There is no better way to start off the day than watching reruns of Saved by the Bell right before heading to con. Thanks to Jared, we were well stocked with our favorite breakfast bites - cereal and pop tarts. Deb cosplayed Ryotaro from Kamen Rider Den-O complete with the belt. Batteries not included. Jared cosplayed as Watanuki from XXXholic. With the misfortune of being Watanuki, Jared can see the ghastly auras of fanboys and fangirls. I finally was able to debut Mio from K-On at a con. Ergo, I wanna rock this con.

There were other Mio cosplayers at Pacific Media Expo, but I was the only one in the school variant. Jared let me borrow his Guitar Hero controller for an accessory. Most of my morning was spent doing judging for the CosFest, PMX's cosplay contest.

After being judged, I went to the dealer's hall. There was not much selection. I found the swap meet to be much more interesting. The deler's hall was more of the same from last year, but everyone has different taste in what they look for.

Around noon we met up at the Pocky Tasting Room for lunch. Aside from the confectious name, they also served sushi and onigiri. I also tasted strawberry flavored ramune for the first time. For those otaku on a tight student budget, the Pocky Tasting Room had sushi going for five to seven dollars.

The light was much better in the daytime hours at the Hilton. I took a few photos of my Mio cosplay.

Then I took a few photos of Deb's Ryotaro.

And then it was Watanuki's turn.

Of course, Saturday drew in the most attendance numbers. There were many cosplayers gallavanting in the main lobby.

PMX also had a gigantic Kira Kira photo machine for purikura fun.

While PMX draws in Japanese popular culture afficianados, the event brought back Filipino American culture. During the second PMX in Long Beach, they had comedian Rex Navarette as a guest of honor. This time, PMX had the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (WEKAF) Western Regionals. This is a tournament that centers around ancient Filipino martial arts based on stick fighting (Eskrima). This also drew plenty of attention. Suffice to say, I was able to to talk to the organizers in Tagalog. How's that for a change of pace?

To get an idea of what Filipino martial arts is all about, Jared took video clips of the tournament:

Deb and I consider ourselves Asian Ball Joint Doll hobbyists. Asian Ball Joint Dolls come from all over Asia - China, Japan, and Korea. The look is often misconcieved as purely Japanese because of the anime style face molds. PMX had a few doll related panels going on. The first doll panel we attended was Taking Your Dolls to Japan. We not only learned about visiting Volks and learning more about the "welcoming ceremony," we also got insight about traveling to Japan. The second doll panel that followed afterwards was the Garden of Doll panel. We were able to have a Q&A session with the creator and have an up close look at these 42cm beauties.

While we did not attend any doll gatherings at PMX, we had a good time talking to the creator behind Garden of Doll and other Asian Ball Joint Doll hobbyists. It was almost time for curtain call for Cos Fest. At 4:30PM, I headed straight towards the green room...

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