June 14, 2008 - Fanime 08 report
{Convetion report kiddies! Be prepared for sarcasm, bad jokes, rants, and lots of swearing!}

Let's begin with a prologue because I think this report is in need of one. Ahem, here we go.

Prologue - Before the convention
I have no idea how I came upon the decision to decide on making a cosplay costume. I think it was out of the spur of the moment and with the encouragement of my mother who found the whole cosplay thing fun. I had ultimately decided on making Sima Yi from Dynasty Warriors 6 (which will from now on be referred to as DW6) because I fell in love with his new character design. One can say that I picked a terrible time to start making my costume, for I began working on it when school started. It took me about one quarter to finish making the hat alone because I literally found that I had no time to work on it. I took a month off from working on the costume during Christmas break because I had surgery on my eyes and was not allowed to do anything that was strenuous. Once winter quarter had started, I began to work on the shoulder-pad thing but ultimately had to scrap it because it just wasn't working out (luckily I kept it so I can figure out how to get it to function correctly). Painting the cape and costume took up a whole month because I only painted during the weekends after work. On Friday (the first day of the con), I was forced to take 2 exams and finish some digital printmaking homework as well as write a paper for Ethics. I had no time at all to practice any poses or study Sima Yi because I was scrambling to finish up my costume.

Day 2 - Saturday
The day started off rather well. I got little sleep and was frantically trying to put on my costume. I was in such a hurry to go pick up Christine and Lillian that I forgot to put on make-up for my costume. Christine cosplayed as Karin from Shadow Hearts: covenant while Lillian was basically our servant for the day. She attended to our things while we posed for pictures. We arrived at the convention center at around 10. Both of them went to the bathroom while I went to get my badge that I had preregistered for. After I managed to get my badge, I met them both at the bathroom. Let's just say that the bathroom had no ventilation and was incredibly stuffy. We were in there for about an hour because Christine (only God knows why) took forever to put on her costume... and she came to the convention center already IN costume. WTF?

After she finally finished, all three of us made our way towards the coffee stand near the gaming room. We just hung around there an met up with a couple of friends, namely Jared, Kristiina, and Kat. Jared was dressed as Ash Ketchum, Kristiina was dressed as Anastasia from Shadow Hearts: Covenant, and Kat was dressed as... well, I didn't even really know what she was dressed as. (I found out later that it was Halloween Town Kairi which then warranted the terrible sewing, cutting and stitching.) Christine, Lillian, Kristiina, Kat, and I made our way outside of the convention center in order to take some more pictures. Along the way, I met up with a group of Dynasty Warriors characters. Their costumes were spectacular as well as their props. Unfortunately, when I arrived, half of them were still piecing their costume together so I only got pictures with three out of five of them. >< Better than nothing I suppose.

Outside, Kat, who thinks that she is better than all of us at posing, decided to give me some posing lessons. Let's just say that I was just really annoyed and wanted to claw her eyes out with my nails but managed to control myself. She is really vain and has an ego that can match up with DTran. She keeps trying to convince herself that she looks like Kristin Kruek. If you squint your eyes after you punch Kristin Kruek's nose in and shrunk her eyes, then maybe... I never really realized until now that many cosplayers (not just her) believe that they look good when most don't. Kat left afterwards, at least from what I could recall, in order to change into her Sora outfit for her Kingdom Hearts gathering. Her Sora outfit looked much better than her weird Kairi thing... she actually made a pretty convincing guy. In the meantime, Kristiina and I were forced to purchase badges for Lillian and Christine who were too cheap, lame, and lazy to buy their own passes. I don't mind doing favors for friends, but those two completely ditched Kristiina and I after we had our use! Those fuckin bitches don't know how to appreciate others for spending their own MONEY on them.

