Keith Tralins, Regina Carpinelli Talk Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo 2015/Guests/Cosplay! EXCLUSIVE

Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo 2015 celebrates their fifth year anniversary. In an exclusive interview with MStars News, founder Regina Carpinelli and CEO Keith Tralins talk about their upcoming guests, schedule, and which cosplay has been their favorite so far.

Scheduled to take place from October 30 through November 1, 2015, the annual pop culture convention is back again and will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Celebrating all things comics, video games, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, Carpinelli and Tralins dish on surprise appearances and special events that fans will want to participate in.

MStars News; Because this is the five year anniversary, tell me how Comikaze Expo came about?

Regina Carpinelli: Well about 6 years ago, my brothers and I used to go to San Diego Comic Con every year. In 2010, we couldn't get tickets and we were like, "Hey that's not cool!" and we were like "We can make our own comic book convention in Los Angeles!" There weren't any shows in Los Angeles and we wanted something that was for everyone. San Diego had been evolving since the early '90s. But we didn't know what we were doing. We just had a lot of passion and a lot of heart to make a really great show that was good for the fans, that everyone could get into, and that was for the guests.

MS: Was it rough it during those early stages?

RC:  We were thinking, you know we don't really know what we're doing but we'll figure that out. For a show, we need guests and the guests we would want to see and meet, like Elvira. And so we found a way to contact their management, we begged, begged, and begged and it was no. They said, "We don't do first year shows!" Or "No, we don't do shows in Los Angeles!" I guess shows didn't do well in Los Angeles but we just kept begging.

We were like, "It's going to be amazing! It's going to be awesome!" And finally they said yes! It was either going to be a yes or a restraining order but thank God they both said yes! So they were our guests of honor and we just kept promoting the show.

We didn't have a lot of money. We just had $10,000 that we had scrapped up. Every time we sold a booth, we were like, "Okay we can buy some fliers or we can pay part of the unions costs and the show."

MS: What was the grand opening like?

RC: We get to the day of the show, November 5 of 2011, and we were expecting like 3 or 4,000 people. But over 3,0000 showed up and it was crazy! And shortly after that, the show looked like District 9! It was so chaotic but you know it happened! And people had a great time even though there were some problems.

MS: How did Stan Lee become involved?

RC: And shortly after that Stan and his company, POW, contacted us. They said, "You know, we want to be involved with this more than just being guests. We were like, "What do you mean?" And they said, "We want it to be Stan Lee's Comickaze, We want to be a part of this because this is something special. We've never seen this and we've been to all kinds of shows."

And at that point, how do you tell someone like Stan Lee, who now wants to be a part of your business, no? You don't! You let them because that's amazing especially because we were just fans and then shortly after Elvira, the same thing. From that moment we were going into year two and we partnered with one of the world's largest trade show companies and we haven't looked back.

MS: The weekend also happens to fall on Halloween. Was that a lucky coincidence or on purpose?

Keith Tralins: It was intentional. We have a lot of people saying that you can't do anything on Halloween. But our show is during the day and everybody comes in costume. So why wouldn't we do it on Halloween? Last year, we really embraced the concept of Halloween and we created LA's ultimate trick or treat which is LA's biggest indoor trick or treat. It's super safe, well-lit, and there's no cars. We gave 100,000 pieces of candy to our vendors to give away for the kids. We also do a kid's costume contest. which is sponsored by Disney. It's just for kids in costumes. It's not about cosplay, it's not about all the craftsmanship and all the things that we geek out about. It's just about kids in their costumes and getting up on stage, showing it off.

And that's one of my favorite parts of the show. We have some people say, "Well I can't come because it's Halloween and I have to be with my family." But we have a lot more people saying, "Oh wow, what a great way to celebrate Halloween!"

When we brought it back this year, we had no complaints. This year, we are bringing all this stuff back and we want to be a Halloween destination for LA moving forward as much as we're a showcase of what LA has to offer. It's also a chance for families to get together in an incredibly safe and inviting atmosphere, where everyone, the kids and the grownups are in costume. If you're just dressed as a muggl,, you're going to have a great time. And so, we anticipate to continue being around Halloween, the weekend before or the weekend of, for the rest of our future.

RC: For the adults, there are Halloween options, but there is not anything specifically for nerds. Last year we did it on the Saturday after Halloween and this year it's on Halloween. It's LA's Ultimate Comikaze Cosplay Halloween Ball and it's going to be at Club Nokia, which is right next to the convention center. Anybody with a 3-day badge or a Saturday badge gets in free. We have everyone in costume and we have musical guests, really amazing bands like the Flux Capacitors, who are an '80s cover band that are Back to the Future themed and Make Out Monday. The lead singer is Jeremy Shada, who is the voice of Finn in Adventure Time. Some really special super secret musical guests that are majorly famous, who you would never get to see them at a concert in your life, this intimate, for free.

