THIS... IS... DRAGON*CON!!!!!
So uhh... this is a Dragon*con report? Nearly 2 months later. (But srsly, what's 2 months? :D)
...GAAAH, I REMEMBER NOTHING!! Oh, well, that means I'll finally make a con report that's not like BLAHBLAHBLAHTL;DR PICSPICSPICS BLAHBLAHBLAHTL;DR.
Day One: aka, Call me, Beep me... day
So after rocking out in the car with shibamura_prime to Wicked for about 2 whole hours, we got to D*C at about... 2? 3? 4? I don't even remember. All I remember is calling Diana, and she was like "UMM, we're busy meeting the Weasley twins (WITHOUT ME! NUUUU!!), find Katie. She has the key." And I was like "FIND Katie??? At DRAGON*CON? How the hell am I supposed to- OH, HAY, DERE SHE IS." Then I went up to the room and waited for D and Mai. As they were coming up the elevator, I threw on my Black Mage Rikku hat. Backstory: I had told Diana about a week and a half before the con that I wasn't going to be able to finish her on time. I actually thought I really wasn't because Nathan was coming up the weekend that I NEEDED to be working on her, but he's such an awesome bff that when I told him the story, he was like "OH, no, baby, you're finishing that costume!" so while he cleaned my apartment (Too bad he's gay... he would make me such a good wife. :( ), I sewed away. XD ANYWAY, I kept up the charade to surprise D. :3
When she got off the elevator, I was waiting there in mah hat. She gave me this confused look, and when it seemed like she wasn't gonna come to the conclusion on her own, I yelled, "I finished it!" and we proceeded to squeal and have a girly moment. I think. That's at least what my memory WANTS to tell me happened.
Then I met Mai, who is SO FREAKING CUTE I WANT TO ADOPT HER EXCEPT SHE'S OLDER THAN ME, SO THAT WOULD BE STRANGE. If only my brother weren't completely disgusting. :( I wouldn't mind having Mai as a sister-in-law. LAWLS
Uhh... so Diana and I changed into Kim and Shego and went to wander the con. We entered the Hall Costume Contest, but didn't expect to win, obviously. At the food court, we saw srinoaheartlys's Reboot group with ryoko and kev. I take peekshur because I freaking love Reboot. I've actually wanted to do AndrAIa since way back in the day (and in fact, used to paint my nails hideous shades of sparkly turquoise and admire their AndrAIa-like qualities). However, I'm going to wait a while, at least until the sexiness that is Krys' AndrAIa gets out of my head. (Ugh, that'll take YEARS!)
Kim and Kev, your faces looked REALLY dark in the picture so I brightened and DIGITIALLY ENHANCED them. ENJ0I. :D
We also ran into amazonmandy at some point later that night, as evidenced by a few KP photos I found that feature her and rasmirin in their sexy belly dancing outfits.
So check out the HOARDE of photos I've found!
Official Hall Contest photo
At one point, we ran into bobbarker31 who snapped a few shots!
I apologize for the fact that my pants are so obscenely low-rise. @_@ I have to wear them like that or else they flood. ^^;; Curse my long legs!!
Even though it was taken with a cell phone camera, I think this shot is cute. I was also linked to a candid, but I accidentally saved over that one. ;_;
We hung out with tylerdurdenmiko for a while! :)
Uploaded this one because it makes me laugh.
I really like the artsy effect he used! :D Especially how Diana has a green aura vs. my red one.
lycorne took this photo. ^^
After a night of awesome Special Agent and Arch-Nemesis AKSHUN, I took up vampirate777 on her invitation to a room party. Diana and Mai sadly did not. :(
Though this picture would imply the opposite, I swear I didn't drink too much.
http://picasaweb.google.com/elfgrove/20070831DragonCon2007/photo#5109922124424111906
Becky took some videos of the party. Watch me NINJA behind the guys at around 0:36. I have... no idea what I was doing. I hover in the corner for a bit and then walk back offscreen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/elfgrove/20070831DragonCon2007/photo#5109922184553654066
About 2 seconds of me mixing my drink or something. Becky thankfully didn't record the ILLEGAL part of the process. LAWLZ. (Aka, it neeeeever happened! ;D)
The boys tried to kill me spike my rum and coke with like... 95% RUM, but Mary valiantly kept me safe from harm and the boys' attempts to get me sloppy-ass drunk. :P But good times were still had! I did go back to my room a little buzzed. lol
Day Two: aka, Blorthog Day/LOOK AT ME, I'M SO PRETTY. OOH, I CAN WALK ON MY HANDS! day
The next morning we woke up, thinking "Let's go be in the parade!" ...Not. We ended up sleeping through it. Ahhhh, we fail. But it's probably for the best, since Diana decided she didn't want to wear Blackfire, and as soon as I put Starfire on, she started falling off of me. @_@ I REALLY should have done a trial run before the con... My hatred for costumes with thigh-highs increased a lot at this con. lol Anyway, here is the ONE photo I found of Starfire.
