I am back finally! Let's talk about A-kon and stuff!
Sooo, I guess I owe LJ a really long post about the strangely eventful past couple of weeks? Not that anyone is likely to read it all, because omg, but here we go anyway!
PART ONE: THE SAGA OF DEAD INTERNETS
The Friday before Memorial Day my internet randomly decided to die, so I vanished. I wasn't too concerned at first, as my wireless has a habit of cutting out every once in a while, and it usually comes back, but when I finally went over to mom's computer I found that it was not working either. At first the problem was thought to be the router, so we had a new one sent...of course it was Saturday when mom called and they said they'd overnight it, so obviously it wouldn't be there Sunday. Or Monday, as that was memorial day. And apparently Tuesday was right out as well, as I found after sitting around waiting all day for the UPS man to arrive when I had other errands to do. What's even more awesome is that I had to wait around all day Wednesday, and he didn't get there until about 7, when mom was home. And after that? It STILL didn't work! Let me tell you, it was fun times. No internets is frustrating to begin with, but this had the added bonus of preventing me from sending the cover and profile page I promised to design for the coloring book I was making with a few other artists at the con...I am pretty sure I got the last e-mail I needed to finish it right after the internet cut out. But we had to get some guy from verizon to come over to fix it the next day, and then it worked, for a while. This is not the end of the internet story, but we had to leave in the middle of mom talking to the tech support people on the phone to go to the airport and pick up ruviela. We were running late, but it seems we got there about in time. Oh airports. After leaving there, we went over to Mom's friend Halo's house to borrow her internets for a while so I could send the files to Tracie, who I knew had the program I made the covers in, and she could send them to Amber, who was getting the books printed. In the end only the profile page made it, but that might have been a good thing because I think people were attracted more to Amber's emergency backup cover. The next day was filled with last minute con prep, running errands, and actually having internet, though I couldn't really do much with it due to being busy.
PART TWO: A-KON SHENANIGANS
Friday: Meant to start last minute cosplay, but ultimately decided with all the running around trying to get there it was too much effort, so just wore my frilly lacy shirt and new plaid skirt instead. Somehow I never noticed how every other person not cosplaying at A-kon is wearing a plaid skirt until that day. We got to see how our coloring books turned out, which was pretty cool. The ones at our table didn't end up selling so well, I'm not sure how everyone else did. I still have a few left over which I guess I should keep around for AnimeFest. But here is the cover.
But yeah, I was doing the whole table thing and I actually got a few commissions the first day, which got my hopes up for the rest of the con only so they could be dashed later. Yeah, people are still cheap, and we had the added bonus of being surrounded by ridiculously amazing artists who pretty much only drew really whorish things like FF7 and Bleach fanart. There was a picture of Reno with a "come hither" look staring us in the face the whole con. :[ Eventually I went up to the dealers room, mostly to go through the doujinshi boxes, aaand I kind of ended up with two. Yes, they are entirely predictable.
The first was in a box at a stand that sold primarily other things, so they didn't bother organizing their doujin or anything, and I had to dig through all of it (including a ridiculous amount of AreKan, EW STILL) to find it so I could fail to resist buying it. It was only later when Bianca and I were flipping through it that I realized it was porn, with ineffectual censor bars and everything, which was highly amusing, as I totally did not get carded for it. Eventually I realized it even says "for adlut only 18age over" on the cover, but clearly I am none too observant. And apparently neither was whoever marked the doujinshi for sale. So yeah, I accidentally bought porn, go me! The second one was bought from the yaoi doujinshi stand, which is always lots of fun. There were a few other rabyuu ones, but it is pretty much impossible to see a Banzy doujin at a con and not buy it I am fairly certain. So I did, and there was much happiness, because Banzy is delicious. :3 Also, more porn.
Probably the most exciting thing that happened was that the first tote bag out of the four I had that sold? Definitely the one I painted of Howard Link. That's right. The blond with a stick up his ass and weird dots on his head. I don't even know what possessed me to paint him instead of oh, someone actually popular but evidently it paid off. A Link fangirl came by the table and was excited to see it and even more excited when I informed her I would be cosplaying him the next day, which she had to come back to see. It made both of our days, it seems because omg, Link. So awesome, yet nobody cares! I think I will have to make a Link print eventually so people can not buy it.
