AX 2017

Once again, I've attended Anime Expo over the 4th of July weekend. This year, a Pre-Show Night with various activities was added on the eve of the convention.

We arrived at the L.A. Convention Center on Day 0 to pick up our badges and attend the Pre-Show. The line was pretty short, and moved rapidly so we were able to get our badges in probably under 10 minutes.

The queue to get into the Convention Center was not too bad, but I was held up a bit as a security team leader decided to use my cosplay prop as an example to explain to the screeners about what was allowable into the hall.

Once inside, I went to change into one of my maid uniforms. I was planning on trying out some poses with a nifty prop nodachi I modified to represent Konpaku Youmu's sword, Roukanken (楼観剣).

I was going to dress as Youmu the following day for a Touhou cosplay gathering, but hadn't figured out what poses I could do that would look good.

A surprising number of people asked me to pose for pictures, and it dawned on me that in all the time that I've been doing cosplay, I actually had very few pictures of myself dressed up and posing at conventions, so when the lady at the Cospix booth asked me to pose for them, I did.

I'll probably regret this, but below are a couple of pictures of my cosplay.

Yours truly

大根足 (-。－；)

On Day 1, we arrived early even though we already had our badges because of all the trouble we had finding parking last year.

A huge line formed for getting into the Exhibit Hall, but not wanting to be part of the waves of people flooding into the main hall, we went to the Artist's Alley instead, and wandered through the lightly trafficked hall in leisurely comfort.

In the morning we had entered the Convention Center through the parking garage entrance, but by noon, the crowds outside had grown very large, and they were only allowing access through the main doors.

I heard that some people had to wait four or more hours to get their badges, which seemed on par with last year. Certainly the line looked similar, with people in a winding queue along Figueroa from Pico to Venice and around the corner down Venice and back.

Even with badges, people had to queue again to get into the Convention Center. Luckily, we knew of alternative routes, and were able to bypass the lines to get in.

Anyway, the following are some pictures from the Touhou gathering.

I didn't like the way I looked in my Youmu cosplay. There might be some not so bad pictures of me out there, but I had wanted to shed about 10 pounds in the months prior to AX, but I wasn't able to do it.

In any event, I don't think I'll stray from meidofuku again (or maybe I'll stay away from outfits that look better on those with a narrow silhouette).

I skipped Day 2 because of other commitments, but went back on Day 3 to see the Fujino Omori panel. There were no photos allowed during the panel, and I couldn't find any pictures of Omori to add to this post, but I guess that's not too surprising since he came off as rather shy.

A special signing event was announced, so I bought a copy of Sword Oratoria for him to sign.

Omori seems like a very humble person, and he got all flustered when I greeted him during the signing and addressed him as "sensei".

The following are some pictures of cars from the Itasha Alliance.

Saw this car driving down Figueroa.

The most I can do toward having an itasha.

The following are some of the cosplay pictures I took.

Kotori, Rin, and Nico with LED skirts
(the lighting effect isn't captured by the picture)

Essradi as Celestia Ludenburg

Asuna, ALO ver.

Sinon, ALO ver.

Saber, Fate/Extra and Fate/Grand Order

Maid Saber and Jeanne d'Arc

Tohru

Card Captor Sakura

2B

Remilia Scarlet

???

Chaika Trabant

Mr. Data

The Dark Knight watching over the con

Though there was not much in the way of guests or panels that interested me this year, I still had a good time. I met and talked with a lot of great people, and was able to avoid many of the problems that I ran into last year. I'm looking forward to next year.