Otakon 2011 Report Part 1
So this report ended up being too big for just one post. XD Wow. I don't think I've had that happen before. I've split con reports into parts before but that was just 'cause I didn't feel like writing them up all at once in the past. Pffft...
I was originally going to wait til I had more photos but I don't think I'll be getting the Ningyou and PH ones for quite some time so I may just do a separate post for them when I get them. Anywho, this Otakon was kinda bleh just 'cause of how crazy hot and crowded it was. Seriously in all the 11 years I've gone, this was by far the most crowded I've ever seen the con. Even with the added Hilton area, it didn't seem to make a difference. And it was kinda odd because yeah Otakon is huge but last year it wasn't this bad. It was actually pretty nice but I guess people decided they couldn't afford it then but suddenly they could this year. I dunno. I'm kinda really hoping they lower the attendance cap again like they did a few years ago. I think it would really help because if it keeps being like this...its not going to be fun anymore. I mean maybe I just had a lower tolerance for it because of the hotter-than-normal heat but it really was unbearable.
But despite that, I still had a good time. I'm just sad that I really didn't spend much time IN the con. Otakon is my number one con for random wandering and people watching. I didn't do that AT ALL this con 'cause I couldn't stand trying to get through the crowded halls. I didn't wear any of my costumes for very long and thus don't have many photos.
Anywho now onto the actual report, which will be a tad bit less rant-ish. XD As like I said, still had fun, despite that. It was just a major set-back though.
Thursday:
I was pretty happy to actually have everything done BEFORE Thursday. lol So I finished packing and kinda lounged around as I had to wait for Dad to get home from work and to hear from my room. Surprisingly enough Dar and them actually got to the hotel A LOT earlier than I expected. So when Dad got home, we immediately packed up the car and headed out. Got there with my ridiculous amount of stuff (I felt so bad how many people I had to help me unload and reload at the end of the con x_x;) and ended up not going to the matsuri at all. Kept hearing it wasn't worth it and it was just so insanely hot that I really didn't want to get into any costume of the sort. And turned out Corey had voted to do a different, lighter costume anyways so there was no point getting into Hakuouki anyways. So ended up not wearing that at all during the con but oh well. It happens. Roomed with the same group I always do and once again we had connected rooms. The amount of hugs I received (as I was pretty much the last one to arrive) from everyone was pretty nice. ^^ Especially as I hadn't seen Emily and Mike since last Otakon (granted I had just met them then). The line for pre-reg was pretty small at the time so we decided to go ahead and get our badges. Wasn't surprised by the badge selection at all. It was all the big titles Bandai and Funimation are pushing right now (and all of which ACP had events for). To be honest I would have liked a slightly bigger and more diverse selection. But the introduction of the Crab mascot was a cute idea and gives a nice default badge for people who don't know any of the series. Despite how tempting said Crab was, I got the Madoka badge and lol had quite a number of my friends who obviously have never seen Madoka, be all "...why do you have magical girls on your badge, Lyn?" Since that's not something you would expect from me, I suppose. XD My response to this was pretty much "...you obviously haven't watched this show. Watch it. Trust me. Its not what it seems." XDXD
After that we decided to go out in search of food. The place we were aiming to eat at...no longer existed so we voted on Cosi's instead. I knew of the place but hadn't eaten in one before. It was pretty good! It was kinda like a more upscale version of Panera (food-wise I mean) and it was nice being in a food area that WASN'T crowded like most of them are during Otakon. Chatted and relaxed for quite some time in there before we headed back and then it was time for me to start delivering commissions. Met the guy who I made last minute Brief patches from Panty and Stocking. So got some extra little monies from that. Then delivered Squall to Adam...who I totally forgot was rooming with Corey, Tohma, and Co. until I went into the room and saw all of Tohma's costumes hanging around. XD Adam was the only one in the room though. And oddly enough, despite how many times I ended up in said room, I never actually saw Tohma in it and only just barely saw her once on Saturday when she was in Ravage. Still bawfled by how we ended up to completely miss each other like that. Adam tried on Squall and it fit good and no adjustments were needed. But I was sad to discover some of the studs had already fallen off. And a lot of them and the resin pieces came off throughout the weekend due to the heat melting the glue off. X_X; So I have to fix that now. Went back to the room to wait for my last commission to call and in the mean time Dar helped me style my Takuto wig out in the hall. We hung it upside down and just sprayed the hell out of the thing. lol Did wonders though! I just wasn't using enough nor waiting long enough before flipping it over when I did it myself. Now I know better. XD
Then my last stop of the night was to deliver the Kaiba costume to Draco. That one did need some adjustments on the belts but I was expecting that. I made them extra long on purpose as I figured it'd be easier to make them smaller than the other way around and they were something I really needed him in front of me to really adjust right. So was hand stitching those in his room for a bit and while his roommates talked, suddenly made the realization that one of them was "that comic guy", the artist of Conventional Wisdom which is basically a comic about each con he goes to and the jokes are all pretty accurate and hilarious. He tends to go to all the same cons I do so I always read his and yet somehow I had never managed to encounter him AT the cons so was about time I finally did. XD Part of me was hoping maybe I'd land a cameo in the comic but alas, no such luck. Granted he did have a page that in general was about all the people on Thursday that were like "Hey you're that comic guy!" so I guess I'm included in that. lol I was kinda starting to fade while working on Kaiba but luckily they were willing to give up a Mountain Dew 'cause I was in desperate need of caffeine to keep going. By the time I finally got back to the room, everyone was pretty much crawled into bed and some were already passed out. But like normal, despite how dead tired I was, I had a hell of a time trying to get to sleep. Happens every time as my body just takes forever to adjust to a new environment. I normally don't sleep good until maybe Saturday night (and sometimes not even that). That and the fact that Laura and I were at the direct level of the air conditioning on the air matress resulted in both of us freezing like crazy as we only had one blanket. Every time I was re-awoken by my inability to sleep and had to shift for warmth, I felt Laura do the exact same. And each time it was like we were both more curled into ourselves. lol Was pretty sad. So yeah was a pretty restless night and no idea how much actual sleep I got.
Friday:
Ended up "waking up" a lot earlier than planned but so did pretty much everyone else 'cause its like after one person got up and started moving around, we all kinda woke up and couldn't really go back to sleep. Its all Val's fault as she was up pretty early each day. XD; And the rest of us are all "whhhhyyy are we up so early? T_T" So we mostly just talked and slowly got ready for the day. Last year and the year before there was a huge line to get into the con and I remember even an hour after it opened, it still taking forever to get into the con so I decided I would go out early so I wouldn't risk missing the check-in time for Hall ('cause I barely made it the last 2 years). So headed out and to my surprise...there was no line! o_o; Just walked right into the con center. So glad to see they managed to work that out a little better this year. But yeah, ended up being there before they even started check-in. Pffft so just waited for a bit since I was already there and was like the first one to check-in due to being overly prepared haha (I was like the only one that had all my forms already filled out and ready to go it seemed). So yeah ended up back in the room before anyone else had even left yet. XD; Corey and Jon were already in Ningyou so I got into Lucille and went to search for them at the con. They were in line for the dude that does Sebastian's dub voice so I was like "oh geez, I'll never find them" since Corey wasn't picking up her phone but headed over in that direction. Luckily for me there were pretty far up by the time I got there so it was easy to spot them and they were near one of the edges of the barrier so I could just walk over and talk to them from the other side which made waiting for them a little easier. Though it didn't matter much anyways as the line got cut off right in front of them. So then we headed off. I made the stupid decision to try wearing my new 3 inch white boots for Lucille since I figured it'd make me taller and look better but didn't think about the fact I'd have to wear them later for Takuto too. But I figured I could just deal with the pain (but this was kinda a bad idea as I later found out).
Eventually we managed to get our Spinel and photographer to join us but it took a lot of time as people were in various places and took longer than expected. The end piece on Berthie's sword broke so we had to repair that, Spinel was coming from a farther away hotel, etc. So by the time we were all together, we only had like 45 minutes to do the actual shoot and we couldn't go to the location Javits and Corey had scouted out for us because Spinel really didn't want to go back into the heat as she had just finally gotten to the con. So instead we just did the shoot in the Hilton lobby...which didn't give us much space or options but at least we had a nice wall to so some photos with. But I swear what is it with my bad luck with getting photos every time we do Ningyou? lol We're going to do it again at Katsu though as once again we'll have new additions. And maybe we'll have Kohaku again for that (since we lost our Kohaku for Otakon). Corey's roommate Erin is a music major and she brought her baton for me to pose with though I was a little afraid to hold something so precious and expensive (it had its own case I made sure to put it back in when I wasn't posting) but it was nice to have something to pose with for a change.
