I just realized it might be a while until I can update my travels section. I have plenty of content to keep the site updated for a while but I have a feeling that it’ll be a while till I can find something to update the travels sections of the site.

Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con is pretty much the end of the convention season for the year and it’ll be a while until it starts back up. There’s the Long Beach Comic Expo in February but for some reason I have my doubts that that convention will be worth going to. There’s also WonderCon in March but after going last year I’m thinking unless they are any panels or other activities that would interest me I don’t think I could get much out of that other than the cosplayers. My dream convention to go to is San Diego Comic Con but even if I could get into that it’s in July, which is more than half a year away.

I still have SoCal Corgi Beach Day to go to as well as a few car shows. But, for me car shows that are worth going to are few and far in between and like the convention season it’s a few months till the next SoCal Corgi Beach Day.

I know I can’t limit myself to just strictly Southern California events but unfortunately commitments to my day job and also my lack of funding is going to make that difficult. Hopefully down the line I can either pick up sponsorships or find a way to make enough money to make traveling more realistic especially since I’ve found so many other cons and other events outside of Southern California that I really want to go to.

Sorry about the rant. I guess I’m just thinking out loud. Back to the topic at hand.

The first time I went to LA Comic Con was in 2013 back when it was still known as Comikaze Expo or if you want to be a stickler for semantics Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo. This was the event that got me hooked and I’ve attended every Comikaze/LA Comic Con since.

I remember I think it was either the Friday or Thursday before LA Comic Con LA KROQ’s Kevin and Bean had the founder of LA Comic Con come on their show to help promote the con and she said that when they had their first Comikaze Expo in 2011 they only expected about 2,000 people to show up but instead they had over 35,000 show up and over the years it’s just gotten bigger and bigger.

Even though LA Comic Con has already reached pretty epic levels in terms of attendance it’s still has quite a ways to go. I’m hoping soon it’ll grow to reach levels comparable to San Diego Comic Con and will be attracting more high-profile guests and vendors. They do a good job now, but I really hoping they’ll reach a point where they’ll have more and more epic panels as well as bringing out some of the bigger companies like Kid Robot, Hasbro, and Lego.

The last couple years I would sleep in a bit and we’d end up going to LA Comic Con a little late which unfortunately meant that we would spend a good hour or so driving around the area around the LA Convention Center looking for parking. This year I decided no more of that. For some reason I thought the convention opened at 9:30 so I wanted to get there no later than 9:00. I was quite surprised when we got there and after waiting a half hour to get our passes they wouldn’t let us in because the convention actually opened at 10:00.

It’s probably good we got there as early as we did because these were the crowds lining up to get in once the convention opened. Me and my parents thought it wasn’t worth waiting in that line to get in so we decided to find a bench to sit on and wait the 10 or 15 minutes for those lines to clear up. We ended up finding a bench next to the ADA and parents with small children line. Since my Mom is deaf she technically qualified for ADA so we were able to get in early without having to go through the giant line.

Walking into the convention the first thing that caught my eye was this booth, which was selling Bluefin collectible toys and statues. Looking at their cases they didn’t have anything new or that caught my eye. The Studio Ghibli stuff was kind of cool but it wasn’t stuff that I really wanted. I did ask them if they had a Sohei Darth Maul figure but unfortunately they told me it wouldn’t be out till December or January.

Here’s a booth that was setup as a tribute to Stan Lee.

This statue kind of reminds me of Big Hero 6.

A couple movie car replicas were on site.

The Pizza Planet truck from all those Pixar movies.

A Ferrari 308 GTS just like the one Tom Selleck had in Magnum PI.

KITT from Knight Rider.

A group called Magic Wheelchair had this big Ghostbusters-themed booth setup complete with an Ecto-1 and Slimer. From what I heard and researched about them they’re a group that builds custom wheelchairs for underprivileged disabled children. In this case they made this really cool Moana-themed one for this one little girl. I should have gotten a picture of it but the crowd surrounding her during the unveiling was just too massive.

I walked passed the main stage while Katee Sackoff of Battlestar Galactica fame was there doing a thing. I don’t quite remember what exactly what she was discussing. I don’t think it was a BSG reunion. It was probably just her promoting future projects.

Since Drew Carey was one of the special guests this year they had this special setup of the Price Is Right set complete with the Big Wheel.

5-Hour Energy had this huge set up with them that included a few carnival games. I’m not sure what I should be more surprised at. Whether it’s that 5-Hour Energy is a vendor at a comic convention or that they would roll in with such a huge display.

When I first saw this set up I thought, “Cool General Grievous Statue.” Later when I saw the “General Grievous Statue” in a different location I realized that it is either a guy in a suit or a Weeping Angel from Dr. Who. If you’re wondering what Vocademy it’s a tutoring company and they have nothing to do with Star Wars.

At first glance this Spider-Man Homecoming booth looks really impressive but when you take a closer look you realize it’s just a really elaborate display for some souvenir coins.

Like any good convention the R2D2 Builders Club was here.

I really like their BB8s and I’m really curious how they made it so they could roll while the head stays on top. It’s probably something with magnets.

I’m just going to leave this here. I really don’t know what to say about this.

Another walk passed the mainstage, this time Drew Carey was on there.

I took another walk around the convention center before coming back to the main stage. When I came back Chloe Bennet AKA Skye/Daisy Johnson was on stage talking about Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.

During her panel Gabriel Luna who played Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider came out and they talked about some of the stuff they had to do for all the crazy CGI stuff for when Ghost Rider was on screen.

After another trip around the convention center I found myself back at the main stage where Burt Ward, Ralph Garmin, Kevin Smith, and Lee Meriwether were doing their tribute to Adam West panel.

This is basically it for Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con. I still have plenty of pictures of cosplayers, which will be coming later. I’m a little disappointed with the way I handled this convention. I feel I was too focused on looking for cool cosplayers to take pictures of and rushed through the rest of the con without properly enjoying it.

This website is a learning experience for me though and unfortunately this is something I had to learn the hard way. I know I said at the beginning of this convention that it might be awhile till the next convention. Although I hope something will pop up sooner, which I can use to redeem myself.