[trip log] Sakuracon 2009
This last weekend was Sakuracon up in Seattle. I went for the first time, and it was fricking amazing.
On the bus up, the first sign of con shenanigans was a guy that I swore had a keyblade wrapped up in his coat. I didn't get a chance to ask him about it, though, since he took off once we got off the bus.
I didn't attend Friday - I got up to Seattle in the late afternoon, so Sarah and I stayed in and watched Buffy. Saturday, though, after a lazy morning, we moseyed on over to the con.
This was what greeted me on entering the convention center. I had a small fit of eeee as I whipped out my camera.
This Captain Hammer was awesome, totally over the top in-character.
The first major thing we hit up was the Artist's Alley, which filled me with glee.
We encountered this lady on our first loop around the room, and Sarah went "IS THAT SOME GENTERN? 8D" and I was like "I THINK IT IS 8D" so we stopped her for a picture. (A major refrain for me throughout the weekend was "Excuse me, can I take your picture? :D :D :D")
Apollo Justice group. Sarah flipped out over Mr. Hat.
Hot Yoko was hot. This picture doesn't even do justice to how smokin' she was.
Issun and Ammy - this is a poor picture, as my camera was being slow and I only got a shot as they were pulling out of the pose they'd struck. There was a Waka over there too, but I didn't get a picture. (I think he was busy being hugged by a fangirl.)
One of the Dr. Horribles we saw.
Tired Saix seemed tired, but she let me take a photo anyway.
Moar Phoenix Wright.
Pink Godzilla's booth in the Dealer's Room was marked by this epic tower of pink Godzilla plushies, which were at the time of the photo being perused by an awesome Orihime. In the background, you can see one of the Chii and Freya pairs that was wandering around.
This Girlycard was AWESOME. She had in a set of amazingly striking contacts that don't show up well in this photo at all. To our-right-her-left, you can see the sleeve of her young Walter, who was getting fitted for a green bodice. To our-left-her-right, you can see the coffin she was carting around.
This is a terrible picture of her, but Ladycard (not to be confused with Girlycard) was awesome.
We were perusing some booth or other in the dealer's room when I spied this cosplayer next to us out of the corner of my eye - at first I registered 'Sanzo', but then I looked again and had a small flipout. I think my face must have been like 8D!!
This was Awesome Altair, who pulled that knife out of hiding on his back and posed for us.
Professor Layton group. Sarah went 8D!!, so I took a picture. XD
I swear I have seen this GLaDOS somewhere before on the internets. She posed for us once she got off the phone AND did the voice correctly. ♥
In the evening, we skipped off to go get dinner at Marrakesh, which seems to quickly have become a great favorite of ours. Sarah had the chicken with honey and prunes, while I tried the chicken and pears that was on special. There was another bellydancer, who was very distracting.
On Sunday, we were considerably less lazy, as we wanted to get in con time before I had to leave later. On the way to the convention center, I spied a lady with green wings some distance away - it took me a moment of looking to register that it was an Eureka! I wanted to get a picture, but she was too far away to stop and by the time I had my camera out she was gone. Sigh, alas.
I was bemoaning the lack of Princess Tutu anything ("needs moar Princess Tutu cosplay," I believe I said), when this woman appeared in the Artist's Alley:
I went 'omfg' and got a picture. Sarah tells me that the lady was gushing after I left that someone actually knew who she was. XD
Awesome third season Toph, who I vowed to ask for a picture when I first saw her in the Copic booth perusing markers. It's hard to see at a small size, but it's a print of Sokka that she's holding. Awwww. When she posed she was set on by photographers.
Cute Ty Lee was cute.
I saw these guys wandering around on Saturday, but the collar and leash (and ears) didn't register until I asked them for a picture. I liked the parasol was all. XD (Pffff Roxas tops. vv) I didn't notice until I was resizing the photo that one of the Altairs is in it, too.
One of the Mikus that was running around. :3
Badass Franziska. :3 I later saw her posing for a Phoenix cosplayer, who she addressed with disdain (he replied, "Don't call me by my full name. >(").
X-2 Rikku. :3 She was really cool.
Yuffie and Bathead! They were together, so I got a picture of both at once for the lulz.
Sarah was waffling over a pair of goggles when I spied third season Suki, so I chased her down and got a picture of her and the group she was with.
