Bye Bye Baltimore
Otakon is over and done with for the year. I had an absolute blast, and I hope everyone else who attended enjoyed themselves as well. All of the pictures I took are located on my site:
http://hoshikage.net/cosplay/otakon09/main.php
I usually don't really make that long of an entry for actual con reports and commentary, but the con left me giddy enough to do so this time. XD
First off, I'd like to start off with some shout outs.
jubeichan: It was great seeing you again, and I had fun hanging out on Thursday! Thanks for putting up with me. XD I wanted to go to your panel, but standing in line for over half an hour in the heat, waiting for them to let people into the building left me really drained for a while. ;_;
extremelele & damned_freak: Even though it was only for like, five seconds, it was nice seeing you again. It's too bad we couldn't hang out more.
blankoo: This is more of an apology than a shout out. I'm sorry I never made it to any of the gatherings you were in. It always interfered with other things I really wanted to do. ;_;
To the peeps at all the gatherings I went to (most noteably the Tales and K-ON shoots): You guys were freakin' awesome! Everyone looked amazing and I had a blast!
To everyone who took my picture / complimented my costumes: Thank you so much. You guys made my convention all that much better. <3
Thursday
My mom and I got to the hotel at approximately midnight after traveling for close to 18 hours. It was safe to say that we were both pretty tired. >.> At the very least, I got to relax all day and finish up some last minute costume stuff. At around 4:30, I went down to the convention center for pre-reg dressed as Mio from K-ON. By 5:30, the line had moved maybe 10 feet. This was quite surprising to me as the line usually moves fairly quickly once they open the doors at 5 PM.
Anyway, I got a text from jubeichan asking if I wanted to hang out. I ditched the line, and went back to the hotel to meet up with her and some of her friends. We ended up going for dinner at Hooters. It was a lot of fun. =) One of her friends wanted to get a picture with one of the waitresses, and the waitress asked if she wanted a bunch of them in the picture, so she used a bell to call a bunch of her co-workers over. I think we were all kind of amused. XD
After dinner, we headed for the pre-reg line. Much to my dismay and surprise, by 7:00, the line had not gotten any shorter, but had actually gotten a lot longer. Never in my five years at Otakon have I seen the line actually managed to wrap around the entire building and then some. It was crazy. By the time we got out of the building at around 8:15-8:30ish, I think the line had gotten even longer! I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but it didn't occur to me at the time to take one. >.>
Friday
I went down to the convention center for around 8:45 AM dressed as Feldt from Gundam 00 S2 as there was a panel at 9 o'clock that I wanted to go and attend. When I got there, I wasn't surprised that there was a line to get into the building (as there's always one there Friday morning). I was surprised at just how long the stupid thing was. It also kind of annoyed me that it took so long to get moving. I didn't get into the building until around 9:30, by which it wasn't worth going to the panel anymore. =( I was going to go and support jubeichan at her panel at 10:15, but standing in the sun in a heavy wig and three layers of clothing zapped a lot of my energy. Instead, I waited until about 10:30 before heading off to find the skywalk leading to the Hilton hotel to get to the 30th Anniversary Gundam Panel.
Despite some minor technical difficulties, I thought the panel went very well. The panelists definitely knew there stuff and I thought it was nicely organized. It's definitely encouraged me to look into some of the older Gundam series as they sound extremely random and/or interesting. The SD Gundam episodes amused me a lot as well. XD
After the panel, I had a private photoshoot for Feldt. I was sweating like a pig outside, but it was well worth it. I can't wait to see how the pictures came out. =) My first trip to the dealer's room came next. Surprisingly enough, I only ended up buying a Gurren Lagann shitajiki. For some reason, the normal stuff I buy at cons didn't really appeal to me this year. As I was leaving the Dealer's Room, I spotted a Yeager cosplayer in front of me, and I think I died a bit inside.
She made me so happy! <3 It was so well done and she looked awesome.
The Gundam gathering came soon after that. There weren't as many people as I thought there would be, but it was fun nonetheless. =)
Her Setsuna was so epic.
A sea of purple hair... and Patrick XD
Oh man, a Patrick and a Mr. Bushido?! Freakin' awesome. <3
After the gathering, I went back to the hotel to chill for a bit and change into Sothe from Fire Emblem. When I got back to the con center, I walked around for a bit before going to the Fire Emblem gathering. We were planning to all go out for dinner together, but after some confusion and whatnot, it kind of fell through and so I decided to say my goodbyes.
