Various cosplay ramblings (pun intended, as we rambled quite a lot at the Con)
Well. Where to start. I had a blog at Xanga a few years back, but never posted very much. Maybe it's time to give it another go.
And I do have the perfect thing to talk about. Being a crazy Avatard (who's positively in love with all things Fire Nation), I was estatic (spell?) that...I got to go to the San Diego Comic Con this year! w00t! First time ever. I'd been to ORC (One Ring Celebration, a LotR convention) a couple times before, but that didn't prepare me for how huge this one would be.
A brief tangent: my favorite Avatar ship is UrsaxOzai (Urzai as i like to call it), and I especially love young Urzai. It's really fun writing about them as teenagers! And if you want to check out the results of that, on Fanfiction.net I have a fic called Blood and Flame and Fire Lilies: www.fanfiction.net/s/4668906/1/Blood_and_Flame_and_Fire_Lilies
But I digress. The point is that I cosplayed as young Ursa, "betrothed of Prince Ozai." And yes, I kind of did have an ulterior motive for cosplaying as her...and that motive has golden eyes and an evil smirk. What? I love Ursa, but I fangirl over the other half of the ship. ;)
Anyway, I'm home for the summer, so my mom helped me make a beautiful Fire Nation-esque robe, and it turned out awesome! Thank you Mom. *kowtows* When I got all dress up, with my hair and make up and all, it was weird to look in the mirror and basically see teenage Ursa. But weird in a good way! It assuaged my ulterior, fangirl envy of her.
So we drove the several hours to San Diego, and got there about midmorning. It was so cool seeing all the people in cosplay, and knowing that I was one of them! And the convention center...was huge. When we finally got inside, I saw all types of people, from goths (whose outfits I do realize were not cosplay, but they still looked amazing!), to superheroes (who, like me, were in cosplay, and proud of it).
For a while my mom and I wandered around, and strolled through the crowded aisles of the exhibit hall. I was hoping to see other Avatar cosplayers, but at first I didn't spot any. It's really easy to miss people in a place so big.
But then...I saw a golden flame-shaped crown coming towards me through (above) the sea of people/my wonderful fellow nerds. So I called out, "Hey, Ozai!" In answer, the cosplayer kind of smiled and graciously nodded his head at me. He was actually in character, and I loved it! *ahem* Anyway, I told him I was cosplaying as Ursa, and that sadly I hadn't seen any other cosplayers from "our show." It turned out he was there with a couple of girls cosplaying as Ty Lee and Azula (he refered to them as his "entourage"). Or maybe they had just run into eachother, but they were basically in the same place as we were, at the moment. Or at least Ty Lee was--Azula hadn't caught up yet.
My mom got a picture of Ozai, Ty Lee, and Ursa(me), and then I rather wistfully parted ways with the other two. Come on, I have to admit that anyone willing to put the effort into cosplaying Ozai, and doing it well, is automatically on my "awesome list." Oh, and I forgot to mention that part of his robes used one of the same materials I had used for mine! It was a red brocade, with a pattern of tiny black cherry blossoms or something on it. Ty Lee had a pink version of the same fabric.
A minute or so later, I passed by Azula. I didn't get a picture with her, tho--just called out, "Hi, daughter" as we walked by eachother. She smiled, and straggled on. (I reflected later that--and I'm not saying she was being unfriendly or anything---it was rather in character for me to initiate the greeting. lol) She also had the same red fabric. I guess we took a royal family outing to Joann's.
I met several other cosplayers later, but i never could find those three again. Pity, I would have loved to talk with them a bit more, or something, given my lack of real life friends with whom to obsess over Avatar (and the Fire Nation). But it was nice meeting the other people (avatar fans) I met at Comic Con, most of whom I have found on deviantart! The wonders of technology.
