Breaking Down: Cosplay

So I was sent a link to a guy doing a documentary series called Breaking Down. He basically explores subcultures and breaks them down...so to speak. It's the basic set up, guy from the outside going into something he doesn't understand and tries to understand it.

Right now he's doing episodes on Cosplay, and it's pretty interesting so far, even going so far as to dress up and explore AX. I've watched the first two episodes and I like what's going on so far. He seems respectful of the people and has some actual conversations with people rather then antagonize or made silly comments. You see some things that probably many of you have experienced at cons before (like being randomly hugged, by this point I'm rather used to it so you don't realize how odd it might be for someone else on the outside).

You guys should really check him out, for the later episodes I really hope to see more conversations he has with other cosplayers.

Breaking Down
Facebook

Katsucon 2011

Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center, National Harbor, MD
February 18th-20th
Website

Alright so now it's time for the con report! Katsucon was actually my first convention ever, so it's always sort of special for me. First off the hotel is AMAZING. If you've never been to the Gaylord it's a beautiful resort hotel. It's probably one of the nicest places that I've been to for a con. For cosplayers it's a photo dream. There's so many different types of settings someone could take for photos.










Which brings me to the food there. The food within the hotel is amaaaaazing. Really rather pricey, so if you don't spending a bit of extra money then I'd say go for it, because I enjoyed it. But if you want to save a bit of money there's a ton of different cheaper restaurants outside the hotel and they're within walking distance. Which was actually doable this year because the weather was much nicer! Friday was so warm and nice I didn't mind walking around the area, though Saturday had really crazy wind, for the most part the congoers were actually able to spread out and weren't as confined to the hotel as they were last year. Thanks to the odd weather there wasn't some freak snow storm, making it so much easier to drive up.

This year was a bigger focus on cosplay, so I really didn't make any panels. That's sadly sort of the norm for me, I've heard some good things. I have noticed the bigger focus on cosplay in the panels, most of them how to's or beginners guides to cosplay. Probably shows the growing interest with cosplay in the con circuit, maybe it's starting to become bigger then the original focus (stuff like anime and Japanese culture). I can't say I'm too bothered by it, because of my own love for cosplay, but it does tend to change the focus of the con. Two special guests were cosplayers, so it seems the con is aware of how significant cosplay is at a con.



Now I get into the issues. Katsucon has always seemed a bit disorganized at times. Last year the badges didn't come on time for pre-reg so people were there on Thurs had to get some kind of voucher and pick up their badges later. This year there was an hour wait beyond the badge pickup time, due to...something, I never really got a reason why. But what really annoyed me was the fact that the people on Thursday never got a program or full schedule, just a Friday one. Maybe they rectified this later on, you could pick it up somewhere, but wherever it was, I never got one. Thankfully we had a computer to check the schedule for stuff.

Other then this issue I can't say I have much to complain about. The hotel staff was nice, and I really didn't have much interaction with staffers. I can't really comment much on the panels. What I can say was how it was a a semi mess to try and get photos by the gazebo. Everyone wants photos there because of how nice it is.


Probably the best example of it I have here.

But it came down to a first come first serve type thing, and if there wasn't a gathering there you can bet someone was rushing to get a photo there.

I have little to really complain, other then those reasons. Overall I was pretty happy with the con. I hope the Gaylord continues to have Katsucon. Despite the expense it was really well worth it.

Katsucon 2011: Photos

Normally I like to start with a con review but this time I'm going to start with the photos first, because I know more people would want to see that a bit more. I tried to take as many as I could, there are much more from a few of the gatherings I managed to stalk. Feel free to take any image you see if yourself, friends or whatever. I'd appreciate a link back if you do. So I hope you enjoy!

Cosplayers








More cosplayers here.

Umineko








More Umineko photos here.

Other Gatherings
Umineko








And the rest here and here.

Almost time for Katsu!

So Katsucon is almost here, which means I have about everything done. I'm still waiting on a few little things I need to finish up my costumes. But for the most part I'm about ready.

A friend of mine wanted us to cosplay together and we decided to do Godchild, I chose Merryweather. There was a ton of outfits I could have chosen from, but a lot of them had the same sort of big ruffled look. I needed something a bit easier to make and wear, because of the time factor. So after hunting through I ended up picking an outfit from the Cain Saga.


I got to play around and be a bit more interpretive with some of the details, since with each frame the outfit looked slightly different. This was probably the cheapest of all the costumes thus far. I really only needed to get a wig, lining an a few small details. I had the majority of everything else.



The shoes were something I already owned, which was incredible luck. It in the end came down to wig hunting...which was an adventure. The one in the photo up there is my second and successful wig. I still need to trim the bangs a bit. Also since that photo I've completed a few more details that I've been too lazy to put the thing on and take a photo of.

This is where being careful on the internet comes into play. IT can be something a lot of cosplayers can suffer from, people trying to look for a deal on their limited budgets only to get ripped off or find their item isn't exactly as pictured. And it can really happen to ANYONE who buys something online. I've had a lot of luck with finding deals on the internet and my biggest source is ebay. If you pay attention and really read the reviews it makes it easier. I did what I normally did and found a wig I really liked. The price was amazing. Probably too amazing. Because this is what I got.



As you can see I'm rather displeased. It's crazy thin. I've never seen a wig this thin before. I'm sadly stuck with this wig. But at least I was able to get my replacement. But it's a lesson well learned.

