Catching Up Part 1 Amecon

[same_difference]

So now I have some time, I'll get this entry written. I'm going to sort it behind a series of cuts, because I imagine it's going to be very long In fact it was very very long*, and I'm not even finished yet, so I'm writing it and posting it over two days and suddenly feel like I have less time than I thought ;-). In this one I've included a photos of myself and purplegirl23 under the cut, so you have been warned ;-)

*Mostly as I've gone for the high detail approach to writing about it so I remember it well. First con with purplegirl23 :-D


So it's done, and it was good, and of course unsurprisingly different from my other con experience of Minami-con. The lovely purplegirl23 and I managed to get one costume done each, a paired cosplay of Yuri and Alice from the first Shadow Hearts game.



Considering it was the first costume purplegirl23 has made, and my second we're both pleased with how it turned out. Though admittedly somewhat more pleased, because of the comments we received at the convention than we were just after finishing them. And finishing them did take some work. I think I roughly started my costume about 4-6 weeks before the convention after recovering from running the 36 hour. To be honest I can't really remember, time flies so fast and with my generally shorter Newport related evenings, I'm having difficulty keeping track of the passage of time. In the end I got the buttons sewn onto the trousers at about 2:45am on Friday morning, after a couple of early morning finishes where I was pinning things ready to sew at my Granddad's the next evening. purplegirl23's was finished during Friday afternoon, in a final 2-3 hour stint of joint pinning and hand-stitching. I also discovered to my surprise that I'm not too bad at styling hair (well wigs) either.

Costume wise the jacket turned out very well and more importantly was comfortable, if a little warm for some of the better weather we had on the weekend. The last bits I had to hand sew in the 'B&B'* was the lining over the upper body, and so it's a little bit of a rush job. It would have been nice to finish it as well as most of the rest of the coat. Still seeing as unlike the bottom of the coat the lining wasn't being used to hide some of the more uneven bits of stitching or even be seen, but was only there to make it more comfortable to wear I'm not too worried about it. If the hand stitches hadn't held I might have felt differently. So thankfully it wasn't a problem. The trousers and top were only modified from items I bought, but I think the amulet came out well. It's been a long time since I've tried making anything out of modelling clay (probably since primary school), or painted something for that matter. The only problem I have is the cheap red hair spray I used to colour my hair for the costume rubbed off onto the white piping around the collar where it brushed against my neck. Hopefully I'll be able to clean it off.

*More on that below.

I think overall I enjoyed making the costume, though not the stress that came from trying to get it all done in the time I had available. I'm really glad I got my late Nan's sewing machine up and running, even if all it needed was a good clean and dust. It hadn't been used in the 10 years since my Nan had a really major stroke. It's a serious quality machine, and so I'm not surprised that even over 30 years old, and a period of non-use that it worked perfectly happily. My Nan years ago when she got it used to work as a seamstress from home, getting sent through boxes of 50+ items of clothing as ready cut panels she would stitch together and then send them back. Obviously the quality of what I'm doing is nowhere near what she was producing, but it's definitely good the machine was being used. It's certainly made my grandfather, my father and his brothers happy it's no longer sitting idle and gathering dust. I'm very grateful to the manufacturers as if I hadn't being able to get a copy of the manual for the machine from them, I don't think I'd have got it working.

Both myself and purplegirl23 got recognised we think maybe 12 times as our characters, including at least a few times from behind (always slightly weird and slightly cool to hear someone shout out the name of the character you're cosplaying as from behind you - especially as it always takes a second or two to realise they're shouting at you). People coming over to talk because they are excited to see the character cosplayed or curious about the costume is definitely the best part of cosplaying. Considering the game the characters were from is quite old now (it was an early PS2 release), it was both interesting and gratifying to be recognised (and I was recognised more than I was when doing the hero from Dragon Quest 8).

So the con itself. We set off from Bath at about 7:35pm, as I, as well having to work that morning, still needed to get some sewing and the packing done. It also meant the drive was easy and about 2hr 25min long as all the evening rush hour traffic had completely cleared; meaning I could happily listen to purplegirl23 and all her thoughts saved up during our cosplay induced time apart. Definitely was the right time for us to head up, especially as it meant we spent less time in the room we had. The place we stayed in was named The Park Hotel, advertised itself as a B&B, but was really a block of typically grotty student accommodation right down to the shared toilets/showers (1 shower and 2 toilets per 5ish rooms, 20ish rooms and only 1 of the 2 showers was a power shower that produced hot water). The fact our room smelled of smoke was the anti-icing on the anti-cake. At least we got there late enough for the lost booking problem to be solved. Still it was cheap at £20 a head a night, and it provided the minimum we needed; somewhere we could sleep when tired and store our things in. purplegirl23 and I are grateful to ailsa_chan for kindly organising the accommodation in good time to get somewhere for us as it was a big help, but were we to go to an Amecon again we'd definitely looking at staying somewhere anywhere else.

