Manifest Cosplay Part 2: The Con
Nov. 1st, 2008 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rallamajoopMoving on from the Amaranth ball, the main event of our Melbourne trip was the con itself. If I had to sum up the whole Manifest experience in brief, it would be with this picture:
Manifest would be the first really big con we've ever been too - since massively overshadowed again by the TGS, but that's a whole other post. I wouldn't call it a bad con overall, but a lot of things about the experience gave the very firm impression that the people in charge haven't quite figured out how to make something that size run smoothly. The first con we ever went to (and still one of our favourites) is Swancon, which gets around a few hundred guests a year and always runs from a hotel, and one of the other ones we still have a big soft-spot for is Genghiscon, which gets maybe a hundred or so. Wai-con, the main local anime con, is getting well past the thousand mark these days and recently graduated from running at universities to renting out a couple of halls in the convention centre, and it's probably a very good thing they did. By contrast, the university where they hold Manifest is a really pretty area, but I can't help but feel that the con outgrew that venue a few years back and no-one will admit it yet. As it is, the con is spread over three main buildings, one of which is quite a considerable hike away, and notably lacking in nearly enough maps and signs to make finding the room you want anything but an ongoing hastle. I also can't figure out why the non-pre-registered ticket line moved so hideously slowly - maybe a metre or two per half an hour. I'd swear a lot of people must've spent half the con in it just waiting to get in.
Since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pinneagig runs a stall selling assorted posters and bookmarks and other odds and ends based on her artwork, we spent most of the day in the fan traders room. This was separate from the main trader's hall (which was already hard enough to find), but I'm inclined to be very grateful for that considering that the one time I stuck my nose into the main trader's hall, it was so packed that I could hardly see what was for sale. For better or worse that was most of the con for us. When you're both cosplaying and running a stall you don't get much time left over for anything else, but we're used to that as the con experience and selling her stuff is always quite a lot of fun.
I had to leave early Sunday morning and not much was happening on Friday while we were there, so Saturday was the main con day for me. Having done balldress!Millia a couple of nights before, it was time to bring out the regular Millia costume for the main con.
I tried to go for as much accuracy as possible, down to funny little square-shaped bits and illogical floating shoe cuffs, the one main concession being that you'd better believe I'm wearing modesty shorts under that tiny skirt. The wig was the longest I could get hold of from the Cyperous catelogue, because the last thing you want to do with Millia cosplay is cheap out on the hair, but it was a regular nightmare to brush out after it'd been sitting in a suitcase for a few hours. Oh what I'd give to actually have Millia's prehensile hair...
I'm aware Millia's not the best known character out there, so I wasn't too surprised that not a lot of people recognised me. What I wasn't expecting was to be misidentified more than once through the day - as Bridget. I know Bridget's Internet Famous and all that, but apparently blonde hair, a white and blue costume and a short skirt is all it takes to define a character (muttergrumblemutter).
Mind you, that still wasn't nearly so many times asvelithya got stopped and asked what the writing on her headband said. Though I'm still sure she arranged her hair to cover up the 'Ro' of 'Rock You' on purpose.
pinneagig was there as Robin from One Piece:
pinneagig behind the stall. Note the One Piece flag at the front, which people would occasionally come past and try to buy from us.
velithya joined us as Sol again (and was very helpful in running the stall too <3).
We had a lot of fun with our taunt poses that day, as you can see.
We mostly stuck up at the traders hall until the cosplay competition rolled around, and I do have to say there was some fantastic cosplay there. We didn't manage to get many good photos during the comp itself because the cosplayers weren't really at a very good angle for photography, but once again Eugene got a whole lot more good photos than we did. I was especially impressed by the Saint Seiya group, including a guy who was wearing these massive wooden wings that meant the poor guy had to stay standing up all day, a Freya and Kuja who'd done a truly stunning job, and an Elite Beat Agents+Hard Gay cosplayer group who (big surprise) had put together a dance routine as a skit and won the audience choice award. No prizes for us that day, but against that kind of competition that really wasn't any kind of let down.
After the comp, we were joined byyiji_chan (a friend who moved to Melbourne earlier this year <3) as the real Bridget. Since the day was wrapping up by then, we took the chance to run off and take a whole lot more photos.
Did I mention how one of the nice things about the venue for Manifest is that it's a really pretty area? Once we got away from the main crowds, we found some great backdrops for cosplay pics.
What with all those big stone archways, it even looked a bit like Sol's Guilty Gear battle stage.
Sadly, without having actual psychic power over my hair, there wasn't much more than this I could do to mimic any of Millia's real finishing poses.
Can't help but think Sol doesn't look so impressed that he won this one.
I imagine Sol's thinking "All these fucking blue-and-white blondes around and still..."
