AX pwned this year with over 100,000 fanatics! It was overwhelming to say the LEAST… I should also mention that this was my first time attending *slaps head*!
I decided not to cosplay this time around since I wanted to fully experience AX. I mean really… I was like a kid in a candy store and I didn’t want anyone distracting me from navigating my way around the goods. I nearly fainted with excitement with all the mark downs of otherwise expensive ass movies! Speaking of which… I picked up a few hentai… for review of course!
Blkcats helpful hints for preparing for any con was a HUGE help! As soon as the frenzy hit me, I took my map in hand and prepared for battle. First stop: Purchasing Hall! It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be, but that didn’t matter! There was enough stuff to satisfy any pack-rat! I used my will power to stay away from the accessories and proceeded toward the anime’s! As I mentioned above, I picked up 2 hentai’s along with the complete series of Gunslinger Girl and Trinity Blood. I also picked up 2 Japanese movies: Machine-Girl and Moonchild! The reviews on those will be coming soon! It doesn’t seem like much, but complete series aren’t cheap. Let me put it to you this way… I won’t be spending much at comic-con *sigh*!
After dropping an arm and a leg, my photographer, Beau, and I explored the grounds. If a person wanted to do everything this con had to offer, you couldn’t do it in one day. We didn’t see everything, but these were some of the very COOL events we did get to see:
*Karaoke competition
*Console gaming room: these were mostly fighting games (i.e. streetfighter).
*Tabletop gaming room
*Art/writing workshops
*Q & A panel with NIS America
*Q & A with my hero, Peter Beagle (the author of the Last Unicorn)!! I had a total fangirl moment (which I NEVER have) … I felt like such a tard! Thank god he smiled back *haha*!
*Movie screening rooms (about 4-5): movies played throughout the day and into the night for the ENTIRE 4 days! Thats 24/7 anime’s! FYI… I missed the premiere of Gotham Knight because the line for TICKETS was a mile long *DOH*!
*The manga cafe: fooooooood!
*Hall G (a.k.a. artist alley)
*Trading card rooms
*Dungeons and Dragons tournaments (HOORAY)!
… and soooo much more!!!
Here are a few release dates you should know about:
*Disgaea III: Absence of Justice- release for the PS3. It was described in the panel as “STUPID HARD!” August 26, 2008
*A Witches Tale- release for the DS system. This action RPG is being put out by the same people bringing us Disgaea III (NIS America). October of 2008
*Guilty Gear 2: Overture- A SICK RPG by Aksys games. September 29, 2008
*Battle Fantasia- Amazing… Aksys games. September 16, 2008
*From the Abyss- Aksys games. August 26, 2008
*THE manga version of The Last Unicorn- The first installments will be available sometime toward the end of this year. They’re working as fast as they can because they know that WE CAN’T WAIT *yippeeee*!!! ♥
A note to all cosplayers: the only problem I had at AX was that there were a handful of people who gave me MAD attitude for taking their pics (I asked before taking their pics)… if you’re going to cosplay at any event, expect your hard work to get noticed… you will be photographed… A LOT! Please, don’t be mean!
July 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Nice post hun ^_^ damn it I should post my article about Sakura Con LOL
anyway yah I know what you mean its like ok then why are you cosplaying if you don’t your pic taken I mean come on Yesh 
lol reminds me of when I took some guys kick ass Jin from tekken pic his GF was like umm sorry no pictures….He was befuddled lol also she wasn’t cosplaying. Oy
Oh well ^_^ great pics too!
July 10th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Ha ha ha. I had the same problem when I was at Japan Expo with pics. After the “Guy in Pink” saw my camera and bolted over to get his picture taken I figured it wouldn’t really be an issue. After that … it was sort of eye rolls every time. Why the hell else are you dressing up if you don’t want pictures taken!?
And OMG … the shadow Sora is INCREDIBLE!!!!!
July 10th, 2008 at 8:50 am
*lolol*! Oh man… I honestly didn’t think that sort of thing happened a lot… but it seemed like a lot of people were irritated to have their pics taken at AX. All the pics above are of people who were cool with me taking their pics (haha)!