Friday after our late night sewing session we decided not to try be up in time for the 7:30 till 8:30 breakfast at the student place (missing it was no great loss - based on subsequent breakfast experiences), and made our way over to the university (the only good thing about the place was it's proximity to the university - only a casual 10 minute walk away) at around 10am, with the (mistaken) impression there was some sort of opening ceremony at about 10am. What there was the queue to register. We joined it at 10:15am, and were finally registered by 12:30pm. It gave us a good opportunity to see the kind of costumes that were being worn (Naruto and Kingdom hearts seemed the most common sources - unsurprisingly) and first meeting with Tifa lunarkittenlj and Kyoko ailsa_chan having missed them with breakfast in the morning. With 1500 people booked for the con, the time it took to register wasn't surprising. Still other than that queue and the queue for the omake it didn't feel anywhere near that many people at all.

Heading back to the room we finished off purplegirl23's costume and repaired any split seems on her jacket (she did very well as velvet isn't the most friendly material especially when it comes to it's inclination to fray). Walking back this time in costume, we got away with only one really odd look from a pair of mobility scooter driving elderly woman. The first convention person we saw as we walked onto the campus recognised the characters instantly, and was most disappointed when she discovered her camera was full, as they were her favourite characters. I'm not entirely sure she managed to find us again during the weekend. From there we wandered around the convention, just seeing what was about and taking a few photos here and there, and occasionally being stopped and photographed. Our trip around the dealers room involved a lot of browsing, but no purchasing and a few acquired photos. From there we explored the various other sights like the game room, before heading to the cafeteria for some food - the main meal was of the expected standards, with an exception; the cake was great with purplegirl23 having a piece of carrot cake and I one of lemon cake. With the day wearing on we went and explored the bar, in time to make the actual opening ceremony. Before it finished we left on a coffee and people gathering errand with ailsa_chan who we rediscovered in the bar. Leaving the opening ceremony early was something purple_girl23 and I came to regret as missing the lists of when and what panels were being held would have meant we would have seen a couple more that interested us. Still the company was good, and an opportunity was taken by lunarkittenlj and ailsa_chan for a photo shoot of myself and purplegirl23. Tired from the late night and an afternoon spent mostly on our feet we headed back to the bar to get a glimpse of Gothika. It took longer than the listed and hoped for wait* before we saw them. What we stayed to watch was an interesting performance, but we were both surprised to find that the two Japanese band members were taller we were expecting. Tiredness won out and even the smokey room wasn't going to keep us away, so we retired to relax, and start playing Chocobo Tales on the DS; a game of cute and addictive, fun and yet almost, but not quite annoying minigames and odd takes on classic children tales.

*sadly a common theme of the weekend.

Saturday was more of the same, but with the accommodation breakfast and not in costume as we both felt like a break. In the end not cosplaying was a good choice especially considering the weather being both wet and windy wasn't really that costume friendly. Today was a day of more determined photo hunting beginning once more in the dealers room. It was here our little bit of gaming the previous night came into play, as what did we discover, but a medium sized plushie of the cute starring Chocobo from Chocobo Tails replete with book. Money was exchanged and the quickly dubbed Choco was acquired to much squeeing from purplegirl23. We once more made our circuit up the building with occasional dashes down to the ground floor to grab any interesting costumes we saw. A short (for Amecon) queue took us into the bring and buy where purplegirl23 acquired another reason for me to borrow her DS when I can RPG. Unlike Friday and with a little more actual attention to the map, we wandered up on a whim and actually reached the panel room in time to catch the second half of Akemi Solloway's talk. Considering how interesting the bit about the tea ceremony was it would have been nice to have caught the beginning of the panel, our first reason to regret missing the listing of panels. From there we heading to the AMV showcase entering during the preceding panel on how to actually make the things, another thing which in hindsight we both would have liked to watch had we know it was on. The showcase passed as all good entertainments do surprisingly quickly. As we left the showcase we bumped into ailsa_chan in lucky timing for her as she needed help carrying her Sora costume from the hotel, just as we were planning to head there to rest in the free period before the Masquerade. As an added bonus my being able to drive meant an easier, quicker and safer trip for the costume. In the process we managed to rescue lunarkittenlj's* phone from the horrors it must have been suffering in the room, with the less pleasant discovery that all we needed to do to get the key to someone else's room was to ask for it. Sadly this meant no lying down and resting for us. Compared to the wait for the Omake the next day, the masquerade wasn't too bad, and we got good seats near the front in the upper room. The costumes on display were generally good, with purplegirl23 taking camera duties only to discover how annoying and difficult photographing a masquerade can be. It's a shame, though obvious why, they couldn't use the main stage in the room we were in, as that at least would have given everyone where we were a much better view. Post Masquerade we gathered outside with everyone else, getting photos of ailsa_chan-Sora, with occasional bonus squeeing Asian girls involved, and the other Masquerade costumes we wanted a decent picture of. Followed by an epic joint exploration of the convention venue, by purplegirl23 and I, getting our much needed quest items of water for ailsa_chan, finding her bags guarded by Gunner Mary Yuna, and lastly the elusive photographer named Nert** for Sora's final photo shoot. Once our final mission of the afternoon was completed with the post-photo shoot Sora pelt escorted and carefully stored in the cloakroom, we tired and hungry made our way back to the hotel. Food was acquired at a very good and reasonable priced Chinese restaurant who's name escapes me***, even if we did end up ordering something nearly too hot for me and definitely too hot for Rachael. Well if spicely fed we ventured back for the evenings party, but unfortunately as we arrived I start to feel out of sorts and after staying briefly we retreated back to the now slightly less smokey room. Saturday's cake was Apple something for myself, and Banana cake for purplegirl23.