Then, somewhere around the end of the day, we got a bit silly:
Most of our other friends from Perth who'd come over to Melbourne with us that year were in a huge cross-country Lamento group. We didn't manage to grab all of them for photos that day, (which was a shame considering what a huge and epic group it was), but we still managed to get some nice pics of them. This includedalyssea as Konoe, k_chan009 as Kaltz, twinkl33 as Rai... and here I run abruptly out of LJ names. ^^;
Boyband posts, FTW!
(If you guys haven't already seen all of Eugene's pics, I would also point you all to this one and this one in particular from the cosplay comp and recommend you check out the rest of his shots too).
So that was about it for me for Manifest for this year. A fair few more photos that didn't make it into either this or the previous ball post are up in my photobucket gallery for Manifest, with some extra pics from the ball and of the Lamento group under a couple of subfolders (should case anyone still want to see more after all this photo spam).
Manifest would be the first really big con we've ever been too - since massively overshadowed again by the TGS, but that's a whole other post. I wouldn't call it a bad con overall, but a lot of things about the experience gave the very firm impression that the people in charge haven't quite figured out how to make something that size run smoothly. The first con we ever went to (and still one of our favourites) is Swancon, which gets around a few hundred guests a year and always runs from a hotel, and one of the other ones we still have a big soft-spot for is Genghiscon, which gets maybe a hundred or so. Wai-con, the main local anime con, is getting well past the thousand mark these days and recently graduated from running at universities to renting out a couple of halls in the convention centre, and it's probably a very good thing they did. By contrast, the university where they hold Manifest is a really pretty area, but I can't help but feel that the con outgrew that venue a few years back and no-one will admit it yet. As it is, the con is spread over three main buildings, one of which is quite a considerable hike away, and notably lacking in nearly enough maps and signs to make finding the room you want anything but an ongoing hastle. I also can't figure out why the non-pre-registered ticket line moved so hideously slowly - maybe a metre or two per half an hour. I'd swear a lot of people must've spent half the con in it just waiting to get in.
Since
pinneagig runs a stall selling assorted posters and bookmarks and other odds and ends based on her artwork, we spent most of the day in the fan traders room. This was separate from the main trader's hall (which was already hard enough to find), but I'm inclined to be very grateful for that considering that the one time I stuck my nose into the main trader's hall, it was so packed that I could hardly see what was for sale. For better or worse that was most of the con for us. When you're both cosplaying and running a stall you don't get much time left over for anything else, but we're used to that as the con experience and selling her stuff is always quite a lot of fun. I had to leave early Sunday morning and not much was happening on Friday while we were there, so Saturday was the main con day for me. Having done balldress!Millia a couple of nights before, it was time to bring out the regular Millia costume for the main con.
I tried to go for as much accuracy as possible, down to funny little square-shaped bits and illogical floating shoe cuffs, the one main concession being that you'd better believe I'm wearing modesty shorts under that tiny skirt. The wig was the longest I could get hold of from the Cyperous catelogue, because the last thing you want to do with Millia cosplay is cheap out on the hair, but it was a regular nightmare to brush out after it'd been sitting in a suitcase for a few hours. Oh what I'd give to actually have Millia's prehensile hair...
I'm aware Millia's not the best known character out there, so I wasn't too surprised that not a lot of people recognised me. What I wasn't expecting was to be misidentified more than once through the day - as Bridget. I know Bridget's Internet Famous and all that, but apparently blonde hair, a white and blue costume and a short skirt is all it takes to define a character (muttergrumblemutter).
Mind you, that still wasn't nearly so many times as
velithya got stopped and asked what the writing on her headband said. Though I'm still sure she arranged her hair to cover up the 'Ro' of 'Rock You' on purpose.pinneagig was there as Robin from One Piece: pinneagig behind the stall. Note the One Piece flag at the front, which people would occasionally come past and try to buy from us.velithya joined us as Sol again (and was very helpful in running the stall too <3). We had a lot of fun with our taunt poses that day, as you can see.
We mostly stuck up at the traders hall until the cosplay competition rolled around, and I do have to say there was some fantastic cosplay there. We didn't manage to get many good photos during the comp itself because the cosplayers weren't really at a very good angle for photography, but once again Eugene got a whole lot more good photos than we did. I was especially impressed by the Saint Seiya group, including a guy who was wearing these massive wooden wings that meant the poor guy had to stay standing up all day, a Freya and Kuja who'd done a truly stunning job, and an Elite Beat Agents+Hard Gay cosplayer group who (big surprise) had put together a dance routine as a skit and won the audience choice award. No prizes for us that day, but against that kind of competition that really wasn't any kind of let down.
After the comp, we were joined by
yiji_chan (a friend who moved to Melbourne earlier this year <3) as the real Bridget. Since the day was wrapping up by then, we took the chance to run off and take a whole lot more photos. Did I mention how one of the nice things about the venue for Manifest is that it's a really pretty area? Once we got away from the main crowds, we found some great backdrops for cosplay pics.