I actually found this picture on FACEBOOK, of all places! My friend Leah from high school randomly found it in the Herbert's Dragon*con gallery. The really crazy part is that she barely knows that I cosplay, let alone that I was at this con, and she goes to school in Tenn. XD
So yeah, sad story. I was feeling pretty bummed because my costume wasn't look as fab as I hoped it would, and when Diana and Mai were like "Let's get some Chinese!" or whatev, I was like "Ughhh... I think I'll grab some food elsewhere..." and they were like "Okay, we'll meet up after we have our food." Well, I made the mistake of going to PANERA BREAD, where it took about 30 minutes to place my order, then about an hour to make it. @___@ And of course, because Panera Bread has its own sectioned-off store inside the mall, after Diana and Mai got their food, they couldn't find me, and gave up and left. ;_; I went out and sat on a bench in the food court to eat my panera... alone. Seriously, you guys, I looked so sad and forlorn that people kept coming up to me and asking if I were okay. XD At one point, a couple came over and they were like "Our son can't stop talking about you!" and so he hopped up on the bench to take a picture with me. Then, as I scooted closer, he got REALLY shy/scared (probably because I was an inhuman shade of orange lol) and hopped off the bench to his mom. It was adorable! XD So they took the picture of me without him. Haha!
Okay, so it was 2:30, and the Marvel vs. DC gathering had started at 2 and I had noooo idea where it was, so I just gave up and headed back up to the room. There, Diana and Mai apologized and Meredith headed over to start getting into costume with me. I washed off my orange and painted on Mer's new olive tan skintone. I think it came out QUITE well!
I started to take a picture of Mer to get a shot of her make-up...
Then she was like, "Take one of me like this!"...
"And one of me like this!"
"And like this!" So I was like "I'M NOT MATT!!!" lol
I took a shot of Meredith's wig for my coslab. I thought it came out nice. Not that it was hard to style. XD
The following photos are in order of how they were found, not chronological. It makes typing up the report a LOT easier.
LOL I look like I'm in PAIN.
Mai before she changed out of Rue. :( She looked so darn cute. Even when she blinked!
These are from Bob
I love this one because that chick in the background is like "NO PICTURES." lolll
This costume looked pretty FAIL at D*C so I'm determined to look better in it at Anime South. @_@
I'm also determined to PROPERLY recreate this scene. XD
This looks familiar! lol Now I just need a picture of a KatiexDiana glomp. The closet thing I have is THIS. ROFL
This pose is both in-character AND makes me look short! FTW!
LOL @ drunk Jennie and me holding the drunk, underaged Stormtrooper's helmet. XD
I made Diana take these final shots before going to change out of costume because of EPIC WIND. Thanks, D!
Oh, yeah, at one point, I took this picture at the behest of Jennie.
Day Three: aka, My hat blew off! day
Finally, Final Fantasy day had arrived! Once again, as Diana and I were getting into costume, I thought to myself, "Damn. I REALLY should have done a test run." The heavy-duty snaps that I so carefully installed to attach my skirt thing didn't even work. o_o I still don't know why... has anyone else had problems with heavy duty snaps before?? Anyway, I was pretty much miserable in this costume until I commodered some hardcore 2-sided tape from the Wasabi Anime Cosplay Emergency booth. That place was a GODSEND. With my thigh-highs securely fastened to my pantyhose, I know longer had to worry about situations like these:
Random pervy guy: *jumps in my path, looks me up and down, does not proceed to pull out camera* ...Wow.
Katie: ...Ehh... can I help you? *pulls up thigh-high, which has fallen down for like, the 1 millionth time*
Random pervy guy: *apparently turned on* OH, MAN, WOW
Katie: Okay, EW, LEAVING.
TRUE STORY. But as my thigh-highs stopped falling down, it didn't happen again! Yaaaay! Nevertheless, the following photos are like "SPOT THE MISERY!" on Katie's face.
Our hats were so big, that we just kinda stood to the side, trying not to get in anybody's way since we were late to join in. (We had been chatting near the gathering instead.)
People from this gathering told me they had remembered chatting with me. But I pretty much remember NONE of it. Just miseryyyyy~
There goes Diana, cock-blocking bitches with her staff again!
With the lovely Mary!
HEEHEE @ D's hat
Damn, I'm looking tubs. This was taken by xenxar from my anime club at Auburn. ^^
Nice capture of the misery there, Al!
Mmmm... more delicious misery!
Rikku without her uncomfortable shrug is all HAPPY and Myspace!
Check out these adorable, embarassing candids I got of Diana!
That girl on crack!
TEEHEE! HAT!
At one point in the day, I ran into a guy I took art with first semester last year in the elevator. I knew he went to D*C because he mentioned it the weekend after in '06 and I was like "OH, SNAP, I was there, too!" When he saw me in costume, he was like "I have to say, I'm not surprised!" He was so cute. I had like, a dork crush on him. lol (Dork crush = When you crush on a guy because he is adorably nerdy, even if he's not your type. ...Not to say this guy looks nerdy, he's just unconventionally cute.) We ran into him later and chatted for a bit and he talked about how he had actually gotten really into this game that was like Killer but with vampires or werewolves or something. SO cute.
