Ai-Kon 2010!
Oh man, I actually have internet! *dances*
Alright, so this is going to be a really quick post (picture-heavy) about Ai-Kon 2010, my FIRST EVER CONVENTION (le gasp)!
Well, basically I had to bus in from the lake (ugh) which ended up costing an extra $30 because apparently if the credit card holder isn't driving, you get charged $20. And if the station you actually want to catch the bus at doesn't exist in the list of ones you can get a ticket for online, you have to pay another $10 to change your station >_> Luckily, the bus driver was nice and pretended that I got on at the station my ticket said i was supposed to... which almost made up for the incredibly glitchy site (had to go through the process of ordering a ticket four times because the site was so glitchy, wouldn't let me post my ticket to my grandparents who live closer to where I was catching the bus, sent us two tickets instead of one AND charged us for both even though they told us the second one was cancelled, didn't actually inform you of all the extra costs until you were on the 'pay now' page, etc.). I'm never taking Greyhound again.
But anyway, I got in last Thursday night, had SWEET SWEET INTERNETS for an entire evening and then went over to the home of my lovely grandparents to sleep. My grandparents were even awesome enough to let me borrow their car for the entire weekend, so I had a method of conveyance from their house to downtown. I could have stayed at my house, but my parents were out of town so the only way I could travel would be bus, which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a friend who needed a ride as her house is rather outside the major bus routes. So. Friday morning I got money from the bank, all my costume stuff together that I already owned, and drove out to my friend Chucky's house. I have to give IMMENSE GRATITUDE to Chucky, who basically went out and bought half of my costume on information gleaned through texts, and ended up getting a friend of hers (who's done makeup for film and stage) to come and help me with my costume! <3 you so much, guys!!
At Chucky's house the real production started - I was cosplaying as Nice Holystone from Baccano! (reference pic), so we needed to get me all burn-scarred up. I used the method described here, and it worked AMAZINGLY WELL. See pics:
Here's the burn scar on my face, after a whole day of wear and tear!
Sample burn scars from the arms (there were scars on both arms, all the way up to and covering the shoulder, in one case)
Redone arm scar from Saturday.
(Slightly blurry) Pic of the whole costume!
As you can see, the scars looked pretty damn awesome. Friday was a great day (although I did forget my camera >_>) when we went to no less than three music concerts, as well as a "masquerade ball" in the evening and several anime screenings! I also spent nearly $100 on miscellaneous anime merchandise, which is a big deal for someone as cheap as I am!
Saturday was the best day by far, being the only full day as well as the day I actually remembered my camera. There were a few quick touch-ups that had to be done to the burn scars (most notably the one big scar on my right arm), but overall they held up really well. We watched lots of anime (though missed the Baccano! screening, dang), went to a panel discussion with Monica Rial, Kirby Morrow, Greg Ayres and Chris Ayres, and I got all of them to sign my program (and Monica Rial signed my eyepatch :D ). I met up with several friends of mine (none that have LJ, unfortunately), and a small group of us (myself, Chucky and Mitch) held a small photo-shoot in the nearby mall's food-court over lunch:
Chucky (as charmander - you can't see her tail in this one) and Mitch photobombing
The intrepid team!
The best part of the day was actually technically on Sunday - a big group of us were playing Truth or Dare (without the Truth :P), and someone had the wonderful idea to go for a Slurpee run! Unfortunately, nobody realized that the Slurpee run would end up being a nearly forty-minute trek from the Convention Centre to the middle of St. Vital... through downtown Winnipeg... at midnight... on a Saturday... with a group of nearly twenty people in outlandish costumes... involving quite a bit of very loud sing-alongs. It was EPIC.
One of the (many) bridges we ended up crossing in our journey...
Finally got our Slurpees!
Nice, The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond with our hard-earned spoils.
Riding the bus giant chocobo back to the Convention Centre
Victory pose!
This was basically our last event of the night (it was nearing 2am, and I was ready for bed), so we drove back to my grandparents' house (and totally didn't run any red lights) and crashed for about five hours.
Sunday was the last day of the con, and I decided not to dress up (the latex on my face was starting to get annoying), so both myself and Chucky ended up going in our 'normal' clothes. Never before have I been in a place where I am wearing normal clothes and everyone else is dressed up, and felt like I was uncool. I learned how to do the Lucky Star dance, watched the tail end of the AMV competition, and bought a little anime before it was finally time to close the con. As I left, I knew beyond a doubt that I'm doing this again next year. Maybe with a more recognizable costume - I was the only Baccano! cosplayer, and only one person knew who I was and commented on it!
