The Pacific Media Expo 2012 Entry

Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh MAN. Pacific Media Expo this year was just amazing. This opinion may seem quite biased, but believe me when I say that it was nothing short of extraordinary for this Veterans Day Weekend.

(Yes, I'm too lazy to actually type anything new. In case you didn't notice, the above paragraph was taken from 2011's Pacific Media Expo entry. Oh, sue me!)

The floor of the Los Angeles Airport Hilton during Pacific Media Expo 2012.

With that said, I'm going to put a disclaimer right now stipulating that 2012's PMX entry will not be as long as 2011's. I was enjoying myself too much to accurately remember every fine detail that happened - mostly because if I wasn't sleeping, I was likely on duty. That, and I wasn't able to get enough pictures (I'm going to blame me working way too hard this year.), so there's not enough things for you lazy Americans to "not read."

However! This does not mean I'm going to cop out of making a decent entry! No, no... rather, you'll get to see and hear about some cool things.

Just one of the many items I procured for future use against you.

No, I'm serious; you'll see/hear cool and awesome things in this entry. Should you not believe me, then go ahead and let me know. I bought myself a sentry turret from Aperture Laboratories and I'm just dying to give it a field test.

So, without much further ado (and so I can complete the opening with a pun), let's gun our way through my memories of Pacific Media Expo 2012 (for science)!





CURRENT MUSIC:
Hideyuki Fukasawa - "Overpass Stage (Tokyo)"
Street Fighter IV Original Soundtrack

It took a lot of willpower to get me to sit down and type this whole shebang up. For, like, the past while or so I've been feeling quite funky with this whole "writing a blog entry 365 (366 since it's Leap Year) days of the year" thing. It's gotten me feeling all "blah-like" and quite lame, if you ask me.

It's at these times when it becomes paramount to play something that revitalizes your spirits. By rallying under the notes and rhythm, you can re-inspire yourself and kick lethargy and disinterest in the ass. Or at the very least, get yourself to crank the gears just enough so you do something worthwhile.

This is where music from fighting games can help, and Street Fighter IV's Tokyo overpass stage is one of them. Virtually all of the music heard in-game during fights can be used to pump up energy and get the inspiration flowing in some way. Failing that, it can help by pumping energy through the body - which also makes this kind of music perfect to play while working out.


PSY - "Gangnam Style"
PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1

Considering the fact that I did just come from a convention where music such as this is "normal," it's not all that surprising that "Gangnam Style" ended up on my playlist again. If someone began to blare this song, virtually everyone around them (minus the press) would drop what they're doing and dance. I know I did, because that's what we do. We hear a song that sounds awesome to us and we react accordingly.



Of course, what made the experience even greater was the fact that PMX had a few people cosplaying as PSY. Most of the attendees and staff (myself included) would have to say that this particular PSY cosplayer seen in the video above nailed the look perfectly.





What can I say about this year's Pacific Media Expo apart from the fact that it was pretty awesome? Well, I'm not sure. I'll just let you know the main gist of things that happened - and the big things that I remember about the whole deal.

As with any convention, there were a great many cosplayers out there. A grand majority of them seemed to come from Homestuck (which I apparently need to get into). There were also a great many cosplayers from games, series, movies, and others that I have seen... and a few that I've yet to see. I didn't get a chance to photograph all of them, but I did get a few. Here's the ones I really liked.

(Author's Note: I severely apologize for the photo quality (or lack thereof). As I lost my awesome camera about two months ago, it's been kinda sucky having to go back to using my cell phone for a camera. *sad face* It's just weird because the evidence keeps coming back to my camera just vanishing out of thin air...)

Andross (Star Fox)

The feeling of getting back into "con mode" as most experienced convention staffers call it... it gives me a sense of nostalgia. It was a similar feeling when I ran into this guy. A simple cosplay, yes, but a pretty fun one nonetheless.

Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney series)

In case the law needed to be brought down, famed defense attorney Phoenix Wright was here to help. (I also saw a Godot cosplayer with him, but I never got a chance to get a photo...)

...wait a second; this guy looks familiar...

Sakura must have stepped up her game.
(I took this photo back at PMX 2009.)

...I KNEW IT! He's the same Ryu I see every year at PMX! Yay for people I recognize! He jokingly called me out on me not remembering who he was - he had cosplayed as Ryu on Friday (I took the Phoenix Wright photo on Saturday). Also, he joked about recognizing me as the one Security staff member who he remembers (some of the recurring attendees have come to call me "Captain Nerf" - maybe I should make that into a thing...).

Captain America (Marvel)

In the event that the law wasn't enough to vanquish evil, then I could call on a captain worth calling: Captain America! There were a few Marvel cosplayers at PMX 2012 (three Captains, two Spideys, one Deadpool, and I want to say an X-23 as well) as well as a few DC cosplayers (two Batmans, one Batgirl, one Catwoman, one Riddler, two Banes, and one Nightwing).

