Tumblin', Tumblin', can't you see?
Jun. 4th, 2004 12:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteGreetings from the overly-warm (going to turn the overhead fan on now) Northridge, California! The flight down here went flawlessly-- I even got money from mom enough to snag a WIRED magazine for this month. Makes me want to make a post about current events and my stance on them, but I'll save that for later. Right now, I want to finish up my con report and add details that I neglected to have last post.
After I got here, I had a huuuge lunch (omg, corn on the cob, chicken, baked apples with cottage cheese, and a salad. I was in stomach HEAVEN) and then headed to CSUN with Grandpa. Baba was quite insistent that we be irate and angry that CSUN's Student Resource Center screwed me over so royally, and that we add that she's an alumni, etc. etc. Well, though we got a bit lost on the campus (so much is under construction... lots of new parking structures!) we finally got to the Journalism EOP Center, and amazingly, snagged an appointment for tomorrow morning at 8:30am! YAY! So I'll be able to get my classes and all. Weird thing is, the Catalogue isn't available until the middle of the month, so how do I pick my classes? We'll find out tomorrow, I guess.
Ugh, time for a change of music. It's been Utada Hikaru's "Distance" for a few hours now.
You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on an otaku. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp pocky stick in your eye. Haha! Watch out, baby!
Something I neglected to mention was that on Friday there were the opening cermonies-- which included the ONLY AMVs I saw the whole weekend. Sadly, they were all re-hashes from last year, including my favorites "Stop the Rock" and the "Chibi Things (That Kill)." Also featured was that CCS growling song, "Sunshine, Happiness and GRRRRrrrr" or something like that.
I went with Gina Reams (I saw her all of TWO times throughout the whole con) and the guys (Johnny, Richard, who was back from Kuwait, and Simon Gong. I converted them all to FanimeCon attendance! GO ME!). However, the Animix planned afterwards... well, it SUCKED. Not just the song tracks, but the animes chosen and their display... blech. We left and headed to Sokodei's "End of Evangelion: ReDeath ReDux" parodies. I snagged a bagel (the cheapest thing I purchased all weekend) and then we went in.
I LOVE ReDeath ReDux. One, because they lived up to their promise and made the sound a bazillion times better... but it's one of those parodies like "Otakudom" that you'd love to watch over and over again, just to memorize all the "classic" lines. Misato sounded a lot less "tinny," which was great, and the Star Wars bits just got me cracking all over again. And the commercials/previews? Like when Unit-00 was headbanging? PERFECT.
Right afterwards was "Battle Royale 2: Requiem," which I wanted to see for a while, despite people telling me it sucked. Richard and I got in line, and luckily got some good seats (er, RIGHT NEXT TO THE SPEAKERS!) and watched it. A damn long movie too, clocking in at 150 minutes. It was "okay." Not that great compared to the last one, especially since so many kids got killed off so soon. It was funny watching the death count rocket up. From 2 people to 18... to 20... ^^; Yeah.
BR2 had me contemplating fic ideas, though. Especially with the ending, when it seemed kind of vague what was up with Shuuya and where Noriko was. I SWORE that Noriko had died somehow, and Shuuya was like, scarred for life. And the baby we saw? I thought it was theirs. That would make one hell of a fic. Still, some parts of the movie were a bit unreal, and the sequel was a lot less of a political statement than the first one.
Being so late when the movie ended, I just headed upstairs to my room in the Marriott after that. Flashforward to mid-Saturday, where I left off in my last post... post-Fic Panel. Because the fic panel lasted so long, I completely missed the AMV Finals. But hey, here in Northridge, I just click over to the Fanime Message Boards, get the results, and download from AnimeMusicVideos.org. There's one video I want to see that isn't up yet-- the Fushigi Yuugi one "Extraordinary World." If anyone sees it go up, or knows who/what studio made it, let me know!
