Katsucon 2013
Mar. 28th, 2013 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rose_of_painSo due to a lot of real life issues and waiting for photos and such, this con report got seriously delayed. I actually started writing it like a week ago but didn't really have much time and motivation to finish it til now. Though there isn't much new photo wise here if you're on my Facebook as I have most of these up there already. And I'll warn you that a good portion of this report is me whining about Hades. Considering that took up most of my time this con.
Thursday:
Just like last year, Ren came down the night before though this time we didn't have the room Thurs night so he just stayed at my place for the night. I had been working on Hades pretty much non-stop the last few months but did manage to get him done with some time to spare. Which was good because I still had other things to work on. Soooo I totally made an entire costume in one day. I kid you not. That includes cutting the fabric and everything. XD It wasn't that bad though and I just really wanted a new Ludwig costume to go with Ling's and Luna's costumes better than my red monster. That and that costume isn't very comfortable. But yeah, I had almost finished it before Ren showed up so I consider that successful. I was going to help Ren modify a shirt for his own silly little costume but he kinda lost the desire to. Ren was kinda in the dumps as is due to hitting a possum on the way to my house. I also felt bad 'cause I wasn't able to make the commission for him I had originally promised him. There just wasn't any time due to Hades and work.
Ren went to bed and I finally got around to packing. Then totally started freaking out when I finally got around to checking Facebook and saw posts from people already at the con that they were kicking people out of the gazebo area and that it may be closed off from us during the whole weekend. For those of you not familiar with Katsucon, the "gazebo area" is one of the floors of the gaylord that has the best backdrops and lighting for photos so its the most popular spot for cosplayers to congregate and photographers do a lot of shoots there. Now normally I wouldn't be too upset about this 'cause while it sucks, there is still a lot more to the con. BUT I chose to debut Hades at this con specifically with the thought in mind that I would just go to that spot and then not move. Because I've witnessed first hand my own friends with their big costumes struggle to get around cons and be told they are in the way or seen people bump into them in crowded areas and things break. I also knew that I'd have very limited movement and probably wouldn't be able to move much further than that point. I also would be out of the way of traffic and it would be easy to get to the area from my hotel room and then have my friends assemble my wings. But with this area blocked off...I honestly had no idea where I could wear this costume without it being an issue. So I went to bed, deeply troubled over this.
Friday:
Woke up early and sure enough, there was a notice on Katsu's website saying that floor would be closed off to us all weekend as there was another convention going on in the gaylord that was paying to use the space. Part of me considered not even bringing Hades but Ren helped convince me that we would figure something out when we got there. Packed everything up and Hades actually didn't take up as much space as I thought he would in the car. I think this was mostly due to my smart planning of finding a box big enough to store most of the pieces in. That and the fact that all the pieces come apart certainly helped. Got to the con, got our badges, which timed out right 'cause the rest of our room was going to get theirs so just waited for them and then got things out of the car and to the room. Decided to keep Hades in the car until it was time to get into him. Since we got to the con later than planned, I was running a bit behind so called Ling to tell her I would be running late for our Ludwig shoot, which she had said we would do around 1pm. ...only to find out that Luna had decided to cancel the shoot. ... I told Ling calmly "...you do realize I made a whole costume in one day yesterday just for this, right?" which she responded that she would wear Wilhelm for me so at least we could get photos, which was very smart 'cause otherwise I may have gotten pretty pissed off that I rushed that costume for nothing. Sadly didn't have the time to put the nails on and had to do my own rushed make-up due to Brittany being at an interview outside of the con. Sooo it wasn't very good (considering it normally takes me like 30 minutes or more to get my own make-up on lol and this is basic stuff here, I'm just very bad at it T_T) but everyone told me it wasn't too bad and that it would work. Met Ling down in the lobby and Ren took some photos. We were pressed for time and I was kinda braindead so couldn't really think of much to do photo wise and my cape kept falling off so I'll have to put snaps on it for next time. But at least I got to wear it and all.
Did run into Lionel who managed to grab a shot of me in it. Its such a gaudy costume but I kinda love it. XD Its what he wears after all. Still can't believe I actually found leopard print lining for it. lol
And here's some from Ren's camera:
Poor abused Wilhelm
I love Ling's expression here. XD
Ling and Luna did agree that we would do a proper shoot for it sometime once it gets warmer out. I just hope my work schedule will allow for it 'cause I really do want to get actual photos with them. But anywho, was changing out of Lui and when I took the wig off and with the coat unzipped, I realized that I totally looked like Gackt. X_x 'Cause my hair was slicked back from being under the wig cap and all. lol Won't lie, I totally had a Vanilla dance moment in front of the mirror. XD Even though I wanted to bash my head against the wall at the same time. (My feelings about Gackt are a bit complicated but to sum up, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of him and I'm still angry about him being in Crisis Core.) But hey, I looked good! I was totally considering the idea of going around the con just like that later on...until I discovered there was a big rip in the seam of my pants' crotch. ...Oops. lol I don't know how I didn't notice that. But luckily I had a long coat on to cover it up. That and the pants were hanging very loosely on me. I didn't realize until I put them on that I had lost quite a bit of weight. Like dramatically so. I had to safety pin my waistband so that they wouldn't just fall right off (and likewise had to pin several pieces of my older costumes in place throughout the con). Was nice to know I lost that much weight...but wish I had known beforehand. ^^;;
Quickly changed out of Ludwig and into Glen as I was running a little late for the Pandora Hearts gathering. The gathering ended up bigger than expected so they moved outside. Couldn't find them at first but then saw a Gil and figured I'd just follow them. XD As I walked down the outside steps, the gathering saw me and I got this loud cry of "GLEN!!" from everyone (and some "Oswald!" as well, though I'll never get used to calling him that, lol). Its nice being one of the few Glen cosplayers around and well, the only one at the cons I go to anyways. But yeah, the gathering was a nice size. I really missed doing PH cosplay and this gathering definitely renewed my desire to do it more again. I've always really enjoyed every PH gathering I've gone to and every time I've done PH cosplay, I have a really fun time. Its just a great fandom and such a good series. It was also nice that pretty much everyone at the gathering was caught up with the manga so didn't have to worry about spoilers. Especially considering Jensen was there as Lacie. Jensen's friend Kira was doing Jack and had made hilarious Valentines to give out. I threatened to throw mine away when I was given mine. Stupid Jack. XD She also brought those silly "bling" glasses (I have no idea what they're called, sure they have an actual name) for her and I to wear. She let me chose my color and of course I had to chose the pink for Glen.
Check out our swag. The Abyss can't handle us.
After the gathering, Jensen, Kira, and I went back into the con so we could take some shots together as Lacie, Jack, and Glen. I was pretty excited to do a shoot with these characters as its my favorite part of the whole story.
The tragic trio.
Spoiler: Glen sending Lacie to the Abyss. I couldn't remember which hand it was and then Jensen had to like recite the bit from episode one when Zai curses Oz to figure out which it is. lol We are such obsessive dorks.
I looked way too happy for being dead in most of the shots of this one. lol I was trying for no expression but somehow ended up looking far too peaceful. So alternatively you could think of this as the sleeping flashback instead. XD Since Oswald did have a tendency to suddenly fall asleep on Jack.
This is my favorite, even though there are people in the background. Was kinda unavoidable given where the piano is located. I did my best to blur them out here. But we were both pretty excited to do this shot.
