MORNING MUSUME at Anime Expo (LA), Thanks for coming! Options

[ps24]

Did anyone notice that Koharu was wearing specs at the airport?

[StevenLin]

FINALLY!! The "Broker" IS COME BACK to TORONTO!!

well, if you don't know me, then i got 2 words for ya!! "remember these?"

LOL I remember you! I hanging around the JapanFiles table on Friday and you helped me trade my Eri card for a Junjun. I believe I was the one that gave you the idea for trading cards after you saw me trade a Koharu for the Junjun. I had a blast hanging out with you and it was hilarious seeing you hustling at the 11:00 am standby line for autographs on Saturday for more Ai cards. I'm glad you managed to get so many though I don't think it was worth buying 5 CDs.

My experiences:

- I was not able to get any autographs due to me not arriving in LA until around 5:30 pm on Thursday which meant I was way too late to get any of the tickets for autograph sessions. I did want to come to day 0 but the guy I was rooming with only had the room booked from Thursday to Sunday. I'm kicking myself in the arse right now for not just booking a room by myself for just day 0.

- Also because of me arriving later then most of the other Momusu fans, I got stuck with a seat in the G section was all the way to the far right of the room. The plus side was that I was sitting next to two pretty big H!P fans so I killed a lot of time just talking to them. One of them was a huge Yossie fan and she just about fainted when Yossie made a surprise visit to present the OPV winners. The unfortunate part was that most of the people in my section (I had a seat in G1 after trading my G7 ticket with my roommate who wasn't a fan) were content to sit down with their arms folder or just stand there doing nothing while pretty much only me and the Yossie fangirl were up dancing and trying to have a good time. The girls were great but seeing the lack of enthusiasm among the people around me kinda killed my buzz. I saw you guys who were in the center sections waving your glow sticks and I wish I could have been sitting next to people like you.

- The biggest FUUUUUUUUUU moment I had was on Saturday. I came back to my room in the Westin during the afternoon and my roommate told me he had run into Momusu in the elevator when he was leaving for the con center. To make it even worse, I had actually left only a few minutes before he did; sucks that I was that close to seeing the girls face to face. Also, while in line for the 11:00 am autograph session I found out that apparently some guy had managed to run into the girls while they were eating ice cream in the lobby of the Westin and had a chance to get a pic and talk to them. One of the guys I was talking to in line said he mad the fan and saw the picture he took with the girls. I was actually scouring this thread hoping the guy would post the pic up but it doesn't appear to be surfacing.

- I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet but apparently the girls were staying on the 14th floor of the Westin (I think?) and had put up some post-it notes on their room doors with hilarious Engrish.

- I was hanging around the Japanfiles table on Friday before the concert; watching the TVs that were showing concert and PV footage. Three Japanese wotas showed up (one with a giant Kamei Eri pic on his back) and the one in blue started dancing along to the PVs. I went up to them and asked "Wota? Wota?" and they replied back that they were indeed wotas. I asked the guy in blue if I could record him dancing but he said no.

- I was also taking to the guy who runs Japanfiles while he was standing around waving CDs at people. It turns out he's a pretty big fan of H!P as well and also a Junjun fan which made me happy. Apparently he was actually invited to an after party with the girls and UFA staff since he was the American H!P representative which made me incredibly jealous haha.

- The Hello! Party was awesome and I'm a bit let down that more people haven't been talking about it. I had a Reina name tag and I wished I would have participated more in the games so it seems like Team Reina didn't do so hot. Team Gaki ended up winning the games and got some pretty cool swag that was donated by Japanfiles. Carlos the Mexican wota with the Takahashi Ai shirt led the fans in some wota gei routines. I recorded the Koi no Jubaku and Romantic Ukare Mode ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG00xFKgaHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0reItcY-c4

I really enjoyed the party and I ended up doing karaoke. If you guys remember the Asian guy doing the really bad version of Kanashimi Twilight, that was me. I do appreciate seeing you guys dance along to my singing despite me being absolutely horrible lol