I believe I headed to the Dealer's Room after that, and promptly decided to spend money-- and lots of it. I got several pics of some cool cosplayers, including a Black Magician Girl (who was also Sailor V on Monday, and even was willing to yuri with me. That was cool). I got challenged to a duel by a guy with an entirely Wind-element deck, and he kicked my ass! It was a great duel, though. My second of the entire con-- I believe some time earlier that day I'd swung by Tabletop Gaming and dueled my stalker.
Yes, I have a stalker. I found out from Grace later on that this was the same guy that drooled over us and Amber at LAST year's Fanime. I didn't recognize him, but he was nice enough-- and I whomped him in a duel. But he asked me for my email... and gargh, I gave it to him. But email is better than phone number. So if he bothers me again, I can just block him. He actually asked to HUG me five minutes after we left! Gross. Why couldn't more people stalk the Chocolate Misu? Yeah, there was a skanky, brave girl walking around with suspenders glued to her nipples. At least she didn't use masking tape.
Speaking of cosplay, my pics will be up as soon as I pick them up from the Walgreen's in San Francisco... and scan them in, and retouch them. ^^; Here's hoping they all came out. In the meantime, I know a lot of people took pictures of me and other cosplayers, so I'm searching cosplay.com to see if anyone posted any with me in them. *giddy* It'd be pretty cool if they did!
On the note of cosplay... there was a Fanime newsletter. And there was a ditz by the name of Julia N. who posted a ridiculous list of "Cosplay Do's and Don'ts." I wanted to shoot her after reading this. I think Claudine told me about this same list months ago, and it was replicated by the girl purely for the con. Here it is-- let me know what you think:
Do: Wear a costume. Even a "bad" costume is better than none at all.
No. Anime cons are NOT all about cosplay. Cosplay is not a fundamental part of being a fan, or an otaku, or whatever. And a "bad" costume is NOT better than none at all. A bad costume will get you unwanted or inappropriate attention, not to mention insults. Bad costumes tend to fall apart, and who wants to be caught stark naked at a con with 6000 people? (Besides Chocolate Misu, obviously.)
On the same note, a cosplay is NOT slapping a Naruto headband or Digi Charat hat on. There are people that spend hours and hours working on their costumes, and their effort shows! It doesn't make them obsessive, it makes them creative and genuine! I love dedicated cosplayers!
Don't: Put a costume together during the con. You should have fun at cons, not worry about whether you've managed to tack your braid on right.
This I actually agree with. However, in some Dealer's Rooms, you'll find pieces that might make the perfect cosplay with clothes/makeup/accessories you already own. So why not? If you can, go for it! Just remember to be comfortable, above all else.
[I'm going to skip the ones that don't incense me enough to comment.]
Don't: Feel bad if you don't win anything at the masquerade. Just think of how much time the winners spent putting together the winning entry, and think about how much better you've spent your time hanging out with friends and watching all of the newest anime!
For starters, there's a reason why people enter the masquerade, and not everyone is out to "win." But for those that do compete to win, they do because there's some fantastic prizes at stake. So if you're competitive and creative, WHY NOT? I'd be disappointed too, if I put in weeks of work for a costume that didn't get me anything. But then, I'd also think I had fun participating, meeting other cool people, and showing off my costume.
What gets my goat is how this brat implies that people that spend time on their costumes have wasted their time, regardless of whether they win or not... and that they don't get to hang out with their friends or watch new anime. On that same note, FanimeCon didn't seem to have a ton of new anime. But that might just be me... Anyway, plenty of serious cosplayers have friends with similar interests, and they all hang out together making their costumes, coming up with routines, and watching the relevant animes.
Do: Wear a skimpy costume. You'll get a lot of attention. And be honest with yourself whether you look good in it or not.
I hated this one the most. DO NOT TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO. Skimpy does not mean there is any effort, creativity, or "heart" in the costume. There are some fantastic, very ELABORATE cosplays out there that show no more skin than the neck and head. Dressing skimpily for attention is NOT what cosplaying is about, and it's the primary reason why I got so mad at some of the FanimeSLUTS like Chocolate Misu and that Cammy/Mai cow.
