*giggles* I've so wanted an excuse to use this icon! Lulu in crossplay, FTW! X3
Yeah, I would be posting this
a week later oh gods, over two weeks late? *is shot* But yes, back from A-Kon 19, and it was amazing (tiring, but lots of fun!) A recap of the highs and lows:
The highlights-New friends! ZOMG, I met some awesome people while at A-Kon. Between
the girls I roomed with and
the cosplayers I met, it was definitely the best part of the con. A shout-out to the girls from room 911,
Katie, Tabby, Monique (the Tulsa crew) and
Nahal and <lj user="elenatha">, and Sherrilynn, all from Texas, to all you guys, you were SO much fun to room with! I've known all the girls only from online (mainly
deviantART) or from encounters at other cons, so it was amazing to get to hang out for the weekend! *glomps everyone* And Elenatha, I LOVE the artwork and your school final. I'm very excited to see if you do more with the story, your original characters are beautiful and angst in ways that would make CLAMP proud. You have such talent! *in total fangirl mode* ^.^~
Nahal made an awesome video to commemorate the weekend, set to the caramelldansen song! *cheers* My favorite part is me dancing with
the fun Kurogane cosplayer at
the CLAMP photoshoot, hyuu~! Thanks for sharing the video Nahal, it's so much fun!
COSPLAY. A-Kon attracts some of
the most adorable and
fun cosplayers! I'd venture that almost 75% of the attendees were in costume, it seems like EVERYONE participates, which is part of what makes A-Kon so much fun. ^.^ My favorite cosplays, the ones that made me fangirl completely, were
the group of Tetris blocks (creative cosplay FTW), the
C.C. in Zero's outfit , complete with Pizza Hut box (who also sold me a Suzaku gashapon figure, so I did wind up with some Code Geass swag after all, and not just doujinshi, yays!!), the Captain Shinji cosplayer (OMFG vizard love!!!! and sadly, I CAN'T FIND THE PICTURE, FRACK.) and
the adorable Nell cosplayer. Awesome stand-out Bleach cosplay, yay! I ran around and fangirled all weekend. If I
took your picture and
glomped you, thank you for putting up with me. X3
As I mentioned above, there was
a CLAMP photoshoot Friday afternoon, and we had a pretty decent turnout. Yay for
Tsubasa love! There was an
Infinity Kurogane and Fai and I think I stood there squeeing the whole time they were posing. ^.^~
I was there as traditional Fai, and with me was Katie as Celes!Chii and
Elenatha in her first ever cosplay as Ashura! *glomps* She looked
fantastic, and I sure hope she continues to cosplay, as she did such an amazing job. Some
AshuraxFai shots, it was so much fun! And
the Celes group,
hyuu~!
The
Sakura and Syaoran from the CLAMP photoshoot, also seen in my Izumi Con Tsubasa photoshoot pics from last fall, are from here in Oklahoma! *squees* They are some of the
friendliest,
amazing girls, and I had a blast getting to know them over the weekend. I forsee many Hafer Park and downtown OKC photoshoots in the future, plus much anime fangirling together. Yays! *cheers* Fae-chan and Gidget, you girls rock, I'm so excited that we met up!
Some more cosplay photos to make you smile: a beautiful
Infinity!Sakura (artbook version, amazing cosplay!!);
Final Fantasy yaoi for the fans Friday morning; awesome
Air Gear cosplayers;
battle waitress Mikuru!; the very bishie
Yaoi Faery was back, yay!;
little kid cosplayers out-cute everyone instantly; the
cast of Gankutsuou; Chobits sisters
Elda and Freya;
Syaoran with his staff! (I WANT A FAI STAFF NOW, GRRRR)
Here's a few pics
of me in my
Yuki Cross outfit, from
Vampire Knight. Though the wig isn't exactly like Yuki's, it was still FUN to wear, as is the costume as a whole. If only I'd had a Zero with me...^.^
Other high-points included attending some fun voice actor panels, that Kyle Hebert, Vic Mignogna, Caitlin Glass, Monica Rial, Wendy Powell and others were featured at. The VAs I've met at cons are always funny and awesome to be around, so I always enjoy their panels. Nahal video-taped one of the panels, the "cold read" panel, and put it on YouTube. The first vid is below, and the others are all linked on her account page</a>. Enjoy it! The VAs assembled had a lot of fun with it.
