Belated con report (now I've had some sleep)

[rallamajoop]

WAI-CON IS OVER! Not that it wasn't great fun, but it's a hell of a stressful kind of fun. OMG, I have free time again. XD;;

In brief: WE WON BEST GROUP COSPLAY ON THE FIRST DAY!!! *victory dance* Made a killing at our stall, sold lots of doujinshi, caught up with a lot of people, oo-ed and ah-ed a lot over everyone else's costumes, took some rather stupid photos and were generally run off our feet.

Costume-wise, I was actually pretty well prepared this year, not that this helped me me get much proper sleep in the week before the con (don't know how much of it's just stress, but unless it's cloudy, I don't seem to be able to sleep through sunrise this time of year -_-). I cleverly managed to get Friday off work to make any last minute finishing touches on things and help my sister cut out the rest of the prints for her stall - but then spent the whole day out with a killer headache, madly praying that it would clear up by Saturday. Fortunately, it did clear up (thank any involved deity), and we made it into our costumes and to the con to get the stall all set up only a couple of minutes after things were meant to open.

The con itself is a bit of a blur (sleep deprivation will do this to an event - as will that many customers). Business at our stall went as dizzyingly well as it has for the last couple of years. In addition to all our merchandise based on pinneagig's art I got ten pipe foxes made to sell there, which practically sold out in the first morning (not a particularly big surprise). I'll definitely have to try to make more later on.

Cosplay for the first day was our Yu Yu Hakusho costumes - me as Hiei and my partners in crime pinneagig and jaseroque as Kurama and Yukina, and almost everything turned out well by the day. We didn't bother with a skit this year, just walked out and posed on stage with the opening theme playing in the background. Without a doubt, the highlight of that first day was hearing our names announced as winners of the group cosplay category at the end. We'd all thought we maybe had some outside chance at it, but we never counted on actually doing it, so it was a fantastic surprise. There was a lot of great groups in it this year (though when I say the event has killed all and any impulse we might've had to ever cosplay Phoenix Wright, I'm sure everyone who attended will understand why >.>) And congrats again to all the other winners - I'd hazard to say all the other prizes wound up just about where they should have done too. <3

It was a big relief that so many bits of Hiei (and there were a *lot* of bits) that could have gone wrong worked out in the end. The wig took two attempts and the best part of three weeks to style, but it was worth every minute for how it turned out - and all three eyes (two contact lenses and one temporary tattoo) came out well without incurring too many headaches on the way. A lot of the complexity came from the fact that Hiei's outfit has layers - there's the black coat, the scarf and the headband covering the outfit underneath and the third eye, and I was completist enough to insist on doing them all. But of course, there's no point in going to all that effort if you can't switch between different versions quickly on the day (and even up on stage during the competition, which got me a good loud cheer from the crowd XD) so a lot of that costume had to be designed to hold together with press studs and velcro. The only real disappointment was the decoration on the end of my sword - which had held in place for weeks at that point - suddenly coming loose while we were up on stage. Clearly we didn't look too lame in front of the judges though, so no great harm was done.

Business was a bit slower on day two, which should maybe have been something of a relief. We didn't have any new costumes done for that day, but we were happy enough to recycle the KH2 versions of the FFVII girls for another show (and jaseroque even took a prize for hers, so definitely nothing wasted there). With all the rest of the KH costumes there we were in pretty damn good company too (and sooner or later, all those photos will start showing up and should tell that story a whole lot better than I could). Like last year, we're hugely indebted to our friends from PenCafe who helped run our stall during the day. They're probably not reading this, but the need to yell a giant THANK YOU SO MUCH in their direction is in no way lessened.

As a whole, the con didn't wow me quite as much as last year - but that's probably more to do with how the reaction to that skit from '06 would be a nearly impossible act to follow. There seemed to be something kind of grey-ish to the whole thing - probably either that lingering headache or something to do with being up against a giant wall of windows all day when the weather outside was pretty miserable. Having real dressing rooms before the cosplay comp was great, but it must've sucked for all the cosplayers towards the end of the line who were stuck downstairs until they got their turn on stage (we've never been gladder to be the second group out). Having to hunt for our props half by touch when they were all piled on top of each other on a giant table in a darkened room just before going on stage wasn't any kind of fun either. Some day, I will find out just how it became standard for organisers worldwide to require that prop weapons made out of balsa wood and foam to match designs which are laughable without anime physics to justify how they work are so dangerous that they have to be taken away from their owners at the door and stored out of sight. Considering just how fragile they often prove to be, you could actually make a good case for having them stored away to prevent them getting damaged by the crowd, but I don't get the impression that's ever entered into the equation anywhere.

That said, I don't think we can make any realistic complaints about the venue this year - word is we got twice the attendees we got last year. Hopefully if we're in the same place again for next year, they'll be able to get those few little glitches sorted out.

So anyway - I'm kinda glad it doesn't happen more than once a year, but somehow or other, it always manages to be worth all the effort in the end. Lisa's got our day one photos up already, and we should get to sorting through what we've got from day two within a couple of days.

Comments

[lodelco.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!!!

I saw your pics and they were very nicely done! You didn't seem to think you guys would win so now I ask: Why do you think you won the competition?

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Why do you think you won the competition?

Er, I don't think I can answer that question seriously without getting all waffly and vague or feeling like I'm boasting, so I'm going to have to go with IT WAS TOTALLY ALL ABOUT MY WIG!