People will not be honest with how bad they look in a costume. They will think "Hey, I can get more attention if I show more thigh" and that will be the end of that. The Mai/Cammy cosplayer had THUNDER THIGHS. And she was probably younger than me. It was sickening. And while she did get pictures taken, I heard so many people talk about her behind her back and insult her, saying they would bash her once the pictures went live.
I suggest that if you truly love a character, don't let things like the gender or size deter you from cosplaying as them... but consider YOUR OWN body and self esteem in the process. Not everyone on the planet would make a great Cammy or Chun Li. There are characters of all sizes, shapes, colors and flavors out there, so don't limit yourself just because you happen to be overweight/short/muscular/whatever and your character looks NOTHING like you. Explore other anime and manga... explore characters from video games or J-Pop/Rock bands. Be more creative than someone who feels the only way to get attention is by slicing a dress all the way up to her thighs.
Don't: Wear a skimpy costume of you don't want the attention.
Okaaaaay, laaame! It is not in the nature of people who go to cons to hide in corners and shun the thousands of people surrounding them. Everyone wants attention, even a little. Now, admittedly, in this year's cosplay experience, being a bit skimpy got a LOT more attention than the actual cosplay, but is that attention always good? No. Don't generalize all attention into one lump catagory-- I much would have rathered having people see me in my full cosplay and go "Hey, you're Anzu from Yu-Gi-Oh!" and take a picture that way-- rather than people saying "Woah, you're hott, can I take a pic?" I like to be recognized as my character, not as "the girl with lacy thigh-highs."
Do: Carry an amazing staff or other prop. It makes a costume look amazing.
True, props can definitely help make the costume. Most Miroku cosplayers made Buddhist staffs, and that made them much more recognizable. Characters that have special weapons (the FFX and X-2 cosplayers usually had appropriate weapons, which made posing a lot easier) are great for prop-play, but the thing to consider is that not everyone has the money, time, or materials to construct a Fang-Sword, a Mage Gun, or whatever. But if you can, go ahead. Just know that a prop isn't necessary-- and carrying it around, posing with it, and trying NOT to get it broken is a challenge.
Anyway. I suppose I should just get down and tell you guys what *I* ended up doing with my cosplay throughout the con. I went as normal Anzu for Friday and Saturday. Later in Saturday, I met up with the Jounouchi cosplayer (15 year old lesbian girl from Vegas... she rocked so hard. I hope to hang with her at Fanime next year) --who I intially mistook as Bakura! >_< I felt so silly... she had the dog tags and the blonde hair, I was like "How could I mistake her???" Or him. Whichever-- I did think it was a him at first, but when Vince and I saw her near the arcade, it was like "OH!"
We went to the pool and decided to waltz around on Sunday in the bottom half of our cosplays... but for the top half, our bikinis. And we got a record number of pictures taken. Over 23 in the course of an hour. O_O I better be up on some site somewhere. What was funny was how so many guys would not look at our faces when we talked, but our boobs. :) This one guy talking about a duelist tournament (who already had a horrible stutter) did that. I half wanted to smack him.
One guy would sit down to take our picture, and five others would spot us and join in. But it wasn't just me and Jounouchi-- Jou had a friend who wasn't cosplaying (unless you count her lucky Neko ears), and we also ran into a "Mai" cosplayer. She didn't really look like Mai, and I actually thought she was quite young, but she ended up being older than me, I think! o_O
Anyway, in the Dealer's Room, I snagged:
* Yu-Gi-Oh clean (NON-YAOI! HOW SHOCKING!) Doujinshi of Jounouchi: RADICALISM, plus a chibi-Seto statuette from Coca-Cola... pics of that I will post once I get back to SF.
* A bunch of manga and books from C&C-- they love me! I got Zodiac P.I. 2-4, X-Day 2, How to Draw Manga: Pretty Gals, and some Yu-Gi-Oh cards. This was my biggest purchase, and led to some later confusion regarding my money... I later found out I'd spent almost all of it at C&C. ^^;
* A Magician's Force pack from this one place selling them for only $3/pop. :)
* An Egyptian dagger... yes, a real one. It's made in China and is "Rostfrei." Take a wild guess what that means. I think I'll scan the box when I get home... it's a very beautiful weapon, and I want to translate the characters on it. I technically got this on Monday, and it was my very last purchase.
