MeltingMirror Cosplay

I had a great relaxing time at Montreal Comiccon. I'll take any reason to go to Montréal!

I only wore one costume, Pharoah Nidalee, and it was briefly on Saturday for a photoshoot with Erik Paredes. Note to self: do more test runs of costumes before wearing them. It was surprisingly uncomfortable to wear and a few pieces didn't stay put.

​Most of my time was spent hanging out with friends, exploring the dealer's room, grabbing food in Chinatown, and going on little Pokemon adventures.

Notable events: I spotted Patrick Stewart twice over the weekend. Once in the dealer's room on his way to his signing and again while he was walking through Chinatown. 

It was my first time attending this convention and I had a great time. It's held in the same venue as Otakuthon but there are significantly less crowds which is nice. I set out with the goal of pumping out a new costume to go to the masquerade. Ravenna was an easy choice since I knew exactly the skit I wanted to do. I bought a prop mirror month ahead in anticipation for the skit.

Calamity, Kudrel, and I took a bus to Montreal in the afternoon. I spent the day hanging out with friends and finishing up my costume. I actually went to bed at a decent time! No crazy late night crafting this time around.

Friday was a jam packed day. I had three shoots earlier in the day. I was my first time working with both Lexa One Photographie and Pit Fire Photography. They were both great. Very nice people and I recommend shooting with both of them if you have a chance.  I also shot with an old friend, Belziir Photography, where we trekked up a small slope in a park in my ridiculous 6in heeless shoes. It was a sweaty mess of a day - 28-30C weather - and my cape was a heated blanket plus my dress was made with synthetic taffeta so it didn't breathe. After I wrapped the shoots I did some final checks on my costume then went to the masquerade.

I had a great time in the greenroom. It brought me  back to the early days when I would compete to climb the rankings and meet so many new people. I made friends with two lovely first time masquerade participants as we waited to get into the greenroom. Cosplay Sempai mode activated! I gave them some tips and told them what they could expect out of the whole process. I was so proud to see them on stage. They were well prepared with audio and everything.
I also got to chat with many of my fellow den mates: Arc-Frost, Jessica Rousseau, and many more (Zelda group and friends you better send me your info if you read this).

You can watch my entry below starting at 1:19:10. Video by MrJechgo.

It was the first time in a long time I was nervous for a performance. I had quite a few lines to remember, my costume was cumbersome to move in, plus as we were lining up to go backstage I dropped my crown and even through I dropped it multiple times throughout the day on concrete, this time a piece broke off when it hit the carpet. Luckily my den mom hot glued it back together just in time and it looked good as new.

Casual day! I was sore all over from carrying my costume and its pieces so instead of dressing up I spent my time taking photos of other cosplayers and exploring the event. Kudrel and I also went location scouting in Old Montreal. Later that day I attended the award ceremony from the hallway. They had it in a small room and it was packed. Luckily I was able to hear my name being called. The awards I received were Best Recreation (craftsmanship) and Best Characterization (stage). I'm very glad my skit was well received.

Here's a few photos I took on Sunday of some talented cosplayers. Montreal is always filled with cool costumers.

I had a brief stint at Ottawa Comiccon 2014, here are the highlights.

Friday
I made it in just in time to run my Troubleshooting panel at 4pm with Detailed-Illusions. It was a packed room and I’m glad people were able to get some aching cosplay questions answered.

I then attended the Improve your way to better cosplay panel at 5pm with a friend I made at last year’s ComicCon.

At 6pm we went to Calssara’s Cosplay on Stage panel. Afterwards we briefly chatted with her and Elffi afterwards. I got my first ever cosplay print. I love her Saber. One of my favourite costumes of hers.

Calamity and I spent the rest of the evening wandering around the event then called it a night.