Perz.. I sooo wanna see pics from Sakura con!!!
BTW… the person cosplaying that shadow couldn’t see… she had to have someone lead her around (haha, awe)!
July 10th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Awesome, I need to attend this next year.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Oh for sure DCD… I’ll definitely be there… and I’ll be cosplaying *w00t*!
July 10th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Awesome report! I was stuck at panels most of the time. The Dealer’s Room was amazing… they were giving out a lot of prizes, too bad I was not that good at the game in the Aksys booth. It was also my first time in Nokia theater though, super comfortable seats.
Hopefully I will see some GEN cosplaying at SDCC!
July 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Don’t worry I’m actually going to post it by the weekend ^_^ and send me an email or pm me on Yahoo and let me know how to do the thumbnail thingy
July 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I can’ timagine dressing up and NOT wanting to display your work for the web to see…. weird.
/shrug. Awesoem review tho!
July 10th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
You had people who didn’t want their pictures taken? How odd. Everyone I ran into during those four days were more than happy to pose.
As for the dealer’s room. Oh man. It hurt my comic con budget as well. Well, if I even go now cause something personal has come up that may interfere with that. But man, I can honestly say that I dropped near a grand over the weekend. The expo tickets for the fam, main event tickets, food, and videos, games, and merchandise (especially 250 at the J-List booth), yeah, it was an expensive weekend.
Hey, Traycee, which hentai videos did you buy anyway?
And the panels were awesome. I hot the David Hayter panel (which I totally geeked out at), the GaiaOnline.com panel, the Bandai Ent. panel, the RenAi panel, and the voice acting panel. You should see the scribbles in my note book. I feel like I was back in college with all the notes I took.
And in closing, let me just say, this was my third time in the Nokia Theater and I still love what the place is like. Best venue I have been to ever.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
MAN!! I didn’t get any free prizes!!! Don’t worry Ghinto… we’re all cosplaying for SDCC *lol*!
Rjac: As far as hentai’s… I got 2, “Akiba Girls” and “Bible Black.” There was this customer there who kept giggling at me when I asked the clerk to pull the box o’ hentai out… He knew EVERYTHING about hentai… so I asked for some suggestions… I wanted some with a good storyline vs… um, well you know. *hehe*!
July 10th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Only cause I would have recognized you, I know you were not the one I was helping out on Sat. But I did the same thing. … … …
Anyway, I scored some pretty cool stuff. I nabbed myself some free plushies from Gaia and I even won a copy of that board game… um, Collateral Damage.
And yep, my fun in SD is officially off. Man. I mean, it is for good reasons, but still, I wanted to go so bad. Well, there is always E for All next up in my sights.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Ricky… were you at the Anime Pavillion? I got my hentai’s there… in the back of the hall. I also would’ve recognized you (haha)!
So, um… a grand *sheeeeesh*? I wish I had that much available… I woulda bought sooooo much more. I reeeeally wanted to pick up Origins. The art is BE-A-U-TIFUL!
Everyone is talking about E for All… it sounds like everyone will be there. I need to make myself available for that.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Seriously, there was some rocking cosplay there! Nice article Tracyee. Do want to go next year!
July 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Yeah I was. Well, I was everywhere really. I think about 50% of the time I was in the hall buying stuff.
And yeah. It was way more than I should have. But it was worth it. Especially for what I spent on Lucky Star. I love that series.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Awesome post and pictures, Traycee!
Sounds awesome!
July 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Kannaya: I know right? It would be soooo cool if you go with me next year!!
WITA: Thanks hun… you should go too (haha)!
Ricky: amen brother! Next year we should both play D&D… I usually play chaotic evil thieves… so if we are in the same party, I’ll steal your gold while you’re asleep and cut off your fingers so you can’t use your sword/magic against me (muahahahaha)!
Honestly, I’m not evil in real life though *hehe*!
July 11th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
*shivers in fear*