While I'm on the subject of Avatar cosplayers, I may as well tell you about the others. I was in the exhibit hall again later, and found this group of four girls dressed very awesomely as Water Tribe Katara, Fire Nation Suki, normal Ty Lee, and Earth Kingdom Iroh (I think the latter was crossdressing, tho it was a little hard to tell at first, what with the bulky robes and bushy grey beard). As we were passing by, I said something like, "hey, great costumes" in order to get their attention. We talked for a while, and it was great to start getting to know other Avatar fans (yay, freaks like me)! They complimented my hair. *feels special* (If you saw me, I was the girl in the red asian-looking robe with the LONG hair, so yeah its length was basically what they were exclaiming at, probably. lol)
I especially loved Iroh's reaction to being told who I was. He (I'll go with the character's gender) came over, exclaiming, "Oh, my dear long lost sister-in-law!" So we got a picture together, and I told him I was glad that he had looked after my son so well. "Yes, I would never abandon Zuko," he assured me. 'Twas fun. ^-^
I got a picture with the rest of them too, and a couple of the girls gave me their deviantart names (i gave them mine as well--which, by the way, is BrushstrokesofFire: brushstrokesoffire.deviantart.com/ ) I asked if they had seen Ozai anywhere, and they said they had seen him once, but hadn't been able to find him again. (The mysterious vanishing Ozai. Hmmm. If that cosplayer is reading this, I'll just say I'm sorry to have missed you after that one time, and no, I was not stalking you! lol Great cosplay, "my Lord.")
When Katara gave me her deviantart, she told me she had a lot of Zutara stuff on there, to which I responded that I like Zutara too. (I honestly cannot decide whether I want Zuko to go with Katara or Mai. *ship angst* But I love both ships.) Then I told her that my favorite ship (of which I have a lot of fanart on my deviantart) is, of course Urzai. She chuckled and said, "Oh yeah, that's hot." Even if she was joking somewhat, I appreciated her reaction, because yes, "that" is very hot. ;)
I passed by a Blue Spirit later, and tried to get his attention, but I don't think he heard me. Later still, I passed by a young Mai. "Hey, great costume!" I called after her. "Mai!" Her cosplay name worked quite well--she turned around, and I told her I was cosplaying as Ursa. So we got a picture together. (Hm, the two Fire Nation girls who get together with a golden-eyed firebender...)
Toward the end of the day, my mom and I were out in the entrance hall, and I spotted a man in full earthbending uniform walking away from us. So I chased him practically the length of the convention center (hey, when Avatards are scarce, you do what you can), introduced myself as Ursa, and got a picture. He said he had seen a group of cosplayers that I didn't recognize the description of, so I was sorry to have missed them. We looked for them upstairs for a little bit, but a lot of people were leaving by that time.
So eventually we left too. I intend to network a little and hopefully work out a plan to meet up with more cosplayers next year, though. I can't wait!
While I'm here, though, I should mention the non-avatar highlight of my con experience. I met the Lady of the Manners! For those of you who don't know, she writes an advice column (spell?) for her fellow goths (like me) at the Gothic Charm school website. (link: www.gothic-charm-school.com/ ) The Lady of the Manners is also known as Jillian Venters, and she's written a book along the lines of her column, so she did a signing at the con. I was one of the first people in line (along with my mom), so we bought the book right there, and she signed it. I had drawn a little sketch of a couple of characters I made up (lol a goth girl and her vampire boyfriend ^-^), who are a little bit like Raven and Alexander from Vampire Kisses (a series I love).
The Lady of the Manners liked my drawing a lot, so that added to the amazingness of the whole thing. Oh, and she mentioned me in the her latest entry in the Lip Service webzine! So that was even cooler. I was very honored to meet someone I admire so highly.
Next year, my mom thinks she should cosplay as Bellatrix. I think that would be awesome, but I told her that "I'd have an urge to kill you." She was highly amused. I'll probably go as Ursa again, but I have this nagging feeling that one of these days, I need to cosplay as Prince Ozai (not Fire Lord--I mean his younger/teenage self). I've crossdressed before, notably when I cosplayed as Zuko for an April Fools trick-or-treat outing with my senior class. I would probably pay a slight homage to the "goatee of doom" (I think i saw someone refer to his beard that way, and now that's what i call it too lol) by drawing like a soul patch on my chin or something. It'd be awesome if I cosplayed as Prince Ozai when my mom cosplays as Bellatrix, because we'd make an wonderfully sinister pair.
Anyway, I'll probably cosplay as Ursa next time. It's more fun meeting cosplay Ozai when you can refer to him (tho not to his face) as your "hubby," and besides, this way I'd avoid any awkwardness when visiting the ladies' room. ;) But yeah....someday I'm gonna have to cosplay as the other half of my fave ship. It is my doom, as it is decreed...
This is Fiery Dusk Rose, signing off. For now. *evil smirk*