Also a pleasant change this year was
the friendly hotel staff! Years previous that I've stayed at this hotel, the staff (that I encountered anyway) was always a little less than civil, and never helpful. But no so this year. Check-in on Thursday was very easy, and the front desk was friendly and accommodating, and had no issues handing me 8 room keys. XD The staff I encountered in the halls would ask me what anime series I was from, and make friendly conversation. And at check-out I was told I had a significant balance still to pay, for the roll-away bed. I had specifically asked on the phone if there was a charge, and the girl on the phone said "no." So I had shock written all over my face, and the front-desk employer simply took the charge off, without question. I thanked her profusely, and told her I would definitely remember for next time. She was so gracious! So yes, I don't know if it's due to the hotel being the Dallas Sheraton now instead of the Adam's Mark or what, but the change in the attitude of the staff was refreshing.
On the swag front, I bought 8 doujinshi (six for me, and two for my best friend Becca who couldn't be there) from the xxxHOLiC, D. Gray-Man and Code Geass fandoms. Alas, on Friday when I went shopping, there were no Tsubasa doujinshi. *sighs* But I've ordered two (in a joint CLAMP purchase with Becca!) that will be in later this month, hyuu~! I also bought two artbooks, one Lucky Star and one for Okane ga nai, aka No Money! *squees* It's SO beautiful, I love it!! Mmmmm, Ayase is such an adorable, innocent little uke, I just love him! But yes, I also bought a cute Tsubasa pencil board, the scene with the gang on the red jeep, with the sunflowers all around them. I found an awesome metal pencil box that's almost bento box in style, and has little teddy bears on it! (They remind me of pedo bear, OMG.) I bought a little Suzaku gashapon figure from the cool C.C. cosplayer, as she wound up with two of them. He's so cute! Now I just need the Euphie one to complete their little scene, awwww! ^.^~
The low points (which were few, but will always be present at a large con):
the crowds and crowds of people. I swear, I wouldn't be surprised if there were 20,000 people in attendance this year! And due to the con growing so quickly, the A-Kon staff didn't seem as organized this year as in previous years I've been. For example, the cosplay contest line was moved at least 3 different times, and by the time it was settled, we were informed (after waiting in line for almost an hour and being moved all over the artists' alley room) that the event had reached capacity and we probably wouldn't get a seat. GRRRRR. We were fed up and just went back to the room to chill (and watch yaoi, heh). Also, one of the panels I was very much looking forward to, the Copics how-to panels, the people hosting them NEVER SHOWED. That was crappy. The only other complaint I had was the utter lack of air conditioning through-out the entire hotel. The convention center itself was okay, but the hotel was stifling. Combined with doing a photoshoot outdoors in my very warm Fai cosplay, and me pushing my still-weak body too hard on Thursday and Friday after being under the weather for almost a month (all due to craptastic allergies) I almost seriously passed out on Friday, and had very little appetite the entire weekend. If you know me, you know that's not like me at all. BUT...I did lose some weight over the weekend, yays! Though that's not the healthy way I'd like to lose weight. XD But yeah, having AC in the Dallas summer heat would be nice. XD
Anywho, overall it was a FANTASTIC weekend. Made some super new friends, bought cool things, played around in my cosplay, laughed with some awesome voice actors, and enjoyed some great anime. What more can an otaku ask for? *grins*
Wanna see all my pictures from A-Kon 19? Have fun browsing
my PhotoBucket album! ^.^
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