COMIKAZE EXPO 2014! [Part 2]

9:47 AM by Cate 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

Sorry it took so long to put Part 2 up... and for this whole recap to be up. I'm just lazy like that. XD

Saturday was such a fun day. It's hard to think that there's anything to top that. When I was looking at the Sunday panel schedule, there was nothing that really interested me. I mean, they sounded great but nothing like Saturday's The Hobbit panel, you know? My brother went to one hosted by FUNimation though. I mostly went around and shopped.

BUT... Sunday did prove to be as fun as Sunday. I met more cool people, saw other amazing cosplayers and characters. It was still full of surprises. I'm so glad we decided to get Sunday too.

Our day started out with the Power Rangers panel. I admit, I don't know anything beyond the addition of Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers so I was just there enjoying what they had to say and to watch the fan reaction. All I know is that the guy in blue, Steve Cardenas, was the first replacement Red Ranger. We saw the guy on the other end at yesterday's sentai panel.

Some kid in the audience asked a funny question. And the panel answered it with perfect snark that only people of a certain generation would get:

Q: Do you guys notice that when you morph, you lose your personalities?
(Everyone - who I assume saw what's coming - laughed.)
A: (A lot of them contributed to this answer but I'll just put it all here.) Well, it's because sometimes we turn into totally different people. From totally different countries!

If you got that, then you must be my age or around that. ;-)

And we got there just in time. Just as the Power Rangers fans were filing out, we pushed in for the Jewel Staite panel. Hello... Wonderfalls... Firefly. ;-) I enjoyed Firefly and recently am getting into Wonderfalls (for reasons named Lee Pace).

Of course, the Browncoats came out in droves. All the questions asked were Firefly-related. I wanted to throw in a Wonderfalls one just to mix it up but hey. Honestly, she sounded rather... idk, disinterested... answering those questions. I mean, I understand. She's probably sick of answering those. But if you have ONE piece of work that people know you for, expect the barrage of questions repeating with every convention you go to. It's all good, the fans loved it. I loved it. I'm glad to know that all of them created beautiful and lasting friendships from that one show and they still continue to hangout to this day.

Before going back out onto the floor, I just wanted one photo of Stan Lee for my 2nd day at Comikaze. At first, I thought nothing of it. One shot, I got it and then I walked away. Then, I heard my brother say, "Ate (big sister), Hail Hydra." I ignored it but then he repeated it.

And then it clicked. Oh. OH. OH.

I didn't stop hitting my dear brother for a good fifteen minutes. It's one of those "dang, what the hell didn't I think of that" moments. Oh man, genius! (Even Stan Lee's kid, @therealjclee liked this photo on Instagram.)

We had time to kill before the FUNimation panel so we decided to have lunch. And guess what... BELLYBOMBZ WAS THERE! My brother went for another Jogasaki burrito but no one will get in the way of my caramel wings. Yum! We made our way back inside the convention center to the food court to wolf it all down. Then we saw the cosplay that wins all kid cosplays:

with their dad @luisprojects

They were on the table beside us, innocently eating. And they they don their costumes. Oh man, complete with sounds. I had to congratulate the awesome parents. They did so well.

After that, I dropped of my brother at the FUNimation panel and went back down to the exhibit floor. We were just talking about wanting to see Tara Strong, my voice over idol. She voiced Dil Pickles, Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls, and Raven from Teen Titans. Oh yeah, and Rikku from Final Fantasy X. I mean, we already saw her at the autograph line. No pictures were allowed though because photo ops and autographs were for a price. I just wanted a decent photo of her.

So I was by the posters booth, checking out which posters to buy later in the day when I heard the announcement by the main stage say Teen Titans Go! and then Tara Strong's name being called. Oh my goodness, I stormed to the stage and tried to get a good spot. There's not really a mad rush even for these main stage panels, which is good for me; a wee little lass.

I don't watch Teen Titans or any Cartoon Network, to be perfectly honest. I just want to see Tara Strong. But it's always a treat to hear a character's voice come out not from the character but the voice actor. I wanted her to do Rikku but having heard Bubble's "hard core" voice was totally worth it.

Another thing that made my day was when we were filling up raffle forms for San Diego Comic Con tickets, the guy giving out the forms looked straight at me and said, "You're no way 25 years old." Why thank you, sir. I told him I was 26 and then he gave me another raffle ticket just because. XD

I was walking around, checking out the autograph stations when I saw the original voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy. And what's awesome was a Bane cosplayer was lined up for his autograph.

Money shot! XD

After that, we were pretty much done for the day. I met up with my brother after his panel and we dedicated the remaining hours for shopping and one last walk around. We shopped, took pictures, and just enjoyed what was there to see. And finally, I had the courage to walk up to The Room booth and asked the TOMMY WISEAU for a photo and autograph.

If you don't know who he is, let me direct you to this gem of filmmaking:

It is the greatest bad movie ever made and I was first introduced to it via The Nostalgia Critic's review of it. Ever since, I've been a fan. =D At the start of the day, we already came across that booth but in a moment of fangirling, I was too chicken to approach him. But at the end of the day, it was a now-or-never moment. I purchased a DVD for $10, got a free official movie basketball - both signed - and photos!

I'm telling you, he's the nicest dude! He even got my brother into a photo! (It came out blurry but I'll put it up anyway.)

I was pleasantly surprised that he was incredibly nice.

Before leaving, we came across pretty much the cosplay that won the weekend. I can't even with these group of talented people.

I remember coming across the Tyreese cosplayer earlier and laughing because he came complete with a Judith. And also the Carol cosplayer had on that walker-blood-covered apron Carol had on the season 5 premiere episode. Man, and don't get me started on the Maggie cosplayer...

Forget double takes, I stared at her for a long time.

Overall, Comikaze was a blast. We were there for technically, three days and not once did we feel tired or exhausted at all. We had so much fun. Personally, it was nice to share it with my brother. I feel so lucky to have that kind of relationship with him after hearing so many brother-sister pairs say that they're cat-and-mouse. We're worse than twins!

So until next year, Comikaze! I'll definitely see you again.

Photo dump!

A mish-mash of fandoms. Those Snow White tights were a hit. It was noticed a couple of times and someone even asked me for a photo of it. XD And no, people, those are tights; I will never ever to that to my legs permanently.