Well ladies and gentlemen, I have returned from FanExpo and you know what...? It was GREAT! And in the tradition of convention goers past, and present, I give you the LiveJournal Convention Report Special! and to start the report, here's a teaser image:



Now it goes without saying that this post will be VERY image heavy, but luckily, the images shall be held under lj-cuts. Now onto the report!


Day 1: Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Now as most of you know, during my weeks I begrudgingly go off to my humble but incredibly stressfull, mind-numbingly, annoying, degrading, boring, assinine, rage inducing, menial walmart job. And every other week, I get paid for my work, it's only fair. Now this Friday I had worked a lot of hours and it was a good thing, I was down to my last 130 bucks in the bank, and that can only last a person so far. So as always, I called the bank to make sure the paycheck went through and it had! But that's not the kicker, I learned I had 621 dollars and change to play with!! If you could see the huge smile I had on my face when I heard that. I made a point of getting up nice and early,(on the dot of 8) to find out about the money and get ready. Mind you, the convention wouldn't open officially untill 4 that afternoon, but everyone should get up early so that they can get hyped up for this sort of thing, at least I would...So yeah, I had a pile of money and was hell bent on spending it all, only to find out from my mother that we'd have to go to the Ex, and as such, there would have to be a limit to my spending *sniffle*, but I was certain I would still have fun, none the less.

So ol' Leah hopped into the shower, did the washing thing and the Nair thing, as it is incredibly important to not have peach fuzz on your legs when going to conventions, or at least, I feel like everyone would stare at my legs and think I'm some kind of hippie or one of the fabled women in jpr0n who don't shave their umm..."girl parts" non-leg shaving degenerate! Now on a side note, why can't someone invent some sort of pill that will make the hair just fall off and never grow back? Yeah the pill would probably cost a lot, but think ladies, all the time you'd save by not having to shave, use dipillatories or wax DX! But I better not stray too, too far. After getting all nice and clean, I picked out this adorable lime green and white get up, I'm thinking I should have cosplayed but I had no ideas for an outfit and also, the winter months have not been very nice to me, that combined with fact I don't like to see chocolate brownies, sitting in the kitchen, minding their own business, I find that 5 pounds have managed to sneak up on me, and deposit themselves in my waist...if only I could erase them like I do, lines on a pencil sketch(I shall get rid of them, so help me God >__>!). So with the outfit chosen, makeup was applied, perfume spayed and I was off to the races. The day before(which we shall refer to as "Thursday"), I bought a pair of those really flat, ballerina type shoes just for the event, thinking they'd be comfortable for all the walking, but I would soon learn that these shoes weren't as wonderful as they looked...

Luckily for me, I live near to the trainstation and the convention is downtown. As much as I'd like to, the law says I cannot drive as I have only a learner's permit(someone kick me to get my liscence -_-!), so I went for a train ride down town instead, and that's a good thing, as I absolutely love riding on the train from waaaaay back when. Of course I had to pack a few keu items for the trip, money(unfortunately many things need money), cellphone, iPod(every trip needs a sound track), TNA gymbag to hold all the goodies, PSP...but then mom said there was no need for gaming on the train D:! There is always a need for gaming!! So that stayed at home, took my shades, tissue, scissors, emergency advil, blotting paper for sweaty foreheads XP...yes I can fit many things into any purse. With a sutible gear, I made my way to the station and borded the train headed for downtown's Union Station, and it was then, that my long and incessant, agonizing foot pain...



Now ladies, we all would agree, that we have a certain perference, for a certain type of shoe right? For me it would be heels! Now I'm not a short lady, I'm around 5'7"-8" and according to a statistic I've read, the average female is around 5'3"-5'5" but I still like wearing my heels as I'm convinced that I was supposed to be 6 feet tall D:! Upon suggestion from the lady who gave birth to me, also known as my mother, I would give the ballerina shoes a try. I tried on a pair of shoes at Winners and they felt comfortable to walk in, I checked at least 3 times to confirm this and paid for them. But there seems to be a kind of Murphy's Law that states, that as soon as you leave the store with the shoes, something just has to go wrong and you'll regret buying them. For me, the shoes were too damn big for my feet and my feet kept sliding around, and I eventually ended up with really sore feet and blisters developing on my baby toes...GOD WHY DO YOU GIVE ME SMALL BUT WIDE FEET? WHY CAN'T I BE A PERFECT SIZE 5?!?!? WHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY D:?!? As I continue with my recount of day 1, you shall all see the physical pain and anguish these shoes caused me!


