, and brother to stand in line for Mirai no Neiro, which was a Vocaloid panel. I was really excited, but it was going really late.

Sadly, I had to leave midway because we didn’t have dinner and my brother was exploding. ;_; BUT they did play Nebula, Meltdown (I FLIPPED OUT, IT WAS SO AWESOME SEEING IT ON A BIG SCREEN. I SCREAMED WHEN IT STARTED AND STARTLED EVERYONE SITTING AROUND ME BECAUSE MY SCREAM PIERCES EAR DRUMS.), Black Rock Shooter, two different PVs of Love is War (the original and the 3D one), and WanderLast. At this point, I had to leave. I wish I could have seen Po Pi Po, though, which Trisha told me the next day they showed!!

I was kind of annoyed that they showed two PVs of Love is War (which, IMO, is kind of an overrated song, and the PVs are already really similar anyway), and the man hosting the panel spoke Japanese so he had a translator there. It was annoying for me because I understood what he was saying, so it was like hearing it twice. xD And he spent too long talking about the videos. I also think they had too big of a Miku imbalance. I heard they didn’t play any Gakupo songs!! And if they didn’t play any Len songs, I’ma be upset!!

But, yeah... the panel host DID mention the huge misconception over Rin and Len being siblings, and stated clearly that they are reflection of a mirror, that it even says so on their profiles, and it’s fine for people to think of them as twins or lovers. I “whoop!”d when he said this, because I’m sick of dealing with dumb people on YouTube who are always like EWWW TWINCEST~

Y-yeah. <_>

Oh, and since it was the 4th of July, I wanted to find an America cosplayer and say “HAPPY BIRTHDAY~” or something, but I didn’t find one. xD Which was weird because I saw several the previous couple of days.

Day four

Not a lot was happening this day. We got to the con early for Photoshop 103, where the host showed us more about screentones and coloring. It was pretty awesome.

The last thing we did was go to Zelda Mythbusters, which had a ridiculous line! We were lucky and got there before the line got crazy-long. It was the one thing my sister really wanted to see. They only let in 300 people and we made it in. We even had nice seats. It was set up almost like a movie theater, and we were like smack dab in the middle. It was nice because I have the terrible luck of always ending up behind horrendously tall people. Or maybe I’m just a shorty ;_;

Anyway, I don’t play a lot of Zelda, but they talked about rumors pertaining to Zelda and talked about/dispelled them. They also discussed the Zelda time line continuity. It was actually pretty interesting. At the end, I asked about Zelda and Link being siblings (old question, I know, but I was curious and I don’t really dabble in the Zelda community at all xD).

My sister had the great idea to ask where the Zelda CD-i’s fell into the time line. xDDD But they had to kick everyone out because the class was going too long and she didn’t get to ask it on mic. She did run up to the guys while we were leaving and ask though, and got a laugh out of the hosts.

We had to leave Trisha at the convention center to wait to be picked up by her mom, and we had checked out of our hotel that morning. I didn’t want to leave so abruptly, I wanted to hang out with her more~ ;_; But I gave her a hug goodbye and we left. <3 I had an awesome time hanging out with her and I’m really glad we found her!



So, yeah. That was the convention in a nutshell. I’m sure more happened, but there’s no way I’d be able to remember it all, and it’d be way too long to keep typing. xD But I got a lot of awesome photos, which I’ll put up later. And... yeah! It was really good!!!! <3 I had so much fun!