Anime Weekend Atlanta 2014This is how I ended up in Atlanta in the first place haha...
I found out from an ACen friend that my #1 favorite seiyuu (Suwabe Junichi) was coming to the US and I asklfj;ak;fjas;kjfas;f x 1,000,000+ (I don't fangirl much to give you perspective). And nothing was going to stop me from going! I was able to get time off from both of my jobs, thankfully had some money saved up, and hatched an entire scheme of how to make all of his events and autograph sessions and navigate the hotel and convention center efficiently. It was then announced that his panel was going to be on Space Dandy and that there was going to be a special contest too. I am not one to binge watch anything, but I did for both seasons of Space Dandy (which isn't really my kind of show, but Suwabe is GLORIOUS in it with all of the different personality traits the main character has). And I also studied way. too. much. trivia for the show in case that was the special contest. I brought the study guide with me on the plane and in the hotel lobby too. Also bless my friend who had a at-con hotel room that had a spot for me to stay!!!!!! I'll write an entire blog post for Suwabe later (actually, I could just copy and paste most of it from my Livejournal lol), but quick facts here: - Meeting him was one of the most incredible experiences of my life! - I was in the front row and Suwabe sat down in the seat directly in front of me 15 ft away during the panel. - The special contest was voice dubbing the scene where his character is running away from characters who have become zombies in the hospital. I was one of the four people picked!!! and I made him laugh with my slightly over-dramatic and kind of terribly timed voice acting :D (especially on the part where his character screams 'Aaaaaaaaa!!!!!!' while high-tailing it outside). - He sang part of LONELY NIGHT from the rock concert scene in Space Dandy. The song is so darn catchy and enjoyable despite being generally simple. - I got two autographs on different days (one on a blank canvas board and the other on a clearfile of Atobe). - I gave him a thank you note that he was surprised by and then thanked me for. =^.^= - "Don't think. Feel." "WOW" More English quotes from Suwabe. On the first day, immediately following his panel, was his autograph session. As me, a pair of friends I had met, and someone else were speed-walking/dashing to the Dealer's Hall, a Momoi asked if she could join us since we were moving fast! Afterwards we ended up hanging out for a few hours talking the night away, and then we hung out in the autograph line the next morning, and became just really good friends that has kept in touch often since. I love her! <3
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Sunday Haikyuu!! Gathering Daichi cosplay - Round 2! Agent Aon as companion and photographer, and lucathia as companion and Suga. Said hi to my friends that I met at the Anime on Stage booth before the gathering (they were cosplaying Prince of Tennis!) The gathering was very well-attended and we were a fire hazard inside the hall lobby so we re-located outside. By the time everyone got settled, some people had disappeared (the full group picture had already been taken).
So I think they go through teams? first? Maybe? Anyways, they called the first character shot which was Daichi, so I ran out... and I was the only Daichi!!!! My feelings were a mixture of "Awww yeaaaah just me! YES" and "???? I thought Daichi is a likeable character so where is everybody?" Had fun with it and received a volleyball for the first time since middle school and everything about form was NOPE. (I look back now with three years of volleyball experience and cringe - thank goodness I'm pretty good now! but gotta keep working hard to improve!). Out of all of the gatherings I have attended these past few years, I honestly think this Haikyuu!! gathering was the best gathering I had ever experienced for many, many reasons. So many fun interactions between all of the characters and re-enactment of moments that really shined in the show. What a great way to end Anime Expo! (btw, I bought a banh mi from a food truck and it was so NICE after a minimalist diet!) A couple of weeks later, I was FB chatting with a Kenma who was there that loved Atobe from Prince of Tennis (Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na!) and I said I was the only Daichi at the gathering for a while. They said I was super cute (why do people find me cute???) and great as Daichi and lkajf;ldjafa one of my first unsolicited compliments. A friend of theirs turned out to be the Kuroo whose hand I shook for a photo said also looked great and they are one of the cosplayers I know that I think is all-around talented. To get nice compliments on a cosplay I cared so much about <3 This is the start of how Daichi basically changed my cosplay life LOL Sawamura Daichi Day 3 - So Haikyuu!! had started airing in the spring, and by Episode 3, I was so into Daichi that I KNEW I HAD TO COSPLAY HIM. People that know me know that I don't 'fangirl' over really anything, but I totally really liked Daichi and respected his character so much. Got a wig from The Five Wits, trial-and-errored my way through cutting and styling, and bought the jersey. Onto another day of changing into cosplay on-site, still fail drawing accurate eyebrows, the meager meal plan to save money for Artist Alley damage... BUT I got to pair up with lucathia as Suga for a photoshoot in the cosplay scenes area <3 <3 <3 Agent Aon took the pictures and she did an awesome job! First photoshoot experience - success!
Other general highlights include witnessing the GIANT Pokemon gathering and staying in a line for 2+ hours (3??) with lucathia out in the sun waiting to see K: Project the Movie despite not having seen the actual show LOL. I enjoyed seeing the movie though! The blue clan(?) being my favorite. Anime Expo 2014 This was supposed to have been my first convention lol, but I remember being excited since I knew what to expect. Up until this trip in July, the KuroBasu group of friends from ACen started a Skype video chat and it was nice that we were all getting to know each other. The Midorima was going to be attending AX as well!
