|
|
Post by Robyn on Mar 2, 2016 6:35:46 GMT -5
Hello all! This thread is for fans of cosplays and conventions of any sort, be they anime, sci-fi, gaming, or anything generally nerdy. Feel free to discuss anything and everything to do with con & costuming culture here! Share stories about upcoming events you're looking forward to, fond memories of cons past, and horror stories of cringeworthy con experiences (we've all been there). Post pictures of your proudest cosplay achievements, your goofiest casual selfies, or your works in progress! This can also be a platform for us in the con community to share advice & tips for all sorts of things: sewing & prop construction, photography, con etiquette, etc. I've been attending contentions since 2012, so I'd like to think I know my way around and can give pretty sound advice on most things. But I'm sure there are those of us here that are even more knowledgable than me, and I encourage everyone to share whatever they'd like here! I'll keep a list of names going on this first post as is customary for the clubhouse boards: Robyn (Resident Cosplay Queen & President) ♥ Lulu (International Con Ambassador) M is for Morphine (Horror Con Hopeful) Draco (Dracon) @fangofthedead (Glove King Extraordinaire) |
|
|
|
Post by ♥ Lulu on Mar 2, 2016 7:21:27 GMT -5
I'd like to join! I'm not a cosplayer, but I love conventions. Last year, I attended my first Eastercon (Dysprosium), and I was meant to be going to this year's (Mancunicon), but can't afford to get up to Manchester anymore. Dysprosium had talks on robotics, archaeology ("Trowelblazers", about women in archaeology, who have a website that everyone should check out), cryptozoology (with Seanan Macguire and Adrian Tschiakovsky), talks from Jim Butcher, people who had seen space launches, talks on what Europe is doing in terms of space, pop songs in dead languages (which included playing the Latin rendition of Let it Go), asymmetrical warfare, emergency planning in the face of an apocalypse, global sustainability and scarcity in science fiction, and the BFSA awards. I also got to see Aliette de Bodard (who I love), and accidentally ate breakfast with Ian Watson (as I didn't realise who he was until we were both leaving to go to talks). I also went to LonCon in 2014, and it was the best convention I've ever been to. I made plenty of friends, saw such interesting things, like a stage production of Anubis Gate, talks from Joe Abercrombie, Connie Willis, Robin Hobb, David Talbot, Hannu Rajaniemi, talks on diversity and "Othering" in fiction, and I also attended a handful of writing workshops. I did so much that I can't remember half of what I attended off the top of my head now! I used to go to MCM Expo (the one in London) from the ages 14-17, so roughly 2005/6-2010, but have stopped since it has gotten so big, and science fiction remains relegated to the back of the hall. Plus, I was only going with my friends because they were big into anime and manga back then, and used to like to harass anyone dressed like L (as teenage girls obsessed with Death Note are wont to do). I did enjoy my time there, though, especially when they bought in a Sing Star machine and my friends and I could do bad karaoke for hours on end. This year, I'm hoping in lieu of going to Mancunicon (which I'm still trying to sell my ticket for, if anyone is interested!) that I might attend Nine Worlds, which I only found out about because the Book Smugglers are going to be there. I wanted to attend the WorldCon in Finland, but, again, my monetary status means this might not be possible. If you couldn't tell, I always go to cons (except for the years at MCM) on my own, so never have anyone to talk about them to, so I get a little excited at the opportunity to do so  |
|
|
|
Post by Robyn on Mar 2, 2016 7:22:49 GMT -5
♥ Lulu, of course you can join! Gosh, I'd love to hear more about cons outside the States-- sometimes I forget that anime has a global following! I'll kickstart this thread with a little visual gallery of my history in cosplay. I began back in 2012 when Homestuck was the main cosplay craze, and my first ever costume was of Aradia Megido, so I jumped in with all the bells and whistles. And by bells and whistles, I mean Model Magic headband horns and entirely too much grey body paint. Later on, I moved onto anime nearly exclusively, with the exception of a few joke cosplays such as Troy Bolton from High School Musical and Batman. I'll try to post the characters side by side with my cosplay of them if I can get it to format correctly! ^^ 2012: Homestuck Era-- I cosplayed Aradia Megido & Roxy Lalonde (pictured below), and an assortment of other characters I couldn't bother to find pictures of-- Terezi Pyrope, Jake English, Vriska Serket, etc. Needless to say, I am never using body paint in cosplay again unless my life absolutely depends on it. Aradia:   (art by TinSil) Roxy (with special guest appearance from my BFF Andy as Jane Crocker): 2013/14: DanganRonpa/Joke Cosplay Era-- As Homestuck faded out, of course I needed a new fandom to fill the void. Dangan Ronpa had just started to gain popularity at that point, and I jumped on that bandwagon so hard I think its wheels fell off. I tried cosplaying my favorite character, Aoi Asahina, but as you'll see, I had a difficult time getting her ridiculous hair to cooperate. Later on, I borrowed Andy's Nanami cosplay for kicks. In between all that, I was looking for cosplays that I would have fun doing & that other people would have fun recognizing, which is where Troy Bolton & Batman originated from. Aoi: Nanami: Troy Bolton: Batman: 2015-Present: Now HERE'S where I officially jumped into the strictly anime boat. You can see the jump in quality here too, as I gained a lot of wisdom about what works in cosplay and what doesn't over the years. These next pictures look a lot more accurate to their characters, at least to me. C: I've done Maki and Honoka from Love Live! and Moka from Rosario + Vampire, and I'm working on quite a few new cosplays to debut this year. I've got lots of ideas, and I'm both working out and learning to sew, so 2016 should be a successful year in cosplay for me! I'm excited  Moka: Maki: Honoka: Love Live Group Pictures with Friends SO YEAH. That about does it for what I have so far. I've got a whole list of upcoming cosplays, but I'll take a break for now & see how many other NTWF folks are just as cosplay-passionate as I am! Also, if these pictures are too large, I'll come back and resize them once it's not 6:30 in the morning here. I somehow got no sleep tonight at all! X-X
|
|
|
|
Post by ♥ Lulu on Mar 2, 2016 7:56:58 GMT -5
Yeah, sorry, I hadn't meant to snatch the first post from you! I was just very eager Also "International Con Ambassador" sounds so fancy, I love it! Anime has a fairly large fanbase in the UK, for sure. Most of the cons I go to are sci-fi or fantasy based, but judging how big MCM is (apparently 130,000+ guests in October 2015, and it runs twice a year), anime/manga definitely has solid footing here, since that's the major attraction with MCM, despite its title. I haven't seen any of the animes you're cosplaying from, Robyn, but I really enjoy looking at cosplaying outfits - it seems to take a lot of hardwork to come up with costumes! I particularly liked your Moka costume. I'd love to see the dress you came up with for Honoka, too. And, obviously, the Troy Bolton one is amazing. I love seeing fun, silly cosplays When you're ready to share, I'd like to hear what cosplays you're coming up with for this year |
|
|
|
Post by Robyn on Mar 2, 2016 13:24:51 GMT -5
Yeah, sorry, I hadn't meant to snatch the first post from you! I was just very eager Also "International Con Ambassador" sounds so fancy, I love it! Anime has a fairly large fanbase in the UK, for sure. Most of the cons I go to are sci-fi or fantasy based, but judging how big MCM is (apparently 130,000+ guests in October 2015, and it runs twice a year), anime/manga definitely has solid footing here, since that's the major attraction with MCM, despite its title. I haven't seen any of the animes you're cosplaying from, Robyn , but I really enjoy looking at cosplaying outfits - it seems to take a lot of hardwork to come up with costumes! I particularly liked your Moka costume. I'd love to see the dress you came up with for Honoka, too. And, obviously, the Troy Bolton one is amazing. I love seeing fun, silly cosplays When you're ready to share, I'd like to hear what cosplays you're coming up with for this year Oh you didn't snatch anything! That post with all the photos just took forever to make & it was so late last night for me (round 5 AM or so X-X) I didn't realize you were still up & posting with me, lol. And yes, you are officially the fanciest of ambassadors. WEAR THE BADGE WITH PRIDE, ♥ Lulu . Also, WOW. 130K guests more than outnumbers the average number of guests of the US's largest con. What rock have I been living under that I didn't know London was outdoing us in con turnout?? I'm very envious though; I just checked MCM's page to learn a bit more about it, and Daniel Radcliffe is right on the front page <3 The celebrity guests you all get over there must be incredible. The UK has so many talented people who work in all of these different nerdy medias! Have you ever gotten to meet any big actors? I assume Andrew Lincoln from The Walking Dead must've made an appearance over there at least once or twice. Gotta give me those juicy celeb deets. And thank you so much! It's funny-- Moka was actually mostly a joke cosplay. The series she comes from, Rosario + Vampire, is one of those animes whose demographic HAS to be just sixth grade boys with their minds in the gutter, and I find it to be one of those so-bad-it's-good