* Probably more stuff that I forgot...
I hit up the Game Show and was SOOOO close to getting on it, but then the guy went to the back and picked this... grrr. That pissed me off. I wanna be on the game show! They have funny hosts and great prizes.
Later that day, I ended up hanging with Grace-- we went to the Pool (and Stalker boy was there) and played around for a while. Some time later, we went to Jack and the Crack, but since I'm not into fast food so much anymore, I just snagged a cheesecake. Okay, Grace snagged it for me, since I thought I lost friggin' $70. Turns out I spent it, as I said. Miscalculation on my part, haha. These guys there kept flirting with Grace, trying to get her to invite them to this party her friends were having in their room. We went to the dance as well, which ended up being a flop... and the "party" in her friends room honestly wasn't much. We left a bit later... and I eventually split from Grace to see the DDR Project 2. I was bummed about missing Der Cosplay, and even more upset that there wasn't a simulcast (frankly I didn't like having to go so far to get to the Civic Auditorium). BAH. People told me it wasn't that great anyway.
I almost slept through the last half of DDRP2, once I remembered how much it sucked in comparison to DDR Project 1 (3rd Mix). But hey, 4th Mix ROCKED, and I want to get the DVD at expertDV.com :)
As I browse the cosplay forums, I would like to state the following:
While cosplaying as "animated" characters from Marvel or DC or whatever is cool, it's not anime. It doesn't matter if they were animated *in* Japan or Korea or whatever, Fanime is NOT a ComicCon. Nor is it an ElfCon, StarWars Con, or anything else. Harry Potter, Legolas, Homer Simpson, Batman, and Raven BELONG ELSEWHERE. They are NOT anime characters. Get over it.
After that, the yaoi girls ready for their yaoi night started clamoring in-- so I went straight to bed, exhausted. Grace came in later and crashed, but Aaron never showed up. o_O I suspect he either didn't sleep, or roomed elsewhere.
Come Sunday, I had loads of plans for the day, but they all fell through when I met up with Jounouchi and Neko, and we stalked the con (later, with Mai), looking for the mysterious Seto Kaiba cosplayer whom everyone had said they had JUST seen, but no one knew where he currently was. I had a blast spending the whole day with them, taking pictures and getting ogled by fanboys. We had a searching for Seto Kaiba sign, and later, we pilfered some paper from TTG to make "Will Yuri for..." signs. They included Yuri'ing for Yaoi, pictures, pocky, money...
We also ran into plenty of other people with signs. It was the trend of Fanime, and Jimbo, always the one irritated with anything trendy, made two signs, one reading "People holding signs have no future." And of course, one on the back (duct-taped to his sweater, mind you) "People wearing signs are losers." Hah. There was also the Yaoi Boy and his pet on a leash (a demi-cute guy bound, gagged, and chained to a leash)... I later ended up hanging with Yaoi Boy, which was an adventure in and of itself.
In a nutshell (HAH!) he ended up being about 22, with a 2 year old daughter, and he's homeless. Color me weirded out. I'd gone to McDonald's with him and a few of his friends, and we played a hilarious game of Telephone that turned McD's into a hentai restaurant. It was fun seeing the people in San Jose react to "so many costumed weirdoes."
I'd also gone with Neko, Mai, and Jounouchi to Ben and Jerry's the day before, and that resulted in much hentai jokingness and duel challenges. *smirk* I also got into some very enlightened discussions about fanfics, canon couplings, and yaoi. Plus it was cool talking not only to a girl who is into yaoi, but one who is openly proud of her lesbianism (not that many yaoi fangirls make public their sexual status... some are straight, some are gay... and I'm always confused either way). I thought it was amazing she'd decided so soon, but hey, we all have our beliefs.
...Wow, this is much longer than I thought. There's not too much else to go over, but it will have to wait until I come back from my advisement appointment tomorrow.