Hung out with Kira for a bit at the piano and saw Sapph and Cassi while there. Kira was really cool but sadly she lives in Canada so not sure if I'll see her at a con here again or not considering this was only her 2nd con in the US. Went back to the room and got my Hades entourage together so we could get the costume out of the car and gradually get me in it in time for the Hall judging. ...which was quite the event in itself. Though I had made the costume in a way that it would be easy enough to get on and off and be simple enough for my crew to do. Sadly to say, I def can't get into it without at least one or two people helping. Most of it went pretty smoothly and the way I planned...except the shoulder pieces. Which were a lot more difficult for Beth and Alyce to get on than I expected and they continued to be a bitch all night. But we did eventually get them on. Brittany did my make-up and it was pretty kickass. Though without Hades wig on, I totally looked like the Swan Queen. XD This first run, I was pretty much a nervous wreck about anything breaking so I moved veeeeery slowly and kinda...crab-walked down to the con. lol The elevator wasn't bad at all but the HCC was all the way at the end of a long hall and walking down there was a bit taxing. lol Didn't get there as early as I wanted but still got an early entry. Even though I was a little dismayed they gave Katie a slot before me 'cause she totally showed up after me. I mean, ok, normally I wouldn't care but I was talking to her and Dar and them when they showed up so I know when they came over, despite the HCC people insisting they paid attention and she got there before me. x_x I was just running on limited time 'cause I wanted to meet up with Tohma in Hera before she had to change and didn't want to be stuck in Hades for too long.
And this is where the problems started. Just waiting for my turn, several pieces fell off. T___T One girl had a hotglue gun with her but it only had a little bit of juice left and wasn't hot enough to help much. So Alyce ran back to the room to get my glue gun, so we kinda camped out near the outlet for a while, in case anything else came off. Ended up having to glue my shoulder pieces directly to my chest armor to get them to stay for the time being. Ugh, I was such a mess. lol I'm used to being much better together while waiting for judging. I'm usually the girl with the bag of supplies that I don't even need and instead end up letting other entries borrow. Like super glue and needle and thread, scissors, etc. I always try to be prepared. But I so wasn't for this one since I couldn't carry anything on me. and Ren ran off with my cell phone so couldn't even contact Tohma or Lionel (who I wanted to get a quick shoot with afterwards). But luckily I was all intact once my judging came up. Had to assemble the wings inside the room but they were very understanding about letting us do that. I drew a total blank during the judging though because I'm so used to talking about sewing and details and well...this whole thing was basically the same procedures over and over so there wasn't a whole lot to say. x_x I felt kinda stupid and later thought of more things I could have mentioned. Doh. I should have gone over them in my head beforehand but the whole costume gave me little time to think of that (hell I barely had time to print out references). Oh well. I was amused though that Vartan totally wanted to geek out with me about Saint Seiya, mentioning how he wants to make Ikki. It was hard not to geek out and remember that I have to talk about the costume and not waste my time. lol But at least I got to express my love for it this way.
But I dunno, I kept telling them how this is pretty far out of my comfort zone since I know some of the judges know me and used to cleaner work from me. I just...bah. I felt there were so many things wrong with it. I felt good about it until I got there and saw the other entries. I knew I had no chance right off the back because there were entries with PERFECT armor along with gorgeous seam work. I guess I really should look into Worbla as it does seem to make a big difference but I also would have been DIRT BROKE if I tried to do all of Hades out of that. @_@;;; Even doing this cheap method ended up costing me around $300 in the end. So I don't even want to think about how much it would be out of that stuff or any of the other "nicer" armor materials. I've seen people do incredible stuff though with plastic styrene. I guess I just don't have the knack for it.
So already I was feeling a bit down. My friends kept telling me to feel proud and that I should be happy to finally have my dream costume come to life but I just...wasn't feeling it yet. Tohma had come to us by the time I got out and she was having parts of Hera coming off so she was pretty much at her limit so we got a few shots together in the hall and then decided to go over to her room to make a few repairs on me and then take some shots in the gazebo area since it had been opened up for us again and Tohma had already been over there to confirm it was. On the way there, I totally rammed my ankle wings into each other and heard a crack that meant one had broken. ... I was trying SO hard to avoid that, thus my odd walk. *sighs* But I was ok with that 'cause I kinda figured it was only a matter of time. Just had hoped it would be later on. I mean I prepared myself mentally that something would probably break by the end of the con and to not let it get to me, just repair it later. I was more upset about the shoulder pieces that wouldn't stay in place anyways. Got to the gazebo area, only to see it had been closed off again. ...I didn't make it there in time. Was pretty upset about this, 'cause I really didn't know where to go for photos. Even when Tohma and I got the few photos in the one hall, where we made sure to stay out of the way of traffic and chose a spot with a lot of room...we were still told we couldn't really do that. Was starting to panic. Fighting back tears, I told everyone we should just forget it, this was a bad idea and I'll just change out. During this breakdown of mine, I moved too fast and several more pieces came off which was just the final straw for me. But everyone calmed me down and convinced me to keep trying so first went to Tohma's since her room was right there to make repairs. She introduced me to this glue that works better on the styrene so I need to get that soon and reinforce a lot of the pieces with it. Since obviously my methods weren't enough for some of the pieces. Tried to text Lionel on Tohma's phone but didn't get a response in time before we decided to get me back out there before it got too late for everyone. Once again, had a hard time finding photos. We called Tom over to take some and eventually just ended up down the one little crevice we took pictures in the year before that I had totally forgotten about. But the lighting there wasn't the greatest and no one else saw me in the costume 'cause I was out of sight over there.
Here's the one photo I do rather like from that night though:
This is sadly the only shot we got of the make-up but at least we did get one 'cause I'd feel sad if all Brittany's work didn't get to be seen in the end.
Went back to the room, honestly feeling rather defeated. This was supposed to be my shining moment and it...wasn't. I feel so selfish saying that but I really did want this to be special and to be noticed and I told my crew I was giving up and not going to even bother wearing it on Sat at all 'cause I couldn't go through the pain and frustration again since I knew it'd only be more crowded and harder to find a good spot the next day if that area was going to be closed off all con. I was feeling super depressed so just stayed in the room the rest of the night and made plans to do PH in the morning instead, hoping hanging with Kira and Jensen would cheer me up. I also felt really bad for my handlers since both of them were aching a little bit from carrying my wings for such an amount of time and all. :/ That and them having to deal with me with the mini breakdown and then me being moody all night. Courtney came by to finish sewing her rosebride dress for a bit and we chilled but I never really got out of my slump that night.
Saturday:
Took my time getting ready since I wasn't in any particular hurry. Got in costume pretty much just in time for the Sat PH meet, which was a lot smaller than Friday's group. We discovered early on that the gazebo area had been re-opened up and sure enough, found out the other con decided to let us use half of the space as long as we didn't cross over the tape. Which was great as it gave our con the part of that floor that we wanted. Of course this led to me regretting not getting into Hades again after all so I admit, I was a bit distracted the whole meet 'cause I kept thinking about whether or not I should try to get into Hades again.
I wore Leo this time for the meet and was surprised to see two other Leos considering there weren't any the day before and he's not cosplayed that often. The other two were also surprised. We all brought it, thinking there wouldn't be any. XD ah well. I still wanted to get photos with Kira as Elliot so glad I wore him since I had like very few photos of this costume previously.