Coincidentally, all of the Captain America cosplayers decided to use the same cosplay design from the Captain America movie - the scene where he solo parachutes into Hydra territory, frees the entire prison block, and brings the survivors home? Yeah, that outfit. And that shield this guy had? ACTUAL STEEL.

Bug Catcher (Pokémon games)

I took a break from all that law-fighting and decided to play a children's card game partake in legalized animal-fighting. Kidding; I ran into a Bug Catcher from your favorite Pokémon game. Unfortunately, I assumed too much...

Gengar (Pokémon games)

...because the first thing he threw out at me was a freakin' Gengar. What the hell, Bug Catcher!? You're supposed to use bugs! What kind of dumb trainer are you anyway!? (Kidding - we all have fun.)

Sniper (Team Fortress 2)

So after my defeat in the fight, I went to the shooting range and I ran into everyone's favorite Australian, Steve Irwin Crocodile Dundee that Aussie chick you banged at that one party while you were on vacation the Sniper from that wacky FPS Team Fortress 2. He told me he was waiting for a concert to start. (Of course he was - I was doing line control for said concert.)

Master Chief (Halo series)

Even the Master Chief dropped in the convention. (This was by far one of the coolest cosplays for the Chief I've seen yet.) Any convention attendee and staffer who loved the Halo games at one point awed over how cool this dude was...

Slender Man

...and then their jaws dropped for another reason when SLENDER MAN showed up! *flees*









































*walks back in* M-Moving on... *constantly keeps looking behind him*

Rufio (Hook)

I shouldn't have worried about Slender Man. If there's one person I know that could kill the Slender Man (one doesn't not simply kill Slender Man), it's the leader of the Lost Boys, Peter Pan Rufio! Chant it with me, everypony! Rufio! Rufio! Ru-fee-

-OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Speaking of Rufio: guess who was a guest panelist at PMX this year? Dante frakking Basco.

There are times when meeting yourself can be awkward.
This is not one of those times.

Yeah, that's right. Rufio from Hook, Jake from American Dragon: Jake Long, Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and numerous other roles (which, according to mainstream media, are unknown)... he was here! I got to meet him! And. It. Was. Awesome!

(The very British) Martin Billany pointing at a PMX security staffer. Wait, that guy looks familar...

And speaking of meeting people, I got to meet Martin Billany, known across the Internet as "LittleKuriboh," the famed creator of the popular online show Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series. Upon chatting with him, I found he was quite humble, friendly, and talkative with the many fans who attended his panel (I worked Security for it, so I got to laugh along with everyone else whilst preventing Slender Man from killing everyone inside) and/or shopped at his little booth in the Exhibition Hall.

Oh, and I had a video recorded of him (I asked him what he and Seto Kaiba thought of PMX - Billany loved it). Sadly, however, I didn't have time to get it recoded to a format YouTube liked. You'll have to see it another time once I get it transcoded.





But yeah... all in all, I enjoyed it so very much. I'm obviously going to staff Security again next year (it's a given), but I have much different plans this time. Next year, I'm planning on taking some of you with me. We're going to work Security and we're going to rock it out! Mwahahaha!

*clears throat*





I must end this entry right here right now. I know, I know - I haven't talked about everything, but in a time when mere words aren't enough to explain how much fun I had this year, this will have to do. Short but concise - I hope you enjoyed it!

There's just one thing I didn't discuss this year: convention swag. No, not that shitty slang term that's plaguing the world right now - the stuff you get from shows and conventions. Loot. You're probably wondering about the things I bought for myself, aren't you? Well, good. I'm cutting you off and placing this cliffhanger here for two reasons:

1. I'm a bit tired of composing blog entries. If I was six times as inspired about posting as I am now, then I'm pretty sure I'd have the capacity to keep going. However, I don't, so we're forced to see this entry end right here.
2. I'm a sucker for acting like a complete jerkass with megalomania. A writer leaving the reader at a cliffhanger? That is just pure evil. (Reading a cliffhanger on Battle Royale over the weekend and groaning upon realizing that I had no time to read on before my next assignment didn't help any, either.)

So until the 'morrow, everyone. You'll hear about my loot pickups for participating in the 25-man version of the "Pacific Media Expo 2012 Security" raid.

Anyone who loved the fourth-gen Pokémon games looked on in envy at the new owner of this amazing plush.
(Plushie was created by Cassie "Shalie" Wilson. This link takes you to her dA picture of the same item.)

In the meantime, you can look on in envy at this awesome Garchomp plushie that you will never have because I have one I totally stole from a PMX attendee for "security reasons" don't have.

Drool on 'til tomorrow, readers! I'm gonna go and -

*Psycho strings*

AAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Slender Man! Run for your lives! Run fo-

--- signal lost ---
date: 14NOV2012