[velithya]

I think it's often a requirement from the venue rather than from the convention organisers; and in addition, by saying that they are going to confiscate all weapons it saves them the time and effort of inspecting every weapon to see if they need to confiscate it or not, I guess.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

I had heard that the venues were behind it, but that still doesn't quite explain to me how the venue organisers got the idea that we could do people more damage with balsa wood and foam than, say, hitting each other with chairs or something, which they were still perfectly okay with us having at last check. :/ And I'm going to have great difficulty believing that inspecting every weapon at entry would be less effort that confiscating them all and then having to sort them all out again before the cosplay competition and get them back to their owners again... then take them back and store them again at the end of the comp, then require that extra staff take them to and from the photo booth... It's possible that having to explain to every person I've ever left the conformer with that it's not designed to balance on its points and then watch them try to stand it up that way anyway is making me paranoid. >.>

[eclectify.livejournal.com]

I REMEMBER YOU! *points* Now that I actually look closely at your photos I definitely remember you XDXD

But congrats on the costumes. They're really, really well done ^___^

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (God knows they took us enough effort ^^;) Though you know, that really isn't quite what I look like normally. XD

[eclectify.livejournal.com]

XD Well yes. But I do recognise you *nods lots*

[lunargeography.livejournal.com]

Wow... The costumes y'all put together were amazing. You even did colored contact lenses? You looked great, and I'm sure your win was well-deserved.

I keep meaning to ask -- for what series does your group do doujinshi? You've mentioned you write for them...

Thanks for posting the pics! They were a lot of fun to look at!

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

They actually seem pretty simple in comparison to some of the other awesome creations a lot of people turned out, but they came out well. Contacts really aren't as much trouble as most people seem to think - getting them was as simple as asking an optometrist to order them in for me, and they turned out to be not nearly as uncomfortable or difficult to insert as I'd been warned. People seemed more impressed by them on the day than the parts of the costume that actually took work to put together, which tends to be about how these things work out. ^^;

We made doujinshi for Naruto and Kingdom Hearts this year. I'll have to see if I can get cover scans so I can make a proper post about them later on. Hell of a lot of work for everyone involved, but it was terrific to be able to see something I'd contributed to in print at the end. ^__^

Con hallways tend not to be the best place to get good pics (everything's so busy and there's rarely good light) but we did get a few decent ones out of this batch. And more should be on the way!

[chisathechi.livejournal.com]

You guys were so awesome! Especially your wig, crazy stuff.

Being stuck in the changing rooms for a few hours really did suck ._. I missed out on almost all of the cosplay comp on Sunday. I can see the logic with some of the bigger props (wouldn't want to get accidentally decked by a gigantic Wolfwood cross or a big scythe in the crowd for instance) but you can only do so much damage that you couldn't do with other available objects with a little balsa wood sword. But then I guess its a lot easier to do all-or-nothing.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I said so on the day, but I thought you did a great job for your first costume too (and seriously - your poses looked great). It's a dangerously addictive hobby. Considering none of us had so much as styled a single spike up to a couple of months ago, I'm stupidly pleased those wigs came out so well. ^_^

At least in the past all the competitors have always been able to see the competition up until their turn came up - I sure hope they find a better way to manage it all for next year. I remember there being some talk before the con about having a video screen down there so the competitors could watch everything, but it doesn't look like anything came of it.

Yeah, bigger props on the Wolfwood cross scale are definitely better out of the way (also simply so the poor cosplayer doesn't have to lug them around) and they definitely wouldn't want real metal weapons being swung around at the con. But although all-or-nothing might seem easier in principle, considering all the extra running around the staff must've had to do to get so many weapons into and out of storage and to the photo booth and back, I'd be surprised if it hadn't turned into more work for them at the end of the day. I mean, it's not like it's just here in Perth - the same kind of rules seem to be standard practice everywhere, but it does make you wonder whether anyone's really sat down and thought it all through. ^^;

[chisathechi.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I can see how it would be - so much effort goes into those one or two days of showing off, but its sooo worth it! Hopefully I'll be able to work enough at sewing to be able to depend on my mum less for next year.

With the number of cosplayers I'm not sure a single screen would even work. It would be nice if we could kind of sit towards the front in groups and go backstage when it got closer to our turn though.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

So true, but at least we make a point of reusing our costumes as much as we can get away with afterwards. ^^; Let us know if you ever need any help next year - I'm sure we've got plenty of advice we'd be only to happy to pass on by this stage.

It would be nice if we could kind of sit towards the front in groups and go backstage when it got closer to our turn though.

That is what they've always done in the past, and you'd think it'd have to be a lot simpler than sorting out enough television screens to let everyone watch backstage. I sure hope they go back to that system for next year.

[cielrose.livejournal.com]

You all looked amazing!
Haha I agree with you about the props..I was far more scared of people touching it than I was of it touching them!
Still my limbo-ing to get it through the convention all the way backstage because it didn't fit in the lift was rather comical!

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Hey, back at you! What was the story with the Lightning's weapon, btw? I heard something mentioned about it but I didn't get to ask.

If only we could all do that neat thing Sora and the Org members in the game do where they pull their weapons out of thin air when they need them. Think how much trouble it would save! I'll file it with my long-running wish I could pull off a magical girl instant transformation sequence that would save me all the long work of pinning myself into my costumes for every event. XD