Kira as Elliot and me as Leo. I decided to go with regular Leo for this since it wouldn't make sense to do my usual GlenLeo if Elliot was still around.
And here's some from Kira's camera:
Reading Holy Knight together.
But this is the real use of that book XD
During all of this, I realized I really wanted to give Hades another chance. I wasn't willing to leave this con defeated. Sadly all my handlers had made other plans by this point. But Jensen and one of her friends volunteered to help if I needed it, as long as they could go change and get food first. This time around it took a lot less time to get me into the costume and thanks to the glue Tohma let me use, pieces stayed in place better and nothing fell off this time around. Jensen was also better at getting the pieces on in general. She was kinda awesome at it. I totally would recruit her as a handler again. She's used to dealing with Tohma and other folks as a handler so guess her skills in this category are pretty high. XD Didn't really get to do my make-up as nicely since there wasn't as much time so I just did it myself this time around but I felt pretty good about it. I think I'm getting better at this. Overall I felt a lot better about the costume and a lot less scared of walking in it. I guess mostly 'cause I figured now nothing could really phase me and I already had it judged so didn't have to worry about that. Got done to the gazebo, found a spot and just stayed there. XD And sure enough, people came to me with their cameras so I got the moment in the spotlight that I wanted finally. Couldn't stay in it too long cause I knew Jensen wanted to do other things too and I hated taking up all her time and I did want to at least try to see the WCS. But it was enough to make me feel a lot better. Even got into several cosplay videos.
So here's Hades in all his "glory"...
Sadly my posing ability is very limited in this. The arm pieces kept sliding down and they'd get kinda stuck with the gauntlets, making it almost impossible for me to bend my arms. I kept having to ask people to push them back up for me but this wasn't always easy to get people to do so kinda gave up on my arm movements. I'll have to try to think of a way to stop that. My gloves were also bunching up under the gauntlets so that might have something to do with it. I made them so they'd cover my elbow so there wouldn't be skin showing between the pieces. He actually does have skin showing there but I wasn't a fan of how that looks so I went with the gloves. I think maybe if I add some velcro to stick the bottom of the upper arm pieces to the ends of the gloves, maybe that would help prevent both of these issues some. 'Cause I'd really love to do more than just stand there awkwardly like I did for these photos. lol Especially once I have the sword done since I didn't have time to make it for this con. I'll need actual arm movement to be able to wield it.
But overall the experience went a lot better for me. My friends also pointed out that I was moving a lot more and faster now 'cause I obviously was getting more of the hang of it and wasn't so scared.
Here are the videos I've shown up in. I remember being recorded by 4 guys total but only have found 3 of them.
@ 1:29
@ 3:51
@ 4:13
That last one is one of acksonl's videos and as happy as I am to be featured in one of his videos...I wish he had asked me to actually pose instead of just running by me. ^^;; 'cause at the time, Jensen was actually fixing my wig so I'm just like "deeeerp" and talking to her and then I saw him go by and he's all "awesome costume!" and I'm just like "aw dammit" lol. Oh well. XD Even though all of these are tiny bits, I'm still really happy to have been featured in as many as I was since I like never get into any of the cosplay videos. Just like one as Takuto last year. And this was just from standing in Hades for about 30 minutes or so.
Felt satisfied enough so we went back to the room to get me out of the costume. I would have liked more photos but next time I wear this, I'll make sure to schedule some actual shoots (I just didn't know when I'd wear it or if I'd get it done so couldn't schedule any this con anyways). 'Cause after this 2nd run, I felt a lot better and do want to wear it again. I'm just not sure when. @_@ Since not many of the cons I go to would be easy to bring/wear it to. Bleeeeh.
Changed into Utena and Alyce got into Black Duelist Wakaba. We ended up pretty late to the WCS. Only got to see the last 4 skits but there were only like 9 entries total anyways this year, due to them splitting up the preliminaries to be at several cons instead of just at Katsu. Then the finals will be at another con to determine the winner. Kinda takes some of the excitement away, in my opinion. But guess it makes it easier for people so they don't have to travel as far. Don't have much of a real opinion on WCS this year since I only saw some of it. Did watch some of the other skits online afterwards but nothing really stood out to me. Though I did like the breaking of the glass window for the Fate/Zero skit. And the Chrono Cross skit that won was pretty awesome. Though I'm slightly biased as I do love that game. We didn't stick around for the winners though and instead went off to take some Utena photos. Sadly a lot of them blurred or didn't come out.
Alyce as Wakaba slapping Anthy (Courtney). Photo by me.
Wakaba pulling Utena's hair like during their duel. Tried to do it as best as we could remember. lol Its an awkward pose though. I wish this hadn't blurred though. From Ren's camera.
Courtney's hands kept shaking and we realized she hadn't eaten anything...the entire day. And she wasn't feeling too good. Probably didn't help that she ended up being in that zentai suit for Shadow Anthy for far longer than she planned (she was going to do it only part of the day and regular Anthy the rest and instead ended up in shadow almost the whole day). So we dragged her to our room and forced her to eat a sandwich. Also let her borrow some supplies to fix up Anthy with as she was having a few technical difficulties. Her costume was really gorgeous though. Then Courtney, Ren, and I went down to the gazebo level for the Utena gathering Courtney had organized. Alyce wasn't a big fan of gatherings so she chose to skip it. The gathering was small, as we expected, but it was still really nice and everyone was really awesome. I like gatherings like that. And its nice to see a turnout for an older series and see people who love it just as much as we do. Jane took photos throughout the gathering and also did a shoot with us afterwards but she hasn't gotten her photos up yet. So I only have a few right now from other people's cameras.
Revolutionary Girl Utena gathering.
This Anthy had a half sword prop just to be able to do this pose with, was such a great idea! Dian found this photo for me. Sadly its the only one I've found of it. I was really excited to get to do this too. Each of us Utenas took a turn doing this but I was the first to jump in on it. XD;
Did a bunch of shots in another hallway with Courtney stabbing me. XD But those are on Jane's camera so will have to wait for them. Some day hopefully we can get together to do a shoot somewhere with Courtney in regular Anthy so we can do more shots and such. After the photos, we changed out and then went to the sports bar for food. Not my first choice after the issues there last year but Ren didn't want to go outside and it was the cheapest of the restaurants in the Gaylord. Even though the prices have gone up since the first year Katsu was there. I remember the soup being cheaper and then its gradually gone up each year. Its still like the cheapest thing on the menu though and thus the only thing I'm willing to get there as at least their soups are tasty (even though they keep changing what they have) while the other items I've seen on their menu...do not look like they are worth the price. But at least there was no spilling of drink this time around.