Next up was the MELL concert. Holy crap, I am so glad I decided to go. IT WAS FREAKIN' AMAZING. <3 The music was catchy and she put on a fantastic show. She was absolutely adorable too. She seemed so overwhelmed (in a good way) and grateful for everything. Everyone loved the concert so much that she performed an encore after everyone's incessant chanting for one. As far as I'm aware of, this just doesn't happen as a)people's chants usually die down pretty quickly and/or b)Otakon has something else planned on the stage or with the guest right after. It was so much win. <3
I really wanted to get her CD and her autograph after the concert, but they ran out of them not even halfway through the line, which kind of pissed me off. =/ I didn't really want to spend money on any other type of merchandise, so I left the line after waiting for like...half an hour... >.> *sigh* Either way, I'm definitely a fan of hers now. <3 Also, I give her major credit for sticking it out for that entire line at such a late hour.
Saturday
I was supposed to have a private photoshoot for Darry at 10:00 AM, so I was up and out of the hotel by around 9:30. After about two minutes outside, I came to realize that glue gun was not going to be my friend for the day, and stuff started to fall apart almost immediately. The shoe covers would not stay on and one of the wrist guards started to fall off. Since I couldn't walk more than two feet without something coming undone, much to my dismay I canceled the shoot. I felt so bad for doing so, but there's no way the costume would have survived it. ;_;
As I couldn't really move much, and I now had an hour free that I didn't before, I went to the Uncle Yo: Stand Up Comedy. It was actually quite amusing and I'm glad I went. His songs are what I remember the most and I was quite impressed at the speed in which he could recite all the Naruto character names to one of the Animaniacs song. XD His ode to first person shooters was great too.
I wanted to go the Dealer's Room between the time the Stand Up Comedy finished and the Gurren Lagann gathering, but again, I couldn't really walk without costume malfunctions, so I settled for going to Starbucks and then chilling by the fountains.
The TTGL shoot was pretty fun. The Brawl shoot was happening right next to us, which made space really tight. The group of us started chanting "ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!" over and over again, in which the Super Smash group responded by chanting "SMASH, SMASH, SMASH!".
After the shoot, I went back to the hotel room to change into Presea. I really wanted to go see the Kanon Wakeshima concert, but it was at the same time as the "Tales of..." gathering, and there was no way I could sit in a tight confined space like that while wearing Presea's costume. So once again, I was limited to not really doing much, as I now couldn't even turn my head without being careful. I opted to walk around a bit before chilling by the fountains again to wait for the Tales shoot. While chilling by the fountains, I found a Boyd cosplayer! He made me so happy!
Four o'clock rolled by fairly quickly, and the Tales shoot was underway! I had a lot of fun. Everyone's costumes were amazing! I wish I could have gotten some pictures, but it was way too hard for me to maneuver effectively in Presea's costume. ;_; Some of the more noteable costumes from the shoot that I remember internally squeeling over were Judgement Kratos, Arietta, freakin' amazing Sync that was actually a guy, Legretta, alternate outfit Judith (I'm not familiar enough with the outfits to know exactly which one it was), and Genis.
After the shoot, I went to Starbucks again as I was overheating and needed something to drink. With nothing better to do, I decided to head over the where the Tales panel was going to be held in a little over an hour. I ended up waiting in line with a really nice Sync and another Tales character from the shoot.
There were so many people at the panel! It was insane! morninglow, I hope they give you a bigger room next year if you decide to run the panel again! Anyway, the panel was a lot of fun. People got a bit noisy, so it was hard to hear some of the questions and whatnot, but oh well. Seeing the trailer for Tales of Vs was awesome. If it comes out in America, it's really tempting me to buy a PSP though... >.>
After the panel, there was an impromptu photoshoot. I stayed for a little while before deciding to go back to the hotel room and call it a night.
Sunday
Sunday, as it usually is, was my chill and take it easy day. I got up an hour later which was wonderful, so I didn't get down to the con center until around 10:00ish. I walked around a bit and grabbed something to drink before heading back to the fountains to just relax and wait for the K-ON shoot.
The gathering was a blast. Everyone was super friendly and happy! There was a ridiculous amount of Mio's in her "Don't Say Lazy" dress (in which I was one of them XD), and there was a single Ritsu. It made me kind of wish I'd cosplayed her as she got no love. =( What amused me greatly was that both Mugi's brought treats for everyone. It was awesome! XD
Maid Mio! The only one I saw, and she was adorable. <3
Yui with the castanettes! She was so cute. X3
A few of us had been discussing doing their "Fuwa Fuwa Time" outfits, which I'd actually been contemplating on and off for a little while. I don't know if it'll actually go through, or if they'll just do it on their own since most of them probably live a lot closer to each other, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Assuming my fandom isn't completely dead by next year, I'd definitely be up for it!
