He's a mysterious boy. Because he's so full of mysteries, that's why.
Ikasucon itself is a dying con with small attendance, disorganized management, and not much to do, but I really liked the venue and the surrounding city. For all it has going against it, the people there were much friendlier and less obnoxious than what I generally see at a con, and there was a higher frequency of good cosplay.
Also, I got in touch with my inner Scandinavian, and it was awesome.
Friday
I stayed up too late packing and finishing last-minute costume-y things, but that's pretty much expected by this point. We didn't leave until around 9:30, so at least I wasn't so sleep-deprived, though.
We had a fun time of getting to Ft. Wayne, because halfway there, the GPS battery died and we couldn't find a plug-in in the rental car. So, we were trying to corroborate directions carolinefaye saved to her iPod with street signs, which led to some backtracking in interesting neighborhoods of Indianapolis ($14,000 for a two story house? Can we say "meth factory"?), but we finally arrived, if a couple hours later than our projected arrival.
As soon as we got settled into our hotel room (complimentary wireless in a Hilton! Niiiiice), yaoiophile and I started to get into CATS costumes. I'd decided at the last minute that I wanted to take the opportunity to finally revamp Jemima's unitard, which had some issues with the shape of the bib that always left me dissatisfied. I made her some new gloves, too, and finally got to wear everything with the proper warmers and the shoes I purchased from Lady J. I also went with a more traditional design for the face paint, and think I finally managed to make it work with my features. The blue contacts I bought for Skwisgaar also looked really nice with the whole ensemble. I couldn't wear my collar, though, since the velcro is shot and I really need to have a snap put on in its stead; I just don't have the tools.
It was later in the evening when we finally made it down to the con, and registration hassled yaoiophile needlessly for information it should've been their responsibility to keep track of. . . But, everything was sorted in the end. The convention center itself was gorgeous - mirrored floors, cathedral ceiling, and the front of the structure was composed almost entirely of huge glass panels. There was also an indoor stream/pond with several concrete pillars that we exploited for photos on several occasions.
We camwhore'd it up, climbed on furniture, harassed Hetalia cosplayers, and were photomobbed until carolinefaye and Richard were done setting up their table, and then we went out exploring for food. There was a surplus of honking, and we had what is possibly the strangest and most uncomfortable request we've ever received in costume - while we were walking along the sidewalk, a woman in a van saw us and jackknifed into the parking lot of the restaurant we happened to be passing, got out of her vehicle, and accosted us, asking if we would say hi to her child. What could we say but yes, after being put on the spot? She then opened the back door of the van to reveal a small boy, who had gauze taped to his body in several places and a very vacant stare - the woman next to him said "he's still under anesthesia". Unsure of what to do, we smiled and waved hello and tried to be cute, although it was clear the kid wasn't really with it. The whole thing wore on for about a minute until the lady thanked us profusely and muttered something about him being mauled by a cat before closing the door and driving off again. o.o;; I sure hope it was a housecat. . . If I were doped up and met two giant technicolor versions of the animal that just tore into me, I'm not sure I would've reacted so calmly. . .
So yeah, that was weird. We walked around the area checking out the food selection (most of the places were disappointingly closed, even though it was only 8) and being silly in costume, and then decided to eat at the gyro place right across from the convention center anyhow. XD It was good food, though, and cheap, too, so I made a couple more visits throughout the duration of the con.
After that, it was back to the hotel for the night, where we de-catted and prepared for Saturday, which was the day yaoiophile and I were most excited about, since we had Metalocalypse cosplay planned. 8D
Hilton beds are sinfully comfortable, I have to say, having stayed at several of them by this point. However, the lamp on the bedside table seemed to have a short in it, and turned itself on in the middle of the night, which startled Richard and I. o.o;;
Saturday
Due to my shortsight when it came to ordering things, we had to make a last-minute trip to the spirit shop the night before we left for the con to buy a replacement wig (which was a shade too permed to be totally accurate, and cheaper quality), and I had to go sans belt buckle and wear a really girly wife beater. So. . . Skwisgaar became Skwisgirl, although I think most people just accepted it as lazy crossplay since she only appears in canon twice for about .5 seconds each. (I tried to make it obvious by wearing a push-up bra, which accomplished the admirable feat of giving me awesome cleavage, but didn't really help matters. XD) Also, my Guitar Hero controller didn't have a strap and it was one of the first editions that came out with the non-detachable cord, so I only got to tote it around at the rave later on in the evening. Boo.
