CON REPORT!
I dropped the ball with this report given that it's been over a week and I didn't capture any of my thoughts down in an entry until now. I'll just chalk that up to the con itself being relatively catastrophe and drama free o_0. I genuinely had a good time! Which is odd to say because I always manage to find something to expound angrily on.
I guess I can start this off by saying that I finished all my cosplays about 2 weeks early, which was a major stress relief. I think my sewing and crafting work has been some of the best I've ever done this time around. I also spent the extra money on some higher quality make-up and brushes. After the crazy amount I packed last year (lol 4 cosplays) and filled up the whole car, I only brought 2 cosplays this time.
Thursday
The last two years Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish and I did the road trip and roomed with scapegoated and EleventhPhotograph. We had fun times so we decided to make the third time a charm this year X'D. Of course this year was a horrific snow storm in Maryland area which we promptly drove into on the Thursday night. It was awful, EleventhPhotograph was hero ultimate with driving through that and scapegoated navigating X_X!!!!! The drive took 13 hours this year and was really treacherous due to the roads not being plowed.
We made it into the National Harbour and the Gaylord around 10:30pm. Everything was closed so we didn't have any dinner, although our roomies made a brave attempt at finding food. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish and I immediately went to try and get our badges so we could avoid the Friday morning line. The pre-reg line turned out to be MASSIVE. I left Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish there to find where to get the badge my friend shampoonyanko had set up for me. I got it (so grateful!!). I had been hoping to see shampoonyanko that night, but the snow made it so everyone was delayed. I returned to the pre-reg line when Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish was almost at the front. We picked up some 18+ wristbands as well, but we never ended up using them.
We returned to the hotel room, unpacked our cosplays and attempted to iron. We were on the same floor as ChibiTifa and her roomies, so we went to go say hi to them! (Looked like death warmed over at the time, lol wow). After that totally just crashed.
Friday
Got up around 10am and started getting into cosplay. I brought Lina Inverse (OVA)!
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(gifs from my make-up test)
I'm glad I worked with the worbla & gesso on my Amazon Shampoo armor & sword last year. I knew about how long it would take me to make Lina's pauldrons, and I was more prepared with tools for sanding this time (thanks Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.cloudsonvenus for that dremel!) It might not look like it, but I did a LOT of work on the outfit not even including the pauldrons OTL. Lots of small things added up, like airbrushing gloves and boots, airbrushing thrift belts to get rid of scratches and match colour, styling a Naga wig, sword/sheath, screwing up my earrings about 3 times... the list goes on. Gem casting turned out really nice this time though, if I do say so myself! I cast the resin clear and then painted the gem backs with sparkly/shiny nail polish. I found that helped the clarity rather than when mixing resin dye. After that I hit them with a thick layer of clear gloss spray. That made them super clear.
I rushed the sword out of impatience and frustration, so the sword hilt is the only part of this cosplay that I didn't like... It looks alright from afar and in video, but up close it's not all that great. Actually a piece of the paint job flaked off when I got home. The yellow shirt was difficult to look thin in even WITH the fact that I dieted and didn't eat before I wore it. SIGh. That is the curse of having a more or less straight figure. ALSO... My wig bags refused to stay put around my ears and so my earrings were hidden a lot of the time -_-. That and how my sword sheath disappeared in my cape were unforeseen annoyances. Otherwise I guess I'm happy with how the cosplay turned out.
ChibiTifa had Naga on her list and bumped it up to cosplay with me! I styled the wig for her to match mine.
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Anyway, we didn't actually get out of the room until around noon lol;... Swung by ChibiTifa's room to see if she was ready as Naga, but it turned out she was still asleep X'D... Oh well, Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish and I headed down to the atrium levels and decided to check out artist alley and the dealer's room. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish was wearing Utena and she was supposed to have an Anthy but Anthy got snowed in and was unable to make it to the con. Met glay's friend Toki and her friends for the first time that morning. Afterwards we took solo shots of each other in the nice daylight.
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ChibiTifa was almost ready as Naga so we went back upstairs to get her. We looked great XDD! It's always more fun when you can have a full cosplay group or duo rather than going solo.
We hung out in the gazebo area while waiting for EleventhPhotograph to find us for our photoshoot. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish took some video of us and Paul Karpey Photography& SmileJade Photography snapped some nice pics while we were there.
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A huge group of kids on a birthday party surrounded us out of nowhere. They kept smacking my belt/wrist gems as if they were buttons. OTL. Apparently one of them touched ChibiTifa's boobs. LOL;;; We had to usher them away.
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The Gaylord had loads of signs up prohibiting "professional photography" this year. I can understand why, since in the years prior photographers would set up their huge light stands and tripods in the nicest areas and not MOVE for the entirety of the day (which really made it impossible for anyone else to get any kind of photo in there). As such, the whole hotel/con staff was vigilant in telling anyone who had a light stand/permanent set up to shut it down. -_-;
EleventhPhotograph took us to a relatively empty hallway on the convention level, and got some shots of us while Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish did some awesome external flash holding in the absence of a light stand. I can't wait to see the photos from that shoot!
Here's a preview;
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We were supposed to have a second photoshoot with SF Design right after, but the con staff saw his light stand set-up and let us take a few shoots before telling us we had to stop. OTL. We re-scheduled the shoot for Saturday night instead.
By that time it was around 5pm and I hadn't eaten ANYTHING all day (plus no dinner from the crazy roadtrip the night before), so I was absolutely ready to take Lina off and find food.
We all went back up to our rooms where ChibiTifa changed out of Naga, Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish changed out of Utena and into Uhura (bar scene outfit), and I shucked off Lina and put on my Ranma Saotome outfit. Lol it so happened I decided to wear that instead of go in civilian gear because my hair was uber greasy (book Snape levels), so I needed a wig to cover that shit lmao.;;
Finally I cosplayed Ranma again! He's been my favourite character since forever. The outfit is the red army one Ranma wears in the some of the manga artwork/chapters and a couple episodes in the 3rd season of the anime. I wanted to do something other than the typical red shirt because I already made that way back when.
We all went down for dinner at the atrium sports bar & grill together. It was a good time, and the food tasted great (maybe because I was so hungry lol)!! Very pleased to try the Maryland crab dip.
After that I got to meet up with shampoonyanko at the VIP registration booth!! As a thank you about the badge and for new Ranma 1/2 friend time I drew him some Shampoo fan art for Valentine's Day!
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We parted ways with ChibiTifa and met up with Toki who was wearing her Jim Kirk (bar scene) cosplay! We went to the hotel bar where I took some video of the two of them trying to re-enact the scene from the Star Trek: 2009 movie. Turns out another girl at the bar was a trekkie (wearing the starfleet insignia pin) because she saw them at it and bought them their drinks!!
From there we wandered around the convention area and ran into a few other people we knew. I was definitely feeling the exhaustion by that point so I handed off the vid cam and went back to the room to get some rest while Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish and Toki went to the sports bar to get photos with swoz and more video.
The wifi stopped working on my phone for some stupid reason, so I just gave up and went to sleep. Which was probably a good idea because I had a 9am photoshoot on Saturday morning. Lol. Lol lol.
Saturday
Woke up at 7am and started getting my make-up and cosplay on. UGHH. What an event. I had been chosen for a free photoshoot with the Arda-Wigs.com photographer (Dewey) since I styled my Lina Inverse wig using their products, and the shoot was for 9am.
I hurried to get together while everyone else was asleep in the room. I think I woke Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish up out of R.E.M. sleep so she could buckle my shoulder pauldron harness on lol;; sorry
Part of the reason why I wanted the shoot to be so early was because there would be fewer people out and around crowding up the hotel at that hour. ORIGINALLY I had wanted photos outside, but it was pouring rain in the morning -_-; so that was out. I went around to a bunch of spots with Dewey and hopefully got some good photos o_o;;..... Rather worried that I put something on backwards or something, since I pretty much got dressed in the dark. OTL;;; Whatever. At 10am I went back to the room where Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish was taking her time getting into Uhura (STID version). I got out of Lina and put on Ranma.
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We hung out in the room with scapegoated and I ordered room service for lunch, having since learned my lesson from not eating the day before. Scapegoated had planned to see some paleo food blogger friends while she was in Maryland, so our hotel room felt more empty on Saturday.
When we were ready we went down to the gazebo level and hung out while waiting for Toki (in her STID Kirk uniform). She made such a great Kirk!! And an attractive Chris Pine XD. I got a bunch of photos of them.
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After that we met up with Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.grayhour! We wandered around some more before deciding to go to lunch at a Thai restaurant in the harbour. I was still full from room service so I just had coke. (But it was so good to have coke, since the Gaylord is a pepsi hotel). The food looked pretty good though. Now that I'm sitting here typing this I wish I had it in front of me. Lol;
Anyway, after the late lunch, Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish needed more cash so we went on a very cold and miserable adventure to find an ATM. Upon getting back to the Gaylord, I wanted some photo/video of my Ranma cosplay. The crowd was at full capacity and we waited around in the fountain/creek area where I wanted some pics.
I immediately got yelled at. That put me in a foul mood of thunderous proportions. The two hotel staff had been watching while some other chick in high heels (far more dangerous on stones and water than the flats I was wearing) and some photographer took a billion photos in THE SAME SPOT, and then when I went for a few I got the lecture. The fuck is that!!!!!! My blood boils just remembering.
Angrily made way to find a spot near some bricks, which wasn't exactly what I wanted at all, but it sufficed.
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Clik here to view.grayhour went to go put on her Bakura (YGO) cosplay and Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish, Toki and I went to check out the dealer's room and artist alley. While walking through the booths someone asked for my photo and I was shocked to see the artists' dressed as James Hunt & Niki Lauda from Rush. Shocked and excited!! We took each others photos and it turned out their booth was a motherload of Thorki porn and other fabulous arts. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish got herself a book and a Thor body pillow. I picked up a booklet of gay slash art. Always a good thing.
