IT'S A METRO CON REPORT.
Oh god, where do I begin.
This weekend was probably the most fun I've ever had at an anime convention, and I think it tied with Anthrocon in terms of CON AWESOMENESS. However, it really was a social con more than anything. But for me, that's great. It probably wasn't that great for people just there to shop and go to panels, but for me, conventions are all about meeting new people and socializing and partying and just...letting loose in ways I can't on an everyday basis.
OK so, Steph came over Thursday night, and we spent some time doing last-minute work on our costumes. America's star patch ended up being one of the most ghetto cosplay bits I've ever made, but by that point, I was pretty much out of supplies. We watched some anime, and I packed because I am a late and lazy packer.
Friday was...pretty awesome. I got up super-early to take a shower and drive out to Tampa. Tampa is like...the perfect con drive to me. I like having time to be excited and bouncy while driving and blasting my music, but I also get bored after a couple of hours. Tampa and Orlando are both pretty decent distances that don't destroy my driving stamina, the way driving to Atlanta or FUCKING PITTSBURGH did. The first few hours of con were pretty chill, I scooted around and we hung out before meeting up with some bros and scoping out the dealer's room.
To be honest, the dealer's room was a bit of a disappointment. Half the stuff there was counterfeit, and a lot of what wasn't was waaaaay overpriced. But somehow, that was OK. I think it was OK because that meant I'd spend less money, and thus save more money for AFO in two weeks. Overall, I really didn't spend much time at all in the dealer room. It was cold and only half-full of vendors and the lighting was crappy regardless. Honestly, the dealer room at Orlando Anime Day was better. I bought two fake pokemon figures (a raichu keychain, and a Piplup), a chibi Goku plush, a Laharl mousepad (I've been needing a mousepad anyway), a prinny shirt from Halolz that says "Dood of War," and a steampunk bunny shirt from the Artist's Alley. I actually was pretty sure the Goku was fake, until I just unwrapped him now, and he actually IS licensed Toei merch. Go figure. I also got a new phone charm, which is this adorable-ass penguin. I thought about getting an America one, because he's amazing, but he was $10, and the penguin was only $3. OH, and a Stein keychain. THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE SOUL EATER MERCHANDISE WITH HIM ON IT. GRRR. BUT YES DISGAEA SWAG! I'm always excited for new Disgaea merchandise, it seems to be such a cult classic, and is severely underloved.
Anyway, reading about me buying crap is probably boring, so...ONTO ACTUALLY STUFF THAT HAPPENED.
Friday was my scoot-y day. Scout has been my favourite costume for a long time, so I like to think I'm pretty good at being in-character with him. However, I always play up his "douchebag from Boston" status, so I break character whenever talking to someone who doesn't actually know who I am supposed to be. Friday, I felt like there was a distinct lack of TF2 cosplay aside from the people present at the meet-up, but the meet-up spawned some amazing photos, sooooooo, whatever I'm not actually complaining. I hung around the artist's alley area with some Snipers and the awesome amethyst_wolf, who was super-amazing. The meet-up at 5 had lots of awesome fun and shenanigans, and we've decided that vegemite is quite possibly the most DISGUSTING food in the UNIVERSE and is quite toxic to scouts. This con also seemed to be the con of SNIPERS WITH KOALAS, because four of us who showed up as Sniper had stuffed koalas. Sniper needs to get an in-game koala of some kind. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
Scooting around was epic funtimes. Yelling fights and shenanigans abound, and random people seem to have no problem coming up to him and showering him with your mom jokes. He's great for just wandering around and talking to people, even if TF2 isn't as popular with the anime crowd as it is with furries. I feel a bit like a crappy friend though, because even though I encouraged Steph to run off and have fun on her own, because I'm sure hanging around with a lot of TF2kids bored the hell out of her, she hung around, and didn't really make an effort to talk to anyone but me. I think she really just wanted to enjoy the con with me, and I go to conventions to meet new people and party. I really didn't want her to feel like I was ditching her, but I still...meh, feel kinda like I did. I would always ask her if she wanted to join in or go with the new people I just met or try to involve her in the conversation, but I think she just wanted to enjoy a con with me, and I...meh, I'm not good at just hanging with one person for a whole con.
Later, we went up to the room to chill withbleed_peroxide ,teahound , skiota , filthy_animal , teh_amazing_one , wicked_seraph , and some other cool kids just to cool off after the exhausting day. We watched Penn and Teller and doodled and just tried to chill out. I had a lot of trouble sleeping, despite having two couch cushions on the floor, my mind was just racing WAY too fast. Anyway, in the morning I got dressed and ate a terribly unbalanced breakfast and dumped a bunch of my stuff in the car.
