Pacific Media Expo 2015, Days 1-2: Overview

Pacific Media Expo changed dates and venues for 2015, taking place on Labor Day Weekend and returning to Pasadena for the first time since 2010!

I’d been hoping for a return to Pasadena, since it was close to many great places to nom and offered lots of cheap places to park. The Pasadena area is also quite lovely; I didn’t really take advantage of it last time, but this time I managed to get a photoshoot in!

It’s my friend Tomoyo-chan as Big Hero 6‘s Honey Lemon!

So many pretty dresses for you to buy; J-fashion is a big part of PMX!

Geoff Pascual was here last year, and his art continues to amaze!

So many plushies!

Managed to take in a few panels, including a fan-fiction writing one and this one hosted by dolldelight!

My favorite part of PMX is the Swap Meet!

Although it was competing against three or four other cons that weekend, I still managed to enjoy myself, running into many friends I hadn’t seen in quite a while (including my friend Nitemare1004 as male Caitlyn from League of Legends), checking out the cosplay masquerade, and even taking in a concert!

PMX has already announced the date and venue for 2016 and I’m happy to report that they’ll be back in Pasadena in November!

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and be sure to Like The Vault on Facebook, where I’m finally caught up through 2010! 😀

2015 09 05-09 06 Sat-Sun: PMX 2015, Days 1-2: Overview

Full Coverage of Pacific Media Expo 2015, Days 1-2:

PMX 2015, Days 1-2: Overview
Femme Fatale Concert at PMX
PMX CosFest Masquerade
Lolita Photoshoot

PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015

Once again, PMX and Infotakus held a Cosplay Runway Show at this year’s Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival!

Tomoyo-chan was the returning emcee as a baker’s dozen showed off their cosplays in advance of the summer con season.

I believe the first cosplay was a Sailor Moon?

I have to say that I liked this cosplay very much!

These two were great! They kept mugging during the judging for Audience Favorite.

This cosplayer actually got into cosplay because of her kids! 😀

She struck so many cute poses it was hard to narrow them down!

I’m going to go out on a limb and say Kirito from Sword Art Online.

Although it was promoted as a Runway Show and all the participants got goodie bags, they also gave out prizes to the Audience Favorite. Here, MC Tomoyo-chan goes down the line to gauge audience reaction.

There was a pretty good turn out (either that or I just got there really, really late ^^; ) and everyone had a great time. Maybe one of these days I’ll stick around long enough to do some photoshoots!

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and be sure to Like The Vault on Facebook, where I’m finally caught up through 2010! 😀

2015 04 18 Sat: PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015
PMX / dolldelight Fashion Show [2015]

Ninja-Con 2014 Photoshoots

Was running around quite a bit during Ninja-Con since I was staffing, but still managed to snap photos of some amazing cosplayers as well as crash some of my friends’ shoots! xD

This Link from The Legend of Zelda was pretty awesome! … but she’s probably going to add to that whole Link/Zelda confusion. ^^;

Was going to take one from over Deadpool‘s shoulder as well, but somebody came over while I was taking this shot and beat me to it, so…. 😛

I’ve known Kris Z. for years and have been bugging him for pointers the entire time, but this is the first time s̶t̶e̶a̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶s̶ learning from Kris-senpai! xD I’ve likewise known cosplayer Michael for a while (at least since Tomo Neko 2013), but this is the first time I’ve shot with him as well!

Was lucky enough to run into my friends Aoi Mizuno and shyot while they were doing a shoot in the Garden with some other friends. Even though I’d hung out with them less than two weeks before at FanimeCon, I haven’t shot with them since last year’s Ninja-Con! :O

Had finished shooting with some of the Tokari Maids and was heading back to grab some of the others when I saw Kris-Z shooting with Tomoyo-chan in her Kyary Pamyu Pamyu cosplay!

My friend Akana Amemoto was taking pictures of this guy and I took a few as well.

My one “official” shoot (besides the one with Tokari) was with my friend Akana Amemoto (formerly known as Hidekowin). Can’t believe I hadn’t seen Akana in, like, two years! D:

While technically only the photos of Akana were from an actual photoshoot, it’s always fun hanging out and watching other, more talented, photographers work! One more photoshoot album from Ninja-Con featuring the Tokari Maids coming soon!

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and check out The Vault on Facebook, where I’ve been posting events from 2009! 😀

2014 06 07 Sat: Ninja-Con 2014 Photoshoots

Full Coverage of Ninja-Con 2014:

Ninja-Con 2014
Ninja-Con 2014 Photoshoots
Tokari Maids of Ninja-Con 2014 Photoshoot

Ninja-Con 2014

Ninja-Con returned for another year of fun in Little Tokyo!

This indie anime convention was able to attract an even bigger crowd this time while still maintaining its “hometown” feel. Many artists, performers, and celebrities again took part in this intimate one-day show.

Taiko drummers perform during Ninja-Con’s Opening Ceremonies.

D-Boy, Founder and CEO of Ninja-Con, is joined by the Tokari Maids. Photoshoot with the Maids coming soon!

Special Guest Mikarin of Takeriya Samurai performs in the James Irvine Japanese Garden at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center.

Guests of Honor Celeste Orchid and Dustbunny host a panel.

Special Guest Chii Sakurabi performs in Los Angeles for the first time!