This is the only photo I have of our group right now since it'll be a while before Javits gets the shoot up and we never did actually go into the con together so I know no one (other than Refractor who caught us while we were hanging around the Sheraton) got photos of us. ...not like anyone would know who we are anyways. ^^;;
I'm not really fond of this photo as my wig looks awkward (hope it wasn't like that for all the photos) and not sure what's going on with it. I'm thinking the bang got caught under the ponytail but yeah, I think next time I'm just going to forget the ponytail completely. I know his hair is up for that image but I honestly think it looks a lot better with it down and I'd rather show the pretty wig off (I do tend to at least flip the hair over the shoulder so you can see it but I think this time around it ended up laying oddly on my shoulder...oh I'm such a perfectionist with photos with this one but its 'cause Lucille is so pretty and I know I do him no justice at all. T_T). And kinda sad that despite being 3 inches taller than normal, I still look pretty damn short. XD Especially as our Spinel was very tall. I'm also lacking make-up which I think isn't helping either 'cause I do kinda need it for this character. REALLY gotta learn how to do it on myself. I've kinda been practicing but I still suck at it. T_T
After the shoot, Corey and Jon went back to their room and I decided that since this was really the only chance I'd have all weekend...to go to the Dealer's Room. Now this probably wasn't the smartest idea because I still hadn't gotten used to the heels and was walking slower than normal and it gets hot wearing that wig but then again, I never did get another chance to go back in so probably was the best decision. I didn't even bother looking around, just got the map out and made a beeline straight to the booths I wanted to find (even if it took me a while to figure the map out and I kept dropping it and almost running into people ^^;;). Finally found my way to WizzyWig's booth so I could finally use the $30 worth of gift cards I won at Nekocon last year. To my dismay though, there wasn't really anything I wanted at the booth. I couldn't even just buy a whole lot of candy like my back-up plan was 'cause they couldn't bring any due to the convention center's food rules. But I really wanted to not let them go to waste 'cause they expire in Dec and the only other con they are going to is Neko this year and I'm not sure if I'm going. So I just bought like the only thing I knew at the booth, five boxes of the chibi Kingdom Hearts coin figures. I mean I already own the only one I really wanted, Cloud of course, but figured I could try for Riku and give the others to friends or sell them. Ironically enough the first one I opened was...Cloud. lol And it seems my box magic wasn't working for these as I didn't get a single Riku but I guess you could claim it WAS working since I got...TWO Clouds...lol just too bad I don't need three of the same figure really XD despite how tempting it is to have a tiny army of chibi Clouds. XDXD Got 2 Axels and 1 Sora. Both Axels were claimed by friends at the con but I decided I'd hold onto Sora. Still not sure if I'm keeping him or not but will try to find homes for the Clouds at least. (And if not, I won't complain having to keep them XD)
Then wandered a little on my way to the AnimeSekai booth, mostly looking to see if anyone else had the figures I was interested in. To my delight, I discovered they have a new Persona phone strap line that finally included the characters I like (the first set upset me as it didn't include ANY of my favs T_T) so got one of those and got Akihiko which of course is one of the ones I wanted so my magic was back after all! XD I still want Yosuke though but I didn't want to risk it again and besides, I was on a mission. XD Saw some of the booths had the Star Driver coin figures in their mystery boxes and considered...but decided, no... And continued on to AnimeSekai, my favorite booth, and slide in and out of people (lol it pays to be short, I've become a mini expert as to how to weave in and out of crowds) as I looked down the cases of all the different sets and sure enough, they had the whole set of Star Driver figures. So I went up and was like "Give me the entire Star Driver coin figure collection! ....yes, ALL of them. XD" ...I wasn't originally going to do that. But I had to. I saw them and I couldn't select just a few and I knew I'd want to get them all eventually so might as well. And while he was finding them for me, temptation stared me in the eye as the new Dissidia trading arts were right next to me on the other side. I was going to get Cecil first...but then I saw just how pretty Sephiroth was and I couldn't resist. ...so I bought him too. Pffft. At least I got a 10% discount for buying all the Star Driver figures. XD And I DO NOT REGRET IT! OMG they are soooo fucking cute and I love them.
Heeeeeee~! But yeah I haven't spent that much at a con in a VERY long time. But I deserved the chance to splurge a little as I've been so crazy poor the last year of cons or so.
After that I made sure to get out of there fast before I risked buying anything else. XD That and my feet were starting to really hurt. Got back to the room and was like rushing to tear those boots off of me. And was a bit dismayed to see how scuffed up they had gotten already considering I had only done a tiny bit of walking outside. I was also really wilted from the heat and the layers of costume and wig so took everything off quickly and dove into the shower (which became a thing I would do after pretty much EVERY time I took a costume off all weekend T____T because ugh I sweated so much from the heat). Now I don't know if hotels like just turn their hot water off during the day or what 'cause there was like no hot water and this isn't the first time this has happened to me at a con during a midday shower. But man it was so hot outside that it didn't bother me and felt pretty damn good. Then I relaxed a little in the room and gradually built up the will to get into Takuto but then when I was about ready to start getting into it...it was like everyone came back to the rooms at once and brought all their friends so there was like a gazillion people in the room and I had no room to move...which kinda sucked because its not an easy costume to get into. ^^; So I had to wait for at least some people to leave before I could even start and I didn't want to be rude and be like "...can you please get out?" but ugggh, too many people. T_T; I ended up texting Courtney and asked her to come over if she could just to like help me as I wasn't very confident about being able to get my wig on without help.
As a result of taking forever to actually get into costume, I ended up being late for the Star Driver gathering. Granted it was pretty small anyways. I think there was only 6 of us and Courtney was having issues with Kanoko/Adult Bank so she was just in regular clothes and kinda being my handler for the time. Immediately I realized I should have put snaps on the boot covers to keep them up as they kept sliding down every time I walked. x_x; So I had to adjust them a lot and that slowed me down a bit trying to get to the con and all. Despite how small it was, I still felt bad about being late 'cause I know we picked the time based on the best time for me and the other Takuto. At least they seemed pretty excited when I did get there as I was the only Ginga Bisohnen version there at the time. There was the normal Takuto, a Sugata, a Wako, and Keiko (all in their school uniforms) and I think Banker? I always get all the guys mixed up in their outfits. lol But I think he had dark short hair so I'm going to assume it was Banker. I thought my batteries had worn out already when I turned my swords on so was fidgeting trying to change them...only to realize they were working fine, you just really couldn't see the lights that early in the day 'cause the con center was too bright ('cause at home I could still see the glow fine even in the middle of the day so wasn't expecting that...oh well XD). So was sad I couldn't really show that feature off yet and lol people were like taking photos when I was trying to get them ready...a little annoying but oh well. But yeah sadly didn't get many photos with them and I'm sad 'cause would have liked to have gotten some with the Wako too but I only have a few with the other Takuto and some with Sugata. At least those are the only ones I've seen and it happened so quickly that I barely remember it. ^^;;
Takuto and Takuto XD Wish I had gotten a chance to do silly transformation photos but I really had to hurry over to hall.
...lol I wasn't really sure what he was doing but figured he was probably putting Vice President on my head. XD I should have asked to take photos with it too as it was really cute and completely crocheted. Some day I'll make my own plushie of him!
It was getting close to my time for hall judging so I wandered over there but was kinda confused because there was no one outside the door and in past years, they called your name and you went into the room then so I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go into the room yet or not. So kinda sat outside awkwardly with Courtney for a bit but then the Tales of gathering started migrating over and I was getting hot and was like "...uhhh" and saw other people go into the room so just headed in. And sure enough there was another group in there using the mirrors to fix themselves up but once again wasn't sure if we could go further into the room or not. Turns out the actual waiting area was further in and that they had a curtain separating the actual judging area...wish they had someone to tell you that as there was no way of knowing unless you walked all the way in and like I said, in past years the room was a lot smaller and they did judging right there so didn't want risk walking in on someone else's judging time. It was also a bit weird how they scheduled people for the same times as the Bleach group waiting was the same time as me. O_o And then they kinda just took people in as to who got there first of the diff times given. Kinda odd but eh, it seemed to work as they actually were only a few minutes behind and I know I was one of the last entries signed up. The waiting area was actually really nice and cool, especially compared to the rest of the con so I was able to just chill out for a bit and fix myself up as I was still wilted some from the heat. And at least the room was dark enough that the judges were able to see my lights a lot better (which is one of the reasons I took a later time in hopes they'd be more visible then). Silly me decided to open up the jacket so I could show them the shirt and cravat and how the jacket worked...but then realized how hard it is to get it closed back up without a mirror as I couldn't see where the hook&eyes were and where each snap went (lol the front of the jacket is so complex XD) so ended up having to have the judges help me close back up. ^^;;; And I didn't realize I had snapped my star on crooked until I saw Courtney's photos later. Oops. Obviously Takuto should not dress himself. XD But no matter how many times I yelled out "Apprivoise!" ...the clothes refused to magically go on. T_T (Oh if only one could really change one's clothes that way, haha)
After that, asked Courtney to get some solo shots of the costume while there was still daylight, to focus more on the costume since I was planning to wait til night to show off the swords.
I look kinda retarded but at least you can see most of the costume here. I'm hoping to get a lot more photos at AUSA and Katsu of the actual costume 'cause I got very few and none that show the back or the boot covers (I need to figure out a way to pull the jacket back...lol I need to find some wind outside somewhere or something pfft).