Diana, Mai, and myself changed out of costume and went out to eat at Ru-san's with Meredith, Mary, Matt, John, Becky, Michelle, Patrick, and Ashley (if my memory serves me correctly, Daniel wasn't there, right?) and had good times burning the HELL out of our tongues on ramen. lol
When we got back, I took a page from Diana and Mai and decided to hide the horrid mop that was my hair by being "college Rikku." Bob decided to PHOTOGRAPH said fashion statement, though why the hell he would do that is beyond me. lol I even look like I'm on crack/drunk, so these photos are PERFECT for College Rikku! I SHOULD ADD IT TO MY COSLAB LOL
lollllllllll the craaaaaaaack....
Diana looked so cute that this guy with a cute teenager kid/friend(?) came over to us and the young guys proceeded to confess his admiration for her. It was a pretty cute moment, so I'll transcribe it (poorly).
Much older guy: (to Diana:) This guy here thinks you're gorgeous. And he's not coming back until he has a phone number! (walks away)
Cute little guy: Hi...
Me: How OLD are you???
Him: 15.
Diana and Katie: AWWW, A YOUNG'N!
Katie: Is that an alcoholic beverage in your hand??
Him: No, it's blahblahiforget.
Katie: Aww, well, let me do you a favor. Do you have a pen?
Him: *pulls out sharpie*
Me: *starts writing number on guy's hand* DON'T call this, unless you want to ask my mother out on a date, ya got me??
Him: Sure, sure! (walks over to crowd of older men, who are all cheering for him LOUDLY.)
Diana: lol
Me: Ahh, good deeds.
That's where I'll end Saturday night because I can't remember anything else.
Day Four: aka, HOLY SHIT, CELEBRITIES day
So originally my plan was to wear whatever costume got the shaft on Sunday and while that most DEFINITELY was Starfire, I was thinking it wasn't such a good idea to get into costume since we had to check out of our hotel room by noon or so. And Diana and Mai had already left that morning. :( As I was going to ride the MARTA out of ATL with Mary and crew later, I put my stuff in her room. We looked up Elisabeth Rohm on the schedule to find out how we could go about meeting her. When we got into the Walk of Fame, she wasn't at her booth because she had left for her panel. :(
Luckily, we found out that she was gonna be at Photo Ops so we rushed down there to get one. I didn't have enough cash on me for it, but since Mary knew the adorable Remus cosplayer running the booth, he took our word for it that I would bring him the cash after the photo and Mary and I headed into the room to meet Elisabeth. Here's our picture!
For starters, she was every bit as gorgeous in real life as she is on TV. And she's TALL! She's actually sitting on a stool in this picture, because she's around 5'8". My dad and I have been HUGE Law and Order fans since probably around when I was in the 10th grade. I have NO idea why we're so addicted to this show but we are. When I found out she was at the con, I probably would have cried if I'd been in a soppier mood (but I was far too happy to get emotional). I immediately called my dad and told him that, come Hell or high water, I was gonna meet her. He told me that I should tell her "that she has gorgeous eyes and perfect lips!" (I think he came up with this because he was watching her on-screen at the time lol) When we met her, Mary and I fangirled and mentioned how excited we were and she was like "Well, that's wonderful, because when you guys are excited, I'M excited!" T__T Such a doll!! I relayed what my dad had told me to tell her and she said "That's so sweet! Well, you can go home and tell him that 'she said I'M perfect!'" It actually took me a second to realize that she was complimenting ME. XD;; So after chatting with her for probably all of 30 seconds, we let the next person in line have her, as her time slot was almost up.
We left the room and I headed out to the ATM machine to get the money... and while there, umm... a photographer took pictures of me??
How WEIRD is that?! I'm just... chilling in the ATM line... chatting on my cell phone with my dad. XD;; If I had known someone was taking my damn picture, I would have stood up straight. My dance teacher would cringe at the sight of my posture in this photo.
"O SO IT'S DAT WAY?"
Then the same photographer took a picture of me asking a security guard for directions. This is the same photographer who got a poopload of shots of my Rikku at D*C last year. This is a strange combination of flattering, amusing, and creepy.
Anyway, I returned with the money and we chatted with the Remus a bit more. He informed us that if we were to go into the room and sweet-talk the guy printing out the photos, we could probably get them in 15 minutes (since we couldn't wait the 2 hours for processing that they normally require). So we went into the room and the guy was like "Sure! 10 minutes!"
Well, it took a little bit longer than that, but THANK GOD, because while we were waiting, who should walk into the other side of the room but JAMES AND OLIVER PHELPS (aka Fred and George Weasley) AND MATTHEW LEWIS (aka Neville FUCKING Longbottom!!!) They were seriously about 30 feet away and Mary and I were squealing silently to each other in our chairs on the other side of the room. I asked the guy printing photos, "Umm, so I know you guys are kinda trying to make money selling photos here, but is it okay if we go over and take a picture with them??" (They were just chilling around, being debriefed about where they were going for lunch or something) The photo processing guy proceeded to tell me something about how a flash would set off the big camera, blah blah, technical mumbo-jumbo, wait until they exit the room, etc. I don't know if he was just telling me that so we wouldn't go over there and bother them, but being somewhat shy, we took his advice.