Not much else happened in between then and the masquerade, so I'll just skip on ahead to the masquerade. Most of the skits were atrocious and worth laughing at. A select few were pretty decent and had me entertained. I was only incredibly annoyed because I was sitting in between Christine and Lillian who both began to sqwak in both my ears about a girl who cosplayed as Nabooru (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) dropping a "single". It just means that the girl was in guard and threw the flag in the air but dropped it. Personally, I didn't really care, but those two wouldn't drop it. I swear, it just sounded like a bunch of teeny-boppers sqwaking... ugh. They wouldn't drop it until I dropped them home.

Day 3 - Sunday

The morning started out pretty good. I actually ate breakfast this time with my mom and sister, AND I remembered to put on make-up for my costume. My mom decided to just sew me into my costume because I wasn't planning on changing out of it. I left for the convention center to meet up with Christine and Lillian who were supposedly going to be there at 8:00AM. Upon arriving, I called them only to find out that they decided that they didn't want to come early last night. God dammit was I pissed! Didn't they have the decency to give me a fuckin call? They keep claiming that I was an incredibly mean person (which I don't doubt), but they are irresponsible, naive, and just plain fuckin dumb. College has not enhanced any sort of their mental thinking for they don't know how to pick up a fuckin phone and be responsible.

My parents decided to stay with me until I met up with some friends. I managed to find Kristiina (who is now dressed as Sun Shang Xiang) and Kieth (dressed as Captain Usopp) and hung out with them until the Dynasty Warriors gathering at 1. All three of us and Dian Wei (a guy we found near the fountain) were prompt. Everyone else lacked any sort of time management, but Kat (now dressed as Xiao Qiao) came just five minutes late. We also met up with 2 other Sun Shang Xiang's, Da Qiao, Xiahou Dun, Cao Pi, Nene, and Chosokabe Motochika. Christine and Lillian arrive 1 1/2 hours late and team Shu + Gan Ning arrived around 2 hours late. So uh... the gathering could have best been at 2, but oh well. There was a Zhuge Liang too, but she didn't stay long.

Kat was our photo director (no surprise) although she was more concerned with taking pictures of herself as opposed to any other. Anyway, the Dynasty Warriors gathering was really fun. If it were a battle between each kingdom, Wei would have totally won. Let's calculate this all out, shall we? Shu has Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Yue Ying, and Xing Cai. Not bad, but there is no fighter on that team... and no other general. Wu has Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, Gan Ning, and 3 Sun Shang's... um... enough said? Only Gan Ning is a general. Wei has Cao Pi, Dian Wei, Zhen Ji, Xiahou Dun, and Sima Yi. We have brains, brawns, and beauty... therefore none of the kingdoms compare. [/weird geeky DW ranting]

The rest of the day was spent fixing Christine's Diao Chan outfit (and she didn't even appreciate my help!) and goofing off with some weird photoshoots. Again, Kat was director. I'm only glad to leave early so that I don't have to deal with her anymore. ><

Last Comments

Here are some notes to myself:
1. Go with new friends next year. I did have a good time, I really did. I just can't stand feeling ignored, left out, and dealing with my piss poor excuse for friends. I should have made Randy go with me because we would've had a blast.
2. Start costume earlier. This is becasue I found myself incredibly pressed for time to finish up my costume that isn't even done!
3. Make a costume that is much more elaborate. People take more pictures of costumes they can't make for themselves. Christine and Kristiina as Karin and Anastasia had little to no pictures taken of them. I admit that I felt bad because they had to stand out of the way for people to take my picture. ><
4. Take sewing lessons. Okay, Christine's costume looks good from far away, but the sewing needs more work. I could see strings, fraying, and bunching. I need to improve on my sewing to show her up. =D

Future Costumes for the next convention:

1. Himiko- this is for my little sister. I think she'll make a sickeningly cute Himiko. The costume does not look too elaborate, but the prop will score major picture points! I have a bunch of left over white fabric from my Sima Yi costume that could be used for Himiko. I need to figure out how to make Himiko's prop though... I'll find a way.
2. Kanetsugu Naoe- I found out that I have the same hair style as him. XD This was on complete accident, but ah well. No one has cosplayed him before... so I have to represent his coolness by cosplaying as him. I need to figure out how to make his sword, hat, and armor. Why must I make life more difficult for myself?