Anime Expo 2014 Part 2

My sister and I had been running on 4 hours of sleep every night during the week of Expo, so you can only imagine the amount of stress we went through finishing up our costumes in time. I had to cram in some favors for a friend since she didn't really know how to use a rotator for her chestplate, so I volunteered to finish it for her. I was also stuck with styling a couple of wigs - FEA's Gerome, Inigo, Severa, and Haikyuu's Hinata and Yu. Most of them turned out well since I'd grown used to styling shorter wigs, but the most arduous task was styling that of Severa's. I had underestimated the difficulty in sewing the wefts, especially since the wig itself was styled a certain way. There were parts in which the wefts could be seen and there was no possible way for me to hide them without making it look a little messy. Despite finishing the wig on time, I wasn't the least bit content with how it came out even if it did look presentable. 

Day 2

Day 2 was probably one of the worst days I had the entire week. Due to tons of procrastination fixing armor, wigs and last minute details, we missed the huge Fire Emblem gathering which started at 11 A.M. When we got to the con, most of my sister's armor started falling apart because they were held together using only velcro. You can only imagine how upset she was to know that after all her hard work, the costume itself began to crumble within only 30 minutes. We rushed to the cosplay repair station immediately and asked for a few things like a needle and thread, some safety pins and a hot glue gun. I'd hoped that they owned a heat gun to permanently repair the wonderflex (heatable plastic) that we used for armor, but alas, they didn't have it. My friend's armor began to disassemble as well since she'd used PVC sheets for her shin guards instead of the wonderflex she bought. I was able to fix most of my sister's armor, heat gunning the area's that were most noticeable and correcting the velcro on the shin guards. 

It wasn't an entire loss since we ran into this awesome Henry at the repair booth. We took a couple of pictures together seeing as to how we were potential children and he was our potential father.



(doing the classic Owain pose)


After fixing up our armor, we lingered around the Entertainment hall and took a few free photos at the Cosplay Photographers area. The booth was filled with famous cosplayers and photographers alike. Since they were free my friends and I took some together. This was my friend Rachel's first time taking professional photos, so I jumped in to help her out. It was a great stress reliever since we did a few silly photos!




One of the most re-known photographers at the booth was Big White Bazooka, who has shot with many talented cosplayers throughout the U.S. He was at the Entertainment hall selling prints and editing his photos on Photoshop for the public to see. Strawberry Censor Cosplay's A2Ki and G.G were there dressed in Darkstalkers so I just had to take some photos with them. 




I even asked them to pose as if they were rejecting me, seeing as to how Inigo is a huge player, hahaha!


I was surprised to know that even A2Ki remembered me from Anime LA earlier this year. It's encouraging to know that my cosplay idol's remember even their smallest of fans! Day 2's panels were probably one of the best for the entire weekend but since we were walking around in armor, it was a hassle getting to every single event on time. We mainly wandered off into Exhibit Hall to purchase a print or two and bought 3 from who's known for many of her short stories and original comic, Fish Eye Placebo. As we were buying prints,  was mistaken as one of the official Hatsune Miku cosplayers. Apparently there was another girl at the con who was also doing Severa during Anime Expo and was an official Hatsune Miku representative. 

We later lingered around the Main Lobby where we took time to unwind and remove our armor. I was pretty pooped from walking around in minimal armor, especially since I had to be careful with the wonderflex on my shoes. The adhesive wasn't strong enough as I would have liked so extra precaution was needed to ensure the shoe's durability. We eventually had a photographer come up to us and asked for a photoshoot. Since our unfortunate circumstances earlier in the day, we were more then stoked to find someone who actually wanted to do a photoshoot! There was no doubt it made my Friday.

During the shoot we had a lot of costume malfunctions, but our photographer was more than ready to help us hold things up thanks to more safety pins. It was fun shooting with my group of friends, taking silly photos or derping around. We've yet to see how they turned out after all the editing. During our shoot I also ran into a very sweet Lucina who insisted that I kiss her on the cheek so I did. I brought roses as props for any shots and planned on giving them out the next day, but I made an exception and gave her one to remember me by. She was so happy that her "ship" finally sailed.

It was a slow but eventful day and we ended up chilling back at the cosplay repair booth to recharge. I met up with my friend Grace who wore her Panda Annie again. We took more selfies, which weren't really a fail this time around.





Day 3

After accounting all the lost buttons and loose ends on Jona's FEA costume, she decided not to rewear it for Saturday. I on the other hand, managed to fix up my armor early in the morning, sticking on elastic to areas that needed support. Jona sported her Haikyu!'s Yu and volunteered to be the pack mule since I wore Inigo. Turns out she really wasn't much of a pack mule since most people favored her character rather than mine. A professional photographer came up and even fanboyed over her outfit, which was rather cool.



Saturday was packed with loads of people since it was the highlight of the entire con. I was able to take more pictures since Jona had better mobility in Yu. We later met up with our friends dressed in League of Legend's Jynx, Fairy Tail's Grey and Vocaloid's Miku. There was a lot of derping and talking with each other to kill time.





I first met Cortney back at Anime LA in her yukata Miku and got to know her even better within the months to come. I think that's the best part about cosplay - meeting people and interacting with them even after the con. I later began to question my selfie skills since they were never coming out right...



My friends wanted to get more free League skins at the booth back in Exhibit Hall so we all walked in there together and sat down a few paces away while the others got their freebies. Megan took some pictures with a super awesome Jynx - they were great!




While waiting for our friends we also discovered that Elliot was a low-key magnetic man. Talk about having real life super powers!



The real fun began when we parted ways to look around Exhibit Hall. We walked around the Atlus booth and found some notable cosplayers from the Persona series. I couldn't resist myself from asking them out as Inigo.




There was also a really awesome Gundam where Raikiri and I posed with.



After exploring as much as we could, we walked back to West Hall towards Entertainment Hall. I ran into a Lucina and took a picture with her. Why must everyone deny Inigo! 



I was halfway through my roses and offered one to Lucina because her cosplay was on point. It was extremely discouraging when she rejected my rose in reality. In that one moment, I honestly felt what Inigo had gone through in-game! But no matter, I carried on to some neat Kill La Kill cosplayers.



When we got to exhibit hall, we took more silly photos themed with some lessons in love, courtesy of yours truly.






I always enjoy taking loads of pictures at cons, so as soon as I removed my armor I went straight to work!







As soon as we settled down in a comfortable area, I recognized the same cosplayers from yesterday who wore Henry. Her friends and company were super sweet so I gave them some roses.




As we tried to recover whatever ounce of energy we had left, everyone pretty much exchanged costumes and wigs. Elliot ended up looking like a super saiyen version of Grey while everyone turned thug.

 



Once most of our friends retired to their hotel to get ready for AX Dance, Jona and our friends kicked it back at Concourse. They were usually playing music every day, so I was genuinely surprised when it stopped. I asked around what was happening since the boombox was always bumping and they said staff had to shut them down temporarily. No one was more bummed out than me because I was hoping to bust a few moves in my Inigo cosplay. 

What made my night was a fellow villager from Animal Crossing, Dotty. She insisted on taking my picture, so I wore my armor again to ensure that she had me at my best. We lingered around concourse for a while longer, hoping that maybe the music would come back. One of the characters from Kagerou Project, Ayano came up to me and asked for a hug. I usually get one every con but I really wished I could've taken a picture with her because she was super nice and cute! 




We later bumped into the same AC villager and she offered us some of her Doritos. Cosplayers like her are the best, especially since we were starved during the con!