Anime Expo 2011

I was down in Los Angeles this past weekend for Anime Expo. It was my first time going. I flew in on a Friday night. Collin, Andy and Linda drove to LA on Friday morning. They arrived early Friday morning and headed straight to the convention.  They were pretty tired by the time I arrived. 

Collin lying on his bed looking beat. 

We were all hungry. It was a late night, but luckily we were able to find a Korean restaurant that was open.  Hwang's Restaurant. The food and service was good. The place was pretty empty though, but it was around 11pm on a Friday. 16.99 for All-You-Can-Eat. 

My buddy Son drove up from Irvine to meet us for dinner. 

Collin and Son were doing all the cooking. All I had to do is eat. 

Some of Linda's friends showed up later in the night to have a few drinks. Angela, Yumi, and Linda. 

Linda being a poser cause that bottle of OB is empty!!

After dinner I headed out with Son to meet up with some other friends of mine that lived in the area. We went to a small dive bar La Cita to have a few drinks and catch up on things.

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed out to Anime Expo. It was ridiculously packed. 

Linda was hosting some of the Live Streams at Crunchyroll.com

You can find more info about Linda at Vampybit.me

Here you can see Linda cosplaying as (Reika Shimohira) from Gantz along with her friends Rochelle (Rei Miyamoto), Angelo (Hisashi Igo), and Collin (Takashi Komuro) who are cosplaying characters from High School of the Dead.

The Pocky booth at AX.

Also ran into this droid and what I think is an Umbrella Corp solider.

After Linda finished her hosting we headed for some food.

On our way to the food court we saw this awesome Big Daddy and Little Sister costume by these kids. I think they are brother and sister. Costume was totally hand made. Super cute. They parents were taking them around and hella people were taking pictures. Such cool parents to be taking their kids to conventions like these.

I headed back to the lobby real quick and happened to run into these two girls dressed up as Megatron and Starscream. 

Ganondorf from Zelda.

One of my favorites. Not sure if he is a real character or just wearing samurai armor. It was really detailed though and really impressive. You can't tell from the picture, but the guard and base of the sword was made of a clear plastic and there was a pulsing/glowing light from it. You had to see it in person to appreciate it.

After lunch we headed back to the Crunchyroll booth. Linda had one more live stream for the day. 

This is Linda's friend. I forgot her name, but her cosplay was all hand made. I think she said something around 100+ hrs in the making. She also made custom shoes, but they broke during the day so she wore these boots. Still works for the outfit in my opinion, but some cosplayers do everything down to the perfect detail.

After the Linda was done with her streaming for the day. We headed over to the High School of the Dead panel. If you haven't seen or read High School of the Dead. I suggest you check it out. It's an anime about high school students during a zombie outbreak. The animation is great and there is quite a bit of fan service if you're into that. 

While on our was to the panel I ran into Bumble Bee and Ironhide. These were also custom made. Some people are quite talented and come up with some crazy ideas and designs.... or have hella money and commissioned someone to make it for them.

Here we are sitting in line waiting for the H.O.T.D panel.

The producer and director of H.O.T.D

Optimus Prime and Starscream

Here is Kurosaki the singer of the end theme song for H.O.T.D

After the Panel we called it a day. We were at AX starting from 12pm and we didn't leave till 6:30pm. I didn't even look at any of the merchandise or vendors and I had already wasted 6hrs looking at costumes, checking out the live stream, and going to the panel.

 We were starving by this time and had only ate once so far. So we headed over to Yard House for some food. 

People lining up for the concerts at the Nokia theater.

After having dinner we headed back to our hotel to unwind and to get ready for the night. My friend Alvin met up with us and was going to take us out for some drinks. We ended up at Tony's Saloon this place had a totally chill atmosphere and the bartenders made great drinks with really fresh ingredients. (From left: Sir Collin, Jonas, Hipster Alvin, Paul, and Handy Andy.

Sir Colin, Jonas, Linda, Handy Andy, Angela, and Yumi

We drank a lot that night. 

I think there is something in my teeth? WTF! why didn't anyone say something?

Bobby, Linda, Alvine, and Sir Collin.

What is up with Bobby and Handy Andy? I don't know you be the judge. 

I have no idea with Yumi is doing. I guess pretending to be a pirate?

Angela throwing up the classic Japanese peace sign. 

That thing in my teeth it freaking bothering me!

We got home around 3ish. I ended staying up till 5am. Was down at the Cafe chopping it up with Jonas, Angela, and Yumi. It was quite a night.

We headed back to AX the next morning for some more shenanigans. I woke up with a crazy headache. I tried to tough it through the day without and asprin, but I gave in and ran to the local market and picked up some Ibuprofen. I felt a lot better after. 

On my way back from the market snapped a picture of Yoshi

Not sure what anime these guys are from, but you can catch a Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto in the background.

We were beat from the night before so we hung out at the Crunchyroll lounge.

Andy catching a quick nap at the lounge.

After an hour or so we decided to check out the vendors. 

I believe these guys are brothers. 

Characters from Chobits cosplay

Alphonse Elric 

Isaac Clarke Plasma Cutter.

The Hi-Chew booth.

Adult sized Gundam

Perfect Grade Gundam. Almost $300 bucks. Man I want one.

Roll from Megaman with her Servbots. Really cool and she made it herself. 

We ended Sunday with Ramen in J-town.

We had Ramen at Chin-Ma-Ya of Tokyo

I had the Tan-Tan Men, with Chasu Pork, Egg, and mushrooms. Man did it hit the spot after a long day at AX.

We headed back to the hotel and napped for about 2hrs. Sir Collin decided to get his pre-party on by himself. So while we were napping he headed down to the bar and had a few drinks. We ended up napping till 9:30. We were so tired and were not even going to go out, but changed out mind at the last minute. It was out last night in LA. I'm glad we did cause we ended up having a great night.We left out hotel around 10:30 and headed to the Nokia Club. AX was hosting an event for AX guest. It was time to get our RAGE on!

It was a gorgeous night with great weather.

Angelo and Rochelle ended up arriving around the same time we did and the Raging begins!

Linda and Rochelle.

Someone is drunk in this picture. Can you guess who?

Angelo and Rochelle. 

Photo bombing at it's finest.

The music was awesome. I'm not a huge house music fan, but the DJ was spinning some awesome tracks. I only wish that would have kept her on all night.

The club closed at 2am and we headed out to Dennys for some late night food.

The nose picking pose is spreading like a wild fire.

Angelo doing the double and Rochelle Failing!

Linda on her way back to the hotel.

Linda and Collin concentrating really hard.

We woke up without any issues Monday morning. It was already the last day of AX. They weekend just flew by.

Monday had very little guest, but I was surprised to still see some awesome cosplayers on the last day.

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy

Some characters from Dynasty Warriors.

Jessica Rabbit

After AX we had lunch at the ESPN Zone.

Linda being a derp at the head of the table.

I built my own burger. I added Jalapenos, avocado, & BBQ pulled pork. 

Rochelle cosplayed at Chun-Li on the last day.

and the last character we saw before we left is SKID MARKS! Andy is still working out the kinks of his costume. 

This is how Linda normally looks. Her eyes really are like that.

4 days at the Anime Expo and it just flew right on by. It was a great trip. Was able to met a lot of people and it was great to see my friends that lived in the area.