Cosplay and other outdated to-do lists
Jun. 19th, 2010 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rallamajoopThere's a line in my userinfo (in fact, it's pretty much my whole userinfo) that reads "So, occasionally, and I mean very occasionally, I actually get around to doing things." I have to-do lists that go back years. Mostly not filled with stuff that is, y'know, important in the RL sense, but still. Years.
I mention this by way of explaining why it feels like so much of an achievement that I have finally signed up for a cosplay.com account. Actually, that's not the achievement - the achievement is the part where I'm doing something with it, like finally getting around to sorting through the last 4-5 years worth of con photos and photoshoots and deciding what's worth uploading. A lot of those events had already been halfway-sorted for various livejournal posts (or by my sister, who is a lot more organised about updating her deviantart and flickr accounts) - but you can probably imagine why I've had so much trouble even making myself think about the job without doing the mental equivalent of curling up in a foetal position on the floor somewhere. Well, no longer!
So far, I've got as far as doing FFVII Yuffie (two cons, two photoshoots), KH2/AC Yuffie (four cons), River (three costume balls, one con), Hiei (two cons), and most of Millia (two cons, one epic trip to Japan, and two photoshoots which I'm still in the middle of sorting through). Still to go: the Balldress!Millia, Joshua, Goth-loli!Joshua, Syaoran, and both Kys. So, plenty left to go yet, but to be hovering somewhere around the halfway point doesn't feel half bad.
In the hope that this is the start of some kind of trend, I present below a shortlist of some other items that Ireally seriously honestly hopefully intend to get around to doing sometime in the near future. And if I don't, well, you are all completely within your rights to nag me about them. (Not to mention probably half a dozen other things I haven't even remembered just at the moment.)
Sites needing updating
My DeviantArt Account: Haven't hardly touched the thing since 2007, but given that I've already gone to all this work of sorting through so many old cosplay pics, I've got no excuse anymore. Much the same goes for my account on Cure, which I signed up for mostly to look at others' pics, but might as well put to use.
My fanfic.net account: Now well over a year out of date, which sadly makes it one of the most up-to-date accounts I've got on the web.
My AO3 account: Signed up for this earlier this year, got as far as about halfway through uploading all my old holic fic, still a heck of a long way to go yet.
Fanfic in progress (for the sake of the argument, I am only going to list fics I have actually actively made progress on recently)
The Telling of One Billion Ghost Stories (revised): The whole first book has been through a couple of rounds of revisions, and I am well and truly at the point where all it needs is a few minor final corrections and, y'know, for me to get around to posting the damn thing already. Books 2 and 3 are still with the beta reader (uh, hi if you're reading!), but I can hardly complain about that when I've had Book 1 sitting around like this for so long. It's now been two years since I finished the first draft, and even giving how daunting the task of revising 90,000 odd words is and how very much I'd rather be writing new stuff, it is beyond ridiculous that I'm not done with it yet and way past time I got off my arse and finished it already. -_-
That Guilty Gear Time Travel Fic: Obviously, the long promised expansion to the drabble from last year. Writing this thing has been like pulling teeth - the first part alone has been in progress since late last year. In the past week it has finally reached first-complete-draft stage, and if I'm very productive, it may even reach final-complete-draft stage by the time![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
velithya actually has free time for betaing again (ie, maybe in a week or two). There is some small consolation that, unless I decide to cut it in two, said chapter will be the longest single chapter of anything I've ever posted, but that's still not much excuse for how very long it's taken to get done.
*cracks knuckles*
I mention this by way of explaining why it feels like so much of an achievement that I have finally signed up for a cosplay.com account. Actually, that's not the achievement - the achievement is the part where I'm doing something with it, like finally getting around to sorting through the last 4-5 years worth of con photos and photoshoots and deciding what's worth uploading. A lot of those events had already been halfway-sorted for various livejournal posts (or by my sister, who is a lot more organised about updating her deviantart and flickr accounts) - but you can probably imagine why I've had so much trouble even making myself think about the job without doing the mental equivalent of curling up in a foetal position on the floor somewhere. Well, no longer!
So far, I've got as far as doing FFVII Yuffie (two cons, two photoshoots), KH2/AC Yuffie (four cons), River (three costume balls, one con), Hiei (two cons), and most of Millia (two cons, one epic trip to Japan, and two photoshoots which I'm still in the middle of sorting through). Still to go: the Balldress!Millia, Joshua, Goth-loli!Joshua, Syaoran, and both Kys. So, plenty left to go yet, but to be hovering somewhere around the halfway point doesn't feel half bad.