What with all those big stone archways, it even looked a bit like Sol's Guilty Gear battle stage.
Sadly, without having actual psychic power over my hair, there wasn't much more than this I could do to mimic any of Millia's real finishing poses.
Can't help but think Sol doesn't look so impressed that he won this one.
I imagine Sol's thinking "All these fucking blue-and-white blondes around and still..."
Then, somewhere around the end of the day, we got a bit silly:
Most of our other friends from Perth who'd come over to Melbourne with us that year were in a huge cross-country Lamento group. We didn't manage to grab all of them for photos that day, (which was a shame considering what a huge and epic group it was), but we still managed to get some nice pics of them. This included
alyssea as Konoe, k_chan009 as Kaltz, twinkl33 as Rai... and here I run abruptly out of LJ names. ^^;Boyband posts, FTW!
(If you guys haven't already seen all of Eugene's pics, I would also point you all to this one and this one in particular from the cosplay comp and recommend you check out the rest of his shots too).
So that was about it for me for Manifest for this year. A fair few more photos that didn't make it into either this or the previous ball post are up in my photobucket gallery for Manifest, with some extra pics from the ball and of the Lamento group under a couple of subfolders (should case anyone still want to see more after all this photo spam).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 12:02 am (UTC)*waves a lonely flag for Millia*
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 02:13 am (UTC)Bridget still tops the most done in Japan though. May seemed to have dropped in favour, compared to photos taken by friends when they're at Comiket/TFT. Cute is all the rage.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 03:39 pm (UTC)(I was in Lamento group! As Firi! Then I uh, disappeared when everyone went to take pictures. >_< Argh.)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 03:47 pm (UTC)They're getting so long now it's good to know people are still bothering to go through them all(What kind of something do you mean?)(I remember that! It was a real shame we couldn't get the whole group together when we were taking photos, but considering how confused it all got we were probably lucky to have gotten as many people as we did. ^^; Ah well.)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 06:30 pm (UTC)That's true. XD;;;
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Date: 2008-11-02 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 06:10 pm (UTC)Awesome efforts all around, otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 02:05 am (UTC)POWER TO GAY CAT MEN. Not catboys. Cat MEN.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 10:13 am (UTC)Apparently I am in need of a Ky icon or two
Date: 2008-11-02 12:36 pm (UTC)You should make one out of this picture, it's hilarious
Date: 2008-11-02 12:56 pm (UTC)For preference, one where Ky has actually washed his hair in the last month
Date: 2008-11-02 12:58 pm (UTC)Yeah it is looking a bit ratty, huh
Date: 2008-11-02 01:02 pm (UTC)Re: Yeah it is looking a bit ratty, huh
Date: 2008-11-02 01:17 pm (UTC)(vaguely related, you'll never guess what I just remembered I owned the other day, thanks to grandparents and a birthday way back when I was in primary school or something...)
Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-02 01:21 pm (UTC)(........IS IT A RECORD OR A TEA SET? IT'S A TEA SET ISN'T IT)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-02 01:28 pm (UTC)AFTER YOU BAILED THAT FIRST TIME I WAS IN NEED OF SOME SOME GOOD RETAIL THERAPY, ALRIGHT?IT WAS A VERY IMPORTANT PACKAGE AND IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE IF YOU'D ONLY BOTHERED TO SHOW UP ON TIME.(more of a single tea cup and saucer. But it does have blue and pink flowers all over it. Gold edging too!)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-02 01:43 pm (UTC)BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE I STALK YOU OR ANYTHING, I WOULD HAVE SEEN IT ANYWAYSADLY TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN.(awesome. I'm sure we can either borrow a tea pot from somewhere or buy one in the name of awesome as well ;P)
...and now I'm totally going to bed. ^^;
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-02 02:04 pm (UTC)LOOK, WE CAN'T BOTH BE STALKING EACH OTHER AT THE SAME TIME, THAT'S JUST STUPID!(technically Ky only collects the cups, AFAIK, not the whole sets. A teapot wouldn't hurt but it can be managed without.)