The Queen of All Cosmos!
ZEBRA COAT
THIS HARD GAY WAS EPIC. He went 'HOOO!' and did a pelvic thrust for us. :D
Epic Fuu. The picture didn't turn out well, but she was amazing. Her hair was gorgeous.
GENTLEMEN
BEHOLD
This Kaiba was totally in character, swishing around the con with his hand on his hip like he owned the place.
Hojo :D :D :D
Awesome Pluto. She was very tall.
RIP :D :D :D
Tail Sora! I don't know why Sora had a tail, but there it was. (That was a pretty good Kingdom Key.)
Moon Yue was so pretty. I thought I'd missed my chance to get a shot of her, but she appeared again on Sunday. I dashed around the Alley in order to catch her. XD
TOPH. 'CAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE TOUGH.
TOPH VERSUS XIN FU THROWDOWN
(note the accidental Toph cloneage in the background.)
Blue shirt Bathead, who had the smirky 'tude down. You can also see Fakir and yukata Tutu in the background.
That Fakir. :D Alas, I didn't get a picture of Tutu - she was engrossed in art shopping. I tried really hard not to be That Photographer That Steals Cosplaying Customers from Artists' Tables.
I saw this Integra on Saturday and swore that if I saw her again I'd get a picture. I did on Sunday.
Dark Wander, who offered to let me take a picture of the back, too. (In the background you can see Simon and Integra - her back is turned, so you can see how long her hair was.)
The back. Glee.
Sophie, Kiki, and San!
Axel and Roxas over by the gaming rooms. The lighting was poor, but they were pretty awesome.
I don't remember the name of this character - Sarah asked me to grab a picture - but I do know that I failed to get the guy she was with and called over for the picture in the shot. (Kai, I think?) Sorry, dude! Her costume was amazing, though.
THIS KAIRI WAS SO COOL. I chased her down for a picture after she got off the phone. She wore her outfit really well, just stashed her stuff in her side bag, and had sparkly eyeliner. :D
Wingity Roxas. :D (Mostly obscured is Ceres with a blood drive poster perched on the bars a ways back. XD)
Wingity Roxas and Sora. :D Roxas pounced on Sora just before I took the picture.
I chased down this Lina after seeing her a couple times. We were on our way out, and THERE SHE WAS, so I got a picture.
Jounouchi on the stairs on the way out. Sweeeet.
There were many, many more awesome cosplayers that I didn't get photos of. We saw approximately a million ninjas and shinigami, some of which were actually quite good. (There was a memorable Hinata, Kisame, and a couple of Matsumotos (? I think that's her name?), one of which really, really had the cleavage to pull it off.) Notable ones not already mentioned include: multiple Reno-Rude duos (including Hot Rude), Eds up the wazoo (there was an explosion from one side of the Artist's Alley on Sunday of "I AM NOT SHORT"), including Epic Ed and Epic Roy (I failed to get a picture, sigh), a few human form Als (one wandering around with an Ed had a sign reading 'I am Al'), Wall Market Aerith (I wanted a picture of her so badly - I saw her a few times, and once got close enough, but she was busy shopping so I decided to wait until she finished paying to ask and by the time I looked again she was gone), multiple Links, giant Auron (he was really freaking tall), a few Larxenes (Heartless/Halloweeny at one point), casual and punk Axels (it's amazing how you can throw Axel hair and makeup onto anything and it becomes casual Axel), a few Zexions, flat sitar Demyx, a guy with a sign reading "Congratulations! You just lost the game," Kusuriuri (I was in line and too far away to get a picture), Adiane (!!), epic Tidus and Yuna, a group of Hellsing vampires with blood drive signs (the Ceres was one), Pegasus (who was on the phone), Yunas of various stripes (classic X, X-2, Songstress), Songstress Rikku, the Prince a few times (and a cousin once), Zelda, Peach, Sheik, epic Zack in line at the ATM, Cloud, Utena outside the con, Anthy, several Jesuses (appropriate, we thought, since it was Easter weekend), awesome Riku (why didn't I get a picture?), Kyoshi, a moogle, a cactuar, a tonberry, Alice, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and a distinct, surprising lack of Sephiroth.
I did see the guy from the bus with the keyblade I knew he had - it turned out to be a bastardized version of Ansem's keyblade, though he was wandering around in an Organization coat.