In the hope that this is the start of some kind of trend, I present below a shortlist of some other items that I
Sites needing updating
My DeviantArt Account: Haven't hardly touched the thing since 2007, but given that I've already gone to all this work of sorting through so many old cosplay pics, I've got no excuse anymore. Much the same goes for my account on Cure, which I signed up for mostly to look at others' pics, but might as well put to use.
My fanfic.net account: Now well over a year out of date, which sadly makes it one of the most up-to-date accounts I've got on the web.
My AO3 account: Signed up for this earlier this year, got as far as about halfway through uploading all my old holic fic, still a heck of a long way to go yet.
Fanfic in progress (for the sake of the argument, I am only going to list fics I have actually actively made progress on recently)
The Telling of One Billion Ghost Stories (revised): The whole first book has been through a couple of rounds of revisions, and I am well and truly at the point where all it needs is a few minor final corrections and, y'know, for me to get around to posting the damn thing already. Books 2 and 3 are still with the beta reader (uh, hi if you're reading!), but I can hardly complain about that when I've had Book 1 sitting around like this for so long. It's now been two years since I finished the first draft, and even giving how daunting the task of revising 90,000 odd words is and how very much I'd rather be writing new stuff, it is beyond ridiculous that I'm not done with it yet and way past time I got off my arse and finished it already. -_-
That Guilty Gear Time Travel Fic: Obviously, the long promised expansion to the drabble from last year. Writing this thing has been like pulling teeth - the first part alone has been in progress since late last year. In the past week it has finally reached first-complete-draft stage, and if I'm very productive, it may even reach final-complete-draft stage by the time
velithya actually has free time for betaing again (ie, maybe in a week or two). There is some small consolation that, unless I decide to cut it in two, said chapter will be the longest single chapter of anything I've ever posted, but that's still not much excuse for how very long it's taken to get done.*cracks knuckles*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 09:16 am (UTC)I SHOULD BE SEWING
SEE YOU TONIGHT
no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 09:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 02:35 pm (UTC)So do I. OTL
no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 01:40 am (UTC)I'm bringing my Aeris cosplay because I have to do a photoshoot in Japan just because. I'd like to do so at the gameshow as well, but I have no idea what to expect. Since I'll be going both public days I figured I'd scope scene the first day and possibly go in cosplay the second.
Can you offer any useful tips or advice as to the TGS?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 05:16 am (UTC)1. Get there early. Especially if you're planning on getting into any of the really exclusive events (we were in the queue from 7AM on the first day and we still missed out on tickets to the Squeenix closed theatre screenings), but it's a good idea in general as the lines outside tend to be wrapped the whole way around the building by opening time. You buy tickets at a booth on your way in, then you get to sit down in line for ages until they actually let you in. I don't know how fast the line clears once things open properly since I was there well before that on both days, but I wouldn't count on it clearing fast.
2. Even though it's a big cosplay event, you're not actually supposed to show up in cosplay. I can't pretend I entirely understand this, apparently it's a Japanese thing where they think that if passers by can see that cosplayers are going in, it'll lower the tone of the event. I am told that they may even turn you away at the door if you show up already in costume, though we got away with being partially in costume - possibly because we were foreigners, possibly because they didn't know for sure that our hair wasn't just naturally that colour, possibly because the policy isn't as strictly enforced as I'd been told, but what you're supposed to do is bring your costume in a bag and change when you get there. There are special change rooms for doing this, though the queues for that were always ridiculous. We got away with changing in the ladies toilets, which were much less crowded.
3. Cosplayers also aren't supposed to pose for photographs in any of the main halls. There's good reason for this - the halls are always packed, and anyone stopping to pose for pictures is going to hold other people up. There are three halls in the convention - two for the big displays, and the last for food and merchandise. The designated cosplay photography areas are in spaces between the halls (all of the photos on my post were taken there). It's kinda ugly - all bare concrete, but there isn't really anywhere else that would work. Most cosplay groups sorta stake out a bit of wall and stay there as people come by to take photos.
Considering all the crowds, the event is actually really well run. Everything's very organised, even when you do have to queue for an hour to see anything interesting. Pushing into queues is also a really big no-no - often they have extra staff lining the edges of the queue to make sure no-one tries to. I don't know if you speak Japanese or if you're going with anyone who does, but it made a huge difference for us that we had a few fluent speakers in our group. The long and short of it is that we had a great time, even though it was one of the most stressful con experiences I've ever been through.
