Field Report: Observe, report, and provide alibis.

This is where I backtrack my actions, put my observations on record, and provide details of what the heck I did. In case a cosplayer was reported to have been set on fire, any investigators who read this field report will know where I bought the lighter fluid and which hotel gave me the matches.

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

The only complaint with my Wednesday night flight to Anime Expo was missing the Press Junket earlier in the day. My aunt and cousin picked me up from the airport at night as we arranged. After briefing them on my schedule for the four days of AX and getting my requested equipment, I rested up in preparation for Anime Expo.

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

I chose Brock from Pokemon as my costume of choice today. It was easy to maneuver and the hair transitioned into my hasty Masquerade Ball costume well. The 20-minute drive was calming. The first order of business was unloading stuff to deliver since I had no plans to hold it for four days awaiting for someone who might not even show up. Unable to make contact the recipient, I dropped the stuff off at a neutral convention service and left instructions to the parties.

AX Press processed my registration efficiently and I met my industry friends Lisa and Julie. After shooting a few cosplayers and getting shot myself, I marched over to Opening Ceremonies. After the usual delay and taking in one impromptu interview for Harry Potter News Network, Opening Ceremonies began and I got my first good look at the Guests of Honor. Children's Hospital of Orange County was this year's charity. People behind me were attending the Masquerade Ball lessons later today, which made me glad that people actually want to attend Masquerade Ball.

Thursday was pretty slow, which allowed me to shoot photos for the gallery. I completed my primary objective of getting a field promotion to dance proctor at the AX Masquerade Ball dance lessons. The lessons were passable, but I liked the more in-depth days of lessons of Fanime. I met a cute Saber cosplayer whose dancing style matched my own and we aimed to meet at the Masquerade Ball. Alfred demonstrated a foursome dance routine, which had one more person than I was able to pull off.

After shooting Hetalia cosplayers and celebrating EB's 18th birthday, Craig and I marched over to the Westin for the Masquerade Ball. Police stopped us to ask about the convention and we gave the boilerplate responses. Craig lost a bet and was supposed to be set on fire as a penalty, but he redeemed himself at the last second to spare the immolation. The damned costume contest delayed the dancing again this year. I have no idea when they will get rid of that feature. I warmed up a few people as we waited. During the Masquerade Ball I plucked the wallflowers for a dance as per proctor procedure. It is great to get more people dancing regardless of dress poofiness. Dancing with Jonas while "mistaking" him for a girl due to bad lighting was fun.

I returned to the Convention Center and ran up with Saber, now identified as Rutie. The long march to the Westin combined with the infrequency of the shuttle service killed her prospects of the Masquerade Ball, but at least we did manage to meet. Her twin sister Mimi was also present and the three of us participated in the Anime Singled Out. Contrary to the homage to the dating show, it was less about dating--the prizes were anime DVD box sets instead of actual dates--and more about attempting to read the target's mind and selecting the right choices based on appearance or tells. I fared well until I made a mistake but got a Golden Ticket to return. Then I failed the free answer section since I had nothing to predict and had to rely on crowd appeal. After crashing and burning, I left the convention to rest and resupply. Thursday was a good start as the rest of the convention would fill itself with heat and crowds.

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

After overdoing it at the Masquerade Ball, my leg needed some rest and painkillers, so I went with my Dr. House costume. But since Dr. House was too plain at AX, I spiced it up by converting to Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th fame while using the cane. It was the same set of clothes as Dr. House, but the hockey mask stood out. When I flew down, intel reported that the Staples Center planned to hold some Michael Jackson tributes and possibly the memorial on Friday. But upon Friday, all I noticed were some very impatient news cameras setting up and police officers blocking traffic. I asked a reporter and he stated that the schedule shifted due to some "costumed convention" taking place that weekend. Way to go, Anime Expo, we managed to delay the memorial of the King of Pop.

After picking up an anime music video contest press ticket and glancing through the origami workshop, Rutie buzzed me to meet at the Para Para workshop. With Para Para getting its second wind in the US, workshops for them grew popular. The effectiveness of these workshops are limited to the instructor's ability to explain the lessons. The Para Para workshop at AX was less about Para Para and more about waving your arms like traffic coordinators to create accidents. When they were executing the wrong moves during the lesson, something is definitely not right. Perhaps a simpler routine would have made the lesson more effective.

After the failure of the Para Para workshop, I tailed Rutie, Mimi, and their friend Gabby into the Exhibit Hall. While Funimation and Atlus held large booths, Crunchyroll took center stage as the first booth attendees saw upon entry. I find the state of the anime industry going through odd changes when an anime streaming site outshines big named anime distributors at the Exhibit Hall. The chaotic throwing of free stuff at Crunchyroll nearly destroyed their own booth, so the four of us bolted the Hall after browsing. For a large shopping area, I could not find anything actually worth buying that I could not buy cheaper online.

