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Showing posts with label Comikaze Expo. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Comikaze Expo 2014

I attended my third Comikaze Expo (CE) over the weekend, October 31st through November 2nd. I had a great time again. I say this every year-- Comikaze keeps getting bigger and better. I don't know what the numbers are, but the attendance on Saturday was pretty big-- I'd say probably a 30% increase from last year.

I only went on Friday and Saturday. I did go on Thursday to do an early pick up of my badge-- which is where and when I took the shot below of the Los Angeles Convention Center with the Comikaze Expo sign.

Picture Albums

In case you want to skip my blog entirely and skip to my pictures, here are the links to the albums on Facebook:

Cosplay

The cosplay at Comikaze is amazing. There's more and more people getting into cosplay and especially cosplaying as a group. It's a thing yo.

Logan Exe

LeeAnna Vamp as a very sexy Freddy Krueger

Axceleration Cosplay as Hawkgirl

Tauntaun group cosplaying

Reel Guise cosplaying The Walking Dead

Video Game High School Panel

I actually never heard for Video Game High School until I attended this panel. But I discovered that they create some cool videos and content. They're also a super fun panelists that like to talk and have fun.

Game of Thrones Panel

Three cast members from the popular fantasy HBO TV series, Game of Thrones, were available for a panel as well as autographs at Comikaze. Alfie Allen, Esmé Bianco, and Gwendoline Christie sat at the table with moderator, Adrianne Curry.

True Blood Panel

Stephen Moyer, Kristin Bauer van Straten, and Tara Buck from True Blood did a panel at CE. I didn't get many shots in because there was a "press" photographer that basically cut in front of everyone and blocked people's views so he could video record the whole thing.

Comics Legends Spotlight Panel

This was a fun panel as the slot for it didn't even mention who was going to be there even. Turns out it was Rob Liefeld, John Romita Jr., and Marc Silvestri-- with a quick surprise cameo by Stan Lee himself! The panel was moderated by Comic Book Men, Mike Zapcic and Ming Chen. What was great about this panel was that it mostly guided by audience questions.

Constantine Panel

I'm a fan of the show so I made sure to attend the Constantine panel.

Kid's Halloween Costume Contest

The contest was super fun to watch with the very adorable kids walking on and off stage. The judges really did have a hard time deciding who would advance to the next round from each group. It's great to see kids have bigger contests at conventions.

Geek Fashion Show

I didn't have any special pass to get in the photographers "den" up close to the stage, but I did stand around for a few hours to be right up front next to them. The amount of photographers they let into the area up front was probably too many-- as I had to abandon using my 24-70mm lens in favor of the 70-200mm because a full body shot was pretty much out of the question. But I enjoyed that kind of troubleshooting as it allowed me to get closer portrait shots.

I really enjoyed the outfits, makeup, and enthusiasm on the stage. My only complaint was that some of the models walked a little too quickly across the stage and I wasn't able to get any decent shot whatsoever.

Cosplay Contest

Comikaze is attracting not only more cosplayers, but bringing the level craftsmanship up higher and higher. The amount of time, energy, and money poured into make some of the costumes is probably in the hundreds and several thousands of dollars.

Again this year I arrived several panels early to be sure I would be up front to take photos. This will probably be the last year I do this as it's very exhausting to stand in one spot for several hours, hold onto my gear, as well as deal with angry and/or inconsiderate fans also in the standing room area. More on this below in my final thoughts.

Final Thoughts

As I've stated in previous years, it's important for events like Comikaze Expo to happen. San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) is just getting too big and will probably need to be split up. It's just not feasible for the entertainment industry to push all their announcements and programming behind one giant event that is SDCC. A fan convention should't make it so fans have to be uncomfortable to enjoy and/or get closer to the things they like.

Plus Disney's Marvel and Star Wars (yes, Disney owns both!) are just getting huge with all the movies coming out. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel/Star-Wars leaves SDCC and becomes a part of Disney's fan convention, D23 in the near future. They're that big and popular that they don't really need SDCC.

With all praise set aside, there's still room for improvement.

The main stage this year still was mostly standing room only. It was nice they had seats to the left and right, but that also ate into an area where more fans could have stood. Or better yet, I'd like to see them move the main stage to a room with seats-- or even give it a larger area, with seats. I'm not the only one that gets frustrated standing in one spot for several hours.

There's also frustration with people standing in front of others, blocking the view completely. I get that it's first dibs-- if you're there first, you get the spot. But there are definitely people who cheat and/or push their way to the front with no regard for others. Now having seats won't necessarily change or improve people's behaviors, but at least it will give a sense of space so you don't get stepped on or pushed aside-- or worse, trampled on.

Just look at this picture below of a press photographer that snuck up to the front from the side who took video of the True Blood panel. Not only was he not supposed to be there (only those with all-access pass can be there, he did not have one), but he was inconsiderate of those behind him that waited there for over an hour to have a good spot at the front to view the upcoming panel(s). And the cream on top was his refusal to remove his costume's head gear that further blocked many people's view of the stage.

Despite my complaints, Comikaze Expo is a great convention to go to. They have cosplayers, panels, celebrities, and more booths every year. It's a great convention that offers something for everyone, even families.

Monday, June 02, 2014

My Brief Appearance on Heroes of Cosplay

In a last week's episode of Heroes of Cosplay, I had a brief appearance in Season 1 - Episode 7!

The episode covered part of the cosplay competition at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. I was there in attendance checking out the event and taking photos of many cosplayers and panels.

