Cosplay, Cosplay, Cosplay

We’re suckers for cosplay. We love to look at it, love to make it (even if we curse ourselves as we do so), and we love to be part of the cosplay community. ALA was a cosplayer’s heaven. Dozens of well-known photographers, hundreds of friendly cosplayers, and nearly twenty panels devoted to the art form.

We met so many new and awesome people in the cosplay community, such as Shutterbug Sam, who’s love of levitation photography led to really cool shots like this:

To see more ALA cosplay, click here.

Talking About Culture and Stuff

I know the big draw for conventions like SDCC and WonderCon are big film and television panels, packed with celebrities and fans, but for me, I’ve always enjoyed the smaller community panels where like-minded people come together to talk about culture and the industry. Perhaps it’s just because I’m still an academic at heart, but I thrive on hearing about others’ research and perspectives, even it’s just on how to build cosplay on a budget (which was a totally helpful panel, btw…thanks Simbakun!).

The Spacious Exhibition Floor

Perhaps I’ve never told you this, but one of my biggest fears is to be in a building full of people when disaster strikes (fire, earthquake, Trump), inevitably crushing me under the heels of everyone else. I typically dread visiting the exhibition floor of a convention for this reason: too many people, not enough space, and everyone shoves you out of the way so that they can buy that convention exclusive Pop!.

Not a problem at ALA. The aisles were so wide that I could lay down, stretch out completely, and still not touch the booths on either side. It was a con shopper’s heaven. I spent hours on the exhibition floor, and not because I became trapped in the horde. Which brings me to my favorite part of every convention…

So. Much. Art.

In our apartment, we have currently hung and framed nineteen pieces of art that we’ve purchased at conventions over the last year or so….and I have 5 more still to be framed. At this Artist Alley, I had a mission to find Yuri On Ice art.

I was not disappointed.

https://twitter.com/dearcollectress/status/828086072013791233

I have two more: one of Yuuri, one of Viktor. 😉

No Hassle Parking

The Collected Mutineer and I were a wee bit spoiled, since the convention center is less than 10 minutes away from us. Even so, we left an hour early to find parking, which, as it turned out, was unnecessary. We were ushered into a lot that was less than 50 feet from the front door, and virtually empty. No lie: that was my favorite part of the convention.

All in all, Anime Los Angeles was an awesome experience and I am already excited for next year!

-TC.

Been to ALA? Come chat with me on Twitter or Insta.