tj_dragonblade (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tj_dragonblade) wrote2008-10-18 12:55 am
tj_dragonblade) wrote2008-10-18 12:55 am
Con Report: Yaoi Con 2008
It's a looong entry, and there are lots of pics.
Uhm...where to start.
Con was a lot of fun, various points of suckiness aside. It's not much as far as cons go from what I can see, but the sense of cameraderie and the people one meets and hangs out with make up for most of that. I can't really convey the sense of...of pride, I guess is the closest word, in seeing the halls and common areas bursting with all manner of geeks, cosplayers, fen and otaku of every ilk. It's a wonderful thing. ^_^
Thursday
Some of Thursday's been covered already. Got up, coordinated room change at the front desk due to under-carpet leak in front of the bathroom, and headed out. Wandered Chinatown all morning, met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zalia and the rest of the International Fangirls Room (we'll call them that even though not all of them are girls and they're not all in the same room) in Japantown later in the afternoon, had crepes (yum), browsed Kinokuniya and bought that untranslated volume of some early Minekura work I've never seen before. I was also on the lookout for a Lee plushie to go with my Gaara plushie (the one I slept with on the plane) so he'd have more than just Kakashi for company on my headboard back home. I wasn't able to find a Lee in the same size, but I did find both Lee and Gaara in a smaller size in the video store tucked back in the corner of the mall, and bought both of them. ^_^ Search will continue online for a Lee to go with original Gaara. Because he's lonely and grumpy. And now jealous. See the pic under Friday Pics. ^_^
Bus ride from Japantown to near the BART station, BART to the Caltrain, and Caltrain back to very near the hotel. Adventures in metropolitan mass transit. I lost an earbud rubber. T_T I miss living in a big city, I really do. And I got in enough walking on this trip to make me feel it for days afterward. ^_^; It's a good thing. I weighed in 5 lbs lighter the Sunday after Con than I did the Sunday before. ^_^
Back at the hotel, Inyx and I discovered that no, they hadn't assigned us to another room or set anything aside for us or even made any note about moving us, which is not how we'd left it with the guy we talked to that morning. They went ahead and offered a couple different rooms they had available; Inyx went to inspect them while I went to start packing up the old room. We ended up moving to the fifth floor, paying for 24 hrs of internet, touching base with respective folks back home, ordering pizza, and making the Wednesday/Thursday report seen a few entries back before crashing.
Thursday Pics (Link to previous post)
Friday
Friday was registration day, but registration didn't happen until the afternoon. I understand that stuff like this is generally done on Thursdays for a con weekend, but Y-con seems to be more of a two-day con instead of three. Which sucks for all the people who fly in from all over to attend - feels a little like getting short-changed - but whatever. Inyx and I spent the morning at the Ross across the street, and I actually ended up with a new shirt out of it. Found my size, amazingly enough. ^_^ Back at the hotel, registration number in hand, I spent awhile (as previously mentioned) people-watching new arrivals and admiring cosplay while waiting to be called. This is when I spotted the Gaara cosplayer the first time, accompanied by a Baki - though I was tempted to run squealing across the lobby and plow through the milling crowd and beg a pic right then and there, I restrained myself. ^_^ I did snap a couple of other pics (including a Tenpou who ended up hanging out with us Saturday night and who I've since discovered ism_cyrus_weiss) and just generally absorbed atmosphere while Inyx talked BJD with another person in the lobby who was fiddling with/displaying a lovely unicorn-boy doll. Got called finally; picked up our badges and such (they handed out a book as part of the bag this year, an actual hardback novel that appears to at least have yaoi themes to it. We'll see if it's any good if I actually get around to reading it), and went looking for the panel rooms and dealer rooms and fanmarket room so we'd know where to go early Sat morning for setup. Damned hotel is not entirely unlike a minor labyrinth to the uninitiated. -_-;
Ran into an arrivingjibii somewhere thereafter and accompanied her and merichan to their room, which was not what their group had reserved. Further issues ensued before they were able to reach a solution less than ideal but better than nothing. Apparently a reservation only guarantees you a room, not the room type and/or number of beds reserved. -_- Not terribly impressed with the hotel by this point, layout or location or otherwise.
While Inyx tried to help Joe sort out the room mess, I ended up heading back up to our room to do...something. ^_^; My memory is borked, sorry. Probably drop off the reg crap, check my work email and such. I'm getting a little fuzzy at this point. I know Inyx came up shortly and filled me in on Joe's room situation, and we ended up back down in the lobby at some point thereafter. I had my comp and caught up briefly with LJ while Inyx worked on a small beading project we'd picked up in Chinatown and we worked on a list of mood-theme emoticons she wants to commission Joe to draw for her too. Various people from the International Fangirls Room wandered in and out also, including Gnome in a cosplay that's completely unknown to me but impressive nonetheless. I had the Lee plushie and the camera with me in hopes of seeing Gaara wandering about, but no luck.
After a little while in the lobby I packed back up to the room and started in on my hair with the straight iron. Went pretty well, and I'm actually happier with that Friday-night Tenpou hair than any other time I've tried to pull it off. I discovered that Inyx's Got 2B Glued spray works wonders for getting a little volume underneath, and coupled with a blow dryer it sets quickly enough that the dampness doesn't have time to counteract the straightening job and send my hair back into kinks and ringlets. I also discovered that the spray-and-dryer plus a carefully hidden clip (I'll get bobby pins if I do this again) work utter magic in keeping the one side sleek and in place. Like I said - Friday night turned out to be my best Tenpou hair yet. ^_^
And this is where I take a timeout to say that yes, doing a wig would probably be faster in the prep but so long as I'm willing to keep my hair this short, I think I actually prefer natural hair to a wig. I don't know that I can pin down a reason why - it goes beyond the whole 'Can I justify the expense of a wig when I don't honestly know if I'm going to do this more than once (twice, now, but still)?' thing and my lack of anything resembling experience in wig styling and/or care. Tenpou's hair is pretty tame as far as anime hair goes in style as well as color; I've got that color plus a length and style that can be easily converted to a similar 'feel' and it just...I don't know, the fact that I can 'do' the hair without buying a wig is sort of my justification for doing the rest of the cosplay in the first place. ^_^; Ehh. Anyway.
Inyx showed up while I was working on the hair, and we got her bound and trussed and both of us into cosplay. I made a brief LJ post somewhere in here, and we stopped by Zalia's room (the actual room for which the Int'l Fangirls Rm is named) for pics and such before heading on to the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
pie_industries gathering in Joe's room.
Uhm, let's see. It was a fun night. Lots of lovely people. Joe andthefacelessevil and sadieko and merichan of course were there; there were a pair of fandom lurkers who had showed up first and seemed very nice; I met eyesofshinigami somewhere in here, and priestess_grrrl and turquoise_woman; cho_hakkai_fan (or ensui_fan, since that first name doesn't exist?) showed up as Hakkai with a Gojyo and a Chin Iisou in tow; Cyrus showed up dressed as Hakkai now instead of Tenpou with a Lirin and...I think they had a Sanzo, too, though I could be wrong. lechymonk was there in Tenpou garb too, and there was a Sanzo with huge sparkly gun (and glasses!) whose name escapes me...I lose track. Lots of people, most of whose names I didn't get. ^_^; But a fun time. Emma was a fabulous bartender even though I didn't drink; her Saiyuki character concoctions seemed to be a big hit. The Sanzo with the glasses announced that 'Sanzo approves of the taste of Goku' after trying the Goku drink. ^_^ It was terribly warm in the room with all those bodies packed in, so Inyx ended up stripping out of the Western Army coat ('There will be no complaints if Kenren strips!') before long and...like I say, my memory's fuzzy (I wasn't drinking, honest! ^_^;) but it was a good time. cho_hakkai_fan toted up a Playstation 2 and a Saiyuki game for it, but I don't think anyone managed to get it hooked up to the damned hotel TV so no dice on that front, alas. Inyx ended up inviting people to draw on her at one point, which left her with a penis and an ear of corn on her stomach and a "Tenpou was here" with arrow pointing down on her lower back courtesy of Joe. ^_^ Flirtations with both the Hakkai's in the room left her skull pendant broken again (glompage at Ycon 06 had broken it previously), but Joe had epoxy and repairs happened and pretty much all was well.
I'd been looking forward to 'officially' meetingsoliandxpyne, but they were delayed coming in from LA so I missed them that night. We left the party relatively early-ish in the interest of making an early morning Saturday. It would have been easy to hang out all night.