KIRABOSHI! XD ...I don't care if Takuto isn't a member. The pose is too much fun not to do. XD
Went back to the room after that, got out of costume 'cause I just can't be in it for very long and my feet were really hurting again and deserved a break. I think I took another shower but I'm not sure. lol I took a gazillion this con, it was kinda ridiculous. Had some ramen as my one meal of the day. lol Luckily Lex came in and had returned from dinner that they had all gone to while I was gone and she had sushi she wasn't able to finish so I delightfully had some of that. And while talking my ramen got kinda soggy so decided not to finish it. ^^; And man I really did spend a lot of time in the room this con. haha But I really didn't want to get back into costume until I really had to so I just relaxed and dorkily played with my new figures. XD Since our shoot wasn't until 10 but eventually Courtney started heading over so I figured it was about time to get back into Takuto. I was a little worried 'cause now that she was in costume, I didn't have a handler and she sounded like she might need one too but somehow we both managed to get to the con on our own and luckily once at the fountains, managed to meet up with Alyce and Beth who agreed to help us, which I'm so grateful for as we would have been pretty handicapped otherwise. lol And then waited for our shoot with Lionel. But then after a while we got a bit worried as it was 20 minutes after the schedule time and no sign of him, so I text him and he texts back with "I'm waiting at the fountains for you-chans~" and I'm like "wait, he's here? where?" and pffft he had been in the one corner this whole time and we never noticed. Go us. ^^;; But he was still eating so it was fine and Al decided to take photos in the mean time.
Rather like this one especially as you can see the whole outfit.
Then Al was smart and took me over to the darker area behind the escalator so we could get good shots of the swords...
Hee~ XD I'm so happy with how they looked. It was a pretty awesome feeling whenever someone asked for a photo and then I'm all "wait wait..." and turn them on and just seeing their eyes go wide when they realize the swords actually glow. Made all the work totally worth it. ^^
I like this one a lot too just 'cause you can see the glow reflected on my face. Sadly the green one is A LOT brighter than the blue one. But I've been pondering trying to get the paint off the blue and redoing it 'cause I put too much paint on that one and I think if I just did ONE single layer, it might be a little brighter.
Chatted with Lionel for a bit before we did the actual shoot. He was very intrigued by my swords so that made me happy. ^^ And I mentioned I was going to DragonCon for the first time so he gave me a lot of advice for that con. God I know I'm going to be super overwhelmed at it. Then we did our shoot and poor Lionel was so very tired during it, I felt pretty bad. I'm glad he only did a few shots as he was tired and so were we. And after a few extreme poses, I kinda felt a really bad pain start in my feet as I had just been in the boots for far too long. Kinda wobbled back to Alyce and Beth after that but still made sure to get some photos on our cameras first.
Do you mind the glass~? XDXDXD Of course we had to get at least one shot of this! 'Cause Otakon's glass windows are perfect for it. Kinda wish we had done more with it but we were just too tired. lol And we kept making a lot of REALLY derp faces as I don't think either of us was quite sure how to pose. XD I also love that in this photo, it isn't obvious how much taller Courtney is over me. XD Even with the 3 inch heels, it was like...it didn't even matter, everyone still towered over me. T_T I'll never look tall. I felt tall for like the first 5 minutes in them until I stood next to my tall friends. Pffft.
Takuto secretly wishes he was a member of Glittering Crux...KIRABOSHI! >>
After that we decided to call it quits and I limped back to my hotel room. Like woah. I was really limping and my feet hurt SOOOO BAD. I was really wishing I had brought my sneakers with me so I could change out. It was pretty horrible. I was whimpering by the time I reached the Days Inn lobby. My poor poor feet. T_T Though I still managed to pose for someone who wanted a photo on my way, lol. Though I bet I'll never see that photo and kinda sad as I really want to do some actual night photos of this. To show the full glow of the swords. Will just have to remember that at AUSA/Katsu. Finally got to the room and tore everything off, took another shower but was kinda hissing in pain because even just touching the rough bottom of the shower was hurting my feet. And walking on the carpet barefoot was just as bad. Laura had come back to the room early too so we both agreed we were too tired to stay up while everyone else was still out and so set up the air mattress and passed out...or at least attempted to. My feet were throbbing still so made it a little difficult. And by the time I finally did pass out, everyone came back...and was really loud. ^^;; I especially love how like Dan even tried to whisper but he kept getting louder instead so he was like "why am I even bothering?" but it was like "ok guys, could you at least TRY to keep it down some when you see people trying to sleep?" but noooo. Pffft oh well. I know I probably wouldn't have been that quiet either so I don't fully blame them. Just sucked 'cause I was just so incredibly dead at the time but didn't want to be a bitch and tell them to shut up. But eventually they went into the other room and people started going to bed so it wasn't too bad.
Saturday:
Very reluctantly got up in the morning. And Corey and co were already up and getting ready so I very slowly got into Leo and headed over to their hotel room. And then of course they weren't even ready yet so I could have probably slept in later. x_x; Oh well.
But on my way to their hotel, saw this on the sidewalk...
XD I love cons.
When I knocked on their door, I kinda then slide down to the ground and just died there, I was so tired. And also 'cause it was amusing to see their reactions of "Nooo don't die Leo!" lol Utai was still sleeping on the air matress so Corey told Adam to go jump on it and see how high she'd go. ...we didn't expect her to REALLY go flying. Like she flew up at least a full two feet 'cause Adam really hit the thing hard. XD I didn't realize she was still asleep when he did it so it was quite the wake-up call for her. ...but funny as hell to watch. XDXD But since it was obvious everyone wouldn't be ready for a while still, I went over to artist alley to see Sarah and get my Cloud wig. (And on my way someone asked me if I was Claude from Kuro...WTF! lmao I was like "...similar series but noooooooo" I mean just 'cause you have a tailed coat does not make you a Kuro butler lmao) Sat and chatted with Sarah for a little bit before I figured I should probably go back. Ran into makokitten very briefly but I didn't have my Leo wig styled yet so told her not to look at me. XD Since she's a big PH fan too and I didn't really feel like I was completely dressed yet. Dropped my wig off at my room and lol everyone was still in the room at that point (which made me once again wonder why I was up and about so early). Oh my first trip over to Corey's room, I was pleasantly surprised by the weather and thought "oh this won't be too bad, its nowhere as hot as it was yesterday..." but by the time I headed back to their room...it was back to being just as insanely hot and I was kinda dying by the time I got there. Pffft. Just can't win. And of course they still weren't quite ready but they styled my wig and we hung out a bit. Adam was around and we tried to super glue some of his resin pieces back on Squall. Totally got super glue on my pants in the process though. T_T
Eventually we were all ready to do shoot #2 with Javits but of course once again we were short on time since the PH gathering was in about 45 minutes and it was so hot that we decided once again to not go to the location we had selected (sad though 'cause it really did look perfect and had a piano and everything) and this time did the Marriott lobby which was still pretty but...no piano. T_T; But I'm still excited to see the photos as we did some nice shots. I was pretty pumped that Becca was able to put together Vincent's latest outfit to match my crazy-Leo and also had Corey as Elliot and Erin as Lily. So all together we were a pretty spoilertastic group. XD And since I was sorta in charge of the PH shoot (not sure how that happened) I wanted to make sure we got over to the gathering before it started. And well I had been looking forward to this as I love PH gatherings and last year's was pretty amazing. But was honestly kinda disappointed. We had like half the size we had last year (and most of it was our group since Jon and Utai and the girl-who's-name-I-can-never-remember also joined us at this point). And well I'm totally cool with small gatherings. But NONE of them had read the manga. A few had sorta started it but they weren't anywhere near the current chapters. And that was kinda...odd. Because all our previous PH gatherings, the majority was more into the manga than the anime. So yeah...as a result it took them a long while to realize who Corey and I were. Kept having them stare at me going "...ok, I feel like I know who you are...wait...that guy with Elliot?" Pfffft. But of course they wouldn't know who I am 'cause Leo no longer wears his signature glasses and isn't cute and dorky anymore like he was in the anime. And of course seeing Corey with blood on was a pretty big spoiler. XD But at least none of them seemed to mind (I dont' think they plan to ever read the manga, pffft, lame). And of course none of them had any idea who poor Lily was. I mean at least the Baskerville cloak gave them an idea. And Vincent was easier to recognize. And oddly enough we only had one Gil (usually we have like at least 2-3 per gathering) and like 4 Cheshires (usually there's only 1, if any). lolololol What was this madness? Seriously. XD But hey it was still fun and I tried my best to keep it organize and shout out what photos to do since it was still a big enough gathering that directing was needed (though Becca was a million times better at figuring out where people should stand).
Sadly this is the only full group shot I've found. I totally forgot to even take my camera out til about halfway through. Pfft. Go me. x_x;
Lily bowing to "Glen" XD I brought my Glen cape just to do a few photos like this. I think my wig needs to be spiked a little more at the sides next time I wear it so the main spike isn't so random looking (granted Leo's spike is kinda random but his sides are a little more spikey too lol). Kinda wish we had schedule the PH gathering earlier and done "normal" Leo and Elliot and then waited til after to do the blood and spoilers since no one at the gathering really got it. Oh well.
