Animation On Display (AOD) 2010 (Saturday)

Oh, man, I don't even know where to start with this one. We left way later than I wanted to, due to a lot of things really. Then we hit some of the worst traffic I've ever seen, and then we got lost. So we ended up not making it to the convention until about 5:30.

We met up with my cousin and her friends, whom I sold stuff too, and my cousin gave me gifts =] We then ended up in the tabletop gaming room where (hahaha) my friend got hit on by some random guy. It was hard to watch, but still so hilarious. Poor girl D=

Then I went to sign in for the costume contest (as Amaterasu), which I thought was at 6, but was actually at 5! Oops. I still got to participate though, they just had to do my judging later.

We wantered for a while, and I ran into Foxberry in her completely awesome Dr. Franken Stein (Soul Eater) costume, which I won't link directly to because I'm not sure she wants her picture all over the interwebs. I know I wouldn't mind, but I'm weird like that. We talked a bit, in-between being asked for pictures and whatnot.

Then my group went for food and Foxberry and I went to the masquerade pre-gathering organization thing to ger seated and receive info on how things would be run. It was... A little chaotic in there. Loud. very loud. But they got the job done. I had to be pre-judged, and, oh my goodness, stress! I don't know why, but I completely froze up when they asked me questions. "How did you make this piece?" "I.. Umm.. I... Made it..? *dies*"

The masquerade itself went fairly smoothly. There were a few audio malfunctions, and one group ended up knocking the mic stand (with microphone still in it) completely off the stage. Heh. That was also hilarious and painful to watch. I got the worst headache ever during the "halftime show." I think it was a combination of my tight wig cap, my mask pressing against my forehead uncomfortably, my fangs not allowing my to relax my jaw completely, and bad jokes on the Emcee's part. Okay, the jokes weren't bad at all, I would've rather enjoyed them if it weren't for the immense pain.

I ended up winning runner-up for construction, which I"m a little butthurt about, but I'll get over it. I'm sure that the guy who won best for construction deserved it. I believe those judges were very fair. Foxberry got a Judge Favorite award because of her awesome clicking screw-bolt-thing (I don't know what it technically is, but it's awesome! D=). We went to collect our prizes and get more pictures taken of us.

And then Shiek found me! I had been looking for her as Ayame all day, but it turned out that she had changed into something else. I was looking forward to seeing that too =/ That's what I get for being so late, I suppose (though parts of that were beyond my control). By the time she found me, I had taken apart my costume because my fangs, wig cap, and mask were killing me, and I was starting to get hot flashes and the fur didn't help.

After that, I bolted to the swap meet where a friend of mine bought a game she's been wanting for hecka cheap. A couple of things caught my eye, but I resisted the urge to buy useless things. I wanted to keep my money. I brought $30 to the con and ended up leaving with $100 xD That part was totally awesome. Usually cons completely drain my money, so this was a nice change. Though I remember profiting from Kin-Yoobi too when they gave us cash as a costume contest prize.

I might go back to AOD next year, in a simpler, easier-to-wear costume, and at a decent time (not 5:00 o.o). I think AOD's main downside is that there's nothing to do and not enough space to do it in. I liked the venue last year more, the "Main Hall" was a very large open area where people could just chill. But this year, there were actually chairs and tables, so that's always nice too. I guess it's sort of a trade-off.

Quote of the Day:

Random Guy: You're not making any sense!
Random Girl: Your face doesn't make sense!
Me & My Friends: Ohhhhhhh!
My Friend: Are you gonna take that?
Random Guy: Who the hell are these people!?
*my group walks away*

Holiday Anime Faire 2009

I am sooo glad I went to Holiday Anime Faire. Especially as Amaterasu.

I went in a browsed (okay, ransacked) the place for a wall scroll of Chi, which I did not find! *rage* Oh well. I bought the last two books of Chobits later instead.