Alright, so this is going to be a really quick post (picture-heavy) about Ai-Kon 2010, my FIRST EVER CONVENTION (le gasp)!
Well, basically I had to bus in from the lake (ugh) which ended up costing an extra $30 because apparently if the credit card holder isn't driving, you get charged $20. And if the station you actually want to catch the bus at doesn't exist in the list of ones you can get a ticket for online, you have to pay another $10 to change your station >_> Luckily, the bus driver was nice and pretended that I got on at the station my ticket said i was supposed to... which almost made up for the incredibly glitchy site (had to go through the process of ordering a ticket four times because the site was so glitchy, wouldn't let me post my ticket to my grandparents who live closer to where I was catching the bus, sent us two tickets instead of one AND charged us for both even though they told us the second one was cancelled, didn't actually inform you of all the extra costs until you were on the 'pay now' page, etc.). I'm never taking Greyhound again.
But anyway, I got in last Thursday night, had SWEET SWEET INTERNETS for an entire evening and then went over to the home of my lovely grandparents to sleep. My grandparents were even awesome enough to let me borrow their car for the entire weekend, so I had a method of conveyance from their house to downtown. I could have stayed at my house, but my parents were out of town so the only way I could travel would be bus, which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a friend who needed a ride as her house is rather outside the major bus routes. So. Friday morning I got money from the bank, all my costume stuff together that I already owned, and drove out to my friend Chucky's house. I have to give IMMENSE GRATITUDE to Chucky, who basically went out and bought half of my costume on information gleaned through texts, and ended up getting a friend of hers (who's done makeup for film and stage) to come and help me with my costume! <3 you so much, guys!!
At Chucky's house the real production started - I was cosplaying as Nice Holystone from Baccano! (reference pic), so we needed to get me all burn-scarred up. I used the method described here, and it worked AMAZINGLY WELL. See pics:
Here's the burn scar on my face, after a whole day of wear and tear!
Sample burn scars from the arms (there were scars on both arms, all the way up to and covering the shoulder, in one case)
Redone arm scar from Saturday.
(Slightly blurry) Pic of the whole costume!
As you can see, the scars looked pretty damn awesome. Friday was a great day (although I did forget my camera >_>) when we went to no less than three music concerts, as well as a "masquerade ball" in the evening and several anime screenings! I also spent nearly $100 on miscellaneous anime merchandise, which is a big deal for someone as cheap as I am!
Saturday was the best day by far, being the only full day as well as the day I actually remembered my camera. There were a few quick touch-ups that had to be done to the burn scars (most notably the one big scar on my right arm), but overall they held up really well. We watched lots of anime (though missed the Baccano! screening, dang), went to a panel discussion with Monica Rial, Kirby Morrow, Greg Ayres and Chris Ayres, and I got all of them to sign my program (and Monica Rial signed my eyepatch :D ). I met up with several friends of mine (none that have LJ, unfortunately), and a small group of us (myself, Chucky and Mitch) held a small photo-shoot in the nearby mall's food-court over lunch:
Chucky (as charmander - you can't see her tail in this one) and Mitch photobombing
The intrepid team!
The best part of the day was actually technically on Sunday - a big group of us were playing Truth or Dare (without the Truth :P), and someone had the wonderful idea to go for a Slurpee run! Unfortunately, nobody realized that the Slurpee run would end up being a nearly forty-minute trek from the Convention Centre to the middle of St. Vital... through downtown Winnipeg... at midnight... on a Saturday... with a group of nearly twenty people in outlandish costumes... involving quite a bit of very loud sing-alongs. It was EPIC.
One of the (many) bridges we ended up crossing in our journey...
Finally got our Slurpees!
Nice, The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond with our hard-earned spoils.
Riding the bus giant chocobo back to the Convention Centre
Victory pose!
This was basically our last event of the night (it was nearing 2am, and I was ready for bed), so we drove back to my grandparents' house (and totally didn't run any red lights) and crashed for about five hours.
Sunday was the last day of the con, and I decided not to dress up (the latex on my face was starting to get annoying), so both myself and Chucky ended up going in our 'normal' clothes. Never before have I been in a place where I am wearing normal clothes and everyone else is dressed up, and felt like I was uncool. I learned how to do the Lucky Star dance, watched the tail end of the AMV competition, and bought a little anime before it was finally time to close the con. As I left, I knew beyond a doubt that I'm doing this again next year. Maybe with a more recognizable costume - I was the only Baccano! cosplayer, and only one person knew who I was and commented on it!