back from AX and Vegas

[lucathia]

I'm finally back from AX and Vegas! X3; I've been away from my computer (and home!) for an entire week. I have so much email and other stuff to catch up on. I've skimmed my flist back to June 29-ish, all the way up until LJ wouldn't let me go back any further. 0_0;; I'm pretty sure that I managed to see all personal journal entries that I missed, but I wasn't able to do that for the communities I'm watching.

I'll be mass commenting later. X3; Feel free to point me to stuff I missed that you want me to see?

AX summary:


//Events I went to://

♥ S.K.I.N. concert (the line was too darn long. I was almost dying of thirst and ran around trying to find the slushie guy that was selling the slushies at an outrageous price to us poor dehydrated people. I've never listened to any of SKIN's songs before, so I wasn't very into the concert...which was so...short, compared to how long we had to wait! The effects were very pretty though, and I liked the angles the camera showed us on the big screen.)

♥ SOS Brigade (I learned...and didn't go line up until waaaaay later. And I wore long sleeves and a visor so that I wouldn't get sunburned. The Japanese seiyuu for Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki came, along with some of the American voice actors for the series. I liked the on-the-spot dubbing event. That was quite cool and it must have been really nerve-wracking! The singing by the seiyuu...that wasn't all that exciting...and their voices were really sharp. They showed the "Are you watching hentai?" clip by the voice actress of Eureka before the event...since she's the voice actress of Mikuru too. Johnny came too, in place of the voice actor of Kyon since he couldn't make it. The only reason I know who Johnny is is because of blahchiharu and her fangirling. =P He's so amusing! He did an on-the-spot dubbing with one Nagato's Japanese seiyuu but he had to do Kyon's part (not Itsuki's, who he dubs normally). It was hilarious because all he had to do was the 'reactions,' which was just a tiny little "eh" noise. At the end, everyone danced to Hare Hare Yukai, which was kind of scary since so much of the audience was doing it too. Johnny attempted, but he totally didn't know the dance. XD;)

♥ Chiaki Ishikawa's concert (singer from See Saw!) (This was probably my favorite out of the three main events I went to because I like her songs. ♥ She sang songs from .hack and other anime. Part of the song from Bokurano sounds like "anisong," she says, so she sang a line like that and now it's stuck in my head. I don't actually know what the actual lyrics is supposed to be for that song! Like all the rest of the concerts, hers was really short as well...only an hour long. T_T; The last song she sang was Obsession from .hack//sign.)

♥ Transformers movie (I was at the veeeery end of the line on Monday, so I didn't get in until AFTER the movie started. I missed a good chunk of the movie, I think. But anyway, I couldn't hear a lot of the dialogue because basically, the whole movie went like this: "I am Optimus Prime." "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Okay, maybe not "kya" but the crowd cheered a lot. It was a pretty amusing way to watch a movie. The movie itself I thought was pretty nice. Very, very action packed with lots of humor too.)



//General thoughts and other stuff://

♠ met disutansu (darn, I didn't get a picture of us together!! Thank you so much for the fishie cake cutter. :D ), revenus (hee, people started cheering when you guys walked into the DGM gathering with your frilly pink aprons ♥), whitelilacs (I saw a glimpse of a Rikkai shirt on Monday and it turned out to be you. XD; Very happy I was able to talk to you and Yoshiko outside of the tenipuri gathering!), and yoshikochan (Your Yukimura hospital outfit looks so comfortable!! Very glad I was able to see it this time. :D )

♠ The Long Beach convention center makes for horrible navigation. There was no way to get to the front of the convention center except from outside. After exiting the dealer's room, the only way to get back to the Artist Alley was to go all the way around again from outside. My feet died on the very first day.

♠ Even though it makes the horrible navigation, LBCC is really, really pretty and there's lots of pretty spots for photoshoots.

♠ I missed both the AMVs and the Masquerade (we opted for food instead!). So can anyone point me towards their favorites?

♠ LA traffic is terrible. I was stuck in it for hours on Thursday, trying to get to my hotel.

♠ Lines, lines, and MORE LINES!!! My badge didn't come until Thursday and I didn't go pick up my 'badge holder' until Friday, which was really stupid of me since the line was crazy on Friday. T_T; The badge holder pickup was not very efficient.)

♠ I didn't get sick this time...but I did get sunburned on Sunday from my Eureka 7 photoshoot, despite how careful I was on the other days. 0_0;; Should've put on sunblock!!!

♠ I made it to both the Tenipuri gathering and the DGM gathering on Saturday (they were only an hour apart) so sadly, I was only able to stay in my Kirihara cosplay for an hour. There were two other Kirihara's though, so all's good. X3; I chatted a bit with the other Kirihara when I ran into her again in the Dealer's Room (with Momo!) until I ran off to chase after an Eureka, Renton, and Anemone cosplayers that I saw.