Saturday I was AMERICA, FUCK YEAHHH, and I think I love Scout, but he may have been replaced as my favourite costume ever, because America was a blast. I think part of it was because people reacted to him more, since he's a more popular character, and I actually LOOK like him. I actually got quite a few compliments on my hair, and lots of people wanted to play with my squeaky hamburger. That and the Hetalia meet-up was a blast! Luckily, we ended up having it indoors for the sakes of the Russias and Austrias and everyone who was wearing a heavy jacket.
So many of the Hetalia cosplayers were amazing! We took lots of shippy photos and after the meet-up, there was a truth-or-dare around the world, which was really just a "dare or dare" around the world. A few of us that were left migrated upstairs to play the pocky game for extra fanservice and lulz, but the pocky that Germany bought sort of melted into a brick of pocky, so it turned into spin the bottle. What are we, 13? After I got bored, we left for awhile to wander and mingle, and whenever I was asked for fanservice, man did I DELIVER. Here's the thing: the amount of fanservice I did pretty much guaranteed me a case of con crud. That's fine, as long as I get some photos of me making out with other cosplayers. If I DO get sick, and don't get any photos, I will be pissed as hell. However, if I don't get sick, and don't get any photos, then ah well, awesome for everybody else and me.
Saturday night was the rave, and I partied pretty hard, (actually, AMERICA partied pretty hard). Waiting in line was actually the fun part, because I sat with Norway and China, and Norway got pretty hyped on Monster, so she asked everyone who walked by if they would be her "New BEST FRIEND," who she could share ice cream with. Buuuuuut we had to leave early, because Steph didn't want to lie to her parents. Which, I guess is a noble thing to do (I lie to my parents a lot, but that's because I really don't think a lot of the things they ask me about are any of their business), and we drove back to Sarasota. My whole..."OH NO I NEED TO GO DRIVE TO ORLANDO RIGHT NOWWWW!" panic-thing turned out to be a bit of a false alarm, and I could have obtained a place for myself to stay the night, but not Steph. Steph didn't seem...too social, or too keen on rooming with strangers, even if they were my friends, so I didn't really argue the point. Like I said, I think she felt kind of ditched...so I feel guilty.
Sunday was kind of my chill-out day. I wore Sniper and walked around with my intel and Spycrab, but I...I've gotta admit I really don't like my Sniper costume. The vest is nice, and I like the pants/belt, they're fine, but everything else is kind of derp. My patches are super ghetto, and I only have a panama hat, but that's not the problem as much as...it kind of photographs crappy. OK, change that kind of to REALLY crappy. I don't like how it looks in photos at all. That, and I hung out with lots of APH kids on Sunday, so people kept thinking I was Australia, which was...actually kind of funny. Spycrab was a big hit though, and I got lots of compliments on my Intel. (Not sure why, the other kids who showed up with RED Intel had MUCH COOLER intel than mine, theirs looked all official and snazzy and shiz. Nobody had BLU intel though. HAHA RED TEAM YOU SUCK.)
As soon as I got a second wind, (by second wind, I mean like 4pm, sheesh), I put America back on and got ready for some more Hetalia shenanigans. Someone showed up carrying an inflatable globe, which was promptly stolen by Russia. Of course, since I was America, I had to chase after her yelling "GIVE THAT BACK! I NEED TO SAVE THE WOOOORLDDDD!" Which was funny and awesome, but I got tired, and some other people joined in to the point where it was starting to get...violent...so I sat down with Norway and Denmark and whined that I felt "Like I did after Vietnam," and laid on the floor, because the floor was nice and cold. We didn't really want to be rude to the non-cosplayers and people who jumped in on the fun, because everyone should be allowed to have fun, regardless of what they're wearing, but it really was the newcomers that made everything get all violent and rough and just really "LOL STRIPPING," which made us feel kind of uncomfortable because it made it look like OH THEM HETALIA KIDS THEY'RE CRAZY, when most of us really just wanted to have more fun like the crazy fun circle we had the previous day, but everyone else was getting violent on us.
I gave manly bro-hugs and said goodbye to amethyst_wolf and everybody shortly after that, and was going to go have some nommables with teahound and skiota , but my parents are insane and derp and I ended up driving home to Sarasota to dump off some shit, then Orlando. I had some adventures in Orlando, but I'll talk about those in another entry.
Other stuff, other stuff...