Friday's Pics:
I noticed Original Gaara Plushie looking decidedly jealous of the other two when I woke up on Friday and had to snap a pic. ^_^
m_cyrus_weiss as Tenpou
Asuma-sensei! He had an Iruka with him later, but we didn't manage to get any pics.
gardensgnome and...uh, one of the other girls (^_^;; bad with sticking the names, so sorry!!) in some impressive videogame-based cosplay. I think.
Best Tenpou hair evah, at least in my own hairstyling experience. ^_^ A wig could probably be done up better under proper guidance, but I like playing with my own hair.
Inyx as Kenren. With mohawk. ^_^;
TJ as Tenpou. ^_^; Not a big fan of pics of me, but I'll put them up anyway.
Rufus of the Int'l Fanpersons as Preventer Heero Yuy.
Cross-fandom crack pair--er. Kenren and Heero...? No, nevermind.
Yay, it's us!
This is...uhm. S'posed to be sexy. ^_^;
nekofreak licks Kenren's sexyboots. Which reminds me, there was a great abundance of sexyboots seen all over the con. Mmmmmmm, sexyboots.
A Sanzo at the PI party first night.
Oh, teh crack. I think I'm the only one who managed to snap this pic. ^_^
For all the Iisou/Hakkai fans out there. I'm not among their number, but I know they exist.
Gojyo contemplates his drink. ^_^
Gojyo toys with his cherry. Pic by Inyx (yeah, I swiped a few of hers to augment my own).
She didn't have to do much besides slouch against the furniture to throw off this very subtle sort of intensely-IC Gojyo vibe. Can't quite explain. If she's got an LJ name, I missed it.
t3h_bunk3y as Goku with another Sanzo.
Cyrus as Hakkai.
The utterly adorable Lirin with Sanzo.
You'd think the idea of two Hakkai's would have Gojyo a little more excited. ^_^
Saturday
Fell out of bed early enough Saturday morning to manage hair repair and cosplay before showing up at the fanmarket for setup at eight. I don't know that our cosplay was at all obvious; it was far too warm for labcoat and Western Army jacket right from the get-go. I rolled back my sleeves and Inyx ended up in civvies before long. She had to go hit various stores in walking distance on short notice looking for racks to build up a display for her button menus; she crossed paths withpriestess_grrrl and turquoise_woman while running around and they were nice enough to pick up breakfast and deliver to us back in the hotel. Thanks again, guys! ^_^ It was yummy and very much appreciated.
Selling buttons is more work than I would have thought. The room was pretty decently cooled, but constant moving and button-punching somehow made it feel terribly warm (another complaint with the hotel: highly ineffective AC, especially in the halls and the small panel rooms. I'm all for non-arctic conditions, but cripes. I shouldn't melt just walking down the hall to the elevator. -_-x). Or maybe it's just me, seeing as how I carry quite a lot of extra insulation with me naturally. ^_^; Even still, though, the straightened hair held up pretty well despite the humidity of sweating underneath it. I actually pony-tailed it somewhere during the day, which gives me the desire all over again to do a uniformed-Tenpou cosplay - but I'm entirely too lazy to actually attempt it, alas. Especially when I'm con-going so very infrequently.
Between the ack-need-display! of setting up and the whole making-sure-TJ's-got-the-hang-of-this necessity and all, Inyx missed the BJD panel she'd wanted to attend Saturday morning, alas. But she made sure I got out for the Saiyuki/Minekura panel, which I really appreciate. ^_^
The panel was fun, if entirely too short, and run byayanoi and...uhm, the woman whose LJ name I don't remember who does the Vegas-Showgirl Hazel cosplay. ^_^; Discussion touched on any number of things, including recent Gaiden events, Wild Adapter, Bus Gamer OVA, the Saiyuki musical, closure of RFB, and then they asked Joe to come up front (in her Koumyou outfit, ee!) and talk about saiyuki_manga for a few minutes, and she announced that Pie Industries was hosting the room party again Saturday night. Raffled off a couple of goodie bags, lined up all the cosplayers for pics, and that was that. Like I said. I could spend three-four hours in a Saiyuki panel, easy. *happy sigh* I was tempted to bring up the 'Is Goujun Jiipu or isn't he?' topic for discussion, but I didn't quite work up the nerve. ^_^; But I did muster the nerve to ask cho_hakkai_fan to pose with a Goku cosplayer's (t3h_bunk3y, I've since learned) Jiipu for that dragon-kissy squee pic I put up previously.
I left the panel a very happy fangirl. ^_^
Back down at the market table, I took over so Inyx could browse the other sellers and hit the dealers' room for a little while. It was kind of fun to watch people's reactions to all the quirky slogan buttons she's got for sale, and the character/pairing buttons. More than one person took friendly issue with the button that labels Rock Lee the 'anti-bishounen', hee. ^_^ Which made for fun little moments of agreement and like-minded fandom conversation with strangers. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Lee is both sexy and adorable in his own unique way.
On the subject of Lee, and by extension Lee and Gaara, I had little pins of both of them on my tie (along with Gojyo and Hakkai) and got ID'd as a LeeGaa fan by one of the button browsers. There was a moment earlier when someone (maybe her, maybe a friend, maybe someone completely unrelated) had mentioned something about LeeGaa while looking at buttons (Inyx had them set up as a demonstration couple for one of her pairing-connector buttons) and prompted a random 'Whoo, Lee-Gaara!' fist-in-the-air from me while in the midst of punching someone else's buttons - I don't know if this was at all related to being pegged as 'the LeeGaara fan' by this girl (rock_lee_554) later on, but anyway. We had a fun couple minutes of discussion that ended with her pimping a fic of hers at me, which I have since searched up and read. She also mentioned the Gaara cosplayer wandering around, who I still hadn't found again by this point (but I had my plushie with me at the table, just in case!) and said she'd intended to cosplay Lee, but her legwarmers weren't done yet. I think I saw her wandering around Sunday as either Gai-sensei or Lee-with-no-hand-bandages, but my memory for faces is not what it should be and I'm not certain it was the same girl. Still. I had a LeeGaa Moment of Fannish Connection, and it was brief but happy-making. ^_^
The Pie Industries table was right across the walkway from us, which made it easy to slip out and grab my copies of Raven and Voyeur, which Joe was sweet enough to sign for me later (April, I'd've got your autograph too if I'd caught you in the fanmarket or thought to bring them along to the party! T_T). ^_^ Not much chance for conversation, though, given the noise-level of the room and the whole busy-with-customers thing at both tables.
I suppose I should mention the corn at some point, too. Corn seems to be a huge in-joke at Y-con (I'm quite sure it's got something to do with the infamous scene in Boku no Sexual Harrassment where the character voiced by Nii's seiyuu is penetrated with an ear of corn), and Inyx found a plastic corncob at a shop in Chinatown that had singing birds and a mushroom that goes up and down inside it when it's opened up. It was only a dollar, so she bought it and kept randomly pulling it out and opening it to get 'WTF??' reactions from customers and people walking by. Joe later immortalized the 'magical fairlyand inside the corn!' on the coversheet of the PopCult guest-and-idea book. ^_^ It's the stupid little shit like this that ultimately makes the whole weekend so much fun, y'know?
Aaaanyway. A little later on I took a turn wandering around the fanmarket and then up to the dealers room, camera and Lee plushie close at hand. Still no Gaara cosplayer, and still no Lee plushie of appropriate size, but I did find a Lee phone strap to match my Gaara one, so I now have an amalgamated LeeGaa phone strap! ^_^ That, oddly enough, was the only thing I bought at con that was not in support of a friend's business efforts.