Elliot: "This is all your fault, dammit!" XD
After the gathering we went to the food court for food and I was very happy to have some Noodles and Co. Surprised how fast they were getting the food out actually. Even if the line for the drink fountain was kinda ridiculous. We didn't even bother trying to find a table and seats since it takes forever unless you have someone scout and save seats while everyone else gets food (only way I've managed to get seats the last 2 years) so we just sat on the floor like several other groups were already doing. XD; And then we all started taking off various costume bits as it was just too much after walking through the heat to get there. Thus we had a pile of cloaks, coats, and wigs. lol And I didn't even bother putting any of it back on afterwards, just walked back to the hotel room as is. XD Changed out...took another freaking shower and got into Cloud.
So. Its been a while since I last wore Cloud and like about 2 years since I made him. And I was definitely of the "...I need to remake this...again" just starring at myself in the mirror. I don't like it anymore. XD There's too much of it that isn't good enough. Especially after I saw this other girl doing Cloud who looked a lot better than me. Gave me a kick to improve on things. And I think I've decided I do want to invest the money in a 100% accurate to the original style wig 'cause hers was and I was having such major wig envy. Like I will pay A LOT for one and am already looking around for people willing to do it. Its frustrating 'cause like I have Cloud's hair memorized but I really am not good with wigs. I've tried many times but it always looks like shit. But I could draw you his spikes from memory. And like I know I can't really be picky since I don't have the skills myself and my friends have all done really good jobs on wigs for me. But I still am not happy with it. And I hate thinking that. But ok, Sarah's wig IS really good and I am still going to use it. I just realized that its better for Crisis Core and well that's my own fault as I told her I wanted it more like CC/the FF7 PS3 promo but after seeing this girl's wig...realized just how bad I want that style. Just after seeing that it is possible to do it and have it look good. But yeah I don't want to waste all of Sarah's work so I'm going to probably remake Crisis Core next year first because I've really wanted to remake it ever since I did that partial commission that was a thousand times better than my sad attempt from '08.
I mean really the only real reason I brought Cloud to Otakon this year was just because I realized the con would make it officially 10 years since I first started cosplaying as my very first cosplay was Otakon 2001 as Cloud. So I figured I should I owed it to myself to wear my newer version of Cloud as kinda marking how much I've improved. Except I ended up not feeling like I really have done that good. Honestly I think I'm a horrid Cloud cosplayer. I tried to convince myself that I was at least decent at it but really I've seen so many better ones and I really am doing him no justice as I can tell by the fact very few people take my photos, not many FFVII cosplayers want to pose with me, and I get pretty ignored except for my sword. So I'm a little sad I wasn't able to really make this moment as cool as it should have been. But its my own fault. I should have put time aside to really focus on fixing the costume and I didn't even touch it at all til I got to the con. But anyways...
So went to the FF gathering at the outdoor fountains which I was fine with since Cloud is actually ok for outdoor weather and was my by far the most comfortable thing I was wearing the whole weekend. But ugh, it was just so disorganized and rushed. And everyone was complaining about the heat. It was disappointing too 'cause I haven't been to a FF gathering since AUSA '09 and was kinda looking forward to it since the last one I went to was a lot of fun and in general FF cosplayers were starting to be nicer to each other. But I obviously picked the wrong one to go to. I saw photos from Friday's shoot later on and they look like they are having a MUCH better time and the gathering was smaller. 'Cause they were like rushing the photos, calling out each FF like faster than you had time to get your camera out. Like when we got to VII...I wasn't sure where to go to fit in because I wasn't tall enough to go to the back with the AC Cloud guys and Angeals who also had buster swords but because I had one too, made it hard to pose with it closer to the front without hitting anyone. ^^;; And nobody was really interacting with me or even acknowledging me. I think maybe it was 'cause I was the only regular Cloud there but usually that gets me more attention. Like I'm used to people being all "Yay! A non-AC Cloud!" and blaaaah I never get the chance to get photos with other FF7 folks so *sigh* maybe after I improve it, it'll be better. But yeah after they finished with VIII, I turned to Adam and Jon and was like "...lets get out of here. This isn't fun." Even with Jon's built-in cooling system in his Tonberry and the fact he'd done outside shoots at Ota in it before, he obviously was at his limit and not having as much fun either and poor Adam...poor Adam was sweating so much it was literally dripping out the bottoms of his sleeves and running down his pants. His Squall scar had completely sweated off at this point too. So we decided to go back to the con instead.
But at least he still looked good in it. XD I did warn him it would be really hot in it considering I made it out of pleather and what have you. But yeah after we got back in the con, he decided he needed to go take a shower. So we never got the Cloud vs Squall photos we had planned to do but there's always future cons and future chances to kick his ass. XDXD
So got into the con center and was much enjoying the air conditioning...and encountered a whole bunch of FF people wandering around the fountains being all "...where's the shoot? T_T" lol Had to explain to them that it was actually outside and some of them went over there to try to catch the end of it but have a feeling it was probably over by then. But saw three other Clouds hanging around, 2 AC and that one other FFVII Cloud girl. And unlike all the FFVII people at the actual gathering that ignored me (except for like one Angeal who yelled at me for letting his buster sword rust XD) these Clouds were very friendly and immediately welcomed me over. And it sounds silly but this REALLY cheered me up 'cause it was like "Cloud-Con" XD And we had quite a few people ask us for photos and it was kinda awesome as it was pretty evident we were all pretty equally obsessed with the character so we shared some pretty geeky conversations and yelled out Cloud's various attacks whenever Tonberry-Jon tried to kill us. And talked to the girl about her wig and lol both of the other Clouds were like "...yeah we've also been secretly envying over your wig" XD haha I was just the only one bold enough to ask about it. And we also exchanged various tips on the various parts. Once again my sword got more attention than I did but thats ok. XD I love that thing so I understand the desire to want to pose with it (or be killed by it, I get a lot of requests for me to stab them with it too lmao).
So here's Cloud versionIdon'tevenknow XD I've edited this thing too many times and lol like I said, I want to redo a lot of it. Mainly the belts, boots, and gloves. I'm happy with the sword. But might make the shirt if I ever finally find the right material (am always on the lookout for it but haven't seen any that satisfy me yet) and maybe the pants a darker shade. But yeah the wig is like perfect for CC so that's definitely in my future cosplay plans.
Eventually all us Clouds parted ways and I saw Laura with her VIII group so went over to poke her for a bit. Mostly I just made faces at her while people took a million photos of her and was horrible, making her almost laugh a few times when she's trying to be menacing Ultimecia and all. XD But that's what friends are for, right? I was mostly trying to waste time while I tried to get in contact with Alyce as I wanted to see them before I went to the concert but was beginning to think I'd have to give up so was going to head to the room...til I ran into Dar, Mike, and Emily just chilling (almost walked right past them though XD) and they had brought CapriSuns with them and shared which was totally awesome as I was feeling pretty dehydrated then. Took them over to see Laura since Laura had been wanting to find everyone to show them how she looked in Ultimecia so good thing I found them when I did. Ended up hanging around there for a while again and finally got a hold of Alyce and them who were gradually working at getting Brittany over to the area to use the bathroom to change into Siren. So decided I'd stick around and wait for them while everyone else went back to the room. Was going to sit where Dar and them were before but the Avatar group had taken over that space 'cause everyone was being kicked out of the main fountain area due to them lining up the FMA movie line there (it was HUUUUUGE O_o). So instead sat down to one of the sides...next to a Snow cosplayer. XD And lol he of course starts talking to me but is all "oh uh, not sure if you've played XIII..." and I'm like "lol, I know who you are." "Oh! Ok! Well I just know a lot of FF fans I encounter don't really play the new games." He must not talk to many then. lmao But anyways he was cool and it helped pass the time easier. We discussed the pros and cons of XIII (which I seemed to discussed with a lot of folks over the weekend, lol guess its still a hot topic even if its been over a year since we all played it). Then joined Alyce, Beth, and Brittany in the ladies room...which did feel a bit odd going into in Cloud. XD Beth even asked me if I hesitated going in and I was like "...yeah...>>;;"
Brittany was doing her make-up and such so had a nice little time chatting with them since that bathroom has a decent sized changing area. And it was nice to be away from the crowds for a bit. Though other cosplayers kept coming in and trying to jump into our conversations which was a little annoying and awkward. x_x; But I'm happy I finally got to see Alyce in her adorable Miku costume. Even if I didn't get a photo of it as I didn't bring my camera in Cloud (I don't like to stick too many things in his pockets as it starts to weigh the pants down). But then realized it was getting kinda late and I should get changed. On my way out though I ran into one of the Adams from St. Mary's who I rarely see and had to talk to for a bit and then Draco who gave me an update on how Kaiba went. He said it went really well and I didn't have to make any adjustments so yay! I didn't get to see him in it but he did show me photos afterwards and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out even though I need to teach him how to bend the shoulders up as one had gotten pushed down a little and I made them so they REALLY go high up. XD; And also how to bend the arm and leg belts into the right shapes 'cause I wired those as well.
He didn't put the leg belts on because they didn't work well with the pants he was using so he said he'd make sure to wear his Jin pants next time...granted not sure why he didn't just put those on at con since he had Jin with him too. ^^;; Though I still gotta grab Jin from him and fix the one part because it keeps flopping and he's too scared to iron it back down himself and I think I should just tack it down so it stays down permanently 'cause I keep seeing it flop in photos and it annoys me. XD
And the rest of this report can be located here.
