Oh. My. Goodness. This year's Fanime was amazing. It was my first time going more than one day to a con, first time pre-registering, and first time staying overnight.MORE PHOTOS LATER
Day 0 (Thursday) - I cosplayed Pikachu (Pokemon) to go pick up my badge. I was pleasantly surprised at the reactions to my costume, since it's my "fly under the radar" costume for when I want to cosplay, but don't want to attract much attention. Looking back on it, I should've cosplayed something more eye-catching, because then at least I'd have something to do while waiting in line for two-plus hours to pick up my badge. Funny enough, my boyfriend caught more attention than I did. He was wearing a fleece Magikarp hat that I made for him a few weeks back.
So basically, we stood in one line that was split into two lines, so that we had to wait to get into another line, to wait to get into another line, which we were in for at least another hour, so that we could get into the final line. My boyfriend and I were both slightly offended by the staff member(? volunteer?) at the beginning of the last line. (S)He(? don't really remember) was holding a sign that said "Nerds, geeks, losers, otakus" and had an arrow pointing to the right to where the line started. It would have been funny if it was a well made sign that was actually thought-out, but it was a tiny piece of cardboard with stuff sloppily written on it in Sharpie. I doubt the con heads would have appreciated that. After getting our badges, we wandered the convention center for all of a minute and then left for home.Day 1 (Friday) - I cosplayed my own version of human-form Amaterasu (Okami) and my boyfriend wore his Magikarp hat again. I was pleasantly surprised (as usual) at the amount of people who enjoyed my costume and took pictures. I was extremely flattered when the masquerade winners from last year's Fanime (Chief Pikachu and Charlie the Charmander) geeked out over my costume and asked for pictures and hugs. I don't know why it was such a big deal, but it was really flattering and I absolutely loved them in last year's masquerade masquerade, and in this year's too! So that was really cool.
The first thing my boyfriend and I did was go to the dance lessons to learn some of the dances for the Black & White Ball. I really wish we hadn't bothered. If we do dance lessons next year, we're only going to like two. Maybe. I don't like the way they're run. They separate girls and guy and teach them steps individually, then bring them together to dance as partners, force them to rotate and switch partners, and then separate them again. It's not that I don't like dancing with strangers, it's not that I don't like having to teach them to dance (even though they should be paying attention), it's just that I didn't like the guys who blatantly didn't pay attention to the instructors or me and smelled funny, were all sweaty, and groped at me like hungry animals. One guy partnered up with me super fast, before I could get to my boyfriend, and the whole time we danced (which was way too long), he kept staring at my lips and my cleavage. Even if he had been attractive and not gross, I would still be greatly offended. On the flip side, of course there were guys who could really dance, knew what they were doing, and were very polite and proper.
After escaping dance lessons, we looked into an archery panel at the "Dojo", but I got bored really fast. All of what I saw was about how to get started in archery as a hobby, what stuff to buy, where to buy it, and at what price. In hindsight, it could have been very useful, but I was cranky from dancing and we had to stand. So we left and browsed the Dealer's Room. There, we met up with Foxberry and her boyfriend. We wandered with them for a while until they decided to go to the Artist's Alley. We also met up with Sheik and chatted with er for a while.
Then we looked through the Dealer's Hall some more and perused for food. I ended up with taquitos with sour cream and salsa. I was pleased with how spicy the salsa was, but I like spicy things, and that's all personal preference anyway.
After eating, we went back for another dance lesson. We just won't talk about that anymore.
THEN it was off to watch "Comedy Club", a half hour show consisting of two anime/gaming-themed comedians that presented short routines. They then plugged "Comedy Club at Fanime", their Saturday show, which was unfortunately during the masquerade. We then met up with a friend of mine, who quickly took off to go with her friend to "buy food and booze." Heh.
We stuck around for the swap meet, but I didn't see anything I liked and I was tired, so we left.
Day 2 (Saturday) - I cosplayed Clyde (the orange ghost from Pacman) and my boyfriend cosplayed Pacman. Truth be told, I knew that these costumes were going to draw attention. I mean, how could they not? But I didn't expect quite the amount we got (I never do), and I didn't expect the type of attention we got. First of all, we got stopped ever ten steps. I wish I was exaggerating, sometimes it was less, and every time we stopped, there were at least three photographers. Also, everyone was amazed by our pants. Oh, that sounded weird. What I mean is, the intricate design I painted on those pants drew a lot of attention. There, that's better.We went to more dance lessons, but still not talking about that.
Then we went to the Maid Cafe. I was a little disappointed that we had to sit with people that we didn't know and had to share a maid, but it was still a lot of fun. I think the food was better this year than it was last year, I had a turkey sandwich and a chocolate-covered strawberry. It was way obviously overpriced, but it's the experience you're paying for, and it's worth it. We played a fun little game, sort of a board game, I supposed, where a little mechanized bumble bee flew in a circle and tried to knock down little honeycombs. You protected your honeycombs by flicking the bee upward with a honey stirrer when it came close enough. Much fun, actually. I did have one odd experience though.. While I was eating (before playing) a girl and a guy came up to our table. The girl had a video camera and was saying "Just do it! Do it quickly!" and the guy came up to me, held out a fake white flower, and said "This is for you" before they both quickly ran away. It was, uhh.. Flattering? And embarrassing in front of people I didn't know. I'm still not sure that my boyfriend even noticed, as he was playing with the maid and the bumble bee at the time. Umm. Wrong words again.
