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EVENT COVERAGE: Anime Expo 2014
A Focus On The Exhibit Hall & Collectibles...
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Every year on July 4th weekend anime fans from around the world descend on Los Angeles for Anime Expo, one of the biggest and best conventions of its kind in the world. 2014 was no different, with AX returning to the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown and bringing tons of special events, concerts, screenings, panels, previews, workshops, and much, much more. While this intrepid reporter intended to spend the whole weekend there, a very pregnant wife can sometimes alter such plans. So, this time around I can’t really talk about all of the events, panels, and the like, but I can share with you a look at the awesome Anime Expo exhibit hall and some of the most interesting booths there!
As I noted last year, AX shared some of the doldrums hitting the anime industry in the mid to late 2000s, but bounced back with a vengeance in 2011 and subsequent years with increasing attendance. 2014 definitely continued that trend with a huge number of attendees and a palpably positive atmosphere. Just one of the things that makes AX unique among the larger conventions in its class is the sense of camaraderie; everyone there is looking to have a good time and share it with everyone else. It’s not all about pushing through crowds to get exclusives, but rather seeing what’s new and sharing in the community. The anime kids also come up with arguably the best costumes of any convention with a dazzling array of characters from all types of properties in sizes and qualities unparalelled even at San Diego Comic-Con. Every year the central lobby quickly turns into a photo op area as the best cosplayers hold court.
As in 2013, the L.A. Convention Center was decked out in banners advertising Anime Expo, and the fun started even before entering the building. Following the ubiquitous craze there was a line of food trucks camped outside the building, along with a themed truck for Sentai Filmworks’ Gatchaman Crowds powered by Fluff Ice. Once attendees got through the snaking outdoor lines they emerged into the central lobby where, like last year, the AX Merchandise Store and Culture Japan booth were located. The latter had a full array of Danny Choo’s Smart Dolls, though the available units sold out on the first day! On display were 001 Mirai Suenaga, 002 Kizuna Yumeno, 003 Clear Version, 004 Mirai Frame, and prototypes of the robotic version and other outfits. These beautiful dolls were a huge draw for the crowds, and serve as great ambassadors for learning about Japanese culture.
A quick trip through the arch and up the escalators took attendees into the Exhibit Hall, and there you could spend days just checking out all of the amazing stuff there! As always, the front row of booths featured the big companies as well as AX sponsors and included Bandai Namco, Banpresto, Good Smile Company, Bluefin, Crunchyroll, NIS America, Aniplex, Bushiroad, FUNimation, Sentai Filmworks, and more. All of these were showing off their latest and greatest products ranging from anime to manga, toys, statues, video games, and more. Crunchyroll in particular had a huge presence at the show doing giveaways, trivia games, and signing up people to their online anime service in exchange for AX ticket discounts. Whether new fans or veterans, old or young, all attendees could find something to their liking among the big guys with current hits and classics like Attack on Titan, Dragonball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Blade & Soul, Naruto, All You Need Is Kill, and many more. Other big displays included a hulu relaxation center and a League of Legends play area.
You never know which toy companies are going to show up at Anime Expo, but this year was a pretty good showing with some familiar faces and new kids on the block. Right up in front and smack dab in the middle so you couldn’t miss it was the usual Bluefin Distribution booth showing off all of the amazing Bandai imports! A large corner display was dedicated to Gundam, one of their big money makers, and in addition to a man-sized giant robot were cases showing off models from Gundam Unicorn, Gundam Wing, and others. Then there were the seemingly endless display cases of models, action figures, and other collectibles, most of which are currently available. I was particularly impressed by the wall of spaceships from Star Blazers 2199, and other cool setups featured One Piece, the Synthetic Humans, Metamor Force, Attack on Titan, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, and even an Armarauders prototype!
Probably the biggest new thing at the Bluefin booth was the collection of Dragonball Z Tamashii Buddies, small scale super-deformed style heroes and villains from the series coming out late this year. On display were Super Saiyan Son Gohan, Super Saiyan Son Gokou, Frieza, Super Saiyan Trunks (Mirai), Piccolo, Super Saiyan 4 Son Gokou, Super Saiyan Vegeta, and Son Gokou. Tentative pricing on these puts them at a very affordable $15 each.
One door down was Good Smile Company, returning with their huge lineup of figma figures and much more. They too were selling out of hot products left and right, with tons more on display. Cute Nendoroids, highly articulated figma figures, beautiful statues, and more were there from Vocaloids, Attack on Titan, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Nintendo, Black Rock Shooter, Berserk, Sword Art Online, and many other properties. Some of the coolest items I saw were the Attack on Titan and Guyver figmas, revolmini Solid Snake figures from Kaiyodo, and the epic Guts and Colossus Titan statues!