~Lyn
I was originally going to wait til I had more photos but I don't think I'll be getting the Ningyou and PH ones for quite some time so I may just do a separate post for them when I get them. Anywho, this Otakon was kinda bleh just 'cause of how crazy hot and crowded it was. Seriously in all the 11 years I've gone, this was by far the most crowded I've ever seen the con. Even with the added Hilton area, it didn't seem to make a difference. And it was kinda odd because yeah Otakon is huge but last year it wasn't this bad. It was actually pretty nice but I guess people decided they couldn't afford it then but suddenly they could this year. I dunno. I'm kinda really hoping they lower the attendance cap again like they did a few years ago. I think it would really help because if it keeps being like this...its not going to be fun anymore. I mean maybe I just had a lower tolerance for it because of the hotter-than-normal heat but it really was unbearable.
But despite that, I still had a good time. I'm just sad that I really didn't spend much time IN the con. Otakon is my number one con for random wandering and people watching. I didn't do that AT ALL this con 'cause I couldn't stand trying to get through the crowded halls. I didn't wear any of my costumes for very long and thus don't have many photos.
Anywho now onto the actual report, which will be a tad bit less rant-ish. XD As like I said, still had fun, despite that. It was just a major set-back though.
Thursday:
I was pretty happy to actually have everything done BEFORE Thursday. lol So I finished packing and kinda lounged around as I had to wait for Dad to get home from work and to hear from my room. Surprisingly enough Dar and them actually got to the hotel A LOT earlier than I expected. So when Dad got home, we immediately packed up the car and headed out. Got there with my ridiculous amount of stuff (I felt so bad how many people I had to help me unload and reload at the end of the con x_x;) and ended up not going to the matsuri at all. Kept hearing it wasn't worth it and it was just so insanely hot that I really didn't want to get into any costume of the sort. And turned out Corey had voted to do a different, lighter costume anyways so there was no point getting into Hakuouki anyways. So ended up not wearing that at all during the con but oh well. It happens. Roomed with the same group I always do and once again we had connected rooms. The amount of hugs I received (as I was pretty much the last one to arrive) from everyone was pretty nice. ^^ Especially as I hadn't seen Emily and Mike since last Otakon (granted I had just met them then). The line for pre-reg was pretty small at the time so we decided to go ahead and get our badges. Wasn't surprised by the badge selection at all. It was all the big titles Bandai and Funimation are pushing right now (and all of which ACP had events for). To be honest I would have liked a slightly bigger and more diverse selection. But the introduction of the Crab mascot was a cute idea and gives a nice default badge for people who don't know any of the series. Despite how tempting said Crab was, I got the Madoka badge and lol had quite a number of my friends who obviously have never seen Madoka, be all "...why do you have magical girls on your badge, Lyn?" Since that's not something you would expect from me, I suppose. XD My response to this was pretty much "...you obviously haven't watched this show. Watch it. Trust me. Its not what it seems." XDXD
After that we decided to go out in search of food. The place we were aiming to eat at...no longer existed so we voted on Cosi's instead. I knew of the place but hadn't eaten in one before. It was pretty good! It was kinda like a more upscale version of Panera (food-wise I mean) and it was nice being in a food area that WASN'T crowded like most of them are during Otakon. Chatted and relaxed for quite some time in there before we headed back and then it was time for me to start delivering commissions. Met the guy who I made last minute Brief patches from Panty and Stocking. So got some extra little monies from that. Then delivered Squall to Adam...who I totally forgot was rooming with Corey, Tohma, and Co. until I went into the room and saw all of Tohma's costumes hanging around. XD Adam was the only one in the room though. And oddly enough, despite how many times I ended up in said room, I never actually saw Tohma in it and only just barely saw her once on Saturday when she was in Ravage. Still bawfled by how we ended up to completely miss each other like that. Adam tried on Squall and it fit good and no adjustments were needed. But I was sad to discover some of the studs had already fallen off. And a lot of them and the resin pieces came off throughout the weekend due to the heat melting the glue off. X_X; So I have to fix that now. Went back to the room to wait for my last commission to call and in the mean time Dar helped me style my Takuto wig out in the hall. We hung it upside down and just sprayed the hell out of the thing. lol Did wonders though! I just wasn't using enough nor waiting long enough before flipping it over when I did it myself. Now I know better. XD
Then my last stop of the night was to deliver the Kaiba costume to Draco. That one did need some adjustments on the belts but I was expecting that. I made them extra long on purpose as I figured it'd be easier to make them smaller than the other way around and they were something I really needed him in front of me to really adjust right. So was hand stitching those in his room for a bit and while his roommates talked, suddenly made the realization that one of them was "that comic guy", the artist of Conventional Wisdom which is basically a comic about each con he goes to and the jokes are all pretty accurate and hilarious. He tends to go to all the same cons I do so I always read his and yet somehow I had never managed to encounter him AT the cons so was about time I finally did. XD Part of me was hoping maybe I'd land a cameo in the comic but alas, no such luck. Granted he did have a page that in general was about all the people on Thursday that were like "Hey you're that comic guy!" so I guess I'm included in that. lol I was kinda starting to fade while working on Kaiba but luckily they were willing to give up a Mountain Dew 'cause I was in desperate need of caffeine to keep going. By the time I finally got back to the room, everyone was pretty much crawled into bed and some were already passed out. But like normal, despite how dead tired I was, I had a hell of a time trying to get to sleep. Happens every time as my body just takes forever to adjust to a new environment. I normally don't sleep good until maybe Saturday night (and sometimes not even that). That and the fact that Laura and I were at the direct level of the air conditioning on the air matress resulted in both of us freezing like crazy as we only had one blanket. Every time I was re-awoken by my inability to sleep and had to shift for warmth, I felt Laura do the exact same. And each time it was like we were both more curled into ourselves. lol Was pretty sad. So yeah was a pretty restless night and no idea how much actual sleep I got.
Friday:
Ended up "waking up" a lot earlier than planned but so did pretty much everyone else 'cause its like after one person got up and started moving around, we all kinda woke up and couldn't really go back to sleep. Its all Val's fault as she was up pretty early each day. XD; And the rest of us are all "whhhhyyy are we up so early? T_T" So we mostly just talked and slowly got ready for the day. Last year and the year before there was a huge line to get into the con and I remember even an hour after it opened, it still taking forever to get into the con so I decided I would go out early so I wouldn't risk missing the check-in time for Hall ('cause I barely made it the last 2 years). So headed out and to my surprise...there was no line! o_o; Just walked right into the con center. So glad to see they managed to work that out a little better this year. But yeah, ended up being there before they even started check-in. Pffft so just waited for a bit since I was already there and was like the first one to check-in due to being overly prepared haha (I was like the only one that had all my forms already filled out and ready to go it seemed). So yeah ended up back in the room before anyone else had even left yet. XD; Corey and Jon were already in Ningyou so I got into Lucille and went to search for them at the con. They were in line for the dude that does Sebastian's dub voice so I was like "oh geez, I'll never find them" since Corey wasn't picking up her phone but headed over in that direction. Luckily for me there were pretty far up by the time I got there so it was easy to spot them and they were near one of the edges of the barrier so I could just walk over and talk to them from the other side which made waiting for them a little easier. Though it didn't matter much anyways as the line got cut off right in front of them. So then we headed off. I made the stupid decision to try wearing my new 3 inch white boots for Lucille since I figured it'd make me taller and look better but didn't think about the fact I'd have to wear them later for Takuto too. But I figured I could just deal with the pain (but this was kinda a bad idea as I later found out).
Eventually we managed to get our Spinel and photographer to join us but it took a lot of time as people were in various places and took longer than expected. The end piece on Berthie's sword broke so we had to repair that, Spinel was coming from a farther away hotel, etc. So by the time we were all together, we only had like 45 minutes to do the actual shoot and we couldn't go to the location Javits and Corey had scouted out for us because Spinel really didn't want to go back into the heat as she had just finally gotten to the con. So instead we just did the shoot in the Hilton lobby...which didn't give us much space or options but at least we had a nice wall to so some photos with. But I swear what is it with my bad luck with getting photos every time we do Ningyou? lol We're going to do it again at Katsu though as once again we'll have new additions. And maybe we'll have Kohaku again for that (since we lost our Kohaku for Otakon). Corey's roommate Erin is a music major and she brought her baton for me to pose with though I was a little afraid to hold something so precious and expensive (it had its own case I made sure to put it back in when I wasn't posting) but it was nice to have something to pose with for a change.