- Waited in line with some other people in the standby for the 11:00 am autograph session on Saturday and ended up talking to some pretty cool people. live4zone kept walking back and forth trying to trade for Takahashi Ai cards and ended up being pretty successful. Some girl in front of me ended buying like 4 Platinum 9 Disco discs while her friends held her place in line. Talked to someone else who had flown in from Jersey to see Momusu who was trying to compose a letter i Japanese to Tsunku asking if he could get hired as a song writer my UFA. My hopes for getting an autograph were raised when I heard through the grapevine that two of the girls (not sure which two) had expressed a desire to make sure everyone got an autograph but we ended up getting dispersed at 12:30 pm.

- Pic of a chick cosplaying as Koharu in her Chance costume:

 PICT0143.JPG ( 772.04K ) Number of downloads: 90


I have to admit that I am still a bit disappointed about not getting an autograph or being able to see them up close (I resorted to going to the 2-4 autograph session and doing my best to stare at them through the curtains) but I still had a good time overall. I am grateful that I even got a chance to see them perform live considering so many other fans probably will never be able to have Momusu come to their country and because there was many times before when I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to go the show. I really don't have the opportunity to connect with H!P fans and it was great to be hang out and socialize with people who had similar interests. You guys were great and it really makes me happy that we're all so supportive and friendly to each other. I also had read many posts before hands on this thread about the great interactions the fans had with the girls. I had heard about how the girls were usually disallowed to have any interaction with fans while in public and I'm ecstatic that people had the chance to talk to them on a very friendly level.

Here's to H!P making an appearance in the east coast some time soon...

[Mugen]

rommel was in the shuttle, me and other 2 guys and a gal were in the cab.

oh no lol im talking about when we were cabbing back to the con on sunday after seeing MM off.

[grayclouds]

After all these posts I don't know what to make of this whole concert... hopefully it was a big + and there will be a future in America for more H!P acts and MM.

I was seriously worried that attendance was going to be really low with current economic climate (being realistic) so 7000 IMHO is GREAT, but I'm thinking that this at the bare minimum a good opportunity for MM to earn more press in Japan, gain a few more fans here in the US, and the already existing US west coast fans to get a chance of a lifetime (lets hope not the last one ) to see MM live.

I was really unlucky and was not able to make it although I had planned to go and live in CA, just schedule conflicts killed any chance, so to those that got to go congratulations and I hope You enjoyed yourself, thanks for sharing your stories; reading these makes us happy too (a tad jealous maybe??)

[Live4Ai]

doh, i went to check in my flight after MM left...

[Live4Ai]

FINALLY!! The "Broker" IS COME BACK to TORONTO!!

well, if you don't know me, then i got 2 words for ya!! "remember these?"

LOL I remember you! I hanging around the JapanFiles table on Friday and you helped me trade my Eri card for a Junjun. I believe I was the one that gave you the idea for trading cards after you saw me trade a Koharu for the Junjun. I had a blast hanging out with you and it was hilarious seeing you hustling at the 11:00 am standby line for autographs on Saturday for more Ai cards. I'm glad you managed to get so many though I don't think it was worth buying 5 CDs.

lol, cuz i don't have any good cards to trade for an AI card at that time. all i got are Linlin, Sayumi,Junjun and a group.

i was there till all the P9 was sold out, maybe about 60 copies and none of them came with an Ai card...>.<

then i trade most of those for a Gaki-san and Eri card along with the Sayumi card.

well, it was worth buying 5 CDs if i got 5 Ai cards at the end~~

[Matchin' Col...]

I'm glad the people who went to see Morning Musume have a great and awesome job. Read so many fan accounts was great and long. So what was the issue about the last autograph? I read some accounts about where someone from here hand got hit on the table try to shake Aichan's and Morning Musume were a bit annoy, sad, or upset.

[Mugen]

I'm glad the people who went to see Morning Musume have a great and awesome job. Read so many fan accounts was great and long. So what was the issue about the last autograph? I read some accounts about where someone from here hand got hit on the table try to shake Aichan's and Morning Musume were a bit annoy, sad, or upset.

