In life things happen for absolutely no reason. After a long ride on the Blue Line with the 1st delay on the tracks on Washington Station and another delay further down between Firestone station and Compton station I finally made it to Long Beach Comic Con.
This is my second year in attendance but this year there is a new location on the lower level of the Entertainment Center. The weather was decent and getting in was pretty easy.
Upon arrival, I checked out the Exhibit Hall. Of course, there is no wi-fi at all unless you pay for it. I got the pleasure to meet Christian Calloway, Ray Rise, and Gary Hersheberger from Twin Peaks, which were a lot of attendees favorite due to the Twin Peaks reunion.
I also had a lovely conversation with Dino Andrade, the voice of Speedy Gonzales and Hellsing ultimate.
At conventions, there are always amazing professional makeup artists. E.I. School of Professional Make Up was there at the Social Square with exceptional body makeup of Black Panther, Shuri, and Okoye from the Black Panther movie.
Towards the middle of the exhibit hall is the Artist Alley. There are so many exhibitors but one that caught my attention was is Tara who owns Gear Oil. I purchased the Anxiety and Pain oil roller ball. I think both are important for those who go to conventions and in life. Mental Health is just as important. It’s part of your regular health.
Even though I write and provide content, I am also a cosplayer. I decided to go light this yeah and display a Victorian Era Steampunk outfit.
Overall, the convention was very relaxed and always a pleasant experience minus difficulties with wi-fi, I do recommend people to attend for a pleasant time.
Every year, San Diego Comic-Con brings together fans and comic enthusiast from all over the world to celebrate the movies, TV shows comics, video games, art, and more that they love. This year’s conventions ran from July 18th-22nd in San Diego, with Wednesday being preview night. There is enough to see and do with or without a badge. For me, I took in everything San Diego including the Gaslamp District.
Everyone tends to come for the panels and guest at the infamous Hall H that will give the fans first look at the new trailers and the ultimate fan experience. Hall H is a 65,000 square foot centerpiece that now draws 130,000 excited sci-fi, fantasy, comic book, television, and film fans each year. In Hall H, you will see the very extent of pop culture. Below are the biggest trailers from Hall H:
There is so much that happens at Comic-Con that it is impossible to catch everything. On top of being trailer reveals, there were tons of exclusives. Funko Pop was probably the most popular booth in the exhibit hall where people were after the metallic Whiz Funko Pop. Me, on the other hand, all I wanted for months was the Black Lady Funko Pop (which was also available at Hot Topic). Other popular booths included Tokidoki, Nickelodeon (featuring the original Double Dare wheel), Viz Media, Syfi, Lego (featuring an enormous Thanos out of legos), Artist Alley, and many more. FYE also had their pop up shop at Horton Plaza near the Gaslamp. This is where I acquired the SDCC Harley Quinn exclusive in purple/green. I also met the jewelry designer for RockLove, Allison Cimino who worked with Marvel and the movie Black Panther to release limited edition Black Panther jewelry.
The entertainment hall is probably the second biggest attraction next to Hall H. You need a day at least to explore the entire hall. I visited my graduate alma mater, Academy of Art. What I was looking forward to is meeting Jerry “the King” Lawler and Lita at the 3 Boys Productions/Headlocked Comics.
Cosplay has always been a big thing for me. I did expect more cosplayers. On Saturday, I cosplayed as Harley Quinn. Not only did people loved my cosplayed, they appreciated it. I have been to a lot of conventions and most people like my cosplay but to feel appreciated is something I never expected. The children loved it so much that it made them extremely happy.
San Diego Comic-Con was as great as I figured it would be. Even if you couldn’t get a pass to get inside the convention center, there is plenty to do around the convention center and the Gaslamp area to enjoy.
Fans, cosplayers, and guests from all over packed the Los Angeles Convention Center at this years Anime Expo. Know. To everyone as AX, the event was held from July 5th to July 8th with July 4th being preview night. AX this year was more about trial and error. The newest and biggest thing this year is the RFID encrypted badges where you are able to “tap” to enter the convention. This really helps with long lines in the the sweltering heat over 100 degrees.
The Society of the Promotion of Japanese Animation announced that there were 110,000 unique attendees! There were more than 524 exhibitors (which I went through them all).
The most eagerly anticipated event at this years Expo was the world premiere of My Hero Academia: Two Heroes. The premier included guest appearances by Daiki Yamashita and Justin Briner, the Japanese and English voices of Deku. On top of the biggest anticipated world premiere there were about 20 other world premieres included what I’ve been waiting for, Attack on Titan Season 3.
Concerts are always the biggest attraction at Anime Expo. Anisong World Matsuri performed three massive nights of concerts for the fans featuring 9 Global acts This includes Aimer, AKB48 Team 8, THE IDOLM@ASTER CINDERELLA GIRLS, i☆Ris, Yuki Kajiura, May’n, Shoko Nakagawa and Sanketsu-girl Sayuri. In addition, Aqours performed their first-ever full concert in the United States.
m-flo presents OTAQUEST LIVE powered by LDH USA with the legendary hip hop trio m-flo, superstar collective PKCZ®, and world renowned producer Yasutaka Nakata were joined by fan favorites including Crystal Kay, Teddyloid, YUC’e, Hachioji P, and Masayoshi Iimori.
For some fans, like myself, meeting guests was the biggest attraction of the Expo. There were over 150 guest and industry appearances, guest of honor, performers, and voice actors. One of the guest of honors included Go Nagai. He is the creator of one of my favorite anime series Cutey Honey. However, the biggest point of the day was meeting Estelle. She is a an amazing singing but also the voice of Garnet from Steven Universe! Most fan know her first as voice actor and if they know her music, it is only “American Boy”. Her actually first single was “star”. The rest of the cast of Steven Universe was also in attendance to sign autographs, take selfies with adoring fans.
Part of the Japanese culture includes j-fashion. The biggest event is the fashion collaboration with Fickle Wish, ACDC Rag, Menherachan with design and styling by Rimma Doi. That was held on Friday in Petree Hall. Afterwards was the Harajuku meetup with collaboration of ACDC Rag. I had the pleasure of meeting Bisuko Ezaki, official artist of Menhera. I, not only preordered the limited edition Menhera t-shirt and pin. I also got my Menhera art fan book signed as well. In addition, in Kentia Hall was the Tokyo Rock Brand Hypercore as well as Listen Flavor pop-up ship. I got the chance to meet the designer Hisacy who even drew a caricature of me (in my cosplay). It was an excellent day for j-fashion.
For my cosplay, on day 1 I ended up wearing Harajuku fashion, for day 2 I was Rogue (1980’s comic version), on day 3 I was Kitana from Suicide Squad, and on day 4 I was Domino from Deadpool 2.
Overall, Anime Expo was awesome not just me but for the attendees as well. Memories were well made. 🌙
With Bisuko Ezaki
With Bisuko EzakiWith EstelleHypercore Harajuku1980’s RogueDomino from Deadpool 2