Anyway, next up was a trip to the Dealer's Room. Sunday is usually the day I spend a lot of money on merchandise, but this year I didn't. Next up was Artist Alley. There were so many talented artists this year! I wanted to buy so much more than I did, but the money I had on hand coupled with the amount of space I had left in my suitcase dictated that I really couldn't buy anymore.
I was out of Artists Alley by around 1:10ish, which left me enough time to catch Naomi Tamura's concert. The most notable moments from her concert was when she did an accoustic version of Jackon 5's "I'll Be There" in memory of Micheal Jackson, and her performance of Yuzurenai Negai. Hearing her sing Yuzurenai Negai live made me so happy, and the nostalgia factor of the song just made me gush, squee, and die of happy inside. It was awesome. I bought her CD and got her autograph before heading back to the hotel, thus ending Otakon 2009 for me.
Funny enough, I think I spent twice as much on food then I did merchandise. This is a first for me. XD In the Dealer's room, I spent a total of 119$ on:
The picture on the top is a TTGL shitajiki. On the bottom is my signed Naomi Tamura CD, Jade and Guy cellphone straps, a Dia keychain, and the 3rd Gurren Lagann concept art book. The latter would have really come in handy when making Darry's costume as it actuall shows it to you in detail. >.> *sigh*
In Artist Alley, I spent a total of 35$ on:
The moment I saw both the Digimon and the K-ON print, I couldn't resist. One was just too cute and the appealed to my older fandoms, which I don't see often. <3 The small thing you probably can't make out is a Simon keychain. The Asch bookmark is/was actually for hamano_ayumi. I bought it before remember you don't like bookmarks. So if you still want it, it's yours. If not, I'll keep it. =)
So to sum up my weekend, I think this picture does it justice:
So will I go back next year? Oh man, I really want to. I told myself I probably wouldn't, and that I'd just go to Anime North since it's cheaper and closer, but if I can save up enough money, definitely. I had too much fun this year to not even try to go again next year. Plus, my mom enjoys these trips too, so that's definitely a bonus. XD
http://hoshikage.net/cosplay/otakon09/main.php
I usually don't really make that long of an entry for actual con reports and commentary, but the con left me giddy enough to do so this time. XD
First off, I'd like to start off with some shout outs.
jubeichan: It was great seeing you again, and I had fun hanging out on Thursday! Thanks for putting up with me. XD I wanted to go to your panel, but standing in line for over half an hour in the heat, waiting for them to let people into the building left me really drained for a while. ;_;
extremelele & damned_freak: Even though it was only for like, five seconds, it was nice seeing you again. It's too bad we couldn't hang out more.
blankoo: This is more of an apology than a shout out. I'm sorry I never made it to any of the gatherings you were in. It always interfered with other things I really wanted to do. ;_;
To the peeps at all the gatherings I went to (most noteably the Tales and K-ON shoots): You guys were freakin' awesome! Everyone looked amazing and I had a blast!
To everyone who took my picture / complimented my costumes: Thank you so much. You guys made my convention all that much better. <3
Thursday
My mom and I got to the hotel at approximately midnight after traveling for close to 18 hours. It was safe to say that we were both pretty tired. >.> At the very least, I got to relax all day and finish up some last minute costume stuff. At around 4:30, I went down to the convention center for pre-reg dressed as Mio from K-ON. By 5:30, the line had moved maybe 10 feet. This was quite surprising to me as the line usually moves fairly quickly once they open the doors at 5 PM.
