Tastes like Wicked

I’ve recovered! Halfway.

Sorry about the delay in the final post kids, I’ve been under the weather and spending most of my time asleep. But now I’m awake and here to fill you in.

This blog might come up a little short because day 4 itself is a little short. There wasn’t much left to do but hit the exhibitors hall for last minute sales and wander around to catch the remaining cosplays. We did however manage to catch the How to Build a Mecha panel that was going on around noon. It was amazing! We all sat enraptured as the guys up front talked about all the details of an in the process Mecha that they were building (having started last year), going over flaws they had run into, and different methods of corrections.  I think one of my favorite aspects of what they’re doing in this project is that they’re not looking for military sales (unlike in most animes) but to actually have these machines serve as a functional part of our daily worklives. Imagine, using a machine for the job of several types of construction jobs with only one pilot.

We even managed to give them our information of hopes of helping out! Be it through recruiting or whatever, we want to see this dream come to fruition.

After that, it was catching some last minute pictures of random cosplays that we’d see here and there, chat up friends that we made, bid our fairwells, and head on home.

In all, it was a great year at Anime Expo and I’m glad we got to attend. I can’t wait for next years convention which will, thankfully be back in LA! As much as I loved 06 and 07 in Anahiem (and thank god we’re not back in Long Beach) the convention center itself is so much more accommodating for cosplayer needs.

I’ll be posting again soon with further updates as to planned conventions, cosplays, and other such wonderful goodies!

~Raven

Well I’ll be the first to say your plans don’t always turn out exactly how you expect them to. On the bright side though, we had a fantastic time walking around the expo after a decent nights rest.

We had no planned gatherings, so while I walked around in normal civilian attire Kaori Night walked around as the same named character from the well known show, Sailor Moon. This was done mostly in the exhibition hall. I love the way the entire area is set up. It feels as functional as it can with droves of people milling through the large hall, brushing past each other, trying to avoid bumping into anyone and yet avoid accidentally crossing into more cosplayers getting their photographs taken. It’s hectic, but in a way that you can’t help but enjoy.

The day before we had stopped at a booth by Timeless Trends and met a handful of helpful and eager individuals who provided a great fitting experience and proved that they had superior quality corsets available to buy! We hit other booths, such as Bodyline, where Kaori got an adorable dress (which she wore around for part of her time as Kaori from Sailor Moon today), and various manga and anime sellers.

Then we hit the artists alley, which was wonderful to wander about. Sure browsing DeviantArt is fun to do, but walking through artists alley is a completely different experience. It’s fun to see what the people behind the art are like in person. I got to spot artists like Bara-chan who I have been a fan of for a long time. There was one for who I was searching though, and that was Tessa Stone author of HINABN . I myself didn’t get a chance to really talk to her, but I did however, get a great Worth pin (one of her characters) which I wear now with girly pride.

We managed to get a great series of pictures from several gatherings including Full Metal Alchemist (in which we saw a great ‘Angel’ Hughes and his wife, who both were received with cheers from the crowd). There were large groups of Ed’s and Roy’s, quite a few homunculii, and even a couple rather well done Hohenheim’s. In all a great gathering that was fun to watch.

The second gathering I managed to attend today, was the Hanna is Not a Boys Name (HINABN) and while it was a small group that gathered (who later went out to dinner) it was fun to see everyone dressed up as the various well loved characters that I and so many others have grown fond of. After a few pictures, we bid each other all farewell, and went about the rest of the evening. From that point, we wandered.

As we continued to meander through the convention center we continued to take pictures, socialize, and simply enjoy the company of  all of you wonderful con goers.

It’s only day 2 so far, and we’ve been having a great time. Thank you all of you for being such great people to work with! See you tomorrow!

~Raven

We are now at 6 days before pre-reg. Lust still needs to be made, but if it cuts too close she won’t be making an appearance this year. I’m working hard to not let that happen. I’ve made her dress so many times I should be able to pound it out in a couple of days.

I have a lovely design for her, consisting of a built-in corset with fabulously accurate deep green silk. Any future Lust costume will probably be in black, sadly, since this material was bought during my time in the middle east.

I’m still waiting for Matilda’s wig to get in, but I’m so happy to report that Nehelenia’s hair pieces are here! Now all I need are extensions! I’ll post my progress when I begin. I’ll be making clip-in bangs for her as well. I think it would be an understatement to say we’re very excited for anime-expo! We’ll be covering the main events as well as as many gatherings as we can!

Cameras ready, con-goers!

Kaori