This year, Brian Nguyen and I decided to have a table at Artist Alley at Anime Expo. I don't exactly have fuzzy feelings about Anime Expo, from the debacle I had with them a few years ago (Amber and I had went to see CLAMP, and they directed us to the wrong line, which caused us to wait TWO! HOURS! in a registration line, when we should have been waiting in the industry line, which was a scant 10 minute line. OH THE HATRED!), but I was willing to go along with it, since Ryan and Dean had also went in on a table. They made concessions for us to sit together, so we have a nice situation where we're all looking after each others' stuff. I made prints of my work, and am selling them at the booth. The response has all been very supportive and positive, which is great. Also, having a booth gives a great place for friends to meet up, and to stash purchases, so you don't have to carry them around everywhere.
But this post is not just to shamelessly plug ME...this is also to share some of the cosplay that I've seen, while observing the con from my uncomfortable folding chair. Going to Anime Expo a full 4 days adds up to a nice collection of photos, so this post is to share some of the things I saw.
A kid that stopped by my booth, he was dressed as an Akatsuki. It was funny...his mom was like, You should smile when she takes the picture!! But I defended his facial expression...much more Akatsuki like, ha.
Pretty good Uncle Iroh from Avatar, and who is this other person? She's from Avatar right? Either way, very good cosplay, Avatar the Last Airbender (the cartoon, NOT the bs which will be the live action movie), is a great show.
Jill Valentine from Resident Evil. Love the bazooka.
Owen and I love the game Earthbound, and Mother 3 (the half I've played) is really fun too. These two dressed up like the brothers, Claus and Lucas. I love the snake! You have to fight a few in the forest.
Another Lucas and Claus, much closer to the real age of the boys in the game. Good for them!
Left 4 Dead Smoker,choking a guy to death. Props to them for holding this pose for like, 10 minutes, as people hurriedly snapped pictures.
A Silent Hill bloody nurse being eyed by Resident Evil's Chris Redfield. Mashups are always fun.
Great costumes - the tailed beasts from Naruto, and um, blue haired whoever from Naruto. Great dedication from these guys, as walking around in a full costume gets SUPER hot.
Love these guys - One Piece group cosplay - from the left - Nico Robin, Luffy, Chopper, and Jewelry Bonney, a recent new character. So funny that she's eating the chips - she's constantly eating all the time in the manga and animation, great touch!
Black mages. Like, a gang of them. Do not mess with these guys in a dark alley.
Full Halo suited soldier dudes. Do they sell these somewhere? I saw a few people with these.
Vash the Stampede from Trigun. I don't know much about this character but Owen was jazzed.
The CABBAGES guy from Avatar! "My cabbages!" Pretty funny that he was actually carrying around real cabbages. Dedication, my friends. That's what it takes to cosplay.
Kenpachi from Bleach. Love the little Yachiru perched on his shoulder. These touches make these cosplayers so fun!
Who is he/she? Whoever they are, they're workin' it.
Smiling ghosty dude from Spirited Away. Always gotta have one of these guys around.
SHREDDER! Fun. Wish he had an army of foot ninjas with him, but I can really only ask for so much.
Robot? From Full Metal Alchemist?
Soul Society Shinigami. Why not.
Urahara from Bleach, and some blue haired chick from Bleach as well. I don't know, as all I've gotten to in the anime/manga is the end of the first main arc (Soul Society Rukia saving business.)
Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. Love the mallets.
Cute - a dad and his sons, dressed up as Jiraya, Naruto and Sasuke. What a cool dad to play along! (Or force these kids into playing along?!)
Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell. A really good Tinkerbell cosplay, I'd say.
Ryu was posing for someone else and I snaked this shot. Ha-du-ken...
Card captor Sakura. Very cute outfit.
This is one of two cosplayers that really blew me away. This girl is dressed up as the Going Merry, the BOAT in One Piece. Check it out...
So her head is the masthead, her cape is the sails, her skirt is the boat itself, her legs are underwater. SO CLEVER!
Got her "cape" (sails) shot as well. Truly creative!
A buttoned eyes Coraline. Massive dedication on her part, as it was really hard for her to see, but she said she managed to, barely.
Bloody nurse stopped by our booth. She never said anything, would just pose when people asked to take her picture. Dang.
Misa from Death Note. I really like her Death Note prop, and her costume was very accurate. I saw a lot of Misas walking around.
Pikmin characters. Pure fun.