I loitered around and ran into (or rather was pulled out of the crowd by) a couple of friends. We were disturbed by this girl... How do I describe her..? Insane? Heh. It was clear that she was excited, but from what I could tell, and what people who knew her told me, she's severely socially awkward. She just thought that she was the best thing ever and it was just awkward when she spoke. She walked up to my friend who was dressed as Sleepy Time Naruto, and she herself claimed to be Naruto and had a Naruto graphic tee on. She asked "Which one if the real one?" and my friend (not Naruto) pointed to her shirt and said "That one." The chick thought my friend meant her and started to say "Ha! I win!" When the Naruto I knew cut her off and said "No. You don't understand. That's the real Naruto," and pointed more clearly to her shirt. Heh. Awkward, but my friends are awesome anyway =D So I chatted with them and kinda stuck myself to them until the costume contest, which was the only reason I went in the first place.

Speaking of first place, I got it! Hehehehehe. Never has winning been this rewarding though. We were split up into three categories: hand-made(which I was in), closet cosplay, and store / internet-bought cosplay. Last time I competed at this convention, in April (same convention, different name and month, don't ask) the judging was based solely on audience reaction. If it had been like that this time, I'm not so sure I would have one. This one girl, I forget who she was dressed as, got a lot of cheers and screams, but I was told that a lot of it was her friends in the audience and people just generally fangasming. This time though, the convention head brought in an impartial judge who knew almost nothing about anime, and that's probably the reason I won. I thanked everybody, including the audience and random people who said they liked my costume so many times, it was crazy. I'm so grateful.

My prizes kick ass. seriously, best. prizes. EVAR. A jacket with the Shonen JUMP logo on it, estimated to be worth about $50, a keychain, which I already have, an iron-on patch with no significance to me, and a freakin' ticket to freakin' Fanime. My jaw dropped to the floor when they announced that as one of the prizes. I mean, seriously. They were listing the prizes "DVDs... A jacket... A ticket to AOD... A ticket to Fanime." and people just freaked. I was happy for the potential DVDs, that's what my prize was last year, the jacket didn't interest me, but they got my attention with an AOD ticket, and I nearly passed out when they said a Fanime ticket. And then I won the Fanime Ticket. OMG. I'm just really excited.

I plan on showing my Ammy lots and lots of TLC tomorrow because it won me so much today. I don't know if I'll finish any new parts, but I'll patch up what's falling apart and whatnot, because it managed to take a beating today =/

Kin-Yoobi Con 2009

I woke up around 9:30 to get ready. I had originally wanted to leave at 11, but my ride wanted to go earlier..... And then ended up showing up late. So we arrived at the con at 11 anyway.

We scoped out the area and played a couple video games. I played DDR as Amaterasu to the delight of a few onlookers.

I played Legend of Starfy on my boyfriend's DS until the Anime Jeopardy started. Which I failed at. Miserably. I really hope that's not on YouTube... After that was Wheel of Fandom. I watched two rounds and played another two. I won one. I swear, I would've won the second if I hadn't have landed on that "Loose a Turn" space...

After that was Anime Roleplay, which wasn't what I expected at all. The description made it seem like you chose / cosplayed a character, were given a scenario, and had to act it out with other role/cosplayers. I guess you could say that that's what it was, but the other cosplayers gave one-line answers. I wanted to play with it more, so here's what I did:

The scenario was, the emcee was a bartender who had a secret password, which we were supposed to attain. So...
Me: Is there any drink you would recommend?
Bartender: Just the usual scotch on the rocks..
Me: Is there anything special about this drink?
Bartender: No, nothing really.
Me: So outside of bar tending, what else do you do? Any hobbies..?
Bartender: I'm a ninja-spy-- Oops.
Me: So. If you were to make a secret password, what would it NOT be?
Bartender: Are you playing mind games with me?
Me: Oh, no, just making smalltalk. =]
Bartender: Well, it would definitely NOT be scotch on the rocks...
Me: Would it be.. Vodka?
Bartender: No. But it would definitely be an alcoholic drink.
Me: Would it be.. Sake?
Bartender: Aww, you got it! I'm a ninja, of course I like sake!