Yeah, I should be doing that too. >.>
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-02 10:39 pm (UTC)I'D BE WILLING TO PROPOSE AN ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENT. IT INVOLVES A SOUNDPROOF ROOM< THOUGH.(I was thinking specifically of that reference picture where there is a teapot on the desk - he can't drink tea without a teapot to pour it out of.)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 09:28 am (UTC)Huh? What are you talking about? The training hall isn't soundproofed.(I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for one.)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 09:38 am (UTC)*teethgrind* sometimes I think you play dumb just to piss me off. And sometimes I don't think, I know.(There was a teapot in one of the ones you linked me back upthread?)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 09:52 am (UTC)Heaven forbid I ever accuse you of thinking.Well, maybe if you actually bother to show up next time, we could sort something out.(I know the pic you mean, I meant keep an eye out for an actual teapot
that won't set me back too much. Or hey, if I can find any other cheap second hand teacups...)Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 10:00 am (UTC)just because I don't talk good doesn't mean I don't think. You should know better than to judge by appearancesIt's not my fault that by the time I rocked up you were closeted away with the latest orders and a fresh batch of tea.(Good Sammy's, maybe? Worth a try, anyway, and the stuff you find there is likely to be older (and therefore look more authentic) anyway)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 10:05 am (UTC)oh spare me, the last time you bothered to use your head in a fight you were hitting someone with it!It was over an hour and some of us around here have day jobs!and I find tea very comforting when I've been let down(mm, second hand crap)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 11:54 am (UTC)you're only sore about that because the person in question happened to be you. *smirk* And I'll do it again if you ask nicelyI have a day job. It's just pretty boring when there's nothing to fight.oh for god's sake, stop whining and draw. Maybe I can beat it out of you.(delicious second hand crap!)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 12:15 pm (UTC)...we're not talking about headbutting anymore, are we?Jobs you only get out of bed for when you can be bothered do not count.So if I pick somewhere there will be minimal collateral damage and say meet me there in five minutes, you will actually bother to show this time?(this thread is getting pretty epic)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 01:09 pm (UTC)hey, that didn't take you too long to realise, you must be getting smarter!What can I say, if it's not Large class it's not a challenge. The other guys could use the practice.Call it, boy. And it had better be private.(\o/)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 01:29 pm (UTC)all those head injuries are not helping!And yet somehow you always manage to find one to tie you up just in time to use it as an excuse for being late. Funny that.Naturally, there are some things you don't want to risk bystanders getting involved in. I can guarantee you there's never anyone but me around the training hall this late.Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 11:22 pm (UTC)you let me get inside your guard, you deserve what you get *smirk*We're fighting a war, if you haven't noticed. More like the Gears find us.Good. See you there. And get ready to get your ass kicked.Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-03 11:47 pm (UTC)I am waiting, as as ready as I'll ever need to be.Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-04 09:21 am (UTC)Let's go.(.....sooo yeah, dunno that we can continue into the fight, be kind of awkward)
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-04 11:11 am (UTC)Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-04 11:12 am (UTC)Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-04 11:18 am (UTC)Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-04 11:22 am (UTC)JUST PRETEND WE'RE STILL GOING AND WRITE A BIT TWICE A DAY OR SOMETHING ;P
how long until these comments get SO TINY they can only have one word per line? SHALL WE FIND OUT? ;P
Re: Have you considered shampoo?
Date: 2008-11-04 11:35 am (UTC)It will depend on your own personal screen resolution?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 10:53 am (UTC)I love reading your con reports. Actually, all your stuff. It's just so humorous! xD
I ganked a couple of these photos for my DA, is that okay with you?
You made such a smexy Millia. <333333333
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 11:49 am (UTC)Thanks! I don't usually get around to doing con reports in anything like this kind of detail, but I am glad all my blathering is entertaining people~
Totally fine! Gank away.
♥♥♥ Thank you, I'm seriously pleased the costume came out as well as it did. (And FTR, Tokyo Gameshow had more Bridgets than any other GG character, but I can't remember a single one who'd done nearly as good a job on the costume as you. So glad you got to come cosplay with us that day!)
And before I forget again, we have this chibi Naruto doujinshi we need to talk about sometime really soon.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 10:48 pm (UTC)Your Millia costume is undoubtedly the nicest one I've seen yet, what with all your awesomely perfect detailing and all. And you had the grace and poise to pull her off perfectly, too. xD
Ah yes, that. xD'''' Well, the convention season for me is pretty much over for now until Wai-Con, so I'll have some time to work on that. I found the draft of it in my room after copious searchings, so if I get started on it soon it shouldn't take me too long. x3'''' GOMEN~
no subject
Date: 2008-11-03 01:05 am (UTC)^///^;
you would not believe how long a person can spend agonising over how wide those blue stripes are meant to beyou've heard what everyone's egging me on to do next, right?I've been so flat out I've hardly had the chance to think about it until now too. ^^; But we've still got time left before we're going to do the reprint for Waicon, so let's get this thing drawn!
no subject
Date: 2008-11-03 01:10 pm (UTC)oh sorry, thought I was in Rome for a second, got something in my throat *cough*
...and my eye <.<
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 10:50 pm (UTC)Yes, I totally agree.
Mine Bridget bings all yon lads to the yards
And they quote, ''Tis better than thine'
Verily, 'tis better than thine
I could inform you, but I must levy a fee
>D