This is the only photo I have of our group right now since it'll be a while before Javits gets the shoot up and we never did actually go into the con together so I know no one (other than Refractor who caught us while we were hanging around the Sheraton) got photos of us. ...not like anyone would know who we are anyways. ^^;;
I'm not really fond of this photo as my wig looks awkward (hope it wasn't like that for all the photos) and not sure what's going on with it. I'm thinking the bang got caught under the ponytail but yeah, I think next time I'm just going to forget the ponytail completely. I know his hair is up for that image but I honestly think it looks a lot better with it down and I'd rather show the pretty wig off (I do tend to at least flip the hair over the shoulder so you can see it but I think this time around it ended up laying oddly on my shoulder...oh I'm such a perfectionist with photos with this one but its 'cause Lucille is so pretty and I know I do him no justice at all. T_T). And kinda sad that despite being 3 inches taller than normal, I still look pretty damn short. XD Especially as our Spinel was very tall. I'm also lacking make-up which I think isn't helping either 'cause I do kinda need it for this character. REALLY gotta learn how to do it on myself. I've kinda been practicing but I still suck at it. T_T
After the shoot, Corey and Jon went back to their room and I decided that since this was really the only chance I'd have all weekend...to go to the Dealer's Room. Now this probably wasn't the smartest idea because I still hadn't gotten used to the heels and was walking slower than normal and it gets hot wearing that wig but then again, I never did get another chance to go back in so probably was the best decision. I didn't even bother looking around, just got the map out and made a beeline straight to the booths I wanted to find (even if it took me a while to figure the map out and I kept dropping it and almost running into people ^^;;). Finally found my way to WizzyWig's booth so I could finally use the $30 worth of gift cards I won at Nekocon last year. To my dismay though, there wasn't really anything I wanted at the booth. I couldn't even just buy a whole lot of candy like my back-up plan was 'cause they couldn't bring any due to the convention center's food rules. But I really wanted to not let them go to waste 'cause they expire in Dec and the only other con they are going to is Neko this year and I'm not sure if I'm going. So I just bought like the only thing I knew at the booth, five boxes of the chibi Kingdom Hearts coin figures. I mean I already own the only one I really wanted, Cloud of course, but figured I could try for Riku and give the others to friends or sell them. Ironically enough the first one I opened was...Cloud. lol And it seems my box magic wasn't working for these as I didn't get a single Riku but I guess you could claim it WAS working since I got...TWO Clouds...lol just too bad I don't need three of the same figure really XD despite how tempting it is to have a tiny army of chibi Clouds. XDXD Got 2 Axels and 1 Sora. Both Axels were claimed by friends at the con but I decided I'd hold onto Sora. Still not sure if I'm keeping him or not but will try to find homes for the Clouds at least. (And if not, I won't complain having to keep them XD)
Then wandered a little on my way to the AnimeSekai booth, mostly looking to see if anyone else had the figures I was interested in. To my delight, I discovered they have a new Persona phone strap line that finally included the characters I like (the first set upset me as it didn't include ANY of my favs T_T) so got one of those and got Akihiko which of course is one of the ones I wanted so my magic was back after all! XD I still want Yosuke though but I didn't want to risk it again and besides, I was on a mission. XD Saw some of the booths had the Star Driver coin figures in their mystery boxes and considered...but decided, no... And continued on to AnimeSekai, my favorite booth, and slide in and out of people (lol it pays to be short, I've become a mini expert as to how to weave in and out of crowds) as I looked down the cases of all the different sets and sure enough, they had the whole set of Star Driver figures. So I went up and was like "Give me the entire Star Driver coin figure collection! ....yes, ALL of them. XD" ...I wasn't originally going to do that. But I had to. I saw them and I couldn't select just a few and I knew I'd want to get them all eventually so might as well. And while he was finding them for me, temptation stared me in the eye as the new Dissidia trading arts were right next to me on the other side. I was going to get Cecil first...but then I saw just how pretty Sephiroth was and I couldn't resist. ...so I bought him too. Pffft. At least I got a 10% discount for buying all the Star Driver figures. XD And I DO NOT REGRET IT! OMG they are soooo fucking cute and I love them.
Heeeeeee~! But yeah I haven't spent that much at a con in a VERY long time. But I deserved the chance to splurge a little as I've been so crazy poor the last year of cons or so.
After that I made sure to get out of there fast before I risked buying anything else. XD That and my feet were starting to really hurt. Got back to the room and was like rushing to tear those boots off of me. And was a bit dismayed to see how scuffed up they had gotten already considering I had only done a tiny bit of walking outside. I was also really wilted from the heat and the layers of costume and wig so took everything off quickly and dove into the shower (which became a thing I would do after pretty much EVERY time I took a costume off all weekend T____T because ugh I sweated so much from the heat). Now I don't know if hotels like just turn their hot water off during the day or what 'cause there was like no hot water and this isn't the first time this has happened to me at a con during a midday shower. But man it was so hot outside that it didn't bother me and felt pretty damn good. Then I relaxed a little in the room and gradually built up the will to get into Takuto but then when I was about ready to start getting into it...it was like everyone came back to the rooms at once and brought all their friends so there was like a gazillion people in the room and I had no room to move...which kinda sucked because its not an easy costume to get into. ^^; So I had to wait for at least some people to leave before I could even start and I didn't want to be rude and be like "...can you please get out?" but ugggh, too many people. T_T; I ended up texting Courtney and asked her to come over if she could just to like help me as I wasn't very confident about being able to get my wig on without help.
As a result of taking forever to actually get into costume, I ended up being late for the Star Driver gathering. Granted it was pretty small anyways. I think there was only 6 of us and Courtney was having issues with Kanoko/Adult Bank so she was just in regular clothes and kinda being my handler for the time. Immediately I realized I should have put snaps on the boot covers to keep them up as they kept sliding down every time I walked. x_x; So I had to adjust them a lot and that slowed me down a bit trying to get to the con and all. Despite how small it was, I still felt bad about being late 'cause I know we picked the time based on the best time for me and the other Takuto. At least they seemed pretty excited when I did get there as I was the only Ginga Bisohnen version there at the time. There was the normal Takuto, a Sugata, a Wako, and Keiko (all in their school uniforms) and I think Banker? I always get all the guys mixed up in their outfits. lol But I think he had dark short hair so I'm going to assume it was Banker. I thought my batteries had worn out already when I turned my swords on so was fidgeting trying to change them...only to realize they were working fine, you just really couldn't see the lights that early in the day 'cause the con center was too bright ('cause at home I could still see the glow fine even in the middle of the day so wasn't expecting that...oh well XD). So was sad I couldn't really show that feature off yet and lol people were like taking photos when I was trying to get them ready...a little annoying but oh well. But yeah sadly didn't get many photos with them and I'm sad 'cause would have liked to have gotten some with the Wako too but I only have a few with the other Takuto and some with Sugata. At least those are the only ones I've seen and it happened so quickly that I barely remember it. ^^;;
Takuto and Takuto XD Wish I had gotten a chance to do silly transformation photos but I really had to hurry over to hall.
...lol I wasn't really sure what he was doing but figured he was probably putting Vice President on my head. XD I should have asked to take photos with it too as it was really cute and completely crocheted. Some day I'll make my own plushie of him!
It was getting close to my time for hall judging so I wandered over there but was kinda confused because there was no one outside the door and in past years, they called your name and you went into the room then so I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go into the room yet or not. So kinda sat outside awkwardly with Courtney for a bit but then the Tales of gathering started migrating over and I was getting hot and was like "...uhhh" and saw other people go into the room so just headed in. And sure enough there was another group in there using the mirrors to fix themselves up but once again wasn't sure if we could go further into the room or not. Turns out the actual waiting area was further in and that they had a curtain separating the actual judging area...wish they had someone to tell you that as there was no way of knowing unless you walked all the way in and like I said, in past years the room was a lot smaller and they did judging right there so didn't want risk walking in on someone else's judging time. It was also a bit weird how they scheduled people for the same times as the Bleach group waiting was the same time as me. O_o And then they kinda just took people in as to who got there first of the diff times given. Kinda odd but eh, it seemed to work as they actually were only a few minutes behind and I know I was one of the last entries signed up. The waiting area was actually really nice and cool, especially compared to the rest of the con so I was able to just chill out for a bit and fix myself up as I was still wilted some from the heat. And at least the room was dark enough that the judges were able to see my lights a lot better (which is one of the reasons I took a later time in hopes they'd be more visible then). Silly me decided to open up the jacket so I could show them the shirt and cravat and how the jacket worked...but then realized how hard it is to get it closed back up without a mirror as I couldn't see where the hook&eyes were and where each snap went (lol the front of the jacket is so complex XD) so ended up having to have the judges help me close back up. ^^;;; And I didn't realize I had snapped my star on crooked until I saw Courtney's photos later. Oops. Obviously Takuto should not dress himself. XD But no matter how many times I yelled out "Apprivoise!" ...the clothes refused to magically go on. T_T (Oh if only one could really change one's clothes that way, haha)
After that, asked Courtney to get some solo shots of the costume while there was still daylight, to focus more on the costume since I was planning to wait til night to show off the swords.
I look kinda retarded but at least you can see most of the costume here. I'm hoping to get a lot more photos at AUSA and Katsu of the actual costume 'cause I got very few and none that show the back or the boot covers (I need to figure out a way to pull the jacket back...lol I need to find some wind outside somewhere or something pfft).