Mata na~
After I got here, I had a huuuge lunch (omg, corn on the cob, chicken, baked apples with cottage cheese, and a salad. I was in stomach HEAVEN) and then headed to CSUN with Grandpa. Baba was quite insistent that we be irate and angry that CSUN's Student Resource Center screwed me over so royally, and that we add that she's an alumni, etc. etc. Well, though we got a bit lost on the campus (so much is under construction... lots of new parking structures!) we finally got to the Journalism EOP Center, and amazingly, snagged an appointment for tomorrow morning at 8:30am! YAY! So I'll be able to get my classes and all. Weird thing is, the Catalogue isn't available until the middle of the month, so how do I pick my classes? We'll find out tomorrow, I guess.
Ugh, time for a change of music. It's been Utada Hikaru's "Distance" for a few hours now.
You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on an otaku. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp pocky stick in your eye. Haha! Watch out, baby!
Something I neglected to mention was that on Friday there were the opening cermonies-- which included the ONLY AMVs I saw the whole weekend. Sadly, they were all re-hashes from last year, including my favorites "Stop the Rock" and the "Chibi Things (That Kill)." Also featured was that CCS growling song, "Sunshine, Happiness and GRRRRrrrr" or something like that.
I went with Gina Reams (I saw her all of TWO times throughout the whole con) and the guys (Johnny, Richard, who was back from Kuwait, and Simon Gong. I converted them all to FanimeCon attendance! GO ME!). However, the Animix planned afterwards... well, it SUCKED. Not just the song tracks, but the animes chosen and their display... blech. We left and headed to Sokodei's "End of Evangelion: ReDeath ReDux" parodies. I snagged a bagel (the cheapest thing I purchased all weekend) and then we went in.
I LOVE ReDeath ReDux. One, because they lived up to their promise and made the sound a bazillion times better... but it's one of those parodies like "Otakudom" that you'd love to watch over and over again, just to memorize all the "classic" lines. Misato sounded a lot less "tinny," which was great, and the Star Wars bits just got me cracking all over again. And the commercials/previews? Like when Unit-00 was headbanging? PERFECT.
Right afterwards was "Battle Royale 2: Requiem," which I wanted to see for a while, despite people telling me it sucked. Richard and I got in line, and luckily got some good seats (er, RIGHT NEXT TO THE SPEAKERS!) and watched it. A damn long movie too, clocking in at 150 minutes. It was "okay." Not that great compared to the last one, especially since so many kids got killed off so soon. It was funny watching the death count rocket up. From 2 people to 18... to 20... ^^; Yeah.
BR2 had me contemplating fic ideas, though. Especially with the ending, when it seemed kind of vague what was up with Shuuya and where Noriko was. I SWORE that Noriko had died somehow, and Shuuya was like, scarred for life. And the baby we saw? I thought it was theirs. That would make one hell of a fic. Still, some parts of the movie were a bit unreal, and the sequel was a lot less of a political statement than the first one.
Being so late when the movie ended, I just headed upstairs to my room in the Marriott after that. Flashforward to mid-Saturday, where I left off in my last post... post-Fic Panel. Because the fic panel lasted so long, I completely missed the AMV Finals. But hey, here in Northridge, I just click over to the Fanime Message Boards, get the results, and download from AnimeMusicVideos.org. There's one video I want to see that isn't up yet-- the Fushigi Yuugi one "Extraordinary World." If anyone sees it go up, or knows who/what studio made it, let me know!
I believe I headed to the Dealer's Room after that, and promptly decided to spend money-- and lots of it. I got several pics of some cool cosplayers, including a Black Magician Girl (who was also Sailor V on Monday, and even was willing to yuri with me. That was cool). I got challenged to a duel by a guy with an entirely Wind-element deck, and he kicked my ass! It was a great duel, though. My second of the entire con-- I believe some time earlier that day I'd swung by Tabletop Gaming and dueled my stalker.
