#the amount of cons i went to and the friend i had who was lolita basically let me see all these facets | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cosplayinamerica · 5 years

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Super Galaxy Elise from League of Legends // Cosplayer : Lumi.Star.Cos // Photo : SpellboundHeart

When deciding what League of Legend skins I want to bring to life there are always two things I consider. How much the outfit will challenge my skills as a creator and how many other people have made that same outfit. The most rewarding ones for me require me to get a bit more creative and while it can be frustrating at times, the end result is always worth it. I also always get a lot of excited people who are just happy to see their favorite skin created in the flesh and it feels great to help be a part of creating that happiness. Super Galaxy Elise, in particular, had a lot of challenges I had never attempted before: spandex bodysuit, extra limbs, and interesting shoe requirements being three of the largest ones.

Super Galaxy Elise was a massive project that took a while to complete and had a lot of readjustments along the way. On my Instagram Lumi.star.cos you can view a lot of WIP posts about the processes but it boils down to a few aspects. The bodysuit is made of spandex. The back brace for the legs is made of worbla to give it more rigidity in supporting them. The legs themselves are made of EVA foam and attached to the brace via Rigid Pet G Tubing which is a sort of acrylic like rod. Finally, the shoe stilts were designed and created by myself and Darkflame cosplay to give me the right standing silhouette and are made from metal. This project took about 36 weeks but that’s including other projects and a few weeks vacation that interrupted the flow at times.

At Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) I gave Elise a test run and am so glad I did. My favorite part of wearing her around the convention had to be the absolute shock and awe surrounding the foot pieces I was wearing. The first thing about them that usually drew attention was the sound, I hadn’t put any sort of rubber bottom on the metal so each step made a pretty significant amount of sound even in the loud con environment. Once they looked my way through the comments usually started coming in to the degree of, “How are you even walking?” or “What’s up with your feet?” or outright exclamations of astonishment. It was fun to hear and have the opportunity to show off what Darkflame and I had created.

Overall Elise wore great and I was really happy but I did end up with a bit of a snafu when one of my spider legs started to snap. I had just finished with a larger photoshoot when I noticed this and the other community members were so helpful and kind about finishing up and pointing me in the direction of the cosplay repair booth. Unfortunately, before I could arrive the leg snapped off fully but once again everyone was so understanding about needing to put that costume away early for the rest of the con. I was really grateful for how respectful and supportive everyone was of the situation.

Ever since that first convention I’ve always loved cosplay. Each year I’ve handmade more of my costumes until I was doing it from scratch and each year I’ve cosplayed more characters per convention and expanded the number of conventions I attend. Now it plays an even larger part as I’m working towards creating a cosplay supply store based in Raleigh. One of the biggest hurdles of making my own cosplays was finding the materials and advice for how to make more complicated things I was interested in. I have a lot of plans to put together a storefront that can serve as a place for people to solicit advice, practice their skills, and even work on projects in addition to being able to find the materials they need and want for their projects. If you or any readers are interested in seeing something like this happen then they should follow me on Instagram. I’ll be posting updates there and opening up a Gofundme soon to try and help raise starting costs once I finish doing all of my research and figuring out all the bits n’ pieces.

My best friend was always a huge cosplay and anime fan and in middle school, she dragged me to Animazement with her. At first, I was a bit skeptical, sure that if I wore a costume with her I’d stand out and be weird but when I arrived, the opposite was true. Within about three hours of being at the convention, I went down to the dealer’s room and purchased my first cosplay, a black and white lolita cat getup. The next year I made sure to come prepared with an actual costume of my own, Suigintou from Rozzen Maiden. That cosplay was purchased and modified slightly for accuracy in my mom’s sewing room with her guidance and is what led me down the eventual path of creation.

#super galaxy elise #league of legends #cosplay

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cybr-grl · 6 years

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OKASHICON 2K18 WAS A WHOLESOME GÜD TIME

Ah...Okashicon 2018...

