Youmacon 2012 Report

Hi everyone! Now that I'm finally starting to feel my legs again after this weekend, I decided I should post a report for you all! (Though I don't know what legs has to do with this haha)

This was my firs time going to Youmacon in Detroit, MI and it was also my first time traveling alone with my girls (Sachie and Genniieeee), last time didn't count because we were being escorted by Ackson. We took the Greyhound bus early Friday morning from Toronto and arrived in Detroit around mid-afternoon. Sachie stayed over the night before which was really awesome since we can never meetup outside of conventions due to school.. it was nice being girly and getting primped for the con the next day! (Next time you can have the bed, Sachie!)

When we crossed the border, we had no idea that the con was so close! The bus dropped us off a few blocks away and we ended up taking a taxi over to the Renaissance Center. For anyone else going, please be careful with taxis! We got scammed because we were Canadian and the driver started loading our bags while we tried negotiating the price of the trip. We could have haggled more, but we were all a little nervous because there were some sketchy folks behind us calling out to us. It was just an uncomfortable situation in itself... please be careful!

The convention itself was... interesting to say the least. Luckily we were rooming with some AWESOME people (I miss you guys already!), but we had some difficulty with the hotel room as the Marriott introduced a wristband policy to monitor how many people were in the room. We didn't want to take the risk, so a whole lot of us crammed into our friend's room...

The layout of Youmacon this year was a little confusing (certainly for a first timer like myself). The building goes vertically, so escalators and elevators galore! The walkways are all circular as well, so it's very confusing trying to get where you're going. We must have walked around that place a billion times. Some locales are nice for photos though, and it's very urban.

Cool ceiling near on of the escalators in Cobo Hall

What confuses me the most though is why they had the dealer's/artist alley in Cobo Hall. Obviously space is an issue, but it separates a major part of the convention from everything else! I spoke with a couple of artists who were disappointed and stressed, as it's a lot of effort to sell your work at these events.

CourtoonXII as Saki Morimi from Eden of the East

As for my cosplay lineup, it was a fairly relaxing weekend!
Friday I went as Maid ver. Ritsu from K-ON! with Sachie as Mio:

Saturday I went as Howl and interviewed LittleKuriboh, as well as others, as part of press for Crunchyroll:

Photo by Sachie

And Sunday Sachie and I went as Matryoshka Meiko and Miku.. we also met up with Berndor who cosplayed Gumi! We were the most moe together haha, I loved it! We also ended up being included in the Detroit News which was nice!

All in all, I feel it was the people I was with that made the event great. I`m really thankful that Inner Mind Theatre and everyone else looked out for us Canadians! I hope we can see each other again really soon! xoxo.

Centre Island Cosplay Picnic!

Hi everyone!

Last Saturday I went to the Centre Island cosplay picnic in Toronto! I always try to make it every year since it's a really fun and casual event! You always get to meet new people too~
This year I tagged along with Karameru! We don't get to hang out much so I was super excited! She also cosplayed with me as Watanuki Banryu (InuxBoku SS) so it's our first couple cosplay too hoho♥

We met up on the train and got a little turned around in downtown Toronto, but we eventually made it to the ferry docks. It was around noon when we got to the island, however there were the dragon boat races going on that day too so lines were long getting on the ferry. We didn't really miss anything :)

We basically hung around until Karameru's friends caught up to us -- we had gotten separated before going onto the ferry -- so we just met up with other cosplayers we knew until then.

I also got to see Genie again~! She's a part of MOETRON as well, although she wasn't cosplaying that day. Instead she took photos with us along with our buddy Thomas and the Ririchiyo cosplayer (Ansa) that joined us later on!

