★ ★ ★ MEGACON 2007 REPORT ★ ★ ★
2 weeks to write a con report?? I DO believe that is a NEW RECORD!!! SEW, let's get STAAAARTED!
At right about 8 (or was it 7?), auburnkt and I left her apartment to head to Orlandoooo! With John Cleese (her GPS) leading the way, there was never any fear of where we were. :D It was AWESOME. Almost exactly 7 hours later, we arrived at the Best Western. The wrong Best Western. Well, we were at the right Best Western, but it wasn't the one within walking distance from the Convention Center. -__-;; Seriously, this is the last time I reserve the room for Megacon. I'm on 2 strikes already. This is just NOT my con, y'all! Not long after we got there, I got in touch with Diana, followed by Ali, who was lost because she swore I told her we were rooming at a Days Inn. But I know for a fact that I never said any such thing. XD Meredith, did you?? Anyway, Diana managed to find the place (by a miracle), but poor Ali gave up and decided to go to the Dollfie dinner first. So Katie included us in her plans for dinner with Angie and Chris at Kobe's. I realized when we got to the restaurant that I still wasn't wearing any make-up. XD Katie and Diana FAIL for not telling me! I looked ILL. lol We ended up eating with a HUGE group of people. Randomly, Vic Mignona was there, too. Hahahaha. I eat hibachi SO much that I predicted nearly every trick the guy did (however, I watch the same thing for half the price!). When we got back, it was about 9ish and Diana was informed that just about everyone had left the con. XD Oh. Whoops. Nevertheless, I finished Jupiter, so I wanted some darn photos! Around this time, Ali and Jackie showed up! Ali's super cute Baron (from The Cat Returns) won an award at the Dollfie dinner, too. I'm not big on dollfies unless they work for cosplay (ala Battle Angels, etc.), so I thought hers was precious! Jackie was an unexpected visitor, but that was ok, as she lowered the room cost and was so sweet! :D I finished sewing her up, threw the completed costume on (for the very first time), and Diana and I wandered downstairs into the Best Western lobby for some pictures (graciously taken by Katie! <3). Now, needless to say, this Best Western was too far from the convention center to be a con hotel, so they probably found our dressing up VERY strange. Luckily, the concierge was a nice enough guy. And here are the pictures!
My favorite! :3
Easy-D forgot to pack a toothbrush, so I informed her that the front desk would have them and we definitely thought it'd be an awesome idea to ask AFTER we got into costume. LOLLERSKATES
Appropriate speech bubbles are appropriate. :D
IRRAISHAIMASEN~
I call this series of pictures ♥SAILOR GOSSIP♥
LOL There is a looong, funny story behind this one!!! ...No, I'm kidding. There's absolutely NO story behind this photo.
I look so frazzled. XD
My ribbon on one boot kept popping off, so I kept having to fix it. Katie took this picture of us in the window's reflection. XD
See?
LOL Diana.
I was obviously SO ready when this photo was taken. The hoe-down pose was COMPLETELY on purpose and TOTALLY in character, no?
SERAA~ POWAA~
I wanted a backshot, but this is close enough. It hides how last minute and make-shift my bow was. XD
For some crazy, cool reason, the seam between the shoes' heels and my boot covers is really... seamless! XD
I seriously need to reduce the size of my sleeves!
Sorry about the floppy bow. I really did a poor job on this costume. XD;; I wanted everything to be detachable, though, so I couldn't sew it to the leotard. ^^;;
After that, we went back up to our rooms, and Diana and I chatted the night away into unGODly hours of the morning. Roomies, I apologize for stirring you on several occasions with our laughter! ^^;;
Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early (9am!!) so we could get ready (and I could finish sewing Yuuko and styling my wig) in time for the costume contest. But as all my friends know, I can't be on time to ANYTHING. EVER. So, of course, mostly due to my slowness (though honestly, it was still pretty record-breaking for me...), we got to the con an hour and a half later than planned. Because of this, we had to FLY past everyone in the convention center to get to the contest registration on time. I HATE telling people "Sorry, no pictures! We can't, we're in a hurry! :(" because even I have a hard time asking cosplayers for photos sometimes, so it must be a total disappointment being told no. @_@
We somehow managed to get there NO PUROBUREMU and had NO problems register. Let me say now that the Megacon staff is quite possibly the NICEST con staff I've EVER encountered. AWA had lots of friendly staffers, too, but at Megacon, they are just RIDICULOUSLY nice!!
