After a productive day of panel hopping, we went to the Yard Birds for dinner. The Yard Bids is located right by the Starbucks at LA Live. For the anime fan with extra cash, Scarlet Rhapsody reccomends dinning in at the Yard Birds. And if you prefer to keep things sober, Victoria reccomends tackling on the root beer float.

Artist Alley by Victoria Erica

The Artist Alley was really huge this year. Artists from all over the country came off to show off their artwork. There were a variety of artists specializing in different anime art styles - prints, crafts, keychains, jewelry. My only complaint about the Artist Alley this year is that the rows were too narrow. Typically, I like looking at different artist tables. I could tell there were plenty of talented artists this year, but it was really hard to get around. Nor did I like Artist Alley tucked away in the far end of the dealer's hall.

I came home taking away a few items related to My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. I got myself a Rarity bookmark, a Rarity charm, and a Twilight Sparkle charm to gift to Jared.

Masquerade: $10,000 Cash Prize Draws in Cosplayers to Compete by Jared Griego

Masquerade was once again held at the Nokia Theater and this year the Masquerade staff upped the ante by offering at ten-thousand dollar grand prize. After getting past security we made our way to the theater to watch the show. Despite the high prize, the show did not feature many over the top presentations. The biggest prop this year was a mecha that was controlled by a number of stage ninjas. The most memorable skits included Goku vs. Sephiroth, New Themes for Soul Calibur, and the Inception of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The half-time show featured Toshiyuki Morikawa live dubbing a few scenes from the new Naruto Shippuden movie. While it was interesting to watch it did not fill up the needed time and the audience anticipating the awards ceremony were not very amused. The hosts, Kyle Hebert and Darryl, did a little bit of comedy in order to fill time. In the end, the awards were announced and as is the case with most Masquerades, people in the audience did not fully agree with the awards.

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