I think it was somewhere around here that I actually ran intosoliandxpyne along with eyesofshinigami in an elevator in full costume and...well, I sort of squeaked in greeting. I'm so embarrassed. ^_^;; I mean, squee in typewritten conversations is one thing, but it's something else entirely in a verbal exchange. But dammit, they all looked so freaking awesome. So awesome that I didn't even think about whipping out the camera (and really, the elevator is no place for pics anyway). Besides, being in an elevator with fully-decked-out Seiten Taisei and his beautifully scowling Sanzo bride and Homura at the same time is just a wee bit of an intimidating thought. Especially when the cosplay's that awesome. ^_^;
Went back to the table for a little while and had brief conversation with a pair of cosplayers dressed as Ed Elric and Envy. Which is a pairing that I'd probably be more interested in somehow than Roy/Ed, and I'd said so (they were lamenting the lack of an Ed x Envy button in Inyx's display). They wanted to know what my pairing was, and I kind of had to do the 'Ahaha, well, you see, I've never really shipped in FMA!' thing. Which led to 'Well if you did, who?' and I couldn't honestly come up with anything that resonated right off. I mean, Hughes was my favorite character, but the whole married-with-wife-and-kid-he-adores thing makes the slashing a little more tricksy. So I couldn't really give them a good answer, but they were still adorable and fun to talk to and let me take a pic. ^_^ They also cosplay Duo and Heero regularly; I didn't get any pics of that but you can find them on Eurobeat King's gallery.
Lobby wanderings yielded a pic of an adorable Chouji cosplayer, but still no Kazekage-sama. I also ran into Emma in her Fire Nation Katara costume and got a pic - the only pic I got of their group's Avatar costumes. I must check Emma's LJ to see if they've got their photoshoot posted up yet, and keep an eye out for it if not. Also, I'm still on the lookout for other people's pics as they get posted up, because there were so many pics that I missed. Eurobeat King's galleries have helped out a little, but of couse he wasn't at Joe's party either night. ^_^
Anyway. Somwhere probably 'long about 4pm-ish, I got a call that Xpyne and Joe needed to use the microwave for Joe's Zuko-burn-scar makeup, so I met up with them and went up to our room. Turns out the guy who'd told Xpyne to microwave the powder was mistaken; some very...erm, aromatic burnt makeup and a confirming phone call to the shop that sold it later, it was mixed with warm water instead and working perfectly. Which afforded me the unique photo op of Seiten Taisei doing Zuko's makeup. XD It came out fabulously, even made Joe's eye all squinty like a real burn. Xpyne does awesome work.
After all that, I headed back down to the fan market to help Inyx finish up the day and tidy up the table for the evening. When the market closed, we went for dinner and then a soak in the hot-tub, which did wonders for my old aching bones. ^_^; We chatted with a couple of 'normals' there, a mom and her pre-teen son, and another con-goer who'd been dressed as Jiraiya earlier. She told us all about how she and her daughter and her daughter's partner go to various west-coast cons with all sorts of big cosplays and some of the adventures they'd had; all in all it was a pretty cool evening. Saw the three of them Sunday dressed in Avatar cosplay (Iroh, Zuko and Sokka).
Out of the hot tub, we got back into cosplay for the PI party again, which was even more crowded than when we'd been there Friday night. There was a lovely Hazel cosplayer (ryukin_blue, I think), and soliandxpyne, and a lot of the same folks from the night before. I had a drink this time (Emma'd invented a Jiipu cocktail; how could I not??) and then another (hey, it was good!). eyesofshinigami's Homura-chain had broken, so SluttyKenren Inyx got the idea in her head to carefully fashion it into a proper leash and much photo-oping occurred thereafter, with just about every pairing possible in the room. So many utterly photogenic people. Twas awesome. My camera, however, was made of dying batteries and accidental wrong settings, so I have exactly one pic from all that. As I said, I'm on the lookout for others.
Kenren's skull pendant broke again, in a different place, and again Joe's epoxy came to the rescue. Right about then, though, was when hotel security showed up to shut us down. Boo, hotel security. Apparently they were making an evening of it (and really, who wants to Con at a hotel that frowns on the room partying??) Cyrus and a friend had also just showed up, because Inyx had found her earlier and arranged to get together to do some uniformed 10K pics. With the party shut down, we and she and her friend ended up heading for our room along withpriestess_grrrl and turquoise_woman. More liquor was consumed by everyone else, and a rather drunken 10K photoshoot ensued, all over the room and even into the shower. New batteries and properly adjusted settings mean that I got in on the shooting. A couple of the shots are even pretty good. ^_^
At midnight, we all cleared out to head down to the dance. Which had not yet started at quarter past the designated time. By then, fatigue was starting to catch up and Inyx and I decided to hell with it, let's just go to bed.
Saturday's Pics:
Inyx and Cyrus, early in the day. Mmm, Western Army uniforms... *_*
That 'sexy' cigarette thing again.
Tenpou's plotty expression has me worried. ^_^
Naruto and Sasuke, circa Shippuden.
t3h_bunk3y as Goku. With Jiipu.
jiibi talks saiyuki_manga at the Saiyuki/Minekura panel in her Koumyou cosplay.
Cosplay group at the panel. I'm the Tenpou on the right, next to Joe-as-Koumyou. The Hakkai next to me ischo_hakkai_fan; Goku with Jiipu is t3h_bunk3y; lechymonk is the Tenpou on the left, and I don't have names for anyone else.
Dragon squee! *^_^* *happy fangirl glow*
Eee, Chouji! ^_^
merichan as Katara
Seiten Taisei does Zuko's makeup.
Ed x Envy. They were awfully cute.
From Inyx's camera. You look lovely, Joe. Absolutely lovely.
My only shot of the Fun With Chains session. Xpyne andeyesofshinigami; Solitaire of course is the one holding the gun. ^_^
I borrowed Inyx's camera to take advantage ofsoliandxpyne's posing session out in the hall.
Shirtless Kenren carries Tenpou away. ^_^ Cyrus' friend-in-FF-something-or-other cosplay in the background.
Randomly, a Jin cosplayer who'd wandered by just before we got shut down. Friend-of-a-friend of the PI group, I think. From Inyx's cam.
Linked 'cause I didn't resize these
Awwww. This one's too cute not topost link. Near the end of the drunken 10K photoshoot.
If you're truly interested in seeing the rest of it, go here. ^_^;;
Sunday
Sunday morning I washed out the Tenpou hair and let it all go back to curly and dressed in plainclothes. Cosplay is fun, but I'd need more than the one outfit (and maybe something lighter, with fewer layers?) if I want to do more than a single day's worth of it.
We went for breakfast, since the fanmarket opened later than on Saturday, and then headed back to man the table.
The day was pretty much the same, taking turns behind the table with wanderings in between. No panels or anything that either of us was really wanting to attend. More random chatting with browsing fen. There was Ino and Sasuke, Neji and...crap, I forget who Neji was with but I didn't get pics anyway, a couple Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy groups (that's my best guess, at least, as I don't know either fandom worth beans ^_^;), and various plainclothes folks as well. A fun time, most especially in the sense of just being in my element, so to speak; I made more tentative social and small-talk efforts behind the table than I think I have all year back out in RL. ^_^; It's amazing what that sense of belonging can do for a person. Or for me, anyway.
Soooo anyway. Still on the lookout for the Gaara cosplayer, because I'd decided that I was going to get that LeeGaa pic and repidation-over-requesting-more-than-just-a-simple-photo be damned if I ran into her. Inyx crossed her path upstairs in some of her wanderings and snapped a couple pics for me, which I've also posted up below. I went wandering the rooms upstairs myself late in the afternoon, plushie hooked to my belt, still hopeful, and finally spotted a distinctive red head way up near the front of a panel that was just about to begin. So me and my plushie slipped into a seat in the empty back rows to wait.
Turns out, I'd happened into the yaoi positions panel, wherein audience volunteers earn points toward prizes by demonstrating various sexual positions inspired by the Kama Sutra. It was...somewhat amusing, a little bit eyeroll-inducing with the inevitible seme/uke cliches, but overall not bad. Might have been more fun up near the stage and better able to see. It was run by a couple of Naruto fans and full of a bunch more. The roar when a Kakashi cosplayer volunteered for position demonstration was quite deafening. ^_^
And here's where I pause to say that this Kakashi cosplayer (and the friend he volunteered with) was actually male, which only fueled the roar, and that there were a lot more guys running around the con this year than when I came in '06. Which I think is pretty cool. In fact, there was a guy in the panel also who called in to some friend's internet radio show or something and announced that he was at Yaoi-con, 'where you can grope your friends and not be gay!' or thereabouts. Which, all in all, is a sentiment more positive than not. ^_^
Sooo. Sat through the whole panel, kept an eye on Gaara to ensure she didn't slip out unnoticed, and waited. When the hour was up, I bucked up my nerve, made my way through the slowly out-going crowd, and asked Gaara if I could snap a pic. She kindly posed for me, and then I asked if she'd be willing to pose with my Lee plushie; she took it and gave the most awesome silent 'Awwww' look, and then went ahead and posed and let me take my pic. ^_^ A couple other people were gathering to take advantage of the pic moment, and then somebody spotted a Lee cosplayer and dragged him over, and I got a shot of the both of them that's utter IC awesomeness before everyone got shooed out rather roughly in the interest of letting the next panel start.