♠ I searched the entire Dealer's Room for Corda merchandise...I bought the Mio Colore artbook and that was all I found. 0_0; Don't know if there was other stuff. I ended up buying a lot of Pokemon plushies.


Pictures to come later. I don't have much photos of other people. My photos are mostly from my Eureka seveN cosplay this time around. We had a pretty long photoshoot on Sunday. :3;

Comments

[bouncy.livejournal.com]

Ahaha No one had heard ANY of SKINS songs before. It was their debut performance.

[yoshikochan.livejournal.com]

The Kirihara trio pictures are really cute! ^_^ I'll post them asap.

[lucathia]

I assume they had solo songs before they formed a band together? I'm not a fan of Gackt or any of the others...and couldn't figure out who was who until they went through the names at the end. I felt pretty bad for that. T_T;; So well, I know next to nothing about them.

The piano face off was very, very cool. They broke their instruments at the end. And well, threw a lot of water bottles at us. X3; People in the front got sprayed with water.

[bouncy.livejournal.com]

Ahaha. Um. Yeah. To put it lightly. They are all very, very, huge musicians in their own right. XD

I saw a clip of that! It was amazing. I thought it was only the, uh, drummer or bassiest that broke his..bass.

[lucathia]

I felt silly going in knowing next to nothing about them when they're well, so well known. ^^

I think one broke his guitar and the other tried to too but didn't manage to do it. His guitar was very sturdy. XD;

[lucathia]

Yay, pictures! :D I look forward to them~! I have some on my camera too (thanks to you! :D ), but hopefully you have other angles too~

[yoshikochan.livejournal.com]

Wah, I can't wait to see them! =D I actually have very few pictures from AX on my camera ^^; I guess I just happened to take those kirihara ones, cause it's mostly just that. XD

[revenus.livejournal.com]

ACK YOUR EUREKA COSPLAY WAS SO AMAZING~ *A*

And I was totally surprised the aprons got so much lovin'. XD; I think I only caught of glimpse of you at the gathering, though! Boo. :T

I HATED the exit for the exhibit hall. Making us walk all the way around the center was awful. DX

[whitelilacs.livejournal.com]

Yay~ Pics~ Hehe, I'll post up mine soon. There are a few of you in there, all PoT of course X3;

*A* I wanted to go to Ishikawa Chiaki's concert D: I just listened to her latest single before AX (I think that might be the Bokurano song..."Uninstall"? Such a good song D:). Masq. fav...I like DN skit with Light playing with these apple puppets on his hands and Ryuk frantically looking for the apples. XD: The little song they used is stuck in my head. XD;

Yay~ Seeing you again was fun, hope to see you at another con soon :D :D :D

[bunnychan.livejournal.com]

Gald to hear you had fun ^^

[disutansu.livejournal.com]

YOU WENT TO A LOT OF EVENTS WOW! *didn't have the strength to wait in line for the SKIN concert* *is so bad* XD;; I heard it was great and loud.

*flails about* I thought it was a nifty thing and thought of you when I saw it. So dorky though, I know. XD

I know omg, the map was confusing'ish too. *ended up going around and around and around* T-T I was so sore. XD;;

The AMVs was a disaster... because there were four categories with seven AMVs each, but somehow three of them got misplaced or deleted or messed with or something so we only got to see one of the categories and some from last year that someone managed to find. The rest of it was moved to Sunday at the Terrace Theatre but it got canceled so we didn't get to see the rest of the contest. T__________T

Lines are so crazy omg. I barely found the end of the line sometimes. XD;; And uwah, the Exhibition Hall was so HUGE... *didn't buy everything she wanted* *SOB*

[lucathia]

After Friday, I couldn't take any more lines! I headed over much later for the rest of the events, though I still got stuck in lines for some of them.

At first, I totally thought it was for blowing bubbles. XD;; I bet it'd work well for that too. :DD

I think I figured it out after exploring the place on Friday...going back and forth between the registration area and the front of the convention center. But...next year it'll be at a different location again? Just when I get used to a place...

I heard about the AMVs. 0_0;; That really is a total disaster! I heard from somewhere that the laptop with all the AMVs was stolen?! Do you know if they managed to judge the missing AMVs? Did they have the award ceremony on Monday? I was going to go to that, but I went to the Transformers screening instead.

The exhibition hall was indeed huge! I sort of just glanced at stuff on Friday and then went through everything carefully on Saturday. I didn't manage to go through the entire place on Saturday, so I left that for Sunday. It really was huge.

