YaYcon report!

Oh lord. OH lord. OHH LORD! I am SO behind on updating this blog in EVERY way possible! I am slightly unlimitedly ashamed of myself. BUT! This does mean I have a lot to update about! For example, I'm doing pretty good on my project-a-month-challenge. But more about that later (in another post, in a week or so. Hopefully.)

© Teahouse

Now first, something that can't wait forever, a report about YaYcon! Which was absolutely amazing.
YaYcon is a dutch yaoi and yuri convention, held for the third time this year at the Atak in Enschede. It's a pretty small con still, mostly because the Netherlands isn't such a big country so the amount of yaoi/yuri fans isn't all that big and the (very logical) 16+ age limit (which I LOVE <3 ) takes away some of the fans as well... This DOES mean the con gets so cozy! It's a really small crowd with mostly likeminded people that are all there with the same interests and for the same purposes- have a good day out.

There were a ton of small events to visit- but unfortunately, I didn't do much else but run around and, funny enough, spending most of the con on a stage.

I went to the con with my friend and conbuddy Sabrina, arriving there with car and fixing my cosplay in the parking lot. I had decided to go cosplay Reed from the webcomic Teahouse. This did not go completely without trouble and I kept my friends updated about the progress of this project through my Facebook profile. The comments mostly were amazing, sweet and made me wear a pretty much permanent blush on my face. But one progress picture in particular stood out from all the others. Namely, the first picture on the progress of my pants. xD
Most people know by now that for a while now, I have a cat listening (well, not really listening...) to the name Perry. He's become somewhat of an "easter egg" in most of my pictures and turns out to be pretty photogenetic. And thus, while I was trying to make a decent picture of the pants progress, Perry decided to sit down behind me on my bed, stealing the show:

Well hello, cat!

© Melissa van den Hoogen 

Pretty much ALL comments I got on this picture resolved around Perry. And when I posted the second progress picture one of the very first comments I got was "Hey, where's Perry?". What I didn't know then was that Esther, a friend of mine and one of the main organizers of YaYcon, found this so funny that she decided to use this in the YaYcon openingceremony. Another friend came chasing me down all through the building and dragged me to the main stage where the ceremony was held, not telling me what this was about AT ALL until I got there- where I was pushed up the stage, all startled and having no idea at all what was going on! Suddenly, I got applauded for my pants. A more amazing start of your day is almost impossible.
In the back, on a big screen, they showed the progresspictures of my pants. First the one without Perry, which didn't do much to the audience (of which not much at all if not none I have on Facebook) and then the one with Perry, on which suddenly, everyone went "Ahwww!" What IS it with that cat?!
Then, after that, Esther (on my right here) gave me a small Hello Kitty plushie as a way to say sorry for pulling me up the stage and everyone thinking my cat is so much more awesome than my pants. Which I can forgive them for.

After this, Melissa took me apart for a small shoot- which I'm really thankful for. The main spot for the pictures was the MangaKissa there because even when it wasn't much of a couch, it was the fanciest seat present in the whole building. Which says quite a lot. I am the worst at pulling serious faces, so among the pretty pictures, quite a few were taken as well where I am the most out of character you can imagine. Some of them are pure gold. <3
By now, even though I'm only a starting cosplayer and I don't even know Melissa for that long, I'm starting to concider her a good friend and pretty much my personal photographer. :') I'm so honored!

© Melissa van den Hoogen

I finally had time to relax a bit, talk some with her about Tegendraads and hang around with friends before going to my next appointment- Gay's Anatomy!
My friend Lid'l had organized a live-model drawingworkshop on the con and clearly had decided that it needed a witty name, so named it Gay's Anatomy. I actually think I have to admit that the YaYcon crew is absolutely amazing in witty names- I forgot most of them, but if they could, they had thought up a name for something that would've surely given you giggles.
Anyway! She was kinda short on models (at first), so I offered to model for her. It was quite fun. Since I was crossplaying, I wasn't really sure if I had to be concidered a male or female model.
I got grouped up with one of the two artists from the doujinshi circle Tea Tales (I still don't know her name T^T ) and we had the most wonderful of conversations while modeling there and trying to stay serious and not awkward out. xD That's HARD!