There were a miscommunication between the number of tickets getting distributed to fans and MM was signing more autographs than they were supposed to. UFA got pissed because of that. AX staff then started to act like dicks to the fans after.

[Mr Ayu-Mania]

Did someone decide to call her the "dragonlady" or was it because of her tattoos? If that's the case, the only tattoo I saw was a crane.

She had tattoos as well? LOL, that's probably why Momusu was scared of her.. With her size and the tatoos, they probably thought she was a former yakuza or something..

I have been checking out the AKB48 thread and it looks like the Paris gig was a huge success. What surprised me was the amount of ninja photos and videos from that event. Some of them were taken like inches away from the girls. Apparenty there were a "no photos/videos" rule there too, but it looks like nobody minded. Even the staff! I love the European attitude.

[TerryXX]

@ StevenLin aww man, thats gotta be darn unlucky. and the non-fan got to see them up close

- I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet but apparently the girls were staying on the 14th floor of the Westin (I think?) and had put up some post-it notes on their room doors with hilarious Engrish.

LMAO!!!

i sure do hope they go overseas again, and more people would be able to go >_<

[TezukaKunimitsu]

I'm glad the people who went to see Morning Musume have a great and awesome job. Read so many fan accounts was great and long. So what was the issue about the last autograph? I read some accounts about where someone from here hand got hit on the table try to shake Aichan's and Morning Musume were a bit annoy, sad, or upset.

ya i actually know who got hit on the hand. he was one of the first people to walk in on saturday and he put his hand to shake Takahashi's hand. she was about to shake his hand then some lady hit his hand aganist the table and it left a mark on his hand. the members just kind of laughed it off. I know the members realize we were being rushed, i feel bad for mitsui cause i don't remember saying hi to her since one of the staff members was trying to hurry me up.

[linniigaki]

lol, ya, i think i am that Pacing card-trade guy.

OMG I remember you! I was the girl who had the Koharu card back at the hotel room! I started kicking myself in the butt for not bringing it when you had a Gaki card... >_<

I think I can faintly see myself in the back between the Mexican guy's arms (I forgot his name after reading 10 pages of this. lol) I was the girl with the white belt over the concert T shirt with the green glowsticks.

One embarrassing moment was right before the concert, I didn't realize one of my glowsticks was actually leaking until I started waving it around. o_o

@Matchin': Long story short, the fans and Morning Musume was rushed. Like, WAY rushed.
I'm actually glad that I didn't get the autograph ticket. It just wouldn't be worth it IMO. ._.


Hey, I saw the concert, blew all of my money on H!P merch (sooo freaking worth it ), got my gifts reached to them, and I met some pretty cool fans. Thus, AX was definitely worth it.

BTW, Team Gaki from hello!Party, YOU FREAKING RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[turbos86]

Day 4 report

Seeing Morning Musume off at the airport

I arrived at the airport with my group at just a little after nine and went inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal of LAX. Once inside, we frantically searched for the JAL check-in counter. It was on the left side of the airport, row A. The sign there said the counter doesn't open until 10am and we knew the girls still haven't show up yet. So we decided to head upstairs to the food count, so we can get a clear view of the whole place, just incase. As we walked toward the food count, we noticed a group of Japanese wotas, and they noticed us too, because we were holding 3 huge white boards. On the boards, we wrote on both side: "OtsukaReina", "KOHA BYE", "GanbaReina", "Eh no tsuji wa?", "Fukui --KITA--!", and "JunJun LinLin have a safe trip".

Soon after, reenforcements arrived and the food court begin to fill up with fans. Some were downstairs running all over the lobby trying to see which way MM would be coming in from. 10minutes or so after 10am, we noticed a group of girls coming in from the main entrance. I held up my "OtsukaReina" sign from the food count and they noticed us. We all ran downstairs and started taking pictures. None of the fans went too close to them, because we all thought it's not cool to invade too far into their privacy. By this time, there were at least 50 fans (H!O, JPH!P, JPM, Japanese Wotas, and more) waiting just beside the security gate, and looking at the JAL line up.