On Saturday, I wore my Vexen shirt, which got a few compliments and some recognition. On Sunday, I wore my 'Basch Lives' shirt, which got multiple comments, a request for a photo, and a high five.
The Arist's Alley is where I ended up spending most of my cash. A silk and bamboo parasol from the dealer's room nearly came home with me, though - as did a Gurren Lagann drill. (OH MAN I saw a guy dressed as Gurren Lagann itself, it was awesome.) Also in the dealer's room was a neat Coraline bag and the gorgeous Claire figure I've seen pictures of running around. So, so beautiful. We saw a guy at the entrance with a crazy balloon hat, making balloon creatures for people. There was an amazing steampunk booth, at which we spent considerable time. I bought Sarah a Maya keychain, which was teeny and adorable and entirely satisfying since she squeaked so hard.
I engaged in massive KH and Gurren Lagann fangirling, which I can only hope didn't get annoying. Eeee. I didn't realize Gurren Lagann would be so well-represented! (I also didn't realize there would be as many Hellsing cosplayers as there were - it was a pleasant surprise.)
We checked out the gaming rooms and DDR before we skedaddled.
Sunday evening we went for Mexican before I had to leave. It was delicious. ♥ I managed to miss my bus anyways and had to take a slower one, but it was all right. There were many, many more things that we saw and did - it was a fantastic weekend.
My swag list:
Heartless crest button, shattered heart emblem button, winged Companion Cube button, Roxas necklace, Marluxia keychain, John Freeman (WITH WEPON) keychain, Azula, Zuko, and Namine keychains, big Odin Sphere print, original Amaterasu print, tiny Jing and Kir print, FFXII Fran print, original Sea Queen print, original steampunky fairy print, Riku and Sora print, couple of small free things, tiny hat. (For the art, I will post URLs pulled from business cards and watermarks, but this is getting super long and Firefox is lagging because of it, so I will do it in a separate post.)
The tiny hat gets special mention, as it was a gift from Sarah. ♥ It is a steampunky tiny top hat, red, with feathers and a key and a sparkly rose and eeee.
At the art show, there was a signup sheet to be notified when registration for Artist's Alley opens up for next year. Sarah and I are seriously considering getting a table, which I think would be canned awesome.
On the bus up, the first sign of con shenanigans was a guy that I swore had a keyblade wrapped up in his coat. I didn't get a chance to ask him about it, though, since he took off once we got off the bus.
I didn't attend Friday - I got up to Seattle in the late afternoon, so Sarah and I stayed in and watched Buffy. Saturday, though, after a lazy morning, we moseyed on over to the con.
This was what greeted me on entering the convention center. I had a small fit of eeee as I whipped out my camera.
This Captain Hammer was awesome, totally over the top in-character.
The first major thing we hit up was the Artist's Alley, which filled me with glee.
We encountered this lady on our first loop around the room, and Sarah went "IS THAT SOME GENTERN? 8D" and I was like "I THINK IT IS 8D" so we stopped her for a picture. (A major refrain for me throughout the weekend was "Excuse me, can I take your picture? :D :D :D")
Apollo Justice group. Sarah flipped out over Mr. Hat.
Hot Yoko was hot. This picture doesn't even do justice to how smokin' she was.
Issun and Ammy - this is a poor picture, as my camera was being slow and I only got a shot as they were pulling out of the pose they'd struck. There was a Waka over there too, but I didn't get a picture. (I think he was busy being hugged by a fangirl.)
One of the Dr. Horribles we saw.
Tired Saix seemed tired, but she let me take a photo anyway.
Moar Phoenix Wright.
Pink Godzilla's booth in the Dealer's Room was marked by this epic tower of pink Godzilla plushies, which were at the time of the photo being perused by an awesome Orihime. In the background, you can see one of the Chii and Freya pairs that was wandering around.
This Girlycard was AWESOME. She had in a set of amazingly striking contacts that don't show up well in this photo at all. To our-right-her-left, you can see the sleeve of her young Walter, who was getting fitted for a green bodice. To our-left-her-right, you can see the coffin she was carting around.
This is a terrible picture of her, but Ladycard (not to be confused with Girlycard) was awesome.
We were perusing some booth or other in the dealer's room when I spied this cosplayer next to us out of the corner of my eye - at first I registered 'Sanzo', but then I looked again and had a small flipout. I think my face must have been like 8D!!