© Melissa van den Hoogen

So that was the second time I had to be on a stage that day... A little while after Gay's Anatomy was over the Crossplay fashion show/Cosplay acts, done by Lid'l and Stephanie. I had told myself I'd attend so that I would have a good motivation to finish my cosplay (which worked) and since I only attended for the fashion show-part, I didn't have to practice an act or anything, I only had to do a little round and be all pretty on nifty music. And since the character Reed is really all sophisticated, reserved and stick-up-his-beautiful-buttocks, I decided he needed epic music, so I chose Iron from Woodkid, prolly more known because it was used in the trailer/commercial for one of the Asassin's Creed games. But that's details.
It wasn't my first time on a stage for an act, but going on your own seems to be entirely different from going with a group. I tried to stay calm and not drink too much from my fake wine (which I carried around all day- advice to you guys: DONT DO IT. Luckily I didn't spill but gawd, was I scared for that a few times!). But all the stress and hard work seemingly paid off because at the end of the show, I walked off the stage with the prize for best costume! Melissa really caught my most beautiful moments that con.. :')
And as a prize, I got a little goodiebag with the most awesome of stuff in it. I only found time to look at it decently back at Sabrina's place that evening and we had a few good giggles about the precious pieces that we found in it. <3

It held:
- An artbook-y, full-color magazine with BL illustrations
- A small set of Metropolis figures
- A keychain from a FF:AdventChildren character (of which I forgot the name)
- A small set of three copics/markers, which I donated to Sabrina because I don't draw much.
- A postcard from the German doujinshi group FireAngels (which I censored pretty nicely, if I may say so C: ). It's totally gonna be on my wall!
- And last but not least, a button saying "I'm a filthy Seme". Seriously, YaYcon, where do you get that stuff? xD
... I'm thinking I forgot something. D:

Also, because I won, I got to wear this absolutely adorably cute little crown. I'm gonna save that picture for the last. :')

The convention was running pretty much on its end by then. I was absolutely exhausted from a whole day of running around but the day wasn't over YET. Because I had won, they wanted me on the stage at the ending ceremony as well. I practically lived on that stage that day! It was a little scary.
But then, finally, we could pack our bags. I stopped at the FireAngels stand for a bit, even though they had already packed up as well. One of them kept a vlog, seemingly, and asked me if I could dance for her for the camera. I told her I had absolutely NO idea how Reed would dance and she was like, "ohh, I don't care, just do something". And thus, I did the silliest thing my mind could come up with (which wasn't all that silly at all, but real fun none the less). Here's her youtube account on which it should eventually end up on, by the way.
After that and saying goodbye to our friends, we finally went home. It was one of the best cons of my life. <3

Oh, and what I haven't told you yet! I got recognised! OHMYGAWD! I didn't expect much of the dutch audience, because Teahouse isn't a really big-shot anime or anything, but only a (pretty well-known) webcomic. But there were still people recognising me! I was so happy! Three or four people wanted to take a picture with me, of which two were so shy a friend of theirs had to ask it, so cute! >///<
One of the girls that I went on a picture with is the Italian doujinshi artist Daeva and she featured our picture together in her Netherlands trip/YaYcon report on her Livejournal! Sabrina linked it to me, and I was so happy to see this! All the positive comments I got on my costume, the people that wanted to take a picture with/of me, I felt so blessed! They really made me feel as if all my hard work on this cosplay wasn't for nothing. <3 I loved it all so much, thank you!!

Oh, and that picture I promised you of me wearing my crown.

© Melissa van den Hoogen

I'm sorry this post ended up so long.. xD I hope you had fun reading it none the less! And I hope to see you all on this amazing piece of con next year! <3

A small Abunai! 2011 report.

I know- I am horribly late. But I still like to write some about the event, because for me, cosplay-wise, a lot has happened.
Abunai! was helt from friday the 26th of august, till the 28th. Which was, for me, the weekend from the first week of my new schoolyear. They couldn't have planned it better. :B

It all started the schoolyear before! I'm not the only geek at my school. I know of at least two others in my year that are into cosplay as well and they've become pretty good friends of mine. One of the two participates in the Cosplay Competition pretty much every year and for this year, she was one or two people short. So she asked me. It was gonna be a Lucky Star act, and even though I've never seen the show, I said yes because it sounded like a whole lot of fun to me. She also asked me to help with the uniforms. We had to make six summer uniforms, and she wanted to make them all herself, so she was at least sure that they were all exactly the same.
This, I can tell you, was HORROR. The unspoken rule seems to be that you can't be a proper cosplayer if you aren't a horrible procastinator, and we, ofcourse, followed that rule. It is a sad thing that we don't have pics of this.
It was a good learning experience for me, though. One thing I learned, is that pleated skirts aren't as easy as they look and pleating and ironing them goes with a LOT of pins and needles.

