Otakon 2005
Hey!!! It's 5:17 a.m. and since I feel sick, I went to bed early lastnight and then woke up this morning at 3, and since I have time before I have to get ready for band camp, I figured I'd catch you all up to speed on the topic of Otakon 2005. But before I do, I'd like to say a special thank you to Shei-chan, because without her, my Gackt cosplay would have been a complete failure...so Shei, thanks so much again for the coat, it was amazing. Onto the days!
Friday: I started off by going in cosplay as Lady Bat (which nobody except for Marissa) knew who I was. We spent like 3 hours or so in the line for the dealers' room and along the way we got to see lots of awesome cosplayers. It was during this time that I saw a Tuxedo Ramen XD. For those of you that are anime-illiterate, this is a play on words on Tuxedo Kamen, or Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon. He had the tuxedo and the mask, a small black top hat, but then on top of the hat, he put a ramen cup and he had a cane of "ramen" and instead of throwing roses he threw ramen. That made my day. So then we got down to the dealers room and I bought lots of manga. At about 2:00, I changed into my Gackt cosplay. Had a 4:00 JRock photoshoot, though most of the pictures I've seen from it, I look pretty bad (but then again they were all strange angles). Then I went and saw the Indigo...they were okay, still think Angela was a better concert, though. After that we went to dinner at the food court, I had chinese food. At 8:30, I met up with some people from animetribe.com and we took some pictures and then went to "Otaku Idol" and by that I mean the Kumiko Kato concert (because they cancelled Otaku Idol). Also, I kept running into this Mana cosplayer and we took some Yaoi cosplay pics and it was amusing because the 2nd pic, some guy passed us and was like "dude, that's hot". When the picture was taken, we both cracked up. After all that was said and done, my group went back to the house for the night. PS- because I wore boots all day, my feet were burning.
Saturday: All day I cosplayed as Sailor Pluto. Upon arriving, Lexi did my hair since I can never get the bun right on my own. At 10:30, there was the first part of the Sailor Moon photoshoot. We were up there for a while because people kept pulling out cameras. Hell, they were even taking them from the 2nd floor. We tried to move several times, but then people were like WAIT! and we had to stand still, go figure. Then a FMA cosplayer came over and was like we're taking this spot in 10 minutes and I was like dude, tell that to them as I hinted at the crowd of people with cameras. About 3 minutes later, we all were like screw it and moved. Then we went to the Sailor Moon panel called A Soldier's Tale. Because some of the people running it didn't show up and they didn't have a computer with them, some people were asked to help out....so I did. We hung out and talked about Sailor Moon, how it started, some of the controversies, the live action, manga, anime, music, musicals, cosplayers, you name it we probably spoke about it. To finish it off we sang the American Sailor Moon theme. Then I wandered aimlessly for a little while and went back to the lobby at 1:30 for another Sailor Moon photoshoot. This one was much bigger. We had a couple of guest cosplayers, such as the guy with the afro from Excel Saga and even Pac Man. Sat down for a bit after that and then changed into my sandals. After that I went to the dealer's room for a bit and hung out there, and then I went to the Ota-cafe and listened to people sing music. Behind me, there were some other Sailor Moon cosplayers, one Sailor Saturn, a Mistress 9, and a Hotaru. We started talking and then a couple of people did Gackt's Vanilla and the Sailor Saturn was like >.< AHH. But for those of you that didn't see it, they did the stage version of it where it's all the yaoi. They had it down too, it was really good. So after that, we all left and walked around for a bit, got stopped for pics several times. Shortly after, I got a call from people asking if I wanted to go for dinner and so I had to meet them back at the outdoor terrace, so it was sad to say goodbye to my new friends, but I was getting hungry. So we ate dinner and then went back and watched the Masquerade. That was hillarious, it ranged from an amazing Excel Saga skit to one group doing the numa numa dance. Left after that.
Sunday: Cosplayed as Marron Glace all day....and I mean until I got home. Spent most of the morning waiting for Robin and walking around the art room with Jason. Got some really sweet pins and a neat watercolor print there. Bought some last minute things at the dealers room and then went back to Jason and Robin's hotel as they checked out and checked their luggage. After that, we went to lunch and went back to the con where I jumped into the tail end of the cosplay.com photoshoot which wasn't supposed to start until about 2. Then I wandered some more and waited for my group to show up and when we were all together, we left. Caught some major traffic in MD on the way home. Stopped at a rest stop in full cosplay, got some strange looks there and I laughed. There were lots of RFH cosplay goers there besides us. Then we got home and I unpacked and went to sleep and got up at 6:10 for band camp.