This was Awesome Altair, who pulled that knife out of hiding on his back and posed for us.
Professor Layton group. Sarah went 8D!!, so I took a picture. XD
I swear I have seen this GLaDOS somewhere before on the internets. She posed for us once she got off the phone AND did the voice correctly. ♥
In the evening, we skipped off to go get dinner at Marrakesh, which seems to quickly have become a great favorite of ours. Sarah had the chicken with honey and prunes, while I tried the chicken and pears that was on special. There was another bellydancer, who was very distracting.
On Sunday, we were considerably less lazy, as we wanted to get in con time before I had to leave later. On the way to the convention center, I spied a lady with green wings some distance away - it took me a moment of looking to register that it was an Eureka! I wanted to get a picture, but she was too far away to stop and by the time I had my camera out she was gone. Sigh, alas.
I was bemoaning the lack of Princess Tutu anything ("needs moar Princess Tutu cosplay," I believe I said), when this woman appeared in the Artist's Alley:
I went 'omfg' and got a picture. Sarah tells me that the lady was gushing after I left that someone actually knew who she was. XD
Awesome third season Toph, who I vowed to ask for a picture when I first saw her in the Copic booth perusing markers. It's hard to see at a small size, but it's a print of Sokka that she's holding. Awwww. When she posed she was set on by photographers.
Cute Ty Lee was cute.
I saw these guys wandering around on Saturday, but the collar and leash (and ears) didn't register until I asked them for a picture. I liked the parasol was all. XD (Pffff Roxas tops. vv) I didn't notice until I was resizing the photo that one of the Altairs is in it, too.
One of the Mikus that was running around. :3
Badass Franziska. :3 I later saw her posing for a Phoenix cosplayer, who she addressed with disdain (he replied, "Don't call me by my full name. >(").
X-2 Rikku. :3 She was really cool.
Yuffie and Bathead! They were together, so I got a picture of both at once for the lulz.
Sarah was waffling over a pair of goggles when I spied third season Suki, so I chased her down and got a picture of her and the group she was with.
The Queen of All Cosmos!
ZEBRA COAT
THIS HARD GAY WAS EPIC. He went 'HOOO!' and did a pelvic thrust for us. :D
Epic Fuu. The picture didn't turn out well, but she was amazing. Her hair was gorgeous.
GENTLEMEN
BEHOLD
This Kaiba was totally in character, swishing around the con with his hand on his hip like he owned the place.
Hojo :D :D :D
Awesome Pluto. She was very tall.
RIP :D :D :D
Tail Sora! I don't know why Sora had a tail, but there it was. (That was a pretty good Kingdom Key.)
Moon Yue was so pretty. I thought I'd missed my chance to get a shot of her, but she appeared again on Sunday. I dashed around the Alley in order to catch her. XD
TOPH. 'CAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE TOUGH.
TOPH VERSUS XIN FU THROWDOWN
(note the accidental Toph cloneage in the background.)
Blue shirt Bathead, who had the smirky 'tude down. You can also see Fakir and yukata Tutu in the background.
That Fakir. :D Alas, I didn't get a picture of Tutu - she was engrossed in art shopping. I tried really hard not to be That Photographer That Steals Cosplaying Customers from Artists' Tables.
I saw this Integra on Saturday and swore that if I saw her again I'd get a picture. I did on Sunday.
Dark Wander, who offered to let me take a picture of the back, too. (In the background you can see Simon and Integra - her back is turned, so you can see how long her hair was.)
The back. Glee.
Sophie, Kiki, and San!
Axel and Roxas over by the gaming rooms. The lighting was poor, but they were pretty awesome.
I don't remember the name of this character - Sarah asked me to grab a picture - but I do know that I failed to get the guy she was with and called over for the picture in the shot. (Kai, I think?) Sorry, dude! Her costume was amazing, though.
THIS KAIRI WAS SO COOL. I chased her down for a picture after she got off the phone. She wore her outfit really well, just stashed her stuff in her side bag, and had sparkly eyeliner. :D
Wingity Roxas. :D (Mostly obscured is Ceres with a blood drive poster perched on the bars a ways back. XD)
Wingity Roxas and Sora. :D Roxas pounced on Sora just before I took the picture.