Thanks to all the cosplay act work, I barely had time left to work on my own cosplays. I had planned to do the Masked Croissant and Shego for this event, but in the end I only had time left to finish Shego. About an hour before I had to go pack my stuff and by skipping two of my schooldays. Then again, I think more experienced cosplayers will now go "Deal with it." on me.
Then it was time to go! I traveled with two friends of mine, with which I also shared a hotel room. The luxury of a hotel room is unbelievable. <3
Friday was, for us, mostly orientationday. What was there to do, who were present, where was everything (the building was a maze, I tell you), etc, etc. And since I only has two cosplays- Shego and the Lucky Star one, I spent friday in my casual clothing. That day, I ran into the two most awesome cosplays I've seen on Dutch cosplay ground. Danbo (or Cardbo), a character from the manga Yotsuba&! and a Sesame Street monster of which I only know it's made of awesome and says a lot of "Yipyipyipyip!"! Ofcourse, I asked both of them if they wanted to take a picture with me. :B
If I come across something awesome, I can get totally overexcited- a little like a kid in a candystore. I like to believe it's one of my charms. But it's also the reason that I posed almost the same on both pictures. xD
Back in the hotel and after a good cup of tea with some delicious cake, we went to our room and I decided that I was gonna do what I still wanted to do for years- take a picture of yourself while brushing your teeth. Don't ask me why, I just always had that craving, somehow. Which resulted in the following picture:

From left to right: Sab, me and Liza

Then, after a good night's sleep, there was saturday. The day of the Cosplay compo. I had to be there around 10 with the six skirts I had made and bumped on a huge line at the door. I explained one of the gophers I had to be indoors early because I had to be there for the acts, but he told me, "Doesn't matter, just get in line.". The damn bastard didn't even check if I had a day- or weekendticket (the line was for people with a dayticket)! After about half an hour, it seemed the guy was just a complete douche and uninformed and I could get inside. After which we had to wait more than an hour before we could start rehearsing the acts. Ofcourse. At least gave us enough time to change. 

In the act, I had to fill in the role of Misao Kusakabe. I still hadn't had the time to watch the series, so I knew pretty much NOTHING about this character. But I got told, "You two are character-wise pretty much alike. Just be yourself. C: " And thus I did. 

One of the things that Abunai is well-known for are the technick fails with the Cosplay- and AMV contests. And this year wasn't anything different. Though despite that, the act went really good and was pretty amusing, according to the people we asked. The whole thing was recorded, but the vid isn't online yet. I'll put a link here when it is, ofcourse! What I CAN give you, is a pic of us on stage. (I'm all on the left- aren't you proud of me? =w= )

Here's a group pic, btw! 

On the left is our brilliant Gaga Pudding- we gave Lady Gaga a role in our huble little act as well!

I decided to spend the rest of the day in my cosplay, it already being around 3 PM and being too lazy to dress back into my casual clothes. Plus the cosplay was comfortable. I was pretty tired from all the act fuzz, which resulted in some pretty dull pictures, of which I'll share the most awesome with you: 

While my friends were waiting for me, they got me a bottle with juice to drink, because I was EXHAUSTED. I seemed pretty happy with it, and for some reason placed it on my head. (my wig made my head pretty flat on top) This had to go on picture, according to one of them, and thus I striked a pose. I am a really wise Misao. *nods* 

And thus came sunday. This was the day I'd walk around in my Shego cosplay. I already got in my cosplay at the hotel (the looks at breakfast from the other guests were priceless), but I'm still a bit of a makeup noob, so took my makeup gear with me and asked a dear friend of mine to do it for me, because I know of her that she likes to do that kind of stuff. She made me look really evil! <3 

I got recognised a LOT. My Misao cosplay wasn't all that recognisable- at least not without the rest of my Lucky Star cast. So I wasn't used to all that fuzz yet. It was really nice and funny to hear everyone whisper about you behind your back (in a positive way), and a (for me) surprisingly big amount of people wanted a pic of me. Only Sab was left that day to spend time with me, and I'm happy she thought of it as amusing, having to stop EVERY time because someone walked up to me for a picture! 

I think the most memorable non-shoot moment of that day was in the dealerroom, when a 1.90 meter long Red Scout came walking up to me asking me "Can I hug you? You were always my favourite character. <3 ". On which I gave him a hug, replying (in character) "Ohh, but baby, I'm everyone's favourite character~" 

A friend of my Kim is a pretty big Kigo (KimxShego) fan and she asked us for a small shoot. We were happy to participate. And thus, next, I shall share with you some of them pictures! Also including some other pics of me that were made that day, btw. 

I like this one- It's Kim, Lizz and me discussing some pose possibilities. I think it's one of the few pics of me from that day out of character. 

And then I walked into Superbig! I thought she rocked my socks, and she thought I was awesome, so ofcourse we had to go on picture together! 

Here's one from the shoot. There aren't many moments Shego is caught off-guard.  Go Kimmie, grab that chance!

And the pic that showed me the biggest flaw in my costume: my crotch. B)  I still  like it, though!

If you wanna see more pics, also from Abunai! itself, you can visit Lizz's site, or give her gallery a visit! 

So far my weekend report. I loved it. Spending time with friends again, new experiences, everything. <3 

And to close this post off, a pic of my most geekish part of my Abunai! dealerroom haul!