Because I'd forgotten to bring reference pictures, we abandoned our spot in line to go get some. Sometime during our hunt, I lost my Panasonic PV-GS31 camcorder. Now, it wasn't a ridiculously expensive camcorder (about $350 in the fall of my senior year), but it's not exactly new, it had my NAME AND PHONE NUMBER ON IT, as well as 1 tape in the camera and 2 extra tapes of footage in the bag of me and GOD knows what (senior project, con footage, random home videos of the Hello! Project dance shot variety...) So basically, whoever stole it is a TOTAL BASTARD. I'm more devastated about losing my tapes than my camera. ;_; I went back and checked the Lost and Found every few hours (including on Sunday), I called security, I notified con staff, I called the convention center a week later after I got home, and I've posted about it in several Megacon forums... I've lost all hope. Now I have 2 options. Spend $30 (if I'm lucky) to $50 that I DON'T have replacing it with a refurbed camera from ebay via this seller (the price is cheap now, but I've watched 4-5 of these bids go from 10 to 40 bucks in the last hour. ;_; ) or suck it up and be a big girl and tell my mom the truth. She'll be REALLY disappointed in me, and I just can't stand that feeling. Especially because now I have no chance of ever getting an upgrade as a gift. T_T When I lost my camcorder in Atlanta, some kind soul turned it right back in. But Florida? Oh, no, they kept it. WHY I won't know, as a pawn shop probably wouldn't take it if it had a NAME AND NUMBER on the bottom, right?? What do you guys think? Should I wait until after I get a job (hopefully after Spring Break) when I can afford it? Or should I go ahead and tell my mom now and reap the consequences?? *sigh*
Anyway, back to the con report! After getting a reference picture, stuffing our starving faces, and getting depressed over the loss of my camera (which, at this point, I was sure would show up again), we returned to the line to be judged. Again, con staff was REALLY nice to us, despite our constant disappearances and reappearances. XD;; In judging, Diana was totally my con-mom. It was GREAT! LOL She was like "Ooh, Katie, tell them about how you did this!" And I was like "Oh, yeah, ok!!" Hahahaha! <3333 I love ya, Easy-D!
So how about some pictures? :D
Katie took this while we were waiting to be judged. Diana's costume has a super handy mirror built onto it. It's much more convenient than that HEADPIECE, anyway! ;D And look at how young and angelic her profile looks! AWWW!
Found this picture from flickr. This is how my bangs looked in most photographs. I should have carried around a comb and hairspray. @_@
Katie took this one. I mostly like how my side pieces are... you know... VISIBLE.
Now you see my legs!
Now you don't!
I think I made the lining fuller than the skirt... XD I'll take it in for Momo, though! ^^
This close-up shows the purple lining lining the white lining of my sleeves! I was really proud of that. :3
Ok, seriously, if a picture turns out THIS bad... why put it on the internet? What's the point of posting cell phone pictures at all? They're too crappy to ever need to leave the phone. And it makes me dizzy. XDDD
Hahaha, that is definitely not a flattering body shot and I'm definitely holding a tea. XD If it were sake, I'd say I was being in character. I look appropriately pale, no? Andrea found this picture of me in some random dude's Myspace. O_o See how you can see the lining peeking out lower than the black? I fixed that, so it shouldn't be a problem at Momo. ^^
My one decent picture from Maboroshi. ;_; Next year, I will HUNT HIM DOWN. HE WILL FEAR MY WRATH. HE WILL NOT INTRODUCE HIMSELF. HE WILL MERELY MOVE HIS FINGER TO THE SHUTTER BUTTON, POINT, AND CLICK.
A profile shot by Troy! Like I said, apparently me + stage = unflattering body shape??
Now all that's left is to wait for Troy's photoshoot of Diana, Daisy, and myself to go up!
So, we didn't win anything at the con, but guess what?
DAISY WON BEST IN SHOW!!
So in case you guys are wondering what it takes to win Megacon's BiS, it's 2 simple steps.
1) Katie knows you and you have an awesome costume.
2) Katie calls it.