Looking for some actual programming to do, we just walked right into the masquerade while the line was filing in. Got some pretty good seats. I do like how in the Katsucon masquerade the audience has a spot where they can dance and get on the big screens while the set-up is occurring. When "What does the Fox Say" started playing, all the fox people/kitsune type characters immediately rushed the floor lmao. Everyone deserted the dance floor when "Blurred Lines" came on (in a PAINFULLY visible protest), and then crowded it back up again as soon as the song ended. It was entertaining to watched.
Of course when the actual show began is when the masquerade started being ruined by the MC and the lighting crew's skit shitty running jokes. ...They decided to have Darth Vader and some storm troopers 'take over' the 20th anniversary masquerade. It was fucking lame. (Trek for lyfe). They had a dance battle with some girls dressed as 'sexy nurses'. It was really tacky. And the nurses kept being used as bargaining chips and sexualized banter by the MC and lighting crew in between skits. Probably would have been expected 20 years ago, but it was uncomfortable to watch now. We all could hear clearly one person had had enough of it when she shouted "Women are still NOT objects" to the MC.
The actual skits and costumes were good, same old anime masq. But the best part was the "Last Minute Cosplays" zombie video/skit. HILARIOUS! Thoroughly enjoyed that one.
We didn't stay for too long, just because it was getting annoying to listen the the MC, so we ducked out.
We went up to the gazebo level to find Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.grayhour's Yu-Gi-Oh shoot.
I met up with Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.sapphire_hime briefly!! One day we will cosplay group again for REAL, I swear! I definitely enjoyed seeing her even if it was only for a short time.
I also found shampoonyanko, shocktress, and starlightslk! I was glad to meet them in person after admiring their work for so long! We got to hang out for a little, although sadly the photos on my camera turned out crappy due to it being nighttime.
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I went to find Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish, Toki, and Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.grayhour. The YGO shoot was over and I was ready to change into Lina for the re-scheduled photoshoot. We all all went back up to our room, where everyone read glayish's Thorki smut while I got out of Ranma and into Lina.
ChibiTifa was getting into Naga, so i went over to her room to help her a bit! Stopped back at my room so that I could put on my armor and cape and then we hit the con again.
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Clik here to view.glayish got some video of us with the jelly flashing rings I had brought.
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Clik here to view.glayish and Toki in front of the elevators to try and simulate the turbolift scene from STID.
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Clik here to view.glayish and Toki went to attend a panel with Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.grayhour, while ChibiTifa and I hung out for a bit in the Gazebo level, having met up with some online friends and cosplayers. Then SF Design ran across half the hotel to lead us to where the convention had allowed him and other photographers to set up a permanent photoshoot area (in the empty registration hall).
We finally had our photoshoot with him! Oh man by that point I had stopped caring if everything looked right or not, so hopefully I don't hate the pics we get back x_X;;;....
After the photoshoot ChibiTifa went to go hang out with her roomies, so I found Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish, Toki, and Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.grayhour at the panel rooms again. We got some late night snacks and drinks, and tried to get back into the panel, but it ended. There weren't any other good panels going on at the time so we just went back to the room and read the Thor x Loki porn we had bought earlier XD.
We parted ways after that and I finally got to wash my hair. Lol. Packed up all our bags and got into bed around 1am.
Sunday
We were up early and got out of the room with EleventhPhotograph's car packed around 10am. OTL!!!! EleventhPhotograph still had shoots on Sunday, so we split. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish got some food from the atrium cafe (thank you for the donut), and then we went to the dealer's room for a last circuit around.
Met Toki at the big t-shirt booth, and we all shopped.
Later on, we went to go sit in a panel room, where Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.grayhour joined us, but the panel was pushed back another hour, so we went to locate some more snacks and do another run of the dealer's. We went back to the panel and sat in for some interesting lecture on anime and godzilla parallels.
The panel let out and we ended up saying loads of goodbyes to friends, some whom we didn't get to see during the rest of the con X'D;;
Reunited with EleventhPhotograph around 3:30pm and left Katsucon. Lol, well maybe not quite. Stood for 40min in line at Elevation Burger OTLLLLLL. Fucking hell. I didn't understand what everyone was raving about over a stupid burger, but I'll admit the burger was pretty damn good. I regret not buying like, six.
We picked up scapegoated from her friend's place and then were on our way back to Canada.
We all must have fallen asleep during the first leg of the journey, and EleventhPhotograph had to take some much needed rest at a Starbucks. The drive was long and understandably everyone was exhausted from the weekend.
We must have played "I Never" con & cosplay edition for over 2 hours. LOL;;;; The roadtrip convo was fun XD;; It's always great to enter a diatribe about Beyblade, Star Trek, and DBZ. We ended up back in Canada well past 4am, and scapegoated was amazing to let us crash at her house rather than have us wake up our parents to get us at the subway station at that time.
I can barely remember the evening actually, lol. Even with the snow and things, it was a great trip. I'm actually a little surprised since, usually after going to a con for 3 years or more, it starts to get boring and more problematic than enjoyable.
Looking forward to Anime North now!
Oh and I might not have written it here, but I was invited to be the Cosplay Guest for Anime North 2014! I suggested to the directors that it be me and Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.glayish as a team. So we'll be getting some panel time and featured on the website and program booklet! We have to do some filming for the youtube channel for marketing purposes. Lots of great stuff abound!