kinds of shows. But her design looked so cute that I couldn't resist, and she's a pretty popular character, so I had a lot of fun getting some attention in that! Honoka & Maki are both from a series that I geniunely love called Love Live! which has really taken off both here and in Japan. It's about a group of high school girls who form an idol band to try and save their school from closing down, and it's just got everything: great music, smooth animation (minus the sometimes dodgy 3D dancing parts), well-developed characters, engrossing story, etc. It has two seasons and around 23 or so episodes; highly recommend it! There's also a fairly popular rhythm game app they put out for smartphones & tablets that I play, and I'd recommend that too, but it's addictive.  One of those freemium games that you almost can't help but drop cash on from time to time. I'll include a full body shot of the rest of Honoka's dress for you once I can track one down! I know we took pictures, but I can't seem to find them on my computer right now. The only reason I didn't include the whole thing is that I thought it was a little dorkier than usual... Honkers is one of my favorite characters, but this outfit. It's a little much imo. At least I had my two main cosplay partners doing the theme along with me, haha. This is turning into a long post, so I'll wrap it up by showing you what I have planned for the next con at the end of the month here. It's going to be a pretty casual con for me cosplay-wise because I'll be volunteering there, so all my costumes are going to be a little simplistic & easy to work in but still very cute! I've got another Honoka outfit (one is from one of her art cards on the mobile game), Umaru from Himouto Umaru-chan, and possibly Tsukimi from Princess Jellyfish in her sweats. I haven't gotten all my components for these together, but I've got til the end of the month, and I'll post some progress pictures as they come along. |
|
|
|
Post by M is for Morphine on Mar 2, 2016 13:40:31 GMT -5
I love going to cons, though I don't really cosplay. I'm going to Otakon this summer (and many years before, it was my first con way back in 2002), and I've been to a cute local con called J1con. I also have a habit of going to Wizard World Philly if I don't have to pay for it (I got in on a friend's press badge once lol). I have friends that do a lot of travel for cons as well as cosplay, and I have a ton of respect for all of the work that goes into it. I'd love to go to a horror con, like Chiller Expo in New Jersey. I've also been to a tattoo convention, though I don't have one yet. XD I got a bunch of business cards from cool local artists, though.
Thanks for posting your photos, I love looking at them even when I don't know any of the series.
|
|
|
|
Post by Draco on Mar 2, 2016 14:14:33 GMT -5
I loved the series Himouto Umaru-chan and Princess Jellyfish XD Really interested in seeing a Umaru cosplay XD
--
I've only gone to a few different cons, mostly sticking to Anime Expo in California. Went to it for 8 years in a row ('03-'10) then skipped a year, then went back in '12 and '13. The last two times I went I volunteered and got a free hotel room (stuck with a bunch of other volunteers), so that was cool. I was planning to go in '14 (had a free full ticket I won the previous year), but the volunteer program got rid of the crash space stuff (unless you did full-time volunteer, which is pretty much working all but 4 hours of the con), and had issues on transportation to and from the con if I did go... So skipped the last two years. My cousin's fiance is planning to host a booth (car models, so very... anime...) and wants me to help out, and willing to pay my trip and stuff. So that's cool XD
Through the years I've cosplayed a few times, none very good, but still fun. I don't really have any pictures of any though XD I don't do selfies >_> And I usually wandered around alone so no one I knew took pictures, and no one took pictures with or of me that I know of. So yeaaaah, not the best luck with cosplaying, but I like it XD
List of characters I've done have been... (in no real order, forgot when I did some)
Miroku (Inuyasha) - First cosplay, and one of the only recognized ones I've done.
Otacon (Metal Gear Solid) - Did this the year David Hayter (voice of Snake) was at the con.
Dark Link (Legend of Zelda) - this was actually just something I had made for a ren. faire, just added a Link style hat.
Hanataro Yamada (Bleach) - Fun costume to wear, but just get lost in the crowd of other random Bleach cosplayers XD
John Egbert (Homestuck) - This one I didn't do that well XD One, was wearing shorts (it's hot in LA in summer >_>), I
really needed a haircut (a bit long), and had little sunglasses on and not glasses XD
Gray Fullbuster (Fairy Tail) - again, needed a haircut, and the coat I was wearing seemed a bit to long on me.