My feet were starting to feel a little "funny" when I arrived at Union, but I thought if I attempted to ignore the discomfort and focus on the sights and sounds of the convention, the evil foot pain would go bye-bye. So in order to get from point A to point B , I would have to shuffle my feet in order to keep my feet in the oversized shoes, but doing this, would cause the heel of the shoe to bend back, and almost trip me. So the walking pattern went a little like this: *shuffle* *shuffle* *almost trip and curses* *shuffle* *shuffle* *lean against something to push my feet back into the shoes* *shuffle* *shuffle* wash, rinse and repeat! You all can tell where this is going right? If not, keep reading. So FanExpo this year was being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center and I had no idea where it was. Now the little map I had made it look like, I could just walk(or in my case, shuffle) over diagonally from the trainstation and there it would be, but the map lies! The map lied just like how the cake is a lie! But lady luck smiled upon me, and I noticed this chick walking around with a plastic sword and geta walking in the general direction, so I shuffled behind her and after having to take a few rest breaks, asking a few people, while glancing at the map, I found the convention center! Whooo! And I knew I was in the right place because there were anime cosplayers, trekkies and this strange cult! More about the cult in the minute. Now can I tell you all how handy it is to not only buy tickets before an event, but to do it online? It's amazing, I just had to wait in a line and get my badge and VIP pass, not only that, but because I bought the premium pass(that allows you to attend all 3 days), I got a goody bag! I am not lying, this bag had a damn cup from Blockbuster, posters, a free Batman comic, buttons, movie passes and all kind of stuff and it was FREE :O!!! Now the only annoyance of waiting in line to get my gooddy bag...wait there were two things. One was the lenght of the line, waiting in line with gradually sore feet(with pain that was extending up one calf and into the ankle of the other foot) and the second was this couple...now I'm not some prude and I was in love once(and it was EPIC), but Goddammit, not everyone wants to see what you do when you make out and how you french each other -_-. It was this black dude with like 2 lip piercings and this brunette, aneorexic looking, white chick who(I'm not making this up) was walking around in a very sheer, babydoll and black/white, candy stripe stockings and sneakers. Now if there's such a thing as a gothic skank this girl was it! And another thing, now I'm not seasoned in wearing lingerie but, I would imagine that it would help if you, didn't have the chest of a 12 year old girl when prancing around in lacy bits for your punk boyfriend, so to you, miss Skankylocks, get some implants, and stop making out with your metallic boytoy, or my sore, slippered feet will find their way up your, stick-thin ass. So what we've learned? Please no PDA and just because you're at a convention, where people will be dressed up doesn't mean you need to dress like a slut when you have no curves. It's kind of like how I can't wear those sweaters that fall on your shoulders because God/Mother nature said I should have the kind of boobs that would rival a a surgically enhanced porn star >_>...but let's not get carried away, shall we?


Now with my VIP pass, I was allowed to get into the con events, and the dealer room at 2 instead of 4. And with that, I had to wait in line, and guess who I saw? If you said "Skankylocks and Mr.Lip-piercings" you win 3 internets! Oh yes, there they were, every 20 seconds, having to practically nip each other's faces off. There was someone there cosplaying as Sailor Pluto, complete with the Time key, I wanted to take that damn staff and beat them with it. You'd think someone would have told them to keep the PDA to a minimum! So ignoring them, I was really suprised at the cosplay turnout. As expected, I saw lots of Naruto, Sasuke and other Naruto related people, quite a few Orginazation XIII, Roxas and Sora, KH cosplays, and even though it's only been out for a little while, I saw a few Jokers! I really should have gone up to one, and asked "y so srs?" just for the hell of it. After a good 30 minutes of waiting in line and seeing Lip-piercings make out with Twig-skank, I was into the dealer rooom. Now this dealer room was different, not only were there stalls for the different comic and hobby shops around Toronto and Canada, but near the back was the Artist Alley and scattered around there were booths dedicated to sci-fi, horror, a huge sectioned off area to PS3/xbox and online games and also autograph signings. The first stall had stuff from Labyrinth, now these guys are always at the college campus a couple of times a year selling their artbooks, comics, how-to books and other manga related stuff. Everytime they're around, I always manage to not have money, even when I started working at walmart, they'd be there and I'd either have no money or need money to buy a buss pass or something, but that Friday was different! Labyrinth has artbooks by a lot of artists who I admire, they have stuff by the Udon Crew, the character designer of Disgea/La Peucelle: Tactics and other games(I wish I could remember the name), Range Murata and others. But they had art books by one artist, books that I've wanted for a couple of months now, and those books were by, Hyung Tae Kim! Before anyone could even glance at the damn books, I took all 3 of them that were there! I didn't care about the price or anything, practically digging my nails into the covers, I presented the books to one of the ladies working there. I proudly told her(or was it more like a nerd?) that I was looking for the books online and couldn't find a store that sold them all, she smiled and told me it would cost 199 and change to pay for them all. It wouldn't be until much later that I would realise the dent that these books put into my bank account, or in other words...my bank account was RAEP'D! Smiling like an idiot, I continued walking around, looking at the different stalls and feeling tingly all over 8D!