THE END. I was so proud of MYYY Sakura. (That's right, I CLAIMED you, betch!!) And congrats to Nessa and family for winning Best Group! You may have been our competition, but kawaii baby-chan was just too damn irresistable!! I remember when staff came and told you not to go anywhere, and you were like "I'm thinking probably 'Best Group'" and Diana and I were like "Oh..." If you were wondering why we sounded sad, it's because we knew you were probably right! lol
Memorable Saturday moments:
- I ended up seeing a good chunk of FL friends! <3
- I caught some AVATAR SMEX!!
- I lost my in-progress necklace on our reference picture hunt, and Diana totally managed to find it when she went to get her LOST reference picture. XDDD
- When we were in line to get pizza, this dude came up to me and was like "I don't mean to be rude, but... you're fucking hot." And I was just like "Oh. Thank you." Con boys amuse the shit out of me.
- Lots of compliments that made it worth the work! ^^
- Hitting Diana's headpiece approximately ONE MILLION TIMES. Like I told the judges, Diana and I are BFF. Our costumes HATE each other, however.
- There was a PRIIIIVATE PAAARTY for a bunch of fancy, dressed up rich folks on the 4th floor. As we were leaving for the night, a woman in a ball gown coming down the stairs stopped us for a photo and told us that we looked like we were "floating" as we walked across the empty, open hallway! *___*
On Sunday, we got to the con in a much more timely manner, so yay for that! We also FINALLY got a chance to visit the dealer's room, though unfortunately, I found nothing. :( No delicious pocky that they had last year. *WEEP* Also, no less-than-$20 Mokona. Oh, wellz, I'll save $$$ and make my own!
A huge thanks to the beautiful Daisy for taking our pictures with my camera on Sunday! If it weren't for you, we would have NONE!
I straight-up stole this pose from Mer and Mary as Namine and Kairi. Heeheehee.
Remember how Diana and I are gangsters? TRUE STORY.
You all wish you could be as fly as us, but you can't. :(
I thought this made a cute iconesque shot. Since I was basing the pose off my icon. XD
My favorite picture. :3
Not long after that, we went back to the hotel, changed out of our costumes, and headed on the road again to return to Auburn! I was definitely not looking forward to the con coming to an end (because we missed Friday, it felt like it ended far too soon. ;_; ), and having to return to dreaded classes on Monday. But at least I had a weekend of good memories to get me through it!
Megacon shout-outs coming later!
At right about 8 (or was it 7?), auburnkt and I left her apartment to head to Orlandoooo! With John Cleese (her GPS) leading the way, there was never any fear of where we were. :D It was AWESOME. Almost exactly 7 hours later, we arrived at the Best Western. The wrong Best Western. Well, we were at the right Best Western, but it wasn't the one within walking distance from the Convention Center. -__-;; Seriously, this is the last time I reserve the room for Megacon. I'm on 2 strikes already. This is just NOT my con, y'all! Not long after we got there, I got in touch with Diana, followed by Ali, who was lost because she swore I told her we were rooming at a Days Inn. But I know for a fact that I never said any such thing. XD Meredith, did you?? Anyway, Diana managed to find the place (by a miracle), but poor Ali gave up and decided to go to the Dollfie dinner first. So Katie included us in her plans for dinner with Angie and Chris at Kobe's. I realized when we got to the restaurant that I still wasn't wearing any make-up. XD Katie and Diana FAIL for not telling me! I looked ILL. lol We ended up eating with a HUGE group of people. Randomly, Vic Mignona was there, too. Hahahaha. I eat hibachi SO much that I predicted nearly every trick the guy did (however, I watch the same thing for half the price!). When we got back, it was about 9ish and Diana was informed that just about everyone had left the con. XD Oh. Whoops. Nevertheless, I finished Jupiter, so I wanted some darn photos! Around this time, Ali and Jackie showed up! Ali's super cute Baron (from The Cat Returns) won an award at the Dollfie dinner, too. I'm not big on dollfies unless they work for cosplay (ala Battle Angels, etc.), so I thought hers was precious! Jackie was an unexpected visitor, but that was ok, as she lowered the room cost and was so sweet! :D I finished sewing her up, threw the completed costume on (for the very first time), and Diana and I wandered downstairs into the Best Western lobby for some pictures (graciously taken by Katie! <3). Now, needless to say, this Best Western was too far from the convention center to be a con hotel, so they probably found our dressing up VERY strange. Luckily, the concierge was a nice enough guy. And here are the pictures!