Umm, what else...I think I ended up feeling a little guilty since Bianca was kind of hiding behind the table a lot of the time at first, but hopefully she eventually started enjoying herself more? But in any case, I think if she ever decides to come over again for some reason we might have to pick a week that doesn't have a con in it. :D;
Saturday: First cosplay day! So basically I decided to throw this costume together oh, Wednesday night. Because I saw a coat hanging up in the closet when I was looking through pieces of cosplays past. XD; I even went out to Goodwill the next day to pick up the white turtleneck, as I for some reason did not own one. I even managed to find the long blonde wig mom had lying about somewhere that had been missing for it, even though it turned out to be ridiculously long. XD We spent so much time trying to comb it out the night before the con and I think we still didn't succeed, but I wore it anyway. I couldn't quite fit all my hair under it and it kept slipping back because the weight of the braid pulled it, so I probably looked terrible for the rest of the con. I bet I had cosplay snobs making fun of me too but screw them, this is ghetto cosplay! At least it wasn't neon yellow!
I also kind of conned Bianca into ghetto Kanda cosplay, and after some wig failure she decided to go actually cut her bangs instead, which seemed weird to me, but I guess she meant to do it anyway? XD So I guess now both of us have gone off to another state and returned with a random haircut.
I...really can't remember much of Saturday somehow. Business was slow as usual due to people still being cheap, but that was to be expected. Eventually we got bored and started taking pictures of Link reading porn.
We eventually ended up deciding to not bother taking down the table and taking shifts of watching it all night because moving all that shit around sounded like effort. So me and Bianca took table duty so Halo could take a nap, and then we went to pass out and then wake up about an hour and a half later than I wanted, but oh well. It probably didn't make any difference whether I was there or not, because heyyy, people are cheap! :D
Sunday: When we got back to the table we learned that there had been people who purchased coloring books based on one of my pictures in it, and also that I apparently need to make t-shirts or something? But yes, this one image was apparently pretty popular! I think maybe we should have left one book open to that page the whole time, but there wasn't that much room.
Guess which one it is.
There was also a costume change for me, since Bianca was dressing up as Kanda it seemed like kind of a crime not to cosplay Rabi. :D; So a repeat of one of my old ghetto cosplays happened...I forgot how much I hated that wig though. Someday, I will get a new one! Someday I will also get a new Kanda/Hortez/Harao wig because the one I have is too short and just sucks in general. We only got a couple pictures near the end when we were packing up though, because I think I just fail at photoshoots in general.
At the end, we stayed until they kicked us out at about 6...Halo and I have already signed up for AnimeFest and paid and everything, so that's all set... In the end, I think I might have broken even? I'm not so good at keeping track of this stuff, which is probably bad, but I had a little over 300 when I left, and some of that was what Halo paid me for the room/table, so. More would have been really nice, since I don't have financial aid anymore, but I guess even's pretty much all I can really ask for.
Random other photos:
Me and Halo at the table
The cosplay I was most excited to see at the con!
omg I have been waiting for Maria cosplay, srsly.
Yaaay Skies of Arcadia cosplay!
omgyaaay Suikoden cosplay!
I think there was a McDohl and a Riou there as well buuut I'm a bitch and don't care as much since they are the only cosplays you ever see. XD; (Also they were not as good)
Also adorable Touch Detective cosplay!
Funghi has a zipper opening in his mouth so he can eat things. XD; It was adorable.
I was kind of lazy on the picture-taking front, really. I also have one of a bunch of Noah, but I'm too lazy to resize it and everything, and I think it's really weird that they all decided it was necessary to paint themselves blue. I think it is perfectly acceptable to cosplay Noah with a normal skintone, really.