In all cases, props were a big thing I think I was missing. I didn't have any for any of the costumes, and they would have made most better. I have other costumes I want to do in the future, but I want to do them more proper if I can.
--
Besides Anime Expo, all other cons I've gone to have been one shots for me. I went to a sort of local one called Anizona once, but it was pretty... Boring. There wasn't much there, and I think the following year it died? I know it's gone now. I think it got replaced by a better con that I haven't tried yet. I've also gone to the Phoenix Comic Con once. It's literally down the street from me, but it's so close to Anime Expo I have to pick and choose XD Maybe if I start a decent new job I can do both in the future.
|
|
|
|
Post by Robyn on Mar 3, 2016 1:54:39 GMT -5
M is for Morphine-- Thanks so much for your compliments! My goal is to get better & better with each costume, so hopefully I'll continue to impress. C: I live in the Southeast, and Tennessee's biggest anime con, MTAC, used to partner up with a tattoo/horror con called Full Moon that I've been dying to go to as well. Used to be that they'd hold the cons simultaneously in the same convention center up in Nashville & even sell tickets that would give you equal access to both venues, but they've broken off the partnership by now & I never got a chance to go to Full Moon. Maybe someday I'll be able to squeeze in both, and I hope you get to go to yours as well! Draco-- Sounds like you've had a pretty extensive history with cons! Can't believe we've never discussed that before, haha. Color me extremely envious that you've gotten to go to such huge cons like Otakon & basically anything in California. Us Southerners don't have much of a choice except to pack it up to Atlanta when we want to experience the really big ones. I'm trying to branch out into bigger out-of-state cons as time goes by. The cons in TN are mostly comprised of major ones that are slowly degrading their own reputations with shoddy business practices and unruly guests, and then brand new cons that are slowly but surely expanding yet still rather small. The cons I frequent each year in my state are MTAC, AkaiCon (a baby con, coming up on its 4th year this summer), NAD (Nashville Anime Day, a super tiny one day con), and GMX (Geek Media Expo, which focuses more on gaming & pop culture but welcomes anime enthusiasts too). Over the years, I've been to larger cons such as Anime Weekend Atlanta & ShadoCon in Tampa, and this year, my friends & I are planning on trying out MomoCon, another Atlanta con that I've heard only good things about. I had a fantastic time at AWA back in 2013, and as it's one of the largest cons in the country, I've been desperately trying to convince my friends to give it another shot, but sometimes it all boils down to what our time & budgets will allow. On a different note, I went shopping today & knocked out a good 90% of the shopping for the cosplays I'm debuting at MTAC at the end of the month! I'll be able to post up previews of my outfits here really soon!
|
|
|
|
Post by Draco on Mar 3, 2016 2:30:12 GMT -5
M is for Morphine-- Thanks so much for your compliments! My goal is to get better & better with each costume, so hopefully I'll continue to impress. C: I live in the Southeast, and Tennessee's biggest anime con, MTAC, used to partner up with a tattoo/horror con called Full Moon that I've been dying to go to as well. Used to be that they'd hold the cons simultaneously in the same convention center up in Nashville & even sell tickets that would give you equal access to both venues, but they've broken off the partnership by now & I never got a chance to go to Full Moon. Maybe someday I'll be able to squeeze in both, and I hope you get to go to yours as well! Draco-- Sounds like you've had a pretty extensive history with cons! Can't believe we've never discussed that before, haha. Color me extremely envious that you've gotten to go to such huge cons like Otakon & basically anything in California. Us Southerners don't have much of a choice except to pack it up to Atlanta when we want to experience the really big ones. I'm trying to branch out into bigger out-of-state cons as time goes by. The cons in TN are mostly comprised of major ones that are slowly degrading their own reputations with shoddy business practices and unruly guests, and then brand new cons that are slowly but surely expanding yet still rather small. The cons I frequent each year in my state are MTAC, AkaiCon (a baby con, coming up on its 4th year this summer), NAD (Nashville Anime Day, a super tiny one day con), and GMX (Geek Media Expo, which focuses more on gaming & pop culture but welcomes anime enthusiasts too). Over the years, I've been to larger cons such as Anime Weekend Atlanta & ShadoCon in Tampa, and this year, my friends & I are planning on trying out MomoCon, another Atlanta con that I've heard only good things about. I had a fantastic