KIRABOSHI! XD ...I don't care if Takuto isn't a member. The pose is too much fun not to do. XD
Went back to the room after that, got out of costume 'cause I just can't be in it for very long and my feet were really hurting again and deserved a break. I think I took another shower but I'm not sure. lol I took a gazillion this con, it was kinda ridiculous. Had some ramen as my one meal of the day. lol Luckily Lex came in and had returned from dinner that they had all gone to while I was gone and she had sushi she wasn't able to finish so I delightfully had some of that. And while talking my ramen got kinda soggy so decided not to finish it. ^^; And man I really did spend a lot of time in the room this con. haha But I really didn't want to get back into costume until I really had to so I just relaxed and dorkily played with my new figures. XD Since our shoot wasn't until 10 but eventually Courtney started heading over so I figured it was about time to get back into Takuto. I was a little worried 'cause now that she was in costume, I didn't have a handler and she sounded like she might need one too but somehow we both managed to get to the con on our own and luckily once at the fountains, managed to meet up with Alyce and Beth who agreed to help us, which I'm so grateful for as we would have been pretty handicapped otherwise. lol And then waited for our shoot with Lionel. But then after a while we got a bit worried as it was 20 minutes after the schedule time and no sign of him, so I text him and he texts back with "I'm waiting at the fountains for you-chans~" and I'm like "wait, he's here? where?" and pffft he had been in the one corner this whole time and we never noticed. Go us. ^^;; But he was still eating so it was fine and Al decided to take photos in the mean time.
Rather like this one especially as you can see the whole outfit.
Then Al was smart and took me over to the darker area behind the escalator so we could get good shots of the swords...
Hee~ XD I'm so happy with how they looked. It was a pretty awesome feeling whenever someone asked for a photo and then I'm all "wait wait..." and turn them on and just seeing their eyes go wide when they realize the swords actually glow. Made all the work totally worth it. ^^
I like this one a lot too just 'cause you can see the glow reflected on my face. Sadly the green one is A LOT brighter than the blue one. But I've been pondering trying to get the paint off the blue and redoing it 'cause I put too much paint on that one and I think if I just did ONE single layer, it might be a little brighter.
Chatted with Lionel for a bit before we did the actual shoot. He was very intrigued by my swords so that made me happy. ^^ And I mentioned I was going to DragonCon for the first time so he gave me a lot of advice for that con. God I know I'm going to be super overwhelmed at it. Then we did our shoot and poor Lionel was so very tired during it, I felt pretty bad. I'm glad he only did a few shots as he was tired and so were we. And after a few extreme poses, I kinda felt a really bad pain start in my feet as I had just been in the boots for far too long. Kinda wobbled back to Alyce and Beth after that but still made sure to get some photos on our cameras first.
Do you mind the glass~? XDXDXD Of course we had to get at least one shot of this! 'Cause Otakon's glass windows are perfect for it. Kinda wish we had done more with it but we were just too tired. lol And we kept making a lot of REALLY derp faces as I don't think either of us was quite sure how to pose. XD I also love that in this photo, it isn't obvious how much taller Courtney is over me. XD Even with the 3 inch heels, it was like...it didn't even matter, everyone still towered over me. T_T I'll never look tall. I felt tall for like the first 5 minutes in them until I stood next to my tall friends. Pffft.
Takuto secretly wishes he was a member of Glittering Crux...KIRABOSHI! >>
After that we decided to call it quits and I limped back to my hotel room. Like woah. I was really limping and my feet hurt SOOOO BAD. I was really wishing I had brought my sneakers with me so I could change out. It was pretty horrible. I was whimpering by the time I reached the Days Inn lobby. My poor poor feet. T_T Though I still managed to pose for someone who wanted a photo on my way, lol. Though I bet I'll never see that photo and kinda sad as I really want to do some actual night photos of this. To show the full glow of the swords. Will just have to remember that at AUSA/Katsu. Finally got to the room and tore everything off, took another shower but was kinda hissing in pain because even just touching the rough bottom of the shower was hurting my feet. And walking on the carpet barefoot was just as bad. Laura had come back to the room early too so we both agreed we were too tired to stay up while everyone else was still out and so set up the air mattress and passed out...or at least attempted to. My feet were throbbing still so made it a little difficult. And by the time I finally did pass out, everyone came back...and was really loud. ^^;; I especially love how like Dan even tried to whisper but he kept getting louder instead so he was like "why am I even bothering?" but it was like "ok guys, could you at least TRY to keep it down some when you see people trying to sleep?" but noooo. Pffft oh well. I know I probably wouldn't have been that quiet either so I don't fully blame them. Just sucked 'cause I was just so incredibly dead at the time but didn't want to be a bitch and tell them to shut up. But eventually they went into the other room and people started going to bed so it wasn't too bad.
Saturday:
Very reluctantly got up in the morning. And Corey and co were already up and getting ready so I very slowly got into Leo and headed over to their hotel room. And then of course they weren't even ready yet so I could have probably slept in later. x_x; Oh well.
But on my way to their hotel, saw this on the sidewalk...
XD I love cons.
When I knocked on their door, I kinda then slide down to the ground and just died there, I was so tired. And also 'cause it was amusing to see their reactions of "Nooo don't die Leo!" lol Utai was still sleeping on the air matress so Corey told Adam to go jump on it and see how high she'd go. ...we didn't expect her to REALLY go flying. Like she flew up at least a full two feet 'cause Adam really hit the thing hard. XD I didn't realize she was still asleep when he did it so it was quite the wake-up call for her. ...but funny as hell to watch. XDXD But since it was obvious everyone wouldn't be ready for a while still, I went over to artist alley to see Sarah and get my Cloud wig. (And on my way someone asked me if I was Claude from Kuro...WTF! lmao I was like "...similar series but noooooooo" I mean just 'cause you have a tailed coat does not make you a Kuro butler lmao) Sat and chatted with Sarah for a little bit before I figured I should probably go back. Ran into makokitten very briefly but I didn't have my Leo wig styled yet so told her not to look at me. XD Since she's a big PH fan too and I didn't really feel like I was completely dressed yet. Dropped my wig off at my room and lol everyone was still in the room at that point (which made me once again wonder why I was up and about so early). Oh my first trip over to Corey's room, I was pleasantly surprised by the weather and thought "oh this won't be too bad, its nowhere as hot as it was yesterday..." but by the time I headed back to their room...it was back to being just as insanely hot and I was kinda dying by the time I got there. Pffft. Just can't win. And of course they still weren't quite ready but they styled my wig and we hung out a bit. Adam was around and we tried to super glue some of his resin pieces back on Squall. Totally got super glue on my pants in the process though. T_T
Eventually we were all ready to do shoot #2 with Javits but of course once again we were short on time since the PH gathering was in about 45 minutes and it was so hot that we decided once again to not go to the location we had selected (sad though 'cause it really did look perfect and had a piano and everything) and this time did the Marriott lobby which was still pretty but...no piano. T_T; But I'm still excited to see the photos as we did some nice shots. I was pretty pumped that Becca was able to put together Vincent's latest outfit to match my crazy-Leo and also had Corey as Elliot and Erin as Lily. So all together we were a pretty spoilertastic group. XD And since I was sorta in charge of the PH shoot (not sure how that happened) I wanted to make sure we got over to the gathering before it started. And well I had been looking forward to this as I love PH gatherings and last year's was pretty amazing. But was honestly kinda disappointed. We had like half the size we had last year (and most of it was our group since Jon and Utai and the girl-who's-name-I-can-never-remember also joined us at this point). And well I'm totally cool with small gatherings. But NONE of them had read the manga. A few had sorta started it but they weren't anywhere near the current chapters. And that was kinda...odd. Because all our previous PH gatherings, the majority was more into the manga than the anime. So yeah...as a result it took them a long while to realize who Corey and I were. Kept having them stare at me going "...ok, I feel like I know who you are...wait...that guy with Elliot?" Pfffft. But of course they wouldn't know who I am 'cause Leo no longer wears his signature glasses and isn't cute and dorky anymore like he was in the anime. And of course seeing Corey with blood on was a pretty big spoiler. XD But at least none of them seemed to mind (I dont' think they plan to ever read the manga, pffft, lame). And of course none of them had any idea who poor Lily was. I mean at least the Baskerville cloak gave them an idea. And Vincent was easier to recognize. And oddly enough we only had one Gil (usually we have like at least 2-3 per gathering) and like 4 Cheshires (usually there's only 1, if any). lolololol What was this madness? Seriously. XD But hey it was still fun and I tried my best to keep it organize and shout out what photos to do since it was still a big enough gathering that directing was needed (though Becca was a million times better at figuring out where people should stand).
Sadly this is the only full group shot I've found. I totally forgot to even take my camera out til about halfway through. Pfft. Go me. x_x;
Lily bowing to "Glen" XD I brought my Glen cape just to do a few photos like this. I think my wig needs to be spiked a little more at the sides next time I wear it so the main spike isn't so random looking (granted Leo's spike is kinda random but his sides are a little more spikey too lol). Kinda wish we had schedule the PH gathering earlier and done "normal" Leo and Elliot and then waited til after to do the blood and spoilers since no one at the gathering really got it. Oh well.