And once again, I returned to the table a very happy fangirl. ^_^
The market closed shortly thereafter and we packed everything away and carted it back up to the room. Hooked up internet to confirm flight info and such and unwound a bit; I chatted on yahoo with the boys back home and Inyx started packing up all her equipment in prep for flight out Monday morning. I joined in with my own packing after the chat. Little bit of a downer, that, as it makes the whole con-winding-down thing a reality. But it did involve some creative thinking and a trip down to the fitness room to weigh Inyx's bags against airline limits. The halls were much quieter than they had been all evening, and most of the few people seen were 'normals'. Which, again, just emphasizes how con is coming to an end. As all things must.
Plans had been made for another round of 'fangirl soup' with Zalia et all in the hottub that evening; after the packing-and-weighing adventures we made our way to their room in time to get in on the ordering-out-for-Chinese. Went hot-tubbing while waiting for delivery, which was again very good for tired bodies and rather calming to the soul, even if I would prefer the water a bit cooler personally. ^_^; Zalia and I talked Gaiden and I still owe her a few fic rec links. Haven't forgotten, Zalia. ^_^ Or Inyx, either, as I know you'd asked me to rec you some LeeGaa stuff at some point as well. Both of you, be looking for a rec post sometime in the near future.
When the food came, we all got out and got dried and got back up to the room to eat. Best damn beef and brocolli I've ever had, I swear. Don't know if it's entirely just context and atmosphere or if it's due to better local flavor or a combination of both, but I wish I could get Chinese that exquisitely savory up here. That was some seriously good food.
Damn. Making myself hungry.
Anyway. Several of the girls had not had the chance to stop by the fanmarket table and get the buttons they'd wanted from Inyx, so she fetched her menus and took orders and then we went back to the room, unpacked enough equipment to punch them all out, delivered them, did all the hugs and goodbyes, and went back to crash.
Sunday's Pics:
Ino and Sasuke
Solitaire and Xpyne again, in the fanmarket this time, because of the utter cosplay awesomeness. And because the ones I took on Inyx's camera the night before came out a bit yellow and fuzzy. ^_^;
Meanwhile, Inyx ran into Gaara upstairs...
Once upon a time not so very long ago, Wind Country was plagued by droves of paparazzi. Tabloids were offering huge sums to anyone who could snap a shot of the infamous Sabaku no Gaara, now Kazekage of Sunagakure, you see, and there were a great many fools who thought to make their fortune and a name for themselves thusly. But Gaara, being a highly temperamental individual with no patience for fools and idiots, and also being utterly dedicated to the peace and protection of his village, had no qualms whatsoever about employing his deadly signature jutsu against any and all who crossed his borders with such intent. The ranks of fortune hunters thinned sharply in alarmingly short order and the tabloids never did get their coveted photos; to this day, any paparazzo worth his salt still gives Suna a very wide berth indeed...
Thank you, Inyx-sama, for risking life limb and death-by-sand to bring me this pic. XD
Mmm, gourd.
And then I tracked down Gaara myself later...
Hallo, Kazekage-sama! *_*
^____^ The pic I spent all weekend trying to get.
I ♥ this pic. So hard. Just look at Lee's smirk and Gaara's little smile, all for each other, and the way they're subtly leaning into each other and the total awesomeness and and and-- *flails* Awwww. ^_^ *adores*
Monday
Monday morning saw the packing completed, Inyx's shuttle to Oakland called, the room bill settled, and an apple snagged for breakfast. SKies were gloomy and overcast outside, which suited my mood at least; saw Inyx off and went back up to the room to gather my bags and check out. Except I got on the internet instead (since it was still under our paid time from the night before) and browsed LJ, read preliminary con reportings, and posted three squee-pics to stave off the post-con blues. Eventually packed it in and checked out and went outside to wait for the SFO shuttle.
At the airport, turns out all kinds of flight delays were going on; they put me on an earlier flight (which ended up leaving half an hour after my originally scheduled flight anyway) so as to make my connection in Seattle. I ended up in the over-wing exit row, first time ever, and was mightily pleased with the additional legroom. I may have to keep that in mind for any future flights.
Arrived in Seattle without incident, had lunch, and spent the layover resizing con pics on the laptop since there doesn't seem to be free internet in SeaTac either (ANC might be the only airport I've found so far with free wireless access). Left for Anchorage on time, near the back of the plane, surrounded by cranky kids. Joy.
I'll take another aside, here, to mention something that's been in the back of my mind since the beginning of August. Normally when I fly into Anchorage, it's a flight from Seattle (just like this last time) and it's primarily populated by business travelers and local folk who live in Alaska and regularly make the flight between home and Seattle (i.e., people who've ceased to be impressed by the novelty of flying to AK). The time before this, though, when I was flying back from the NC business trip, I had a direct flight from Atlanta to Anchorage. Now 7 hours is a hell of a long time to be sitting in an airline seat, oh yes, but it could have been much worse. And I noticed something, somewhere in those seven hours, that the atmosphere on the plane was somewhat different than the 'ho-hum' that's usually in the air on flights home. Coming from the east coast, most of the people on the plane were not AK locals but people heading to the Fabled Arctic Wilderness of Alaska! *_* for vacation or somesuch. There was a retired couple who were talking excitedly about finally embarking on a lifelong dream; there was a family with three or four kids who were all excited and carrying on about all the thingts they were going to do nd see and how the cold weather was going to feel so good. It was a perspective I tend to overlook simply because I live here and there's very little charm left, in my eyes; it was nice to overhear a less jaded attitude toward Anchorage. There was palpable excitement in the air as we flew over Juneau, up the coast, closer to touchdown. A lot of positive energy, I guess.
And I could use a bit of that on a post-con flight, really. Plane full of cranky kids and the usual unimpressed SEA-ANC travelers doesn't do much to dispel the pesky post-con blues. Thankfully, though, the slump was more effectively recognized and dealt with and cycled through this time than last. By now, that whole OMG-I-Belong-Here! sort of glow and the fun of San Francisco feel worlds away, but there will of course be other cons and experiences in the future. The fact that I'm still working on the con report weeks later (instead of trying to rush it out immediately to the detriment of RL relationships) sort of helps reinforce the reality of having gone. I realize it sounds a little silly to be talking about con like it's some sort of grand dream, but...well, at the risk of sounding really really lame, it kind of is. To go from dreary autumn weather to glorious end-of-summer sunshine and then back to winter and early snows; to go from everyday this-is-life reality to no career-work or back-to-school prep or daily family duties, to hotel-living and geeking it up with fellow otaku and then back again to the everyday routine - it's a vacation that does so much good for the soul, and it does tend to feel a little unreal in hindsight. ^_^;;
Anyway. No pics for Monday. If you like browsing cosplay pics, though, I'd definitely say go check out Eurobeat King's gallery. There were a lot of good costumes, a lot of fandoms represented, and a lot of pics I just plain didn't get. Like Cobra Commander - I saw him several times over the weekend, and Inyx and I tried to flag him down for a pic at least once, but he either didn't hear or didn't want to be bothered. And as it turns out, he had a whole little COBRA contingent with him that I never saw, but finding the pics induced a little flail of delight that goes all the way back to my gradeschool days watching GI Joe blossom into a hit cartoon show in the after-school hours of the mid-eighties. Ahh, nostalgia. And dedicated cosplay to indulge it. ^_^
Cobra Commander and the Crimson Twins
Joined by The Baroness
There was a Wii remote cosplay, lots of Naruto cosplay, plenty of Saiyuki cosplay; I saw Link wandering around at some point; there was even a Dr. Girlfriend cosplay (if you've never caught CN's Venture Brothers, then nevermind), an impressive Ed Elric complete with automail arm and leg, Macross Frontier, Deathnote, and all kinds of other stuff that I either don't recognize or that's slipped my mind at the moment. If that's your thing and you've got the time, go take a look.
http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/128560/
So anyway. In closing, it was a Very Good Time and a lot of awesome people to meet and/or see again. Lots of fun to be had, good for me socially and mentally, and I hope to do it again in another couple years. Or perhaps in another few years - if I'm saving for travel, it really would be nice to take AJ and make a visit back home to AZ again, and a family vacation is overdue (we're thinking SoCal and SeaWorld), and the husband and I would like to take a trip without the kid (Mardi Gras?), so... *shrug* We'll see what works out.