Next place were I dropped some money was a place that sold comics, plushies and other little things. They had a wall of plushies, the majority of which were Kingdom Hearts, Ouran High School Host Club and Final Fantasy VII related, so I cheerfully go up and ask, "Do you all have any Zack Fair plushies :3?" First of all the guy gave me a puzzled look...how can you know about Cloud, Sephiroth, Squall(from FF8) and not know ZACK from the LATEST FFVII related game. Hell they didn't even have my boy Vincent Valentine in plush form! Now Vinnie was my boy way before I learned of the gorgeousness that is Mr. Zachary Fair. It's just not right, you have Mr. Chocobo, Cloud and Silver-haired-every girl drools for-and writes an assload of fics about Sephiroth but no damn Zack or Vincent... man I should have at least picked up the little chocobo they had, but I settled for an Advent Children Cloud plush, but I will do any and everything to find a Zack plush, I owe him that much. And I must do the same for Vincent...I must D:. 25 dollars were exchanged and Chocobo head was stuffed into the gym bag, along with my deliciously beautiful artbooks. Now my foot pain was increasing in intensity, but I had to still try and look around. I pass by a stall run by Currys and surprisingly, they've started selling Copic Ciao markers :o! It took everything I had not to buy some of those or a couple Copic Multiliners, but the bank account raep was starting to set in. While going from stall to stall, I realised how rediculously expensive EVERYTHING was. They had some model kits and resin figurines that I would have loved to buy, like there was a Lancelot Knightmare Frame I would have bought to show off to entropyx but the thing was 75 damn dollars. Now I know there's a whole market for people who like to make those things but sheesh...I guess I'll have to look through J-list or any other online store and see what I can come up with. Passed by this huge place that was selling, the cheapest looking tshirts for...20 bucks. Now maybe my days at walmart have made me into a cheapskate, but 20 bucks for one of those printed thing that you could easily find online for less...oy vey! Finally shuffled to the Artist Alley and saw a few deviants. I made my way over to Shilin's table and shook her hand, looking back, I really should have said a little more to the girl sitting with her, if you're reading this, forgive me, I was too hyper from the books and nervous from actually meeting someone I've only known online -__-! Then I passed by budgie's table, funny thing, I thought budgie was a dude, but there was a girl and someone who I think was her mom there. Methinks it might be a case of being unclear about someone's gender or maybe lone-momo was selling for him/her or MAYBE they're both women and I'm the last to know these things XD? Also I saw Kaze-hime(she even had like these models who were wearing costumes based on her designs o__O), Ichigo-Oh and Qinni. I really should have tried to say hello to more people, but I donno, I don't want to come off like this hyper, obsessed fangirl who latches onto people, because she can't draw...I need more confidence u_____u!

Buy the time had looked through all the artist tables, and at least glanced at some of the people I knew from dA, my feet were killing me(hell I even went to a booth were they had PSP's, just to sit on the leather couch), so I went for a DELICIOUS HOTDAWG OMNOMNOMNOM and tried resting my feet! With a full stomach and hurting feet, I wanted to hit the gaming area, but was barred by security, and forgot I had my VIP pass and I was just so tired. So after being there for only 2 hours, I made my way out, not before taking a few photos! It was a little scary going up to people and asking for a photo though, I kept thiking someone would yell at me or something, so I only took a couple. A tiring train ride home, I crashed on the couch, cuddled up with my artbooks and that concluded day 1...




Day 2: Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

Now day 2 was sort of like day one, but very different XD. For one, after my ordeal with the ballerina shoes from hell, there was no way I would wear them again! So this time, decked out in a simple red and white top, with lots of glitter, a pair of blue jeans and some loafers, I went to the convention in COMFORT! There's nothing to make me cranky like throbbing foot, ankle and calf pain...it was, I can't even describe how bad this thing was, I just know I wouldn't want anyone to experience it! For some reason, the trian ride downtown was a lot faster and walking to the convention center was faster and easier. No line to wait in and no sign of skankylocks, it was a sign that it would be a good day :o! Feeling more confident, I was a hell bent on getting some cosplay photos and I got about 20 something this time! I returned to the AA and got a few little cellphone charms from Kaze-hime, the proceeds of which are going to Breast Cancer Research, so that was my good deed for the day :3!