Yes, I have a stalker. I found out from Grace later on that this was the same guy that drooled over us and Amber at LAST year's Fanime. I didn't recognize him, but he was nice enough-- and I whomped him in a duel. But he asked me for my email... and gargh, I gave it to him. But email is better than phone number. So if he bothers me again, I can just block him. He actually asked to HUG me five minutes after we left! Gross. Why couldn't more people stalk the Chocolate Misu? Yeah, there was a skanky, brave girl walking around with suspenders glued to her nipples. At least she didn't use masking tape.
Speaking of cosplay, my pics will be up as soon as I pick them up from the Walgreen's in San Francisco... and scan them in, and retouch them. ^^; Here's hoping they all came out. In the meantime, I know a lot of people took pictures of me and other cosplayers, so I'm searching cosplay.com to see if anyone posted any with me in them. *giddy* It'd be pretty cool if they did!
On the note of cosplay... there was a Fanime newsletter. And there was a ditz by the name of Julia N. who posted a ridiculous list of "Cosplay Do's and Don'ts." I wanted to shoot her after reading this. I think Claudine told me about this same list months ago, and it was replicated by the girl purely for the con. Here it is-- let me know what you think:
Do: Wear a costume. Even a "bad" costume is better than none at all.
No. Anime cons are NOT all about cosplay. Cosplay is not a fundamental part of being a fan, or an otaku, or whatever. And a "bad" costume is NOT better than none at all. A bad costume will get you unwanted or inappropriate attention, not to mention insults. Bad costumes tend to fall apart, and who wants to be caught stark naked at a con with 6000 people? (Besides Chocolate Misu, obviously.)
On the same note, a cosplay is NOT slapping a Naruto headband or Digi Charat hat on. There are people that spend hours and hours working on their costumes, and their effort shows! It doesn't make them obsessive, it makes them creative and genuine! I love dedicated cosplayers!
Don't: Put a costume together during the con. You should have fun at cons, not worry about whether you've managed to tack your braid on right.
This I actually agree with. However, in some Dealer's Rooms, you'll find pieces that might make the perfect cosplay with clothes/makeup/accessories you already own. So why not? If you can, go for it! Just remember to be comfortable, above all else.
[I'm going to skip the ones that don't incense me enough to comment.]
Don't: Feel bad if you don't win anything at the masquerade. Just think of how much time the winners spent putting together the winning entry, and think about how much better you've spent your time hanging out with friends and watching all of the newest anime!
For starters, there's a reason why people enter the masquerade, and not everyone is out to "win." But for those that do compete to win, they do because there's some fantastic prizes at stake. So if you're competitive and creative, WHY NOT? I'd be disappointed too, if I put in weeks of work for a costume that didn't get me anything. But then, I'd also think I had fun participating, meeting other cool people, and showing off my costume.
What gets my goat is how this brat implies that people that spend time on their costumes have wasted their time, regardless of whether they win or not... and that they don't get to hang out with their friends or watch new anime. On that same note, FanimeCon didn't seem to have a ton of new anime. But that might just be me... Anyway, plenty of serious cosplayers have friends with similar interests, and they all hang out together making their costumes, coming up with routines, and watching the relevant animes.
Do: Wear a skimpy costume. You'll get a lot of attention. And be honest with yourself whether you look good in it or not.
I hated this one the most. DO NOT TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO. Skimpy does not mean there is any effort, creativity, or "heart" in the costume. There are some fantastic, very ELABORATE cosplays out there that show no more skin than the neck and head. Dressing skimpily for attention is NOT what cosplaying is about, and it's the primary reason why I got so mad at some of the FanimeSLUTS like Chocolate Misu and that Cammy/Mai cow.
People will not be honest with how bad they look in a costume. They will think "Hey, I can get more attention if I show more thigh" and that will be the end of that. The Mai/Cammy cosplayer had THUNDER THIGHS. And she was probably younger than me. It was sickening. And while she did get pictures taken, I heard so many people talk about her behind her back and insult her, saying they would bash her once the pictures went live.
