Comikaze Expo Day 1: A First Timer’s Experience

If you’re new to Geekscape, or don’t pay attention to us that well, you know we are HUGE fans of the Comikaze Expo. One of our current favorite shows is Fangasm even! So when I booked a trip for Mega64’s Gamedays meetup at Disneyland and found out it landed the same weekend as Comikaze I flipped. I was finally going to be able to attend the convention!

I was wheels down in LA late Wednesday and got up the next morning ready to go! I met up with our fearless leader and the Crazy Canuck at the LA Convention Center. We setup the booth and it looked great! The new steel and table covering really made us look like professionals!

We snagged lunch and prepped for the radio show, heading down to the heart of LA. Hollywood Boulevard. Watching Derek slowly becoming more and more amazed the farther we traveled down the Walk of Fame was adorable. Our little Canadian was amazed by the wonders of the big city, though when approached by a man offering free Hip Hop CD’s we couldn’t stop him. He was dragged into a conversation about the in’s and out’s of independent Hip Hop. Turns out the free Hip Hop was actually $10.

We quickly left that situation and bounded into the Toadhop Network Studios. The place was amazing and seeing it from behind the webcam was great. I got to meet the entire cast of Fangasm, and got my street passes in as well! If you want to watch that episode check it out HERE!

We parted ways and went back to our respective beds. For tomorrow, the first full day of Comikaze 2013 was to be had. It was also the 2nd time I was on Public Transit and ultimately the last. The horrors I saw that day cannot be retold.

I arrived at the convention center, Press Badge in hand, and the excitement was too much for me to handle. Seeing all the cosplayers and nerds walking towards Comikaze put a giggle in my step…giggle? You get what I mean. We got the booth all ready, got our two demo reels going on the TV and waited. Soon the countdown began over the PA. 15 minutes to floor open. 10 minutes. 5. It’s always a combination of terror and excitement when the flood gates open. The hordes of fans seeking their own must have pieces of swag, the elaborate cosplayers and their props. They all are bitter sweet. Sweet that a large group of like minded individuals can congregate and share their passions with each other (Plus StreetPassing). Bitter that they will utlitamtely end up in your way at some point and getting from Row 600 to Row 800 would take 30 minutes.

What Comikaze has that most other cons I’ve gone to lack, is the genuineness of the crowd. The people attending are the real fans of the books, shows and toys they are there to see. Gone are the wannabe rockstars of SDCC, and in their place rabid, but polite fans. I pulled Derek out into the aisle and put my arms out, and I began to spin. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS AT SAN DIEGO CAN YOU DEREK?!”. I then realized I was becoming a bother when our booth neighbors all collectively gave me the grump face. I decided it was time to explore the floor!

The diversity of booths and vendors at Comikaze is amazing. There are artists, film makers, comic vendors, toys, clothing and even robot makers here. It really runs the gambit and you can see the passion in everyone’s booth.

We made a wide path. I asked a booth how much their Carnage action figure was, and it turns out it was the guys from the Travel Channel show Toy Hunter! So look for us on the upcoming new season! The video game museum setup a nice area where you could play some classic games from the arcade to the N64. We rounded the outside, some more, and ran into the Build WALL-E Project guys. They had a fully functional WALL-E robot, fully articulated and down right amazing.

By the time we made our way the entire loop of the hall, a great deal of time had passed. In my possession was a brand new IDW MLP Art Print Comic and my very first ZOM! Running into Rick after all these years was a great feeling. I FINALLY GOT A ZOM!

The panel lineup for day one was fairly laxed, with the big ones coming Saturday and Sunday, so we ogled some Cosplayers a bit and returned to the booth. Our neighbors were great, the folks at Troma are basically our convention buddies and seem to always be following us!

Before I knew it, day one was coming to a close. The next day was twice as long with twice as much amazing stuff going on. So we hit up home early and got ready for more Comikaze!

Be sure to stay posted here for my coverage of Day 2 as well as the incredible Mega 64 Gamedays 2013 meetup at Disney!