The audience seemed to like it, so I was pretty proud of myself. The next scenario was that we were in line at a DMV and the emcee was the guy in the front of the line. We were supposed to get in front of him. I offered him 20 flasks of holy sake and he let me though. ;] I'm not sure how much of that was really in-character, but I tried, for the most part.

Eventually was the costume contest, which I placed 3rd in. I'm a little butthurt, but I'll get over it. (3 months and $200... To get in third place. Heck yeah I'm butthurt...)

The dating auction was lackluster, my boyfriend wouldn't let me auction myself OR buy anyone. I wanted to buy Wolverine and have him give me a running piggy-back ride across the convention. *sigh* Some dreams must go unfulfilled, I suppose.

Afterward, the Anime Ball was supposed to start, so we waited around and I played more DDR. I was given a bear hug by a.. Oh, snap, I forget the name of the character he was cosplaying as. I don't do Naruto >_< So I don't remember character names.

It seems as though the Anime Ball was canceled, so we left.

In the courtyard outside the convention, the cosplayer that bear hugged me stopped us again and got a little too close for my comfort, so I left.

Fanime 2009 (Saturday)

I don't really know what I did all day, but I was there from 9:30am to 12:30am (past midnight). I was L and was chained to Light. Our group also included Matt (Death Note).

Woke up freakishly early to do mine (L) and Mello's and Light's makeup. Left for the con around 9 and got there around 9:30. Literally not five seconds after we got out of the car, we (more specifically Matt) were mobbed by fangirls xD Then we stood in line for two freakin' hours! Well worth it, of course, but jeeze.

As soon as we got in, we went to wait in ANOTHER line for the FaniMaid Cafe, in which we were attacked with questions from an over-zealous otaku. It was alright for the first, say, three minutes, but after that, I could've gone without. We got pulled to the front of the line because we had a small group and got seated. Our waitress played a game of Guess Who: Pokemon Edition with us and then we played on our own for a while =] We took a picture with our waitress and left. Overall, the FaniMaid Cafe was really cute and lots of fun. But I could do without the otakus...

After that, we scoped out the Dealer's Hall, Artist's Alley, and Gaming Room. I played a game of DDR, which is a BAD IDEA in binding! So I played "Dead L" for about a half hour or so after that. To the delight of my friends as they could POKE ME to a second death while I was laying there xP We were approached later in the game room by a Joker (Batman) with an idea for a Death Note product xD I won't give out details, but it was pretty good.

We wandered about for a few hours, lookin' at things to buy and who was there, getting mobbed by fangirls, all the fun things there are to do at a con. No panels though, actually, nothing in particular caught our interest. Around four or four-thirty, we walked a couple blocks down the street to a McDonalds where we ate and did makeup touch-ups. After that, we went back to the con for a bathroom break and then headed out to get in line for the masquerade.

The masquerade was alright, not as good as last year, in my opinion. We started out in BAD seats. As far as location goes, they were alright. Close to center stage, just in the back. But the IDIOT behind us wouldn't stop talking about how cute (or not cute) he thought the girls on stage were. And he was rude about it. I nearly ripped his head off. A few seats in front of us opened up and we jumped into them. They were a little more off to the side, but definitely well worth the move.

After the masquerade, we went to the techno rave, which was AWESOME. A couple fangirls squeeled over Matt and I dancing (and later kissing, haha). But about a half hour into dancing, I altered my shirt to be a bare midriff (show'd mah belleh lol) 'cause it got insanely hot, so I was no longer recognizable to my knowledge. In the hallway right outside of the rave, we ran into a guy with a "free hugs" shirt with a bunch of signatures on it. There was no room for us to sign, so I drew a big, black, Death Note-style L over a few names. We talked for a while and he rubbed my belly and poked my abs xD He took off shortly after I introduced Matt as my boyfriend (which he is) haha.

We took a freakin' limo home! Woo! See, it was the day of our Prom and I had decided the thing I was going to miss most was the limo, so I decided we'd get one anyway lol I was surprised at the lack of surprise from onlookers when it showed up though D= That's no fun. I like creating an awe factor. The ride home was fun, we played with buttons in the back of the limo and drank the sodas and such (and were shocked at the fact that there was vodka back there). Got home around one-thirty and crashed there lol.