While eating, I got a text from Jensen that said "congrats!" and I was like "...for what?" And found out I won a Judge's Award for Hades. I didn't even plan to go to the Masq 'cause I really didn't think I'd be winning anything. Felt a bit sheepish as supposedly I was the only winner that wasn't present. ^^;; One of these days maybe I'll actually be there to accept my award. lol But I always time it badly so that its often a choice of going to the Masq or eating. And I always chose the eating. XD
Ren didn't feel very good afterwards though so I got him some medicine while he and Courtney went back to the room. Both of them were pretty tired at this point. The rest of us were still awake though so we were going to try to take stuff to the car to avoid the craziness on Sunday of checking out...only to find out they weren't allowing anyone from Katsucon to go down the hallway that was closest to the parking lot still. 'Cause that's where the other con was mainly taking place and at first they let us walk through there to that door but after a while, they started blocking it off. Including the elevator there. Which made it really inconvenient. But they did say they would be done later that night and we should be able to use it after 1am. So Alyce, Tom, Brittany, Forest, and I went wandering for a bit. I like never join them in their late night con wandering since I'm usually doing some cosplay thing still or passing out. lol So thought I would for a change. And I haven't gone into a viewing room in years. XD We ended up checking an AMV room which was showing AMV Sushi or whatever its called. Similar to AMV Hell. And then they were doing the AMV awards...which once again reminded me that I really don't know much current anime. lol
After that we went to see if they had the hall open and...nope. And this time they told us like 2 or 3 or something crazy like that and we weren't willing to stay up that late to find out so we all went to bed instead.
Sunday:
Soooo, like most of the con, we got woken up by a "Remain calm. There is no fire emergency. Please return to your rooms." announcement. ...which made us very confused as we never heard a fire alarm and got a bit concerned that we didn't. Still not sure what really happened there. Heard lots of rumors but you know how that goes. But I'm going to assume that hopefully it was just a mistake. ...and not the idea that we might not have heard a REAL fire alarm if there had been one.
Ended up not wearing any cosplay. Again. lol I don't know why I even bother bringing Sunday costumes anymore as I usually end up not doing it. XD I was going to wear LC Hades but just was too dead to put anything on and figured it'd be too hard to deal with luggage in it. That and the sandals aren't very comfortable. And it was cold out so my feet would have been very unhappy.
Check out was...painful. They still had that hallway blocked off and there were a lot of unhappy people about this. They did open up an easier route for us eventually, thanks to the smart thinking of the hotel staff. But it was still ridiculous. I couldn't help but voice a "This is Bullshit" at one point and one of the staffers who was helping to redirect us, nodded her head and said "Yes, it is." which I stopped to thank her as I really didn't expect that. If anything, I was expecting them to either ignore me or tell me that I just had to deal with it. So it was nice knowing at least some of them agreed with us even if they still had to stick to their orders. Everyone was pretty upset but I'm not going to go into it as I think we all got our rants out about the subject back at the con itself. Brittany did in fact file a complaint using the hotel's WiFi before we left the room to express her own feelings. She was the most upset of our whole group and kept complaining to the staffers whenever we were denied entry.
Finally got to go to the Dealer's Room. lol Just didn't have an opportunity all con long due to the stuff and outfits I was doing. XD Not that it mattered as there wasn't anything I really had to have. I was tempted by a lot of Saint Seiya things just 'cause they're not there that often. But it was characters I didn't even like. lol I guess I just feel obligated every time I see it to show my support. They did have some cute new chibis at Anime Sekai, which surprised me as usually only the more known stuff is there. But they were way too much for what they were. I'm used to finding my SS stuff for very cheap considering its not a popular fandom over here. I'm only willing to spend the cash on the better and bigger items for it. And one booth did have some Myth Cloths but no one I wanted. Which is probably good because I have no room for any right now. XD There was a lot of new Persona 4 stuff but...really how much of that do I really need? lol They keep making more though! And even looked over at the doujinshi which I haven't in a long time. And oh man they had like all my favorite FF7 ones. I had to use some massive willpower there. lol 'Cause I do have the scans for them already but they are so pretty. *_* Maybe next time. Though I'm a bit wary of their "translated" ones. Seems a bit odd that a dealer would be selling something like that. Hope they're not using the scanlations considering the ones I did see up are ones that were scanlated online. Unless they got permission. Anywho, I did end up buying one item. At one of the final booths they had a bunch of plushies and I saw an adorable fox I just had to have. I asked the guy if it was from anything in particular, just out of curiosity. And he said it wasn't but that people did say it resembled the Star Driver fox. And I was just like "....I didn't even think about that." lol Which just made me feel even more like I had to have it. XD I guess I could even carry it around as Takuto if I never actually find the time to make my own like I had planned. lol Not sure how accurate it would be. I mainly got it just 'cause it was cute though. I have a very large collection of fox stuffed animals and haven't added any new to it in a while so felt I needed it.
Ran into this guy while in the Dealer's. The other Saint Seiya cosplayer at the con. Episode G version of Aiolia. Saw him on Friday and did see him when I was waiting to get judged so he got to see me in parts of Hades at least (I didn't have my wings on) but I was sad I didn't get a photo of him then so I was glad I ran into him again to finally get his photo and actually talk about SS. Got his facebook information too. Saint Seiya cosplayers are pretty rare so I honestly didn't expect to see any besides me and Tohma. I mean I've only seen like maybe 1-3 SS cosplayers total in all the cons I've gone to.
Didn't make it to the Artist's Alley sadly but was told I wasn't missing much. Ah well. Did pick up my award for Hades. Which was a pretty nice plaque. I didn't expect something so nice for a smaller award. Its actually bigger and nicer than most of my bigger awards. lol Nice to know that Katsu goes out of their way for it though. The guy at the info desk was telling me that they like to make a big deal of the HCC and don't cut costs for it when I told him I was surprised how big it was. I'm used to getting just a piece of paper. XD; Though it was a bit heavy to carry around. lol After that said goodbyes to most of the people I knew then ended up sitting in the bar area of the lobby, waiting for various people. Had a wig to give Corey, was trying to get Jensen's friend her phone back as she left it in our room, and trying to meet up with Luna finally to get my Inu x Boku SS figures. Took quite a bit for all three of these things to happen and I didn't want to leave my spot or else risk them not finding me. Spent most of it just collecting Miis, which Ren was also doing. XD Tried to get up a few times to maybe do something but discovered I was way too tired. I really hurt as a result from Hades. One of the straps to my harness had slide some on Friday night and ended up digging into my skin and I didn't realize it until we took it off. My shoulder hurt a bit from that. lol And my whole body was aching at this point. I was fine all Sat but I guess it finally caught up with me. Got my Inu x Boku figures...which are fucking adorable and awesome. Though I still have them just sitting here in their boxes. I really have run out of room for figures and yet I keep buying them. ^^;; But anyways, Ren and I finally headed out and decided to wait til we got to my area before we bothered to eat so that way we could go to our favorite Japanese restaurant near my home. Which was such a wonderful idea as it really hit the spot and was a great ending to the con.
~Lyn
Thursday:
Just like last year, Ren came down the night before though this time we didn't have the room Thurs night so he just stayed at my place for the night. I had been working on Hades pretty much non-stop the last few months but did manage to get him done with some time to spare. Which was good because I still had other things to work on. Soooo I totally made an entire costume in one day. I kid you not. That includes cutting the fabric and everything. XD It wasn't that bad though and I just really wanted a new Ludwig costume to go with Ling's and Luna's costumes better than my red monster. That and that costume isn't very comfortable. But yeah, I had almost finished it before Ren showed up so I consider that successful. I was going to help Ren modify a shirt for his own silly little costume but he kinda lost the desire to. Ren was kinda in the dumps as is due to hitting a possum on the way to my house. I also felt bad 'cause I wasn't able to make the commission for him I had originally promised him. There just wasn't any time due to Hades and work.
