Anime Expo!

So here I am guys! I've made the full journey from being a hater to actually cosplaying at an expo(mah dream for a couple months.

My costume(Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji I did get some compliments and waves and some people even asked to take my picture which made me really happy. I got a lot more attention outside of the con hall, like in hotel lobbies and stuff though XD.

So I actually wasn't going to wear the costume until the 4th of July when one of my friends convinced me to. The convention was yesterday, the 6th, so I pretty much had to finish the costume the night before... fun times.

Kyoko from Puella Magi Madoka Magica! I really want to make this one.

On Friday we left at about 3:30 and arrived at the convention center a little before 5. Not too bad at all! There was no line to pick up badges that late, but it was still really crowded! Some convention center shots:

 

Halo? and mandos

 

Prussia from Hetalia

 

L, Light, and Matt from Death Note

Ranmao and Ciel from Kuroshitsuji

 

England and Fem!America from Hetalia

 

Ciel and Sebastian from Kuroshitsuji

Beautiful Miku and Luka

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn which was nice. I didn't get to enjoy it much because I was sewing... We frantically sewed and pinned until 11PM.

My hotel table the night before

I got up at 6 on Saturday to get ready, shower, do hair, makeup, wrestle self into costume, and put finishing touches on it. We wanted to leave at 7:30 but left at around 8. This was my first time at AX, so I didn't know everything opens around 10 making my early morning endeavors slightly useless. I did get to walk around, take pictures, etc.

So we hung out in the manga lounge for about half an hour in which I was unable to find a single Kuroshitsuji volume :(. at 9:15, I got in line for the "Vocaloid: Mirai no Neiro: The Sound of the Future" at 10. The line was already doubling back, so I got in line just in time. Eventually we got herded into waiting rooms. I was in the first of three.

I hear nightmare stories about lines at cons. This one was the worst I had all day and it wasn't bad at all! There is so much to see and lots of other people with interesting costumes to talk to and look at, and people played Vocaloid music.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the panel itself. After a bunch of technical difficulties, they played a bunch of new releases for music videos, some of which were cool. I decided to leave a bit early and go find my friend Zelda where she was attending the Anime Expo scavenger hunt. By this time it was about 11:15.

                                                                                           Crowded con floor is crowded
We hadn't been planning to attend Vic Mignogna's panel because we thought we would have to wait a while and didn't want to skip the previous panels to get in line. Since people were lining up anyways we decided to just YOLO it and see if we got in.

We did! We grabbed Adalid who is going to E2@MIT with me this summer on the way in and we hung out for the rest of the day. He was really fun. :)

Vic was hilarious! He told lots of awesome stories and showcased some of his voicing talent. One thing I found interesting was that he talked openly about his faith as a Christian, which was really cool at a very liberal anime convention.

 epic Assasin's Creed group

Afterwards, we went to the exhibit hall, which was HUGE and very very crowded. The worst crowds were here. At one point the crowd was so bad that we couldn't go where we wanted and were literally pushed along. It was in a stretch of less than a minute, but still. I didn't buy anything(everything was overpriced) but there was some really really cool stuff! Zelda bought a very cool steampunky pocketwatch.

Then, Adalid convinced us to go see the live action movie of Rurouni Kenshin: Samurai X. Needless to say it was a very violent and funny movie with a theme of pacifism XD. Seriously, it was strange. All the most violent bits were slow motion. It was supposedly PG13 though...oh well. XD

Takeru Sato was SUPER hot in it though. He perfected his "smoulder" XD.

We went back to the exhibit hall and ended up missing the KPOP dance competition that Zelda wanted to go to. We hung out with Adalid for another hour in line for Johnny Yong Bosch's Eyeshine concert before deciding to go get dinner.

China!

The last event was the Masquerade at 8. Since we had to drive home, we could only see the first ten or so acts but I badly wished to stay longer. The skits and dances were really good although I hadn't seen the animes of most of them was traumatized by a Bad Apple! one. XD

All in all, it was SO MUCH FUN and not nearly as bad as I expected in regards to lines and stress and crowds. I can't wait to go again next year.