I suggest that if you truly love a character, don't let things like the gender or size deter you from cosplaying as them... but consider YOUR OWN body and self esteem in the process. Not everyone on the planet would make a great Cammy or Chun Li. There are characters of all sizes, shapes, colors and flavors out there, so don't limit yourself just because you happen to be overweight/short/muscular/whatever and your character looks NOTHING like you. Explore other anime and manga... explore characters from video games or J-Pop/Rock bands. Be more creative than someone who feels the only way to get attention is by slicing a dress all the way up to her thighs.
Don't: Wear a skimpy costume of you don't want the attention.
Okaaaaay, laaame! It is not in the nature of people who go to cons to hide in corners and shun the thousands of people surrounding them. Everyone wants attention, even a little. Now, admittedly, in this year's cosplay experience, being a bit skimpy got a LOT more attention than the actual cosplay, but is that attention always good? No. Don't generalize all attention into one lump catagory-- I much would have rathered having people see me in my full cosplay and go "Hey, you're Anzu from Yu-Gi-Oh!" and take a picture that way-- rather than people saying "Woah, you're hott, can I take a pic?" I like to be recognized as my character, not as "the girl with lacy thigh-highs."
Do: Carry an amazing staff or other prop. It makes a costume look amazing.
True, props can definitely help make the costume. Most Miroku cosplayers made Buddhist staffs, and that made them much more recognizable. Characters that have special weapons (the FFX and X-2 cosplayers usually had appropriate weapons, which made posing a lot easier) are great for prop-play, but the thing to consider is that not everyone has the money, time, or materials to construct a Fang-Sword, a Mage Gun, or whatever. But if you can, go ahead. Just know that a prop isn't necessary-- and carrying it around, posing with it, and trying NOT to get it broken is a challenge.
Anyway. I suppose I should just get down and tell you guys what *I* ended up doing with my cosplay throughout the con. I went as normal Anzu for Friday and Saturday. Later in Saturday, I met up with the Jounouchi cosplayer (15 year old lesbian girl from Vegas... she rocked so hard. I hope to hang with her at Fanime next year) --who I intially mistook as Bakura! >_< I felt so silly... she had the dog tags and the blonde hair, I was like "How could I mistake her???" Or him. Whichever-- I did think it was a him at first, but when Vince and I saw her near the arcade, it was like "OH!"
We went to the pool and decided to waltz around on Sunday in the bottom half of our cosplays... but for the top half, our bikinis. And we got a record number of pictures taken. Over 23 in the course of an hour. O_O I better be up on some site somewhere. What was funny was how so many guys would not look at our faces when we talked, but our boobs. :) This one guy talking about a duelist tournament (who already had a horrible stutter) did that. I half wanted to smack him.
One guy would sit down to take our picture, and five others would spot us and join in. But it wasn't just me and Jounouchi-- Jou had a friend who wasn't cosplaying (unless you count her lucky Neko ears), and we also ran into a "Mai" cosplayer. She didn't really look like Mai, and I actually thought she was quite young, but she ended up being older than me, I think! o_O
Anyway, in the Dealer's Room, I snagged:
* Yu-Gi-Oh clean (NON-YAOI! HOW SHOCKING!) Doujinshi of Jounouchi: RADICALISM, plus a chibi-Seto statuette from Coca-Cola... pics of that I will post once I get back to SF.
* A bunch of manga and books from C&C-- they love me! I got Zodiac P.I. 2-4, X-Day 2, How to Draw Manga: Pretty Gals, and some Yu-Gi-Oh cards. This was my biggest purchase, and led to some later confusion regarding my money... I later found out I'd spent almost all of it at C&C. ^^;
* A Magician's Force pack from this one place selling them for only $3/pop. :)
* An Egyptian dagger... yes, a real one. It's made in China and is "Rostfrei." Take a wild guess what that means. I think I'll scan the box when I get home... it's a very beautiful weapon, and I want to translate the characters on it. I technically got this on Monday, and it was my very last purchase.
* Probably more stuff that I forgot...