Ren went to bed and I finally got around to packing. Then totally started freaking out when I finally got around to checking Facebook and saw posts from people already at the con that they were kicking people out of the gazebo area and that it may be closed off from us during the whole weekend. For those of you not familiar with Katsucon, the "gazebo area" is one of the floors of the gaylord that has the best backdrops and lighting for photos so its the most popular spot for cosplayers to congregate and photographers do a lot of shoots there. Now normally I wouldn't be too upset about this 'cause while it sucks, there is still a lot more to the con. BUT I chose to debut Hades at this con specifically with the thought in mind that I would just go to that spot and then not move. Because I've witnessed first hand my own friends with their big costumes struggle to get around cons and be told they are in the way or seen people bump into them in crowded areas and things break. I also knew that I'd have very limited movement and probably wouldn't be able to move much further than that point. I also would be out of the way of traffic and it would be easy to get to the area from my hotel room and then have my friends assemble my wings. But with this area blocked off...I honestly had no idea where I could wear this costume without it being an issue. So I went to bed, deeply troubled over this.
Friday:
Woke up early and sure enough, there was a notice on Katsu's website saying that floor would be closed off to us all weekend as there was another convention going on in the gaylord that was paying to use the space. Part of me considered not even bringing Hades but Ren helped convince me that we would figure something out when we got there. Packed everything up and Hades actually didn't take up as much space as I thought he would in the car. I think this was mostly due to my smart planning of finding a box big enough to store most of the pieces in. That and the fact that all the pieces come apart certainly helped. Got to the con, got our badges, which timed out right 'cause the rest of our room was going to get theirs so just waited for them and then got things out of the car and to the room. Decided to keep Hades in the car until it was time to get into him. Since we got to the con later than planned, I was running a bit behind so called Ling to tell her I would be running late for our Ludwig shoot, which she had said we would do around 1pm. ...only to find out that Luna had decided to cancel the shoot. ... I told Ling calmly "...you do realize I made a whole costume in one day yesterday just for this, right?" which she responded that she would wear Wilhelm for me so at least we could get photos, which was very smart 'cause otherwise I may have gotten pretty pissed off that I rushed that costume for nothing. Sadly didn't have the time to put the nails on and had to do my own rushed make-up due to Brittany being at an interview outside of the con. Sooo it wasn't very good (considering it normally takes me like 30 minutes or more to get my own make-up on lol and this is basic stuff here, I'm just very bad at it T_T) but everyone told me it wasn't too bad and that it would work. Met Ling down in the lobby and Ren took some photos. We were pressed for time and I was kinda braindead so couldn't really think of much to do photo wise and my cape kept falling off so I'll have to put snaps on it for next time. But at least I got to wear it and all.
Did run into Lionel who managed to grab a shot of me in it. Its such a gaudy costume but I kinda love it. XD Its what he wears after all. Still can't believe I actually found leopard print lining for it. lol
And here's some from Ren's camera:
Poor abused Wilhelm
I love Ling's expression here. XD
Ling and Luna did agree that we would do a proper shoot for it sometime once it gets warmer out. I just hope my work schedule will allow for it 'cause I really do want to get actual photos with them. But anywho, was changing out of Lui and when I took the wig off and with the coat unzipped, I realized that I totally looked like Gackt. X_x 'Cause my hair was slicked back from being under the wig cap and all. lol Won't lie, I totally had a Vanilla dance moment in front of the mirror. XD Even though I wanted to bash my head against the wall at the same time. (My feelings about Gackt are a bit complicated but to sum up, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of him and I'm still angry about him being in Crisis Core.) But hey, I looked good! I was totally considering the idea of going around the con just like that later on...until I discovered there was a big rip in the seam of my pants' crotch. ...Oops. lol I don't know how I didn't notice that. But luckily I had a long coat on to cover it up. That and the pants were hanging very loosely on me. I didn't realize until I put them on that I had lost quite a bit of weight. Like dramatically so. I had to safety pin my waistband so that they wouldn't just fall right off (and likewise had to pin several pieces of my older costumes in place throughout the con). Was nice to know I lost that much weight...but wish I had known beforehand. ^^;;
Quickly changed out of Ludwig and into Glen as I was running a little late for the Pandora Hearts gathering. The gathering ended up bigger than expected so they moved outside. Couldn't find them at first but then saw a Gil and figured I'd just follow them. XD As I walked down the outside steps, the gathering saw me and I got this loud cry of "GLEN!!" from everyone (and some "Oswald!" as well, though I'll never get used to calling him that, lol). Its nice being one of the few Glen cosplayers around and well, the only one at the cons I go to anyways. But yeah, the gathering was a nice size. I really missed doing PH cosplay and this gathering definitely renewed my desire to do it more again. I've always really enjoyed every PH gathering I've gone to and every time I've done PH cosplay, I have a really fun time. Its just a great fandom and such a good series. It was also nice that pretty much everyone at the gathering was caught up with the manga so didn't have to worry about spoilers. Especially considering Jensen was there as Lacie. Jensen's friend Kira was doing Jack and had made hilarious Valentines to give out. I threatened to throw mine away when I was given mine. Stupid Jack. XD She also brought those silly "bling" glasses (I have no idea what they're called, sure they have an actual name) for her and I to wear. She let me chose my color and of course I had to chose the pink for Glen.
Check out our swag. The Abyss can't handle us.
After the gathering, Jensen, Kira, and I went back into the con so we could take some shots together as Lacie, Jack, and Glen. I was pretty excited to do a shoot with these characters as its my favorite part of the whole story.
The tragic trio.
Spoiler: Glen sending Lacie to the Abyss. I couldn't remember which hand it was and then Jensen had to like recite the bit from episode one when Zai curses Oz to figure out which it is. lol We are such obsessive dorks.
I looked way too happy for being dead in most of the shots of this one. lol I was trying for no expression but somehow ended up looking far too peaceful. So alternatively you could think of this as the sleeping flashback instead. XD Since Oswald did have a tendency to suddenly fall asleep on Jack.
This is my favorite, even though there are people in the background. Was kinda unavoidable given where the piano is located. I did my best to blur them out here. But we were both pretty excited to do this shot.
Hung out with Kira for a bit at the piano and saw Sapph and Cassi while there. Kira was really cool but sadly she lives in Canada so not sure if I'll see her at a con here again or not considering this was only her 2nd con in the US. Went back to the room and got my Hades entourage together so we could get the costume out of the car and gradually get me in it in time for the Hall judging. ...which was quite the event in itself. Though I had made the costume in a way that it would be easy enough to get on and off and be simple enough for my crew to do. Sadly to say, I def can't get into it without at least one or two people helping. Most of it went pretty smoothly and the way I planned...except the shoulder pieces. Which were a lot more difficult for Beth and Alyce to get on than I expected and they continued to be a bitch all night. But we did eventually get them on. Brittany did my make-up and it was pretty kickass. Though without Hades wig on, I totally looked like the Swan Queen. XD This first run, I was pretty much a nervous wreck about anything breaking so I moved veeeeery slowly and kinda...crab-walked down to the con. lol The elevator wasn't bad at all but the HCC was all the way at the end of a long hall and walking down there was a bit taxing. lol Didn't get there as early as I wanted but still got an early entry. Even though I was a little dismayed they gave Katie a slot before me 'cause she totally showed up after me. I mean, ok, normally I wouldn't care but I was talking to her and Dar and them when they showed up so I know when they came over, despite the HCC people insisting they paid attention and she got there before me. x_x I was just running on limited time 'cause I wanted to meet up with Tohma in Hera before she had to change and didn't want to be stuck in Hades for too long.
And this is where the problems started. Just waiting for my turn, several pieces fell off. T___T One girl had a hotglue gun with her but it only had a little bit of juice left and wasn't hot enough to help much. So Alyce ran back to the room to get my glue gun, so we kinda camped out near the outlet for a while, in case anything else came off. Ended up having to glue my shoulder pieces directly to my chest armor to get them to stay for the time being. Ugh, I was such a mess. lol I'm used to being much better together while waiting for judging. I'm usually the girl with the bag of supplies that I don't even need and instead end up letting other entries borrow. Like super glue and needle and thread, scissors, etc. I always try to be prepared. But I so wasn't for this one since I couldn't carry anything on me. and Ren ran off with my cell phone so couldn't even contact Tohma or Lionel (who I wanted to get a quick shoot with afterwards). But luckily I was all intact once my judging came up. Had to assemble the wings inside the room but they were very understanding about letting us do that. I drew a total blank during the judging though because I'm so used to talking about sewing and details and well...this whole thing was basically the same procedures over and over so there wasn't a whole lot to say. x_x I felt kinda stupid and later thought of more things I could have mentioned. Doh. I should have gone over them in my head beforehand but the whole costume gave me little time to think of that (hell I barely had time to print out references). Oh well. I was amused though that Vartan totally wanted to geek out with me about Saint Seiya, mentioning how he wants to make Ikki. It was hard not to geek out and remember that I have to talk about the costume and not waste my time. lol But at least I got to express my love for it this way.
But I dunno, I kept telling them how this is pretty far out of my comfort zone since I know some of the judges know me and used to cleaner work from me. I just...bah. I felt there were so many things wrong with it. I felt good about it until I got there and saw the other entries. I knew I had no chance right off the back because there were entries with PERFECT armor along with gorgeous seam work. I guess I really should look into Worbla as it does seem to make a big difference but I also would have been DIRT BROKE if I tried to do all of Hades out of that. @_@;;; Even doing this cheap method ended up costing me around $300 in the end. So I don't even want to think about how much it would be out of that stuff or any of the other "nicer" armor materials. I've seen people do incredible stuff though with plastic styrene. I guess I just don't have the knack for it.
So already I was feeling a bit down. My friends kept telling me to feel proud and that I should be happy to finally have my dream costume come to life but I just...wasn't feeling it yet. Tohma had come to us by the time I got out and she was having parts of Hera coming off so she was pretty much at her limit so we got a few shots together in the hall and then decided to go over to her room to make a few repairs on me and then take some shots in the gazebo area since it had been opened up for us again and Tohma had already been over there to confirm it was. On the way there, I totally rammed my ankle wings into each other and heard a crack that meant one had broken. ... I was trying SO hard to avoid that, thus my odd walk. *sighs* But I was ok with that 'cause I kinda figured it was only a matter of time. Just had hoped it would be later on. I mean I prepared myself mentally that something would probably break by the end of the con and to not let it get to me, just repair it later. I was more upset about the shoulder pieces that wouldn't stay in place anyways. Got to the gazebo area, only to see it had been closed off again. ...I didn't make it there in time. Was pretty upset about this, 'cause I really didn't know where to go for photos. Even when Tohma and I got the few photos in the one hall, where we made sure to stay out of the way of traffic and chose a spot with a lot of room...we were still told we couldn't really do that. Was starting to panic. Fighting back tears, I told everyone we should just forget it, this was a bad idea and I'll just change out. During this breakdown of mine, I moved too fast and several more pieces came off which was just the final straw for me. But everyone calmed me down and convinced me to keep trying so first went to Tohma's since her room was right there to make repairs. She introduced me to this glue that works better on the styrene so I need to get that soon and reinforce a lot of the pieces with it. Since obviously my methods weren't enough for some of the pieces. Tried to text Lionel on Tohma's phone but didn't get a response in time before we decided to get me back out there before it got too late for everyone. Once again, had a hard time finding photos. We called Tom over to take some and eventually just ended up down the one little crevice we took pictures in the year before that I had totally forgotten about. But the lighting there wasn't the greatest and no one else saw me in the costume 'cause I was out of sight over there.
Here's the one photo I do rather like from that night though:
This is sadly the only shot we got of the make-up but at least we did get one 'cause I'd feel sad if all Brittany's work didn't get to be seen in the end.
Went back to the room, honestly feeling rather defeated. This was supposed to be my shining moment and it...wasn't. I feel so selfish saying that but I really did want this to be special and to be noticed and I told my crew I was giving up and not going to even bother wearing it on Sat at all 'cause I couldn't go through the pain and frustration again since I knew it'd only be more crowded and harder to find a good spot the next day if that area was going to be closed off all con. I was feeling super depressed so just stayed in the room the rest of the night and made plans to do PH in the morning instead, hoping hanging with Kira and Jensen would cheer me up. I also felt really bad for my handlers since both of them were aching a little bit from carrying my wings for such an amount of time and all. :/ That and them having to deal with me with the mini breakdown and then me being moody all night. Courtney came by to finish sewing her rosebride dress for a bit and we chilled but I never really got out of my slump that night.
Saturday:
Took my time getting ready since I wasn't in any particular hurry. Got in costume pretty much just in time for the Sat PH meet, which was a lot smaller than Friday's group. We discovered early on that the gazebo area had been re-opened up and sure enough, found out the other con decided to let us use half of the space as long as we didn't cross over the tape. Which was great as it gave our con the part of that floor that we wanted. Of course this led to me regretting not getting into Hades again after all so I admit, I was a bit distracted the whole meet 'cause I kept thinking about whether or not I should try to get into Hades again.
I wore Leo this time for the meet and was surprised to see two other Leos considering there weren't any the day before and he's not cosplayed that often. The other two were also surprised. We all brought it, thinking there wouldn't be any. XD ah well. I still wanted to get photos with Kira as Elliot so glad I wore him since I had like very few photos of this costume previously.
Kira as Elliot and me as Leo. I decided to go with regular Leo for this since it wouldn't make sense to do my usual GlenLeo if Elliot was still around.
And here's some from Kira's camera:
Reading Holy Knight together.
But this is the real use of that book XD
During all of this, I realized I really wanted to give Hades another chance. I wasn't willing to leave this con defeated. Sadly all my handlers had made other plans by this point. But Jensen and one of her friends volunteered to help if I needed it, as long as they could go change and get food first. This time around it took a lot less time to get me into the costume and thanks to the glue Tohma let me use, pieces stayed in place better and nothing fell off this time around. Jensen was also better at getting the pieces on in general. She was kinda awesome at it. I totally would recruit her as a handler again. She's used to dealing with Tohma and other folks as a handler so guess her skills in this category are pretty high. XD Didn't really get to do my make-up as nicely since there wasn't as much time so I just did it myself this time around but I felt pretty good about it. I think I'm getting better at this. Overall I felt a lot better about the costume and a lot less scared of walking in it. I guess mostly 'cause I figured now nothing could really phase me and I already had it judged so didn't have to worry about that. Got done to the gazebo, found a spot and just stayed there. XD And sure enough, people came to me with their cameras so I got the moment in the spotlight that I wanted finally. Couldn't stay in it too long cause I knew Jensen wanted to do other things too and I hated taking up all her time and I did want to at least try to see the WCS. But it was enough to make me feel a lot better. Even got into several cosplay videos.
