Katsucon 2010
Feb. 17th, 2010 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rose_of_painTime for the usual Lyn's-way-too-detailed-long-con-report XD
Well as many of you know, I almost didn't make it to the con. I was supposed to be there Thursday night but our roads still hadn't been plowed. Around 6pm we attempted to get down our street...and only got a few feet past the driveway and got VERY stuck. Took us over an hour to get the car out and back into the driveway. Then the stupid plow FINALLY came a few hours later. -_- But yeah I spent the rest of Thursday night working on Becca's Vincent costume and still didn't get it all done. Pfft.
Friday:
Decided to leave pretty late as I figured there was no point getting there early, taking my stuff to Corey's room, then to only have to move it to my actual room a few hours later when my room got there. Granted in hindsight I could've done that and had quite a few hours before I had to move as my room ended up not getting there for a while. But eh I don't think I missed that much really. Got to the con before noon and luckily Jensen and Becca and everyone was around to help me move my SHITLOAD of stuff (dear lord why do I always have like the most shit out of everyone each con x_x;) into the lobby where they waited with me for a little bit before they all went off to do stuff. The PA group had some GPS problems so took them a while to actually find the con (its so true for some reason despite being as big as it is...its hard to actually get to. My parents missed the exit the first time and we were a bit confused how to actually get to it at first.). But there was this really nice lady in the lobby who had been stuck there all week for a previous conference and was waiting for her shuttle to the airport. I had a really long nice conversation with her, explaining what our con was and all. I actually had this happen a lot during the con. Sometimes I'd be explaining it to one person and have several other people come over to listen. ^^;; I guess 'cause I was trying to be as professional as I could in how to explain what we were. XD I think my mentioning how I'm involved in theater and costuming in general made it sound a little more respectful too.
But anyways! Eventually they all got in and we got settled into our room. Despite having 8 people in the room, we all managed to keep it pretty clean and there was never any overcrowding issues. I think it's just 'cause we're all kinda of the older crowd now (with Izzy and I the youngest in the room) and are more experienced about cons so we all know how to go about it without it looking like a hurricane hit. So after getting settled we all changed into Eternal Sonata and man I'm glad I didn't get stuck with an earlier time slot for the shoot as we barely made it out in time for the 3pm one. Our costumes just took forever to get all together. But man the group was definitely the highlight of the con for me. I mean seriously, perhaps the best cosplay group I've ever been in and I totally missed doing costumes with that group as it has been a while since we really did anything together.
So we went down the lobby and waited for Lionel, who was actually right on time, lol (I'm used to him being a bit late) And Eric and Liz were still getting ready but it was a-ok 'cause Lionel said he had a full hour and a half time slot to use on us so we could take all the time we wanted. ^_^ And omg our shoot was EPIC! I can't wait for the photos. I mean I've enjoyed all the shoots I've done with him but this was by far my favorite. I can't wait to see them. Though I do think next time I wear Chopin, I need to actually take some more time practicing my poses as pffft I totally wasn't holding the sword/baton/thing right in most of them. ^^;;; So my arm looks kinda awkward. That and I notice my collar was often a bit off. Oh well got time to fix it up a bit for the next con.
So until the shoot gets posted, here's a shot of our full group:
Despite a few little obnoxious things, I'm actually really happy with my costume (for once! XD). Like this is the first time nothing big went wrong during the construction which I am so grateful for. lol I really did need that full two months that I spent on it. A little annoyed you can't see like any of the seams I went out of my way to make sure they existed but then again I expected they might not show up.
After Lionel's shoot we did some photos of our own, wandered downstairs a bit, ran into Al and did photos with him and ran into Dar and Dani and Laura for a little bit. Then the rest of the group all decided to change out of costume while I decided to stay in Chopin as it actually is pretty comfy (except for the fact the heat was on kinda high in the con so I was like "OHGODsweating!" he whole time x_x;) and I wanted to enter it in hall later that night. Though then I had like everyone call me at the same time who needed stuff from me which was like "oh shit why are you all asking me at the same time?!" pfft so headed up back to the room with everyone and proceeded to hand over both Becca's unfinished Vincent costume to Corey and Jensen so they could finish it for me and gave Jason his Anubis costume. Sadly despite the fact that Jason was wearing 3 costumes that I made him during the con, I never saw him in any of them. XD Ran into him only when he was wearing like the 1 costume he brought that I didn't do. Pfft. Curse my luck.
Somewhere in the midst of all this madness I ate a sandwich as my room actually brought real food! Love you all so much for that! It was wonderful. *_* lol And then while half the group went to go help Izzy try to find her missing money, Beth and I went down to finally get our badges. And like when we got there, there was like 2 people in front of us and then when the rest of our group made it over there...suddenly there was like a whole bunch of people. ^^;; So we had to wait for them to get through the line. It really varied how long the line was depending on when you got there. At least by the time we went to get ours, the real badges had arrived so we didn't have to do the voucher thing like everyone before us did. (Yeah to those of you who didn't go to the con, the badges didn't arrive in time due to delays in mail by the snow so they gave everyone in the morning paper vouchers ^^;) After that I followed Joe as we tried to figure out how to get to the panel/viewing rooms level. Took a while to figure out and since it was still a while before hall started, I decided to just go watch whatever he was going to. Him and Becky were going to watch Slayers Evolution but Joe got there way early so we watched an episode of Hayate the Combat Butler which I must admit was a lot better than I thought it would be. Pretty funny especially considering when I walked in the one girl was doing a Saint Seiya parody which made me all happy. XD Joe was like "see there she goes doing a Fist of the North Star move..." "nononono! That's Saint Seiya!" "Well it could be anything..." "No, trust me! That's definitely Saint Seiya! I'd recognize that move anywhere! She's doing Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken complete with the proper background...and....wow ok, I'm a little too obsessed ^^;;; Eheh."
After that I wandered out and went over to the Hall room which before had nobody there and in the time I spent in the room suddenly had gained people. XD So I got in line and filled out the form. Oh well so much for my plan of being there super early. But granted I did get there pretty early on. Just that everyone before me took a long time. But eh, that's the way it goes. Conversed with the people in line next to me including a really nice Kobato girl who was obviously a bit new to cosplay but impressed me with her hand embroidery on the apron. Always nice to see new cosplayers on the right track. ^^ Then Ling, Ken, and Heather showed up 'cause someone had convinced Ken to enter his Samurai Warriors (I think? I know it wasn't Dynasty Warriors, pfft, I know not these games) and upon looking over Ling's Kara no Koukai costume, convinced her to enter 'cause DAMN! I know how hard it is to work with leather and she had that jacket like perfectly made. I don't think I could ever do something like that and make it look that clean. Totally jealous there. Also ran into Tohma in line in her really nice flame Fai costume. Once again jealousy! My painting never looks that good. XD So by this point I'm not feeling as great about my costume as I had originally, especially after seeing that Scout was up a bit in the line and everything she makes is perfect. So I kinda already figured I wouldn't get anything at that point 'cause the competition was pretty high. Granted I did get some nice compliments from the judges and I think at least impressed them slightly? I dunno. lol Ah well, just gotta improve my skills more.
So after that I went back to my room, changed out of costume for a bit and relaxed then changed into Fai and headed over to Sarah's room to chat while she finished up Ashura's new head piece thingies. Of course I was starting to kinda daze out of and fall asleep, lol, so was like "ok...not going to stay in this very long". Headed out with her and ran into Lou and Junior from Refractor pretty fast which was cool as they were the ones Sarah had asked to do photos with. So we went out into the snow for a bit. The nice thing about those costumes is you don't feel the cold AT ALL. lol So I was fine out there. Just had to be careful not to get the costume too dirty. Eventually we decided to just go for it and go into the snow. Found a patch hard enough for Sarah to sit on it so we could do like the actual pose for real since its supposed to be all snowey and whatnot. Well I go to sit next to her to do the head in lap thing....and sink right down into the snow. XD But hey it worked as I'm supposed to be a bit lower than her anyways. Just was a little hard getting back up as I kept sinking lower. So after that we decide to go back in...and the doors are locked. ...T_T Which could have been really really bad if not for the fact someone finally noticed us and let us in (after several guys totally looked right at us and just walked on by...assholes >>;) But yeah, got back in and wandered a little but I once again was totally dazing out so decided I should go change and get some food in me considering I had a long night ahead of me.
On our way back up we ran into Corey and everyone who had just come from dinner and had gotten food for Lionel and Al so Lionel was up there with them taking photos and when we walk over he like stops and looks at us and goes "...oooooh! o_o *camera out*" XD Oh I loved that reaction. So he took some nice quick shots of us. I really like the solo one he got of me. Its all nicely angled.
As seen here XD
So anyways, everyone was on there way up which was great timing and all. It was also handy that Corey's room ended up being only 4 rooms down from me on the same floor. Made things VERY convenient. So we all head back to our rooms. I think I ate my ramen then? Or did I already eat it before? Pffft, I don't even remember. But either way took a little time to relax before we all got ready for skit rehearsal. Of course Adam did not fit in Oz at all but he did fit in my Gil costume (mostly, the gloves were too small and he ended up stretching my gun holster strap x_x; So now it slides right off my leg *le sigh* Gotta fix it now. Never even got to actually wear it with the costume.) and I ended up being Oz for the skit. ....lulz. Luckily it fit. Well barely. x_x; Since our original Oz is tiny. At least Corey had made a 2nd pair of shorts as I doubt any of us would fit into the original shorts she made. The shirt was a bit tight on me though so later had to attach snaps to make sure it wouldn't bust open on me. x_x;;; And sadly my binding was real obvious in photos. But hey gotta work with what you have. Though, lol, as soon as I walked out of the room in Oz, the entire group just looks at me and goes "....that is so weird" XD since we're all used to me being Gil, who is the total opposite. So I had a moment of "I'm my own master? ...oh god who am I really? *rolls on floor*" XD And Vincent was very confused as to this sudden change. "...brother? Eh? But...? O_o;" She also almost fell asleep right there in the hallway which was...so very in character. XD
So eventually we get all ready and head out to the con to find a spot to rehearse. Luckily the place is freaking huge so it wasn't a problem. We found a pretty unused little corner and for the most part had very few interuptions. Now, as things turned out the way they did and we kept having bad luck...this was actually the first time we had EVER rehearsed really. I mean ok technically we sorta rehearsed at AUSA but that was back when we had a completely diff cast and so the skit had to be rewritten a tad. So thus to say...it was a long rehearsal. ^^;; But we managed. Even if I was pretty confused as to how to do my new role. I don't know why it was so difficult for me. I guess just 'cause I've never really cosplayed a character like that? Oz is a confusing character and I know he's meant to be on purpose but I had a hard time figuring out how to pose/act like him. I'm used to being brooding/angsty/angry XD while Oz is kind happy-go-lucky yet a bit of a sadist at the same time? And actually has a really angsty background but refuses to ever act angsty. ...until his sudden bursts of craziness. Pfft. Complex character! And gah was it weird seeing Adam in my costume. O_o; Especially since he didn't know the series so he was just going on what we told him about the character. ^^; But eventually we finally got the skit down and thank god as we were all just about to die. Went back up to the rooms at around 3am ish and we were going to all take showers and then regroup in order to add the snaps on Oz and fix Vincent up. Well I take a shower, head over to their room...annnnd they're like all passed out on the beds. x_x;; So I was like "o...k....guess I'll just go to bed then." Of course everyone in my room is long since passed out and as the only spot on the beds that was open was in between Beth and Becky...I realize that spot is going to be real difficult to get in and out of since I had to be up pretty early and I wouldn't be able to have my cell next to me if I slept there so I figured I'd just sleep on the floor near the door where my cell was charging. lol So took a pillow and my Fai coat and actually...was pretty comfy. XD Only had to move once when someone had to get up to go to the bathroom and quickly scuttled over so not to be stepped on.
Saturday:
So I think I got prolly 2 hours of sleep. Maybe 3 if I was lucky but I was going in and out a lot. Kinda just laid there around the time I tended to get up as I tried to call Jensen to find out if they were up, assumed they weren't since I got no answer, only to realize a little later that they were in the hall already working on stuff. Pfft. Corey was all "why didn't you come back last night?" x___x; And of course I was all "I did! You guys were passed out." So I guess they did wake up and waited for me but pfft they should've called me. Oh well. So we worked on the things we needed to get on that were the most important before rushing downstairs to rehearsal. We get there and they let us all in and we sit in the backstage area. Was actually pretty organized. Got our sheets and fixed our cast (pfft had to change like half the names on there). Then found out they had decided the order was going to be by division so pfft so much for going first. As we were now first for the Masters section, had no idea what number we really were. But it wasn't that bad. Just hung out and conversed with the other groups while we waited for our turn. And of course when it is our turn...we mess up a lot. ^^;; As the stage turned out to be smaller than the space we were rehearsing in so our timing ended up all off and I got confused as to where I was supposed to walk in the first part. So yeah...we were like...ok we have to rehearse more to figure this out. So much for our plans to change into Kuro (as we were going to do a snowball fight in Kuro with another group...oh well). Granted on our way out we run into another Jack and Gil! A male....6 foot something Gil even. XD Which amused us all greatly. We wanted to hang with them but alas had to go rehearse so told them we'd come back later.
So we head out to find a place to rehearse and we go up to the 3rd floor and find this couch that we all kinda...sunk into. XD And well since I was stuck in Oz decided to make the most of it...
Big Pimpin' yo XD (granted looking at photos of me in the costume makes me realize we never did style it x_x;; oops)
Though while taking this we suddenly realized something. We were missing our Break and we had no idea when we lost her. She didn't have her cell phone on her and Jensen starts freaking as she explains that the girl has panic attacks really easily so we're like "oh fuck!" and Adam and Becca go off to look for her. ...and the rest of us find it kinda amusing that the Nightray brothers are the ones rushing off to look. XD But anyways! We can't find her anywhere so we send Adam to check the room and luckily she was up there. Turned out she had dropped Emily and was worried Corey would be really angry if she lost it (as Break is actually Corey's costume originally) and so went off to find it without telling us. But yeah she found Emily and we found her so it was all good. And we also found out that the spot we rehearsed in the other night was still open so we go back over there. Luckily it doesn't take long to fix the problem with the skit so we're good and done and go wander off for a bit to find Jack and Gil who were currently outside taking snow pictures. So we went out to join them and this somehow turned into a snowball fight which resulted in my wig getting completely covred in snow. XD haha Vincent got pelted a lot too considering we only had one villain at hand. I really hope we can get the photos from them as we got some really amusing ones including one of Tall!Gil putting his coat over my shoulders when I was covered in snow 'cause Alice got me pretty good. XD Ironic thing about being in Oz was that I was like....the only Oz all weekend! x_x; Considering I didn't really want to be Oz...lol And everyone kept saying I made such a good Oz too. Pffft goddamnit why must I be so short? T_T
Then Alice stole Tall!Gil's hat and so he challenged her to an arm wrestling match to get it back. Which if you've read/watched the series you would know...does actually happen. XD Except its some other dude that has his hat and they have to wrestle him for it. But you get the idea. So they had a match once we got back inside.
Gil lost of course...
So anyways, even though I admit I got more attention as Oz as being the only one around...I really wanted to be in Gil at least for a little bit as that's my costume and Adam wanted to wear his Yuna again so we went upstairs and he gave me my costume back and he ran off for a bit. Becca wanted to change into another costume too so we took some quick Nightray brother pics since I had none with her. So after I grab my camera and we go to take photos...I realize I forgot my keycard...run back towards the door only to watch as it closes. T_T /fail
But hey at least I got photos XD
Vincent doing what Vincent does best...be generally creepy towards Gil XD Though pfft I think we need to style her wig a little bit next time she wears it as the bangs eat her face. ^^;; Needs to be sprayed into place methinks. And she needs to learn to not hold her arm up every time she poses as it blocks the applique I spent forever on. >>;
So then after Becca left, I just sat outside my room hoping one of my roomies would show up. x_x 'Cause I even left my cell phone in there so couldn't even call anyone. And everyone in Corey's room doesn't know any of that group so none of them would be able to call. So started thinking who would have their numbers. lol So I'm like, well, I gave Corey Sarah's number...who does Sarah know that might know them...ah Dani! But Sarah did not pick up. x_x; So then I thought of who Jensen knew that I knew and we ended up calling Ken to call Mimi to then give me Dani's number so then I called Dani to ask her to call Brittany/Alyce/Becky/whoever she might have to tell them I was locked out. XDXDXD Oh dear lord. But luckily by the time I finished this, turns out Brittany and Izzy and Becky were in the room at this point so I was able to get back in! Yay! XD Got my wallet and stuff and finally headed out to the Dealer's Room which we had intended to go do in the first place. We didn't have that much time to spend really so we just kinda made a quick beeline to our favorite dealers. I grabbed my Shui figurine from AnimeSekai (gaaah its sooooo cute!) and we all lamented over the fact they had no PH artbooks at Sasusaga for us. Oh well, maybe they'll have them at Otakon. ....I really hope its not limited. >>; It better not be. So then we wandered around a bit. I saw the new chibi Final Fantasy set was out so decided to try my luck at that one to see if my luck would continue. And they had a Sephiroth out on display and the dude was like "you like that one? If you get one you don't like, I can trade you!" and I was like "...well, considering that's the one I want the most, I can't lose here!" So I got Zidane which actually means my luck still worked 'cause I would have kept him if the guy hadn't offered me a Seph for trade. XD So yeah now I have a chibi Sephy to go with my chibi Cloud. ^_^
...and that's all I bought. XD I was good this time around! That and didn't really have much time to look and my feet were KILLING me all of a sudden. Just god, I can't do heels for long even though my boots have a rather small one. I can't take it for long so I guess probably a good thing I wasn't wearing Gil all day like I had planned as I probably would've ended up with blisters from hell as I was kinda limping back to the room as it was just from wearing them for Chopin the day before and for the tiny bit I did while in Gil. Dear lord I mean I wear these boots I lot you'd think I wouldn't have this problem anymore. Oh well. Cosplay is pain. ^^;
So gave Gil back to Adam. *le sigh* lol And got back into Oz and we ran down for the craftsmanship judging. Instead of letting us select our times, they just had a "come back at this time!" where it'd be first come first serve right before the Masq. Pfft. Granted we had decided we wouldn't do craftsmanship 'cause half the costumes were kinda last minute but as 3:30 was the only time we were given we weren't sure if we had to be there even if we weren't doing it or not. So just went there to make sure. Turns out you didn't have to be there til like 4:30 if you weren't doing judging so we figured, well, we're here, lets just go ahead and do it anyways. So quickly did the final fixings on everyone's costumes...which was pretty much just me doing it all. ^^;; Fixed Vincent up so it closed correctly, fixed the belt on Gil's arm that was coming undone...again (that one was my fault though for not securing it well enough the first time)...and then realized we didn't have reference images for Gil 'cause Corey thought I was bringing some but I thought she said she had already printed them out for him and....ahhh! Though luckily Ken had managed to find the one Pandora Hearts artbook in the entire Dealer's Room which happened to be the anime one which had all the character design pages and he had already decided he'd let Corey buy it off of him since she was so upset that Sasusaga didn't have the manga artbook that she had preordered from them. So we send Jensen to go get it from him and are like "thank god @_@;;" got it just in time for our judging too. Which was kinda lol just 'cause it was like going back and forth between me and Corey on who made which costume. ^^; And having to explain to them why we weren't in the costumes we planned to be in and so why some things didn't fit as well as they should have (like I brought Gil's gun holster with me and was all "it fits me but not him T_T;"). I mean we all didn't expect to get anything but I was kinda ^_^ when the judges were all "oooh very clean!" at my Gil costume when I showed them the slipstitching. So yay that was enough for me.
So while we waited for the Masq to start as it was too close to the time we had to come back to bother leaving, we looked through the artbook and anphiphgphpi! decided my next costume right there. >> As omg finally FINALLY a full color image of Glen! I had been saying for months that I would do him once I had an actual full color image to make sure I do it right and it was like HALLELUJAH! considering they never even show him fully in the anime but I guess they decided to draw his design anyways in the book...thank god. Oh man I was like drooling over it right there. So yes totally making it! And we like decided on a Baskerville group right there and then. XD
But yes, onto the actual Masquerade! I was pretty impressed that they had actual flat screen TVs for us to watch it on backstage instead of the usual projection on the wall. Though it was really hard to make out what they were saying in skits due to the way the sound was set up so the audience could hear but us backstage couldn't make ANYTHING out. T_T; That and the guy video recording it for the con sucks as he kept doing zooms on people's faces and um...ya know...resulting in us not being able to see any of the actual skit going on. >>; As he kept choosing to zoom on people when they weren't doing anything important with the skit. So thank god we have ACP and their videos so we can all actually see them correctly online.
My favorite skits? Definitely the Captain Harlock skit to "To Be a Professional Pirate" from Muppet Treasure Island because a) I love Harlock b) I love Muppet Treasure Island like woah! XD So it made me happy. And the swing dancing Kurogane and Fai couple were mad adorable and amazing and so talented! Like dude if I had been a judge I would've given my judge award to them personally as I was kinda sad they didn't get anything. And then of course I loved Ari's Tsubasa skit. XD OMG they were only a few skits ahead of us so we got to actually watch that one from the side and we were DYING 'cause its soooooo true! The whole skit was basically this guy and girl being all "FUCK YOU CLAMP this makes no sense! Lets rewrite this shit!" and gaaaah everything they said I totally agreed with. Just...goddamn you CLAMP for ruining what was almost my favorite manga. T_T I especially enjoyed the Syaorans doing their DBZ powering up thing. XDXD Very glad they got some awards for that one. Oh and Tara, Ashley, and Nicole's Loveless skit? Very sexy! Or at least I certainly thought it was hot. And Corey and I were talking backstage about Loveless and how we miss doing it so figured we should prolly do it together sometime. Might do young Soubi and Seimei soon ish.
Oh, right, our skit. XD Guess I should talk about that. It went well. Except they didn't give us our blackout at the end that we requested. x_x; Corey was all "....and fade? ....fade...dammit!" and I was like "umm...lets just get up and go as this is going to get awkward if we stay here too long" lol As we were in our hug pose waiting for the blackout to happen. And poor John was like "do you have any idea how hard it is to keep that Jesus pose going for that long? >>;;" The only other problem was that Becca forgot to do the puppet thing where originally after she chains Alice up, she then pulls her back and forth in a puppet like manner, mostly to kill time as we had an odd gap of time in the skit. Annnd she forgot to do it and I'm all "...shit...ok, um well don't take too long to come out but just walk really really slowly" which I did to try to not rush it as we had that problem before where I came out too early and the music didn't match up right. ^^;; But managed to get it ok on the actual thing...except Becca got the chains tied up on Corey's foot so it got....stuck when I tried to pull them off. So instead of taking them off and flinging them dramatically across the stage like I was supposed to, ended up just kind mock dropping them there. ^^;; Ehh it still worked. Granted I'm not sure how many people actually liked our skit or understood it as I guess it probably makes more sense if you've seen/read it and I know not everyone likes dramatic skits. But I like them! XD And well I did see someone on cosplay.com say our skit actually made them cry! o_o And they didn't even know the series. Just said the way we did it really touched them. I was really surprised by that comment as I didn't expect that to happen but kinda makes me happy. ^^; As I mean the whole plot we were trying to show on stage is pretty depressing, if you can't figure out by the AMV we had going (and I've been told the AMV did help a lot which is good as that's why we had it). The whole point of the skit was to show how lost Alice feels without her memories and kinda show all her relationships with the rest of the cast.
But yeah if you want to see our skit and the others, they are up on ACP right now. Not up on youtube yet so the rest of you all without an ACP account will have to wait. They be over here: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/cons.php?cyid=2870&t=3
And I'm sorry but I did not like the MCs at all this year. They were boring and I had no idea if they were supposed to actually be cosplaying something? I was confused by the random bikinis and felt it unnecessary. That and they didn't really seem to know how to read anyone's intros right. But eh I mean they weren't bad-bad. Just used to all the past MCs who have been really good. Other than that I thought they did a really good job this year. And after hearing from one of the tech guys, it wasn't really their fault that all our lighting cues didn't happen. They just didn't have really enough time to work with us to get them right and such. So I'll forgive them for that as I mean I never really expect to be able to have lighting cues. But still...we all thought we'd have them. ^^;
But anyways we headed off before it even finished as we wanted to try to meet up with the other PH people as we told them we would after the Masq. Tried getting in contact with Tall!Gil and Jack again but they weren't picking up so we wandered and lo and behold I spy an Echo-chan. XD So I go over trying to be all Oz-like "Echo-chan~" (He calls her that and she's always all "...its Echo." kinda sad the Echo didn't respond that way but oh well I think she was a little shy.) And she was with another Alice and yet another Male Gil. Lulz. I still can't believe there were 3 male Gils (if you count Adam in my costume). And soon we found our Tall!Gil and Jack so we had a little mini PH shoot. We also had a girl in white with the Alice, Echo and Gil who I was like "....who is she?" and she kept coming up to me being all "No I will not marry you." and then later realized she was supposed to be Sharon ^^;; Except Sharon never wears all white so like I kept thinking maybe she was supposed to be Will of the Abyss. Ehhh. Oh well. Then when we were taking shots in front of the fountains, a very tragic thing happened. My Gil hat got knocked off into the fountain. ....T_T Its pretty much ruined as the fabric was soaked through and the poster board I used to give it its shape got all warped. ...le sigh. So I gotta make a new one for next time I wear Gil (and this time it will be me in it >>;) But anyways then we took over the gazebo for a bit and actually got some pretty nifty shots.
Cute photo I snagged of Alice and Jack
I borrowed the other Alice's scythe to do Oz's crazy scene XD I was like "ok now I like being Oz" pfft he's much more fun when he's crazy
We got all artsy and stuff XD There's some really nice ones of this shot on ACP but the files are huge so didn't want to put them on here
Reenacting part of the drunk scene XD And then Vincent started trying to pull at Gil and this resulted in a real tug-o-war which had me going "Guys...um...my arms can't go that far and oh god my legs are slipping x_x;;"
Then they proceeded to use our chain from the skit as a jump rope. Hm reminiscent of AUSA here. XD We got a lot of people to jump and surprisingly the best one was perhaps Ari in her full Sakura dress. XD Damn girl!
Also caught Courtney in her gorgeous Tiana costume:
Yay for smiles! XD Her bf and I had to coax that out of her. lol
Then everyone else decided to go get food and since I wasn't hungry I decided to go try to catch the awards at the end of the Masq. They did them early so I missed the hall awards but pretty sure I didn't win anything as I'm sure they would have contacted me by now as they asked for everyone's e-mail in case people who won missed the awards. Oh well. A little bummed but I plan to enter it again at another con. Not sure which one though. I guess either AZ or Ota. Stayed to hear the skit awards and then called Jensen and everyone to figure out what they were doing and they all seemed a bit confused and just decided to have room service instead of going out. XD So I headed up to change out of Oz and we all gradually got into Kuroshitsuji for the Kuro night shoot.
I must admit I was a little reluctant to go at first considering I was feeling kinda meh about wearing my Ciel since I kept seeing other people doing the same version of me so it didn't feel as special anymore. That and Anna who was supposed to be my Sebastian (the one I made the jacket and vest for) couldn't even come to the con and I mostly was going to bring it to get photos with her. But eh, went anyways with Corey in her ballgown Ciel and Jensen as Undertaker and John as Pluto. And I'm not sure if I knew the girl we put in Corey's Grell? I was so out of it while in that costume that the entire time I'm going "...is she someone in our group and I'm just that oblivious or do I not know her? I don't know T_T" lol I probably do know her. Like I said, I was real out of it. Didn't even notice several people I knew where there until later or even til after the con as I didn't know my one friend was the green Ciel until after I got back. XD Pfft I don't know what was wrong with me! I blame the eye patch except that doesn't even make sense as I've kinda gotten used to it. Though for some reason it wouldn't sit right this time around and kept smushing into my eye which was kind obnoxious. And blah, so oddly enough all the previous cons there's always been a million ballgown Ciels and a million Grells at each gathering. Well this one we had only one ballgown Ciel and only two Grells and one was in raver!Grell instead of her full Grell costume at the time. lol Instead! We had...not one...not two...but freaking 5 black Ciels! wtf! When did my costume become so popular? I'm used to seeing at most maybe one other black Ciel at each con when I bring him. Granted I'm not even sure if all 5 were at the gathering but I definitely counted 5 including me throughout the whole weekend and pretty much all of them were at the gathering. I felt kinda...sad. T_T lol So thus to say I'm not wearing it again for quite some time. That and I've worn it freaking 4 cons in a row now.
Granted I did notice how like every single one has done it differently which amuses me considering the costume really is up for one's own interpretation. But only one of them did it similar to mine and that was Nyoko. Which surprised me a little as almost everyone else does like just a big bustle on the back and so far I was like the only one who had interpreted as a long train instead with a small bustle underneath. I mean I think it's cause they must be going off the musical version of it (which I hate btw it looks retarded in my opinion, lol) but either way I was like "oh cool someone else thought the same way as me! I'm not alone!" XD And I did feel a little better after the historically accurate Madame Red (who was amazing! I'd seen her in photos but never in person before and oh my her costume was gorgeous! Yes its not accurate to the character but she wanted to change it to be how it WOULD be if the character really existed and just...wow, really stunning. She's done her history!) kinda flocked to me and started spazzing over my outfit. I mean dude there were 5 of us you wouldn't think mine would grab any attention at all but she said (and dude I never noticed this as I've never seen myself walk in it) that the way my train moved when I walked was really cool. She said it flares out really nicely and I was like "oh I never even realized that ^^;". And so she started studying my costume and was all "oh I'm so sorry, you're probably weirded out by me touching it but its just so nice" and I'm like "no worries this is actually making me real happy as no one ever looks at my seams except judges" and of course she noticed my vintage top hat and we gushed about vintage stuff and how to make things historically accurate (which I'm not that good at but at least I know what is and what isn't). So that was a very pleasant chat. ^_^ Made it worth going to the meet.
Though when we were doing group poses, I suddenly feel a twinkle go down my nose and I'm like ".....oh shit" and try to sniffle it back up and I'm like "....*puts hand to nose*....*comes back all bloody* SHIIT!!! *dashes out of shoot* Corey! Jensen! Nosebleed!" 'cause um....yeah most expensive costume I've ever done here? Not getting blood on it. And it wouldn't stop gushing blood! And Corey couldn't help me 'cause she's in ballgown and thus also had no depth perception and lack of mobility. Jensen had my Ruthberg nails on for Undertaker so she couldn't even touch anything. And John...is male and obviously can't help me to the bathroom. So I was like "....just show me where it is, I can't see anything T_T;;" and god let me tell you its VERY difficult trying to wash blood off your hands when you only have one hand (as I was holding my nose with the other) and are trying to balance a top hat full of your gloves and feathers and other bits so they don't get messed up. So then I run back out and am like "guys I can't do this, I need to get out of the costume before I get blood on it" so we had to recruit one of the Sebastians (lulz) to help me back to my room as I couldn't hold my train up in this condition and I often get stepped on if my train isn't off the ground when I walk (and I tend to trip over it) when in crowded areas. So she was very nice in helping us get me back upstairs and luckily Beth was in the room as I had to have someone strip me so not to get any blood on my costume. And my nose was still bleeding even after all of this. x_x So I just sat there in my binding and with the shorts and shoes still on, waiting it out before I tried to change into my clothes since I couldn't really put anything over my head at that moment. lol It sucked.
Eventually it finished and I changed into comfy clothes and just sat there like "blaaah so tired" and Corey like passed out on our floor in ballgown Ciel as her feet were killing her and she was all "...can I just lay here for a bit. Our room is too messy T_T" Poor Corey. lol So thus to say we didn't go back down. XD I think we were both just...done for the night. Eventually Corey crawled back to her own room and I chilled with the rest of my room until we all got ready for bed and this time I made sure I had a side on the bed, mainly in case my nose started to bleed again. ^^; Thank god it didn't though. But yeah considering how high they had the heat on in the con and how I easily get nosebleeds due to sudden changes in climates or dry air...not surprised that happened. >>; As I had chapped lips all weekend and kept tasting blood from time to time as is. x_x; But yeah oh man did that bed felt good after all the running around all weekend and yeah I passed out kinda early and slept like a log for the most part. XD
Sunday:
We all slept in for a while which was glorious. XD Gradually all got up and chatted while we packed up and such. Took my stuff and put it in Joe's car due to the fact I really didn't want to put it in hotel holding due to all the fragile costume pieces and such. Though then we found out that if you stayed after 1pm they would charge you parking for another day so the whole PA group decided they would leave early so realized I didn't have as much time to wander as planned. So first found Jensen and Ling and talked with them a bit as they watched Corey, Ken, and a few others do some Zombie Loan photos outside while we stayed inside. XD Was intending to wander with Corey and Jensen but they disappeared in order to get their luggage and I missed my chance to follow. ^^; But then saw Becca and Susan and since I had barely seen them all weekend, went wandering with them for a bit and luckily they were heading to the Dealer's Room and I wanted to go there anyways to get a better look at stuff. Granted I ended up not really looking at stuff but more so talking to people as we ran into Ling, Ken, and Jensen again. XD So kinda went back and forth between the two groups while looking at stuff. Did finally get a chance to go over to the doll dealers though really didn't have enough time to get a good look at the wigs. Did get a few head protectors as I desperately needed those since none of my big boys came with any and DOD only gave me one in my last order. So now all 3 DOT heads are protected. Yay.
Was kinda running out of time so went to go find Alyce and everyone and Joe and Tom attempted to get the cars out and bring them around but it was like gridlock in there. They couldn't even get out of their spots due to the mass of cars all trying to get out at the same time. I guess we should've figured that would happen. Luckily the hotel said they wouldn't charge them since they were at least trying to get out. Hope they stayed true to their word as I wasn't around to find out. Since I had already called my parents and told them to aim for 1 to get there and of course they get there on time and I'm like "...crap so much for that planning" so went up and got my stuff out of the car and luckily Courtney and her bf were around to help me carry stuff to my parents car (sorry for making you guys do that ^^;; Kinda douchy of me to be like "hiya! You guys just got here...carry my shit" x_x;;) and somehow I guess I kinda left before almost everyone...which was like really weird as I'm usually the last to leave. XD And like I thought I would be but that parking thing screwed everything up and I didn't want to be stuck in the lobby with my stuff and not be able to do anything. Oh well. I don't think I missed anything and I was so tired that I don't think I cared anymore as I was like dead on my feet by the time I got home. XD
But overall...a pretty damn good con. I really really liked the Gaylord and am excited to go back next year.
Rest of my photos (once again took hardly any) are over here: http://www.rosebride.com/lyn/katsu16.html
Well as many of you know, I almost didn't make it to the con. I was supposed to be there Thursday night but our roads still hadn't been plowed. Around 6pm we attempted to get down our street...and only got a few feet past the driveway and got VERY stuck. Took us over an hour to get the car out and back into the driveway. Then the stupid plow FINALLY came a few hours later. -_- But yeah I spent the rest of Thursday night working on Becca's Vincent costume and still didn't get it all done. Pfft.