Not selling but showing off their goods was Banpresto, probably best known for its high quality vinyl figures. Their small booth included displays of items from Sailor Moon Crystal, Dragonball Z, Attack on Titan, Naruto, and One Piece. Another company teasing attendees with things they couldn’t (yet) purchase was importer and producer Yes Anime. In their display cases were promotional cards for upcoming Trexis of characters from Bleach, Tiger & Bunny, Naruto, and Death Note along with Super Armor Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and prototypes of 12” Tiger & Bunny Llama Alpacas! There were also Play Imaginative Super Alloy Iron Man and DC figures plus the Ezhobi Toys Hyper Gokin Ghost Rider we first saw at Toy Fair.
A company I first met this year at AX was Amakuni in conjunction with Hobby Japan. They exclusively produce high end bishoujo style 1/7 - 1/8 scale statues... and they’re hot. On display were select items like A Town Where You Live’s Yuzuki Eba, Nitroplus Card Masters’ Muramasa the 3rd and Super Sonico, Gatchaman Crowds’ Utsu-tsu, Blazblue’s Noel, Koihime Muso’s Kanu, Tekken’s Lili, Hyakka Ryoran’s Keiji Maeda, D’Artagnan, and Jubei Yagyu, and more. Amakuni even has neat variants of some of their statues with exclusive re-colors giving you even more options to display characters from your favorite games, manga, and anime.
BAIT is a familiar booth at most Southern California conventions, and they were in attendance at Anime Expo with their usual assortment of cool vinyl, apparel, and interesting collectibles ranging from the NBA to Star Wars, Marvel, Spongebob Squarepants, and everything in between. What immediately caught my eye were two DC Comics figures of Batman and Superman. Coming from Hero Cross in Hong Kong, these “Justice League Unlimited” branded Hybrid Metal Action Figurations feature a really unique style, plastic and die-cast metal components, excellent articulation, and light up parts (eyes on both and a Bat Signal with the Dark Knight!). While not the exclusive source, Bait is currently the sole importer of these cool new figures.
Not all of the most interesting toys and collectibles were in the big name booths; there are always fun surprises further back in the Anime Expo exhibit hall and 2014 was no different. At a booth with the unassuming name “Pints” was one of the most interesting collection of items on the floor. A collaboration between several distinct entities, the booth was dominated by the Pints people who have made a huge series of cute art based on popular characters depicting everything from anime to comics, Transformers, video games, TV shows, classic and current cartoons, etc. That art is being translated into pins, t-shirts, and more. The other half of the booth held items from Plastic Cell, brothers who create amazing statues that are fully hand made and painted. Crafted in silicone rubber and cast in urethane plastic, these highly limited runs are individually hand-painted in acrylics and look absolutely fantastic in person. Drawing “inspiration” from popular properties, the sculptures on hand included Hellboy, Mario, Rick Grimes, Gus Fring, Star-Lord, Walter White, Robocop, Deadpool, and more. You can learn more about Plastic Cell at plasticcell.bigcartel.com, and Pints on their soon to be revealed website pintscollective.com.
As a soon to be father, I’m always on the lookout for fun products for kids and new ways to share my love of collectibles and genres like sci-fi and fantasy. A newcomer at Anime Expo and excited to show off the products created from a successful Kickstarter last year was Dave Taylor and his Forge of Honor. A passion product borne of his previous work in the world of dog toys and with his daughter as inspiration, Taylor created this line of fantasy role-play items and stuffed animals. With bright colors and distinctive patterns there are matching Targimals, Bordor Blades, and Bordor Shields, perfect for kids to fight imaginary monsters and create stories of their own. There are lots of really well-thought details too like the way the Targimals attach to the shields, and the pillow on the reverse side of them for rest during play or sleepovers. It’s a really fun and uplifting line, and something I look forward to introducing to my son. Check out forgeofhonor.com for more information.
Toys and collectible companies aside, there were hundreds of exhibit hall booths with a staggering array of contents. You name it and it was probably there, with everything from food and drink to stuffed animals, card games, model kits, video games, art, music, cosplay accessories, art supplies, steampunk paraphernalia, apparel, weapons, posters, anime, manga, adult items, weird stuff like Dragonball Z incense, and more and more and more. I’ve included just a small gallery of photos from the exhibit hall but there was so much more going on there. Furthermore, the back section of the hall was devoted to Artist Alley, a sprawling area of independent artists with their paintings, drawings, clothing, stuffed animals, figurines, and everything else they could create. I was really impressed with this year’s batch of artists and found so many talented people, particularly Cherrie’s Gifts and Designs (etsy.com/shop/cherriesama) and ZRM Creations (etsy.com/shop/thebluecrocheter). There are lots of reasons why Anime Expo is one of the biggest conventions around, and its exhibit hall ranks highly among them.
As I noted, I was only able to spend my time at AX this year in the exhibit hall, but that’s just a small portion of the fun to be had there with four days of screenings, previews, panels, workshops, concerts, special events, and so much more. If you’re in the L.A. area during July 4th weekend and you have any interests in anime, manga, Japanese culture, or even just cool stuff in general you’re guaranteed to have a good time there. See you next year!
Photos and words by Scott Rubin