I appear at about the 2:34 mark as the opening credits are still rolling.

That's me in the Valiant t-shirt behind the DSLR! Probably the best shot of me in the episode.

See this big crowd, I'm right up front on the left.

A closer shot of where I was.

Here are some relevant photos I took that was covered in the episode:

Indra (Fantasy Ninja) as She-Ra. I really loved her outfit.

Ladies of the Internet cosplay

The panel of judges of the Cosplay contest.

Jesse Lagers as Mega Man.

Holly + Jessica (Crab Cat Industries) and Chloe Dykstra as Team Pokemon.

For more pics, please check out my Facebook photography page.

Here are the general albums by day:

Here are the panel albums:

Here are the Cosplay Contest photos.

My previous blog posts on Comikaze Expo:

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Comikaze Expo 2013

This past weekend I went to Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Last year I blogged about my experience and I must say that this year is a huge improvement. I want to share with everyone my thoughts and pictures I took of the convention.

But first I want to say that what Comikaze is doing is important. San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) is getting so big now that many comics/sci-fi/horror fans can't even get tickets or housing to the huge event-- it's such a hassle! Not to mention it can get quite expensive to go to SDCC! This is where conventions like Comikaze Expo come in handy-- to take off some the pressure for SDCC-like events, without the hassle.

On top of that, Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world. Why shouldn't it have its own convention for fans of comics, sci-fi, horror, and all things geek?!

At SDCC, I can't even get remotely close to my idols, celebrities, and panels because the lines are so large and the schedule so jam-packed that it's impossible to see everything.

Again, I love what Comikaze is doing. It's so important that they succeed here in Los Angeles. Okay, on to my thoughts!

Improvements

Here's where things got better:

Actual badges-- ditching the wristband
Better line management
Social Media and website improvements

One, the badges are totally the way to go. I spoke with some attendees in line and they also agreed that the badges are a big improvement. No one wants to wear a wristband for 2-3 days-- eating, showering, sleeping with it on, no one. It was also really awesome that they allowed badge pick-up one day early on Thursday. I went and got my badge without waiting in a line.

Which brings me to my second point: the line management and security were better this year. Not the best I've seen, but the line wasn't going out South Hall's front door like last year. Those who bought tickets online got better service and those who purchased on-site had a bit of a line-- not big though. This is a fair way to handle lines.

Thirdly (is that a word even?), Comikaze's social media presence is amazing. Their Facebook and Twitter accounts are top notch and something everyone else can learn from. They have great content and social interactions with fans. This truly makes them live up to their slogan-- "For fans, by fans". They put out timely posts, not too much, not too little, and everything is relevant to their brand.

Here's a screenshot of my tweet to them:

Room for Improvement

But that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. For one, no one beats the way San Diego Comic Con or Anime Expo (AX) does line management. Those guys are the best with how they keep the long lines of fans moving and in order.

It seems they use Elite to manage their security, which they're good at. Unfortunately, they also seem to use them for line management, which really isn't that good. On the first day, I arrived a bit early and ended up waiting in line for about an hour. It's not that there was a line that bothered me, it was that it was rather unclear how the line was going to get everyone in quickly.

A picture of the line on the first day before they opened.

Also, it seems they ushered everyone in through the side of the building-- the front and South Hall main lobby wasn't open for people to wait in I guess? To me, this is a waste of space since fans and cosplayers could be hanging out in there AND wait in line to get in. This is how AX does it, and it makes better use of fan's time to mingle, take pictures, and walk around to see what everyone else is wearing. Instead ushering everyone to one side and having them all wait in a queued section can be wasteful.

Especially since this particular queue wasn't really handled fairly. From what I saw, you line up in one of several queues (rows basically). So you have Row1, Row2, Row3 for instance. Then, each row would then be divided in half. So then you have Row1A, Row1B, Row2A, Row2B, etc. So when it came time to let people in, Row1A and Row1B go in at the same time. The problem is that the people at the end of Row1A go in later than those at the beginning at Row1B, who technically are behind them.

This isn't exactly a big deal when we're only dealing with a few hundred people in line. Now imagine if there's a few thousand-- it's a big deal then in terms of customer satisfaction.

As a fan and someone who detests lines, here's what I look for in line management:

Fairness
Movement
ETA

Fairness is the sense that there is one line of fans where people aren't wandering to the front, cutting, etc. AX does a great job of this by marking the ground and having the line weave around. Then by having volunteers help manage the line so no one cuts corners is a great plus.

A picture of how Anime Expo handles long lines.

Movement is a level of efficiency so that everyone isn't standing in one spot too long. It's bad enough there's a line, but the illusion that progress isn't being made can be unbearable.

ETA is short for estimated-time-of-arrival. In general, I would like to know how long I will be waiting in line. Most importantly, I would like to know if I can get served eventually-- I don't want to wait in line only for it to be closed off before I get served. This wasn't so much a problem this year, but I think it's worth mentioning anyway.

The main stage is also an area of weakness. I know this is only their third year, and they're probably going through growing pains a bit, but the main stage should probably get its own room or hall-- with seats. Not necessarily a big one, just one big enough so that attendees can get in/out safely without stepping on each other's feet. It can be rathering annoying to have a 6'4" guy in the front blocking the view of everyone behind him.

Overall, everything at Comikaze Expo went really well. I look forward to attending again next year and taking photos. Maybe I can score a photography gig with them and get an All-Access pass.

Here are some albums: