Zenkaikon 2014
Sep. 8th, 2014 02:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rose_of_painI was asked to be a judge for Zenkaikon's Hall Cosplay Contest this year. I was a judge back in 2011 and rather enjoyed the experience so I was definitely up for making a return to the con. I had heard the con had grown a lot in size and was a bit different now that it had moved location and boy was that right. I'm glad to see the con grow and I really enjoyed it so I'm hoping to be there next year too.
Thursday:
Katie and Ian picked me up shortly after I got off work and we headed up to Lancaster with some great car conversations. Its super lame of me that I see them so little considering how close they live to me but that's typical of my hermit-self. ^^;; Its hard to find the time to meet up though and I'm always so awkward about it unless there's at least a con to use as an excuse. Anywho, we got in a bit later than I had originally thought I'd be there so ended up being the last of my room to arrive and they were all at dinner when I got there so had to wait in the lobby for a bit. This ended up being slightly awkward simply because there appeared to be a wedding party at the same hotel and they seemed to think the area I was sitting in belonged to them or something because the drunk mother of the bride decided to just plop herself down with drink in hand on the same couch I was sitting on despite the fact there were a ton of other empty seats available. Oi.
Discovered that Eric wasn't exaggerating when he said we couldn't walk from our hotel to the con. I mean when he said he'd be driving us every day, I thought it was just a really long walk but doable. ...more like impossible. Our hotel was basically a 20 minute drive from the con center. And yet this was still the closest hotel after the main hotel (which had booked completely much sooner than anyone expected which is why we had no other option). And boy did it make life so much harder for us all. Never want to be in a hotel that far from a con ever again. It resulted in us basically being stuck at the con center for the entire day each day which also meant we couldn't really do any costume changes. Which was fine...but I was not keen on the idea of being stuck in one single costume the whole day. There's a reason I do more than one per day simply because I can't stand being in one for too long. I need to get out of it after a certain point no matter what it is.
Anyways, watched Eric work his magic on a cheap wig and turn it into a piece of art (seriously wtf) and then passed out in what we once again dubbed "The Gay Bed" (even with a little labeled card provided by Eric lol).
Friday:
Due to an unfortunate turn of events, Lex and I ended up stranded in the hotel room for a bit. Kinda sucked cause even though we didn't have to judge til later that evening, we both wanted to at least see some of the con beforehand and we didn't really know when Eric would get a chance to come back for us. Luckily I managed to get a hold of Alyce before she parked her car (she was only coming for the day to hang with me for a little bit and cosplay Utena with me) so she turned around and picked us up so we could all go to the con together. Luckily being stuck in Utena for the whole day wasn't too bad as its one of my more comfortable costumes. And I didn't have to bind and got to wear canvas shoes so thank god for that (Sat I would not be as lucky). But yeah I was pretty shocked how long the drive to the con took. But we did get there and I got my badge (yay free badge) and saw Ian and Dan so went to talk to them and one of them saw my sword and was like "heeey you should get that checked *hinthint*" Me: "Oh yeah, where is the prop check anyways?" "...you're already here." and for some reason I thought they meant I was already here at the con or something so I kept being like "huh?" and they kept repeating until I finally noticed the sign in their hand that read "Prop Check Here". ......well then.
Since Alyce didn't have a badge (since she was only there for the day since like most cons these days, they got rid of day badges and she didn't want to pay for a whole weekend just for Fri) we were limited on where we could go so spent most of my time with her outside of the con or in the hotel lobby (since the con center is connected to a hotel) for photos and chatting. We wandered through Lancaster a little to find food. Its an interesting little city, I'll give it that. We saw a sign for a noodle place but discovered it wasn't actually opening for several months but that they had a tiny mini pick-up window for it now with a limited menu. Sadly didn't have any of the stuff we were actually interested in on their future menu but didn't really feel like wandering for something else so I just got some spring rolls and bubble tea. At least the bubble tea lasted me for quite a while. lol Back at the con center, I went back in to use the restroom but got stopped by Laura on the way who showed me the Cosplay HQ room which had its own much nicer bathroom. XD It was pretty classy. I also noticed how nice the room in general was and how it was all super secret with where it was. I ended up spending a lot of the weekend there.