This is where I stand. Yesterday at band camp I got a sore throat and so I know I'm getting a cold. I'll live though, I get them a lot. Time to go. Later!!!
Friday: I started off by going in cosplay as Lady Bat (which nobody except for Marissa) knew who I was. We spent like 3 hours or so in the line for the dealers' room and along the way we got to see lots of awesome cosplayers. It was during this time that I saw a Tuxedo Ramen XD. For those of you that are anime-illiterate, this is a play on words on Tuxedo Kamen, or Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon. He had the tuxedo and the mask, a small black top hat, but then on top of the hat, he put a ramen cup and he had a cane of "ramen" and instead of throwing roses he threw ramen. That made my day. So then we got down to the dealers room and I bought lots of manga. At about 2:00, I changed into my Gackt cosplay. Had a 4:00 JRock photoshoot, though most of the pictures I've seen from it, I look pretty bad (but then again they were all strange angles). Then I went and saw the Indigo...they were okay, still think Angela was a better concert, though. After that we went to dinner at the food court, I had chinese food. At 8:30, I met up with some people from animetribe.com and we took some pictures and then went to "Otaku Idol" and by that I mean the Kumiko Kato concert (because they cancelled Otaku Idol). Also, I kept running into this Mana cosplayer and we took some Yaoi cosplay pics and it was amusing because the 2nd pic, some guy passed us and was like "dude, that's hot". When the picture was taken, we both cracked up. After all that was said and done, my group went back to the house for the night. PS- because I wore boots all day, my feet were burning.
Saturday: All day I cosplayed as Sailor Pluto. Upon arriving, Lexi did my hair since I can never get the bun right on my own. At 10:30, there was the first part of the Sailor Moon photoshoot. We were up there for a while because people kept pulling out cameras. Hell, they were even taking them from the 2nd floor. We tried to move several times, but then people were like WAIT! and we had to stand still, go figure. Then a FMA cosplayer came over and was like we're taking this spot in 10 minutes and I was like dude, tell that to them as I hinted at the crowd of people with cameras. About 3 minutes later, we all were like screw it and moved. Then we went to the Sailor Moon panel called A Soldier's Tale. Because some of the people running it didn't show up and they didn't have a computer with them, some people were asked to help out....so I did. We hung out and talked about Sailor Moon, how it started, some of the controversies, the live action, manga, anime, music, musicals, cosplayers, you name it we probably spoke about it. To finish it off we sang the American Sailor Moon theme. Then I wandered aimlessly for a little while and went back to the lobby at 1:30 for another Sailor Moon photoshoot. This one was much bigger. We had a couple of guest cosplayers, such as the guy with the afro from Excel Saga and even Pac Man. Sat down for a bit after that and then changed into my sandals. After that I went to the dealer's room for a bit and hung out there, and then I went to the Ota-cafe and listened to people sing music. Behind me, there were some other Sailor Moon cosplayers, one Sailor Saturn, a Mistress 9, and a Hotaru. We started talking and then a couple of people did Gackt's Vanilla and the Sailor Saturn was like >.< AHH. But for those of you that didn't see it, they did the stage version of it where it's all the yaoi. They had it down too, it was really good. So after that, we all left and walked around for a bit, got stopped for pics several times. Shortly after, I got a call from people asking if I wanted to go for dinner and so I had to meet them back at the outdoor terrace, so it was sad to say goodbye to my new friends, but I was getting hungry. So we ate dinner and then went back and watched the Masquerade. That was hillarious, it ranged from an amazing Excel Saga skit to one group doing the numa numa dance. Left after that.
Sunday: Cosplayed as Marron Glace all day....and I mean until I got home. Spent most of the morning waiting for Robin and walking around the art room with Jason. Got some really sweet pins and a neat watercolor print there. Bought some last minute things at the dealers room and then went back to Jason and Robin's hotel as they checked out and checked their luggage. After that, we went to lunch and went back to the con where I jumped into the tail end of the cosplay.com photoshoot which wasn't supposed to start until about 2. Then I wandered some more and waited for my group to show up and when we were all together, we left. Caught some major traffic in MD on the way home. Stopped at a rest stop in full cosplay, got some strange looks there and I laughed. There were lots of RFH cosplay goers there besides us. Then we got home and I unpacked and went to sleep and got up at 6:10 for band camp.
This is where I stand. Yesterday at band camp I got a sore throat and so I know I'm getting a cold. I'll live though, I get them a lot. Time to go. Later!!!