I chased down this Lina after seeing her a couple times. We were on our way out, and THERE SHE WAS, so I got a picture.
Jounouchi on the stairs on the way out. Sweeeet.
There were many, many more awesome cosplayers that I didn't get photos of. We saw approximately a million ninjas and shinigami, some of which were actually quite good. (There was a memorable Hinata, Kisame, and a couple of Matsumotos (? I think that's her name?), one of which really, really had the cleavage to pull it off.) Notable ones not already mentioned include: multiple Reno-Rude duos (including Hot Rude), Eds up the wazoo (there was an explosion from one side of the Artist's Alley on Sunday of "I AM NOT SHORT"), including Epic Ed and Epic Roy (I failed to get a picture, sigh), a few human form Als (one wandering around with an Ed had a sign reading 'I am Al'), Wall Market Aerith (I wanted a picture of her so badly - I saw her a few times, and once got close enough, but she was busy shopping so I decided to wait until she finished paying to ask and by the time I looked again she was gone), multiple Links, giant Auron (he was really freaking tall), a few Larxenes (Heartless/Halloweeny at one point), casual and punk Axels (it's amazing how you can throw Axel hair and makeup onto anything and it becomes casual Axel), a few Zexions, flat sitar Demyx, a guy with a sign reading "Congratulations! You just lost the game," Kusuriuri (I was in line and too far away to get a picture), Adiane (!!), epic Tidus and Yuna, a group of Hellsing vampires with blood drive signs (the Ceres was one), Pegasus (who was on the phone), Yunas of various stripes (classic X, X-2, Songstress), Songstress Rikku, the Prince a few times (and a cousin once), Zelda, Peach, Sheik, epic Zack in line at the ATM, Cloud, Utena outside the con, Anthy, several Jesuses (appropriate, we thought, since it was Easter weekend), awesome Riku (why didn't I get a picture?), Kyoshi, a moogle, a cactuar, a tonberry, Alice, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and a distinct, surprising lack of Sephiroth.
I did see the guy from the bus with the keyblade I knew he had - it turned out to be a bastardized version of Ansem's keyblade, though he was wandering around in an Organization coat.
On Saturday, I wore my Vexen shirt, which got a few compliments and some recognition. On Sunday, I wore my 'Basch Lives' shirt, which got multiple comments, a request for a photo, and a high five.
The Arist's Alley is where I ended up spending most of my cash. A silk and bamboo parasol from the dealer's room nearly came home with me, though - as did a Gurren Lagann drill. (OH MAN I saw a guy dressed as Gurren Lagann itself, it was awesome.) Also in the dealer's room was a neat Coraline bag and the gorgeous Claire figure I've seen pictures of running around. So, so beautiful. We saw a guy at the entrance with a crazy balloon hat, making balloon creatures for people. There was an amazing steampunk booth, at which we spent considerable time. I bought Sarah a Maya keychain, which was teeny and adorable and entirely satisfying since she squeaked so hard.
I engaged in massive KH and Gurren Lagann fangirling, which I can only hope didn't get annoying. Eeee. I didn't realize Gurren Lagann would be so well-represented! (I also didn't realize there would be as many Hellsing cosplayers as there were - it was a pleasant surprise.)
We checked out the gaming rooms and DDR before we skedaddled.
Sunday evening we went for Mexican before I had to leave. It was delicious. ♥ I managed to miss my bus anyways and had to take a slower one, but it was all right. There were many, many more things that we saw and did - it was a fantastic weekend.
My swag list:
Heartless crest button, shattered heart emblem button, winged Companion Cube button, Roxas necklace, Marluxia keychain, John Freeman (WITH WEPON) keychain, Azula, Zuko, and Namine keychains, big Odin Sphere print, original Amaterasu print, tiny Jing and Kir print, FFXII Fran print, original Sea Queen print, original steampunky fairy print, Riku and Sora print, couple of small free things, tiny hat. (For the art, I will post URLs pulled from business cards and watermarks, but this is getting super long and Firefox is lagging because of it, so I will do it in a separate post.)
The tiny hat gets special mention, as it was a gift from Sarah. ♥ It is a steampunky tiny top hat, red, with feathers and a key and a sparkly rose and eeee.
At the art show, there was a signup sheet to be notified when registration for Artist's Alley opens up for next year. Sarah and I are seriously considering getting a table, which I think would be canned awesome.