Some awesome quotes from the day:
Another L: "Aww.. I wanna be chained to Light =["

Fangirls (at Light carrying a sleepy L down the hall): "AWWWWW!"

Matt (to L at the techno rave): "Uhh.. You're kinda backin' it up on those Akatsuki members behind you..."

Super-Con 2009

Super-Con was, in shot, ah-maze-ing. I woke up at eight to try and be ready by nine. Usually just putting on a costume wouldn't take me so long, but putting on the body paint for the automail took FOREVER (and ended up coming off and sticking to EVERYTHING but my leg)! So I was ready by about nine-thity / ten-ish (which sucked 'cause I wanted to LEAVE at nine), and we arrived around eleven.

We wandered about a bit and my boyfriend fanboyed over all the comic book stuff. Then we went to see Vic Mignogna (Edward Elric, FMA) as soon as his booth opened for autographs. He signed my jacket and I got a hug and a picture <3 It was awesome.

Then we went to the Marina Sirtis (Deana Troy, Star Trek: The Next Generation) panel, which was way more fun than I had originally thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Stark Trek fan myself, but I didn't think it would be much fun anyway. And yet, it was totally awesome!

After that, we sat around in the panel room waiting for the FMA panel to start. Seemed like it took forever (45 minutes xD *persistent and impatient*), but it was WELL worth it. After that, we went back to Vic's booth so I could buy a CD. I wanted it autographed too, but we had to run off to the cosplay contest, which we were in, and by the time it was over, Vic was gone =[ So sad...

So I was Edward Elric (or, rather a variation) and my boyfriend was Roy Mustang and we entered the contest as a group. I was wearing a collar and he had the leash (I like yaoi =3), and we were going for a "dog of the military" thing. However, we did not know that we were expected to perform. So we improved a super short yaoi skit up on stage and it received what I believ to be a very positive reaction =D Which I was actually very surprised at because we just made it up (lol).

That was pretty much the end of the day, I bought some candies and gum and awesome Pac-Man bandages and then we went home.

Oh, the car broke down on the way home, which kinda sucked, but AAA came to pick us up and all is well =]

Kin-Yoobi Con 2008

Overall, very underwhelming. I suppose I was just spoiled with my first real con being Fanime, but Kin-Yoobi was kinda boring, even for people who said it was their first. It wasn't terrible, it's not like I didn't have any fun, but it seemed like there was nothing to do.
I woke up around 8:30 and panicked to get ready because I knew I wanted to get up at 8. Daniel showed up around 9 and we left shortly after to pick up Genna. We didn't follow the directions to the place right, so we ended up driving around for basically forever before calling someone for directions.

Once we got there, we immediately humiliated ourselves with karaoke (me and Genna at least), which is apparently Japanese for "tone deaf" (or something like that). Then we listened to some bands and read some manga in the manga library. I got my picture taken by random people I don't know how many times (at least that was fun) and attacked by a group of random otakus (not as much fun). The otakus were all "Can we get your picture? Where's Black Hayate? Do you have a gun? Here, use this gun! Strike a pose! Wait! I wanna get in the picture! The camera's not working! Why is there a timer on it?" and I was just like "What the...?" Freaks.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Perla showed up and we ate free pizza too.
Anywho, I was gonna enter the cosplay competition, but didn't. Last-minute stage fright. Oh well, no harm done, it was lame to watch anyway and there was hardly anyone there. Then we played and watched video games on and off for the rest of the night.
Lame. I'm tired and I have a headache and I was BORED! Oh well, at least I talked with friends a bit. =]

Fanime 2008 (Saturday)