My favorite! :3
Easy-D forgot to pack a toothbrush, so I informed her that the front desk would have them and we definitely thought it'd be an awesome idea to ask AFTER we got into costume. LOLLERSKATES
Appropriate speech bubbles are appropriate. :D
IRRAISHAIMASEN~
I call this series of pictures ♥SAILOR GOSSIP♥
LOL There is a looong, funny story behind this one!!! ...No, I'm kidding. There's absolutely NO story behind this photo.
I look so frazzled. XD
My ribbon on one boot kept popping off, so I kept having to fix it. Katie took this picture of us in the window's reflection. XD
See?
LOL Diana.
I was obviously SO ready when this photo was taken. The hoe-down pose was COMPLETELY on purpose and TOTALLY in character, no?
SERAA~ POWAA~
I wanted a backshot, but this is close enough. It hides how last minute and make-shift my bow was. XD
For some crazy, cool reason, the seam between the shoes' heels and my boot covers is really... seamless! XD
I seriously need to reduce the size of my sleeves!
Sorry about the floppy bow. I really did a poor job on this costume. XD;; I wanted everything to be detachable, though, so I couldn't sew it to the leotard. ^^;;
After that, we went back up to our rooms, and Diana and I chatted the night away into unGODly hours of the morning. Roomies, I apologize for stirring you on several occasions with our laughter! ^^;;
Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early (9am!!) so we could get ready (and I could finish sewing Yuuko and styling my wig) in time for the costume contest. But as all my friends know, I can't be on time to ANYTHING. EVER. So, of course, mostly due to my slowness (though honestly, it was still pretty record-breaking for me...), we got to the con an hour and a half later than planned. Because of this, we had to FLY past everyone in the convention center to get to the contest registration on time. I HATE telling people "Sorry, no pictures! We can't, we're in a hurry! :(" because even I have a hard time asking cosplayers for photos sometimes, so it must be a total disappointment being told no. @_@
We somehow managed to get there NO PUROBUREMU and had NO problems register. Let me say now that the Megacon staff is quite possibly the NICEST con staff I've EVER encountered. AWA had lots of friendly staffers, too, but at Megacon, they are just RIDICULOUSLY nice!!
Because I'd forgotten to bring reference pictures, we abandoned our spot in line to go get some. Sometime during our hunt, I lost my Panasonic PV-GS31 camcorder. Now, it wasn't a ridiculously expensive camcorder (about $350 in the fall of my senior year), but it's not exactly new, it had my NAME AND PHONE NUMBER ON IT, as well as 1 tape in the camera and 2 extra tapes of footage in the bag of me and GOD knows what (senior project, con footage, random home videos of the Hello! Project dance shot variety...) So basically, whoever stole it is a TOTAL BASTARD. I'm more devastated about losing my tapes than my camera. ;_; I went back and checked the Lost and Found every few hours (including on Sunday), I called security, I notified con staff, I called the convention center a week later after I got home, and I've posted about it in several Megacon forums... I've lost all hope. Now I have 2 options. Spend $30 (if I'm lucky) to $50 that I DON'T have replacing it with a refurbed camera from ebay via this seller (the price is cheap now, but I've watched 4-5 of these bids go from 10 to 40 bucks in the last hour. ;_; ) or suck it up and be a big girl and tell my mom the truth. She'll be REALLY disappointed in me, and I just can't stand that feeling. Especially because now I have no chance of ever getting an upgrade as a gift. T_T When I lost my camcorder in Atlanta, some kind soul turned it right back in. But Florida? Oh, no, they kept it. WHY I won't know, as a pawn shop probably wouldn't take it if it had a NAME AND NUMBER on the bottom, right?? What do you guys think? Should I wait until after I get a job (hopefully after Spring Break) when I can afford it? Or should I go ahead and tell my mom now and reap the consequences?? *sigh*
Anyway, back to the con report! After getting a reference picture, stuffing our starving faces, and getting depressed over the loss of my camera (which, at this point, I was sure would show up again), we returned to the line to be judged. Again, con staff was REALLY nice to us, despite our constant disappearances and reappearances. XD;; In judging, Diana was totally my con-mom. It was GREAT! LOL She was like "Ooh, Katie, tell them about how you did this!" And I was like "Oh, yeah, ok!!" Hahahaha! <3333 I love ya, Easy-D!