Snorlax and Charmander. I realized I saw a lot more Pokemon characters than I thought I would, a lot of Ash Ketchums and such. Is Pokemon still really that popular?
A blurry Pimp Mario as he was walking away. 'Nuff said.
Tronbonne, from Capcom vs Street Fighter. I remember playing her character a bit back in the day, this is a team effort for ONE character, which I had to give props to.
Tobi from Naruto. The eye was lit up. I wonder how she/he could see?
Maid versions of Asuka and Rei from Evangelion. Super cute and frilly outfits, even though I am not a fan of their characters.
This was hilarious - Dan and Ryu from Street Fighter, they first posed in a fighting stance against each other, but then changed their pose to this, Ryu punching out Dan's crotch. I KNEW Ryu was a dick. Hahaha. This was the cosplay team that just made me crack up.
And now, this is the other cosplayer that blew me away...Trucy Wright, from the game Apollo Justice, which was a sequel to the Phoenix Wright DS games. THIS WAS AWESOME! She had her "Mr. Hat" character on a moving pedestal, with wheels, and the head could be moved to an open or closed position. TOTALLY GREAT!
Pedo Bear and some schoolgirl. I didn't know what Pedo bear was, and I still dont really know who he is, but I guess he's perverted.
Another few Phoenix Wright characters - Godot and Edgeworth. Good one guys!
And last, but not least, Rita Repulsa and Zed from Power Rangers. Good clean fun.
Unfortunately, there were some that got away, where I just didn't pull out the camera fast enough. I saw one guy, no shirt, no shoes or socks, just wearing a plaid skirt. YES. ONE PLAID SKIRT. Who the heck is he? What is he from? Is he just insane? Did he just wander in from Skid Row? Or who could forget the cosplayer of Cammy from Street Fighter...who REALLY did not belong in such a skimpy outfit.
Well, there's Anime Expo 2009 for you 3 readers of my blog. Hope you enjoy. I don't know if I'll be doing this again next year, (4 full days of any kind of convention is stressful!) but at least I sold a few prints, had a bit of fun and got my work out there.
...yes?! Always!!?
Me at my booth at Anime Expo!
CandyUSA
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"Huh?" Was my initial reaction. Here's the photo, by the way:This was what that link linked to:
Okay, so I guess it was a for a candy corn Halloween recipe. But uh, hello, that is ME in that picture. Yeesh. In the comments, a user "Patti" asked where that candy corn was from, and "Carl", the writer of the blog post, thought it was from Washington, DC!!? Um...okay. So this is my exact post in response, in the comments:
"Hi Carl and Patti, and anyone else reading this blog,
That is ME in the photo! What a surprise to see it on this website…thanks for linking back to my flickr page, although, I would appreciate if next time, Carl, to please ask me first before putting up one of my photos on your site. I would appreciate that.
“DCA” is referring to Disney’s California Adventure, across the way from the original Disneyland. They have these big letters that spell out “CALIFORNIA” in the front of the turnstiles. During Halloween, they “candy corn” the letters. So, I am leaning against the “A” at the end of “CALIFORNIA”. Hope that clears things up Patti."
So, pretty weird. I guess this is a lesson to everyone...don't be too surprised if people yoink your pictures. I thought it was common courtesy to ask, ESPECIALLY if my FULL LIKENESS is being used, but some people don't always know "netiquette".
I was in San Jose a week ago, to celebrate my cousin Burgess getting married, and to see my newborn cousin! It was a really nice wedding, it was at a place called Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, CA. A very classic, traditional wedding, and I got to see a lot of family members that I hadn't seen in awhile.
Judy and Burgess, from where I was sitting. They are such an awesome, fun couple. Everyone was very happy for them!
The funny part of the wedding ceremony was that when the bridal party would walk by, my grandpa and my aunt would start clapping. Every time, after they would pass by. I had to take a picture of it...I wonder if they will do the same for my wedding??
Later in the week, the day I was headed back to LA by plane, I hung out with Judy, and an old Russian dude decided to run a red light. Into us. Luckily, Judy saw him out of the corner of her eye, braked and no one was hurt, thankfully. She explains it all in detail on her blog post. With pictures. So yeah, if you are interested read what she said, I couldn't have done any better.
After all this, I still had places to go people to see! My aunt was recovering in the hospital after giving birth to my new baby cousin, Nolan, so we went to visit! Here he is...
All in all, it was a good trip home. Wish I had more time to stay.
Life in a nutshell for now...and the holidays are coming up too, agh.