Friday:
Decided to leave pretty late as I figured there was no point getting there early, taking my stuff to Corey's room, then to only have to move it to my actual room a few hours later when my room got there. Granted in hindsight I could've done that and had quite a few hours before I had to move as my room ended up not getting there for a while. But eh I don't think I missed that much really. Got to the con before noon and luckily Jensen and Becca and everyone was around to help me move my SHITLOAD of stuff (dear lord why do I always have like the most shit out of everyone each con x_x;) into the lobby where they waited with me for a little bit before they all went off to do stuff. The PA group had some GPS problems so took them a while to actually find the con (its so true for some reason despite being as big as it is...its hard to actually get to. My parents missed the exit the first time and we were a bit confused how to actually get to it at first.). But there was this really nice lady in the lobby who had been stuck there all week for a previous conference and was waiting for her shuttle to the airport. I had a really long nice conversation with her, explaining what our con was and all. I actually had this happen a lot during the con. Sometimes I'd be explaining it to one person and have several other people come over to listen. ^^;; I guess 'cause I was trying to be as professional as I could in how to explain what we were. XD I think my mentioning how I'm involved in theater and costuming in general made it sound a little more respectful too.
But anyways! Eventually they all got in and we got settled into our room. Despite having 8 people in the room, we all managed to keep it pretty clean and there was never any overcrowding issues. I think it's just 'cause we're all kinda of the older crowd now (with Izzy and I the youngest in the room) and are more experienced about cons so we all know how to go about it without it looking like a hurricane hit. So after getting settled we all changed into Eternal Sonata and man I'm glad I didn't get stuck with an earlier time slot for the shoot as we barely made it out in time for the 3pm one. Our costumes just took forever to get all together. But man the group was definitely the highlight of the con for me. I mean seriously, perhaps the best cosplay group I've ever been in and I totally missed doing costumes with that group as it has been a while since we really did anything together.
So we went down the lobby and waited for Lionel, who was actually right on time, lol (I'm used to him being a bit late) And Eric and Liz were still getting ready but it was a-ok 'cause Lionel said he had a full hour and a half time slot to use on us so we could take all the time we wanted. ^_^ And omg our shoot was EPIC! I can't wait for the photos. I mean I've enjoyed all the shoots I've done with him but this was by far my favorite. I can't wait to see them. Though I do think next time I wear Chopin, I need to actually take some more time practicing my poses as pffft I totally wasn't holding the sword/baton/thing right in most of them. ^^;;; So my arm looks kinda awkward. That and I notice my collar was often a bit off. Oh well got time to fix it up a bit for the next con.
So until the shoot gets posted, here's a shot of our full group:
Despite a few little obnoxious things, I'm actually really happy with my costume (for once! XD). Like this is the first time nothing big went wrong during the construction which I am so grateful for. lol I really did need that full two months that I spent on it. A little annoyed you can't see like any of the seams I went out of my way to make sure they existed but then again I expected they might not show up.
After Lionel's shoot we did some photos of our own, wandered downstairs a bit, ran into Al and did photos with him and ran into Dar and Dani and Laura for a little bit. Then the rest of the group all decided to change out of costume while I decided to stay in Chopin as it actually is pretty comfy (except for the fact the heat was on kinda high in the con so I was like "OHGODsweating!" he whole time x_x;) and I wanted to enter it in hall later that night. Though then I had like everyone call me at the same time who needed stuff from me which was like "oh shit why are you all asking me at the same time?!" pfft so headed up back to the room with everyone and proceeded to hand over both Becca's unfinished Vincent costume to Corey and Jensen so they could finish it for me and gave Jason his Anubis costume. Sadly despite the fact that Jason was wearing 3 costumes that I made him during the con, I never saw him in any of them. XD Ran into him only when he was wearing like the 1 costume he brought that I didn't do. Pfft. Curse my luck.
Somewhere in the midst of all this madness I ate a sandwich as my room actually brought real food! Love you all so much for that! It was wonderful. *_* lol And then while half the group went to go help Izzy try to find her missing money, Beth and I went down to finally get our badges. And like when we got there, there was like 2 people in front of us and then when the rest of our group made it over there...suddenly there was like a whole bunch of people. ^^;; So we had to wait for them to get through the line. It really varied how long the line was depending on when you got there. At least by the time we went to get ours, the real badges had arrived so we didn't have to do the voucher thing like everyone before us did. (Yeah to those of you who didn't go to the con, the badges didn't arrive in time due to delays in mail by the snow so they gave everyone in the morning paper vouchers ^^;) After that I followed Joe as we tried to figure out how to get to the panel/viewing rooms level. Took a while to figure out and since it was still a while before hall started, I decided to just go watch whatever he was going to. Him and Becky were going to watch Slayers Evolution but Joe got there way early so we watched an episode of Hayate the Combat Butler which I must admit was a lot better than I thought it would be. Pretty funny especially considering when I walked in the one girl was doing a Saint Seiya parody which made me all happy. XD Joe was like "see there she goes doing a Fist of the North Star move..." "nononono! That's Saint Seiya!" "Well it could be anything..." "No, trust me! That's definitely Saint Seiya! I'd recognize that move anywhere! She's doing Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken complete with the proper background...and....wow ok, I'm a little too obsessed ^^;;; Eheh."
After that I wandered out and went over to the Hall room which before had nobody there and in the time I spent in the room suddenly had gained people. XD So I got in line and filled out the form. Oh well so much for my plan of being there super early. But granted I did get there pretty early on. Just that everyone before me took a long time. But eh, that's the way it goes. Conversed with the people in line next to me including a really nice Kobato girl who was obviously a bit new to cosplay but impressed me with her hand embroidery on the apron. Always nice to see new cosplayers on the right track. ^^ Then Ling, Ken, and Heather showed up 'cause someone had convinced Ken to enter his Samurai Warriors (I think? I know it wasn't Dynasty Warriors, pfft, I know not these games) and upon looking over Ling's Kara no Koukai costume, convinced her to enter 'cause DAMN! I know how hard it is to work with leather and she had that jacket like perfectly made. I don't think I could ever do something like that and make it look that clean. Totally jealous there. Also ran into Tohma in line in her really nice flame Fai costume. Once again jealousy! My painting never looks that good. XD So by this point I'm not feeling as great about my costume as I had originally, especially after seeing that Scout was up a bit in the line and everything she makes is perfect. So I kinda already figured I wouldn't get anything at that point 'cause the competition was pretty high. Granted I did get some nice compliments from the judges and I think at least impressed them slightly? I dunno. lol Ah well, just gotta improve my skills more.
So after that I went back to my room, changed out of costume for a bit and relaxed then changed into Fai and headed over to Sarah's room to chat while she finished up Ashura's new head piece thingies. Of course I was starting to kinda daze out of and fall asleep, lol, so was like "ok...not going to stay in this very long". Headed out with her and ran into Lou and Junior from Refractor pretty fast which was cool as they were the ones Sarah had asked to do photos with. So we went out into the snow for a bit. The nice thing about those costumes is you don't feel the cold AT ALL. lol So I was fine out there. Just had to be careful not to get the costume too dirty. Eventually we decided to just go for it and go into the snow. Found a patch hard enough for Sarah to sit on it so we could do like the actual pose for real since its supposed to be all snowey and whatnot. Well I go to sit next to her to do the head in lap thing....and sink right down into the snow. XD But hey it worked as I'm supposed to be a bit lower than her anyways. Just was a little hard getting back up as I kept sinking lower. So after that we decide to go back in...and the doors are locked. ...T_T Which could have been really really bad if not for the fact someone finally noticed us and let us in (after several guys totally looked right at us and just walked on by...assholes >>;) But yeah, got back in and wandered a little but I once again was totally dazing out so decided I should go change and get some food in me considering I had a long night ahead of me.
On our way back up we ran into Corey and everyone who had just come from dinner and had gotten food for Lionel and Al so Lionel was up there with them taking photos and when we walk over he like stops and looks at us and goes "...oooooh! o_o *camera out*" XD Oh I loved that reaction. So he took some nice quick shots of us. I really like the solo one he got of me. Its all nicely angled.
As seen here XD
So anyways, everyone was on there way up which was great timing and all. It was also handy that Corey's room ended up being only 4 rooms down from me on the same floor. Made things VERY convenient. So we all head back to our rooms. I think I ate my ramen then? Or did I already eat it before? Pffft, I don't even remember. But either way took a little time to relax before we all got ready for skit rehearsal. Of course Adam did not fit in Oz at all but he did fit in my Gil costume (mostly, the gloves were too small and he ended up stretching my gun holster strap x_x; So now it slides right off my leg *le sigh* Gotta fix it now. Never even got to actually wear it with the costume.) and I ended up being Oz for the skit. ....lulz. Luckily it fit. Well barely. x_x; Since our original Oz is tiny. At least Corey had made a 2nd pair of shorts as I doubt any of us would fit into the original shorts she made. The shirt was a bit tight on me though so later had to attach snaps to make sure it wouldn't bust open on me. x_x;;; And sadly my binding was real obvious in photos. But hey gotta work with what you have. Though, lol, as soon as I walked out of the room in Oz, the entire group just looks at me and goes "....that is so weird" XD since we're all used to me being Gil, who is the total opposite. So I had a moment of "I'm my own master? ...oh god who am I really? *rolls on floor*" XD And Vincent was very confused as to this sudden change. "...brother? Eh? But...? O_o;" She also almost fell asleep right there in the hallway which was...so very in character. XD
So eventually we get all ready and head out to the con to find a spot to rehearse. Luckily the place is freaking huge so it wasn't a problem. We found a pretty unused little corner and for the most part had very few interuptions. Now, as things turned out the way they did and we kept having bad luck...this was actually the first time we had EVER rehearsed really. I mean ok technically we sorta rehearsed at AUSA but that was back when we had a completely diff cast and so the skit had to be rewritten a tad. So thus to say...it was a long rehearsal. ^^;; But we managed. Even if I was pretty confused as to how to do my new role. I don't know why it was so difficult for me. I guess just 'cause I've never really cosplayed a character like that? Oz is a confusing character and I know he's meant to be on purpose but I had a hard time figuring out how to pose/act like him. I'm used to being brooding/angsty/angry XD while Oz is kind happy-go-lucky yet a bit of a sadist at the same time? And actually has a really angsty background but refuses to ever act angsty. ...until his sudden bursts of craziness. Pfft. Complex character! And gah was it weird seeing Adam in my costume. O_o; Especially since he didn't know the series so he was just going on what we told him about the character. ^^; But eventually we finally got the skit down and thank god as we were all just about to die. Went back up to the rooms at around 3am ish and we were going to all take showers and then regroup in order to add the snaps on Oz and fix Vincent up. Well I take a shower, head over to their room...annnnd they're like all passed out on the beds. x_x;; So I was like "o...k....guess I'll just go to bed then." Of course everyone in my room is long since passed out and as the only spot on the beds that was open was in between Beth and Becky...I realize that spot is going to be real difficult to get in and out of since I had to be up pretty early and I wouldn't be able to have my cell next to me if I slept there so I figured I'd just sleep on the floor near the door where my cell was charging. lol So took a pillow and my Fai coat and actually...was pretty comfy. XD Only had to move once when someone had to get up to go to the bathroom and quickly scuttled over so not to be stepped on.
Saturday:
So I think I got prolly 2 hours of sleep. Maybe 3 if I was lucky but I was going in and out a lot. Kinda just laid there around the time I tended to get up as I tried to call Jensen to find out if they were up, assumed they weren't since I got no answer, only to realize a little later that they were in the hall already working on stuff. Pfft. Corey was all "why didn't you come back last night?" x___x; And of course I was all "I did! You guys were passed out." So I guess they did wake up and waited for me but pfft they should've called me. Oh well. So we worked on the things we needed to get on that were the most important before rushing downstairs to rehearsal. We get there and they let us all in and we sit in the backstage area. Was actually pretty organized. Got our sheets and fixed our cast (pfft had to change like half the names on there). Then found out they had decided the order was going to be by division so pfft so much for going first. As we were now first for the Masters section, had no idea what number we really were. But it wasn't that bad. Just hung out and conversed with the other groups while we waited for our turn. And of course when it is our turn...we mess up a lot. ^^;; As the stage turned out to be smaller than the space we were rehearsing in so our timing ended up all off and I got confused as to where I was supposed to walk in the first part. So yeah...we were like...ok we have to rehearse more to figure this out. So much for our plans to change into Kuro (as we were going to do a snowball fight in Kuro with another group...oh well). Granted on our way out we run into another Jack and Gil! A male....6 foot something Gil even. XD Which amused us all greatly. We wanted to hang with them but alas had to go rehearse so told them we'd come back later.
So we head out to find a place to rehearse and we go up to the 3rd floor and find this couch that we all kinda...sunk into. XD And well since I was stuck in Oz decided to make the most of it...
Big Pimpin' yo XD (granted looking at photos of me in the costume makes me realize we never did style it x_x;; oops)
Though while taking this we suddenly realized something. We were missing our Break and we had no idea when we lost her. She didn't have her cell phone on her and Jensen starts freaking as she explains that the girl has panic attacks really easily so we're like "oh fuck!" and Adam and Becca go off to look for her. ...and the rest of us find it kinda amusing that the Nightray brothers are the ones rushing off to look. XD But anyways! We can't find her anywhere so we send Adam to check the room and luckily she was up there. Turned out she had dropped Emily and was worried Corey would be really angry if she lost it (as Break is actually Corey's costume originally) and so went off to find it without telling us. But yeah she found Emily and we found her so it was all good. And we also found out that the spot we rehearsed in the other night was still open so we go back over there. Luckily it doesn't take long to fix the problem with the skit so we're good and done and go wander off for a bit to find Jack and Gil who were currently outside taking snow pictures. So we went out to join them and this somehow turned into a snowball fight which resulted in my wig getting completely covred in snow. XD haha Vincent got pelted a lot too considering we only had one villain at hand. I really hope we can get the photos from them as we got some really amusing ones including one of Tall!Gil putting his coat over my shoulders when I was covered in snow 'cause Alice got me pretty good. XD Ironic thing about being in Oz was that I was like....the only Oz all weekend! x_x; Considering I didn't really want to be Oz...lol And everyone kept saying I made such a good Oz too. Pffft goddamnit why must I be so short? T_T
Then Alice stole Tall!Gil's hat and so he challenged her to an arm wrestling match to get it back. Which if you've read/watched the series you would know...does actually happen. XD Except its some other dude that has his hat and they have to wrestle him for it. But you get the idea. So they had a match once we got back inside.
Gil lost of course...
So anyways, even though I admit I got more attention as Oz as being the only one around...I really wanted to be in Gil at least for a little bit as that's my costume and Adam wanted to wear his Yuna again so we went upstairs and he gave me my costume back and he ran off for a bit. Becca wanted to change into another costume too so we took some quick Nightray brother pics since I had none with her. So after I grab my camera and we go to take photos...I realize I forgot my keycard...run back towards the door only to watch as it closes. T_T /fail
But hey at least I got photos XD
Vincent doing what Vincent does best...be generally creepy towards Gil XD Though pfft I think we need to style her wig a little bit next time she wears it as the bangs eat her face. ^^;; Needs to be sprayed into place methinks. And she needs to learn to not hold her arm up every time she poses as it blocks the applique I spent forever on. >>;
So then after Becca left, I just sat outside my room hoping one of my roomies would show up. x_x 'Cause I even left my cell phone in there so couldn't even call anyone. And everyone in Corey's room doesn't know any of that group so none of them would be able to call. So started thinking who would have their numbers. lol So I'm like, well, I gave Corey Sarah's number...who does Sarah know that might know them...ah Dani! But Sarah did not pick up. x_x; So then I thought of who Jensen knew that I knew and we ended up calling Ken to call Mimi to then give me Dani's number so then I called Dani to ask her to call Brittany/Alyce/Becky/whoever she might have to tell them I was locked out. XDXDXD Oh dear lord. But luckily by the time I finished this, turns out Brittany and Izzy and Becky were in the room at this point so I was able to get back in! Yay! XD Got my wallet and stuff and finally headed out to the Dealer's Room which we had intended to go do in the first place. We didn't have that much time to spend really so we just kinda made a quick beeline to our favorite dealers. I grabbed my Shui figurine from AnimeSekai (gaaah its sooooo cute!) and we all lamented over the fact they had no PH artbooks at Sasusaga for us. Oh well, maybe they'll have them at Otakon. ....I really hope its not limited. >>; It better not be. So then we wandered around a bit. I saw the new chibi Final Fantasy set was out so decided to try my luck at that one to see if my luck would continue. And they had a Sephiroth out on display and the dude was like "you like that one? If you get one you don't like, I can trade you!" and I was like "...well, considering that's the one I want the most, I can't lose here!" So I got Zidane which actually means my luck still worked 'cause I would have kept him if the guy hadn't offered me a Seph for trade. XD So yeah now I have a chibi Sephy to go with my chibi Cloud. ^_^
...and that's all I bought. XD I was good this time around! That and didn't really have much time to look and my feet were KILLING me all of a sudden. Just god, I can't do heels for long even though my boots have a rather small one. I can't take it for long so I guess probably a good thing I wasn't wearing Gil all day like I had planned as I probably would've ended up with blisters from hell as I was kinda limping back to the room as it was just from wearing them for Chopin the day before and for the tiny bit I did while in Gil. Dear lord I mean I wear these boots I lot you'd think I wouldn't have this problem anymore. Oh well. Cosplay is pain. ^^;
So gave Gil back to Adam. *le sigh* lol And got back into Oz and we ran down for the craftsmanship judging. Instead of letting us select our times, they just had a "come back at this time!" where it'd be first come first serve right before the Masq. Pfft. Granted we had decided we wouldn't do craftsmanship 'cause half the costumes were kinda last minute but as 3:30 was the only time we were given we weren't sure if we had to be there even if we weren't doing it or not. So just went there to make sure. Turns out you didn't have to be there til like 4:30 if you weren't doing judging so we figured, well, we're here, lets just go ahead and do it anyways. So quickly did the final fixings on everyone's costumes...which was pretty much just me doing it all. ^^;; Fixed Vincent up so it closed correctly, fixed the belt on Gil's arm that was coming undone...again (that one was my fault though for not securing it well enough the first time)...and then realized we didn't have reference images for Gil 'cause Corey thought I was bringing some but I thought she said she had already printed them out for him and....ahhh! Though luckily Ken had managed to find the one Pandora Hearts artbook in the entire Dealer's Room which happened to be the anime one which had all the character design pages and he had already decided he'd let Corey buy it off of him since she was so upset that Sasusaga didn't have the manga artbook that she had preordered from them. So we send Jensen to go get it from him and are like "thank god @_@;;" got it just in time for our judging too. Which was kinda lol just 'cause it was like going back and forth between me and Corey on who made which costume. ^^; And having to explain to them why we weren't in the costumes we planned to be in and so why some things didn't fit as well as they should have (like I brought Gil's gun holster with me and was all "it fits me but not him T_T;"). I mean we all didn't expect to get anything but I was kinda ^_^ when the judges were all "oooh very clean!" at my Gil costume when I showed them the slipstitching. So yay that was enough for me.
So while we waited for the Masq to start as it was too close to the time we had to come back to bother leaving, we looked through the artbook and anphiphgphpi! decided my next costume right there. >> As omg finally FINALLY a full color image of Glen! I had been saying for months that I would do him once I had an actual full color image to make sure I do it right and it was like HALLELUJAH! considering they never even show him fully in the anime but I guess they decided to draw his design anyways in the book...thank god. Oh man I was like drooling over it right there. So yes totally making it! And we like decided on a Baskerville group right there and then. XD
But yes, onto the actual Masquerade! I was pretty impressed that they had actual flat screen TVs for us to watch it on backstage instead of the usual projection on the wall. Though it was really hard to make out what they were saying in skits due to the way the sound was set up so the audience could hear but us backstage couldn't make ANYTHING out. T_T; That and the guy video recording it for the con sucks as he kept doing zooms on people's faces and um...ya know...resulting in us not being able to see any of the actual skit going on. >>; As he kept choosing to zoom on people when they weren't doing anything important with the skit. So thank god we have ACP and their videos so we can all actually see them correctly online.
My favorite skits? Definitely the Captain Harlock skit to "To Be a Professional Pirate" from Muppet Treasure Island because a) I love Harlock b) I love Muppet Treasure Island like woah! XD So it made me happy. And the swing dancing Kurogane and Fai couple were mad adorable and amazing and so talented! Like dude if I had been a judge I would've given my judge award to them personally as I was kinda sad they didn't get anything. And then of course I loved Ari's Tsubasa skit. XD OMG they were only a few skits ahead of us so we got to actually watch that one from the side and we were DYING 'cause its soooooo true! The whole skit was basically this guy and girl being all "FUCK YOU CLAMP this makes no sense! Lets rewrite this shit!" and gaaaah everything they said I totally agreed with. Just...goddamn you CLAMP for ruining what was almost my favorite manga. T_T I especially enjoyed the Syaorans doing their DBZ powering up thing. XDXD Very glad they got some awards for that one. Oh and Tara, Ashley, and Nicole's Loveless skit? Very sexy! Or at least I certainly thought it was hot. And Corey and I were talking backstage about Loveless and how we miss doing it so figured we should prolly do it together sometime. Might do young Soubi and Seimei soon ish.
Oh, right, our skit. XD Guess I should talk about that. It went well. Except they didn't give us our blackout at the end that we requested. x_x; Corey was all "....and fade? ....fade...dammit!" and I was like "umm...lets just get up and go as this is going to get awkward if we stay here too long" lol As we were in our hug pose waiting for the blackout to happen. And poor John was like "do you have any idea how hard it is to keep that Jesus pose going for that long? >>;;" The only other problem was that Becca forgot to do the puppet thing where originally after she chains Alice up, she then pulls her back and forth in a puppet like manner, mostly to kill time as we had an odd gap of time in the skit. Annnd she forgot to do it and I'm all "...shit...ok, um well don't take too long to come out but just walk really really slowly" which I did to try to not rush it as we had that problem before where I came out too early and the music didn't match up right. ^^;; But managed to get it ok on the actual thing...except Becca got the chains tied up on Corey's foot so it got....stuck when I tried to pull them off. So instead of taking them off and flinging them dramatically across the stage like I was supposed to, ended up just kind mock dropping them there. ^^;; Ehh it still worked. Granted I'm not sure how many people actually liked our skit or understood it as I guess it probably makes more sense if you've seen/read it and I know not everyone likes dramatic skits. But I like them! XD And well I did see someone on cosplay.com say our skit actually made them cry! o_o And they didn't even know the series. Just said the way we did it really touched them. I was really surprised by that comment as I didn't expect that to happen but kinda makes me happy. ^^; As I mean the whole plot we were trying to show on stage is pretty depressing, if you can't figure out by the AMV we had going (and I've been told the AMV did help a lot which is good as that's why we had it). The whole point of the skit was to show how lost Alice feels without her memories and kinda show all her relationships with the rest of the cast.
But yeah if you want to see our skit and the others, they are up on ACP right now. Not up on youtube yet so the rest of you all without an ACP account will have to wait. They be over here: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/cons.php?cyid=2870&t=3
And I'm sorry but I did not like the MCs at all this year. They were boring and I had no idea if they were supposed to actually be cosplaying something? I was confused by the random bikinis and felt it unnecessary. That and they didn't really seem to know how to read anyone's intros right. But eh I mean they weren't bad-bad. Just used to all the past MCs who have been really good. Other than that I thought they did a really good job this year. And after hearing from one of the tech guys, it wasn't really their fault that all our lighting cues didn't happen. They just didn't have really enough time to work with us to get them right and such. So I'll forgive them for that as I mean I never really expect to be able to have lighting cues. But still...we all thought we'd have them. ^^;
But anyways we headed off before it even finished as we wanted to try to meet up with the other PH people as we told them we would after the Masq. Tried getting in contact with Tall!Gil and Jack again but they weren't picking up so we wandered and lo and behold I spy an Echo-chan. XD So I go over trying to be all Oz-like "Echo-chan~" (He calls her that and she's always all "...its Echo." kinda sad the Echo didn't respond that way but oh well I think she was a little shy.) And she was with another Alice and yet another Male Gil. Lulz. I still can't believe there were 3 male Gils (if you count Adam in my costume). And soon we found our Tall!Gil and Jack so we had a little mini PH shoot. We also had a girl in white with the Alice, Echo and Gil who I was like "....who is she?" and she kept coming up to me being all "No I will not marry you." and then later realized she was supposed to be Sharon ^^;; Except Sharon never wears all white so like I kept thinking maybe she was supposed to be Will of the Abyss. Ehhh. Oh well. Then when we were taking shots in front of the fountains, a very tragic thing happened. My Gil hat got knocked off into the fountain. ....T_T Its pretty much ruined as the fabric was soaked through and the poster board I used to give it its shape got all warped. ...le sigh. So I gotta make a new one for next time I wear Gil (and this time it will be me in it >>;) But anyways then we took over the gazebo for a bit and actually got some pretty nifty shots.
Cute photo I snagged of Alice and Jack
I borrowed the other Alice's scythe to do Oz's crazy scene XD I was like "ok now I like being Oz" pfft he's much more fun when he's crazy
We got all artsy and stuff XD There's some really nice ones of this shot on ACP but the files are huge so didn't want to put them on here
Reenacting part of the drunk scene XD And then Vincent started trying to pull at Gil and this resulted in a real tug-o-war which had me going "Guys...um...my arms can't go that far and oh god my legs are slipping x_x;;"
Then they proceeded to use our chain from the skit as a jump rope. Hm reminiscent of AUSA here. XD We got a lot of people to jump and surprisingly the best one was perhaps Ari in her full Sakura dress. XD Damn girl!
Also caught Courtney in her gorgeous Tiana costume:
Yay for smiles! XD Her bf and I had to coax that out of her. lol
Then everyone else decided to go get food and since I wasn't hungry I decided to go try to catch the awards at the end of the Masq. They did them early so I missed the hall awards but pretty sure I didn't win anything as I'm sure they would have contacted me by now as they asked for everyone's e-mail in case people who won missed the awards. Oh well. A little bummed but I plan to enter it again at another con. Not sure which one though. I guess either AZ or Ota. Stayed to hear the skit awards and then called Jensen and everyone to figure out what they were doing and they all seemed a bit confused and just decided to have room service instead of going out. XD So I headed up to change out of Oz and we all gradually got into Kuroshitsuji for the Kuro night shoot.