[lucathia]

We have lots of pictures from our Eureka seveN cosplay! We had a photoshoot on Sunday. :)

Hee, those aprons were much love. I love your props. :D Well, I think I wasn't too noticeable in the gathering among all that black and white, but your group certainly stood out. XD;;

I don't get why they couldn't let us go back in from the exit area. Or exit out the entrance. D: So much of the convention required us walking outside in the heat. Suuuuunbuuurn. Way too much walking. So inconvenient.

[lucathia]

Yay for photos! :D

Why didn't you go? D: It was a wonderful concert but really, really short. Uninstall? I'll have to go look for that song! I really liked it.

Wah, that sounds like a funny skit. I'll go off to look for that too~

Next con that I'm going to is next year's Fanime. It's a year away! I'm thinking about what to cosplay now. X3; I have no idea yet! (Other than re-wearing cosplays from this year...)

[lucathia]

Yup, I had lots of fun. I just wish the place was easier to navigate...and I'll forever complain about the lines there. It's worse than Disneyland.

[revenus.livejournal.com]

How awesome~ I look forward to seeing them. ;D

Too bad most people thought we were from that game Cooking Mama. XD Oh well~ we made them pink for a reason, hehe. I still wish I saw you there. I almost never catch your whole group together. ):

I know! I was like "WHAT you're making me walk all the way around?!" Ugh, the sun too. The sun was especially annoying out by the lagoon area.

[ycysusan.livejournal.com]

TT I want to go to SKIN and Chiaki Ishikawa too... I hear its great...

XD Transformer!! I have to find a time to watch that ^^

[cynicalism.livejournal.com]

glad you had a great (if not tiring time)!!! xDDDD (and OMIGOSH I remember about con lines...especially for concerts. The larc en ciel concert line I went to before was... x_____X)

Oohhh, SKIN is the new band with Gackt and Miyavi and...2 other right? xDDD my friend was positively GIDDY they had formed a band and was so ready to fly to Cali to see em--too bad she has no money. xDDDD

[yume-mi.livejournal.com]

wah~ Chiaki Ishikawa's concert~ must be nice, eh? I like See-Saw songs and I haven't heard her songs yet but probably gonna be her fan in the future~ XD

Transformers~! XD I wanna watch again~ XD

[disutansu.livejournal.com]

I was going to line up for the opening ceremony but the line went all the way to the parking lot and.... scattered. I said screw it and became sick of lines right then. XD;;

When you said that, I think my heart exploded with cute. XDDDDD "LIKE OMG HOW ADORABLE YOU, TO THINK OF THAT" I'm sure it'd work well too. Try it? X3

A different location really? T______T Back in Anaheim hopefully?

I think that too... he just kept mentioning he should have zipped up his bag. Judging... I think he only asked the creators for their polls because he couldn't tabulate all 5000 of us. And I wasn't there on Monday so I don't know. T-T

I knew pretty much what I was looking for (doujinshis) so I went for that first. Then Saturday and Sunday was just browsing around. I didn't have much money for anything else by that time. XD;; Doujinshis and some yaoi mangas took their toll on my wallet. XD;;

[silverfox1027.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is the first positive post I've seen about AX. Nice to know that someone had fun (and I didn't know that the lead singer of See-Saw was there! They did the first ED for Gundam Seed, right? One of the few things I liked about that show, lol).

I'm pretty con starved myself, but Otakon is less than 2 weeks away for me. Can't wait!

[lucathia]

Ahaha, Cooking Mama!! XD;; Hm, the pink hair thing maybe. But does she even wear a pink apron? Though, I probably wouldn't have gotten it if it weren't for your Allen with the Timcanpi and the red scar thing, but since I already knew about it beforehand... X3;;;

I got so lost on the first day...couldn't figure out how to get to the front of the convention center! I ended up have to go down some slope and then up some stairs, but I think I like going around more so that I can avoid the stairs. Grr. If only we could've just gone in through the performing arts area...it would have made things a lot easier!

[lucathia]

I wanted to go to the opening ceremonies...but I ended up having to wait in line for my badge holder the entire time. By the time I got my badge...it was way past the ending time for the opening ceremonies, though I wonder if the event even started on time...? What went on in the opening ceremonies anyway?

The fish cake cutter certainly looks like it could be used to blow bubbles!! XD;; I should try it out sometime. *nods*

I heard that it's going to be in the LACC? Is that different from the Anaheim one? D:

Aww, what a mess the AMVs turned out to be. ):

You had such a good haul on doujinshis!! XD;; I don't really have a good eye for them...since it'd require digging into stacks and piles. I just went for plushies. They're so eye-catching!! I mainly bought gifts for other people. X3;

[lucathia]

The concerts were really great. I love Chiaki Ishikawa's singing! I'm glad I was able to go to some this time since I didn't get to go to much of the events last year. I'm sorry you weren't able to attend AX for the whole weekend!!