I attempted to nonchalantly FLIRT WITH MY EYES, but I have no fucking idea if they even cared about the fangirls on the other side of the room. Neville apparently had a really freaking hot, blonde girlfriend. The Phelps brothers did not. I completely regret not going over and being like HAYYYYY. I mean, who cares if they thought I was an annoying freak, at least I could say I tried! XD Mary's Remus friend even entered the room and started talking with them about lunch and I whispered to Mary "UMM... CAN WE GO WITH THEM?!?" lol
Anyway, we exited the room after the Remus guy came over and kinda led us out in a friendly manner for seemingly no reason... but THANK GOODNESS he did, because as we were standing at the booth, THEY ALL WALKED BY. Mary and I exchanged a glance and decided to JUMP on this chance. They were walking quickly, so we only caught Neville as he was last in the parade. We apologized and acknowledged that they were in a hurry and asked for a quick photo. Mary had her camera ready and Neville's... agent? Possibly? took it.
Is he not fucking RUGGED?!? Holy crap!! Look at that sexy facial hair! I have to keep reminding myself that's he's TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN I AM. ADSKJDFHKDFJHDFHVIK!! He had JUST turned 18 in June!!
If only we had been a little more gungho, we probably could have caught the twins, too, but how awesome is it that we got the photo for free? I mean, DAMN.
Anyway, we headed back into the room and waited a bit longer for our photo. I chatted with the processing guy and told him about my experiences working as a photographer's assistant and mentioned my proficiency in photo processing (since he was complaining about the tedious, repetitive photoshop work he had to do on every photo). I offered some assistance next year (*cough*INEXCHANGEFORFREECELEBRITYPHOTOS*cough*) and he actually seemed REALLY excited at that idea. So HELLS YEAH, I need to contact that group if they're coming back next year and offer to volunteer for a few hours at some point... preferably just on Sunday, but I could maybe do a couple hours on another day... I'd just be in costume! lol
I was doing some height-hunting on IMDB (holy crap, the Weasley twins are both 6'3!!), and came across THIS photo: http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/6248/RupertGri_Eric_14501024_400.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Watson%2C%20Emma%20(II)&seq=53
LOL @ Rupert's shirt. XDDD Anyway, according to IMDB, Matthew is 5'10. I don't think soooo! They need to update that shit, I'M 5'10, boy is 6' or 6'1 at LEAST! (Btw, Mer, Emma Watson is 5'6!)
So after that, we grabbed our luggage from Becky's room and headed out. While walking through the mall, I randomly saw Cody and Stacy, and for the SECOND time at Dragon*con, only managed to see him long enough to yell "Cody!" and him to respond with "Katie!" in return. Upon seeing her, I also shouted, "Stacy!" but it might have been too late at the point (I was following a parade of people with luggage, so I couldn't really stop and chat. :( ) Then when we got down to the MARTA station, I saw xblueduckx again... I think... right?? Gaah, memory blurry! And immediately after saying "Man, I keep running into people I know at the VERY last second!," umister came down the escalator and I was like HAY! to her, too. XD
So Mary, John, Daniel, and myself all boarded the train going NORTH while everyone else from D*C was headed SOUTH to the airport. After getting back to their car, we visited @ Daniel and Ashley's place for a bit, killing time until I had to meet up with Mer to return to Auburn. And that's about where the D*C saga ends!
For posterity's sake, I decided to repost my general impression from my first D*C last year as well as write a new one for this year. I think that juxtaposed they're even more interesting than alone.
(Abridged) Overall Impression of my first Dragon*con
. . .D*C was a very different experience. Sure, it wasn't my first sci-fi convention, as I'd already been to Megacon and Mobicon (why am I still counting this one??), but the atmosphere was unlike any other con I have EVER been to. While at a convention like AX, the mood is best described as "I love to cosplay," at D*C, it was "I love to have fun." I've also never seen so many drunk people at a convention... but of course, I knew that would be the case. XD I'd been warned prior to the con by Andrea that anime costumes weren't really appreciated at D*C, but I never really got that feeling. A lot of people seemed to appreciate my costume just for the costume itself- not being a fan or even having any idea of who I was dressed as. I got a lot of "Can I take a picture?" "Sure!" "Great! Now who are you supposed to be?"s XDDD It was kinda nice, actually. It certainly made people actually recognizing me that much sweeter. . . .I will probably be going back to D*C. I've even already started planning costumes. XDDD Teen Titans, anyone? Take a guess which character I want to do. :D
Overall Impression of my second Dragon*con
Once again, I can definitely say that D*C surprised me. I was even more fun this year than the last, though that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I had my two best friends there to hang out with. I also got to meet some celebrities, something I missed out on last year. More importantly, I'm ALREADY excited about next year. Now THAT is the sign of a good con. I hope I'll see you all next year!
(That was about 1/4th the size of my thoughts from the year before. XD)
Now, for those who haven't already heard, next year, Dragon*con just happens to fall on my birthday. Not just any birthday, my 21st BIRTHDAY. Hooooooly crap. I would LOVE to have a party, but since my hotel rooms tend to be cluttered by multiple suitcases and costumes all about the place, a room party doesn't sound too clever. THUS, I'm thinking about just standing upon something very tall at midnight Saturday and loudly declaring "IT'S MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!" and making THAT be my party. ROFL Everyone is welcome to attend, obviously. ;) I would say something insanely awesome like "FREE DRINKS!" but I'm ridiculously poor, so the liquor will be provided by the Hyatt bar at your own disposal. If you are at Dragon*con 2008, your ass better be there Saturday night to wish me a happy muthafuckin' birthday! :DDD
And finally,
What a con. :D
...GAAAH, I REMEMBER NOTHING!! Oh, well, that means I'll finally make a con report that's not like BLAHBLAHBLAHTL;DR PICSPICSPICS BLAHBLAHBLAHTL;DR.