After that we went to check into the hotel. Well. I went to check in. I reserved a room for one person, so I didn't want to show up with someone else. Very suspicious... But when they asked how many keys I wanted, I asked for two, and they gave me two without question. The room was nice, one bed, one couch-like monstrosity, way up on the seventh floor, nice TV, mini-fridge, coffee-maker, bathroom with fancy lighting. We unpacked some, hung up the more delicate costumes (Chi and Hideki) and other random easily-wrinkled items of clothing.
We scoured the game room for the "DDR Max Perfect Attack" tournament, but we couldn't find it, so we played "Bust a Move" =D I love that game. We found the tournament afterward and the contestants scared me (I watched them warm up) so we went to leave. Then I joined a HUGE group game of Ninja, at least thirty-five people, and I made it to the top five. Very proud of myself.
Then off to the masquerade! YAY! Waiting in line, and walking around the block to get in line, wasn't much fun, but totally worth it. The masquerade this year was amazing, save for, of course, yet again, being stuck next to obnoxious people (one of whom was unfortunately my friend..).
After the masquerade, it was back to the hotel to change and then off to the rave! While waiting in line for the rave, a guy with a boom box came over with a Spider-Man cosplayer and was playing awesome music while Spider-Man encouraged people to dance. Sadly, not many people did. I didn't want them to leave, but they got bored and wandered off. Sad panda. Rave was very fun, danced a lot, saw Sheik again. Watched a Mario cosplayer in red fishnet grind on some chick. Interesing...
Anyway, after that, back to the hotel to shower and SLEEP!
Day 3 (Sunday) - Woke up early so that friends could drop off stuff in our room. Then we got changed into Chi and Hideki (Chobits) and went to MORE dance lessons. I wanted to shoot myself.Then off to the CLAMP gathering. It started late because the Tsubasa gathering ran over. So while waiting, I ended up talking to another Chi cosplayer, and we got SWARMED by photographers. It was insane. We were about the same height, and while my costume was white with black, hers was red with black, so we looked sort of opposite. I think the whole image of two Chi's together just freaked people out in general. We got pulled aside by a photographer for a small shoot and another Chi joined us, but then the Chobits gathering started, so we told him we'd come back. The other Chi's and I went up with two other Chi's to pose, and then everyone watching started calling out for a Hideki. Something must've finally snapped in my boyfriend's head, because he finally ran out to join us Chi's, to the cheers and screaming of onlooking fangirls. So we posed and cameras flashed, then we dispersed.
Four of us Chi's went back to do the aforementioned small photoshoot. We took some really cute pictures, which can be seen on flickr here. They're not really in order, so you may have to scour for them. When the photoshoot was over, we chatted a little while and then scattered.My boyfriend and I went to the Dealer's Hall again to buy a wig that we had spotted earlier for me to use for my Franziska von Karma cosplay. It's a tiny bit more blue than i wanted, but it is gorgeous, and easily my favorite wig already. I asked for a wig head, but they told me to come back the next day.
After that, there was another dance lesson, they back to the hotel for food and preparation for the ball. We stopped by Sheik's hotel room so that I could buy a wig from her. It's a really nice wig, and I gave her $20 for it. It's long and silver, she previously used it for her Ayame Sohma (Fruits Basket) cosplay. I haven't decided what I'll use it for yet, honestly, but I will find a use for it, I'm sure.
Our friends were in the room getting ready for the ball when we got there (we had given them a key specifically for that purpose, and they kinda took forever getting ready for it (about two hours). During which, we had some great laughs, mostly induced by: "Look up.. No, with your eyes OPEN!" xD Because how else do you look up..? Also, during this time, and traveling to the B&W Ball, I got extremely frustrated with one of my friends, so we won't talk about that part.Dancing at the ball was great when we did it right, heh.. I was really disappointed when I saw just how many people weren't dancing "properly" but it didn't really bother me until someone jumped on my foot! Yeah.. After that, I got easily frustrated until we just left altogether.
On the way back to the hotel room, we looked for food, and I spotted mini pork buns, $5 for two. We picked up money in the room, and then I went back and bought twenty dollars worth of "mini" pork buns. They weren't so mini, so I ended up sharing with my boyfriend and our friends before they left. Then I bathed, put on PJs, and slept. I didn't sleep well that night at all. I really didn't want it to end, I didn't want to leave...
Day 4 (Monday) - I threw on pretty much the most "otaku" outfit I've ever worn. I put on my blue wig, cat ears & tail, steampunk-esque aviator goggles, and fingerless gloves. It seriously looked like I just went on a rampage through the dealer's hall and bought every single super stereotypical item i could find. Funny enough, the only thing I had bought was the wig. [The picture to the left is just the wigs and gloves.]Then we packed, checked out, and put things in the car. I'm still feeling like I forgot something in the room, but I don't think I did, I'm just freaking out for no reason, I hope. The elevators were really full, so we actually had to walk down seven flights of stairs with all of our luggage. Never before was I so jealous of Sheik's room being on the third floor. We made it down, barely, and packed things into the car.
We were supposed to go the the NANA panel, by request of a friend, but we couldn't find it. So we went back to the Dealer's Room to get that wig head. They told me to come back at two-thirty, but when I told them I wasn't going to be there at two-thirty, they sold me one of their display heads. I wish they had discounted it, since it's pretty beat-up, but it does work just as well as any other wig head, so that's cool. Then we left for home.
All in all, it was an amazing convention. It really was. I've pretty much decided that I do want to go back next year. But maybe only stay one night. Or something. Two was too much. Too much stimulation and excitement. And money. Way too much money.