AWA 2017
So on Thursday I was waiting for Destiny and her co-worker Mackenzie that was riding with us. Their ride woke up late so they were over an hour late. The ride up was uneventful until we got to Atlanta. There were some accidents and we got stopped a few times but we did finally make it to the hotel. We even found a parking spot pretty quick. Reba and Jennifer had checked in already so we got out stuff out of the car and went our separate ways. I went up to the room and Reba let me in. Jennifer had gone to family care because of a sinus infection so she could get some medicine. Reba and I chatted while waiting for her to get back. We went down to the Super Happy Fun Sell but it was starting late so we wandered around a bit and picked up our con swag. Jennifer joined us and we went to the other mall to get something to eat. There was a bakery right when you enter the mall so after we got real food, I got a cookies-and-cream lobster tail. The outside was pretty hard, kind of like a real lobster tail I guess, but the cream inside was so good! It was pretty big too. After we got back the line for the SHFS had not gone down so we decided to get in line cuz it was getting on and we didn’t know if they would adjust the closing time for it opening late or not. I found a set of Macross Frontier clear files and got a Free! keychain of young Haru with a dolphin. There was also a booth that had a box of stuff that was free. From there I got some star fabric, some star earrings, a set of candy corn lights, some elastic, and an Area 88 DVD. There wasn’t really anything going on so we just hung out in the room the rest of the night.
Friday was Yuri on Ice day. We got up kind of early and took our time getting ready and I went to the Yuri on Ice shoot at 1. There was a good gathering of people but not so much that it was overwhelming. I managed to hand off my phone and people actually managed to take pictures with it. I only glanced at them but I’ll have to go through them later. After that I went through the dealers room for a while. Later I went to Nobutoshi Canna’s panel. I was going to ask him to do Basara’s line, “Listen to my song!” but someone asked a question about Basara and he did it on his own. I only wish that they would have let us record it. When Tohru Furuya was here he allowed filming so I got him saying, “Pegasus Ryuuseiken!” on film. I kind of wish I had done Sheryl’s version of Basara’s outfit now. I mean, it’s two of my favorite characters mashed together. Oh well. At the end Kazuhiko Inoue came up and asked him a question like he was a fan. I wish I could’ve gotten his autograph but I missed my chance. After that I went straight to the Bless4 concert. They started right on time. I was only at most 5 minutes late but they were already going. I didn’t miss Aquarion and that’s all I cared about. They always put on a great performance and get the audience involved with little dances and have them sing along so it was fun. They gave out some posters to the crowd so I grabbed one. On one side had them during a concert and the other had a picture of Akino’s wedding. She was so pretty! After that I went straight to Nobutoshi Canna’s autographs. I should’ve done Inoue-san’s at that time but I didn’t feel like it. I didn’t anticipate how bad the line would be the next day. I think I changed into regular clothes after that. While I was leaving I ran into Amber, Danielle, and Kaitlin. Amber had dropped her knife so I walked in front of them to ask if they had dropped it, and that’s when I realized who they were. I walked back with them to the front of the hotel since that’s where I was going anyway. I didn’t know where Reba and Jennifer were so I changed and eventually we met up and got food at the food trucks. We walked back around outside to the front of the hotel, playing pokemon when I saw Sarah and Katie on the way to their panel. I caught the Houndour I was looking for then went to their panel on group cosplay. It was pretty good despite not having a laptop. I wanted to ask to hang out with them but chickened out. I stayed in that same room for the anime theme song panel. It was an interesting way to run the panel and I actually knew a lot of the songs, but when I was put on the spot, I choked. Figures. After that there wasn’t anything I really wanted to do and no one seemed to be at the con so I went back to the room.