So. There's my report. At last. ^_^
Uhm...where to start.
Con was a lot of fun, various points of suckiness aside. It's not much as far as cons go from what I can see, but the sense of cameraderie and the people one meets and hangs out with make up for most of that. I can't really convey the sense of...of pride, I guess is the closest word, in seeing the halls and common areas bursting with all manner of geeks, cosplayers, fen and otaku of every ilk. It's a wonderful thing. ^_^
Thursday
Some of Thursday's been covered already. Got up, coordinated room change at the front desk due to under-carpet leak in front of the bathroom, and headed out. Wandered Chinatown all morning, met up with
zalia and the rest of the International Fangirls Room (we'll call them that even though not all of them are girls and they're not all in the same room) in Japantown later in the afternoon, had crepes (yum), browsed Kinokuniya and bought that untranslated volume of some early Minekura work I've never seen before. I was also on the lookout for a Lee plushie to go with my Gaara plushie (the one I slept with on the plane) so he'd have more than just Kakashi for company on my headboard back home. I wasn't able to find a Lee in the same size, but I did find both Lee and Gaara in a smaller size in the video store tucked back in the corner of the mall, and bought both of them. ^_^ Search will continue online for a Lee to go with original Gaara. Because he's lonely and grumpy. And now jealous. See the pic under Friday Pics. ^_^Bus ride from Japantown to near the BART station, BART to the Caltrain, and Caltrain back to very near the hotel. Adventures in metropolitan mass transit. I lost an earbud rubber. T_T I miss living in a big city, I really do. And I got in enough walking on this trip to make me feel it for days afterward. ^_^; It's a good thing. I weighed in 5 lbs lighter the Sunday after Con than I did the Sunday before. ^_^
Back at the hotel, Inyx and I discovered that no, they hadn't assigned us to another room or set anything aside for us or even made any note about moving us, which is not how we'd left it with the guy we talked to that morning. They went ahead and offered a couple different rooms they had available; Inyx went to inspect them while I went to start packing up the old room. We ended up moving to the fifth floor, paying for 24 hrs of internet, touching base with respective folks back home, ordering pizza, and making the Wednesday/Thursday report seen a few entries back before crashing.
Thursday Pics (Link to previous post)
Friday
Friday was registration day, but registration didn't happen until the afternoon. I understand that stuff like this is generally done on Thursdays for a con weekend, but Y-con seems to be more of a two-day con instead of three. Which sucks for all the people who fly in from all over to attend - feels a little like getting short-changed - but whatever. Inyx and I spent the morning at the Ross across the street, and I actually ended up with a new shirt out of it. Found my size, amazingly enough. ^_^ Back at the hotel, registration number in hand, I spent awhile (as previously mentioned) people-watching new arrivals and admiring cosplay while waiting to be called. This is when I spotted the Gaara cosplayer the first time, accompanied by a Baki - though I was tempted to run squealing across the lobby and plow through the milling crowd and beg a pic right then and there, I restrained myself. ^_^ I did snap a couple of other pics (including a Tenpou who ended up hanging out with us Saturday night and who I've since discovered is
m_cyrus_weiss) and just generally absorbed atmosphere while Inyx talked BJD with another person in the lobby who was fiddling with/displaying a lovely unicorn-boy doll. Got called finally; picked up our badges and such (they handed out a book as part of the bag this year, an actual hardback novel that appears to at least have yaoi themes to it. We'll see if it's any good if I actually get around to reading it), and went looking for the panel rooms and dealer rooms and fanmarket room so we'd know where to go early Sat morning for setup. Damned hotel is not entirely unlike a minor labyrinth to the uninitiated. -_-; Ran into an arriving
jibii somewhere thereafter and accompanied her and merichan to their room, which was not what their group had reserved. Further issues ensued before they were able to reach a solution less than ideal but better than nothing. Apparently a reservation only guarantees you a room, not the room type and/or number of beds reserved. -_- Not terribly impressed with the hotel by this point, layout or location or otherwise. While Inyx tried to help Joe sort out the room mess, I ended up heading back up to our room to do...something. ^_^; My memory is borked, sorry. Probably drop off the reg crap, check my work email and such. I'm getting a little fuzzy at this point. I know Inyx came up shortly and filled me in on Joe's room situation, and we ended up back down in the lobby at some point thereafter. I had my comp and caught up briefly with LJ while Inyx worked on a small beading project we'd picked up in Chinatown and we worked on a list of mood-theme emoticons she wants to commission Joe to draw for her too. Various people from the International Fangirls Room wandered in and out also, including Gnome in a cosplay that's completely unknown to me but impressive nonetheless. I had the Lee plushie and the camera with me in hopes of seeing Gaara wandering about, but no luck.
After a little while in the lobby I packed back up to the room and started in on my hair with the straight iron. Went pretty well, and I'm actually happier with that Friday-night Tenpou hair than any other time I've tried to pull it off. I discovered that Inyx's Got 2B Glued spray works wonders for getting a little volume underneath, and coupled with a blow dryer it sets quickly enough that the dampness doesn't have time to counteract the straightening job and send my hair back into kinks and ringlets. I also discovered that the spray-and-dryer plus a carefully hidden clip (I'll get bobby pins if I do this again) work utter magic in keeping the one side sleek and in place. Like I said - Friday night turned out to be my best Tenpou hair yet. ^_^
And this is where I take a timeout to say that yes, doing a wig would probably be faster in the prep but so long as I'm willing to keep my hair this short, I think I actually prefer natural hair to a wig. I don't know that I can pin down a reason why - it goes beyond the whole 'Can I justify the expense of a wig when I don't honestly know if I'm going to do this more than once (twice, now, but still)?' thing and my lack of anything resembling experience in wig styling and/or care. Tenpou's hair is pretty tame as far as anime hair goes in style as well as color; I've got that color plus a length and style that can be easily converted to a similar 'feel' and it just...I don't know, the fact that I can 'do' the hair without buying a wig is sort of my justification for doing the rest of the cosplay in the first place. ^_^; Ehh. Anyway.
Inyx showed up while I was working on the hair, and we got her bound and trussed and both of us into cosplay. I made a brief LJ post somewhere in here, and we stopped by Zalia's room (the actual room for which the Int'l Fangirls Rm is named) for pics and such before heading on to the
pie_industries gathering in Joe's room.Uhm, let's see. It was a fun night. Lots of lovely people. Joe and
thefacelessevil and sadieko and merichan of course were there; there were a pair of fandom lurkers who had showed up first and seemed very nice; I met eyesofshinigami somewhere in here, and priestess_grrrl and turquoise_woman; cho_hakkai_fan (or ensui_fan, since that first name doesn't exist?) showed up as Hakkai with a Gojyo and a Chin Iisou in tow; Cyrus showed up dressed as Hakkai now instead of Tenpou with a Lirin and...I think they had a Sanzo, too, though I could be wrong. lechymonk was there in Tenpou garb too, and there was a Sanzo with huge sparkly gun (and glasses!) whose name escapes me...I lose track. Lots of people, most of whose names I didn't get. ^_^; But a fun time. Emma was a fabulous bartender even though I didn't drink; her Saiyuki character concoctions seemed to be a big hit. The Sanzo with the glasses announced that 'Sanzo approves of the taste of Goku' after trying the Goku drink. ^_^ It was terribly warm in the room with all those bodies packed in, so Inyx ended up stripping out of the Western Army coat ('There will be no complaints if Kenren strips!') before long and...like I say, my memory's fuzzy (I wasn't drinking, honest! ^_^;) but it was a good time. cho_hakkai_fan toted up a Playstation 2 and a Saiyuki game for it, but I don't think anyone managed to get it hooked up to the damned hotel TV so no dice on that front, alas. Inyx ended up inviting people to draw on her at one point, which left her with a penis and an ear of corn on her stomach and a "Tenpou was here" with arrow pointing down on her lower back courtesy of Joe. ^_^ Flirtations with both the Hakkai's in the room left her skull pendant broken again (glompage at Ycon 06 had broken it previously), but Joe had epoxy and repairs happened and pretty much all was well. I'd been looking forward to 'officially' meeting
soliandxpyne, but they were delayed coming in from LA so I missed them that night. We left the party relatively early-ish in the interest of making an early morning Saturday. It would have been easy to hang out all night.Friday's Pics:
I noticed Original Gaara Plushie looking decidedly jealous of the other two when I woke up on Friday and had to snap a pic. ^_^
m_cyrus_weiss as TenpouAsuma-sensei! He had an Iruka with him later, but we didn't manage to get any pics.
gardensgnome and...uh, one of the other girls (^_^;; bad with sticking the names, so sorry!!) in some impressive videogame-based cosplay. I think.Best Tenpou hair evah, at least in my own hairstyling experience. ^_^ A wig could probably be done up better under proper guidance, but I like playing with my own hair.