Should have bought some prints, budgie had a Zack chibi T_T! There was also this table where people would paint your nails for 15 bucks, now if they were offering an elaborate French Manicure, I would have been sold :P! Went to another place and bought a bell collar. I have no idea what possessed me to do it, I'm not some kind of punk or raver(I think) but this thing was so cute and the band had camoflage colours and would go nicely with my army pants :P. Most of my time spent walking around and taking snapshots. Oh did I mention I kept going around the stalls that had plushies, hoping to bring Zack home with me D:? NOT ONE of them had a Zack plushie, I swear, if I knew how to sew, I'd make something myself. Looking back, I should have bought one of those Super Mario mushrooms too, like a 1-Up mushroom, since everyone needs an extra life XD! Still couldn't get over how pricey stuff is, I imagine you'd need to have at least 800 if not 1000 smackeroos just to buy the things you want .____.!

So after walking around in circles for an hour and a half I had a DELICIOUS CREPE WITH CHOCOLATE AND BANANAS OMNOMNOMNOM :9! It was quite yummy. Did I forget to mention how packed the place was over the two days I went there? I'd say there was a couple hundred if not a couple thousand! You could barely move and every time I'd turn, I'd get elbowed or jabbed by something, but still I managed to find the things I wanted. With my VIP pass ready, I went over to the gaming area, and watched people play Halo on these movie theater sized screens, if only I was into Halo :O! They also had these xboxes that were connected to flatscreen computer monitors, why did they have to barracde the place? I wanted in on the epic gaming dammit D:! At least I stuck around for a little bit, watching people play, and I even got a chance to play SoulCalibur4 at this other PS3 booth. The CPU was no match for me and Ivy >|! I shall rule the world as IVY! You hear me? IVYYYY XD! The convention was to end for the day at 6:30 and I left around 5, getting a little tired and the place being a damn furnace with all the people! I saw this guy, his shirt was transparent with sweat and the man-boobs D:! Before I was given a chance to brutally RAEP my bankaccount again, I went home.

Oh and one last thing I must mention, seeing all the artists at the alley, different ages, different skill levels and ethnicities, it really inspired me. I know I wrote a long entry about it before, but I'm saying it again, I want/need/desire/demand to sell something, no matter how small, at a convention. And instead of just saying I'll do it, I have to start working towards it, so now I'm making a promise, and all you people who read it are my witnesses...I'm giving myself till 2010 to get my artistic act together and get a table for FanExpo or Anime North(perhaps starting out with small dA prints is a start :O? *waits for people to laugh at her ambitions*). But yeah, it's something I really want to do, and hopefully I can make it happen. All in all, I'd say, for my first time going to FanExpo it was definitely a lot of fun and I am definitely going to try going for all 3 days, in COMFORTABLE SHOES...And now on to the photos!





A moogle lady(or as I like to call it, a "mooglette") and one of the chicks from Guitar Hero :D!



They had this little R2D2 running all over the place, it was so cute.



Death Note cosplay is so much better with 2 L's :P!



ZOMG it's Gumshoe and Maggey Byrde from Phoenix Wright y'all :3!



My Cloud plushie, who should be standing with a Zack plushie ;__;!



He dun stole mah headphonez D:!



My amazing HTK arbooks, I love them so ♥!




A close up for the artbook, Io: The Art of wired, featuring Mr. Kim's work!



The artbook Oxide, the Japanese version, can't read it, but still love the art.



Oxide2, now if only he didn't draw breasts that looked like melons XD!



My attempt at being an amature photographer, there was this boat out on the water, and of course, as soon as I got the camera out, the boat was gone .___.!



Link, in bunny form :O!



Why couldn't they have their eternal forms in the anime...the outfits were so pretty D:!



Had to take a trip down anime memory lane with these three :)!



Who can tell me what game this guy is from :P?



Gotta love her battle outfits.



I can't escape the Cloudness D:!



OBJECTION!!



Where there's gaming convention, there's gamers!



For once she isn't all bandaged up. Poor Rei...



I thought this was a real corpse :o!



Anta no baka :P?



Gotta take a trip down gaming memory lane too!




Naruhobo in the house y'all XD! And he's looking so smug and pimp too :P!



Best. Rufus Shinra. Cosplay. EVAR. And the guy playing Rude was spot-on too :O! But...STILL NO ZACK >___>!



In case you were wondering, what the CN tower looked like...here you go :P!



The Fairmount Royal York.



Part of the Air Canada Center



The con badge. Can't get anywhere without it, no matter how much you bribe people!



Mizugakure forehead protector, for all the Haku fans :3!



My camoflage bell collar, in case I need to hide in the grass, or something like that.



Shiny bell is shiny!



My cellphone charms, let me show you them!



Yes my PSP is pink, lemme alone DX!



My DS Lite is not pink :P!



Eeveryone loves, Domo-kun!



Gloomy bear in all his destructive glory!


Sorry if this was a little too lenghty, I didn't want to forget anything important. Also, I need to buy a better camera, at least one that get's rid of the red-eye XP!