LA Comic Con – The Long Haul

Front Entrance of LA Comic Con by Porter Aydelotte

I grew up as a kid who spent a lot of his time reading comics, playing video games, and watching anime. Back then, I never really found many people that also enjoyed these hobbies with me. Most kids around my age never really had the excitement that this brought me.

Due to this fact, I never really had that close of friends until high school. That is when I discovered these hobbies of mine were not so isolated.

Now, at the age of 21, I am writing an article about the following three topics in question. All because of the event known as LA Comic Con. While it is more likely that most have heard about San Diego Comic Con, due to the larger scale of the convention and with the countless comic book movies released in the past decade.

Be that as it may, this does not means in anyway that LA Comic Con is less exciting.

The halls are filled with countless seas of people that all share a common connection toward nerd culture. This ranges from actual comic book fans that emerge from their mythical domain, to anime fans that burn their wallets from booth merchandise, to gaming fans with over sarcastic shirts that reveal their interests, and even elusive Star Wars and Star Trek fans mingling over their respective series.

Above these “casuals”, there are a group of people that put their fan-aticism into maximum overdrive. I refer to the cosplays that wear their fandoms with enough pride that would make creators proud.

I saw countless cosplayers during my three trip, and honestly were some of the best parts of the convention. While some outfits were simple, others were really impressive and creative.

Mandalorians and Predators with intricate armor that look like they just arrived from a shuttle bay, Avengers and Justice League members ready for the next world ending event, and anime characters that look like they jumped off a phone screen. Then, there is the Deadpools that are around every turn who have the exact mannerism of the merc with a mouth. Every single one of them would give Ryan Reynolds a run for his money.

Tyler Rosecrans, one of cosplayers I interview during the con, had been going to comic conventions since he was a kid. He enjoys all the cosplayers that join him in celebrating their own fandoms.

“What I really enjoy about cosplay is that I get to be characters that I grew up with. Characters from creators that have been with through my life. It’s both a way to show respect to the creators and the characters that have been an inspiration for me.” Said Rosecrans. I find it amazing that people are willing to open themselves up to such a large group.

Outside the crowds, we are brought to the booths and panels that help elevate the entire experience. Need some merchandise  for your fandom? That’s an easy feat with the main floor of the convention being dotted with booths selling anything you could ever want.

I found myself along with the crowd buying two holographic metal posters of Rogue and Gambit from X-Men, a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure shirt for a friend of mine, a Cowboy Bebop shirt in the style of Gorillaz “Demon Days” album cover, and a Zelda poster with the main cast. While now I am broke, these items will be used in my room until con.

The booths do offer a lot of merchandise, and it is cool to see things that you might not find scrolling through Amazon or superstore. Many of the booths have websites and cards so if you don’t want to blow all your money on this con, you can still buy things from their sites or find which con they will be next. A nice fact for those willing to wait past the hype of the con to buy stuff.

Many of the panels offered at con require you to leave the main floor to the top floor, unless the main floor panel is enough excitement for you. These panels offer a wide variety, such as meeting the cast or voice cast of movies and television to meeting creators of comics and shows.

One of the panels I went to was for a creator of one of the webcomic have been reading recently. It was a cool experience to see the process of creating these stories and how much easier it has become to create stories than is has been in the past.

LA Comic Con was an awesome trip, even though by day three I was exhausted. It was exciting to be around so many individuals with similar interests. But more than that, it was awesome to be able to celebrate my interests and the creators of things that have made life a little more enjoyable.

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