We took some photos at the outside gazebo and when Alyce asked for a photo of a close-up of her new black duelist ring...I then realized I had dropped my ring in the bathroom earlier. Luckily it was still there cause otherwise that would have been the 2nd one I've lost. X_X We had quite a few people ask for our photos even with us just stuck in the lobby. Had a number of them comment that they never see Utena cosplay these days...which in all honesty just means they aren't looking for it because lol I see it all the time? I mean yeah its not like there's a million of us running around but I always see at least 1 or 2 at the cons I go to. We aren't as rare as they were making us out to be but then again I forget a lot of the attendees for this con only go to this con and Philly area cons so I guess maybe they don't have as many there? Despite this, I have yet to find a single photo of us. Oh well. XD Sadly this whole con report is going to lack in photos since Alyce hasn't gotten the ones we took back to me yet and I took barely any the whole weekend.
After Alyce left so she could get home before rush hour, I used the remaining time left to do a quick run of the Dealer's/Artist Alley. Ran into Eric while in there. Wasn't much of interest in there so took Eric over to Cosplay HQ so he could get his judge badge (which Laura had already given me mine earlier). While there, everyone told us to check out the adjourning room and we were both floored by how nice it was. Took some photos of Eric there since he was already in his Edwardian get-up which worked rather nicely. Pretty proud of some of the shots I got of him considering I'm not that great of a photographer and all. XD Though man did I wish I had a costume appropriate for the room a well but I've already got plans for maybe some Cain cosplay next year.
Then it was finally time for Friday's Hall judging. Eric, Lex, and I were the judges this time and I think we made a pretty awesome team. There were A LOT more entries than there was in 2011. I remember we had barely anyone do Friday back then and we had to find people around the con and talk them into coming in and getting judged. XD Didn't have to do that this time though at the end we did finish early so Laura decided to go find a few more entries just so we would fill up the whole time slot. Overall it was a pretty good turnout. We also got fed a small dinner of...3 meatballs? But hey they were good and I was just glad to have food in general. There was a bit of rationing going on with the staff food in general this year but not going to go into that.
It was pretty late once judging was over and we were all kinda anxious to finally get out of costumes we had been stuck in all day so we packed ourselves into Eric's car which resulted in having to put Lex in the trunk area since there was more people than seats but she seemed content back there. We just had to remember to let her out since she can't open it from her side and we almost forgot a few times over the weekend. XD
Saturday:
It took us all longer to get ready than we thought it would and while we still would have been doing ok on time...and then turned out there was a marathon going on in the city that morning and we had to take a detour which was full of traffic so we ended up running a bit late. So we ended up having to start Hall a little late. Laura brought us some breakfast foods and snacks at least and I happily consumed a few Go-gurts as the first few entries came in. Felt a little rude eating in front of them but we needed it to get us going. ^^;; Saturday is always the day with the most entries and sure enough we had even more than Friday. I wore Takuto this time around, which originally I had planned top only wear for the Masquerade since its one of my best made costumes and figured it'd be good to wear to show that I'm at least semi-qualified to even be a judge, lol. But of course instead ended up having to wear it all day (but it was better than being stuck in Kid Loki all day which was the only other costume I had with me...which never got worn. Oh well.) We had a 30 minute break for lunch but it took most of that time for poor Laura and Ian to get the food to us so ended up having to eat it very quickly in the end so not to keep people waiting too much longer. They eventually had to stop accepting entries so we could try to get everyone in for the scheduled time. I'm surprised people were still trying to sign up that late in the day. Just goes to show how much bigger the con has gotten. Even after the cut off though we still ended up going like almost an hour over when we were supposed to end, which also gave us less time to make our decisions. We went straight to the Cosplay HQ and only had so much time to decide on the winners and get the awards ready (which we barely managed to get done in time).
Realizing that we'd have no time between this and the Masquerade and I had planned to at least take Takuto off for a bit in between, I pretty much ended up gradually stripping out of costume while we were discussing. lol Little by little more of the costume came off so I'd at least be semi comfortable because I just couldn't stand being stuck in those boots and everything for that long without a break. But man it was tough deciding the awards this year. We had so many good entries and seriously everyone who entered did such a great job on their costumes. Its always hard because you can only give out so many awards and we did in fact end up giving out every single one possible to the point we ran out of certificates. And this time around we were smart and Eric had a cheat sheet of who was who in what costume so we wouldn't forget (like we did last time, where we forgot to write down what character each person did XD). Lex and I both decided to just let Eric do all the talking and he was totally fine with that (we're both wusses when it comes to the stage lol).
So soon it was time for met to get myself back together and we went over to the Masquerade to get seated up front. I honestly don't remember much about the Masquerade itself since it was several months ago but I do remember it was still pretty short and mostly dance numbers, which seems to be how most Masquerades are these days. But I was impressed by the dramatic Kuroshitsuji skit since the 2 in that skit performed their lines live and delivered them very well, even if I thought the skit itself was a bit overdramatic. To be honest I was more interested in watching all our Walk-Ons. I was surprised by how many people on Friday also participated in it. Almost all our entries did (though Sat's were all required to do it but no one seemed to have issue with that, they all wanted to show off ^.^). Then there were the AMV winners and the Free! AMV to "Its Raining Men" was pretty entertaining. XD Though the Pikachu/Rainbow Dash video still haunts and confuses me...I mean...wtf? O_o Still not sure if that was meant to be serious or parody.
Anywho Eric almost was a show in himself as he presented the awards. XD I'm glad all Lex and I had to do was hand the physical awards out and shake people's hands. lol I'm terrible talking in front of the audience. Though I did at least say something for my judge's award and I didn't goof up on it so yay. XD (I'm just not good at speaking in front of crowds) Eric did mess up a little on the order of the awards. He kinda skipped a lot of the smaller awards and instead did almost all the big awards first so I stopped him before he got to Best of Weekend cause to me that should always be announced last. ...even if that probably confused the audience. Ethan noticed Eric's slip too but just went with it with the slides. lol I did feel bad though because the girl who did win best in show, her and her friends thought she didn't win anything after hearing all the big awards, not knowing there was a best in show. ^^;; Oops. But oh man, we had to go back stage afterwards and talk with her because she was crying and saying she didn't think her costume was good enough to win and man was she wrong. It was such perfection! I was in total awe of all the work she did on it. She really deserved it. The girl I gave my judge's award also found me later on and asked to get a photo with me. I felt all warm inside from that. ^.^
And it looks like there's actual video of us giving the awards out XD So you can see me be awkward judge on stage if you want...lol man why am I so super awkward? T_T;; And woah I had no idea I came off so mean sounding when I told Jim to "shut up" since I was intending for playful banter there. Oops. (though I also assumed he was going to make a sexual reference and I never know how to react to those...but realize now maybe he didn't. Sorry Jim!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjBvJIbbTj4
I changed out of Takuto (brought some spare clothes in a bag and so glad I did) and at some point someone brought pizza into the HQ which we were all grateful for. XD Decided to hang around there while they were getting things ready for the Cosplay Dating Game, which I figured I'd watch too since everyone kept talking about how hilarious last year's game was. Ended up helping them take some of the set-up upstairs for the game and got to sit up front with everyone to beat the (really) long line outside. Pretty sure a lot of people had to be turned away since the room wasn't large enough for all those people. The game itself was pretty amusing. I've never been to any of these sorts of events at cons cause they normally don't interest me but they did a pretty good job. They had an amazing MC for the event, this incredible 10th Doctor cosplayer who really does look like David Tennant. Almost all the contestants were crossplays too, except for Erin as River. lol The Hiccup was pretty cute though from what I hear, her Felix the year before was even better with all her great innuendos. Katie (as Elvira) was the one selecting the bachelors/bachelorettes from the audience and boy did she get some crazy folks. XD We kept turning to her like "how they hell do you find these people?!" She also managed to pick all the plants without being told who they were, though this did result in more than one in the same round when I think the point was they were supposed to be just one each round. Oh well. They were hilarious regardless. Especially the guy cosplaying Kuwabara who sounded exactly like the dub voice. XD It seriously didn't matter what he said (cause sometimes it was hard to tell with that type of voice) because any time he opened his mouth we all cracked up. And he stayed in character the entire time too.
After that I think I hung around for a little while longer before we all meet up to go back to the hotel.
Sunday:
Somehow we managed to magically fit everything into Eric's car and still was able to fit us all in it with our luggage even though it meant Lex was a bit smushed between suitcases. I took my stuff in and left it in the HQ room that way I could just put it in Katie's car at the end of the con and not worry about it. Spent most of the day hanging outside of HQ with the prop check crew, chatting and occasionally helping them spot un-marked props. I went into the Dealer's and decided, what the hell, there's a good manga deal going on, I should finally just give in and buy the English release of Count Cain. I own the whole manga in Japanese and read it via text translations back in the day but most of those translations have disappeared and I only have so much of the story scanlated. Even though I have a lot of issues with Viz's version, I realized I'd really like a copy of it that I can just easily read at any given moment especially considering some of the online translations were always a bit rough and some parts never made sense. So I got a big chunk of the series though I still have to collect the rest so guess I'll keep my eyes out for those volumes the next few cons. It was better than paying full price too, which I wasn't keen on. Still haven't read them but I figure I'll wait til I get them all and do a big re-read of the series and fully see how the translation is after all these years of being bitter. XD
Went out of the con to have lunch with Lex at this yummy place I forget the name of but it advertised having a pickle bar which got both of our attention. lol Though turns out I think they were referring to an actual bar in the place since I did not see a pickle bar (yes that's a real thing, there was a restaurant here that used to have one) but they did have a sampler of pickles as a free appetizer type deal that came with the meals so that was cool. Both of us had horrible luck though as the original choices we made on the menu turned out they were out of the right ingredients for so we both had to go with our 2nd choice but it was still quite good (even though I really wanted that first choice, even if I can't remember it now. lol Mainly just because it was named "The Magpie" XD as all the sandwiches had bird names and my inner KidLoki got excited). It was nice having some time to just chat with Lex too since I don't see a whole lot of her at cons even though I'm often rooming with her. XD Pfft.
Hung in the HQ while we watched the con gradually die. We had a window in HQ where you could literally just sit and spy on people but got boring once most of the con had left. Eventually things ended and enough was cleaned up that we could go home so headed out to the car with Katie and Ian while Dar and co also packed up their car. On the way to the garage we all got sidetracked though by an ass...no seriously. We could see from one of the windows of the skywalk some photoshoot going on outside and there was a girl with a VERY nice ass and its hilarious how we ALL had to stop to admire it for a while. XD Which I thought was a pretty nice end to the con. But yeah, I have full intention of returning next year. Eric and Liz already booked a hotel room in the con hotel early so we don't run the risk of being stuck out far away again so hopefully I'll be able to wear more costumes next time too.
~Lyn
Thursday:
Katie and Ian picked me up shortly after I got off work and we headed up to Lancaster with some great car conversations. Its super lame of me that I see them so little considering how close they live to me but that's typical of my hermit-self. ^^;; Its hard to find the time to meet up though and I'm always so awkward about it unless there's at least a con to use as an excuse. Anywho, we got in a bit later than I had originally thought I'd be there so ended up being the last of my room to arrive and they were all at dinner when I got there so had to wait in the lobby for a bit. This ended up being slightly awkward simply because there appeared to be a wedding party at the same hotel and they seemed to think the area I was sitting in belonged to them or something because the drunk mother of the bride decided to just plop herself down with drink in hand on the same couch I was sitting on despite the fact there were a ton of other empty seats available. Oi.
Discovered that Eric wasn't exaggerating when he said we couldn't walk from our hotel to the con. I mean when he said he'd be driving us every day, I thought it was just a really long walk but doable. ...more like impossible. Our hotel was basically a 20 minute drive from the con center. And yet this was still the closest hotel after the main hotel (which had booked completely much sooner than anyone expected which is why we had no other option). And boy did it make life so much harder for us all. Never want to be in a hotel that far from a con ever again. It resulted in us basically being stuck at the con center for the entire day each day which also meant we couldn't really do any costume changes. Which was fine...but I was not keen on the idea of being stuck in one single costume the whole day. There's a reason I do more than one per day simply because I can't stand being in one for too long. I need to get out of it after a certain point no matter what it is.
Anyways, watched Eric work his magic on a cheap wig and turn it into a piece of art (seriously wtf) and then passed out in what we once again dubbed "The Gay Bed" (even with a little labeled card provided by Eric lol).
Friday:
Due to an unfortunate turn of events, Lex and I ended up stranded in the hotel room for a bit. Kinda sucked cause even though we didn't have to judge til later that evening, we both wanted to at least see some of the con beforehand and we didn't really know when Eric would get a chance to come back for us. Luckily I managed to get a hold of Alyce before she parked her car (she was only coming for the day to hang with me for a little bit and cosplay Utena with me) so she turned around and picked us up so we could all go to the con together. Luckily being stuck in Utena for the whole day wasn't too bad as its one of my more comfortable costumes. And I didn't have to bind and got to wear canvas shoes so thank god for that (Sat I would not be as lucky). But yeah I was pretty shocked how long the drive to the con took. But we did get there and I got my badge (yay free badge) and saw Ian and Dan so went to talk to them and one of them saw my sword and was like "heeey you should get that checked *hinthint*" Me: "Oh yeah, where is the prop check anyways?" "...you're already here." and for some reason I thought they meant I was already here at the con or something so I kept being like "huh?" and they kept repeating until I finally noticed the sign in their hand that read "Prop Check Here". ......well then.
Since Alyce didn't have a badge (since she was only there for the day since like most cons these days, they got rid of day badges and she didn't want to pay for a whole weekend just for Fri) we were limited on where we could go so spent most of my time with her outside of the con or in the hotel lobby (since the con center is connected to a hotel) for photos and chatting. We wandered through Lancaster a little to find food. Its an interesting little city, I'll give it that. We saw a sign for a noodle place but discovered it wasn't actually opening for several months but that they had a tiny mini pick-up window for it now with a limited menu. Sadly didn't have any of the stuff we were actually interested in on their future menu but didn't really feel like wandering for something else so I just got some spring rolls and bubble tea. At least the bubble tea lasted me for quite a while. lol Back at the con center, I went back in to use the restroom but got stopped by Laura on the way who showed me the Cosplay HQ room which had its own much nicer bathroom. XD It was pretty classy. I also noticed how nice the room in general was and how it was all super secret with where it was. I ended up spending a lot of the weekend there.
We took some photos at the outside gazebo and when Alyce asked for a photo of a close-up of her new black duelist ring...I then realized I had dropped my ring in the bathroom earlier. Luckily it was still there cause otherwise that would have been the 2nd one I've lost. X_X We had quite a few people ask for our photos even with us just stuck in the lobby. Had a number of them comment that they never see Utena cosplay these days...which in all honesty just means they aren't looking for it because lol I see it all the time? I mean yeah its not like there's a million of us running around but I always see at least 1 or 2 at the cons I go to. We aren't as rare as they were making us out to be but then again I forget a lot of the attendees for this con only go to this con and Philly area cons so I guess maybe they don't have as many there? Despite this, I have yet to find a single photo of us. Oh well. XD Sadly this whole con report is going to lack in photos since Alyce hasn't gotten the ones we took back to me yet and I took barely any the whole weekend.
After Alyce left so she could get home before rush hour, I used the remaining time left to do a quick run of the Dealer's/Artist Alley. Ran into Eric while in there. Wasn't much of interest in there so took Eric over to Cosplay HQ so he could get his judge badge (which Laura had already given me mine earlier). While there, everyone told us to check out the adjourning room and we were both floored by how nice it was. Took some photos of Eric there since he was already in his Edwardian get-up which worked rather nicely. Pretty proud of some of the shots I got of him considering I'm not that great of a photographer and all. XD Though man did I wish I had a costume appropriate for the room a well but I've already got plans for maybe some Cain cosplay next year.
Then it was finally time for Friday's Hall judging. Eric, Lex, and I were the judges this time and I think we made a pretty awesome team. There were A LOT more entries than there was in 2011. I remember we had barely anyone do Friday back then and we had to find people around the con and talk them into coming in and getting judged. XD Didn't have to do that this time though at the end we did finish early so Laura decided to go find a few more entries just so we would fill up the whole time slot. Overall it was a pretty good turnout. We also got fed a small dinner of...3 meatballs? But hey they were good and I was just glad to have food in general. There was a bit of rationing going on with the staff food in general this year but not going to go into that.
It was pretty late once judging was over and we were all kinda anxious to finally get out of costumes we had been stuck in all day so we packed ourselves into Eric's car which resulted in having to put Lex in the trunk area since there was more people than seats but she seemed content back there. We just had to remember to let her out since she can't open it from her side and we almost forgot a few times over the weekend. XD
Saturday:
It took us all longer to get ready than we thought it would and while we still would have been doing ok on time...and then turned out there was a marathon going on in the city that morning and we had to take a detour which was full of traffic so we ended up running a bit late. So we ended up having to start Hall a little late. Laura brought us some breakfast foods and snacks at least and I happily consumed a few Go-gurts as the first few entries came in. Felt a little rude eating in front of them but we needed it to get us going. ^^;; Saturday is always the day with the most entries and sure enough we had even more than Friday. I wore Takuto this time around, which originally I had planned top only wear for the Masquerade since its one of my best made costumes and figured it'd be good to wear to show that I'm at least semi-qualified to even be a judge, lol. But of course instead ended up having to wear it all day (but it was better than being stuck in Kid Loki all day which was the only other costume I had with me...which never got worn. Oh well.) We had a 30 minute break for lunch but it took most of that time for poor Laura and Ian to get the food to us so ended up having to eat it very quickly in the end so not to keep people waiting too much longer. They eventually had to stop accepting entries so we could try to get everyone in for the scheduled time. I'm surprised people were still trying to sign up that late in the day. Just goes to show how much bigger the con has gotten. Even after the cut off though we still ended up going like almost an hour over when we were supposed to end, which also gave us less time to make our decisions. We went straight to the Cosplay HQ and only had so much time to decide on the winners and get the awards ready (which we barely managed to get done in time).
Realizing that we'd have no time between this and the Masquerade and I had planned to at least take Takuto off for a bit in between, I pretty much ended up gradually stripping out of costume while we were discussing. lol Little by little more of the costume came off so I'd at least be semi comfortable because I just couldn't stand being stuck in those boots and everything for that long without a break. But man it was tough deciding the awards this year. We had so many good entries and seriously everyone who entered did such a great job on their costumes. Its always hard because you can only give out so many awards and we did in fact end up giving out every single one possible to the point we ran out of certificates. And this time around we were smart and Eric had a cheat sheet of who was who in what costume so we wouldn't forget (like we did last time, where we forgot to write down what character each person did XD). Lex and I both decided to just let Eric do all the talking and he was totally fine with that (we're both wusses when it comes to the stage lol).
So soon it was time for met to get myself back together and we went over to the Masquerade to get seated up front. I honestly don't remember much about the Masquerade itself since it was several months ago but I do remember it was still pretty short and mostly dance numbers, which seems to be how most Masquerades are these days. But I was impressed by the dramatic Kuroshitsuji skit since the 2 in that skit performed their lines live and delivered them very well, even if I thought the skit itself was a bit overdramatic. To be honest I was more interested in watching all our Walk-Ons. I was surprised by how many people on Friday also participated in it. Almost all our entries did (though Sat's were all required to do it but no one seemed to have issue with that, they all wanted to show off ^.^). Then there were the AMV winners and the Free! AMV to "Its Raining Men" was pretty entertaining. XD Though the Pikachu/Rainbow Dash video still haunts and confuses me...I mean...wtf? O_o Still not sure if that was meant to be serious or parody.
Anywho Eric almost was a show in himself as he presented the awards. XD I'm glad all Lex and I had to do was hand the physical awards out and shake people's hands. lol I'm terrible talking in front of the audience. Though I did at least say something for my judge's award and I didn't goof up on it so yay. XD (I'm just not good at speaking in front of crowds) Eric did mess up a little on the order of the awards. He kinda skipped a lot of the smaller awards and instead did almost all the big awards first so I stopped him before he got to Best of Weekend cause to me that should always be announced last. ...even if that probably confused the audience. Ethan noticed Eric's slip too but just went with it with the slides. lol I did feel bad though because the girl who did win best in show, her and her friends thought she didn't win anything after hearing all the big awards, not knowing there was a best in show. ^^;; Oops. But oh man, we had to go back stage afterwards and talk with her because she was crying and saying she didn't think her costume was good enough to win and man was she wrong. It was such perfection! I was in total awe of all the work she did on it. She really deserved it. The girl I gave my judge's award also found me later on and asked to get a photo with me. I felt all warm inside from that. ^.^
And it looks like there's actual video of us giving the awards out XD So you can see me be awkward judge on stage if you want...lol man why am I so super awkward? T_T;; And woah I had no idea I came off so mean sounding when I told Jim to "shut up" since I was intending for playful banter there. Oops. (though I also assumed he was going to make a sexual reference and I never know how to react to those...but realize now maybe he didn't. Sorry Jim!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjBvJIbbTj4
I changed out of Takuto (brought some spare clothes in a bag and so glad I did) and at some point someone brought pizza into the HQ which we were all grateful for. XD Decided to hang around there while they were getting things ready for the Cosplay Dating Game, which I figured I'd watch too since everyone kept talking about how hilarious last year's game was. Ended up helping them take some of the set-up upstairs for the game and got to sit up front with everyone to beat the (really) long line outside. Pretty sure a lot of people had to be turned away since the room wasn't large enough for all those people. The game itself was pretty amusing. I've never been to any of these sorts of events at cons cause they normally don't interest me but they did a pretty good job. They had an amazing MC for the event, this incredible 10th Doctor cosplayer who really does look like David Tennant. Almost all the contestants were crossplays too, except for Erin as River. lol The Hiccup was pretty cute though from what I hear, her Felix the year before was even better with all her great innuendos. Katie (as Elvira) was the one selecting the bachelors/bachelorettes from the audience and boy did she get some crazy folks. XD We kept turning to her like "how they hell do you find these people?!" She also managed to pick all the plants without being told who they were, though this did result in more than one in the same round when I think the point was they were supposed to be just one each round. Oh well. They were hilarious regardless. Especially the guy cosplaying Kuwabara who sounded exactly like the dub voice. XD It seriously didn't matter what he said (cause sometimes it was hard to tell with that type of voice) because any time he opened his mouth we all cracked up. And he stayed in character the entire time too.
After that I think I hung around for a little while longer before we all meet up to go back to the hotel.
Sunday:
Somehow we managed to magically fit everything into Eric's car and still was able to fit us all in it with our luggage even though it meant Lex was a bit smushed between suitcases. I took my stuff in and left it in the HQ room that way I could just put it in Katie's car at the end of the con and not worry about it. Spent most of the day hanging outside of HQ with the prop check crew, chatting and occasionally helping them spot un-marked props. I went into the Dealer's and decided, what the hell, there's a good manga deal going on, I should finally just give in and buy the English release of Count Cain. I own the whole manga in Japanese and read it via text translations back in the day but most of those translations have disappeared and I only have so much of the story scanlated. Even though I have a lot of issues with Viz's version, I realized I'd really like a copy of it that I can just easily read at any given moment especially considering some of the online translations were always a bit rough and some parts never made sense. So I got a big chunk of the series though I still have to collect the rest so guess I'll keep my eyes out for those volumes the next few cons. It was better than paying full price too, which I wasn't keen on. Still haven't read them but I figure I'll wait til I get them all and do a big re-read of the series and fully see how the translation is after all these years of being bitter. XD
Went out of the con to have lunch with Lex at this yummy place I forget the name of but it advertised having a pickle bar which got both of our attention. lol Though turns out I think they were referring to an actual bar in the place since I did not see a pickle bar (yes that's a real thing, there was a restaurant here that used to have one) but they did have a sampler of pickles as a free appetizer type deal that came with the meals so that was cool. Both of us had horrible luck though as the original choices we made on the menu turned out they were out of the right ingredients for so we both had to go with our 2nd choice but it was still quite good (even though I really wanted that first choice, even if I can't remember it now. lol Mainly just because it was named "The Magpie" XD as all the sandwiches had bird names and my inner KidLoki got excited). It was nice having some time to just chat with Lex too since I don't see a whole lot of her at cons even though I'm often rooming with her. XD Pfft.
Hung in the HQ while we watched the con gradually die. We had a window in HQ where you could literally just sit and spy on people but got boring once most of the con had left. Eventually things ended and enough was cleaned up that we could go home so headed out to the car with Katie and Ian while Dar and co also packed up their car. On the way to the garage we all got sidetracked though by an ass...no seriously. We could see from one of the windows of the skywalk some photoshoot going on outside and there was a girl with a VERY nice ass and its hilarious how we ALL had to stop to admire it for a while. XD Which I thought was a pretty nice end to the con. But yeah, I have full intention of returning next year. Eric and Liz already booked a hotel room in the con hotel early so we don't run the risk of being stuck out far away again so hopefully I'll be able to wear more costumes next time too.
~Lyn