So here's Hades in all his "glory"...
Sadly my posing ability is very limited in this. The arm pieces kept sliding down and they'd get kinda stuck with the gauntlets, making it almost impossible for me to bend my arms. I kept having to ask people to push them back up for me but this wasn't always easy to get people to do so kinda gave up on my arm movements. I'll have to try to think of a way to stop that. My gloves were also bunching up under the gauntlets so that might have something to do with it. I made them so they'd cover my elbow so there wouldn't be skin showing between the pieces. He actually does have skin showing there but I wasn't a fan of how that looks so I went with the gloves. I think maybe if I add some velcro to stick the bottom of the upper arm pieces to the ends of the gloves, maybe that would help prevent both of these issues some. 'Cause I'd really love to do more than just stand there awkwardly like I did for these photos. lol Especially once I have the sword done since I didn't have time to make it for this con. I'll need actual arm movement to be able to wield it.
But overall the experience went a lot better for me. My friends also pointed out that I was moving a lot more and faster now 'cause I obviously was getting more of the hang of it and wasn't so scared.
Here are the videos I've shown up in. I remember being recorded by 4 guys total but only have found 3 of them.
@ 1:29
@ 3:51
@ 4:13
That last one is one of acksonl's videos and as happy as I am to be featured in one of his videos...I wish he had asked me to actually pose instead of just running by me. ^^;; 'cause at the time, Jensen was actually fixing my wig so I'm just like "deeeerp" and talking to her and then I saw him go by and he's all "awesome costume!" and I'm just like "aw dammit" lol. Oh well. XD Even though all of these are tiny bits, I'm still really happy to have been featured in as many as I was since I like never get into any of the cosplay videos. Just like one as Takuto last year. And this was just from standing in Hades for about 30 minutes or so.
Felt satisfied enough so we went back to the room to get me out of the costume. I would have liked more photos but next time I wear this, I'll make sure to schedule some actual shoots (I just didn't know when I'd wear it or if I'd get it done so couldn't schedule any this con anyways). 'Cause after this 2nd run, I felt a lot better and do want to wear it again. I'm just not sure when. @_@ Since not many of the cons I go to would be easy to bring/wear it to. Bleeeeh.
Changed into Utena and Alyce got into Black Duelist Wakaba. We ended up pretty late to the WCS. Only got to see the last 4 skits but there were only like 9 entries total anyways this year, due to them splitting up the preliminaries to be at several cons instead of just at Katsu. Then the finals will be at another con to determine the winner. Kinda takes some of the excitement away, in my opinion. But guess it makes it easier for people so they don't have to travel as far. Don't have much of a real opinion on WCS this year since I only saw some of it. Did watch some of the other skits online afterwards but nothing really stood out to me. Though I did like the breaking of the glass window for the Fate/Zero skit. And the Chrono Cross skit that won was pretty awesome. Though I'm slightly biased as I do love that game. We didn't stick around for the winners though and instead went off to take some Utena photos. Sadly a lot of them blurred or didn't come out.
Alyce as Wakaba slapping Anthy (Courtney). Photo by me.
Wakaba pulling Utena's hair like during their duel. Tried to do it as best as we could remember. lol Its an awkward pose though. I wish this hadn't blurred though. From Ren's camera.
Courtney's hands kept shaking and we realized she hadn't eaten anything...the entire day. And she wasn't feeling too good. Probably didn't help that she ended up being in that zentai suit for Shadow Anthy for far longer than she planned (she was going to do it only part of the day and regular Anthy the rest and instead ended up in shadow almost the whole day). So we dragged her to our room and forced her to eat a sandwich. Also let her borrow some supplies to fix up Anthy with as she was having a few technical difficulties. Her costume was really gorgeous though. Then Courtney, Ren, and I went down to the gazebo level for the Utena gathering Courtney had organized. Alyce wasn't a big fan of gatherings so she chose to skip it. The gathering was small, as we expected, but it was still really nice and everyone was really awesome. I like gatherings like that. And its nice to see a turnout for an older series and see people who love it just as much as we do. Jane took photos throughout the gathering and also did a shoot with us afterwards but she hasn't gotten her photos up yet. So I only have a few right now from other people's cameras.
Revolutionary Girl Utena gathering.
This Anthy had a half sword prop just to be able to do this pose with, was such a great idea! Dian found this photo for me. Sadly its the only one I've found of it. I was really excited to get to do this too. Each of us Utenas took a turn doing this but I was the first to jump in on it. XD;
Did a bunch of shots in another hallway with Courtney stabbing me. XD But those are on Jane's camera so will have to wait for them. Some day hopefully we can get together to do a shoot somewhere with Courtney in regular Anthy so we can do more shots and such. After the photos, we changed out and then went to the sports bar for food. Not my first choice after the issues there last year but Ren didn't want to go outside and it was the cheapest of the restaurants in the Gaylord. Even though the prices have gone up since the first year Katsu was there. I remember the soup being cheaper and then its gradually gone up each year. Its still like the cheapest thing on the menu though and thus the only thing I'm willing to get there as at least their soups are tasty (even though they keep changing what they have) while the other items I've seen on their menu...do not look like they are worth the price. But at least there was no spilling of drink this time around.
While eating, I got a text from Jensen that said "congrats!" and I was like "...for what?" And found out I won a Judge's Award for Hades. I didn't even plan to go to the Masq 'cause I really didn't think I'd be winning anything. Felt a bit sheepish as supposedly I was the only winner that wasn't present. ^^;; One of these days maybe I'll actually be there to accept my award. lol But I always time it badly so that its often a choice of going to the Masq or eating. And I always chose the eating. XD
Ren didn't feel very good afterwards though so I got him some medicine while he and Courtney went back to the room. Both of them were pretty tired at this point. The rest of us were still awake though so we were going to try to take stuff to the car to avoid the craziness on Sunday of checking out...only to find out they weren't allowing anyone from Katsucon to go down the hallway that was closest to the parking lot still. 'Cause that's where the other con was mainly taking place and at first they let us walk through there to that door but after a while, they started blocking it off. Including the elevator there. Which made it really inconvenient. But they did say they would be done later that night and we should be able to use it after 1am. So Alyce, Tom, Brittany, Forest, and I went wandering for a bit. I like never join them in their late night con wandering since I'm usually doing some cosplay thing still or passing out. lol So thought I would for a change. And I haven't gone into a viewing room in years. XD We ended up checking an AMV room which was showing AMV Sushi or whatever its called. Similar to AMV Hell. And then they were doing the AMV awards...which once again reminded me that I really don't know much current anime. lol
After that we went to see if they had the hall open and...nope. And this time they told us like 2 or 3 or something crazy like that and we weren't willing to stay up that late to find out so we all went to bed instead.
Sunday:
Soooo, like most of the con, we got woken up by a "Remain calm. There is no fire emergency. Please return to your rooms." announcement. ...which made us very confused as we never heard a fire alarm and got a bit concerned that we didn't. Still not sure what really happened there. Heard lots of rumors but you know how that goes. But I'm going to assume that hopefully it was just a mistake. ...and not the idea that we might not have heard a REAL fire alarm if there had been one.