Saturday
The plan was to arrive at 11am for Calssara and Elffi’s “Cosplay around the World” panel, but in reality it didn’t happen. My bus got stuck in con traffic for over a half-hour on a stretch of road that normally takes 2 minutes to drive down. The driver was nice enough to let us off to walk. Ten minutes later we made it to the venue after slipping down a hill and crossing a ditch. The venue was on lock down when I reached the door because of missing children so I spent another 10-20 minutes outside. I’m not complaining about the process, I’m very glad the children were found, I’m venting about the poor timing of it all.

In the end, I totally missed the panel. I proceeded to spent the rest of the day hanging out with Calamity by snaking through the packed and slow moving dealer’s room and looking for the few available spaces to sit down.

We wrapped up the day by visiting Calssara and Elffi’s table. Then we called it in early (sfter I bought candied apples) to free ourselves from our costumes and to have some good food off site.

Ottawa ComicCon was the first convention of the season. My weekend was marred with many mishaps but overall I had an okay weekend.

Let's start  off by saying it took me close to an hour to bus to the event location everyday. Meaning I commuted for close to 2 hours everyday there and back, which was very draining.

FRIDAY
I had to commute directly from work to the event. Luckily my coworkers are cool with my hobby, so I was able to get my makeup and put my Yoruichi wig on before leaving. After the long bus ride, I managed to get enough time to get dressed right before starting my Cosplay on a Budget panel with Kudrel. It was a packed room and I believe everyone left a little thriftier than before. I breifly caught up with some friends before calling it a night.

SATURDAY
Sometimes, the cosplay gods do not favour you. It was a disaster for me to get ready in the morning in my Cheetah costume. I had to skip on coloured contact because the ones I used the day before seriously irritated my eyes. I couldn't find my body piant so I opted for eyeliner. All the primer in the world wouldn't make it stay put. I also couldn't keep my leg pieces on especially since I need to find a pair of scissor to cut the double sided tape, and it was a brand I never used, that ended up being sub-par.

Judgement day, as in I was judging the masquerade. There were almost 40 entries which Cats Luna, Suki Cosplay and myself all assessed in the greenroom. There were some tough decisions to make, but in the end the Avatar group reigned supreme with their skit including a choreographed fighting scene using ribbons for bending, in addition to having well made studded/embossed leather costumes at the novice level. (Since when do novice craft leather armour!).
A special thank you to Kim, the masquerade director, who did a wonderful job and invited me to be a judge.

SUNDAY
I met with the contestants at the award ceremony and congratulated them on their hard work. Then I scarfed down some food with Cosplay Calamity, followed by a shoot with Belziir Photography in Yoruichi, in the cold windy field behind the con centre. I briefly ran into Marie-Claude Bourbonnais, we were both judges at last year's masquerade. The photo above was the only one I got all weekend.

This was my first time travelling alone by plane and to New York city no less. I had a great time in the Big Apple.
Here are the highlights: Fabric shopping, Times Square, Huge Con, Loads of Goodies, Karaoke, Archery, and Good Friends.

For a first year con I am astonished at the turnout that Ottawa Comic Con got in terms of attendance and cosplayers.

Over 20,000 weekend passes and thousands more daily passes were sold leading to quite a lineup to get inside. That's not bad for a government town.

Check out the gallery below for some cosplay photos.

I spent the most of my weekend at Wizard World manning the SteamPixie booth with Kudrel and co. It was nice meeting new people and helping them turn into pixies. I also made a few sales of my own, YAY!

Overall the convention was laidback. There was a steady flow of people on Saturday with a slower flow on Sunday, but I was expecting more attendees. Below are some photos of some of the few cosplayers at the event, they were hard to come by.

I wore Karako (Nurse Vers) on Saturday but did not take any photos. Sorry. I didn't spot any of my usual photographer friends.

I only got a Saturday night pass to attend the dance and the masquerade which had only 15 entries. Kudrel won some awards for her delightfully creepy original Gargoyle costume.

The con was pretty unorganized this year: registration was late, they didn't have schedules most of Friday, and event times didn't match in the booklet and the schedule.

Hopefully they can get their act together for next year. I really liked attending 2 years ago and was quite disappointed with my latest visit.