Echoes of Conventions Past

Back in 2009, I shot footage of the Hellsing cosplay gathering at the Anime Expo that year with a Flip HD video camera . . . but when I tried to edit it together, my computer choked. Fortunately, as progress has marched on, I have acquired a computer that can handle the editing. Hence, the highlights of that video:

Women of Wonder

When I went to my first San Diego Comic-Con in 1980, there were a number of girls and women who dressed in costumes. Over the years, that number has exploded -- likely precipitated by the increase in women drawn into fandom by anime, manga and videogames.

In fact, the number of women who dress in costume at Comic-con was so large last year that a British professional photographer has filled a 192-page book with photos taken just at that convention.



The book is sprinkled with quotes from the cosplayers, setting forth the reasons they dress up. For some, it's grown-up Halloween; for others, it's a social experience; and for others, an escape from complicated everyday life by becoming a character in a simple saga of good against evil.

Somewhat inevitably, there are at least two women depicted in the book whom we know.

The photographer and his collaborater should be credited with not limiting the book to cosplayers with supermodel bodies (although there are some).

There are some interesting trends. Princess Leia is a popular choice, particular in her slave/harem costume from RETURN OF THE JEDI -- a costume that requires a certain attitude, a certain confidence, a certain amount of fixative, and a certain amount of sunblock. There are several dressed as Wonder Woman, with varying degrees of faithfulness to the costume. A surprising number of women dress as Power Girl, the DC superheroine who wears a longsleeve top with a keyhole chest. And race is no barrier to portraying characters; one set of photos shows a white Storm next to an African-American Poison Ivy.

The book is available in the US as an import at specialty shops, or by mail order.

First Con of the Year

Anime LA 2008, held January 4-6, was an interesting experience. The membership was capped at 2400, so theoretically it should have been on the small side and not crowded. But logistics conspired against it. The convention committee entered into its contract with the convention hotel (at the Burbank Airport) when Hilton owned the hotel. But then the hotel was sold to Marriott -- which apparently took license with the contract terms (especially when it started renovating the hotel). The result: The con had far less space than it had contracted for; and crowding ensued.

The most fun part of the convention was the cosplay. A staggering percentage of the attendees were in costume. Many of them (not me) came from our house, as we played host to our friends Natalie, Sarah, and Logan from Utah, Brandi from Nevada, and Laurid from Colorado. The house was like a theater's dressing room, full of costumes, makeup and bodies. We also met our pals Don, Chad and John at the convention.

During the weekend, voice actor Patrick Seitz -- who played heavy Luke Valentine in the English-dubbed version of the Hellsing anime -- attended the con as a fan, rather than as a guest. On the last day, he posed in photos with folks from our party who were dressed in Hellsing-inspired clothes. (He's the tall guy in the "Just Say No to Dubs" shirt. Irony.) He got into the spirit, to the point of lifting various full-grown fans as he posed. ("A moment of fun," I warned him, "a lifetime of chiropractic.")

Alu-Coffee

Here's the first of two compilations of video clips I made at Anime Expo Hellsing costume photoshoots. This one is of the "Beverage Bash of Doom" held at the Renaissance Hotel on Sunday, July 1. And yes, I was trying out a bunch of transition effects on Windows Moviemaker.

Anime Expo: This Year in Long Beach; Next Year in LA

From Friday through Monday, I took off time from work and participated in Anime Expo, the largest anime convention in America (44,000 attendees this year!) and the main one here in California. After a few years in Anaheim, the Expo returned to the Long Beach Convention Center, where it was last held in 2002.

I have bad memories of that 2002 Expo. We went one day -- the last day of the event -- and only went to the dealer's room (which they call the "Exhibit Hall." I miss the days when a convention's dealer's room was called the "huckster's room."). We waited in the hot sun for an hour to get into the room, then could only spend a few hours before the Expo closed.

This time was much more fun. The Expo had the entire convention center, including the outbuildings -- the Terrace Theatre, and the 6,000-seat Arena (the big round building with the whales painted on it). There were numerous restaurants around, particularly across the street at The Pike shopping center. I even found cheap open-air parking ($5 all day).

Another fun part was that this was the first Expo where we knew several attendees. Amy has been contacting fellow fans of her favorite anime/manga, Hellsing, on the Cosplay.com forum; and some of them have even come to LA and visited our house. We therefore had pals (in addition to our old friends Don and Pam) to go to events and meals with. Shout outs go to Christie, Natalie, Laurid, Logan, Brandy, Sarah, and a bunch of other people.

Amy's activities (and thus to a great extent mine) centered on various costuming events concerning Hellsing. There were photo shoot gatherings of folks in Hellsing costumes on Friday and Sunday. Amy was particularly instrumental in setting up a morning gathering on Sunday, held at the Starbucks in the Renaissance Hotel. There is an outdoor patio there, so Amy brought her Kawasaki Motorcycle for people to pose on; and several of the costumes, including Amy's that morning, revolved around a "Hellsing's Angels" theme. As my photos show, the motorcycle was a big hit.

Geneon, which is releasing the Hellsing Ultimate OVA DVDs in Japan and the US, helped the festivities with a marathon showing of the three OVAs which have been released (including a subtitled version of Volume III, which was released in Japan just three months before); a panel of the American voice actors; and a fantastic booth, made up with the giant chair the main Hellsing character, Alucard, lounges in during the second OVA's opening scenes.

Another nice part of the Long Beach location was its proximity to the Queen Mary and its hotel. Amy and I stayed two nights in a stateroom at the QM, which was okay as a hotel but terrific as an historical location.

Problems with the change in venue included unfamiliarity among the staff on the convention center's layout; often uncooperative hired security; delays in events that sometimes lasted several hours; and a terrible screw up with the anime music videos event that resulted in only seven out of 35 AMVs being shown -- after people waited over two hours to get in. (The remainder were purportedly purloined from the MC's laptop bag. Backups would have been a good idea.)

Next year's Anime Expo will be held at the LA Convention Center. That's great for us, since it's just a clear shot down the freeway. But it won't be so good for out of towners, who'll have a choice of the somewhat run-down Holiday Inn across the street from the center; the Wilshire Grand, four blocks away (posh, but one hopes they will have a convention rate); and other hotels that aren't within driving distance.

A link to my other photos will be up shortly.

Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest . . . .

Sometimes, the Barer Cave opens to admit visitors . . . .

This past weekend, we were delighted to host at our home three anime fans from Utah -- Christie, Natalie, and Sarah -- whom Amy met online, and who we met in person at the Anime Vegas convention in September. We introduced the trio to some of the joys of Los Angeles anime stuff, including Power Anime at the Westside Pavilion; Kinchan Ramen and Volcano Tea on Sawtelle; and Kinokuniya Bookstore, Anime Jungle and Japan Arcade in Little Tokyo. Not to mention such gastronomical wonders as Junior's Deli. Thanks to our ever-cheerful and upbeat guests, we had a blast.