*Following another fortunate meet up.
**Master of the 'He was just here a second ago and left heading towards [place]' hiding technique.
***It was the one preferred by the Amecon gophers it seemed as they arrived in numbers shortly after we started eating.

Sunday we started the day as with all good Sundays with a late rising and after a bit of debate got into costume for the day. A decision that worked out well as we got a series of good reaction that made myself, and especially purplegirl23 smile. One last foray around the ultimately disappointing dealers room saw purplegirl23 make a couple of purchases and me once more demonstrate my ability to not find a single thing I'd want to buy. There was lunch and cake (Spiced honey cake for her, claimed-to-be-but-wasn't-carrot cake for me), before we were discovered by lunarkittenlj who was once more amazed at our skill at finding her just as she was thinking about us. Thanks to her 'connections' (thanks ilpala) we (and a couple of the others she asked who were interested) were able to join her amazing queue free (if not wait free) front row Omake seats. This did afford us during the pre-omake wait a slightly uncomfortable view of the wrangling between University Security and Amecon's organisers as they dealt with the unexpected event of the entire con queueing up to watch the omake. The queue well the three queues were huge and the first time since the Friday registration it felt like there were over a 1000 people present. All credit to the committee for working out how to get last minute video links set up, while dealing with a large number of impatient people. The omake itself was heavily Yaoi themed, but entertaining none the less for the most part. Our seats were of course spectacular allowing us to even able to make out the bits when the microphone refused to cooperate. Of course with all the difficulties and the tendency to skits to overrun, by the time the omake was done with the closing ceremony was running over 90 minutes late. Much deserved prizes were awarded, thanks and announcements made and with them the con experience was almost at an end. All that was left for the ball, which after a trip back to the hotel to rest, clean and dress up we made our way to arriving fashionably after it's start time. purplegirl23 looked absolutely stunning in her dress, and I, well I can clean up reasonably well all told. The ball itself was another opportunity for photos of course, and there were a great many very impressively well made dresses on show, with a lot of anime character head costume on smart suited wearing body among the men. The ball was also my first proper dance with purplegirl23 something that matters a lot to me, especially considering it's not something I've ever really felt comfortable with. Unfortunately between a day spent in high healed boots, followed by an even spent in even higher healed dress shoes* it was purplegirl23's turn to feel both foot sore and tired. Still we persevered and stayed even if just by sitting, relaxing and having pleasant conversation. It also held one of my favourite moments of the weekend as while we were admiring Akemi Solloway she approached us and asked for a photo as she was very interested in the quite traditional style of ball gown purplegirl23 was wearing. She really is an utterly lovely woman, and I do wish I caught more of her talks. Ultimately tiredness once again won out and we departed shortly before the ball was due to end.

*You know what I mean.

Monday we talked a little to the people we had met, and marvelled at their real hair colours. On the way back as Granny Gertrude had headed back to Bath on Thursday (as something came up) we also brought ailsa_chan and her costumes back with us. The drive back wasn't as easy getting past Birmingham, but still well timed before any lunch time traffic had started. I spent it answering every question purplegirl23 could think of, while asking a few of my own, in the mean time ailsa_chan mostly played on the DS. With ailsa_chan safely home we headed back to my parents for a relaxing evening, doing things that didn't involve cosplay in any form. Well except for uploading the various photos we both took here: Amecon 2008.