Also! I made a Bearbee for a friend for her birthday. It's sort of fun to make plushes again. I still have two more I need to make.



AND LASTLY. I got my watch for 999. Probably...the best thing I've ever received. Thank you Aksys!

Cosplay Meme for 2011

Another meme this time a bit more recent. Enjoy!

Magfest 9: Photos

Here's some of the photos I managed to collect with my new camera. I gotta say it's much nicer to see with my new camera rather then the flash flushing everything out. I tried to get as many cosplayers as I could get, there really wasn't as many as there is at an anime con. But with Katsucon I should be able to make up for that. Anything that I don't end up posting I'll give a link towards my photobucket so you can view everything I took. And please, don't mind mind me being ridiculously late with posting photos.


Cosplayers
I'll try and post some of my favorite from the con.

Borderlands cosplay. I really don't know a lot about the series but I really liked her cosplay. The contacts are intense.


Dr. Wiley, the hair was intense. I saw a Metal Man wandering around...I should have snagged his photo.


Ramona Flowers. She was really rather pretty, I'm pretty sure she was working at that booth.


Dread Pirate Roberts. The puppet is terribly awesome.
More cosplayers are here. There really weren't a whole lot I got photos of sadly, it's not a big cosplay con. Katsucon should make up for that.

Guests
A few of the guests I managed to snag photos with or snag photos of.


Linkara, Liz and Phelous.


It's like this odd triforce. Linkara, Spoony and Jewwario.

So you might be noticing a trend. Linkara. It's really more of an accident how he keeps ending up in my photos. Like the one above, it was a Spoony panel but he had Linkara and Jewario come up and riff with him. And the one with Phelous, he just happened to be there. And then I happen to run into him several times...The first night was the above Spoony panel, I caught him right after and snagged a photo. The second time I was taking photos of the hallway and saw him walking by, so I waved and said hi, he saw me holding the camera up and stopped. I was sort of stuck so I took a photo, and the third time I saw him I just figured may as well get a photo from every day.


I promise you Linkara I'm not a stalker. Just an accidental one. And hello to Obscurus Lupa in the background!


And the two from the previous post, Spoony here.


And AVGN!

The Con Itself

The registration line...and the 2 hour wait.


The game room, wonderfully dimly lit, but all dem screens.


The dealer room, much, much smaller then really what I'm used to. But I don't think a big focus was the dealers room, but it really didn't stop me from looking the place everyday.

And a link for anyone who wants to see whatever else I have that I didn't feel like posting or highlighting. Thank you all for looking! For Katsucon I should be far more up to date on posting.

Clover: 999

So for Katsucon we have a big 999 (9 hours 9 persons 9 doors) group, with almost everyone (minus Lotus and the 9th man, any takers?) and I've slowly been working through Clover. I haven't finished but I can post some of my progress what I have so far, just to show whatever I'm working on.

So I'm working on the wig. My base was a curly wig that I started to pin up and tease. At the moment it's not quiet the right poofiness that I need for Clover, but I'm still slowly working it up. Also the bangs still need to be trimmed.

Also the lighting in my room looks so terrible in my room. It really doesn't show the color all that well. This probably shows it the closest, but its a wonderful pink/redish color.

Enjoy the no makeup and camera posed at the mirror.
Now for the costume itself, most of the sewing is done, there's a few small details that need to be done.


So you can see the wig is made to be a bit longer and teased up a bit more. It still needs work if I want to get it really big. Also the bang still have yet to be cut from the last photo. Whenever I finish teasing out the wig I'll probably get to the bangs. It's a pretty easy cut made much easier with the thinning sheers I got. Seriously, if you ever need to cut a wig, get yourself a pair.

The blouse was bought and taken in a bit to fit better. You wouldn't believe how tough it was to find a plain white blouse. About everything else I found beforehand was all decked out in something fancy, or had some kind of design on it. I ended up just lucking out on something I found on ebay.

The skirt and bow were fabric left over from my Red Hood Miku costume, and I just happened to have the green paint sitting around. The painting was...terribly tedious, easy but tedious. It involved masking off the areas and then painted where I needed to. For anyone wondering I used Tulip Fabric Paint. Pretty awesome stuff, I've used it for any kind of fabric painting I've needed.

The sweatshirt was handmade...and a mini trial in itself. See the pattern I bought was a few sizes too big so I had to size about everything down. The hood is a little too big, but it really isn't that terribly noticeable, I was fine with letting it go. But it worked well enough because the hoodie needed to be a bit over sized. I really lucked into finding the right colors and with it lined its really super warm.

The fur parts were interesting. I've never worked with fur before, my machine was able to handle it for the most part. There was a few rough patches that I needed to work by hand. But I think the worst part was how the fur got EVERYWHERE. All over my desk and clothing. I'll be alright to never have to work with fur again. The bottom parts have elastic in it. The one side is sort of drooping and I need to fix that.

The last things I need are...
- The boots
- Leather paint (for the boots)
- Poof balls
...and the watch.


Slowly making out it out sculpey. There's a tubing that I need to get to make it. The watches on ebay are...ridiculous, I really can't afford that.

But that's all my progress for Clover as of now. I should really keep from saying that I'm doing this and that, because I keep changing my cosplay plans. Katsucon will be the con of cosplays. Lets see if I can get it all done.


ALSO. I'm trying to sell my Trucy Costume. If you're interested message me on coscom or here.