Day One: aka, Call me, Beep me... day
So after rocking out in the car with shibamura_prime to Wicked for about 2 whole hours, we got to D*C at about... 2? 3? 4? I don't even remember. All I remember is calling Diana, and she was like "UMM, we're busy meeting the Weasley twins (WITHOUT ME! NUUUU!!), find Katie. She has the key." And I was like "FIND Katie??? At DRAGON*CON? How the hell am I supposed to- OH, HAY, DERE SHE IS." Then I went up to the room and waited for D and Mai. As they were coming up the elevator, I threw on my Black Mage Rikku hat. Backstory: I had told Diana about a week and a half before the con that I wasn't going to be able to finish her on time. I actually thought I really wasn't because Nathan was coming up the weekend that I NEEDED to be working on her, but he's such an awesome bff that when I told him the story, he was like "OH, no, baby, you're finishing that costume!" so while he cleaned my apartment (Too bad he's gay... he would make me such a good wife. :( ), I sewed away. XD ANYWAY, I kept up the charade to surprise D. :3
When she got off the elevator, I was waiting there in mah hat. She gave me this confused look, and when it seemed like she wasn't gonna come to the conclusion on her own, I yelled, "I finished it!" and we proceeded to squeal and have a girly moment. I think. That's at least what my memory WANTS to tell me happened.
Then I met Mai, who is SO FREAKING CUTE I WANT TO ADOPT HER EXCEPT SHE'S OLDER THAN ME, SO THAT WOULD BE STRANGE. If only my brother weren't completely disgusting. :( I wouldn't mind having Mai as a sister-in-law. LAWLS
Uhh... so Diana and I changed into Kim and Shego and went to wander the con. We entered the Hall Costume Contest, but didn't expect to win, obviously. At the food court, we saw srinoaheartlys's Reboot group with ryoko and kev. I take peekshur because I freaking love Reboot. I've actually wanted to do AndrAIa since way back in the day (and in fact, used to paint my nails hideous shades of sparkly turquoise and admire their AndrAIa-like qualities). However, I'm going to wait a while, at least until the sexiness that is Krys' AndrAIa gets out of my head. (Ugh, that'll take YEARS!)
Kim and Kev, your faces looked REALLY dark in the picture so I brightened and DIGITIALLY ENHANCED them. ENJ0I. :D
We also ran into amazonmandy at some point later that night, as evidenced by a few KP photos I found that feature her and rasmirin in their sexy belly dancing outfits.
So check out the HOARDE of photos I've found!
Official Hall Contest photo
At one point, we ran into bobbarker31 who snapped a few shots!
I apologize for the fact that my pants are so obscenely low-rise. @_@ I have to wear them like that or else they flood. ^^;; Curse my long legs!!
Even though it was taken with a cell phone camera, I think this shot is cute. I was also linked to a candid, but I accidentally saved over that one. ;_;
We hung out with tylerdurdenmiko for a while! :)
Uploaded this one because it makes me laugh.
I really like the artsy effect he used! :D Especially how Diana has a green aura vs. my red one.
lycorne took this photo. ^^
After a night of awesome Special Agent and Arch-Nemesis AKSHUN, I took up vampirate777 on her invitation to a room party. Diana and Mai sadly did not. :(
Though this picture would imply the opposite, I swear I didn't drink too much.
http://picasaweb.google.com/elfgrove/20070831DragonCon2007/photo#5109922124424111906
Becky took some videos of the party. Watch me NINJA behind the guys at around 0:36. I have... no idea what I was doing. I hover in the corner for a bit and then walk back offscreen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/elfgrove/20070831DragonCon2007/photo#5109922184553654066
About 2 seconds of me mixing my drink or something. Becky thankfully didn't record the ILLEGAL part of the process. LAWLZ. (Aka, it neeeeever happened! ;D)
The boys tried to kill me spike my rum and coke with like... 95% RUM, but Mary valiantly kept me safe from harm and the boys' attempts to get me sloppy-ass drunk. :P But good times were still had! I did go back to my room a little buzzed. lol
Day Two: aka, Blorthog Day/LOOK AT ME, I'M SO PRETTY. OOH, I CAN WALK ON MY HANDS! day
The next morning we woke up, thinking "Let's go be in the parade!" ...Not. We ended up sleeping through it. Ahhhh, we fail. But it's probably for the best, since Diana decided she didn't want to wear Blackfire, and as soon as I put Starfire on, she started falling off of me. @_@ I REALLY should have done a trial run before the con... My hatred for costumes with thigh-highs increased a lot at this con. lol Anyway, here is the ONE photo I found of Starfire.