In summary I had an enjoyable convention, with the two of us going around at our on quite relaxed place. I must admit I prefer the density of activity at Minamicon, even if it inevitably results in more being missed, I prefer having something to do to what felt like fairly large empty periods on occasion. Secondly not having to deal with the logistics of so many people is always a plus. Amecon is relaxed and providing you can find them probably provides more opportunities to chat to get to know people, and thanks to numbers that much greater a chance of having your costume recognised and of seeing characters you really like, all of which are some of the most enjoyable bits of the cosplay experience. The best bits will have to be aside obviously from so much time spent with purplegirl23, getting photographed by Akemi Solloway and meeting all the friendly people we met. Oh and getting praised for the costumes we made, certainly worth all the blood sacrifices drawn by pins during the actual making process. Seeing the amazing costumes is always inspiring, and I can honestly say I'm pleased with how it turned out. Still cosplay takes a great deal of time, especially if you want to do it very well. Generally considering all the ways I want to spend my time, I think one convention a year is enough expenditure and enough commitment in time for me. I'm not sure if Amecon will be one I return to, but I certainly plan to try all the ones going that are feasible to go to at least one in the mid term future. For now though I think I've earned a good rest from stabbing myself with pins.

Lastly thanks to formyle for lending me a very useful sets of belts and providing me with what I needed to make a few of my own.

Comments

[angelphie.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading that, lj posts of dooooom are fine by me when I have the time to read them! Seems like you enjoyed the con overall, I hope so anyway.

I was very pleased to see Shadow Hearts cosplayers, and you truly did a fabulous job on the coat. You certainly have a lot of care, skill and patience to sew like that! I hope you’ll be making more costumes in future! I really want to rewear my Karin costume now...

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the comments.

I admit I tend to run to the perfectionistic side when it suits me or when I care about something, and so it tends to keep me going when the patience wears out. Does make me somewhat overly critical of what I achieve though, so I really appreciate what you said.

I did have fun at Amecon, just would have wanted a nicer room. Where did you stay and what was it like?

[angelphie.livejournal.com]

Have an essay (oops):

I stayed in Nixon Court, one of the on-site accommodation student halls (I've been there every Ame at that campus). The downside is it's single occupancy, and darned cramped if you try to share (against the rules). So that rules it out for many people. It's something like £23 per night, which is perfect, considering it’s a single room, and I wasn’t splitting the cost with anyone.

It’s about a 5 minute walk from the campus. Shared loos and showers, but I don’t see that as a problem (I view it as a place solely to crash, so actual quality and comfort isn’t a big issue). I also love having a kitchen in the halls, I save a lot of money at cons by making my own breakfast, and dinner on a couple of occasions. It’s very helpful having a fridge, microwave, kettle, and toaster all sitting there, plus an ironing board and iron.

You’re with 4 others in the flat, and I’ve never had a bad experience sharing - in fact, I’ve met lots of lovely people that way, or even accidentally ended up sharing with friends! (I’ve stayed in student halls onsite for 5 cons now). Most often, I’ve never even seen the others in my flat, people are out so much. Overall, considering I lived in student halls at uni for 3 years, I’m very happy to stay there for the weekend of a con, especially if it’s cheap! Certainly, it’s basic, but that’s all I was paying for.

The alternative to Nixon, is Opal Court. It’s more like £40 per night, and it is nicer - a bit closer to the uni, and all the bathrooms are ensuite. But I’ve always been happy enough with Nixon, it’s cheaper, and I don’t think Opal justifies the extra cost. It also seems to have the issue of being rowdier, since so many people stay there during the con.

If you’re heading for Aya next year, so long as it’s the same venue as 2005, the onsite student halls there were *amazing*. It was about £50 a night to stay there, but worth every penny considering it was better than many posh hotels! Each bedroom was ensuite, which included a *bath* (I certainly didn’t get that when I lived in halls!) and it was incredibly close to the uni buildings. You got actual hotel service too - fresh towels - all the housekeeping maid stuff everyday, plus a kettle and biscuits in your room. Being halls, there was a kitchen too. (at the Leicester halls, you have to bring everything, towels, coat hangers…it’s decidedly not a hotel).

I realise the main issue for the on-site uni accommodation is that it’s nearly all single rooms, but I can say I’ve always had a great experience staying there. I suppose their proximity to the con makes up for the basicness.

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

Thanks that was useful, and I'll bear it in mind for future years if I go to another Amecon.