This weekend seemed to be the "Mur breaks his costume props" weekend. Actually, not even "breaks his costume props." More like..."Mur breaks everything." One of my lenses popped out of my glasses, my scout bag broke, I broke the squeaker in my hamburger, one of spycrab's magnets came off, I lost my sniper gloves, and broke my scout headset for the 3486734586785th time.
I got quite a few compliments on America's "Colbert tie." I really thought about ditching it in favour of the more accurate brown tie, but people really seemed to like the one with the stars on it. I just really need to do some repairs on that jacket, and make a...not-derpy star patch. Screw what everyone always says, felt looks bad no matter HOW skilled you are with it. It's the cheapest thing around, but damn does it look crappy, and that makes me feel kinda embarrassed of my costumes. (I know it's for fun but, but, butttt! /whine!)
The one thing that sucks about being in costume, is I don't always notice when people call for me. Usually if I heard someone shout "AMERICA!" I'd respond with a "FUCK YEAH," even if I didn't know where they were. That seemed to happen a lot, though...because I'd hear my name, and turn around and have absolutely no idea who was calling me. The same thing happened a lot with Scout, because people would yell "BONK!" and I wouldn't know where they were. D: I didn't want to seem like I was ignoring anyone, but I think I came off that way. It's a downside to being in a crowd that size, I suppose.
One mooooore thing! If you have any photos of me in costume, let me know! I've kind of wanted to post a few of my cosplay pics to my dA because it's become my abandoned photobucket. I've swiped a few that I found on people's journals and such and dumped them on my computer. I was the BLU scout with the intel on her back, the America with the HUGE flag or hamburger, I didn't always have the flag on me, and the Sniper with the spycrab and Intel.
Oh, and in response to those kids who think we're lame and live in caves and only come out of our holes to go to conventions, HOW DARE I GO OUTSIDE IN THE SUNLIGHT, MAKE FRIENDS, AND HAVE FUN WITH PEOPLE NOT ON THE INTERNET. HOW DARE I SAVE MY MONEY AND SPEND IT ON THINGS THAT I LOVE! HOW DARE I ACTUALLY MEET PEOPLE FACE TO FACE! I MUST BE A TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, SOCIALLY RETARDED PERSON!
I LIKE RUN-ON SENTENCES, CAN'T YOU TELL?
Also, a companion entry full of photos will be up in a few hours or whatever.
This weekend was probably the most fun I've ever had at an anime convention, and I think it tied with Anthrocon in terms of CON AWESOMENESS. However, it really was a social con more than anything. But for me, that's great. It probably wasn't that great for people just there to shop and go to panels, but for me, conventions are all about meeting new people and socializing and partying and just...letting loose in ways I can't on an everyday basis.
OK so, Steph came over Thursday night, and we spent some time doing last-minute work on our costumes. America's star patch ended up being one of the most ghetto cosplay bits I've ever made, but by that point, I was pretty much out of supplies. We watched some anime, and I packed because I am a late and lazy packer.
Friday was...pretty awesome. I got up super-early to take a shower and drive out to Tampa. Tampa is like...the perfect con drive to me. I like having time to be excited and bouncy while driving and blasting my music, but I also get bored after a couple of hours. Tampa and Orlando are both pretty decent distances that don't destroy my driving stamina, the way driving to Atlanta or FUCKING PITTSBURGH did. The first few hours of con were pretty chill, I scooted around and we hung out before meeting up with some bros and scoping out the dealer's room.
To be honest, the dealer's room was a bit of a disappointment. Half the stuff there was counterfeit, and a lot of what wasn't was waaaaay overpriced. But somehow, that was OK. I think it was OK because that meant I'd spend less money, and thus save more money for AFO in two weeks. Overall, I really didn't spend much time at all in the dealer room. It was cold and only half-full of vendors and the lighting was crappy regardless. Honestly, the dealer room at Orlando Anime Day was better. I bought two fake pokemon figures (a raichu keychain, and a Piplup), a chibi Goku plush, a Laharl mousepad (I've been needing a mousepad anyway), a prinny shirt from Halolz that says "Dood of War," and a steampunk bunny shirt from the Artist's Alley. I actually was pretty sure the Goku was fake, until I just unwrapped him now, and he actually IS licensed Toei merch. Go figure. I also got a new phone charm, which is this adorable-ass penguin. I thought about getting an America one, because he's amazing, but he was $10, and the penguin was only $3. OH, and a Stein keychain. THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE SOUL EATER MERCHANDISE WITH HIM ON IT. GRRR. BUT YES DISGAEA SWAG! I'm always excited for new Disgaea merchandise, it seems to be such a cult classic, and is severely underloved.