Nevertheless, everything came together surprisingly well in spite of the last-minute snags. And, I don't say this outright often. . . but we were pretty hot together. yaoiophile makes an absolutely fantastic Toki, and I think our dynamic really clicked for the characters, too. As unhappy as I was with certain aspects of my costume, as a duo, we were imminently recognizable. I always find my ability to look good as a blonde amusing, since my pigmentation is totally the opposite.
Ahhh, and we started the morning off with the most epic moment. We were walking down the street to the coffee shop on the corner, minding our own business, and as I'm plodding along, I start to hear metal music playing in the distance. So I turn to yaoiophile and tell her, and we both look around wildly. Another beat passes, and yaoiophile goes, ". . .It kind of sounds like. . . Dethklok." Then we hear Pickles' drum kick, simultaneously look at each other and have a moment of OMGNOWAI, and turn to see a guy in a van at the stoplight, pumping his fist at us and cranking up the volume. So we go crazy and are all "yeahhhhhhhhhh", just as the light turns green and he pulls away. I have no idea if he put in the album before or after he spotted us, but either way, we must've totally made his morning. I think that's the best thing that has ever happened to either of us in cosplay. I mean, I know how I would react if I were rocking out to my favorite fictional band only to see members of said band going for a cup of coffee a few paces up the road.
Upon reaching the actual coffee shop, the fun didn't stop, either. The guy behind the counter was intrigued by our costumes, so we ended up having a twenty minute conversation with him about conventions, fandom, and art. He was genuinely pretty cool (and had some hardcore dreadlocks), and he gave me his name on the back of a business card and told us to Facebook him. Which I think might be the equivalent of getting someone's number these days, but I wouldn't be the one to ask. XD
As soon as we got to the convention center, several people milling around saw us (or rather, saw yaoiophile. . .) and worked themselves into a fanthing lather. This particular encounter was my favorite, though, because the last line went around out of context for the rest of the con.
Congoer: OMG, Toki! I love Toki! *glomps*
yaoiophile: Dat's right, Skwisgaar, you hears dat?
Me: *rolls eyes* Everyone loves Toki.
Congoer: Yeah!
Me: *stands awkwardly off to the side, being totally ignored*
Congoer: *suddenly realizing I exist* . . . Oh yeah, and Skwisgaar. Some people like Skwisgaar too. *tepid hug*
I would've been mildly insulted if the whole thing hadn't been so burningly true. Skwisgaar may think he's the best, but fandom will always prefer the younger, cuter one. Fuck you guys; Team Skwigelf! I can't help it. He's totally that character.
Not too long afterwards, we recruited carolinefaye from her artist table and went to take a proper photo shoot. We spent some time wandering around downtown Ft. Wayne looking for a suitably brutal setting, and then happened upon the Chase building, which had these awesome forever-tall pillars and a concrete courtyard of sorts. It was perfect. It was also windy at the time, so our wigs were tousled about aesthetically quite a bit in the shots - I love it when con photo shoots go right rather than wrong.
The rest of the day consisted of the usual wandering around the convention center and the surrounding downtown area, both of us being silly and slipping in and out of character for our own amusement. I'll just relay the highlights:
- We met a Klokateer! He was wandering around with another cosplay group and seemed pretty excited to see us, so we posed for a photo together. We met back at the hotel a little later in the afternoon while we were waiting on our pizza and stopped to chat about the show (as well as take some humorous photos of us mock-playing this game).
- I wanted to go to the Salvation Army about a block away, so later in the afternoon, yaoiophile and I made the trek into the civilian jungle, where normal people were dressed normally. While browsing, two little kids began poking their mother and going, "Mom, mom, mom, they look like the guys from Guitar Hero!"