I must admit I was a little reluctant to go at first considering I was feeling kinda meh about wearing my Ciel since I kept seeing other people doing the same version of me so it didn't feel as special anymore. That and Anna who was supposed to be my Sebastian (the one I made the jacket and vest for) couldn't even come to the con and I mostly was going to bring it to get photos with her. But eh, went anyways with Corey in her ballgown Ciel and Jensen as Undertaker and John as Pluto. And I'm not sure if I knew the girl we put in Corey's Grell? I was so out of it while in that costume that the entire time I'm going "...is she someone in our group and I'm just that oblivious or do I not know her? I don't know T_T" lol I probably do know her. Like I said, I was real out of it. Didn't even notice several people I knew where there until later or even til after the con as I didn't know my one friend was the green Ciel until after I got back. XD Pfft I don't know what was wrong with me! I blame the eye patch except that doesn't even make sense as I've kinda gotten used to it. Though for some reason it wouldn't sit right this time around and kept smushing into my eye which was kind obnoxious. And blah, so oddly enough all the previous cons there's always been a million ballgown Ciels and a million Grells at each gathering. Well this one we had only one ballgown Ciel and only two Grells and one was in raver!Grell instead of her full Grell costume at the time. lol Instead! We had...not one...not two...but freaking 5 black Ciels! wtf! When did my costume become so popular? I'm used to seeing at most maybe one other black Ciel at each con when I bring him. Granted I'm not even sure if all 5 were at the gathering but I definitely counted 5 including me throughout the whole weekend and pretty much all of them were at the gathering. I felt kinda...sad. T_T lol So thus to say I'm not wearing it again for quite some time. That and I've worn it freaking 4 cons in a row now.
Granted I did notice how like every single one has done it differently which amuses me considering the costume really is up for one's own interpretation. But only one of them did it similar to mine and that was Nyoko. Which surprised me a little as almost everyone else does like just a big bustle on the back and so far I was like the only one who had interpreted as a long train instead with a small bustle underneath. I mean I think it's cause they must be going off the musical version of it (which I hate btw it looks retarded in my opinion, lol) but either way I was like "oh cool someone else thought the same way as me! I'm not alone!" XD And I did feel a little better after the historically accurate Madame Red (who was amazing! I'd seen her in photos but never in person before and oh my her costume was gorgeous! Yes its not accurate to the character but she wanted to change it to be how it WOULD be if the character really existed and just...wow, really stunning. She's done her history!) kinda flocked to me and started spazzing over my outfit. I mean dude there were 5 of us you wouldn't think mine would grab any attention at all but she said (and dude I never noticed this as I've never seen myself walk in it) that the way my train moved when I walked was really cool. She said it flares out really nicely and I was like "oh I never even realized that ^^;". And so she started studying my costume and was all "oh I'm so sorry, you're probably weirded out by me touching it but its just so nice" and I'm like "no worries this is actually making me real happy as no one ever looks at my seams except judges" and of course she noticed my vintage top hat and we gushed about vintage stuff and how to make things historically accurate (which I'm not that good at but at least I know what is and what isn't). So that was a very pleasant chat. ^_^ Made it worth going to the meet.
Though when we were doing group poses, I suddenly feel a twinkle go down my nose and I'm like ".....oh shit" and try to sniffle it back up and I'm like "....*puts hand to nose*....*comes back all bloody* SHIIT!!! *dashes out of shoot* Corey! Jensen! Nosebleed!" 'cause um....yeah most expensive costume I've ever done here? Not getting blood on it. And it wouldn't stop gushing blood! And Corey couldn't help me 'cause she's in ballgown and thus also had no depth perception and lack of mobility. Jensen had my Ruthberg nails on for Undertaker so she couldn't even touch anything. And John...is male and obviously can't help me to the bathroom. So I was like "....just show me where it is, I can't see anything T_T;;" and god let me tell you its VERY difficult trying to wash blood off your hands when you only have one hand (as I was holding my nose with the other) and are trying to balance a top hat full of your gloves and feathers and other bits so they don't get messed up. So then I run back out and am like "guys I can't do this, I need to get out of the costume before I get blood on it" so we had to recruit one of the Sebastians (lulz) to help me back to my room as I couldn't hold my train up in this condition and I often get stepped on if my train isn't off the ground when I walk (and I tend to trip over it) when in crowded areas. So she was very nice in helping us get me back upstairs and luckily Beth was in the room as I had to have someone strip me so not to get any blood on my costume. And my nose was still bleeding even after all of this. x_x So I just sat there in my binding and with the shorts and shoes still on, waiting it out before I tried to change into my clothes since I couldn't really put anything over my head at that moment. lol It sucked.
Eventually it finished and I changed into comfy clothes and just sat there like "blaaah so tired" and Corey like passed out on our floor in ballgown Ciel as her feet were killing her and she was all "...can I just lay here for a bit. Our room is too messy T_T" Poor Corey. lol So thus to say we didn't go back down. XD I think we were both just...done for the night. Eventually Corey crawled back to her own room and I chilled with the rest of my room until we all got ready for bed and this time I made sure I had a side on the bed, mainly in case my nose started to bleed again. ^^; Thank god it didn't though. But yeah considering how high they had the heat on in the con and how I easily get nosebleeds due to sudden changes in climates or dry air...not surprised that happened. >>; As I had chapped lips all weekend and kept tasting blood from time to time as is. x_x; But yeah oh man did that bed felt good after all the running around all weekend and yeah I passed out kinda early and slept like a log for the most part. XD
Sunday:
We all slept in for a while which was glorious. XD Gradually all got up and chatted while we packed up and such. Took my stuff and put it in Joe's car due to the fact I really didn't want to put it in hotel holding due to all the fragile costume pieces and such. Though then we found out that if you stayed after 1pm they would charge you parking for another day so the whole PA group decided they would leave early so realized I didn't have as much time to wander as planned. So first found Jensen and Ling and talked with them a bit as they watched Corey, Ken, and a few others do some Zombie Loan photos outside while we stayed inside. XD Was intending to wander with Corey and Jensen but they disappeared in order to get their luggage and I missed my chance to follow. ^^; But then saw Becca and Susan and since I had barely seen them all weekend, went wandering with them for a bit and luckily they were heading to the Dealer's Room and I wanted to go there anyways to get a better look at stuff. Granted I ended up not really looking at stuff but more so talking to people as we ran into Ling, Ken, and Jensen again. XD So kinda went back and forth between the two groups while looking at stuff. Did finally get a chance to go over to the doll dealers though really didn't have enough time to get a good look at the wigs. Did get a few head protectors as I desperately needed those since none of my big boys came with any and DOD only gave me one in my last order. So now all 3 DOT heads are protected. Yay.
Was kinda running out of time so went to go find Alyce and everyone and Joe and Tom attempted to get the cars out and bring them around but it was like gridlock in there. They couldn't even get out of their spots due to the mass of cars all trying to get out at the same time. I guess we should've figured that would happen. Luckily the hotel said they wouldn't charge them since they were at least trying to get out. Hope they stayed true to their word as I wasn't around to find out. Since I had already called my parents and told them to aim for 1 to get there and of course they get there on time and I'm like "...crap so much for that planning" so went up and got my stuff out of the car and luckily Courtney and her bf were around to help me carry stuff to my parents car (sorry for making you guys do that ^^;; Kinda douchy of me to be like "hiya! You guys just got here...carry my shit" x_x;;) and somehow I guess I kinda left before almost everyone...which was like really weird as I'm usually the last to leave. XD And like I thought I would be but that parking thing screwed everything up and I didn't want to be stuck in the lobby with my stuff and not be able to do anything. Oh well. I don't think I missed anything and I was so tired that I don't think I cared anymore as I was like dead on my feet by the time I got home. XD
But overall...a pretty damn good con. I really really liked the Gaylord and am excited to go back next year.
Rest of my photos (once again took hardly any) are over here: http://www.rosebride.com/lyn/katsu16.html
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 05:16 am (UTC)Wish I was savvy enough to actually know the characters ;__;
The black and blue cape looks amazing. I'm impressed by the faded gradients you got with the blue design.
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Date: 2010-02-18 05:27 pm (UTC)Alas I cannot take credit for that design as it is Sarah that did all of that with her amazing airbrush. lol Tis why I usually don't wear the outfit without her so I can have her nearby to credit. I'm like a walking advertisement for her when I wear it as she does do commissions of that sort. Though hell I could always do a joint commission with her, she do the airbrushing, I do the sewing. XD
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Date: 2010-02-18 05:34 am (UTC)Yay masquerade! It was scary! But I'm glad I did it! I'm glad everything could be worked out with your skit!
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Date: 2010-02-18 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 05:07 pm (UTC)babble rabble babble but yeah we need to cosplay more together chu *^^*
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Date: 2010-02-18 05:31 pm (UTC)And yes, I look forward to both. ^.^ Teehee.