time at AWA back in 2013, and as it's one of the largest cons in the country, I've been desperately trying to convince my friends to give it another shot, but sometimes it all boils down to what our time & budgets will allow. On a different note, I went shopping today & knocked out a good 90% of the shopping for the cosplays I'm debuting at MTAC at the end of the month! I'll be able to post up previews of my outfits here really soon! I'm in Arizona, which doesn't have to much. Going to Anime Expo has been the most of what I've been to in California. I have family there, so I usually crash with them (downside being several hours away from the actual con). Otakon is in Baltimore, never been XD I dressed as Otacon. Arizona pretty much stinks when it comes to cons XD There's one decent anime con here, Saboten Con, that I've heard is good. But it tends to move around with it's date and location all the time, so it's hard to plan out. -- The biggest issues with cons I found is just how much money they actually cost. The cost of the pass, transportation, possible hotel room, food, all the stuff you might buy, etc. For years I would stay at my Aunt and Uncles place. The first few years my older cousin would drive both of us to the con, and we stayed at other family places nearby for the weekend. Then when she moved, my other cousin and I would be driven there in the morning by my Uncle, then picked up when he was off work. Downside to this was getting up at 4am, being at the con at 7 (nothing starts till 10+), and then we usually skipped the last day since my Uncle didn't work. The last few times I skipped it was because his car was broken and he was taking a bus to work... And I didn't want to have to take a several hour bus trip (more expenses) there and back, not knowing the area and stuff XD It was just to much hassle. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 15:02:24 GMT -5
I cosplayed as Touya/Hilbert/Black from Pokemon Black and White at my first anime convention, but I didn't start cosplaying again until last year when I got back in shape (I was pretty thin when I was Hilbert/Black/Touya and put on a lot of weight after that) so I could fit in an Organization XIII cloak. I went from 250 pounds to 190 pounds just for that. I'm still losing wait, and I'm thinking of putting together a Calem (male protag from Pokemon XY) cosplay. I'm going to one in Orlando this weekend that I just found out about a few days ago (You have NO IDEA how hard it was to get a hotel room - good thing the con's actually in the hotel ), and I tried on my cloak - last time I wore it was in December, and now it's actually pretty loose I got some black pants and boots to go with it, and I got black gloves. Unfortunately, I've lost the gloves  I also don't go as a specific member, but I do like to run past people every now and then yelling "RUN, RUN AWAY!" |
|
|
|
Post by Robyn on Mar 6, 2016 3:12:00 GMT -5
@fangofthedead, I've only been to one con in Florida-- ShadoCon in Tampa-- and it was okay, but you'll have to tell me how your time this weekend goes! It's always really cool if you can swing getting your hotel room in the actual hotel the con's being held in. I've never managed it before, but I'm going to have to this year when I go down to Atlanta. Health probs make it really hard to spend whole days up & moving around in cosplay; having a place to flop down right there when I need it will be amaaaazing. ^^
I just went up to Nashville to get my volunteer assignment for MTAC, and I couldn't be happier! I'd had an issue the past couple years about all the new people I kept meeting being significantly younger than me-- I'm not against being friends with teens at all, but with me right on top of turning 23, there's an unmistakable gap in maturity that can be a little hard to bridge. The secret has been revealed: all the people my age WORK FOR THE CON. Duhhhh, Robyn. I met so many cool people today that I'm thrilled to be working with!
Plus, if all goes as discussed, I have the easiest & most interesting job I could get in managing the after-hours video room. I basically get my badge for free to sit and watch anime for 12 hours over the course of the whole con. And I can do it in cosplay! I'm so excited. The end of the month can't get here soon enough!
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2016 20:39:31 GMT -5
Paul St. Peter.
Complimented me.
On my Organization XIII cloak.
Awesome.
|
|
|
|
Post by Robyn on Mar 7, 2016 23:56:30 GMT -5
Congrats, man!
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2016 19:41:43 GMT -5
So here's something I'll be reposting in the Miraculous headquarters - I saw about two or three Cat Noirs and one Ladybug.
Man, I need to start watching that show.
|
|
One of those freemium games that you almost can't help but drop cash on from time to time.
I also don't go as a specific member, but I do like to run past people every now and then yelling "RUN, RUN AWAY!"