Eri, Sayu and JunJun kept looking at us, but they were all trying to check in and didn't wave at us.

Meanwhile, I ran up and down and took about 200 pictures of them lining up. I don't know why, but everyone said I was freaking out. LOL! The security and staff at the airport were so nice, they didn't say anything about us crowding around and making noise calling out member names. Instead, they asked us who we were waiting for and they thought it was cool we were doing this for the girls.

Eventually, MM finished checking in and proceeded to the security gate. All of us went nuts. I called out for Reina, she kinda waved at me. Then I flipped my sign to the "KOHA BYE" and yelled "KOHA BYE!" to her. She turned around, saw my sign, then smiled and waved at me. They then proceeded to go thru the gates.

So just as we thought this was all over, they all gathered around on the side and then came back out again. This time, they were really going in, and all the fans called out their names. They waved to us and we all rushed forward as much as we could without going over the line. They were stuck at the line, and we kept calling to them. I yelled out "L O V E, LOVELY ERIRIN", which made this Japanese wota beside me to burst out laughing. Then for some unknown reason, I started to sing the "LA LA LA~LA" part of Aozora ga Itsumade mo Tsuzuku You na Mirai de Are! and waved my hand to the beat. A few others joined in and we did that for a few seconds, which was LOL. Then a girl called out "Momusu saikou!", which that was funny too.

Once all of them went through and disappeared into the gate, most of the fans began to leave. Some apparently stayed behind and ran into Tsunku.

All in all, it was a nice send off and an awesome way to end this experience. Thanks to everyone who showed up at the airport.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll upload all my pictures, videos, and audio rips after I get home Monday night. Will probably do a proper report of this full experience as well.

And to johnjeon who asked how we feel about MM now, after going through this, here's what I think.

I love these girls more than ever now. Seeing them up close and personal made a world of difference. Having a chance to talk with them, getting direct reactions from them for things I said was really cool. I could really feel how they appreciate their fans, especially when they got upset when they were rushed on the last autograph signing.

) Members wise, getting to see Ai-chan get angry was something new. Other than that, she really do have this leadership aura, which cement my thought of her as the perfect MM leader.
) Gaki-san is everything I've expected her to be. My position for her is still the same.
) Eri has jumped up a few places on my favorites list for being so sweet. She also looks more pretty in person.
) Sayu is so much more pretty in person, it's crazy. And she's not THAT evil, LOL.
) Reina is super friendly to everyone, and I liked that! You'd expect her to give everyone attitude, but she was totally the opposite! She's still my favorite!
) Koharu is my secoond favorite member now. Everytime I called her name or did something stupid to get her attention, she always responded with a full smile. (Even if she thinks in her mind I'm such an idiot )
) For Aika, I can see now how she beat the other girls in her audition to become a MM member. Aika's smile is too sweet and genuine. This girl knows how to please.
) JunJun is skinnier than I imagined. Getting to see how she treated her fans was something fresh too, since she doesn't get featured a lot. I'm beginning to like her more.
) LinLin looks so cute in person. She's also very sweet and polite. Before she was my least favorite member, but now, I won't say she's a favorite, but I don't want to say I have a least favorite member anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't have anything to do the whole day after they got on their plane. Everyone has gotten used to waiting and chasing them around all week. Sitting down now, reflecting on all the events, it just seems so unreal.

Those who were unable to make it to LA this time, I strongly recommend you to attend a MM or H!P concert at least once in your life. It's so worth it.