I actually found this picture on FACEBOOK, of all places! My friend Leah from high school randomly found it in the Herbert's Dragon*con gallery. The really crazy part is that she barely knows that I cosplay, let alone that I was at this con, and she goes to school in Tenn. XD
So yeah, sad story. I was feeling pretty bummed because my costume wasn't look as fab as I hoped it would, and when Diana and Mai were like "Let's get some Chinese!" or whatev, I was like "Ughhh... I think I'll grab some food elsewhere..." and they were like "Okay, we'll meet up after we have our food." Well, I made the mistake of going to PANERA BREAD, where it took about 30 minutes to place my order, then about an hour to make it. @___@ And of course, because Panera Bread has its own sectioned-off store inside the mall, after Diana and Mai got their food, they couldn't find me, and gave up and left. ;_; I went out and sat on a bench in the food court to eat my panera... alone. Seriously, you guys, I looked so sad and forlorn that people kept coming up to me and asking if I were okay. XD At one point, a couple came over and they were like "Our son can't stop talking about you!" and so he hopped up on the bench to take a picture with me. Then, as I scooted closer, he got REALLY shy/scared (probably because I was an inhuman shade of orange lol) and hopped off the bench to his mom. It was adorable! XD So they took the picture of me without him. Haha!
Okay, so it was 2:30, and the Marvel vs. DC gathering had started at 2 and I had noooo idea where it was, so I just gave up and headed back up to the room. There, Diana and Mai apologized and Meredith headed over to start getting into costume with me. I washed off my orange and painted on Mer's new olive tan skintone. I think it came out QUITE well!
I started to take a picture of Mer to get a shot of her make-up...
Then she was like, "Take one of me like this!"...
"And one of me like this!"
"And like this!" So I was like "I'M NOT MATT!!!" lol
I took a shot of Meredith's wig for my coslab. I thought it came out nice. Not that it was hard to style. XD
The following photos are in order of how they were found, not chronological. It makes typing up the report a LOT easier.
LOL I look like I'm in PAIN.
Mai before she changed out of Rue. :( She looked so darn cute. Even when she blinked!
These are from Bob
I love this one because that chick in the background is like "NO PICTURES." lolll
This costume looked pretty FAIL at D*C so I'm determined to look better in it at Anime South. @_@
I'm also determined to PROPERLY recreate this scene. XD
This looks familiar! lol Now I just need a picture of a KatiexDiana glomp. The closet thing I have is THIS. ROFL
This pose is both in-character AND makes me look short! FTW!
LOL @ drunk Jennie and me holding the drunk, underaged Stormtrooper's helmet. XD
I made Diana take these final shots before going to change out of costume because of EPIC WIND. Thanks, D!
Oh, yeah, at one point, I took this picture at the behest of Jennie.
Day Three: aka, My hat blew off! day
Finally, Final Fantasy day had arrived! Once again, as Diana and I were getting into costume, I thought to myself, "Damn. I REALLY should have done a test run." The heavy-duty snaps that I so carefully installed to attach my skirt thing didn't even work. o_o I still don't know why... has anyone else had problems with heavy duty snaps before?? Anyway, I was pretty much miserable in this costume until I commodered some hardcore 2-sided tape from the Wasabi Anime Cosplay Emergency booth. That place was a GODSEND. With my thigh-highs securely fastened to my pantyhose, I know longer had to worry about situations like these:
Random pervy guy: *jumps in my path, looks me up and down, does not proceed to pull out camera* ...Wow.
Katie: ...Ehh... can I help you? *pulls up thigh-high, which has fallen down for like, the 1 millionth time*
Random pervy guy: *apparently turned on* OH, MAN, WOW
Katie: Okay, EW, LEAVING.
TRUE STORY. But as my thigh-highs stopped falling down, it didn't happen again! Yaaaay! Nevertheless, the following photos are like "SPOT THE MISERY!" on Katie's face.
Our hats were so big, that we just kinda stood to the side, trying not to get in anybody's way since we were late to join in. (We had been chatting near the gathering instead.)
People from this gathering told me they had remembered chatting with me. But I pretty much remember NONE of it. Just miseryyyyy~
There goes Diana, cock-blocking bitches with her staff again!
With the lovely Mary!
HEEHEE @ D's hat
Damn, I'm looking tubs. This was taken by xenxar from my anime club at Auburn. ^^
Nice capture of the misery there, Al!
Mmmm... more delicious misery!
Rikku without her uncomfortable shrug is all HAPPY and Myspace!
Check out these adorable, embarassing candids I got of Diana!
That girl on crack!
TEEHEE! HAT!
At one point in the day, I ran into a guy I took art with first semester last year in the elevator. I knew he went to D*C because he mentioned it the weekend after in '06 and I was like "OH, SNAP, I was there, too!" When he saw me in costume, he was like "I have to say, I'm not surprised!" He was so cute. I had like, a dork crush on him. lol (Dork crush = When you crush on a guy because he is adorably nerdy, even if he's not your type. ...Not to say this guy looks nerdy, he's just unconventionally cute.) We ran into him later and chatted for a bit and he talked about how he had actually gotten really into this game that was like Killer but with vampires or werewolves or something. SO cute.
Diana, Mai, and myself changed out of costume and went out to eat at Ru-san's with Meredith, Mary, Matt, John, Becky, Michelle, Patrick, and Ashley (if my memory serves me correctly, Daniel wasn't there, right?) and had good times burning the HELL out of our tongues on ramen. lol
When we got back, I took a page from Diana and Mai and decided to hide the horrid mop that was my hair by being "college Rikku." Bob decided to PHOTOGRAPH said fashion statement, though why the hell he would do that is beyond me. lol I even look like I'm on crack/drunk, so these photos are PERFECT for College Rikku! I SHOULD ADD IT TO MY COSLAB LOL
lollllllllll the craaaaaaaack....