Anyway, reading about me buying crap is probably boring, so...ONTO ACTUALLY STUFF THAT HAPPENED.
Friday was my scoot-y day. Scout has been my favourite costume for a long time, so I like to think I'm pretty good at being in-character with him. However, I always play up his "douchebag from Boston" status, so I break character whenever talking to someone who doesn't actually know who I am supposed to be. Friday, I felt like there was a distinct lack of TF2 cosplay aside from the people present at the meet-up, but the meet-up spawned some amazing photos, sooooooo, whatever I'm not actually complaining. I hung around the artist's alley area with some Snipers and the awesome amethyst_wolf, who was super-amazing. The meet-up at 5 had lots of awesome fun and shenanigans, and we've decided that vegemite is quite possibly the most DISGUSTING food in the UNIVERSE and is quite toxic to scouts. This con also seemed to be the con of SNIPERS WITH KOALAS, because four of us who showed up as Sniper had stuffed koalas. Sniper needs to get an in-game koala of some kind. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
Scooting around was epic funtimes. Yelling fights and shenanigans abound, and random people seem to have no problem coming up to him and showering him with your mom jokes. He's great for just wandering around and talking to people, even if TF2 isn't as popular with the anime crowd as it is with furries. I feel a bit like a crappy friend though, because even though I encouraged Steph to run off and have fun on her own, because I'm sure hanging around with a lot of TF2kids bored the hell out of her, she hung around, and didn't really make an effort to talk to anyone but me. I think she really just wanted to enjoy the con with me, and I go to conventions to meet new people and party. I really didn't want her to feel like I was ditching her, but I still...meh, feel kinda like I did. I would always ask her if she wanted to join in or go with the new people I just met or try to involve her in the conversation, but I think she just wanted to enjoy a con with me, and I...meh, I'm not good at just hanging with one person for a whole con.
Later, we went up to the room to chill withbleed_peroxide ,teahound , skiota , filthy_animal , teh_amazing_one , wicked_seraph , and some other cool kids just to cool off after the exhausting day. We watched Penn and Teller and doodled and just tried to chill out. I had a lot of trouble sleeping, despite having two couch cushions on the floor, my mind was just racing WAY too fast. Anyway, in the morning I got dressed and ate a terribly unbalanced breakfast and dumped a bunch of my stuff in the car.
Saturday I was AMERICA, FUCK YEAHHH, and I think I love Scout, but he may have been replaced as my favourite costume ever, because America was a blast. I think part of it was because people reacted to him more, since he's a more popular character, and I actually LOOK like him. I actually got quite a few compliments on my hair, and lots of people wanted to play with my squeaky hamburger. That and the Hetalia meet-up was a blast! Luckily, we ended up having it indoors for the sakes of the Russias and Austrias and everyone who was wearing a heavy jacket.
So many of the Hetalia cosplayers were amazing! We took lots of shippy photos and after the meet-up, there was a truth-or-dare around the world, which was really just a "dare or dare" around the world. A few of us that were left migrated upstairs to play the pocky game for extra fanservice and lulz, but the pocky that Germany bought sort of melted into a brick of pocky, so it turned into spin the bottle. What are we, 13? After I got bored, we left for awhile to wander and mingle, and whenever I was asked for fanservice, man did I DELIVER. Here's the thing: the amount of fanservice I did pretty much guaranteed me a case of con crud. That's fine, as long as I get some photos of me making out with other cosplayers. If I DO get sick, and don't get any photos, I will be pissed as hell. However, if I don't get sick, and don't get any photos, then ah well, awesome for everybody else and me.
Saturday night was the rave, and I partied pretty hard, (actually, AMERICA partied pretty hard). Waiting in line was actually the fun part, because I sat with Norway and China, and Norway got pretty hyped on Monster, so she asked everyone who walked by if they would be her "New BEST FRIEND," who she could share ice cream with. Buuuuuut we had to leave early, because Steph didn't want to lie to her parents. Which, I guess is a noble thing to do (I lie to my parents a lot, but that's because I really don't think a lot of the things they ask me about are any of their business), and we drove back to Sarasota. My whole..."OH NO I NEED TO GO DRIVE TO ORLANDO RIGHT NOWWWW!" panic-thing turned out to be a bit of a false alarm, and I could have obtained a place for myself to stay the night, but not Steph. Steph didn't seem...too social, or too keen on rooming with strangers, even if they were my friends, so I didn't really argue the point. Like I said, I think she felt kind of ditched...so I feel guilty.
