Connecticon 2009 freakin' rocked...

It's true! Connecticon was completely awesome this year. I didn't make it to any of the panels I wanted to see, but it was totally worth it.

I went with some friends, and most of them made it to at least a few of the panels they wanted to see, so that worked out. For one of them, it was their first con, so that was all very exciting.

Four of us made a second attempt (from last year) at entering the Rock Band tournament under the name Tanhaüser Gate... and we won! :D I did the whole thing in Haruhi Suzumiya cosplay... oh well. I love that costume! (PS... this photo of me in my Space Commander Haruhi cosplay is actually from Anime Boston this year, but since that post was lacking photos and I wore this costume to CTcon as well... here it is! Shh...)

I'll add links/photos when we're actually able to get our hands on them. I'm pretty sure they're being held hostage in the cameras of the guys who came out from Harmonix to judge. They were very nice! They gave us prizes and let us talk to them for a while about games, a business which I hope to enter very soon, so it was a very valuable way for me to spend some time.

All in all it took about 6 or 8 hours to do all of the tournament stuff, so we missed most of the con stuff. It was totally worth it. Like I said.

On Sunday, we roamed about a bit more. I went to an anime sing- and dance-along panel, which was run by a voice actress. It was pretty fun! I'm sure there's some video on the internet somewhere of me in a Carmelldansen conga line at 9:30 in the am in a Haruhi costume... ah, conventions. I got to sing and dance Hare Hare Yukai a few times in my costume, so that made me very happy. An enjoyable time overall... I hope they do it again next year. ^_^

Later on Sunday, we dropped by the Legend of Neil booth to play some Settlers of Catan with Sandeep Parikh, who was in The Guild and who had been very nice to us all weekend long. He tried to make a lot of bitch trades with me, and I was having none of that. I can't remember who won. I think it was him, the jerk. Then he signed our posters. :<

I wish I had gotten to check out more cosplay, but I didn't have much time because of the tournament. I saw some very good costumes! My personal favourite was a little girl I saw at the beginning of the day Saturday who was dressed as Yotsuba. It was great. She was so cute! I feel kind of bad that I put it on the internet :<< but I had to share her cuteness with the world. I wish you could see the hair better. It was a good idea; they made it out of felt. It looked much better in person!

I really hope I can make Connecticon next year, because they just keep making it bigger and better every year. Maybe they'll also remember to put the Rock Band tourney finals on the program so we can play to a crowd of more than a dozen!

...it was still awesome.

Did you go? What did you think? What did you do? And, most importantly, what did you wear?

[end]

Haruhi Costume Progress

Just a quick update on my Space Commander Haruhi costume. I spent today taking apart and then reassembling my costume, because I wasn't happy with the fit. Sometimes it's better just to bite the bullet, as it were, and spend a day fixing things, rather than just let it go and have the problem become worse over time.

So I'm back where I started, but in a much better way:



I think it's looking pretty good... the stripes on the sleeves don't match up exactexact with the shoulder, but I did my best, and there will be other stuff on the shoulders, anyway.

It's getting close to the con, so I've made up a costume schedule... just gotta stick to it now!

Commissions and Updates

I recently received a commission for another Ashitaka hood, which I'm pleased to say I just finished yesterday:


(I know, I look really cool >_>)

It's a bit different than the one I made for Mike a few years ago. I think there are some improvements, and some things that I wish would be different. That's the thing about homemade cosplay... every piece is unique!

Things I like about this new version:

- The mask! It's pretty awesome. It's attached on one side with stitches, and the other side has red velcro so you can take it on and off easily. I put in three pieces of velcro spaced a bit apart on the inside for adjustability. This also makes for an easier time keeping it securely up over the nose, or letting it hang down under the chin.

- I like the fact that I was able to attach all of the under pieces to the lining first, so there are no stitches on the outside from the velcro, mask, etc.

- The client wanted another flap underneath at the back of the neck so that he could slide the straw cape in between the pieces of fabric, so it wouldn't scratch his neck. I thought that was a pretty good idea.

Things I wish I had done better:

-The shape of the top ended up being a bit strange. I think it looks alright but it's not ideal.

- The white shapes. The client wanted them sewn on, which I did, but in hindsight I probably could've done it differently to make it look a little better.


Overall, I think the hood looks pretty great. I hope the client is happy with it!

I've also been working on my Space Commander Haruhi/Kyon costumes for me and my friend Mike for Anime Boston (it's soon! horray!). I think they're coming along... I'll have some pictures posted later.

How are your costumes going? Is your convention coming up? Are you going to AB? Hope everything is working out!