Anyway, I got a text from jubeichan asking if I wanted to hang out. I ditched the line, and went back to the hotel to meet up with her and some of her friends. We ended up going for dinner at Hooters. It was a lot of fun. =) One of her friends wanted to get a picture with one of the waitresses, and the waitress asked if she wanted a bunch of them in the picture, so she used a bell to call a bunch of her co-workers over. I think we were all kind of amused. XD
After dinner, we headed for the pre-reg line. Much to my dismay and surprise, by 7:00, the line had not gotten any shorter, but had actually gotten a lot longer. Never in my five years at Otakon have I seen the line actually managed to wrap around the entire building and then some. It was crazy. By the time we got out of the building at around 8:15-8:30ish, I think the line had gotten even longer! I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but it didn't occur to me at the time to take one. >.>
Friday
I went down to the convention center for around 8:45 AM dressed as Feldt from Gundam 00 S2 as there was a panel at 9 o'clock that I wanted to go and attend. When I got there, I wasn't surprised that there was a line to get into the building (as there's always one there Friday morning). I was surprised at just how long the stupid thing was. It also kind of annoyed me that it took so long to get moving. I didn't get into the building until around 9:30, by which it wasn't worth going to the panel anymore. =( I was going to go and support jubeichan at her panel at 10:15, but standing in the sun in a heavy wig and three layers of clothing zapped a lot of my energy. Instead, I waited until about 10:30 before heading off to find the skywalk leading to the Hilton hotel to get to the 30th Anniversary Gundam Panel.
Despite some minor technical difficulties, I thought the panel went very well. The panelists definitely knew there stuff and I thought it was nicely organized. It's definitely encouraged me to look into some of the older Gundam series as they sound extremely random and/or interesting. The SD Gundam episodes amused me a lot as well. XD
After the panel, I had a private photoshoot for Feldt. I was sweating like a pig outside, but it was well worth it. I can't wait to see how the pictures came out. =) My first trip to the dealer's room came next. Surprisingly enough, I only ended up buying a Gurren Lagann shitajiki. For some reason, the normal stuff I buy at cons didn't really appeal to me this year. As I was leaving the Dealer's Room, I spotted a Yeager cosplayer in front of me, and I think I died a bit inside.
She made me so happy! <3 It was so well done and she looked awesome.
The Gundam gathering came soon after that. There weren't as many people as I thought there would be, but it was fun nonetheless. =)
Her Setsuna was so epic.
A sea of purple hair... and Patrick XD
Oh man, a Patrick and a Mr. Bushido?! Freakin' awesome. <3
After the gathering, I went back to the hotel to chill for a bit and change into Sothe from Fire Emblem. When I got back to the con center, I walked around for a bit before going to the Fire Emblem gathering. We were planning to all go out for dinner together, but after some confusion and whatnot, it kind of fell through and so I decided to say my goodbyes.
Next up was the MELL concert. Holy crap, I am so glad I decided to go. IT WAS FREAKIN' AMAZING. <3 The music was catchy and she put on a fantastic show. She was absolutely adorable too. She seemed so overwhelmed (in a good way) and grateful for everything. Everyone loved the concert so much that she performed an encore after everyone's incessant chanting for one. As far as I'm aware of, this just doesn't happen as a)people's chants usually die down pretty quickly and/or b)Otakon has something else planned on the stage or with the guest right after. It was so much win. <3
I really wanted to get her CD and her autograph after the concert, but they ran out of them not even halfway through the line, which kind of pissed me off. =/ I didn't really want to spend money on any other type of merchandise, so I left the line after waiting for like...half an hour... >.> *sigh* Either way, I'm definitely a fan of hers now. <3 Also, I give her major credit for sticking it out for that entire line at such a late hour.
Saturday
I was supposed to have a private photoshoot for Darry at 10:00 AM, so I was up and out of the hotel by around 9:30. After about two minutes outside, I came to realize that glue gun was not going to be my friend for the day, and stuff started to fall apart almost immediately. The shoe covers would not stay on and one of the wrist guards started to fall off. Since I couldn't walk more than two feet without something coming undone, much to my dismay I canceled the shoot. I felt so bad for doing so, but there's no way the costume would have survived it. ;_;
As I couldn't really move much, and I now had an hour free that I didn't before, I went to the Uncle Yo: Stand Up Comedy. It was actually quite amusing and I'm glad I went. His songs are what I remember the most and I was quite impressed at the speed in which he could recite all the Naruto character names to one of the Animaniacs song. XD His ode to first person shooters was great too.
I wanted to go the Dealer's Room between the time the Stand Up Comedy finished and the Gurren Lagann gathering, but again, I couldn't really walk without costume malfunctions, so I settled for going to Starbucks and then chilling by the fountains.
The TTGL shoot was pretty fun. The Brawl shoot was happening right next to us, which made space really tight. The group of us started chanting "ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!" over and over again, in which the Super Smash group responded by chanting "SMASH, SMASH, SMASH!".
After the shoot, I went back to the hotel room to change into Presea. I really wanted to go see the Kanon Wakeshima concert, but it was at the same time as the "Tales of..." gathering, and there was no way I could sit in a tight confined space like that while wearing Presea's costume. So once again, I was limited to not really doing much, as I now couldn't even turn my head without being careful. I opted to walk around a bit before chilling by the fountains again to wait for the Tales shoot. While chilling by the fountains, I found a Boyd cosplayer! He made me so happy!