After lunch at the overpriced food court, the four of us visited the bellydancing workshop. Gabby and I received a ticket to the Morning Musume concert from a good samaritan and Gabby quickly left for it. I would have joined her and reveled at the sight of a popular Japanese bubblegum pop group except for the fact that I had no interest in Morning Musume or Japanese bubblegum pop music. Morning Musume was an excellent crowd draw and the concert supposedly went well. But I would rather watch a delayed concert for something I like than sitting through something I had no interest in when I knew the supple bevy of bellydancers in training were practicing at the same time.

The anime bellydancing workshop was pretty much bellydancing to anime music--Bleach music to be precise. The instructor explained how bellydancing and anime helped her get over depression and illness and she wanted to pass those blessings to fellow attendees. After watching her routines, volunteers of both sexes learned a routine she choreographed. Rutie was among the dancers while I filmed them all before the instructor requested that the footage remained away from Youtube. The instructor's instructor asked me a very embarrassing question while I filmed, which brought forth a very embarrassing reaction.

Eventually Rutie & company parted ways with me for their own errands and now I had time to kill before the Transformers cosplay rehearsal. Not wanting to lose contact with Lionel and company, I hung around the South Hall shooting cosplayers before migrating to the West Hall to shoot Capcom cosplayers. After a brief reunion with Panda and family--I wish Tetsugyu were there--I changed from Jason to Sector 7 Black Ops and located Laura and Saiho. We waited for Lionel so they could get their costumes. While waiting, Laura gave me and photographer Oscar sandwiches while we pumped ourselves up for Transformers with Transformers videos and trivia. Oscar's toddler was very cute while playing an excellent mind game of throwing stuff every time you gave it to her. She is a sharp kid. Once Lionel showed up, they all changed into their costumes of Bumblebee (Lionel), Jazz (Laura), and Frenzy (Saiho). As Sector 7 Black Ops, my job was to direct traffic and prevent overeager fans from damaging the costumes.

Guarding the Transformers costumes was hard work. We not only had to keep our eyes peeled for potential hazards and prevent creating a fire hazard of photographers or rubberneckers, we had to be friendly and in character while doing it. After an hour of photos and posing, the Transformers characters had enough and reverted to human modes. The rehearsal that night was to determine how much time it would take to change, estimate how many people would arrive to admire, and determine what formations would best counter the crowds. The planned Saturday afternoon display of this looked promising. After debriefing, I parted company with the Transformers after one last quip with the props, observed Solid Snake and some allies develop a strategy during a game of freeze tag, and headed home.

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Happy Independence Day. With the Transformers gathering planned this afternoon, I scheduled myself to wear my Sector 7 Agent Simmons costume before swapping into Lupin the 3rd. As Agent Simmons, I swept the Convention Center looking for Non-Biological Entities--NBEs. If anyone asked what I was doing, I warned them of the incoming giant transforming aliens arriving in the afternoon at South Hall. If anyone had suspicious alien technology like iPhones, cameras, gaming devices, or televisions that would look good in my room, I confiscated them under Sector 7 authority. If anyone resisted, I arrested or killed him. I thank G and Shane for participating.

After popping into the Code Geass gathering to see Hoan and attempting to crash the video game world record attempt with Jonas and Craig, Laura gave me the call to rendezvous at the parking lot to help them change into their costumes. I contacted all friends I could think of at the convention to visit us when we made our appearance. The Saturday afternoon version of the Transformers costume display was larger and brighter as expected. AX Staff and convention security constantly warned us of the fire hazards we were while I kept shouting people to shoot and move. Film crews arrived to shoot. Oscar shot some rounds on my camera while I was on duty. We rocked the convention and gave smiles to children and Transformers fans alike until we finished. If they keep doing these Transformers displays, I will definitely have to make my Sector 7 badge.

Rutie and Michael told me they were at the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reunion panel so I ran to join them. I lost track of the Power Rangers and their frequently changing cast ever since the first incarnation so I was not familiar with who was on the stage. I recognized the Rita Repulsa and Lord Zed voice actors from previous encounters and their voices. The highlight of the panel was when Walter Jones--Zack the first Black Power Ranger--popped in to join the panel. When it first came out, I never really cared about Power Rangers. But I liked seeing the fans reminiscing with the actors from their favorite childhood show. After the panel Rutie and Mimi ran to get the actors' autographs. I did not have anything for them to autograph so I settled for pictures. I ducked out the line to shoot a bit of the C-Zone performance and an odd tribute during it. I ran into Tony Oliver for a picture, but I was not wearing my Lupin the 3rd costume due to the delays from the Transformers cosplaying and my general post-gathering laziness.

Mimi left to do her volunteer hours. Rutie and I visited a video room to watch Scrapped Princess. It would have been nice to see the first few episodes of that series, but the showed episodes 21-24 so I had no idea what was going on. I moved on to the Kari Wahlgren panel where she regaled attendees with her voice work from anime.

After the panel, Rutie and I ran to the Manga Cafe to rest and regroup her company. I usually found the Manga Cafe a bit out of place at a convention since there already is a bustling convention filled with activities to do. Sitting in a room reading manga is something I see lots of fans do at Borders anyway. If the Manga Cafe featured older or obscure manga, the cafe would be an excellent place to market those titles to resting fans. Viz Media did well during WonderCon in introducing me to manga I never heard of.