Inyx as Kenren. With mohawk. ^_^;
TJ as Tenpou. ^_^; Not a big fan of pics of me, but I'll put them up anyway.
Rufus of the Int'l Fanpersons as Preventer Heero Yuy.
Cross-fandom crack pair--er. Kenren and Heero...? No, nevermind.
Yay, it's us!
This is...uhm. S'posed to be sexy. ^_^;
nekofreak licks Kenren's sexyboots. Which reminds me, there was a great abundance of sexyboots seen all over the con. Mmmmmmm, sexyboots.A Sanzo at the PI party first night.
Oh, teh crack. I think I'm the only one who managed to snap this pic. ^_^
For all the Iisou/Hakkai fans out there. I'm not among their number, but I know they exist.
Gojyo contemplates his drink. ^_^
Gojyo toys with his cherry. Pic by Inyx (yeah, I swiped a few of hers to augment my own).
She didn't have to do much besides slouch against the furniture to throw off this very subtle sort of intensely-IC Gojyo vibe. Can't quite explain. If she's got an LJ name, I missed it.
t3h_bunk3y as Goku with another Sanzo.Cyrus as Hakkai.
The utterly adorable Lirin with Sanzo.
You'd think the idea of two Hakkai's would have Gojyo a little more excited. ^_^
Saturday
Fell out of bed early enough Saturday morning to manage hair repair and cosplay before showing up at the fanmarket for setup at eight. I don't know that our cosplay was at all obvious; it was far too warm for labcoat and Western Army jacket right from the get-go. I rolled back my sleeves and Inyx ended up in civvies before long. She had to go hit various stores in walking distance on short notice looking for racks to build up a display for her button menus; she crossed paths with
priestess_grrrl and turquoise_woman while running around and they were nice enough to pick up breakfast and deliver to us back in the hotel. Thanks again, guys! ^_^ It was yummy and very much appreciated.Selling buttons is more work than I would have thought. The room was pretty decently cooled, but constant moving and button-punching somehow made it feel terribly warm (another complaint with the hotel: highly ineffective AC, especially in the halls and the small panel rooms. I'm all for non-arctic conditions, but cripes. I shouldn't melt just walking down the hall to the elevator. -_-x). Or maybe it's just me, seeing as how I carry quite a lot of extra insulation with me naturally. ^_^; Even still, though, the straightened hair held up pretty well despite the humidity of sweating underneath it. I actually pony-tailed it somewhere during the day, which gives me the desire all over again to do a uniformed-Tenpou cosplay - but I'm entirely too lazy to actually attempt it, alas. Especially when I'm con-going so very infrequently.
Between the ack-need-display! of setting up and the whole making-sure-TJ's-got-the-hang-of-this necessity and all, Inyx missed the BJD panel she'd wanted to attend Saturday morning, alas. But she made sure I got out for the Saiyuki/Minekura panel, which I really appreciate. ^_^
The panel was fun, if entirely too short, and run by
ayanoi and...uhm, the woman whose LJ name I don't remember who does the Vegas-Showgirl Hazel cosplay. ^_^; Discussion touched on any number of things, including recent Gaiden events, Wild Adapter, Bus Gamer OVA, the Saiyuki musical, closure of RFB, and then they asked Joe to come up front (in her Koumyou outfit, ee!) and talk about saiyuki_manga for a few minutes, and she announced that Pie Industries was hosting the room party again Saturday night. Raffled off a couple of goodie bags, lined up all the cosplayers for pics, and that was that. Like I said. I could spend three-four hours in a Saiyuki panel, easy. *happy sigh* I was tempted to bring up the 'Is Goujun Jiipu or isn't he?' topic for discussion, but I didn't quite work up the nerve. ^_^; But I did muster the nerve to ask cho_hakkai_fan to pose with a Goku cosplayer's (t3h_bunk3y, I've since learned) Jiipu for that dragon-kissy squee pic I put up previously.I left the panel a very happy fangirl. ^_^
Back down at the market table, I took over so Inyx could browse the other sellers and hit the dealers' room for a little while. It was kind of fun to watch people's reactions to all the quirky slogan buttons she's got for sale, and the character/pairing buttons. More than one person took friendly issue with the button that labels Rock Lee the 'anti-bishounen', hee. ^_^ Which made for fun little moments of agreement and like-minded fandom conversation with strangers. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Lee is both sexy and adorable in his own unique way.
On the subject of Lee, and by extension Lee and Gaara, I had little pins of both of them on my tie (along with Gojyo and Hakkai) and got ID'd as a LeeGaa fan by one of the button browsers. There was a moment earlier when someone (maybe her, maybe a friend, maybe someone completely unrelated) had mentioned something about LeeGaa while looking at buttons (Inyx had them set up as a demonstration couple for one of her pairing-connector buttons) and prompted a random 'Whoo, Lee-Gaara!' fist-in-the-air from me while in the midst of punching someone else's buttons - I don't know if this was at all related to being pegged as 'the LeeGaara fan' by this girl (
rock_lee_554) later on, but anyway. We had a fun couple minutes of discussion that ended with her pimping a fic of hers at me, which I have since searched up and read. She also mentioned the Gaara cosplayer wandering around, who I still hadn't found again by this point (but I had my plushie with me at the table, just in case!) and said she'd intended to cosplay Lee, but her legwarmers weren't done yet. I think I saw her wandering around Sunday as either Gai-sensei or Lee-with-no-hand-bandages, but my memory for faces is not what it should be and I'm not certain it was the same girl. Still. I had a LeeGaa Moment of Fannish Connection, and it was brief but happy-making. ^_^The Pie Industries table was right across the walkway from us, which made it easy to slip out and grab my copies of Raven and Voyeur, which Joe was sweet enough to sign for me later (April, I'd've got your autograph too if I'd caught you in the fanmarket or thought to bring them along to the party! T_T). ^_^ Not much chance for conversation, though, given the noise-level of the room and the whole busy-with-customers thing at both tables.
I suppose I should mention the corn at some point, too. Corn seems to be a huge in-joke at Y-con (I'm quite sure it's got something to do with the infamous scene in Boku no Sexual Harrassment where the character voiced by Nii's seiyuu is penetrated with an ear of corn), and Inyx found a plastic corncob at a shop in Chinatown that had singing birds and a mushroom that goes up and down inside it when it's opened up. It was only a dollar, so she bought it and kept randomly pulling it out and opening it to get 'WTF??' reactions from customers and people walking by. Joe later immortalized the 'magical fairlyand inside the corn!' on the coversheet of the PopCult guest-and-idea book. ^_^ It's the stupid little shit like this that ultimately makes the whole weekend so much fun, y'know?
Aaaanyway. A little later on I took a turn wandering around the fanmarket and then up to the dealers room, camera and Lee plushie close at hand. Still no Gaara cosplayer, and still no Lee plushie of appropriate size, but I did find a Lee phone strap to match my Gaara one, so I now have an amalgamated LeeGaa phone strap! ^_^ That, oddly enough, was the only thing I bought at con that was not in support of a friend's business efforts.