Diana looked so cute that this guy with a cute teenager kid/friend(?) came over to us and the young guys proceeded to confess his admiration for her. It was a pretty cute moment, so I'll transcribe it (poorly).
Much older guy: (to Diana:) This guy here thinks you're gorgeous. And he's not coming back until he has a phone number! (walks away)
Cute little guy: Hi...
Me: How OLD are you???
Him: 15.
Diana and Katie: AWWW, A YOUNG'N!
Katie: Is that an alcoholic beverage in your hand??
Him: No, it's blahblahiforget.
Katie: Aww, well, let me do you a favor. Do you have a pen?
Him: *pulls out sharpie*
Me: *starts writing number on guy's hand* DON'T call this, unless you want to ask my mother out on a date, ya got me??
Him: Sure, sure! (walks over to crowd of older men, who are all cheering for him LOUDLY.)
Diana: lol
Me: Ahh, good deeds.
That's where I'll end Saturday night because I can't remember anything else.
Day Four: aka, HOLY SHIT, CELEBRITIES day
So originally my plan was to wear whatever costume got the shaft on Sunday and while that most DEFINITELY was Starfire, I was thinking it wasn't such a good idea to get into costume since we had to check out of our hotel room by noon or so. And Diana and Mai had already left that morning. :( As I was going to ride the MARTA out of ATL with Mary and crew later, I put my stuff in her room. We looked up Elisabeth Rohm on the schedule to find out how we could go about meeting her. When we got into the Walk of Fame, she wasn't at her booth because she had left for her panel. :(
Luckily, we found out that she was gonna be at Photo Ops so we rushed down there to get one. I didn't have enough cash on me for it, but since Mary knew the adorable Remus cosplayer running the booth, he took our word for it that I would bring him the cash after the photo and Mary and I headed into the room to meet Elisabeth. Here's our picture!
For starters, she was every bit as gorgeous in real life as she is on TV. And she's TALL! She's actually sitting on a stool in this picture, because she's around 5'8". My dad and I have been HUGE Law and Order fans since probably around when I was in the 10th grade. I have NO idea why we're so addicted to this show but we are. When I found out she was at the con, I probably would have cried if I'd been in a soppier mood (but I was far too happy to get emotional). I immediately called my dad and told him that, come Hell or high water, I was gonna meet her. He told me that I should tell her "that she has gorgeous eyes and perfect lips!" (I think he came up with this because he was watching her on-screen at the time lol) When we met her, Mary and I fangirled and mentioned how excited we were and she was like "Well, that's wonderful, because when you guys are excited, I'M excited!" T__T Such a doll!! I relayed what my dad had told me to tell her and she said "That's so sweet! Well, you can go home and tell him that 'she said I'M perfect!'" It actually took me a second to realize that she was complimenting ME. XD;; So after chatting with her for probably all of 30 seconds, we let the next person in line have her, as her time slot was almost up.
We left the room and I headed out to the ATM machine to get the money... and while there, umm... a photographer took pictures of me??
How WEIRD is that?! I'm just... chilling in the ATM line... chatting on my cell phone with my dad. XD;; If I had known someone was taking my damn picture, I would have stood up straight. My dance teacher would cringe at the sight of my posture in this photo.
"O SO IT'S DAT WAY?"
Then the same photographer took a picture of me asking a security guard for directions. This is the same photographer who got a poopload of shots of my Rikku at D*C last year. This is a strange combination of flattering, amusing, and creepy.
Anyway, I returned with the money and we chatted with the Remus a bit more. He informed us that if we were to go into the room and sweet-talk the guy printing out the photos, we could probably get them in 15 minutes (since we couldn't wait the 2 hours for processing that they normally require). So we went into the room and the guy was like "Sure! 10 minutes!"
Well, it took a little bit longer than that, but THANK GOD, because while we were waiting, who should walk into the other side of the room but JAMES AND OLIVER PHELPS (aka Fred and George Weasley) AND MATTHEW LEWIS (aka Neville FUCKING Longbottom!!!) They were seriously about 30 feet away and Mary and I were squealing silently to each other in our chairs on the other side of the room. I asked the guy printing photos, "Umm, so I know you guys are kinda trying to make money selling photos here, but is it okay if we go over and take a picture with them??" (They were just chilling around, being debriefed about where they were going for lunch or something) The photo processing guy proceeded to tell me something about how a flash would set off the big camera, blah blah, technical mumbo-jumbo, wait until they exit the room, etc. I don't know if he was just telling me that so we wouldn't go over there and bother them, but being somewhat shy, we took his advice.
