Kevin Scanlon

Two of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

Kit Quinn and Tallest Silver keep their legal names off the record. The best friends' fear is that, as their images circle the web, boundaries blur. Online, strangers want to get too personal. And they've already been recognized at stores and amusement parks.
Quinn and Silver are 23-year-old cosplayers, showing up at such conventions as San Diego Comic-Con dressed as pop culture icons in stunningly accurate detail. Silver, a pretty redhead, does a mean Poison Ivy. Fittingly, Quinn often plays Ivy's best friend and fellow Batman nemesis, Harley Quinn.

At conventions, photographers swarm as though they're celebrities. "Some things are more socially acceptable in that situation," Silver says, "but when you step away from it, that would have been really creepy and not OK" in regular life.

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rfaust76 (Creative Commons)

See also:
*"Lauren Faust: Let's Hear It for the Girls"
*"Top 5 Lessons for Adults From My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"

For this year's L.A. Weekly People Issue, I interviewed Lauren Faust, the fabulously talented artist and writer who has worked on top-notch shows like The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Now, though, she's best known for developing the TV series that launched the Brony phenomenon, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. More recently, Faust led the team behind the DC animated short series Super Best Friends Forever.

We talked about a lot of things in the interview that didn't make the final version of the story. Below are a few outtakes.

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Courtesy of Troma Entertainment

Lloyd Kaufman and Toxie

See also: "Why Self-Publish? Artists and Writers Explain at Long Beach Comic Expo"

Lloyd Kaufman wants you to watch Troma Entertainment's extensive film catalog for free. Yes, really. The independent film company he co-founded almost 40 years ago with Michael Herz has uploaded a number of its cult favorites, including all four Toxic Avenger movies and Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, to YouTube. Troma movies also are available on-demand for free to Comcast subscribers.

Troma's decision to make its movies available without charge, even when some of them can be purchased, is in line with Kaufman's beliefs about piracy and "sharing art." He has voiced those opinions in his sixth book, Sell Your Own Damn Movie. He also took the time to chat by phone about those views for this L.A. Weekly column.

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Photo by Hunter Gorinson

Jason Kothari (Left) and Dinesh Shamdasani are now the heads of Valiant Comics

In 2005, Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari, two slight, sleep-deprived undergrads from USC and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, respectively, sat in Kothari's dorm room surrounded by the towering boxes of legal documents that had consumed their lives for the past six months. The childhood friends had just failed in their quest to purchase Valiant, their favorite comic book company.

It had been a long shot. In the 1990s, Valiant was the third largest comic book company in the world, rivaling DC Comics for market share and boasting more than 1,500 characters. With no prior experience in the industry, and only Shamdasani's vast knowledge of Valiant's library and Kothari's nearly completed business degree to guide them, the two fans had gotten in the ring with millionaire Marvel execs and wealthy industry insiders to fight for the rights to Valiant.

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Shannon Cottrell (from San Diego Comic-Con 2011)

Are you ready to hit the convention hall?

It's that time of year where it seems like there's at least one big fan convention going on every weekend somewhere in the country. Whether you're planning to head to New Jersey for the Steampunk World's Fair later this month or counting down for San Diego Comic-Con in July, there are a few essentials you'll need to bring with you.

On Tuesday, I asked my fellow con-goers on Twitter and Facebook what's the one thing they have to bring to a convention. The responses were varied. Some people pointed to a few good checklists available online, like this one that goes back to 2000 as well as one from Fanboy Comics. Parenting Geekly has a great list for those intending on bring kids to the con. Also, if you're going to SDCC, I suggest picking up a copy of Doug Kline's book, The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide, which covers everything from parking to the line at Hall H.

Our respondents' answers ranged from personal hygiene necessities to personal technology musts. Check out the list below and add your own must-have items in the comment section.