Transformer's an awesome movie. :D It's pretty fun to watch~

[lucathia]

The lines are just crazy at AX. (They're not so bad at Fanime...AX just has waaay too many attendees!) While I was in line, I thought that maybe I should have brought my own folding chair!! Being able to sit down would have made things a lot better. I brought my iPod with me and was listening to audiobooks, so at least I didn't get bored while waiting. X3;

Yup, SKIN's that new band with Gackt and all the rest of those famous people. It's really too bad I've never paid much attention to them. I felt like it was such a waste for me to go see this band that everyone's so hyped about while I was just...meh. ^^;;; But the concert itself was awesome with lots of cool smoke. XD;; I don't know if it would have been worth it to fly all the way over just to see their concert...since it was so SHORT. I felt like I hadn't even been sitting there for very long when they announced that they were going to sing their last song. D:

[lucathia]

I really like See Saw songs! :) I hadn't heard her solo songs before this, but hearing them at her concert was really great.

I wouldn't mind watching Transformers again. It's a pretty fun movie. XD;;

[lucathia]

I had some fun, though I don't know if AX is really worth the long drive down. It could have been a lot better. I was already expecting the outrageous lines...but at least they could have had the doors open on time. The way they made the exit and entrance to the Exhibition Hall was really stupid...forcing us to walk all the way around from outside. The entire place was just way too hard to navigate. There was no way to get from one place to the next without walking outside...which is really a bad idea in summertime.

But still, I met lots of people and had great fun cosplaying. :) And, I'm really glad I was able to see Ishikawa's concert. ♥ And yup, See Saw did the ED to Gundam Seed. She sang that song during the concert too. I really like that song! :D She said that song was their debut song. Before that, they kept sending in demo tapes to various places...and were all rejected. But after their GS debut, they started getting more well known~

Oh wow, Otakon's less than 2 weeks away? There's so many conventions during summertime!!

[disutansu.livejournal.com]

I don't think anything started on time because of the tremendous amount of people. I don't know exactly what goes on... perhaps people welcoming us to Anime Expo and introductions of the bands who are playing and what to look forward to?

XD I can see you're going to have fun with it. *squishes you for being cute*

I'm going to assume it's the Los Angeles Convention Center. *checks MapQuest* Well for me, we just have to keep going west and it's not as far as the Anaheim Convention Center or the Long Beach one.

I feel so bad for the guy. x_x

I think I have developed a skill to digging quickly through stacks. XD And I can spot InuKai anywhere so it's easy for me. *cough* Uwah plushies. I had to hold myself back. There were new Bleach ones, and if there was a Hisagi one I would've bought it. Thankfully(?) there wasn't. XD I managed to buy stuff for other people but... I wanted to buy a little something for everyone. Alas I went broke on Sunday. T________T

[lucathia]

The amount of people attending AX never ceases to amaze me. A lot of the pictures I took...are just of people waiting in line. I took a picture from above the registration area of all the people there. It's really crazy. Huh, I've only gone to closing ceremonies at Fanime and never the opening ceremonies. I'm never early enough! But hm, yeah, it's probably just introductions.

Yup, I'll have fun with it. ♥

Ah, so it is a different convention center. How far is the Long Beach Convention Center for you? :O Is it farther than the Anaheim one? Does AX always change locations like this every year? ):

Yeah. -_-;; So many difficulties, along with dissatisfied attendees...poor guy.

Hehehe, it's a good skill to have. *nods* I'm slightly nearsighted but I rarely wear my glasses...so er, the Exhibition Hall was quite a blur for me unless I was up close with the merchandise I was looking at. X3;; I brought a lot of money with me this time around, so it's a good thing I didn't spend all of it or else I would have spent way too much!

[disutansu.livejournal.com]

I once took pictures of people crowding around ADV when they were throwing out stuff. That is already pretty daunting. XD;;

Actually, it was at Anaheim for like five years before it moved to Long Beach (and now to LA?). Before that they normally switch between Anaheim and Long Beach or so I heard. Both Anaheim and Long Beach were about 30 miles from where I lived. The LA one is 22'ish miles. At least it's a shorter distance. ^^;;

I know what you mean. XD I always have my glasses on because I'm nearsighted too. The blurriness makes my eyes watery. I just keep forgetting to take them off when people ask for my picture of Kisarazu Ryou. XD;;

I bought what I had saved, but apparently it's never enough. >.>;; *is probably just a big spender* *desk*