So how about some pictures? :D
Katie took this while we were waiting to be judged. Diana's costume has a super handy mirror built onto it. It's much more convenient than that HEADPIECE, anyway! ;D And look at how young and angelic her profile looks! AWWW!
Found this picture from flickr. This is how my bangs looked in most photographs. I should have carried around a comb and hairspray. @_@
Katie took this one. I mostly like how my side pieces are... you know... VISIBLE.
Now you see my legs!
Now you don't!
I think I made the lining fuller than the skirt... XD I'll take it in for Momo, though! ^^
This close-up shows the purple lining lining the white lining of my sleeves! I was really proud of that. :3
Ok, seriously, if a picture turns out THIS bad... why put it on the internet? What's the point of posting cell phone pictures at all? They're too crappy to ever need to leave the phone. And it makes me dizzy. XDDD
Hahaha, that is definitely not a flattering body shot and I'm definitely holding a tea. XD If it were sake, I'd say I was being in character. I look appropriately pale, no? Andrea found this picture of me in some random dude's Myspace. O_o See how you can see the lining peeking out lower than the black? I fixed that, so it shouldn't be a problem at Momo. ^^
My one decent picture from Maboroshi. ;_; Next year, I will HUNT HIM DOWN. HE WILL FEAR MY WRATH. HE WILL NOT INTRODUCE HIMSELF. HE WILL MERELY MOVE HIS FINGER TO THE SHUTTER BUTTON, POINT, AND CLICK.
A profile shot by Troy! Like I said, apparently me + stage = unflattering body shape??
Now all that's left is to wait for Troy's photoshoot of Diana, Daisy, and myself to go up!
So, we didn't win anything at the con, but guess what?
DAISY WON BEST IN SHOW!!
So in case you guys are wondering what it takes to win Megacon's BiS, it's 2 simple steps.
1) Katie knows you and you have an awesome costume.
2) Katie calls it.
THE END. I was so proud of MYYY Sakura. (That's right, I CLAIMED you, betch!!) And congrats to Nessa and family for winning Best Group! You may have been our competition, but kawaii baby-chan was just too damn irresistable!! I remember when staff came and told you not to go anywhere, and you were like "I'm thinking probably 'Best Group'" and Diana and I were like "Oh..." If you were wondering why we sounded sad, it's because we knew you were probably right! lol
Memorable Saturday moments:
- I ended up seeing a good chunk of FL friends! <3
- I caught some AVATAR SMEX!!
- I lost my in-progress necklace on our reference picture hunt, and Diana totally managed to find it when she went to get her LOST reference picture. XDDD
- When we were in line to get pizza, this dude came up to me and was like "I don't mean to be rude, but... you're fucking hot." And I was just like "Oh. Thank you." Con boys amuse the shit out of me.
- Lots of compliments that made it worth the work! ^^
- Hitting Diana's headpiece approximately ONE MILLION TIMES. Like I told the judges, Diana and I are BFF. Our costumes HATE each other, however.
- There was a PRIIIIVATE PAAARTY for a bunch of fancy, dressed up rich folks on the 4th floor. As we were leaving for the night, a woman in a ball gown coming down the stairs stopped us for a photo and told us that we looked like we were "floating" as we walked across the empty, open hallway! *___*
On Sunday, we got to the con in a much more timely manner, so yay for that! We also FINALLY got a chance to visit the dealer's room, though unfortunately, I found nothing. :( No delicious pocky that they had last year. *WEEP* Also, no less-than-$20 Mokona. Oh, wellz, I'll save $$$ and make my own!
A huge thanks to the beautiful Daisy for taking our pictures with my camera on Sunday! If it weren't for you, we would have NONE!
I straight-up stole this pose from Mer and Mary as Namine and Kairi. Heeheehee.
Remember how Diana and I are gangsters? TRUE STORY.
You all wish you could be as fly as us, but you can't. :(
I thought this made a cute iconesque shot. Since I was basing the pose off my icon. XD
My favorite picture. :3
Not long after that, we went back to the hotel, changed out of our costumes, and headed on the road again to return to Auburn! I was definitely not looking forward to the con coming to an end (because we missed Friday, it felt like it ended far too soon. ;_; ), and having to return to dreaded classes on Monday. But at least I had a weekend of good memories to get me through it!
Megacon shout-outs coming later!