So yyyeah that is about it for my con report, though I'm fairly certain I must be missing something...it has been a couple days. And I am not even done here, but I think I will split my posts up and talk about the next couple days in another post because I am afraid LJ will decide I am talking too much and not let me post all of it in one thing. XD; Also omg I need a break...I am half tempted to go take a nap, but I am fairly certain that is not a good idea. :D;
PART ONE: THE SAGA OF DEAD INTERNETS
The Friday before Memorial Day my internet randomly decided to die, so I vanished. I wasn't too concerned at first, as my wireless has a habit of cutting out every once in a while, and it usually comes back, but when I finally went over to mom's computer I found that it was not working either. At first the problem was thought to be the router, so we had a new one sent...of course it was Saturday when mom called and they said they'd overnight it, so obviously it wouldn't be there Sunday. Or Monday, as that was memorial day. And apparently Tuesday was right out as well, as I found after sitting around waiting all day for the UPS man to arrive when I had other errands to do. What's even more awesome is that I had to wait around all day Wednesday, and he didn't get there until about 7, when mom was home. And after that? It STILL didn't work! Let me tell you, it was fun times. No internets is frustrating to begin with, but this had the added bonus of preventing me from sending the cover and profile page I promised to design for the coloring book I was making with a few other artists at the con...I am pretty sure I got the last e-mail I needed to finish it right after the internet cut out. But we had to get some guy from verizon to come over to fix it the next day, and then it worked, for a while. This is not the end of the internet story, but we had to leave in the middle of mom talking to the tech support people on the phone to go to the airport and pick up ruviela. We were running late, but it seems we got there about in time. Oh airports. After leaving there, we went over to Mom's friend Halo's house to borrow her internets for a while so I could send the files to Tracie, who I knew had the program I made the covers in, and she could send them to Amber, who was getting the books printed. In the end only the profile page made it, but that might have been a good thing because I think people were attracted more to Amber's emergency backup cover. The next day was filled with last minute con prep, running errands, and actually having internet, though I couldn't really do much with it due to being busy.
PART TWO: A-KON SHENANIGANS
Friday: Meant to start last minute cosplay, but ultimately decided with all the running around trying to get there it was too much effort, so just wore my frilly lacy shirt and new plaid skirt instead. Somehow I never noticed how every other person not cosplaying at A-kon is wearing a plaid skirt until that day. We got to see how our coloring books turned out, which was pretty cool. The ones at our table didn't end up selling so well, I'm not sure how everyone else did. I still have a few left over which I guess I should keep around for AnimeFest. But here is the cover.
But yeah, I was doing the whole table thing and I actually got a few commissions the first day, which got my hopes up for the rest of the con only so they could be dashed later. Yeah, people are still cheap, and we had the added bonus of being surrounded by ridiculously amazing artists who pretty much only drew really whorish things like FF7 and Bleach fanart. There was a picture of Reno with a "come hither" look staring us in the face the whole con. :[ Eventually I went up to the dealers room, mostly to go through the doujinshi boxes, aaand I kind of ended up with two. Yes, they are entirely predictable.
The first was in a box at a stand that sold primarily other things, so they didn't bother organizing their doujin or anything, and I had to dig through all of it (including a ridiculous amount of AreKan, EW STILL) to find it so I could fail to resist buying it. It was only later when Bianca and I were flipping through it that I realized it was porn, with ineffectual censor bars and everything, which was highly amusing, as I totally did not get carded for it. Eventually I realized it even says "for adlut only 18age over" on the cover, but clearly I am none too observant. And apparently neither was whoever marked the doujinshi for sale. So yeah, I accidentally bought porn, go me! The second one was bought from the yaoi doujinshi stand, which is always lots of fun. There were a few other rabyuu ones, but it is pretty much impossible to see a Banzy doujin at a con and not buy it I am fairly certain. So I did, and there was much happiness, because Banzy is delicious. :3 Also, more porn.
Probably the most exciting thing that happened was that the first tote bag out of the four I had that sold? Definitely the one I painted of Howard Link. That's right. The blond with a stick up his ass and weird dots on his head. I don't even know what possessed me to paint him instead of oh, someone actually popular but evidently it paid off. A Link fangirl came by the table and was excited to see it and even more excited when I informed her I would be cosplaying him the next day, which she had to come back to see. It made both of our days, it seems because omg, Link. So awesome, yet nobody cares! I think I will have to make a Link print eventually so people can not buy it.