Elliot: "This is all your fault, dammit!" XD
After the gathering we went to the food court for food and I was very happy to have some Noodles and Co. Surprised how fast they were getting the food out actually. Even if the line for the drink fountain was kinda ridiculous. We didn't even bother trying to find a table and seats since it takes forever unless you have someone scout and save seats while everyone else gets food (only way I've managed to get seats the last 2 years) so we just sat on the floor like several other groups were already doing. XD; And then we all started taking off various costume bits as it was just too much after walking through the heat to get there. Thus we had a pile of cloaks, coats, and wigs. lol And I didn't even bother putting any of it back on afterwards, just walked back to the hotel room as is. XD Changed out...took another freaking shower and got into Cloud.
So. Its been a while since I last wore Cloud and like about 2 years since I made him. And I was definitely of the "...I need to remake this...again" just starring at myself in the mirror. I don't like it anymore. XD There's too much of it that isn't good enough. Especially after I saw this other girl doing Cloud who looked a lot better than me. Gave me a kick to improve on things. And I think I've decided I do want to invest the money in a 100% accurate to the original style wig 'cause hers was and I was having such major wig envy. Like I will pay A LOT for one and am already looking around for people willing to do it. Its frustrating 'cause like I have Cloud's hair memorized but I really am not good with wigs. I've tried many times but it always looks like shit. But I could draw you his spikes from memory. And like I know I can't really be picky since I don't have the skills myself and my friends have all done really good jobs on wigs for me. But I still am not happy with it. And I hate thinking that. But ok, Sarah's wig IS really good and I am still going to use it. I just realized that its better for Crisis Core and well that's my own fault as I told her I wanted it more like CC/the FF7 PS3 promo but after seeing this girl's wig...realized just how bad I want that style. Just after seeing that it is possible to do it and have it look good. But yeah I don't want to waste all of Sarah's work so I'm going to probably remake Crisis Core next year first because I've really wanted to remake it ever since I did that partial commission that was a thousand times better than my sad attempt from '08.
I mean really the only real reason I brought Cloud to Otakon this year was just because I realized the con would make it officially 10 years since I first started cosplaying as my very first cosplay was Otakon 2001 as Cloud. So I figured I should I owed it to myself to wear my newer version of Cloud as kinda marking how much I've improved. Except I ended up not feeling like I really have done that good. Honestly I think I'm a horrid Cloud cosplayer. I tried to convince myself that I was at least decent at it but really I've seen so many better ones and I really am doing him no justice as I can tell by the fact very few people take my photos, not many FFVII cosplayers want to pose with me, and I get pretty ignored except for my sword. So I'm a little sad I wasn't able to really make this moment as cool as it should have been. But its my own fault. I should have put time aside to really focus on fixing the costume and I didn't even touch it at all til I got to the con. But anyways...
So went to the FF gathering at the outdoor fountains which I was fine with since Cloud is actually ok for outdoor weather and was my by far the most comfortable thing I was wearing the whole weekend. But ugh, it was just so disorganized and rushed. And everyone was complaining about the heat. It was disappointing too 'cause I haven't been to a FF gathering since AUSA '09 and was kinda looking forward to it since the last one I went to was a lot of fun and in general FF cosplayers were starting to be nicer to each other. But I obviously picked the wrong one to go to. I saw photos from Friday's shoot later on and they look like they are having a MUCH better time and the gathering was smaller. 'Cause they were like rushing the photos, calling out each FF like faster than you had time to get your camera out. Like when we got to VII...I wasn't sure where to go to fit in because I wasn't tall enough to go to the back with the AC Cloud guys and Angeals who also had buster swords but because I had one too, made it hard to pose with it closer to the front without hitting anyone. ^^;; And nobody was really interacting with me or even acknowledging me. I think maybe it was 'cause I was the only regular Cloud there but usually that gets me more attention. Like I'm used to people being all "Yay! A non-AC Cloud!" and blaaaah I never get the chance to get photos with other FF7 folks so *sigh* maybe after I improve it, it'll be better. But yeah after they finished with VIII, I turned to Adam and Jon and was like "...lets get out of here. This isn't fun." Even with Jon's built-in cooling system in his Tonberry and the fact he'd done outside shoots at Ota in it before, he obviously was at his limit and not having as much fun either and poor Adam...poor Adam was sweating so much it was literally dripping out the bottoms of his sleeves and running down his pants. His Squall scar had completely sweated off at this point too. So we decided to go back to the con instead.
But at least he still looked good in it. XD I did warn him it would be really hot in it considering I made it out of pleather and what have you. But yeah after we got back in the con, he decided he needed to go take a shower. So we never got the Cloud vs Squall photos we had planned to do but there's always future cons and future chances to kick his ass. XDXD
So got into the con center and was much enjoying the air conditioning...and encountered a whole bunch of FF people wandering around the fountains being all "...where's the shoot? T_T" lol Had to explain to them that it was actually outside and some of them went over there to try to catch the end of it but have a feeling it was probably over by then. But saw three other Clouds hanging around, 2 AC and that one other FFVII Cloud girl. And unlike all the FFVII people at the actual gathering that ignored me (except for like one Angeal who yelled at me for letting his buster sword rust XD) these Clouds were very friendly and immediately welcomed me over. And it sounds silly but this REALLY cheered me up 'cause it was like "Cloud-Con" XD And we had quite a few people ask us for photos and it was kinda awesome as it was pretty evident we were all pretty equally obsessed with the character so we shared some pretty geeky conversations and yelled out Cloud's various attacks whenever Tonberry-Jon tried to kill us. And talked to the girl about her wig and lol both of the other Clouds were like "...yeah we've also been secretly envying over your wig" XD haha I was just the only one bold enough to ask about it. And we also exchanged various tips on the various parts. Once again my sword got more attention than I did but thats ok. XD I love that thing so I understand the desire to want to pose with it (or be killed by it, I get a lot of requests for me to stab them with it too lmao).
So here's Cloud versionIdon'tevenknow XD I've edited this thing too many times and lol like I said, I want to redo a lot of it. Mainly the belts, boots, and gloves. I'm happy with the sword. But might make the shirt if I ever finally find the right material (am always on the lookout for it but haven't seen any that satisfy me yet) and maybe the pants a darker shade. But yeah the wig is like perfect for CC so that's definitely in my future cosplay plans.
Eventually all us Clouds parted ways and I saw Laura with her VIII group so went over to poke her for a bit. Mostly I just made faces at her while people took a million photos of her and was horrible, making her almost laugh a few times when she's trying to be menacing Ultimecia and all. XD But that's what friends are for, right? I was mostly trying to waste time while I tried to get in contact with Alyce as I wanted to see them before I went to the concert but was beginning to think I'd have to give up so was going to head to the room...til I ran into Dar, Mike, and Emily just chilling (almost walked right past them though XD) and they had brought CapriSuns with them and shared which was totally awesome as I was feeling pretty dehydrated then. Took them over to see Laura since Laura had been wanting to find everyone to show them how she looked in Ultimecia so good thing I found them when I did. Ended up hanging around there for a while again and finally got a hold of Alyce and them who were gradually working at getting Brittany over to the area to use the bathroom to change into Siren. So decided I'd stick around and wait for them while everyone else went back to the room. Was going to sit where Dar and them were before but the Avatar group had taken over that space 'cause everyone was being kicked out of the main fountain area due to them lining up the FMA movie line there (it was HUUUUUGE O_o). So instead sat down to one of the sides...next to a Snow cosplayer. XD And lol he of course starts talking to me but is all "oh uh, not sure if you've played XIII..." and I'm like "lol, I know who you are." "Oh! Ok! Well I just know a lot of FF fans I encounter don't really play the new games." He must not talk to many then. lmao But anyways he was cool and it helped pass the time easier. We discussed the pros and cons of XIII (which I seemed to discussed with a lot of folks over the weekend, lol guess its still a hot topic even if its been over a year since we all played it). Then joined Alyce, Beth, and Brittany in the ladies room...which did feel a bit odd going into in Cloud. XD Beth even asked me if I hesitated going in and I was like "...yeah...>>;;"
Brittany was doing her make-up and such so had a nice little time chatting with them since that bathroom has a decent sized changing area. And it was nice to be away from the crowds for a bit. Though other cosplayers kept coming in and trying to jump into our conversations which was a little annoying and awkward. x_x; But I'm happy I finally got to see Alyce in her adorable Miku costume. Even if I didn't get a photo of it as I didn't bring my camera in Cloud (I don't like to stick too many things in his pockets as it starts to weigh the pants down). But then realized it was getting kinda late and I should get changed. On my way out though I ran into one of the Adams from St. Mary's who I rarely see and had to talk to for a bit and then Draco who gave me an update on how Kaiba went. He said it went really well and I didn't have to make any adjustments so yay! I didn't get to see him in it but he did show me photos afterwards and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out even though I need to teach him how to bend the shoulders up as one had gotten pushed down a little and I made them so they REALLY go high up. XD; And also how to bend the arm and leg belts into the right shapes 'cause I wired those as well.
He didn't put the leg belts on because they didn't work well with the pants he was using so he said he'd make sure to wear his Jin pants next time...granted not sure why he didn't just put those on at con since he had Jin with him too. ^^;; Though I still gotta grab Jin from him and fix the one part because it keeps flopping and he's too scared to iron it back down himself and I think I should just tack it down so it stays down permanently 'cause I keep seeing it flop in photos and it annoys me. XD
And the rest of this report can be located here.
~Lyn