[iidesuka-aibon]

started waiting in the registration line @ ~6am. they opened the line til 8:30, 30 minutes late. got my pass and was off to the opening ceremony. as i was sitting down, i realized that i didn't get tix to the concert, and went back to redeem. turns out even tix are at another location, so went there instead. found a line of 30+ people.. no way i was going to make the opening ceremony @ 9am waiting in line, so decided to ditch the line and go to the opening ceremony.. ceremony started ~9:30... if they started on time, i would have been able to get my concert tix and be at the opening ceremony... but anyways, seeing mm in person was really something! ai-chan looked awesome. i saw ai-chan's gasp too (there is a pix someone posted before) when moritaka(?) came out, that was pretty funny..
after the ceremony, went back to the event line.. by this time, there were 100+ people in line. really wanted to go see the MM booth, but wanted at least decent tix for the concert and i wasn't going to be around for the sat signing. ended up getting row 19e, which is to the left and second to last row of the tix section. not very good seats so i was cursing ax for starting late.
went to the mm q&a panel. this was really cool. others have glossed over the funnier parts of the q&a, like rock-scissor w/ reina, eri-kamei doing their A pose, kamei doing her kamezo pose, koharu doing her anime line, michishige's paris, aika translating for junjun, ai and rest having to applause to a little girl for not being able to take pics. the translator was less than stellar. she abbreviated some, and totally missed reina's remarks (reina was laughing when she said it). if anyone understood what reina said, please let me know. i was in the 8th row back, but was lucky enough to get an autograph tix.
so off i went. totally lost when i got there, first tried exhibition hall, but didn't see a line. then when to the left of the exhibit hall and stumbled on a line just forming. asked the attendee if this was the MM signing line, and he said yes.. so got in line. apparently, there was some confusion and 2 lines were formed, one on each side of the exhibit hall. our side was the shortest and the closest to the signing room, so they decided to let us go first. ended up being the 3rd person in the signing. was planning on buying a photoset and having them sign that but didn't get a chance to buy it from the exhibit hall. lucky i brought my p9 disc with me. the actual signing was like a blur. all very amazingly pretty.. some had alot of makeup imo. didn't say much or shook hands, was too busy grinning and looking star-struck. and i did fumble trying to find kamei's pic. i thought that was linlin's and kept skipping it. kamei-san did help me pinpoint her pic though. can't believe i missed it.. .. i said 'domo' to each one (should have said 'domo arigatou gozaimasu'). to junjun and linline, said 'gambatte' in chinese. then i was whisked out of the room, and that was it.. looking back, i wished i'd said alot more things.. but i was just dazed by the whole experience. was at a lose for what to do next. so checked out the exhibit hall. bought some mm photosets, and the single cd.
next day, went to the concert. surprised at how long the lines were especially when it was assigned seating. the concert hall was pretty huge and they had plenty of seats for everyone, including those w/o tix. i doubt if there were 7500 people there though; plenty of open seats in the back. while waiting, saw this japanese wota stretching, that was pretty funny. guess he was preparing to really jump and dance. after ~1.5 hr wait, the concert started. i was too far away, and once people started standing, couldn't see MM very well on stage. had to use the big screens most of the time. and yes, those camera people were not familiar with MM concerts and didn't do a very good job. MM took 5-sec breaks to towel down and sip some water, imo that was pretty funny. and there was a tear-off change of costume mid-way through. loved the i wish medley, love machine, breakout (twice), shouganai, and resonant blue. they did that snake-looking thing for resonant blue. and the global warming song was good too. yoshi showing up was cool. she's always funny... the winners for break-out pv was pretty good. i was impressed. i would say a little more than half of the people at the concert were non-tix. they were the ones w/o glow sticks and were sitting during the concert. one of the lady in the row ahead of me was upset b/c once people started standing up, her daughter couldn't see anything, i doubt even the big screens. that kinda sux. i was tall enough to see some glimpses of MM and had no problems seeing the screen. there was a wota next to me w/ binoculars. there was also another wota with a kamei poster hanging from his neck. quite a # of kamei wotas there with their distinguishable orange tshirts. and the wotas also did a pre-concert cheer. i also assume they might have started the unsuccessful encore chants b/c people started chanting 'encore-re' instead of just 'encore'. overall, alot of people where dancing and jumping along, with their various glow-sticks. lot of fun!
after the concert, went to the exhibit hall again, and since didn't have a tix, couldn't get a yoshi auto, but i did see yoshi after her signing; followed her out of the exhibit hall only to be stopped by security. spent the rest of the time watching anime and arcades.
next day had to leave but did have a chance to see tsunku panel. really smart and savy guy imo. he did note that people at the anime expo were more in-tune with the japanese culture, whereas the general american audience might not be. i assume that to mean that unless MM starts singing songs in english, we may not get a true MM concert for quite some time. i wonder if they can do a fanclub concert in the west-coast and allow non-fc fans to attend, who knows. the panel had very low attendance b/c practically everyone was waiting in the MM-signing line. i think ax goofed up on that one. here you have a pretty-big name producer doing a panel, and you have <100 people show up. his displeasure (if any), could prevent any future H!P sighting at AX. tsunku-san's last message was for everyone to spread the word on MM and H!P.

