This last weekend I got to attend my first LA convention, Stan Lee’s Comikaze! It’s funny how it came about actually because I wasn’t even aware of it until a week or so before when I got hired to work its media and professional registration. Once I learned what type of convention I was working, I immediately got tickets for the last day, Sunday, for my family to attend together as my dad was flying in from Florida Saturday night.
The first two days I never got further than the registration booths. I arrived bright and early in the morning at 7:30am sharp and worked overtime into the evening. Both days were SUPER busy. At times, the lines seemed never ending. By the end of the day, I was beyond exhausted. And yes, this means I spent my Halloween inside with my sister eating meatloaf and watching Community’s “Epidemiology” episode and missing any and all parties occurring over the weekend. I wasn’t too disappointed, however, because despite how tiring and non-stop the job was, it was also a lot of fun and I met some great people along the way.
On to my one actual day of experiencing the convention…. my family and I arrived around 11:30 to the convention center and our first stop? The John Barrowman panel. I have met John several times at Comic Con and have been to many of his panels and he is always hilarious, full of energy, and so warm to his fans. His panel was nothing short of expectation and a great way to start off the con.
Afterwards, we got lunch from the nearby food trucks. The two grilled cheese trucks seemed to be the most popular and both had about a 30 minute wait. I had gotten a delicious buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich from the Oh My Gaga truck earlier in the week so decided to go the healthy route and got a chicken wrap.
Once we got back, my dad and sister went to check out the exhibit hall while I went to the Crunchyroll panel. Their brand managers walked you through a normal day of working at Crunchyroll and talked about what its like working in the anime industry. It was a fun and informative panel and basically described a dream job for me: you get to travel to Japan and go to tons of conventions promoting anime?? Sign me up! If only I lived in San Francisco…
Left – this sign made me laugh // Right – my dad proudly sporting his Spock shirt and my lovely sister
Finally, I made my way to the exhibit hall and explored the many booths and vendors. I didn’t purchase anything (although my sister did get a Gryffindor scarf from the Whimsic Alley booth) but it was fun to walk around. Near closing time, I couldn’t help but take pictures with some of the many awesome cosplayers. I considered dressing up to make up for my lack of a Halloween but it was a little too cold for me that morning. Pictures below are all courtesy of my dad and sister.
That wraps up my first LA convention and first Comikaze! Looking forward to many more!
Anyone else go to Comikaze?