The following exchange with an unpleasant old man who took it upon himself to come over to us and get our attention so he could share his disgruntlement with our manner of dress with us also took place.
Crochety Old Curmudgeon: *appraising pause* Wigs only look good when they don't look like wigs. *walks away*
Seriously? What about the fact that I was substituting my natural hair with a bottle-blond synthetic weave disrupted your perusal of second-spin menswear so much that you had to share it with me? Fuck you, sir. I bet you're just jealous that male pattern baldness has clearly hit you like a ton of bricks.
During the same excursion, on our way back, a man across the street apparently found us to suit his fancy. His pick up line was, and I quote:
Skeeve #101: Hey, you look like something I could buy in a grocery store!
I wonder if that line ever works for him. I guess ladies with fake facial hair turn him on.
- Giant Vienna Sausage Festival poster in the gyro restaurant we went to for lunch. Appropriately, we had ordered a hot dog.
Later that night, after reclining around in the hotel room and trawling the internets for a couple hours for porny fanart on DA, food was required, so we all hit the streets to find some. At this point, there were police barricades being set up on every intersection and tons of people with lawnchairs (and six packs. . .) hiking up the street, so we were like, "whaaaaaaaat". We reached Subway, and no sooner had yaoiophile placed her hand on door handle as the employee turned the lock. D; Our other two options in the surrounding area, Burger King and Wendy's, had also closed their dining areas just minutes before. . . But, as we were despairing, a fireworks display kicked off on the top of the tallest building, and we discovered why there were so many people camped out on the sides of the street. These weren't just sub-standard, run-of-the mill pyrotechnics, either - they were badass. We seriously just stopped walking and marveled at the sky for the entire duration of the show. It was one of those excellent moments where you can feel everyone sharing in your excitement like it's something almost palpable; very quintessentially summer.
We finally found a Rally's and sated our hunger afterwards (I went back to the gyro place for a third time and got a Greek salad; after a day of nothing but fast food I tend to feel pretty gross and crave vegetables like no other). Then it was back to the hotel room to apply some corpse paint before the rave, which was extremely, disappointingly lame, so we ended up just fooling around in the convention center (and later, the hotel room. . .) and taking lots of lulz-y photos. We also passed a kid in the lobby of the hotel who stared after us in fascination and said, "Whoa, I didn't know there were rock stars at this convention!" XD
Sunday
We got up, luggage was stuffed back into suitcases and trundled to the car, and then yaoiophile and I walked to Starbucks for breakfast. I managed to transport everyone's drinks safely to the dealer's room. . . and then dumped yaoiophile's strawberry soy smoothie on her leg shortly after we sat down at the table. Luckily, most of damage was just whipped cream. It's not a con experience until I spill something. (Later on, my Frappucino also fell out of my hand and splashed across my sandals and the carpet, too - it looked like I just hurled it, when the truth of the matter is that it slipped out of my fingers midway through going to put it down. . .)
Everyone was pretty eager to leave, so we didn't do much besides hang around the artist's alley until it was time to pack up and head home. We had an hour-long conversation with a cool girl who stopped by the table, and it pissed and poured for a good five minutes - spills, check; rain, check. Our work there was done.
I remembered as we were driving out of the city that I forgot to go to the Allen County library. D; It was right behind the convention center. My co-workers visited for a conference and told me it was awesome, so I had planned to go, but I got lazy and forgot.
The drive back was long and boring, but drives back home tend to be. I was excited to come home and sit through pictures and write this post, but in true CS form, I'm only just now finishing both up, two weeks later. I do things pedantically or I don't do them at all.
And now. . . the picspam portent of the post! Not for the faint of bandwidth.
The rest, in no particular order, are all here. Some are a little racy, but it's all For the Lolz.
Also, nevermind the photos of us mock-fooling around on the hotel bed; Photobucket obviously thinks this is much more offensive.
