This year, Anime Expo was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA. Although I’ll never get past the nostalgia associated with the Anaheim convention location, I do love the access to the Metro system afforded by this particular location.
Sadly, this will probably be my last year attending Anime Expo. The con is simply too big, both in number of attendance and square footage. Furthermore, I feel like the pricing for the convention and events is ridiculous, and as one of my friends aptly remarked, “They should change the name to ‘Anime Extortion.’” The badges alone were $75, which basically afforded access to just the dealer’s room and panels. The event tickets (which included the masquerade, concerts, anime music video contest, and more) were an extra $15-30 EACH. Ridiculous!
I did, however, meet a ton of new people (and old online friends), and Synergies (the rave) turned out to be fun, but nonetheless it was just too expensive to do again.
Convention Photos
I didn’t cosplay this year due to lack of time, but I still enjoyed taking photographs of those who did. As a veteran con-goer (since 2001), I can say with certainty that cosplay has truly transformed from a hobby into a counter-culture.
Photoshoot: ブラック★ロックシューター
My friend Jessie (more famously known as AnimeAngel) obliged me with a Black Rock Shooter photoshoot on Saturday. Click her to see her American Cosplay Paradise Page for this costume.
August 12, 2010 at 7:11 am
Link
1st picture on 2nd row: The Dai Li, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. =)
Fantastic blog by the way.
~ Jerry