I attempted to nonchalantly FLIRT WITH MY EYES, but I have no fucking idea if they even cared about the fangirls on the other side of the room. Neville apparently had a really freaking hot, blonde girlfriend. The Phelps brothers did not. I completely regret not going over and being like HAYYYYY. I mean, who cares if they thought I was an annoying freak, at least I could say I tried! XD Mary's Remus friend even entered the room and started talking with them about lunch and I whispered to Mary "UMM... CAN WE GO WITH THEM?!?" lol
Anyway, we exited the room after the Remus guy came over and kinda led us out in a friendly manner for seemingly no reason... but THANK GOODNESS he did, because as we were standing at the booth, THEY ALL WALKED BY. Mary and I exchanged a glance and decided to JUMP on this chance. They were walking quickly, so we only caught Neville as he was last in the parade. We apologized and acknowledged that they were in a hurry and asked for a quick photo. Mary had her camera ready and Neville's... agent? Possibly? took it.
Is he not fucking RUGGED?!? Holy crap!! Look at that sexy facial hair! I have to keep reminding myself that's he's TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN I AM. ADSKJDFHKDFJHDFHVIK!! He had JUST turned 18 in June!!
If only we had been a little more gungho, we probably could have caught the twins, too, but how awesome is it that we got the photo for free? I mean, DAMN.
Anyway, we headed back into the room and waited a bit longer for our photo. I chatted with the processing guy and told him about my experiences working as a photographer's assistant and mentioned my proficiency in photo processing (since he was complaining about the tedious, repetitive photoshop work he had to do on every photo). I offered some assistance next year (*cough*INEXCHANGEFORFREECELEBRITYPHOTOS*cough*) and he actually seemed REALLY excited at that idea. So HELLS YEAH, I need to contact that group if they're coming back next year and offer to volunteer for a few hours at some point... preferably just on Sunday, but I could maybe do a couple hours on another day... I'd just be in costume! lol
I was doing some height-hunting on IMDB (holy crap, the Weasley twins are both 6'3!!), and came across THIS photo: http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/6248/RupertGri_Eric_14501024_400.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Watson%2C%20Emma%20(II)&seq=53
&seq=53){kind=link}
LOL @ Rupert's shirt. XDDD Anyway, according to IMDB, Matthew is 5'10. I don't think soooo! They need to update that shit, I'M 5'10, boy is 6' or 6'1 at LEAST! (Btw, Mer, Emma Watson is 5'6!)
So after that, we grabbed our luggage from Becky's room and headed out. While walking through the mall, I randomly saw Cody and Stacy, and for the SECOND time at Dragon*con, only managed to see him long enough to yell "Cody!" and him to respond with "Katie!" in return. Upon seeing her, I also shouted, "Stacy!" but it might have been too late at the point (I was following a parade of people with luggage, so I couldn't really stop and chat. :( ) Then when we got down to the MARTA station, I saw xblueduckx again... I think... right?? Gaah, memory blurry! And immediately after saying "Man, I keep running into people I know at the VERY last second!," umister came down the escalator and I was like HAY! to her, too. XD
So Mary, John, Daniel, and myself all boarded the train going NORTH while everyone else from D*C was headed SOUTH to the airport. After getting back to their car, we visited @ Daniel and Ashley's place for a bit, killing time until I had to meet up with Mer to return to Auburn. And that's about where the D*C saga ends!
For posterity's sake, I decided to repost my general impression from my first D*C last year as well as write a new one for this year. I think that juxtaposed they're even more interesting than alone.
(Abridged) Overall Impression of my first Dragon*con
. . .D*C was a very different experience. Sure, it wasn't my first sci-fi convention, as I'd already been to Megacon and Mobicon (why am I still counting this one??), but the atmosphere was unlike any other con I have EVER been to. While at a convention like AX, the mood is best described as "I love to cosplay," at D*C, it was "I love to have fun." I've also never seen so many drunk people at a convention... but of course, I knew that would be the case. XD I'd been warned prior to the con by Andrea that anime costumes weren't really appreciated at D*C, but I never really got that feeling. A lot of people seemed to appreciate my costume just for the costume itself- not being a fan or even having any idea of who I was dressed as. I got a lot of "Can I take a picture?" "Sure!" "Great! Now who are you supposed to be?"s XDDD It was kinda nice, actually. It certainly made people actually recognizing me that much sweeter. . . .I will probably be going back to D*C. I've even already started planning costumes. XDDD Teen Titans, anyone? Take a guess which character I want to do. :D
Overall Impression of my second Dragon*con
Once again, I can definitely say that D*C surprised me. I was even more fun this year than the last, though that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I had my two best friends there to hang out with. I also got to meet some celebrities, something I missed out on last year. More importantly, I'm ALREADY excited about next year. Now THAT is the sign of a good con. I hope I'll see you all next year!
(That was about 1/4th the size of my thoughts from the year before. XD)
Now, for those who haven't already heard, next year, Dragon*con just happens to fall on my birthday. Not just any birthday, my 21st BIRTHDAY. Hooooooly crap. I would LOVE to have a party, but since my hotel rooms tend to be cluttered by multiple suitcases and costumes all about the place, a room party doesn't sound too clever. THUS, I'm thinking about just standing upon something very tall at midnight Saturday and loudly declaring "IT'S MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!" and making THAT be my party. ROFL Everyone is welcome to attend, obviously. ;) I would say something insanely awesome like "FREE DRINKS!" but I'm ridiculously poor, so the liquor will be provided by the Hyatt bar at your own disposal. If you are at Dragon*con 2008, your ass better be there Saturday night to wish me a happy muthafuckin' birthday! :DDD
And finally,
What a con. :D