overall, worth every penny spent..... before the concert, i was more a old-gen fan, buying album cds. after the concert, i'm also a current-gen fan, and will be buying other stuff like cds, dvds, photosets, etc. so at least for me, the autograph signing and concert did me in.

i've read the other posts here. and people that have their hands slapped by dragonlady, well, you shouldn't be sticking your hand out in the first place. we were told many times no handshakes. but i do understand the urge to want to shake their hands.
if you think about it, it does help alot to be able to see them. my fandom increased after getting a chance to see them up close. it is better for UFA to get as many people through as possible. more fans are produced and more people will buy their stuff, which in turn may result in future concerts outside of japan. that in turn will give us more opportunities to see them in the future. so yes, it does sux to be rushed like that, but i don't blame ufa/ax/whoever. ever regular concert goers in japan don't get handshakes and close-ups like we did.... so why are we complaining?

[kyogic]

finally back home with internet.

I was wondering, did anyone after 170 in the second signing get in? I didn't notice anyone behind me and the translator lady was talking about them needing to leave soon. so i felt bad. I only had one thing to sign, which was my Sayumi Doukei PB. It was a great experience though. I got to greet everyone with a handshake... my goodness, they are so gentle. I think my mind went blank a lot. haha. Eri gave me this long stare after i shook her hand... maybe she was trying to figure out my nationality or something, but i just smiled back. Sayu said 'thank you' like 3 or 4 times to me. It was the cutest thing ever.

I dont know... I'm glad everything happened the way it did, but also feel bad for those that didnt get in.

[kissemhut]

^^ When did she give you the CD? Man talk about knowing those in the busines.

Before momusu left today of course...btw...SHH! I'm pretty sure you know how I got the cd, but don't even mention who you think it is...had to promise not to tell anyone. So the sunday suprise I was saving for you guys had to be kept secret...

Did you get to do anything special aside from receiving the CD? And oh, what kind of CD is it? Like, what version? 'cause i noticed that the cover is different.

@ StevenLin aww man, thats gotta be darn unlucky. and the non-fan got to see them up close

- I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet but apparently the girls were staying on the 14th floor of the Westin (I think?) and had put up some post-it notes on their room doors with hilarious Engrish.

LMAO!!!

i sure do hope they go overseas again, and more people would be able to go >_<

OMG. I saw those post it's (doesn't look like they're the ones who wrote em though.hahaha im pretty sure they were staying on the last floor. 31st.

) Members wise, getting to see Ai-chan get angry was something new. Other than that, she really do have this leadership aura, which cement my thought of her as the perfect MM leader.

eh? she got angry? why? when?

[turbos86]

^ During the last autograph session when they were rushed to finish all the signing. Ai-chan looked so pissed after she handed me back the photo she signed on. She smiled at me, but as soon as I began to move over to Gaki-san, I noticed her facial expression changed to a totally pissed off look.

AX and UFA/JapanFiles had a big mis-communication problem, and it made pretty much everyone involve feel bad. Not only the organziers, but it left a bad taste in the fan's mouths too.

That's why I thought it was so important we gave them a proper send off, which we did, so it's all good!

[kissemhut]

^
I kinda figured it was during that time. I was reading everyone's stories about the autograph session and it's just oh so unbelievable. it seemed like a prison in there. lol i mean, can they be anymore rude?! (the security and all) There was some really intense stuff going in that booth. scary.