Guuh, I can't wait to get a proper shirt (and steal a guitar strap. . .) so that we can stage another shoot. Skwisgirl was fun, but the slashy innuendos didn't come across as well with boobs in the equation. XD I like bitchfacing throughout the day and shaking my ass as I walk down the street.
Also, I got in touch with my inner Scandinavian, and it was awesome.
Friday
I stayed up too late packing and finishing last-minute costume-y things, but that's pretty much expected by this point. We didn't leave until around 9:30, so at least I wasn't so sleep-deprived, though.
We had a fun time of getting to Ft. Wayne, because halfway there, the GPS battery died and we couldn't find a plug-in in the rental car. So, we were trying to corroborate directions carolinefaye saved to her iPod with street signs, which led to some backtracking in interesting neighborhoods of Indianapolis ($14,000 for a two story house? Can we say "meth factory"?), but we finally arrived, if a couple hours later than our projected arrival.
As soon as we got settled into our hotel room (complimentary wireless in a Hilton! Niiiiice), yaoiophile and I started to get into CATS costumes. I'd decided at the last minute that I wanted to take the opportunity to finally revamp Jemima's unitard, which had some issues with the shape of the bib that always left me dissatisfied. I made her some new gloves, too, and finally got to wear everything with the proper warmers and the shoes I purchased from Lady J. I also went with a more traditional design for the face paint, and think I finally managed to make it work with my features. The blue contacts I bought for Skwisgaar also looked really nice with the whole ensemble. I couldn't wear my collar, though, since the velcro is shot and I really need to have a snap put on in its stead; I just don't have the tools.
It was later in the evening when we finally made it down to the con, and registration hassled yaoiophile needlessly for information it should've been their responsibility to keep track of. . . But, everything was sorted in the end. The convention center itself was gorgeous - mirrored floors, cathedral ceiling, and the front of the structure was composed almost entirely of huge glass panels. There was also an indoor stream/pond with several concrete pillars that we exploited for photos on several occasions.
We camwhore'd it up, climbed on furniture, harassed Hetalia cosplayers, and were photomobbed until carolinefaye and Richard were done setting up their table, and then we went out exploring for food. There was a surplus of honking, and we had what is possibly the strangest and most uncomfortable request we've ever received in costume - while we were walking along the sidewalk, a woman in a van saw us and jackknifed into the parking lot of the restaurant we happened to be passing, got out of her vehicle, and accosted us, asking if we would say hi to her child. What could we say but yes, after being put on the spot? She then opened the back door of the van to reveal a small boy, who had gauze taped to his body in several places and a very vacant stare - the woman next to him said "he's still under anesthesia". Unsure of what to do, we smiled and waved hello and tried to be cute, although it was clear the kid wasn't really with it. The whole thing wore on for about a minute until the lady thanked us profusely and muttered something about him being mauled by a cat before closing the door and driving off again. o.o;; I sure hope it was a housecat. . . If I were doped up and met two giant technicolor versions of the animal that just tore into me, I'm not sure I would've reacted so calmly. . .
So yeah, that was weird. We walked around the area checking out the food selection (most of the places were disappointingly closed, even though it was only 8) and being silly in costume, and then decided to eat at the gyro place right across from the convention center anyhow. XD It was good food, though, and cheap, too, so I made a couple more visits throughout the duration of the con.
After that, it was back to the hotel for the night, where we de-catted and prepared for Saturday, which was the day yaoiophile and I were most excited about, since we had Metalocalypse cosplay planned. 8D
Hilton beds are sinfully comfortable, I have to say, having stayed at several of them by this point. However, the lamp on the bedside table seemed to have a short in it, and turned itself on in the middle of the night, which startled Richard and I. o.o;;
Saturday
Due to my shortsight when it came to ordering things, we had to make a last-minute trip to the spirit shop the night before we left for the con to buy a replacement wig (which was a shade too permed to be totally accurate, and cheaper quality), and I had to go sans belt buckle and wear a really girly wife beater. So. . . Skwisgaar became Skwisgirl, although I think most people just accepted it as lazy crossplay since she only appears in canon twice for about .5 seconds each. (I tried to make it obvious by wearing a push-up bra, which accomplished the admirable feat of giving me awesome cleavage, but didn't really help matters. XD) Also, my Guitar Hero controller didn't have a strap and it was one of the first editions that came out with the non-detachable cord, so I only got to tote it around at the rave later on in the evening. Boo.