I decided to make use of my Masquerade ticket and attended the cosplaying highlight of the convention. The first few acts I saw were a resounding "Egh." I got the feeling that when working for the ultimate sketch that combines resounding cosplay and memorable sketch, cosplayers focused more on the costume at the cost of considering the audience who craved entertainment on the stage. I saw a few walk-ons, a nice Soul Eater sketch, one involving SFIV, and my personal favorite "I'm at a Con!" from Soy Sauce Productions. I would have stayed longer and waited for someone backstage to press the "Make the Masquerade Kick Ass" button, but I had a dinner date to keep. I joined Gabby, Mimi, and Rutie at the Yard House for a hot meal with desserts, a lesson in Jewish traditions, and a better understanding of twin dynamics.

We left the restaurant in time for the fireworks. Rutie and I got to see several nice sky flowers. Sadly the Holiday Inn hotel blocked several others and prompted me to warn attendees of AX 2010 not to stay at the Holiday Inn since I now plan to demolish that hotel before the next fireworks show. We returned to the Convention Center for a viewing of Onegai Twins! and a brief look at the finale of the mind numbingly stupid guilty pleasure of OneChanbra before ending the night.

Sunday, July 4th, 2009

My instincts got really dull on the final day of Anime Expo. I managed to do everything I trained myself not to do today including missing the final day of shopping, running out of storage on my camera, and forgetting to bring extra memory cards. But I was not going to let a botched chance to shop or a few missing photo opportunities end my convention on a low note.

The lazy Sunday was lazy. If AX took place at a hotel, I would see plenty of people packing their bags, checking out of the hotel. But at the Los Angeles Convention Center, all I could see were dwindling crowds and people lazing around the floor. Since it was still early, I visited the Michael Jackson memorial near Staples Center. They erected a giant wall for people write various tributes to the deceased singer. It was obvious anime fans got to this wall first given the number of drawings on it. Snooze and lose, normal people.

My only obligation for Sunday was a photoshoot with Oscar. In a nod to my first Anime Expo and out of convenience, I chose my Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop for the shoot and today. The shoot went well, though I always worry about not looking as well as I could.

After the photoshoot, I had enough time to visit the Robot Chicken panel with Seth Green and the rest of the show's creators. I shot a lot of clips as Seth responded to the questions and requests of attendees while promoting his skate tour and teased the idea of a Robot Chicken movie. Titan Maximum--a send-up of Power Rangers and other sentai shows--looks to be another winner.
Robot Chicken Anime Sketches
Robot Chicken Panel Part 1
Robot Chicken Panel Part 2
Robot Chicken Panel Part 3
Robot Chicken Panel Part 4
Robot Chicken Panel Part 5

After the Robot Chicken panel, a panel titled along the lines of making money in anime caught my eye. I thought it would discuss how certain people developed their own studios, magazines, or even blogging websites about anime. But it turned out to be about the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA), a school where people would learn about translating, rewriting, and dubbing anime for English speaking audiences. The panel felt like an hour long infomercial and all it needed was a celebrity endorsement and... Hi, Crispin Freeman! Despite being an advertisement, I did learn the complicated process of getting a Japanese product adapted into an American audience and that purists demanding that Japanese anime retaining its literal translation will have a lot of grammar issues. I also learned that Garzey's Wing is still one of the best worst dubs in the world.

I visited the charity auction to see how much money anime fans had to spare when bidding for rare exclusive items benefiting charity. While impressed with the deep pockets, the competitive spirit in trying to win autographed items impressed me more. Perhaps next year the charity will be the hospital my aunt works for instead of its competitor.

Ready to head home, I received a twit from Jonas about having lunch at the nearby ESPN Zone. Breaking bread with Jonas and Derrick, Jonas unloaded all the bad situations of AX including power-tripping security, poor console gaming, drama in the con, and various logistic issues. Between listening to people like Super No. 1 before lunch and Jonas during lunch, I can agree that they do not make Anime Expo like they used to. I remember the halcyon days when a convention was about fellow attendees and anime instead of drama and overbearing convention security. I still strive to keep my convention experience drama free, I notice that trying to avoid drama is like trying to avoid oxygen. As long as you process both properly, you can still enjoy yourself.

Running out of storage after the Robot Chicken panel, I hastily deleted several bad shots as I texted and twitted my farewells. My friend Jacqueline--the lady who during Fanime 2001 introduced me to participating in Masquerade sketches, convention hotels, and other aspects of the convention people take for granted--invited me up to mingle with AX Staff as they began shutting down. I relaxed and refreshed among staff members from AX who also staff at other conventions I may or may not attend in the future. I like seeing that despite our differences in duties during the convention, we are all anime fans who want to enjoy the convention while trying not to show annoyance at the convention elements that need to be shot, dismembered, set on fire, and launched into space.

As I left the convention, i received a last minute invite to watch a film. During the film, I received a text from a number I never saw before so I assumed it belonged to the sister of the person who was watching the film with me. After the movie and perfunctory farewells, I returned from the experience as a convention attendee to meet a pile of overdue work waiting for me at home sitting like a tiger ready to pounce.

I enclose this unofficial signature to conclude the field report.

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