One-day badge: $30
Merchandise & Food: $47
Fanime '08 Experience: Priceless

We probably probably spent a total of 3 out of the 11 hours we were there in line, Ed, Perla, Marco, Brenda, and I. But it was totally worth it. Woke up at 7:30, took a shower, got ready at 8:05, Ed showed up at 8:20, messed with his cosplay costume for a while (he was Roy, I was Riza), waited and waited and waited for Perla (and took a nap) until, like 9:30 until we finally left.
We argued over directions almost the entire way there, haha. I dubbed "Roy" useless 'cause it was raining =] (Well, that, plus his obvious lack of gloves..) We showed up at the San Jose McEnry Convention Center at 11:00 and stood in line. Forever. We reached the front of the ine around 12:00. No joke. I got so sick of looking at all the same cosplayers for an hour. So we registered. And then stood in another line. A line whose only purpose was to guide you to another line across the hall. We paid at the end of that line and then get in another line for our badges. At the end of all this, I must admit, I was quite claustrophobic. So for there, we got in yet another line for food, which we got and then, thank God, sat down. o.o My feet already hated me, but that was just the beginning.
While we were eating, Marco realized that he had been given the wrong person's badge. Lucky bum, he coulda gone today too if he wanted, the badge he got was an all-weekend pass.. Anywho, for some reason, Perla thought that the entrance/exit where we got the badges was at the end of the hall (when it was really right behind us), so we started walking that way. I was just kinda following. We got to the end of the hall and then kinda realized we had no idea where we were going. So we went into the dealers room to buy stuff! I got FMA earrings and new neko ears =] Ed bought Mustang's gloves lol
Then we went over to "Stage Zero" for the gothic fashion show, Lolita Kisama. That was definitely the most entertaining fashion show of my life, hands down. I stood on a chair the entire time 'cause we were in the back and I'm short and I couldn't see and I wanted to take pictures. Perla went and got another chair and hecka people asked if they could stand on the same chair as me, haha. So I ending up standing with one foot on each chair and they were almost a foot apart. Slightly uncomfortable, but I'm a good person, I suppose.
After the fashion show and oggling over the models, we went to the gaming room and ultimately ended up loitering for a while (my feet hated me and I'm pretty sure they still do).
After that, went to the Artist Alley. Why did you make me go in there, Perla, why!? I wanted to buy everything =[ I limited myself to a new cell phone chain and hair clips though.. I would've bought more, but I had to get dinner later...
Then we walked across the street to the Civic Center to get in line for the masquerade. The entrance was right across the street, but the line went around the corner, so we followed it to find the end. And it went around another corner! And halfway down the block on that side! We should've known to go around the other way.. By the time we got there, there were only balcony seats on the sides left, and that would've been okay except for all the stairs! o.o So we got up to the top and got seats and stared to watch. A little while into it, Ed and I made a run downstairs to get food for everyone. By the time we got back up, we had just missed the FMA skit =[ -emo fangirl- Anyway, at the food stand, they had run out of hotdogs and we wanted two, so they gave us one and we went back down for the other one later. Crazy lady tried to charge me a second time, but when I told her I had already paid, she gave us two hotdogs instead of the one we didn't get. Go figure. So we took them back up again. By this time, my legs hated me more than my feet. So here's the best lines from my favorite skit:
Roxas -on phone-: Hey, Axel! Wanna have an orrrgy? Aww.. Alright.. I'll see you later... I love you too
(later)
Xingbar (I think XD) -on phone-: Hey Mansex!-- I mean Xemnas!
So, yeah, that was totally awesome. Perla, Marco, and Brenda had to leave early, but Ed and I stayed longer and went to the dance after checking out the game show, during which some random chick glomped me from behind and went "SQUEE! RIZA HAWKEYE!" right in my ear. Awkward. I knew the answers to most of the questions in the game show too -.- Sad.
I must say, though, anime fans make the best dancers =D Not that I danced with anyone but Ed, but what I mean is, you can throw a ton of us in a room, turn off the lights, crank up the music, and there'll only be 9 people grinding, tops. I swear.
We finally left around 10:40 and got back around 11:15. Ed fell asleep on the car ride home XD The whole thing was TOTALLY AWESOME! I'm so going back next year.. I wanna be one of the millions of Pikachu cosplayers next time, but no mini-skirts and tank-tops for me! I'm going the exact opposite direction! Skin-tight yellow jumpsuit! Yay!