Sunday was kind of my chill-out day. I wore Sniper and walked around with my intel and Spycrab, but I...I've gotta admit I really don't like my Sniper costume. The vest is nice, and I like the pants/belt, they're fine, but everything else is kind of derp. My patches are super ghetto, and I only have a panama hat, but that's not the problem as much as...it kind of photographs crappy. OK, change that kind of to REALLY crappy. I don't like how it looks in photos at all. That, and I hung out with lots of APH kids on Sunday, so people kept thinking I was Australia, which was...actually kind of funny. Spycrab was a big hit though, and I got lots of compliments on my Intel. (Not sure why, the other kids who showed up with RED Intel had MUCH COOLER intel than mine, theirs looked all official and snazzy and shiz. Nobody had BLU intel though. HAHA RED TEAM YOU SUCK.)
As soon as I got a second wind, (by second wind, I mean like 4pm, sheesh), I put America back on and got ready for some more Hetalia shenanigans. Someone showed up carrying an inflatable globe, which was promptly stolen by Russia. Of course, since I was America, I had to chase after her yelling "GIVE THAT BACK! I NEED TO SAVE THE WOOOORLDDDD!" Which was funny and awesome, but I got tired, and some other people joined in to the point where it was starting to get...violent...so I sat down with Norway and Denmark and whined that I felt "Like I did after Vietnam," and laid on the floor, because the floor was nice and cold. We didn't really want to be rude to the non-cosplayers and people who jumped in on the fun, because everyone should be allowed to have fun, regardless of what they're wearing, but it really was the newcomers that made everything get all violent and rough and just really "LOL STRIPPING," which made us feel kind of uncomfortable because it made it look like OH THEM HETALIA KIDS THEY'RE CRAZY, when most of us really just wanted to have more fun like the crazy fun circle we had the previous day, but everyone else was getting violent on us.
I gave manly bro-hugs and said goodbye to amethyst_wolf and everybody shortly after that, and was going to go have some nommables with teahound and skiota , but my parents are insane and derp and I ended up driving home to Sarasota to dump off some shit, then Orlando. I had some adventures in Orlando, but I'll talk about those in another entry.
Other stuff, other stuff...
This weekend seemed to be the "Mur breaks his costume props" weekend. Actually, not even "breaks his costume props." More like..."Mur breaks everything." One of my lenses popped out of my glasses, my scout bag broke, I broke the squeaker in my hamburger, one of spycrab's magnets came off, I lost my sniper gloves, and broke my scout headset for the 3486734586785th time.
I got quite a few compliments on America's "Colbert tie." I really thought about ditching it in favour of the more accurate brown tie, but people really seemed to like the one with the stars on it. I just really need to do some repairs on that jacket, and make a...not-derpy star patch. Screw what everyone always says, felt looks bad no matter HOW skilled you are with it. It's the cheapest thing around, but damn does it look crappy, and that makes me feel kinda embarrassed of my costumes. (I know it's for fun but, but, butttt! /whine!)
The one thing that sucks about being in costume, is I don't always notice when people call for me. Usually if I heard someone shout "AMERICA!" I'd respond with a "FUCK YEAH," even if I didn't know where they were. That seemed to happen a lot, though...because I'd hear my name, and turn around and have absolutely no idea who was calling me. The same thing happened a lot with Scout, because people would yell "BONK!" and I wouldn't know where they were. D: I didn't want to seem like I was ignoring anyone, but I think I came off that way. It's a downside to being in a crowd that size, I suppose.
One mooooore thing! If you have any photos of me in costume, let me know! I've kind of wanted to post a few of my cosplay pics to my dA because it's become my abandoned photobucket. I've swiped a few that I found on people's journals and such and dumped them on my computer. I was the BLU scout with the intel on her back, the America with the HUGE flag or hamburger, I didn't always have the flag on me, and the Sniper with the spycrab and Intel.
Oh, and in response to those kids who think we're lame and live in caves and only come out of our holes to go to conventions, HOW DARE I GO OUTSIDE IN THE SUNLIGHT, MAKE FRIENDS, AND HAVE FUN WITH PEOPLE NOT ON THE INTERNET. HOW DARE I SAVE MY MONEY AND SPEND IT ON THINGS THAT I LOVE! HOW DARE I ACTUALLY MEET PEOPLE FACE TO FACE! I MUST BE A TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, SOCIALLY RETARDED PERSON!
I LIKE RUN-ON SENTENCES, CAN'T YOU TELL?
Also, a companion entry full of photos will be up in a few hours or whatever.