Four o'clock rolled by fairly quickly, and the Tales shoot was underway! I had a lot of fun. Everyone's costumes were amazing! I wish I could have gotten some pictures, but it was way too hard for me to maneuver effectively in Presea's costume. ;_; Some of the more noteable costumes from the shoot that I remember internally squeeling over were Judgement Kratos, Arietta, freakin' amazing Sync that was actually a guy, Legretta, alternate outfit Judith (I'm not familiar enough with the outfits to know exactly which one it was), and Genis.
After the shoot, I went to Starbucks again as I was overheating and needed something to drink. With nothing better to do, I decided to head over the where the Tales panel was going to be held in a little over an hour. I ended up waiting in line with a really nice Sync and another Tales character from the shoot.
There were so many people at the panel! It was insane! morninglow, I hope they give you a bigger room next year if you decide to run the panel again! Anyway, the panel was a lot of fun. People got a bit noisy, so it was hard to hear some of the questions and whatnot, but oh well. Seeing the trailer for Tales of Vs was awesome. If it comes out in America, it's really tempting me to buy a PSP though... >.>
After the panel, there was an impromptu photoshoot. I stayed for a little while before deciding to go back to the hotel room and call it a night.
Sunday
Sunday, as it usually is, was my chill and take it easy day. I got up an hour later which was wonderful, so I didn't get down to the con center until around 10:00ish. I walked around a bit and grabbed something to drink before heading back to the fountains to just relax and wait for the K-ON shoot.
The gathering was a blast. Everyone was super friendly and happy! There was a ridiculous amount of Mio's in her "Don't Say Lazy" dress (in which I was one of them XD), and there was a single Ritsu. It made me kind of wish I'd cosplayed her as she got no love. =( What amused me greatly was that both Mugi's brought treats for everyone. It was awesome! XD
Maid Mio! The only one I saw, and she was adorable. <3
Yui with the castanettes! She was so cute. X3
A few of us had been discussing doing their "Fuwa Fuwa Time" outfits, which I'd actually been contemplating on and off for a little while. I don't know if it'll actually go through, or if they'll just do it on their own since most of them probably live a lot closer to each other, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Assuming my fandom isn't completely dead by next year, I'd definitely be up for it!
Anyway, next up was a trip to the Dealer's Room. Sunday is usually the day I spend a lot of money on merchandise, but this year I didn't. Next up was Artist Alley. There were so many talented artists this year! I wanted to buy so much more than I did, but the money I had on hand coupled with the amount of space I had left in my suitcase dictated that I really couldn't buy anymore.
I was out of Artists Alley by around 1:10ish, which left me enough time to catch Naomi Tamura's concert. The most notable moments from her concert was when she did an accoustic version of Jackon 5's "I'll Be There" in memory of Micheal Jackson, and her performance of Yuzurenai Negai. Hearing her sing Yuzurenai Negai live made me so happy, and the nostalgia factor of the song just made me gush, squee, and die of happy inside. It was awesome. I bought her CD and got her autograph before heading back to the hotel, thus ending Otakon 2009 for me.
Funny enough, I think I spent twice as much on food then I did merchandise. This is a first for me. XD In the Dealer's room, I spent a total of 119$ on:
The picture on the top is a TTGL shitajiki. On the bottom is my signed Naomi Tamura CD, Jade and Guy cellphone straps, a Dia keychain, and the 3rd Gurren Lagann concept art book. The latter would have really come in handy when making Darry's costume as it actuall shows it to you in detail. >.> *sigh*
In Artist Alley, I spent a total of 35$ on:
The moment I saw both the Digimon and the K-ON print, I couldn't resist. One was just too cute and the appealed to my older fandoms, which I don't see often. <3 The small thing you probably can't make out is a Simon keychain. The Asch bookmark is/was actually for hamano_ayumi. I bought it before remember you don't like bookmarks. So if you still want it, it's yours. If not, I'll keep it. =)
So to sum up my weekend, I think this picture does it justice:
So will I go back next year? Oh man, I really want to. I told myself I probably wouldn't, and that I'd just go to Anime North since it's cheaper and closer, but if I can save up enough money, definitely. I had too much fun this year to not even try to go again next year. Plus, my mom enjoys these trips too, so that's definitely a bonus. XD