EDIT: BTW, on Saturday when they got back to the hotel to change and left again there were some fans (i think 3) that were by the bus and I believe one of the girls was saying how like, she wanted to have the girls autograph her bear thing. and I just saw someone assist them inside the bus and they drove off with the girls. Does anyone else know bout this too?

[田中BOMB]

So I'm working on a pretty expansive summary I've been typing it up for a few days now, I'm uploading more videos to Youtube, I'm sure you all have seen the wotagei ones by now. I also plan on scanning the photo sets and books I have for those of you who didn't get a chance to have one.

Other than that; today I decided to make the pilgrimage to the sacred Westin and visited the areas of legend. I ended the pilgrimage standing against a wall Reina stood and got an idea to create a memorial (shrine?) It stood for a good two hours. And when I had to remove it people got emotional



Nice to meet you all, It really made the experience a lot better.

[auroragb]

Just got back from the final day of festivities that was capped by the Charity Auction. The Morning Musume items sold quite well! They sold three signed copies of Platinum 9 which all sold for between $200 - $450 each. Next was a signed Hangry and Angry poster board which went for $300.

I think some fella from jphip ended up winning it and last but not least they had a MM signed posterboard that went for $1700!

I thought the final CD went for 500? Anyway, I forget...

One strange thing was that I could have sworn that there was a 123 breakout single during the preview... but it became all platinum 9... thought that was odd

btw, I got the MM posterboard

The auction raised $29k+ for the charity, H!P fans contributed ~10%. Gundam fans have DEEP pockets. I think they contributed 40+% (maybe even 50%) of the total

Some thoughts:
Day 0: Waiting and waiting and waiting.
As others probably mentioned, they had an outside line for pre-reg, than an inside line, which then split into lines A-F. I think around 30% of the attendees were registered that day. so that means ~14000 people. I heard that the lines on Thursday went MUCH faster. Effectively, this punishes the Day 0 people. They need to figure out a way to start the registration earlier so that the line doesn't build as deep as it did. Day 0 went from 3pm to ~10pm. If they started at 9 or 10, it would have been much better as the wait would be < 1hr.

Why did they have a separate line for the event tix? I guess it speeds up the reg process a little, but they had WAY too few windows for it, resulting in 2+ hour to process a 3-400 people line (1/10 the speech of the reg line)

Day 1: Waiting, opening ceremonies, waiting, waiting, shopping, Q&A,running,waiting,gassed,maid cafe
There wasn't much of a line for the opening ceremonies, just a small one to allow them to count people. But it began rather late, Momusu went to sit in section E before the ceremony and fans went wild. The girl from TW was pretty funny, she couldn't take her eyes off them and swung a concert making of PB to try to catch their attention. Then it began, the cheers as the girls intro'd themselves was awesome. I took videos, but might not post them because 1. I suck at doing the conversions 2. My videography skills not too great. I tried to film the other GoH's as they were intro'd, but the camera automatically went back to MM when the GoH started talking
Then, it's a mad dash for the exhibit hall line, and waited and waited for it to open. Jpophouse and Japanfile were NOT ready for the 300 fans to all be there at once. I still think they should have just made a CD purchase mandatory to move the line and get the tickets out of the way and clear the way for the interested shoppers. It was an hour-plus wait before I got to the booth. At least I got mine so I can't complain much. I re-purchased one of everything I already bought through HPFC TW to support a US fan distribution channel. Unfortunately, there was NO photocard made specifically for LA
Then it was off to the Q&A. Arrived before the previous one with Morikawa finished. Rushed up to the front ~ 5th row right, and got a seat. the Q&A went well, the fans were enthusiastic and cheered madly at everything. Sorry it makes for bad audio recording, but wouldn't a quiet one be even worse? The fans who actually made it to LA and for many it was the first time to see them live, would you be able to control yourself? I thought it was a fine lovefest and I hope UFA gets the right message.
At the end they passed out the magical yellow tickets that gave you a chance to get an autograph. Yeah, coulda gone to Staples and gotten a few rolls, but I think people were honorable. But the MC gave the f'ing wrong info, resulting with 500+ people running around in the art gallery/ exhibit halls like chicken with their heads cut off. Eventually, I found it and waited in line, talked to a few other fans, and got ticket #201 (if you read the earlier stuff, you know where this is going) when I went into "the chamber", there I met Daigong and many other H!O members. But, after ~1 hour in the room, they shut the door and told us to come back tomorrow. No doubt I was pissed but no point in belabouring how screwed up the system was. I think they should set expectations, which they didn't
After that, I wandered the halls in a daze for a while and ended up at the maid cafe. They were new to this, a bit underwhelming, and a very un-"con"mon way to have this thing where you have to have to win 2 games in ~15 minutes to take pics with maids assigned to you. When the con is full of people willing to be photoed or photoed with for free, this seems to be rather antithetical to the whole idea.

