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AnimeExpo Review 2007
Reviews - Party Reviews
Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:56
 Where can you find walking Wii motes, lolitas and at least 20,000 people with tails? If you travel to Long Beach Convention Center in California  Where can you find walking Wii motes, lolitas and at least 20,000 people with tails? If you travel to Long Beach Convention Center in California in the month of June, you’ll find over 40,000 people dressed in costume all in attendance for Anime Expo. This convention is the largest anime convention in the nation! I got the luckiest break any anime fan could imagine and was able to fill in one of the spots for an instructor at the Glowsticking Workshop that would be hosted by all Glowsticking.com members.
The Workshop was designed to teach people the fundamentals of freehanding and stringing along with giving personal insight as to what PLUR and other foundations to the rave scene are. When I got to the convention center I was floored when I stepped into the artist gallery. You wouldn’t believe some of the talent that was exhibited. There was everything from paintings, sketches, watercolors and even pins.

The convention center was flooded with people. You had people dressed from anime shows like Trinity Blood, Bleach and Fruits Basket along with video game characters like Final Fantasy 12, Devil May Cry. There was even a walking Wii mote, Ramen Noodle box and milk bottle!


The first night, several of the Glowsticking.com members came to the convention center after the BBQ to check out the dance they had going on. It’s tradition for every anime convention to throw an Otaku Rave. Otaku Rave’s aren’t like normal raves and most all of the attendees do not know how to handle glowsticks and show up in costume. This made things great for the Workshop because it’s a real eye opener to see what can be done with glowsticks. Outside of the convention center there were still a lot of people walking around.

There was one guy who was walking around with an iHome under his arm playing remixes of anime songs. I jogged over and grabbed him and asked if he’d be our DJ for the night and he was quite happy to do so. We walked back to the group the other GSC members who were tossing around glowsticks and our DJ started up some music for us to dance to.

Wes gave out stacks of flyers for the Glowsticking Workshop for us to pass out. I started running around to cosplayers and saw some great costumes and awesome gear. We got to see Cloud and his bike from Advent Children, the Xenogears bike and even Tron! All of which got flyers of course… In my running around like a total maniac gawking at the costumes and the fact I was at Anime Expo I ran into a man who had a microphone in his hand.

Not really putting together that he had a mic, I handed him a flyer and proceeded to explain that he should attend our workshop tomorrow. He spoke like a sports announcer and asked what we were up to so I led him back over to where everyone was sticking and he asked if he could give us an interview for AX After Dark. This was not only a shock but a great surprise!

Dave came over and we got interviewed and Paul showed one of the AX staff how to do a couple moves for freehanding. (The video was released on the Anime Expo website!!) The next day was the panel and also the busiest day of Anime Expo. The convention center swarmed with attendees and I met up with Jamision as we walked around waiting for the start of the workshop.

We got to the workshop room about an hour before it started and Bryce came and briefed us on what we were going to be doing. We designated on whether we would be showing freehanding or stringing and teamed up with a partner so it would be a little easier when demonstrating to the attendees of the panel.

The panel started and we all sat in the front of the room. There was a small platform where tables were at and then in front there was a line of chairs where all the GSC instructors would be sitting. We started off the panel with a Question and Answer session.

Dave and Wes had not shown up yet with the glowsticks that were promised to be given out at the panel so it was kind of awkward at how quiet it was. We introduced all of the instructors and they gave their Glowsticking.com forum name as well as their real name.

Dave and Wes finally showed up with a gigantic cardboard box that contained the glowsticks (fashionably late) and everyone bursted out in a loud cheer. After all the glowsticks were handed out a CD Wes made started to play and we all split up into our groups to start teaching. The Glowsticking.com DVD played on a large screen in the upper left hand corner of the room.

I teamed up with Misty (Blink) and we headed into the back to start teaching some basic stringing. It was a great time! Everywhere you turned you saw people laughing and smiling and others with stern concentrated faces determined to learn what they were being shown. Some people were dancing and others were working together to try a learn a move.

At the end of the workshop we were told that over 700 people attended! It was refreshing to see so many new faces so eager and happy to learn glowsticking and it was a marvelous experience to get to meet new people. Bryce will always be my hero for allowing me the opportunity to attend Anime Expo and I will make for certain to attend again next year!
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 February 2008 14:05 )