Saturday was Voltron day! I was excited for this and there were so many cosplayers from it. We ran into Amber and Danielle and all of us went to the photo shoot together. At least we went where we thought it was but they weren’t very specific. We ended up moving but we found the official photographer so I guess we became the real photo shoot. Some Lances wandered up after we started, thank goodness, including one doing the paladin armor. I also saw a really good Keith in paladin armor but he wasn’t at the photo shoot. Reba, Jennifer and I went to artist alley but quickly got separated. They go too fast but I ran into Patrick and he hung out with me for a while. I didn’t get very much from artists alley because I spent all my money in the dealers room but I did get a little bit. I stayed in there until the fashion show was underway. I knew Ariyana was in it so I went for the Lolita portion and once I’d seen her I left. I went back to the room and ate some lunch then came back out to get in line for Kazuhiko Inoue. Unfortunately I had to get in line to get in line for autographs and I said no, thank you. I didn’t want his that bad. So I wandered the dealers room until I got tired and went back to the room. Reba and Jennifer were there chilling. I decided to change into Emilia since Seth had said we were going to do ReZero but he didn’t wear it. I kept waiting for him to show up to the con and I was looking for someone to hang out with since there wasn’t anything going on I wanted to do. I ran into Katie dressed as school girl Makoto and I hung out with her until she left. Apparently she wasn’t there that long so I was lucky to run into her. After that I went to a mermaiding panel. I had tried to go to one at Momocon but it was cancelled or something. This one was quite informative and I’m glad I went. I want to be a mermaid! Eventually Seth made it there and we were going to go to Big Chow but the wait time was too long so I got some Chinese to eat until their table was ready. It was good timing cuz it was about that time the Luna Haruna concert started. I had to wolf down my food and was a little late but I didn’t miss Fate so it’s ok. She was really cute and a good singer and her outfit was really pretty. During some of the anime songs they played the anime sequence. She could speak a little in English but mostly in Japanese. After that I met back up with Seth and them and walked around. We wandered the courtyard and hung out with Angel and some others but my feet were already hurting from wearing heels all day so I gave it up after a while. I went back up to the room and packed my stuff up as best I could while the other two were sleeping with no more than the light from the tv. It was good enough. I felt like I was making so much noise even though I was trying to be quiet.
Sunday was D. Gray-Man day. I got up early and put on Lenalee and finished packing and got my stuff down to the car early. Since I only stayed up til like 1 and not 3 or 4 it was much easier to do that. I was glad too because the elevator was empty and I had no trouble getting one. My ankle straps for Lenalee didn’t stay on. The hot glue didn’t want to stick to the vinyl so I guess I will have to sew them. That was a minor issue though. I didn’t have her innocence either. Both Destiny and I had alterations to make to our costumes. I went back up to the room since it was really too early for anything and Reba, Jennifer, and I eventually made it over to the dealers room. Jennifer went to artist alley and I followed Reba through the dealers room. There was a poster she wanted to get that had to do with the movie she saw. I’m glad I went though, because they had some free small posters and a bigger one you could get for doing a survey. I saw a Sword Art Online one for the movie coming out so I did the survey. We met back up with Jennifer outside and about that time Destiny was texting me she was having problems with the hotel. They were saying they didn’t have somewhere she could stow her luggage. So I said I would come get her. I get there and she’s nowhere to be found. For some reason she went back up to her room. She came down but then had to find Mackenzie. I was like, “Can we please go?” Then we get back and can’t find a parking spot. I drove around for a bit until I came across someone leaving. Hallelujah! Now we got lunch, and Destiny treated me to Subway. We ran into some D. Gray-man cosplayers and were chatting for a bit. I was really tired of standing around though and just wanted them to leave. Finally Destiny made up some excuse cuz she could see I was getting antsy. I found a place to sit while she went in the dealers room. I met back up with Reba and Jennifer while waiting for her and about the time they left for a panel, she came out. It took a bit to get going though because we ran into another D. Gray-man cosplayer. My feet were seriously hurting so I really just wanted to go. We did eventually leave and stripped and changed right there in the parking lot. I just took off my wig, heels, and jacket and wore a tank top and the skirt. Drive was uneventful and I managed to make it back to Alabama to a gas station that was cheaper than anything else in Georgia. I wasn’t sure we would make it that far but I’m glad we did. Mackenzie’s mom met us in Bay Minette and took her and Destiny back to Gulf Shores.