Day 2: Hollywood, CONCERT, party
Had to kill time waiting for the afternoon concert, so did a tour of Hollywood (mainly to see MJ's star), came back in nick of time for the concert. Forgot my glowstick, so went with the ghetto iPhone flashlight feature The concert was great! The medley is everything that fans want. I thought it was nice to announce the result of the video contest there but it took way too much time. I think for the new fans, it was problematic because 321 breakout was played 5x, I think that MM should have made their second perf to the grand prix video, saving some time
I made it to the party around 8, I think that the quiz show took too long, at least there should be MM or H!P piped in the background, just MC is too dry. But after that it picked up, the dangling game, drawing game, and the last line karaoke game got the party started. then, the french guy led the wota-gei and REALLY energized everyone. Through the first three songs (BK song, C-ute song, Ayaya song) it was mostly just his group, but by Romantic Ukare Mode, the j-wota joined it and it was awesome. I wish I'd brought my vid cam instead of just my camera which only records in VGA... At the end, one of the j-wota shook the leaders hand and said what I thought was a great quote: "Wotagei no border". Then, Karaoke started and I left shortly to rest up for the big day
Day 3: Waiting, SIGNING, waiting, SIGNING, movie, Masquerade
Got there at ~8:20 and only saw a couple people waiting? wth? it turned out that the staff had already moved people into "the chamber" and we joined them. There I talked to one of the fans that posted the arrival vids, and a pair of brothers that gave me a Junjun card(!) Eventually, we moved to a larger room and then the signing started. This time I was #125, and was optimistic. Eventually, it got to me, and I went in to see them! There they were, right in front of me! It was a pretty free form thing, as long as you were nice and not harassing, you pretty much got as much time as you could. But I was just so nervous, and mostly shook their hands and thanked them for coming and cheered Junjun and Linlin on in Chinese and it was done. Afterwards, it seemed that I was so intent, I could only see their faces and nothing else, I couldn't even remember what they wore
The second one, first there was no line, then I came back, the line was too long(?!) and was told to come back in one hr. I went to see AX idol, it was ok, Tsunku judged and picked one of the girls. I thought they were fine, but I felt they sung in an American style rather than that of their source material, which I didn't like (hence liking jpop in the first place).
When I got back, it was towards the end. This time I was calmer, but the line moved quickly and the girls were signing machines and had very little time, just a few words and no handshake. But the their warmth when they met your eyes was still so moving. Then, we wanted to wait for the girls to come out so we can sing Happy birthday to Sayu and Koha, as they shooed us away, we sung before we left
Then I saw k-western The good, The Bad, The Weird. ok film
Then I went into the masquerade. The skits were of higher quality than AnimeNext, but what really set it apart was the MC. This was LA, after all and their MC can host rings around everyone else. I was quite entertained

Day 4: Manga, Chocolat, Exhibits, auction
Nothing much to do today, checked out the manga lib, not as good as AnimeNext's
Then saw the movie Chocolat, a Thai action film. so-so. fighting scenes lack a certain fluidity, which was a shame because the actress had awesome moves
then checked out the exhibit halls and went to the auction

That's it for my AX report. if you read this far, thanks!