I think it was somewhere around here that I actually ran into
soliandxpyne along with eyesofshinigami in an elevator in full costume and...well, I sort of squeaked in greeting. I'm so embarrassed. ^_^;; I mean, squee in typewritten conversations is one thing, but it's something else entirely in a verbal exchange. But dammit, they all looked so freaking awesome. So awesome that I didn't even think about whipping out the camera (and really, the elevator is no place for pics anyway). Besides, being in an elevator with fully-decked-out Seiten Taisei and his beautifully scowling Sanzo bride and Homura at the same time is just a wee bit of an intimidating thought. Especially when the cosplay's that awesome. ^_^; Went back to the table for a little while and had brief conversation with a pair of cosplayers dressed as Ed Elric and Envy. Which is a pairing that I'd probably be more interested in somehow than Roy/Ed, and I'd said so (they were lamenting the lack of an Ed x Envy button in Inyx's display). They wanted to know what my pairing was, and I kind of had to do the 'Ahaha, well, you see, I've never really shipped in FMA!' thing. Which led to 'Well if you did, who?' and I couldn't honestly come up with anything that resonated right off. I mean, Hughes was my favorite character, but the whole married-with-wife-and-kid-he-adores thing makes the slashing a little more tricksy. So I couldn't really give them a good answer, but they were still adorable and fun to talk to and let me take a pic. ^_^ They also cosplay Duo and Heero regularly; I didn't get any pics of that but you can find them on Eurobeat King's gallery.
Lobby wanderings yielded a pic of an adorable Chouji cosplayer, but still no Kazekage-sama. I also ran into Emma in her Fire Nation Katara costume and got a pic - the only pic I got of their group's Avatar costumes. I must check Emma's LJ to see if they've got their photoshoot posted up yet, and keep an eye out for it if not. Also, I'm still on the lookout for other people's pics as they get posted up, because there were so many pics that I missed. Eurobeat King's galleries have helped out a little, but of couse he wasn't at Joe's party either night. ^_^
Anyway. Somwhere probably 'long about 4pm-ish, I got a call that Xpyne and Joe needed to use the microwave for Joe's Zuko-burn-scar makeup, so I met up with them and went up to our room. Turns out the guy who'd told Xpyne to microwave the powder was mistaken; some very...erm, aromatic burnt makeup and a confirming phone call to the shop that sold it later, it was mixed with warm water instead and working perfectly. Which afforded me the unique photo op of Seiten Taisei doing Zuko's makeup. XD It came out fabulously, even made Joe's eye all squinty like a real burn. Xpyne does awesome work.
After all that, I headed back down to the fan market to help Inyx finish up the day and tidy up the table for the evening. When the market closed, we went for dinner and then a soak in the hot-tub, which did wonders for my old aching bones. ^_^; We chatted with a couple of 'normals' there, a mom and her pre-teen son, and another con-goer who'd been dressed as Jiraiya earlier. She told us all about how she and her daughter and her daughter's partner go to various west-coast cons with all sorts of big cosplays and some of the adventures they'd had; all in all it was a pretty cool evening. Saw the three of them Sunday dressed in Avatar cosplay (Iroh, Zuko and Sokka).
Out of the hot tub, we got back into cosplay for the PI party again, which was even more crowded than when we'd been there Friday night. There was a lovely Hazel cosplayer (
ryukin_blue, I think), and soliandxpyne, and a lot of the same folks from the night before. I had a drink this time (Emma'd invented a Jiipu cocktail; how could I not??) and then another (hey, it was good!). eyesofshinigami's Homura-chain had broken, so Kenren's skull pendant broke again, in a different place, and again Joe's epoxy came to the rescue. Right about then, though, was when hotel security showed up to shut us down. Boo, hotel security. Apparently they were making an evening of it (and really, who wants to Con at a hotel that frowns on the room partying??) Cyrus and a friend had also just showed up, because Inyx had found her earlier and arranged to get together to do some uniformed 10K pics. With the party shut down, we and she and her friend ended up heading for our room along with
priestess_grrrl and turquoise_woman. More liquor was consumed by everyone else, and a rather drunken 10K photoshoot ensued, all over the room and even into the shower. New batteries and properly adjusted settings mean that I got in on the shooting. A couple of the shots are even pretty good. ^_^ At midnight, we all cleared out to head down to the dance. Which had not yet started at quarter past the designated time. By then, fatigue was starting to catch up and Inyx and I decided to hell with it, let's just go to bed.
Saturday's Pics:
Inyx and Cyrus, early in the day. Mmm, Western Army uniforms... *_*
That 'sexy' cigarette thing again.
Tenpou's plotty expression has me worried. ^_^
Naruto and Sasuke, circa Shippuden.
t3h_bunk3y as Goku. With Jiipu.jiibi talks saiyuki_manga at the Saiyuki/Minekura panel in her Koumyou cosplay.Cosplay group at the panel. I'm the Tenpou on the right, next to Joe-as-Koumyou. The Hakkai next to me is
cho_hakkai_fan; Goku with Jiipu is t3h_bunk3y; lechymonk is the Tenpou on the left, and I don't have names for anyone else.Dragon squee! *^_^* *happy fangirl glow*
Eee, Chouji! ^_^
merichan as KataraSeiten Taisei does Zuko's makeup.
Ed x Envy. They were awfully cute.
From Inyx's camera. You look lovely, Joe. Absolutely lovely.
My only shot of the Fun With Chains session. Xpyne and
eyesofshinigami; Solitaire of course is the one holding the gun. ^_^I borrowed Inyx's camera to take advantage of
soliandxpyne's posing session out in the hall.Shirtless Kenren carries Tenpou away. ^_^ Cyrus' friend-in-FF-something-or-other cosplay in the background.
Randomly, a Jin cosplayer who'd wandered by just before we got shut down. Friend-of-a-friend of the PI group, I think. From Inyx's cam.
Linked 'cause I didn't resize these
Awwww. This one's too cute not to
If you're truly interested in seeing the rest of it, go here. ^_^;;
Sunday
Sunday morning I washed out the Tenpou hair and let it all go back to curly and dressed in plainclothes. Cosplay is fun, but I'd need more than the one outfit (and maybe something lighter, with fewer layers?) if I want to do more than a single day's worth of it.
We went for breakfast, since the fanmarket opened later than on Saturday, and then headed back to man the table.
The day was pretty much the same, taking turns behind the table with wanderings in between. No panels or anything that either of us was really wanting to attend. More random chatting with browsing fen. There was Ino and Sasuke, Neji and...crap, I forget who Neji was with but I didn't get pics anyway, a couple Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy groups (that's my best guess, at least, as I don't know either fandom worth beans ^_^;), and various plainclothes folks as well. A fun time, most especially in the sense of just being in my element, so to speak; I made more tentative social and small-talk efforts behind the table than I think I have all year back out in RL. ^_^; It's amazing what that sense of belonging can do for a person. Or for me, anyway.
Soooo anyway. Still on the lookout for the Gaara cosplayer, because I'd decided that I was going to get that LeeGaa pic and repidation-over-requesting-more-than-just-a-simple-photo be damned if I ran into her. Inyx crossed her path upstairs in some of her wanderings and snapped a couple pics for me, which I've also posted up below. I went wandering the rooms upstairs myself late in the afternoon, plushie hooked to my belt, still hopeful, and finally spotted a distinctive red head way up near the front of a panel that was just about to begin. So me and my plushie slipped into a seat in the empty back rows to wait.
Turns out, I'd happened into the yaoi positions panel, wherein audience volunteers earn points toward prizes by demonstrating various sexual positions inspired by the Kama Sutra. It was...somewhat amusing, a little bit eyeroll-inducing with the inevitible seme/uke cliches, but overall not bad. Might have been more fun up near the stage and better able to see. It was run by a couple of Naruto fans and full of a bunch more. The roar when a Kakashi cosplayer volunteered for position demonstration was quite deafening. ^_^
And here's where I pause to say that this Kakashi cosplayer (and the friend he volunteered with) was actually male, which only fueled the roar, and that there were a lot more guys running around the con this year than when I came in '06. Which I think is pretty cool. In fact, there was a guy in the panel also who called in to some friend's internet radio show or something and announced that he was at Yaoi-con, 'where you can grope your friends and not be gay!' or thereabouts. Which, all in all, is a sentiment more positive than not. ^_^
Sooo. Sat through the whole panel, kept an eye on Gaara to ensure she didn't slip out unnoticed, and waited. When the hour was up, I bucked up my nerve, made my way through the slowly out-going crowd, and asked Gaara if I could snap a pic. She kindly posed for me, and then I asked if she'd be willing to pose with my Lee plushie; she took it and gave the most awesome silent 'Awwww' look, and then went ahead and posed and let me take my pic. ^_^ A couple other people were gathering to take advantage of the pic moment, and then somebody spotted a Lee cosplayer and dragged him over, and I got a shot of the both of them that's utter IC awesomeness before everyone got shooed out rather roughly in the interest of letting the next panel start.