Guest of Honor Candy Bomber (featuring my friend Paprika Mari as lead singer) performs as well!

Ninja-Con’s gaming area featured console and table top gaming.

My friends, Tune in Tokyo‘s DJ Greg and Infotakus‘ Tomoyo-chan, host a J-pop Vs. K-pop panel! Which of those two genres do you prefer?

Guests of Honor Reuben Langdon (Devil May Cry 4), Lauren Landa (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika), and Lisle Wilkerson (Skullgirls) host a voice acting panel.

The Tokari Maids pose with guests in the Tokari Lounge.

Guest of Honor On Being Human puts on a rocking performance.

Even though Ninja-Con took over Little Tokyo, I was still able to run into many friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in years! What a great way to keep the con momentum going with this great event nestled in between FanimeCon and Anime Expo. Photoshoots from the con and with the Tokari Maids coming soon!

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and check out The Vault on Facebook, where I’ve been posting events from 2009! 😀

2014 06 07 Sat: Ninja-Con 2014

Full Coverage of Ninja-Con 2014:

Ninja-Con 2014
Ninja-Con 2014 Photoshoots
Tokari Maids of Ninja-Con 2014 Photoshoot

PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2014

PMX continued its new tradition of running a Cosplay Runway Show instead of a Cosplay Contest at this year’s Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival and enlisted the help of Infotakus to do it!

Tomoyo-chan was the host as twenty-four cosplayers strutted their stuff on-stage. I was able to get a much better spot this year, though some of my shots were still kind of blurry. ^^;

No idea what series this is from, but I want to say Magi for some reason.

Hey, this Luka was an extra in Looking for Miku!

Is that Luffy from One Piece with a Pokemon trainer?

I really love how the colors of her outfit and her wig complement each other.

She seems so cheerful!

So cute!

I love the chainsaw, haha.

So cool and bad@$$.

Whoa, blast from the past — Happy Tree Friends!

Interesting take on Free!; I think at least one of these cosplayers is also into K-pop since I recognize her from KCON and the Tune in Tokyo 5th Anniversary event!

It’s great to see everyone relaxed and having fun; most of them looked pretty nervous when they did their walk-ons. ^^;

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and check out The Vault on Facebook, where I’ve been posting events from 2009! 😀

2014 04 27 Sun: PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2014
dolldelight/J-Fashion Show 2014

Christmas in (Little) Tokyo [2012]

In mid-December, Little Tokyo was home to a couple of holiday gatherings! The first was Cherry-Jelly Productions‘ holiday party at Anime Jungle!

My friend Mari Aerony had this cute bear kigurumi on!

RisaLight opened up the party with some special video messages direct from Japan, then shared the stage with the US liaison from MaiDreamin. MaiDreamin announced that they are going to open up a maid cafe in Little Tokyo!

Afterwards, there was a cosplay fashion show. All the cosplays, from Cowboy Bebop‘s Faye Valentine to Tiger & Bunny‘s Tiger and Bunny, got a holiday twist! My lens wasn’t wide enough to get all the models, unfortunately.

Oddest Crossover of the Night goes to Deadpool and PSY, lol.

Brinni as Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann. She was really brave b/c it was really cold that night!

Ariel! ♥ Wish you could see her contacts; they were this gorgeous blue!

This Luna Lovegood cosplayer from Harry Potter forgot to take her glasses off, but I think she looks super-cute with them on!

I saw Nia Teppelin’s wig and outfit earlier in the evening and wanted to get a picture of her, but to my chagrin I lost her in the crowd. To my surprise, I saw her up on stage later and realized it was my friend Mynx Midnight! :O

I tracked her down after her performance but she’d already changed out of the outfit for her gig at 2nd Street Jazz down the street. :< She promised we'd take photos at some point, so I'm looking forward to it, since Nia is one of mai waifus! ♥

During the event, some of my friends did a photoshoot nearby and I managed to sneak a few shots! I try to stay out of the way of the professionals whenever I’m allowed the privilege of observing. Sometimes I can get some interesting shots, like this one. I like to think that Luffy from One Piece blasted a hole in some poor guy’s gut here, lol.

It’s my friend bunnycharms! ♥ Caught her while they were running down to 2nd Street Jazz after Mynx Midnight's earlier performance as Nia.

I missed the cosplay contest, but I did get some nice close-ups with some of them when they were milling about. See them in the album linked below!

Black Vash makes the ladies swoon!

The next day, Infotakus and Century Rose Cafe held a meet up at the Little Tokyo Galleria Market. The gathering was by the Christmas tree and people came and went since the arcade and cool little shops were all right there!

D’awwww. I believe the cosplay is Eiji Seiun, as there was a Danny Choo/Mirai Suenaga event earlier in the day at Kotobukiya.

There was a lot of hanging out and there was plenty of food and snacks available!

Stealing shots from one of KrisZ‘s photoshoots. ^^

I’ve been a member of Infotakus — a group of otaku friends — for a while, but I’d never actually gone to any of the events until this one. It was fun meeting some folks and seeing people I hadn’t seen in a while!

See the full albums on Facebook, linked below!

2012 12 14 Fri: OtaXmas 2012
2012 12 15 Sat: Infotakus and Century Rose Cafe!