Ended up not wearing any cosplay. Again. lol I don't know why I even bother bringing Sunday costumes anymore as I usually end up not doing it. XD I was going to wear LC Hades but just was too dead to put anything on and figured it'd be too hard to deal with luggage in it. That and the sandals aren't very comfortable. And it was cold out so my feet would have been very unhappy.
Check out was...painful. They still had that hallway blocked off and there were a lot of unhappy people about this. They did open up an easier route for us eventually, thanks to the smart thinking of the hotel staff. But it was still ridiculous. I couldn't help but voice a "This is Bullshit" at one point and one of the staffers who was helping to redirect us, nodded her head and said "Yes, it is." which I stopped to thank her as I really didn't expect that. If anything, I was expecting them to either ignore me or tell me that I just had to deal with it. So it was nice knowing at least some of them agreed with us even if they still had to stick to their orders. Everyone was pretty upset but I'm not going to go into it as I think we all got our rants out about the subject back at the con itself. Brittany did in fact file a complaint using the hotel's WiFi before we left the room to express her own feelings. She was the most upset of our whole group and kept complaining to the staffers whenever we were denied entry.
Finally got to go to the Dealer's Room. lol Just didn't have an opportunity all con long due to the stuff and outfits I was doing. XD Not that it mattered as there wasn't anything I really had to have. I was tempted by a lot of Saint Seiya things just 'cause they're not there that often. But it was characters I didn't even like. lol I guess I just feel obligated every time I see it to show my support. They did have some cute new chibis at Anime Sekai, which surprised me as usually only the more known stuff is there. But they were way too much for what they were. I'm used to finding my SS stuff for very cheap considering its not a popular fandom over here. I'm only willing to spend the cash on the better and bigger items for it. And one booth did have some Myth Cloths but no one I wanted. Which is probably good because I have no room for any right now. XD There was a lot of new Persona 4 stuff but...really how much of that do I really need? lol They keep making more though! And even looked over at the doujinshi which I haven't in a long time. And oh man they had like all my favorite FF7 ones. I had to use some massive willpower there. lol 'Cause I do have the scans for them already but they are so pretty. *_* Maybe next time. Though I'm a bit wary of their "translated" ones. Seems a bit odd that a dealer would be selling something like that. Hope they're not using the scanlations considering the ones I did see up are ones that were scanlated online. Unless they got permission. Anywho, I did end up buying one item. At one of the final booths they had a bunch of plushies and I saw an adorable fox I just had to have. I asked the guy if it was from anything in particular, just out of curiosity. And he said it wasn't but that people did say it resembled the Star Driver fox. And I was just like "....I didn't even think about that." lol Which just made me feel even more like I had to have it. XD I guess I could even carry it around as Takuto if I never actually find the time to make my own like I had planned. lol Not sure how accurate it would be. I mainly got it just 'cause it was cute though. I have a very large collection of fox stuffed animals and haven't added any new to it in a while so felt I needed it.
Ran into this guy while in the Dealer's. The other Saint Seiya cosplayer at the con. Episode G version of Aiolia. Saw him on Friday and did see him when I was waiting to get judged so he got to see me in parts of Hades at least (I didn't have my wings on) but I was sad I didn't get a photo of him then so I was glad I ran into him again to finally get his photo and actually talk about SS. Got his facebook information too. Saint Seiya cosplayers are pretty rare so I honestly didn't expect to see any besides me and Tohma. I mean I've only seen like maybe 1-3 SS cosplayers total in all the cons I've gone to.
Didn't make it to the Artist's Alley sadly but was told I wasn't missing much. Ah well. Did pick up my award for Hades. Which was a pretty nice plaque. I didn't expect something so nice for a smaller award. Its actually bigger and nicer than most of my bigger awards. lol Nice to know that Katsu goes out of their way for it though. The guy at the info desk was telling me that they like to make a big deal of the HCC and don't cut costs for it when I told him I was surprised how big it was. I'm used to getting just a piece of paper. XD; Though it was a bit heavy to carry around. lol After that said goodbyes to most of the people I knew then ended up sitting in the bar area of the lobby, waiting for various people. Had a wig to give Corey, was trying to get Jensen's friend her phone back as she left it in our room, and trying to meet up with Luna finally to get my Inu x Boku SS figures. Took quite a bit for all three of these things to happen and I didn't want to leave my spot or else risk them not finding me. Spent most of it just collecting Miis, which Ren was also doing. XD Tried to get up a few times to maybe do something but discovered I was way too tired. I really hurt as a result from Hades. One of the straps to my harness had slide some on Friday night and ended up digging into my skin and I didn't realize it until we took it off. My shoulder hurt a bit from that. lol And my whole body was aching at this point. I was fine all Sat but I guess it finally caught up with me. Got my Inu x Boku figures...which are fucking adorable and awesome. Though I still have them just sitting here in their boxes. I really have run out of room for figures and yet I keep buying them. ^^;; But anyways, Ren and I finally headed out and decided to wait til we got to my area before we bothered to eat so that way we could go to our favorite Japanese restaurant near my home. Which was such a wonderful idea as it really hit the spot and was a great ending to the con.
~Lyn
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-03-29 11:27 am (UTC)That's... wow. I once cosplayed as Shun and it was quite hellish, especially to move without breaking anything. I can't imagine what that was with such a "Cloth" (I can't compare, though, I'm terribly shabby at this). I'm sorry that you had so many problems and it didn't work for you at first, but hey! So cool that it got better and you were even awarded! If I had been there I would have harrassed you with my camera, do not doubt it! You know how I feel about Saint Seiya (even if I'm not much into cosplay).
And it's really nice to know that Utena still have so many fans.
It still boggles my mind the amount of work you people pour into this.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-29 06:00 pm (UTC)Hades I did my best to try to create as much mobility as possible but with it all combined...its hard. lol But I think I know how to fix it some to make it easier. I just want to be able to do actual poses with my arms. XD I'm also thinking of making the "crotch piece" a little smaller 'cause a friend of mine pointed out that she thought it was a bit too big and made me look small as a result. And since I already am small, I need to take that in account of sizing the pieces. I did try this but somehow all together that piece ended up bigger than intended.
But anyways, glad you liked it. ^.^ I've been the most anxious to show it to my few SS friends.
And yeah I feel like Utena has been making a comeback lately. I think its in part due to those new boxsets that came out a year or two ago. And there was an exhibit for it recently in Japan. I think it must have been the-something anniversary for it. But its still like my favorite anime of all time so I'm pretty happy to see it get the love all over again. I just wish they would bring back the merchandise for it as I was too poor to get any of it when it first came out and now its all super rare and expensive.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-30 12:03 pm (UTC)Now that you mention it, I think your friend is right, maybe a smaller "crotch piece" would fit better; it demands too much attention too, as it is, which is a pity because the guards in arms and legs are complex and look great and the wings are espectacular.
I've never been one for merchandising. Never had the money, nor the space. But the anime was awesome (and bizarre, but I mean it as a compliment) and it's a pity it isn't so well known in Spain. And I feel I'm getting older, stuck in my old fandoms when everybody else is young and has no idea what I'm talking about!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-29 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-29 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-29 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-01 04:42 am (UTC)