The Los Angeles trip was excellent btw! Stayed at Agent Aon's house (looks like everyone is gonna have nicknames now) which was 20 minutes away from the ocean, ate lots of home-cooked meals and food from restaurants, went to Westminster (aka Vietnam land), and played tennis (yes, I brought a tennis racket XD) Day 1 - We were going to cosplay Prince of Tennis - me as Sanada and her as Shishido (hooray no wigs). Let me tell you how AWFUL I was at drawing eyebrows - kids do not wait until arriving at the con to draw your eyebrows for the first time in your life. Anyways, lots and lots (and lots) of cosplayers, and me taking lots and lots (and lots) of pictures and somehow surviving the day just fine on one half of a bagel for breakfast, Vietnamese iced coffee, and the other half of the bagel plus a CLIF bar or granola bar for lunch. HOW?! I don't even know aside from adrenaline. We took pictures in the cosplay scenes area, met my friend lucathia for the first time, went to a taiko drumming panel and got to play (perfect for Sanada), and ARTIST ALLEY. We traveled home for dinner each night. Day 2 - I went as Kise and she just wore the Hyoutei jacket. Let me tell you how AWFUL I was at coloring eyebrows - kids do not wait until arriving at the con to change your eyebrow color for the second time in your life. Because they ended up kind of smear-y and super light compared to his yellow hair OTL Highlights of the day included the same meal plan, my friend Midorima calling down my character's name from one floor above (and me responding with 'Hi <insert name>' and them being surprised because they didn't initially know it was me). Also became friends with a 6'5" Kagami (and I'm 5'4" lol). Kuroko no Basuke Gathering [Back to Part 1...] There was about an hour I think left before the Kuroko no Basuke gathering, which was going to be my last event of the day before catching the CTA back to downtown Chicago make the second-to-last train back to South Bend. I get there not knowing what to expect at all, and there is just a couple of people there. I can't remember the exact order of things happening, but the Kuroko (one of the organizers) was soft-spoken and kind and the Kagami (her friend) exclaimed we had the same exact pair of tennis shoes XD It was nice to finally be able to talk to people - I'm super social and I hadn't talked to anyone really all day. There was an Murasakibara who had snacks (bless them!) and gave some to me because that was when I realized I hadn't eaten at all and didn't bring anything with me. A fem!Himuro showed up and we both got excited that we had the same exact point-and-shoot camera XD Then quite a bunch of people showed up and Midorima (the other organizer) was in the mix, and the gathering was underway.
I was really self-conscious while talking before the gathering because Kise was a last-minute cosplay and I didn't think I looked very good, but the people I had met were really sweet and encouraging! And the gathering was a lot of fun too (really good vibes and canon character poses)! I was so happy in the end that I attended because all of those people that I mentioned meeting are easily some of my closest friends to this day (plus a Kise and Himuro I met later on that happened to have been there too!) And from meeting those friends, I have gotten to meet their friends over the years, and it's just wonderful to become close with some of them too! The BeginningBefore this convention, I had purchased parts to the Rikkaidai school uniform from Prince of Tennis (my first and current-at-the-time fandom) to try cosplaying as Sanada (I could tuck my hair under his hat so no wig!). I got into Kuroko no Basuke pretty hard prior to heading to Los Angeles to meet some good Livejournal friends, and bought a Kaijou basketball uniform and a friend got me a wig, so that I could add Kise to the line-up for Anime Expo 2014 (which was going to be my first convention). I don't get nervous easily or often at all, but it was going to be my first cosplays and I wanted to do a good job looking like the characters.
Then I saw that Travis Willingham (the voice actor for Roy Mustang, my all-time favorite character, and also my high school voice crush/obsession) was going to be attending Anime Central, which is the closest large convention to me. After much deliberation (I had not traveled on my own aside from a trip to Colorado the previous summer to meet some other LJ friends for the first time), I decided to attend on Saturday (yes, this was a uncharacteristically last-minute decision). With only Kise's basketball and school outfits and technology, I drove to the South Bend airport, took the commuter train over, CTA subway myself up to Rosemont, changed into Kise in the bathroom (no makeup aside from foundation because I never wear makeup), and explored the entire site as quickly as I could so that I could see everything (Artist Alley!!!), took pictures (so many good cosplays!), and make Travis's panel on time… which I was late to in the end because I. could. not. find. the. room. OTL I waited outside and listened and watched as best as I could through the open doors, and was happy that the doors were open. After the panel was over, people came out and I took the chance to dive in, hoping I could meet him and say thank you and possibly have an autograph. And there he was still at the table in front of the room, so I was able to chat with him for a little bit (I WAS SO HAPPY INSIDE OMG) and he did end up giving me an autograph because I said I came all of the way to meet him and wasn't going to be around Sunday for the autograph signing (which is proudly displayed on my wall - I can't thank him enough!) [Continue to Part 1.2...] I have been wanting to get everything into one place and finally sat down to create a website.
'Gallery' has all of my paid solo photoshoots plus some group photoshoots and free photoshoots that my friends did for me! 'Cosplay' is all of the characters I have cosplayed since I started in 2014 with a various assortment of pictures (at conventions, WIPs, selfies, etc.) Please feel free to follow my tumblr, twitter, and WorldCosplay pages! Hope you enjoy browsing and thank you for your support! |
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Captain is a teacher and musician who enjoys photography, writing, traveling, hitting the gym, sports, cosplaying, and a large variety of food. ArchivesCategories
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