On a side-note, according to another friend of mine who cosplayed Aeris there (and who may be doing so again this year), Aeris is still unusually popular in Japan. You may get a lot of attention. Out of curiousity, if you don't mind me asking, do you know where you're going to do the main photoshoot?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 02:10 am (UTC)If you don't mind a couple additional questions: You said you wore part of your cosplay. I can easily toss the majority of my cosplay in a bag but would get my hair done before heading out and likely just wear my boots.
It sounds like something like that (specially since I'll be using my own hair) would be fine to get in with. Basically if I tried going in full cosplay into the center I'd have a problem. Do I have that about right?
Culturally, I'm weirded out by the whole concept of not being able to enter the center in cosplay but when in Rome...
Also, if your friend is going to be there cosplaying Aeris tell her I hope to see her.
My other cosplay question is about the rest of the center while in costume. From what I gather so long as one is not stopping to pose for pictures or causing a nuisance with bulky cosplay, it should be fine to wander about?
The other question I had was not for myself (since I'm more of a cosplay whore than anything else) but my friend who isn't and will want to see events and exhibits. The first day you said you got there at 7 to queue up and still didn't get into the square-enix showing... is it just me or are people there queuing up at 5AM or possibly earlier? You mentioned the second day you were there at... 5:30 if I read that correctly? Yikes.
It almost sounds worse than the ride lines at Disney during busy season.
Sorry, I'm probably semi-coherent and rambly. =|
For the other photoshoot I plan on finding a place in Tokyo that reminds me of some of the game scenes. I'd like to find a nice older style area too for a few pictures. Obviously I have nothing particular in mind so if you have any suggestions I'd absolutely love to hear them!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 02:45 am (UTC)It sounds like something like that (specially since I'll be using my own hair) would be fine to get in with. Basically if I tried going in full cosplay into the center I'd have a problem. Do I have that about right?
Sounds about right to me. They may change the policies a bit year-to-year, but I'm sure you'd be safe that way.
Culturally, I'm weirded out by the whole concept of not being able to enter the center in cosplay but when in Rome...
Yeah, me too. I hear all cosplay events are the same. Weird fashion is fine on the streets, but cosplay is over the line for some reason. IDGI either.
Also, if your friend is going to be there cosplaying Aeris tell her I hope to see her.
I'll check with her next time I get the chance. She's working in Japan and speaks the language fluently, and knows all this stuff a lot better than I do.
My other cosplay question is about the rest of the center while in costume. From what I gather so long as one is not stopping to pose for pictures or causing a nuisance with bulky cosplay, it should be fine to wander about?
Yup, absolutely. You're not allowed to bring any big props for obvious reasons, but you're completely welcome to wander. A couple of my friends even managed to get given free tickets to a game demo just by standing around looking awesome. *g*
The other question I had was not for myself (since I'm more of a cosplay whore than anything else) but my friend who isn't and will want to see events and exhibits. The first day you said you got there at 7 to queue up and still didn't get into the square-enix showing... is it just me or are people there queuing up at 5AM or possibly earlier? You mentioned the second day you were there at... 5:30 if I read that correctly? Yikes.
Technically I think we got there at about 6-6:30 (5:30 was when we got up). We were staying at a hotel within walking distance and pretty much just threw on our clothes and ran down. The thing about Square-Enix is that they're ridiculously popular, and have a lot of exclusive stuff at their booth - both the theatre and the game demos. To prevent people from having to queue up all day they were handing out tickets early on, and getting them was first-come, first-serve. There were separate queues for the theatre and for each game, and they moved fast - you literally just got in the queue and got handed a ticket at the end. I think every ticket for everything that was on that day had been handed out by about fifteen or twenty minutes after they opened.
I think most other booths are probably not that bad (to get an autograph from the creator of Guilty Gear, I only had to queue for half an hour or so) - it probably depends how big and popular they are. It may depend what your friend wants to see, but you could easily stand in queues all day there.
It almost sounds worse than the ride lines at Disney during busy season.
I think, knowing Disney only by reputation, it may be exactly like that.
For the other photoshoot I plan on finding a place in Tokyo that reminds me of some of the game scenes. I'd like to find a nice older style area too for a few pictures. Obviously I have nothing particular in mind so if you have any suggestions I'd absolutely love to hear them!
All I can really tell you about cosplaying in Tokyo is that we did a big photoshoot in Shibuya and had a blast, though I don't know that any part of it particularly looked like FFVII. One of the big fashion districts might be a good call on general principles (Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku esp). I'll see if my friend has any good suggestions.