It's really something for everybody, for the party crew, for the families. So you can be a nerd at the con and then you can come party with us for free. What better way to spend your time than with your nerd people at a Halloween party!

MS: One of my favorite parts about going to conventions is seeing the cosplay. Has there been a costume blew your mind over the past five years?

RC: Well, there are two personal favorites that stick out. A guy who dressed up as Uncle Fester from the Addams Family and he had these light bulbs that lit up sticking out of this head, in his mouth, and like smoke coming out! Then there's been some amazing Groot cosplay and there was this guy on stilts and it looks like the real thing. Being in LA , there's so many great costumes! I love all the costumes, be it a kid that just's in tin foil and duct tape and a paper bag, to be Iron Man. Somebody then sanded down and molded plastic to make a Iron Man suit. There's like some fantastic costumes and it's just totally cool to see everyone dressed up!

KT: About two years ago, a woman came dressed as Daenerys Targaryen. She had made a dragon, put it on a chain, and made the chain really still, so it would fly above her. She was walking around with a dragon flying above her, which was really great!

Last year at the cosplay contest, we had someone that did a Big Daddy costume from the video game BioShock, which was just unreal absolutely amazing! Of course, this year we have the cosplay national championships! So we are going to have the best of the best on stage. More than $10000 in cash and prizes, at least in cash and even more in prizes are up for grabs.

We think this is going to top everything this year with the cosplay because the stakes are high! We've got an amazing trophy which we refer to lovingly as the Stan Lee Cup. We have medals! We have all sorts of really amazing prizes and people want it. We have three different categories; master, journeyman and junior. It's going to be really special!

We also added on Sunday, there will be a prop making championship, which is a chance for the people who focus on props, as opposed to costumes, to get their moment in the spotlight. We have over $1000 in cash and prizes for them.

MS: With names such as Danielle Panabaker (The Flash) and Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) appearing, which guest are you most excited about seeing?

RC: I am excited about all of our guests! I personally am a big comic book fan and this year, I was talking with the guys from AMC, The Comic Book Men and they said, "You know, your comic book lineup of guests has never ever happened! Like all those people are in one spot!" I was looking at it and I was like, "You're right!" We literally have the best of the best from the industry coming! Aside from Stan Lee, who is there, go see see his museum because it gets bigger and better! And it's going to be a show stopper!

Todd McFarlane is coming, Rob Liefield, Grant Morrison who barely ever does shows, Humberto Ramos, Marc Silvestri, Jim Lee, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Mike Mignola. You know it's a crazy line up of comic book guys coming. I'm really excited to meet Grant Morrison and see Rob and Todd and Jim! They're going to be doing a "Legends of Comic Book" panel, it's really is phenomenal!

KT: Every year, we honor a modern comedy legend, someone who has proven themselves to be a living legend in comedy and they're sort of the next wave that all the comedians are going to bow down to. This year's recipient is Wayne Brady! We're going to have Wayne at the show and I am so excited because I just think he is across the board the most talented person in Hollywood! There is just nothing he cannot do! He's also hilarious on top of it! s

RC: Yes we're really proud to announce and you're going to get the exclusive on this one Grumpy Cat is coming to Comikaze and be at the Hot Topic Booth! DMC from Run DMC is going to be there! He has a new comic book and there's going to be special musical guests, and that's all I'm going to say but you can put two and two together, so you don't want to miss the party!

MS: When the days are over, do you get a chance to relax or do you jump right back to work on the next show?

RC: We jump right back into the next show and we also have another convention that we work with. You know Comikaze takes a full year to plan it and we are fresh off of getting new ideas and ways to improve the show after the previous year. The next day, we go right back into work. We don't rest. We've got a duty to our fans.

KT: Yeah and a big part of this show is we are really trying to take leaps and bounds in growth every year. What we're really focusing on is reaching out and connecting. All the other conventions, the super famous people get to go to them and meet their fans, but this is LA's backyard. We don't get starstruck. There's a lot of super talented people that aren't super famous but they should be. It's very exciting to have them at the show!

A lot of what our energy is on starting November 2, figuring out how we can grow that platform and how we can get the people in and really create a special showcase for the people who create pop culture that everybody celebrates, instead of just the pop culture.

Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo takes place from October 30th throught Novemeber 1, 2015.

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