And once again, I returned to the table a very happy fangirl. ^_^
The market closed shortly thereafter and we packed everything away and carted it back up to the room. Hooked up internet to confirm flight info and such and unwound a bit; I chatted on yahoo with the boys back home and Inyx started packing up all her equipment in prep for flight out Monday morning. I joined in with my own packing after the chat. Little bit of a downer, that, as it makes the whole con-winding-down thing a reality. But it did involve some creative thinking and a trip down to the fitness room to weigh Inyx's bags against airline limits. The halls were much quieter than they had been all evening, and most of the few people seen were 'normals'. Which, again, just emphasizes how con is coming to an end. As all things must.
Plans had been made for another round of 'fangirl soup' with Zalia et all in the hottub that evening; after the packing-and-weighing adventures we made our way to their room in time to get in on the ordering-out-for-Chinese. Went hot-tubbing while waiting for delivery, which was again very good for tired bodies and rather calming to the soul, even if I would prefer the water a bit cooler personally. ^_^; Zalia and I talked Gaiden and I still owe her a few fic rec links. Haven't forgotten, Zalia. ^_^ Or Inyx, either, as I know you'd asked me to rec you some LeeGaa stuff at some point as well. Both of you, be looking for a rec post sometime in the near future.
When the food came, we all got out and got dried and got back up to the room to eat. Best damn beef and brocolli I've ever had, I swear. Don't know if it's entirely just context and atmosphere or if it's due to better local flavor or a combination of both, but I wish I could get Chinese that exquisitely savory up here. That was some seriously good food.
Damn. Making myself hungry.
Anyway. Several of the girls had not had the chance to stop by the fanmarket table and get the buttons they'd wanted from Inyx, so she fetched her menus and took orders and then we went back to the room, unpacked enough equipment to punch them all out, delivered them, did all the hugs and goodbyes, and went back to crash.
Sunday's Pics:
Ino and Sasuke
Solitaire and Xpyne again, in the fanmarket this time, because of the utter cosplay awesomeness. And because the ones I took on Inyx's camera the night before came out a bit yellow and fuzzy. ^_^;
Meanwhile, Inyx ran into Gaara upstairs...
Once upon a time not so very long ago, Wind Country was plagued by droves of paparazzi. Tabloids were offering huge sums to anyone who could snap a shot of the infamous Sabaku no Gaara, now Kazekage of Sunagakure, you see, and there were a great many fools who thought to make their fortune and a name for themselves thusly. But Gaara, being a highly temperamental individual with no patience for fools and idiots, and also being utterly dedicated to the peace and protection of his village, had no qualms whatsoever about employing his deadly signature jutsu against any and all who crossed his borders with such intent. The ranks of fortune hunters thinned sharply in alarmingly short order and the tabloids never did get their coveted photos; to this day, any paparazzo worth his salt still gives Suna a very wide berth indeed...
Thank you, Inyx-sama, for risking life limb and death-by-sand to bring me this pic. XD
Mmm, gourd.
And then I tracked down Gaara myself later...
Hallo, Kazekage-sama! *_*
^____^ The pic I spent all weekend trying to get.
I ♥ this pic. So hard. Just look at Lee's smirk and Gaara's little smile, all for each other, and the way they're subtly leaning into each other and the total awesomeness and and and-- *flails* Awwww. ^_^ *adores*
Monday
Monday morning saw the packing completed, Inyx's shuttle to Oakland called, the room bill settled, and an apple snagged for breakfast. SKies were gloomy and overcast outside, which suited my mood at least; saw Inyx off and went back up to the room to gather my bags and check out. Except I got on the internet instead (since it was still under our paid time from the night before) and browsed LJ, read preliminary con reportings, and posted three squee-pics to stave off the post-con blues. Eventually packed it in and checked out and went outside to wait for the SFO shuttle.
At the airport, turns out all kinds of flight delays were going on; they put me on an earlier flight (which ended up leaving half an hour after my originally scheduled flight anyway) so as to make my connection in Seattle. I ended up in the over-wing exit row, first time ever, and was mightily pleased with the additional legroom. I may have to keep that in mind for any future flights.
Arrived in Seattle without incident, had lunch, and spent the layover resizing con pics on the laptop since there doesn't seem to be free internet in SeaTac either (ANC might be the only airport I've found so far with free wireless access). Left for Anchorage on time, near the back of the plane, surrounded by cranky kids. Joy.
I'll take another aside, here, to mention something that's been in the back of my mind since the beginning of August. Normally when I fly into Anchorage, it's a flight from Seattle (just like this last time) and it's primarily populated by business travelers and local folk who live in Alaska and regularly make the flight between home and Seattle (i.e., people who've ceased to be impressed by the novelty of flying to AK). The time before this, though, when I was flying back from the NC business trip, I had a direct flight from Atlanta to Anchorage. Now 7 hours is a hell of a long time to be sitting in an airline seat, oh yes, but it could have been much worse. And I noticed something, somewhere in those seven hours, that the atmosphere on the plane was somewhat different than the 'ho-hum' that's usually in the air on flights home. Coming from the east coast, most of the people on the plane were not AK locals but people heading to the Fabled Arctic Wilderness of Alaska! *_* for vacation or somesuch. There was a retired couple who were talking excitedly about finally embarking on a lifelong dream; there was a family with three or four kids who were all excited and carrying on about all the thingts they were going to do nd see and how the cold weather was going to feel so good. It was a perspective I tend to overlook simply because I live here and there's very little charm left, in my eyes; it was nice to overhear a less jaded attitude toward Anchorage. There was palpable excitement in the air as we flew over Juneau, up the coast, closer to touchdown. A lot of positive energy, I guess.
And I could use a bit of that on a post-con flight, really. Plane full of cranky kids and the usual unimpressed SEA-ANC travelers doesn't do much to dispel the pesky post-con blues. Thankfully, though, the slump was more effectively recognized and dealt with and cycled through this time than last. By now, that whole OMG-I-Belong-Here! sort of glow and the fun of San Francisco feel worlds away, but there will of course be other cons and experiences in the future. The fact that I'm still working on the con report weeks later (instead of trying to rush it out immediately to the detriment of RL relationships) sort of helps reinforce the reality of having gone. I realize it sounds a little silly to be talking about con like it's some sort of grand dream, but...well, at the risk of sounding really really lame, it kind of is. To go from dreary autumn weather to glorious end-of-summer sunshine and then back to winter and early snows; to go from everyday this-is-life reality to no career-work or back-to-school prep or daily family duties, to hotel-living and geeking it up with fellow otaku and then back again to the everyday routine - it's a vacation that does so much good for the soul, and it does tend to feel a little unreal in hindsight. ^_^;;
Anyway. No pics for Monday. If you like browsing cosplay pics, though, I'd definitely say go check out Eurobeat King's gallery. There were a lot of good costumes, a lot of fandoms represented, and a lot of pics I just plain didn't get. Like Cobra Commander - I saw him several times over the weekend, and Inyx and I tried to flag him down for a pic at least once, but he either didn't hear or didn't want to be bothered. And as it turns out, he had a whole little COBRA contingent with him that I never saw, but finding the pics induced a little flail of delight that goes all the way back to my gradeschool days watching GI Joe blossom into a hit cartoon show in the after-school hours of the mid-eighties. Ahh, nostalgia. And dedicated cosplay to indulge it. ^_^
Cobra Commander and the Crimson Twins
Joined by The Baroness
There was a Wii remote cosplay, lots of Naruto cosplay, plenty of Saiyuki cosplay; I saw Link wandering around at some point; there was even a Dr. Girlfriend cosplay (if you've never caught CN's Venture Brothers, then nevermind), an impressive Ed Elric complete with automail arm and leg, Macross Frontier, Deathnote, and all kinds of other stuff that I either don't recognize or that's slipped my mind at the moment. If that's your thing and you've got the time, go take a look.
http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/128560/
So anyway. In closing, it was a Very Good Time and a lot of awesome people to meet and/or see again. Lots of fun to be had, good for me socially and mentally, and I hope to do it again in another couple years. Or perhaps in another few years - if I'm saving for travel, it really would be nice to take AJ and make a visit back home to AZ again, and a family vacation is overdue (we're thinking SoCal and SeaWorld), and the husband and I would like to take a trip without the kid (Mardi Gras?), so... *shrug* We'll see what works out.
So. There's my report. At last. ^_^