Here are some photos! :D

Someone made Totoro cookies ;w;♥

And of course some instagram shots >:D

I had so much fun that day! I want to try wearing Karuta Roromiya's school uniform sometime (I cosplayer her SS version above)! The design is so cute :D And another thing that made that day special was that this cute Sheryl Nome (is this how you spell it?) came up to me and recognized me as Sami from MOETRON ;w;♥ It seriously made my day! She is such a sweet girl~

That's it for now I'm afraid! There might be more photos in the future (I know I still have some editing to do lol)

Anime North 2012: Saturday

Hi again! This time a post on AN 2012 Saturday's events!

This time I cosplayed Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari. I was a little worried about this one because I didn't know how popular she was or the anime. It's been a while since the anime first aired too... luckily people recognized me!

The shoes I wore this day were much comfier (thankyouthankyou~) so I stayed in as long as I could. I had to take out my lenses after 8 hours though, and at that time it was too tempting to be in regular clothes again! So I changed out in the early afternoon.

I met up with everyone again, but this time I had my own camera with me! I managed to snag a coupe nice shots. Thanks to Sachie again for taking my Hitagi photos!

I also watched Totally Lame Anime After Dark, which features hilariously old anime clips. It's one of my favourite events hoho~
We also went to see Pinku Project! I felt so energetic coming out of their live :) And they're outfits are very cute.

Because I could move in this outfit a little easier.. I took some regular con photos of others! Comment if you see yourself! :D

That's all for now.. but one more post for Sunday!~

Anime North 2012: Friday

It's that time of year again! Anime North 2012 (ง´▽`)ง On Friday I cosplayed Howl from Howl's Moving Castle.

We got down to the convention at around noon, hoping to check in early, as there was an early pre-registration check-in at 11am this year! It was hella hot though.. I was boiling in Howl ;A;
They didn't even have the queues set up for the line though.. we had to wait extra even though we finally made it to the door...!

Friday overall was mixed feelings.. my boots were awful to the point of not being able to walk (I'm not exaggerating, I couldn't take a step by the end of the day and had to get a taxi back to the hotel). However everyone recognized my Howl cosplay so I felt pretty good :D I also hung out with my MOETRON group as well as my boyfriend...~

Overall I had a great time! :D My group and I (minus Jean who was in the artist alley) went to take photos by a grassy area near the back of the convention. It was a little isolated, but I think we got some great shots!

Since I couldn't manage Howl's crazy jacket and a camera at the same time, I didn't bring my camera that day and so had to use Sachie's. (They're the same camera though so the same quality of shots).

Here are some shots Sachie took for me!

There was a lot of fooling around.. but that's why I love it! We made some nice memories together♥(ಡ౪ಡ)

I also had to cut my Senjougahara Hitagi wig Friday night! Jean ordered my wig from Fantasy Sheep (which apparently is a really popular taobao store??). Either way the wig was a DREAM. It was super thick and had a wonderful colour! It was also easy to brush and didn't slip too much on my head. I was super impressed! I was worried for her bangs though, since Hitagi has an unusual style.. I think I did ok? ;w;

And then I had a bath to ease my sore feet huhu (｡í _ ì｡)

STR PHOTOSHOOT PICS

Hi everyone! (Blogger changed their layout.. I'm trying it out---sooooo weiiiird!)
This is a scheduled post because I'm moving in to residence! Anyways..........

I got my photoshoot pictures from the lovely Thomas Truong.. This was only my 2nd private photoshoot, so I was very excited! (My last one was with Stillvisions)

After spending a lovely 2 hours with my cosplay group (OH GAWD I'M SO SORRY----) Tom, Jean, Jessica and I headed out to some train tracks near the convention site. We originally wanted to go down to the harbour front, however the handles on my arms were falling off so we tried to make do. We caught the setting sun though! I was really happy... Although a little nervous since Jean and Jess were behind us hanging out... lol.

Photos!

 Haha, I like this one with Jean a lot ;w;♥ She looks good in every picture!

Anyways, so those were the photoshoot pics I liked the best! I'll be uploading more of the group pictures to my Coscom account. If you have a Cure account, though, then add me! I like connecting with cosplayers :D

Until next time!