I hit up the Game Show and was SOOOO close to getting on it, but then the guy went to the back and picked this... grrr. That pissed me off. I wanna be on the game show! They have funny hosts and great prizes.
Later that day, I ended up hanging with Grace-- we went to the Pool (and Stalker boy was there) and played around for a while. Some time later, we went to Jack and the Crack, but since I'm not into fast food so much anymore, I just snagged a cheesecake. Okay, Grace snagged it for me, since I thought I lost friggin' $70. Turns out I spent it, as I said. Miscalculation on my part, haha. These guys there kept flirting with Grace, trying to get her to invite them to this party her friends were having in their room. We went to the dance as well, which ended up being a flop... and the "party" in her friends room honestly wasn't much. We left a bit later... and I eventually split from Grace to see the DDR Project 2. I was bummed about missing Der Cosplay, and even more upset that there wasn't a simulcast (frankly I didn't like having to go so far to get to the Civic Auditorium). BAH. People told me it wasn't that great anyway.
I almost slept through the last half of DDRP2, once I remembered how much it sucked in comparison to DDR Project 1 (3rd Mix). But hey, 4th Mix ROCKED, and I want to get the DVD at expertDV.com :)
As I browse the cosplay forums, I would like to state the following:
While cosplaying as "animated" characters from Marvel or DC or whatever is cool, it's not anime. It doesn't matter if they were animated *in* Japan or Korea or whatever, Fanime is NOT a ComicCon. Nor is it an ElfCon, StarWars Con, or anything else. Harry Potter, Legolas, Homer Simpson, Batman, and Raven BELONG ELSEWHERE. They are NOT anime characters. Get over it.
After that, the yaoi girls ready for their yaoi night started clamoring in-- so I went straight to bed, exhausted. Grace came in later and crashed, but Aaron never showed up. o_O I suspect he either didn't sleep, or roomed elsewhere.
Come Sunday, I had loads of plans for the day, but they all fell through when I met up with Jounouchi and Neko, and we stalked the con (later, with Mai), looking for the mysterious Seto Kaiba cosplayer whom everyone had said they had JUST seen, but no one knew where he currently was. I had a blast spending the whole day with them, taking pictures and getting ogled by fanboys. We had a searching for Seto Kaiba sign, and later, we pilfered some paper from TTG to make "Will Yuri for..." signs. They included Yuri'ing for Yaoi, pictures, pocky, money...
We also ran into plenty of other people with signs. It was the trend of Fanime, and Jimbo, always the one irritated with anything trendy, made two signs, one reading "People holding signs have no future." And of course, one on the back (duct-taped to his sweater, mind you) "People wearing signs are losers." Hah. There was also the Yaoi Boy and his pet on a leash (a demi-cute guy bound, gagged, and chained to a leash)... I later ended up hanging with Yaoi Boy, which was an adventure in and of itself.
In a nutshell (HAH!) he ended up being about 22, with a 2 year old daughter, and he's homeless. Color me weirded out. I'd gone to McDonald's with him and a few of his friends, and we played a hilarious game of Telephone that turned McD's into a hentai restaurant. It was fun seeing the people in San Jose react to "so many costumed weirdoes."
I'd also gone with Neko, Mai, and Jounouchi to Ben and Jerry's the day before, and that resulted in much hentai jokingness and duel challenges. *smirk* I also got into some very enlightened discussions about fanfics, canon couplings, and yaoi. Plus it was cool talking not only to a girl who is into yaoi, but one who is openly proud of her lesbianism (not that many yaoi fangirls make public their sexual status... some are straight, some are gay... and I'm always confused either way). I thought it was amazing she'd decided so soon, but hey, we all have our beliefs.
...Wow, this is much longer than I thought. There's not too much else to go over, but it will have to wait until I come back from my advisement appointment tomorrow.
Mata na~
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Date: 2004-06-04 07:47 am (UTC)o_O
Date: 2004-06-04 02:50 pm (UTC)Re: o_O
Date: 2004-06-05 12:02 am (UTC)Re: o_O
Date: 2004-06-05 12:49 am (UTC)