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Shannon Cottrell

See also:
*More photos from the My Little Pony Project opening at Toy Art Gallery
*Top 5 Lessons for Adults From My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
*Boba Fett as a Girl: N.C. Winters Mashes Up Star Wars and My Little Pony in 'Abandoned Menagerie'

Just before 8:30 p.m., when the line to enter Toy Art Gallery was at its fullest, a small white car sped through the intersection of Melrose and Curson. The driver screamed, "Bronies!" The crowd let out a deep roar of excitement. My Little Pony Project 2012, a massive art exhibition dedicated to the cute and colorful toys that spawned a cult favorite cartoon series, was under way.

At TAG, the line extended down the block for the bulk of the night. Elsewhere on the avenue, My Little Pony fans -- including, yes, bronies, the term for older men who are My Little Pony fans -- swarmed other participating shops. JapanL..A had MLP keychains on hand early in the evening. Store owner Jamie Rivadeneira told me that they ran out in about five minutes. Designer toy shop Munky King was giving away free ponies with a $5 purchase. I stood in line for somewhere between five and 10 minutes to enter the shop. The line to make a purchase and collect a pony was longer than that. That this night was also Cinco de Mayo didn't matter -- Melrose was all about ponies.

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Liz Ohanesian

Posters by Rhys Cooper

Joss Whedon's take on Marvel's dream team, The Avengers, hits U.S. theaters at midnight. With anticipation for the movie swelling, a host of hot artists brought their own renditions of the famed superheroes to Gallery 1988 on Melrose Avenue for "Assemble."

The show, which actually takes place at a space across the street from the pop culture-centric gallery, is similar to Gallery 1988's recent Adult Swim event. There's a mix of gorgeous, one-of-a-kind pieces with hefty pricetags. However, there are also a lot of prints available, most of which are selling for around $45. "Assemble" opens today and will run through Sunday. Check out some of the standout pieces from the show here.

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There was always something remotely hip-hop about Sesame Street. Elmo, Big Bird, the Count, Oscar the Grouch -- especially Oscar the Grouch -- looked like they'd really seen some shit in their eternal youth. They swaggered through life lessons with a knowing limp, putting some soul into the ABCs of every square kid everywhere.

Which makes their new partnership with L.A.'s biggest and bestest graffiti collective, the Seventh Letter Crew -- with Neff Headwear on the bill, too, for some sweet Grouch beanies -- an easy transition. An exhibit of Seventh Letter artists' interpretations of the famed kids show ran for two nights only this past weekend at Known Gallery.

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Tanja Stark

David Bowie mannequin by Tanja Stark

There's no shortage of toys and merchandise based on celebrities floating around the Internet, but some are a bit more unusual than others. In the designer toy and art toy world, artists turn recognizable figures into vinyl characters and mash them up with other pop culture references into amazing sculpts. Inspired by a recent trip to Melrose Avenue shop Toy Art Gallery, here's a smattering of toys that go far beyond the classic celebrity Barbies.

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Liz Ohanesian

Hyaena Gallery is a small Burbank shop dedicated to dark art, outsider art, pop surrealism and other unusual styles. Every year, the gallery hosts an exhibition at the annual horror convention Monsterpalooza. It's different from the shows you'll normally see at the gallery, "more of a fun show," according to owner and curator Bill Shafer.

"A lot of times, in the gallery, I want to see an artist's original thoughts, what's in their heads coming out that no one has seen before," says Shafer. "With Monsterpalooza, people want Frankenstein, Dracula, Vincent Price. They want to celebrate what they grew up with."

So Shafer brings together many of his regular artists to dig deep into their influences and create work based on the classics of the genre. After the convention, he brings the exhibit into the store. "For Those Who Slept..." brings a bit of Monsterpalooza to people who couldn't attend the convention. But even if you attended the original show, there's reason to stop by the shop as well. Shafer has added a few new pieces to the exhibit, including Daniel R. Horne's exquisite oil paintings. Check out 10 selections from the show after the jump.

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