Umm, what else...I think I ended up feeling a little guilty since Bianca was kind of hiding behind the table a lot of the time at first, but hopefully she eventually started enjoying herself more? But in any case, I think if she ever decides to come over again for some reason we might have to pick a week that doesn't have a con in it. :D;
Saturday: First cosplay day! So basically I decided to throw this costume together oh, Wednesday night. Because I saw a coat hanging up in the closet when I was looking through pieces of cosplays past. XD; I even went out to Goodwill the next day to pick up the white turtleneck, as I for some reason did not own one. I even managed to find the long blonde wig mom had lying about somewhere that had been missing for it, even though it turned out to be ridiculously long. XD We spent so much time trying to comb it out the night before the con and I think we still didn't succeed, but I wore it anyway. I couldn't quite fit all my hair under it and it kept slipping back because the weight of the braid pulled it, so I probably looked terrible for the rest of the con. I bet I had cosplay snobs making fun of me too but screw them, this is ghetto cosplay! At least it wasn't neon yellow!
I also kind of conned Bianca into ghetto Kanda cosplay, and after some wig failure she decided to go actually cut her bangs instead, which seemed weird to me, but I guess she meant to do it anyway? XD So I guess now both of us have gone off to another state and returned with a random haircut.
I...really can't remember much of Saturday somehow. Business was slow as usual due to people still being cheap, but that was to be expected. Eventually we got bored and started taking pictures of Link reading porn.
We eventually ended up deciding to not bother taking down the table and taking shifts of watching it all night because moving all that shit around sounded like effort. So me and Bianca took table duty so Halo could take a nap, and then we went to pass out and then wake up about an hour and a half later than I wanted, but oh well. It probably didn't make any difference whether I was there or not, because heyyy, people are cheap! :D
Sunday: When we got back to the table we learned that there had been people who purchased coloring books based on one of my pictures in it, and also that I apparently need to make t-shirts or something? But yes, this one image was apparently pretty popular! I think maybe we should have left one book open to that page the whole time, but there wasn't that much room.
Guess which one it is.
There was also a costume change for me, since Bianca was dressing up as Kanda it seemed like kind of a crime not to cosplay Rabi. :D; So a repeat of one of my old ghetto cosplays happened...I forgot how much I hated that wig though. Someday, I will get a new one! Someday I will also get a new Kanda/Hortez/Harao wig because the one I have is too short and just sucks in general. We only got a couple pictures near the end when we were packing up though, because I think I just fail at photoshoots in general.
At the end, we stayed until they kicked us out at about 6...Halo and I have already signed up for AnimeFest and paid and everything, so that's all set... In the end, I think I might have broken even? I'm not so good at keeping track of this stuff, which is probably bad, but I had a little over 300 when I left, and some of that was what Halo paid me for the room/table, so. More would have been really nice, since I don't have financial aid anymore, but I guess even's pretty much all I can really ask for.
Random other photos:
Me and Halo at the table
The cosplay I was most excited to see at the con!
omg I have been waiting for Maria cosplay, srsly.
Yaaay Skies of Arcadia cosplay!
omgyaaay Suikoden cosplay!
I think there was a McDohl and a Riou there as well buuut I'm a bitch and don't care as much since they are the only cosplays you ever see. XD; (Also they were not as good)
Also adorable Touch Detective cosplay!
Funghi has a zipper opening in his mouth so he can eat things. XD; It was adorable.
I was kind of lazy on the picture-taking front, really. I also have one of a bunch of Noah, but I'm too lazy to resize it and everything, and I think it's really weird that they all decided it was necessary to paint themselves blue. I think it is perfectly acceptable to cosplay Noah with a normal skintone, really.
So yyyeah that is about it for my con report, though I'm fairly certain I must be missing something...it has been a couple days. And I am not even done here, but I think I will split my posts up and talk about the next couple days in another post because I am afraid LJ will decide I am talking too much and not let me post all of it in one thing. XD; Also omg I need a break...I am half tempted to go take a nap, but I am fairly certain that is not a good idea. :D;