Nevertheless, everything came together surprisingly well in spite of the last-minute snags. And, I don't say this outright often. . . but we were pretty hot together. yaoiophile makes an absolutely fantastic Toki, and I think our dynamic really clicked for the characters, too. As unhappy as I was with certain aspects of my costume, as a duo, we were imminently recognizable. I always find my ability to look good as a blonde amusing, since my pigmentation is totally the opposite.
Ahhh, and we started the morning off with the most epic moment. We were walking down the street to the coffee shop on the corner, minding our own business, and as I'm plodding along, I start to hear metal music playing in the distance. So I turn to yaoiophile and tell her, and we both look around wildly. Another beat passes, and yaoiophile goes, ". . .It kind of sounds like. . . Dethklok." Then we hear Pickles' drum kick, simultaneously look at each other and have a moment of OMGNOWAI, and turn to see a guy in a van at the stoplight, pumping his fist at us and cranking up the volume. So we go crazy and are all "yeahhhhhhhhhh", just as the light turns green and he pulls away. I have no idea if he put in the album before or after he spotted us, but either way, we must've totally made his morning. I think that's the best thing that has ever happened to either of us in cosplay. I mean, I know how I would react if I were rocking out to my favorite fictional band only to see members of said band going for a cup of coffee a few paces up the road.
Upon reaching the actual coffee shop, the fun didn't stop, either. The guy behind the counter was intrigued by our costumes, so we ended up having a twenty minute conversation with him about conventions, fandom, and art. He was genuinely pretty cool (and had some hardcore dreadlocks), and he gave me his name on the back of a business card and told us to Facebook him. Which I think might be the equivalent of getting someone's number these days, but I wouldn't be the one to ask. XD
As soon as we got to the convention center, several people milling around saw us (or rather, saw yaoiophile. . .) and worked themselves into a fanthing lather. This particular encounter was my favorite, though, because the last line went around out of context for the rest of the con.
Congoer: OMG, Toki! I love Toki! *glomps*
yaoiophile: Dat's right, Skwisgaar, you hears dat?
Me: *rolls eyes* Everyone loves Toki.
Congoer: Yeah!
Me: *stands awkwardly off to the side, being totally ignored*
Congoer: *suddenly realizing I exist* . . . Oh yeah, and Skwisgaar. Some people like Skwisgaar too. *tepid hug*
I would've been mildly insulted if the whole thing hadn't been so burningly true. Skwisgaar may think he's the best, but fandom will always prefer the younger, cuter one. Fuck you guys; Team Skwigelf! I can't help it. He's totally that character.
Not too long afterwards, we recruited carolinefaye from her artist table and went to take a proper photo shoot. We spent some time wandering around downtown Ft. Wayne looking for a suitably brutal setting, and then happened upon the Chase building, which had these awesome forever-tall pillars and a concrete courtyard of sorts. It was perfect. It was also windy at the time, so our wigs were tousled about aesthetically quite a bit in the shots - I love it when con photo shoots go right rather than wrong.
The rest of the day consisted of the usual wandering around the convention center and the surrounding downtown area, both of us being silly and slipping in and out of character for our own amusement. I'll just relay the highlights:
- We met a Klokateer! He was wandering around with another cosplay group and seemed pretty excited to see us, so we posed for a photo together. We met back at the hotel a little later in the afternoon while we were waiting on our pizza and stopped to chat about the show (as well as take some humorous photos of us mock-playing this game).
- I wanted to go to the Salvation Army about a block away, so later in the afternoon, yaoiophile and I made the trek into the civilian jungle, where normal people were dressed normally. While browsing, two little kids began poking their mother and going, "Mom, mom, mom, they look like the guys from Guitar Hero!"
The following exchange with an unpleasant old man who took it upon himself to come over to us and get our attention so he could share his disgruntlement with our manner of dress with us also took place.
