Otakuthon 2011

My Yoruichi costume worn on Friday

I don't know what would be the unofficial name of Otk this year. Maybe "I know you Con" since it was a barrage of familiar faces and friends all weekend.

The weekend had a few hiccups, but overall it was a great experience and I learned a lot since it was my first time judging a masquerade.

Here's the brief: Cool costumes, good friends, judging is hard, notes on judging, artist alley hiccups and triumphs, Yaya Han & Marie Claude, & smelly bus.

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Day 1 - Meet and Greet

Day one of Otakuthon was simple. I just started up conversations with all the people I knew. A familiar face around every corner. All I got to check out were the dealer's room and artist alley. Bought a fascinator from Steampixie (from cosplayer Kudrel) and the latest volume of Black Butler.

There were great cosplays already out for the shortest day. I wore my Yoruichi Captain version and took it easy for the day.

Also the hotel has a pool with a glass bottom to the entrance/lobby, very cool design. Which I didn't get to use :(

Day 2 - Judgment day

I wore Mercedes for the day and ran into some difficulties. My wings were damaged from packing them in a small piece of luggage. I got a stain on the leotard, then a grease stain while trying to clean it. Hopefully throwing it in the washing machine will get rid of the last of it.Spent the morning with my two photographer friends Artisto Virtuoso and James Park. We spent most our time in the common areas and talking with friends while taking a lot of photos.

The most of my day was spent in the green room judging the masquerade. It was a great experience. Sarcasm-hime, a fellow judge, was a great mentor who taught me everything I need to know. Jusdepomme did a great job running the masquerade and keeping everything on schedule. It was quite exhausting but rewarding experience. Having front row seats to the masquerade definitely gives you a greater experience with the performances. It's too bad they had a quite a few audio problems.

Here are the lessons I've learned from judging. Cosplayers take note.

• You don't have the time to write down all the details of a costume, you have to remember the stand outs, both good and bad.
• I will never complain about having to wait forever in the greenroom because it really does take that much time to judge all the contestants.
• A group is only as strong as its weakest link. Group cosplays are impressive on stage but the costume making skills have to match when it comes to craftsmanship judging
• Making the final decision on who wins an award is difficult. Granted there are always standouts that you know you will win something. The tricky part is the other awards besides the best in the category.
• If you put a lot of effort into one element of a costume, and you emphasize it, it will get noticed and you may be rewarded for it.

Saturday night was relaxed. A bunch of us had some pizza at midnight. It was so delicious, but anything would taste good if you were that hungry!

I unfortunately forgot my camera in my room so now photos of Saturday :(
Here's Ackson's videos to make up for my lack of photos.

Day 3 - Artist Alley, Awards & Yaya

Sunday started off with some difficulty. Turns out I was not assigned table 411, instead I was at 441 and it took close to 30mins to figure it out. So I lost potential sales while this was all sorted out. In the end I got a table so I was happy. Sales were significantly better than last year. I ran into the same issue as last year: I sold out of black and white winged headbands and everyone afterwards was asking for them.

Thanks for the support of my friends who came by and bought something. A good thing about having a table is that everyone comes to you so you can say goodbye to everyone on the last day.
A special thanks to Captain-Ruby who looked after my table when I went to the awards ceremony. <3

The award ceremony was a pleasure to attend. It was nice seeing the joy on the faces of the people who won. Two people ended up crying on stage.

I manned my table till the end of the con and spent rest of time with friends and ended the day by going for sushi in China town with the beautiful Yaya Han, who was the cosplay guest of honour this year, her partner, along with Marie Claude Bourbonnais and her partner, as well as my roommates Thornrose and Iridescent-fall. We had some great conversations. I have really come to appreciate all the work Yaya puts into her business and brand. Best of luck to her. Seeing her really make we want to create an Ame-Comi Cheetah cosplay, which I have been considering for awhile now.

Dinner finished rather late so I had to hop the midnight bus back home. It was smelly and old but it was worth it.