MeltingMirror Cosplay

Colossalcon has been consistently one of my favourite conventions every year. I ran into a few issues leader up to this year but the overall experience was great and I am very happy that I was able to attend. I met a lot of new people which gave me that old school con feel where everything is new again but you are also surrounded by old friends.

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.

What a whirlwind weekend. I had a brief stint at Colossalcon this year because I had to leave early for a friend's wedding, but since this is one of my favorite cons of the year I made it happen anyway.

THURSDAY
Kurumasha, Calamity, and I left by car for Sandusky at 5:30 am. The drive surprisingly didn't feel long and I didn't doze off for most of the 10hr trip (I almost always do). Instead I spent most of my time hand sewing parts of both of my costumes, including sewing my entire mermaid tail for Ursula. We made it to the Kalahari at about 4:30pm just about the time the rest of our friends were checking into our villa.
We quickly got settled in then went straight to the waterpark to enjoy the slides and the hot-tubs. After catching up with some friends we settled back into our villa and then the final stages of crafting began. A special thanks to Kurumasha who helped me string and apply beads until 1 am.

FRIDAY
I got dressed in Takane first thing in the morning in time for a shoot with M1Photo at 10am, quickly followed by shoots with Eurobeat Kasumi, and Anna Fischer. In between shoots I was running into friends and catching up with them.
Then I went back to change into my second costume Ursula. Before I got dressed I helped out LunaLanie by applying her Jinx tattoos. I can't resist helping a cosplayer in need, even though I just met them.
I went to shoot with Anna again and learned quickly how impractical mermaids tails are to shoot. Having bound legs really limits your poses and you are almost always in a  constant state of doing sit-ups. So most of our shots consisted of me trying to look pretty while trying not to fall off a rock and flexing my abs. We'll see how they turn out. Afterwards, I had to pack it in early since it started to rain and the outdoor waterpark was closed.
The rest of the day and night was spent hanging out with friends and partying.

SATURDAY
This was a laid back day. I spent the morning getting ready for my friend's wedding then hanging out with my housemates before going to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye since I don't see my cosplay friends often enough.
The drive to the airport was quick and I breezed through security. I barely made it to the wedding on time due to delays... Thanks Air Canada.

Overall, even though my visit was short, I still love Colossalcon. Here's a Vine that sums up some of the fun at Colossal.

Costume write-ups and photos are coming soon.

I was only at G-anime for Saturday but I had a great time.
I spent the morning hanging out in Vickybunnyangel's room getting my costume ready. After doing some running around and errands I got changed. I ran in Elemental shooting my friend Amurita in her Mask salesman costume. We also snapped a few quick photos before I was settled in the greenroom.

I got to hang out Jayuna Cosplay and Kudrel while we waited our turn on  stage. It went smoothly except for a little trip on my way off stage. I wrapped up the day by having dinner with friends. All in all a good day.
See you next year.
Greenroom photo by Katya Perin
Stage photos by Pretty & Deadly Photography

Calamity and I were travel buddies for the weekend and we had the joy of getting to the airport for 5am to catch our 6am flight to start our journey. We landed in Atlanta after noon and went straight to the Hyatt to check into our room then meet up with our friends at Hooters. It was my first and last time going there. The food was bland and the service was horrible. We waited forever for our food and even longer for our bills which eventually made me miss out on a planned shoot.  Anyways, the rest of the day was spent wandering the event and eventually partying the in the Marriott at night.

Friday morning I got straight into my Sharla costume for a shoot with Jason Chau Photography. It always nice to collaborate with new photographers :D Keeping with my trend of forgetting costume pieces, I forgot to put on my weird club thing on my left arm - which you can barely miss since so much is going on there. I changed out of it immediately after the shoot to easily move through the event.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch with a bunch of photographers and friends. It was nice catching up and meeting even more new people.

Calamity and I spent the afternoon browsing the dealers room.  There was so much to see although I was not a fan of the layout. I much prefer open warehouse like settings for dealer's room because they are easy to navigate. There is also a noticeable variety of goods in the dealer's room compared to the typical anime convention mostly: Lots of leather, quality kimonos, belly dancing attire, pocket watches, and corsets, corsets, corsets.

Friday night I had a great dinner at Ray's. It was little expensive but the food was great! I then spent the night hanging out with friends at the Marriott lobby again.