Crochety Old Curmudgeon: *appraising pause* Wigs only look good when they don't look like wigs. *walks away*
Seriously? What about the fact that I was substituting my natural hair with a bottle-blond synthetic weave disrupted your perusal of second-spin menswear so much that you had to share it with me? Fuck you, sir. I bet you're just jealous that male pattern baldness has clearly hit you like a ton of bricks.
During the same excursion, on our way back, a man across the street apparently found us to suit his fancy. His pick up line was, and I quote:
Skeeve #101: Hey, you look like something I could buy in a grocery store!
I wonder if that line ever works for him. I guess ladies with fake facial hair turn him on.
- Giant Vienna Sausage Festival poster in the gyro restaurant we went to for lunch. Appropriately, we had ordered a hot dog.
Later that night, after reclining around in the hotel room and trawling the internets for a couple hours for porny fanart on DA, food was required, so we all hit the streets to find some. At this point, there were police barricades being set up on every intersection and tons of people with lawnchairs (and six packs. . .) hiking up the street, so we were like, "whaaaaaaaat". We reached Subway, and no sooner had yaoiophile placed her hand on door handle as the employee turned the lock. D; Our other two options in the surrounding area, Burger King and Wendy's, had also closed their dining areas just minutes before. . . But, as we were despairing, a fireworks display kicked off on the top of the tallest building, and we discovered why there were so many people camped out on the sides of the street. These weren't just sub-standard, run-of-the mill pyrotechnics, either - they were badass. We seriously just stopped walking and marveled at the sky for the entire duration of the show. It was one of those excellent moments where you can feel everyone sharing in your excitement like it's something almost palpable; very quintessentially summer.
We finally found a Rally's and sated our hunger afterwards (I went back to the gyro place for a third time and got a Greek salad; after a day of nothing but fast food I tend to feel pretty gross and crave vegetables like no other). Then it was back to the hotel room to apply some corpse paint before the rave, which was extremely, disappointingly lame, so we ended up just fooling around in the convention center (and later, the hotel room. . .) and taking lots of lulz-y photos. We also passed a kid in the lobby of the hotel who stared after us in fascination and said, "Whoa, I didn't know there were rock stars at this convention!" XD
Sunday
We got up, luggage was stuffed back into suitcases and trundled to the car, and then yaoiophile and I walked to Starbucks for breakfast. I managed to transport everyone's drinks safely to the dealer's room. . . and then dumped yaoiophile's strawberry soy smoothie on her leg shortly after we sat down at the table. Luckily, most of damage was just whipped cream. It's not a con experience until I spill something. (Later on, my Frappucino also fell out of my hand and splashed across my sandals and the carpet, too - it looked like I just hurled it, when the truth of the matter is that it slipped out of my fingers midway through going to put it down. . .)
Everyone was pretty eager to leave, so we didn't do much besides hang around the artist's alley until it was time to pack up and head home. We had an hour-long conversation with a cool girl who stopped by the table, and it pissed and poured for a good five minutes - spills, check; rain, check. Our work there was done.
I remembered as we were driving out of the city that I forgot to go to the Allen County library. D; It was right behind the convention center. My co-workers visited for a conference and told me it was awesome, so I had planned to go, but I got lazy and forgot.
The drive back was long and boring, but drives back home tend to be. I was excited to come home and sit through pictures and write this post, but in true CS form, I'm only just now finishing both up, two weeks later. I do things pedantically or I don't do them at all.
And now. . . the picspam portent of the post! Not for the faint of bandwidth.
The rest, in no particular order, are all here. Some are a little racy, but it's all For the Lolz.
Also, nevermind the photos of us mock-fooling around on the hotel bed; Photobucket obviously thinks this is much more offensive.
Guuh, I can't wait to get a proper shirt (and steal a guitar strap. . .) so that we can stage another shoot. Skwisgirl was fun, but the slashy innuendos didn't come across as well with boobs in the equation. XD I like bitchfacing throughout the day and shaking my ass as I walk down the street.