Busted by The Empire

Well folks, its nearly Christmas already and I am well overdue to write a Blog so here goes…

Arrived in London Friday having had an easy drive listening to Anime themes in my Car to get me in the mood for the event of the Autumn, The London Expo. Anyone driving behind me up the M4 I apologise now for any sudden swerves I made attempting to dance along to Bouken Desho Desho.

Suddenly after too many Pints of San Miguel it was 8am Saturday Morning and the Early Opening Gates were an hour away already…. Panic! I had an hour to get into Cosplay as Sergeant Kurtz Webber. A quick Shower and some heavy Hairdrying later I was out the door and on my way. The Weather wasn’t perfect but it would do.

Bounding up the Stairs and past the DLR Station I began to get a warm fuzzy feeling because as I glanced over my shoulder I realised I was surrounded by Final Fantasy Characters. Wow, i thought, this is so much fun already. Then I turned the corner and stood in shock… hundreds of Cosplayers everywhere as far as the eye could see. I was in heaven.

After about 20 minutes of queueing as I had finally made it in. It was getting too much to take in really. I didn’t know if I should gawp at the Stalls or the Cosplayers or the Computer Screens…. Oooh Captain Kirk Action Figures… Wow another Tifa… ZOINKS!?! A bloke dressed as Haruhi Suzumiya… Thats just disturbing.

I wondered about Stall to Stall not really sure what to buy… Oooh Greg Grunberg from Alias and Heroes.

I was getting seriously hungry and it wasn’t even 10 o’clock, quickly I got my arm stamped by a really cute Girl and made for a Coffee Shop in the main Expo and chomped down a really nice Danish Pastry. Right time to do some Shopping… Wow Hakufu Sonsaku in School Uniform too…

Quickly armed with my Super Stamp I made my way back in and suddenly noticed a huge queue of 500 plus people still trying to get in for the 1st time and tried not to look Smug as i waltzed back in. Free Hugs?!?… Is she serious? A little Girl not much into her Teens was standing wearing a Tshirt emblazened “Free Hugs”… Phew. Finally I found what I had travelled 250 miles to buy. A hand sized Godzilla 2000 and MechaGodzilla 3 for Nephews Birthday. 1st Mission complete. I decided to head back to the Hotel and change out of my Cosplay as it was apparent no one was interested in poor old Sergeant Webber from Full Metal Panic.

Moving on I found my next target, a Suzumiya Figure and before you could shout “Jeez a bloke dressed as Suzumiya!” I had made my 2nd purchase and still people were streaming in from outside. Holy Cow… Its Kei and Yuri from Dirty Pair Flash!… yahoo i’ll go and chat… oh no better not they look about 14.

What do I do now I wondered… several laps of the perimeter later I was grabbed and hurled to the floor by Stormtroopers yelling “Get down you Rebel Scum!” How on earth did they know I was a member of The S Club 7 Reunited Fan Club. Several humiliating Photo shots later I made my way back out for some fresh air.

Wow what a day already. Outside a biting but somewhat refreshing wind had picked up. Blimey an Alien fighting with 2 Predators… I glanced about the main entrance. Everywhere I looked Cosplayers were running, jumping and dancing about. A truly amazing sight. I need another San Miguel and some Lunch perhaps.

End of Part One

Tomorrow: After Lunch (Look forward to it)

Aliens and Exams are stressier than i remember…

Jack here doing a 1st Blog ever ever (really). Well i am now 2 thirds of the way through my Exams… all 3 of them that is. Working Full Time and being at College Part Time was a lot harder than i had imagined. I was originally going to do 2 Courses but 1 fell through, but in hind sight i am really glad it did now as studying a Language is really hard on my head.

I am so glad we have Anime. If we didn’t have Anime to watch i would be so Mega Stressed now! Thanks to the adventures of Miss Haruhi Suzumiya and the hilarious screwball Luck Star I have managed to keep Stress Levels to a bare minimum. Thank you Japan for your entertainment!

I say Stress was a bare minimum as I did have a really scary nightmare the night before my 1st Exam that, well if it was anything like Closed Space in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, then everyone should be worried…So there i was standing on the bank of the River Thames in the middle of the night when suddenly people started running out of their Houses screaming and pointing to the Sky. “Look up at the Moon” someone yelled. I looked up in amazement as a tiny Planet began to appear from behind the Moon.

That was merely the beginning of the end as my crazy nightmare went from one disaster to another with Tornadoes, Tsunami’s the lot… I usually have pretty amazing nightmares when i’m stressed but this just blew everything away. Then things got even stranger (eat your heart out Kyon). I found out later that day that i wasn’t the only person in my House to have a nightmare concerning Alien visitors. Everyone in my House that night all had visions of Aliens!

So has anyone else out there been visited by Aliens while sleeping before an Exam? Maybe the Alien was sat in your Exam? Let me know a.s.a.p.

Attention: Anime closure!

The 2nd season of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi has been canceled. Instead of making the new season they’ll be improving Full Metal Panic, Lucky Star etc. in Kyoto Animation (See Here). Pray and hope they come back to Suzumiya Haruhi… I cant stand watching no Nagato Yuki in a show… Poor Yuki T_T

- Flatcher