Just thinking about it brings a smile on my face (◡‿◡✿)

I have been to my fare share of anime conventions. Some small and some so extremely large that halfway through the day you just pass out from trekking miles and miles in 6 inch tall platform shoes.

Okashicon was not like any other con that I have been to. This was their very first year but surprisingly it was so well run that you might have thought that they had been doing this for years. Nothing was delayed, badges were handed out promptly, volunteers knew what was going on, there was a great lineup of panels, etc. The only complaint I might have was that I wished there were more people to enjoy everything Okashicon had to offer but of course since this is their first year they’re not going to have a hundred thousand people show up. But even though there wasn't that many people, the few artist alley friends I spoke to said they still made a good profit and everyone seemed to have a dandy time. Many people called it “Chillcon”. Which was very true. Usually at cons I’d be running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off trying to get to my next desired panel or getting bumped around in the sea of people in the dealers room. So much so that I wouldn't have enough time to hang a nice conversation to any of my pals that I bumped into. But I spent most of my time at Okashicon just chillin’ with my friends because it’s exactly that: Chillcon.

I also especially loved the fact that Okashicon really cared about the J-fashion community as a whole. There were many panels that catered to J-fashion folks and the mixer at the end of the con welcomed all types of J-fashion style which really warmed my heart. ALSO ALSO THE MIXER WAS CALLED “CLUB KONPEITO PONPON” WHICH I THINK IS THE CUTEST THING IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WOOOOOOORLD!!! （；´Д｀）

Day 0 was spent at model fittings for mother freakin Listen Flavor which HOLY COW I AM SO HONORED TO BE CHOSEN AS A MODEL FOR THEIR RUNWAY SHOW THANK YOU FAKE STAR THANK YOU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i am not worthy (☉‿☉✿)

On Day 1, I also spent the entire day preparing for the fashion show and hanging out with good friends that I had not seen for a long time! I even got to meet Kurebayashi, one of my biggest inspirations in life, again!!! The first time I met her was last year at San Japan and we got to trade kandi which I still have and treasure so so much! I almost cried because she actually still remembered me and was even wearing the bracelet I traded with her. I was so star struck, I felt like I was in a movie. Haruka Kurebayashi was one of the guests of the con and is an image model for Listen Flavor so she walked in the fashion show as well. 50% Dangerous was also showcased in the fashion show! They are an American based fashion brand that create the dopest clothing I have ever seen!!! The fashion show went spectacularly without a hitch thanks to all the models who put in all their hard work, the amazing people who helped with hair and makeup, the spectacular Rubab, and many many other people who helped backstage in one way or another. Texas J-Pop Idol, Galaxy Girl Paida, even made an appearance halfway through the show and everyone loved her! After the fashion show, a few of my close friends and I headed to a nearby sushi place for dinner which really hit the spot because I only had a cucumber sandwich to eat all day (sorry, Mom). And then we went back to the con for a bit to participate in the K-pop random dance panel. I recently just started listening to K-pop so I had no clue what any of the dances were so all I did was just flail my arms around while my amazing friend Sam literally WORKED IT (she knew the dance moves to every song, I felt like a proud mom).

Day 2 was when things really got poppin’. In the morning I cosplayed as Kanna Kamui (don't lewd the loli please and thank you) from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and had a fun little group photoshoot! Afterwhich I changed out into a more colorful Decora look and headed to the guest autographs session to give Kurechan her gift which funny enough she was wanting to buy already so I’m glad she loved it. Then I headed to the J-fashion Swap Meet which was CRAZY PACKED. I spent most of it sitting on the floor eating a melon pan and drinking Mango Calpico but all I remember was an endless amount of lolita dresses from the windooowwww to the wall. Then we quickly made our way to the Cosplay Contest which was AMAZING. Everyone was super talented at their craft and Moderately Okay Cosplay was hilarious. Galaxy Girl Paida even made a special half time appearance and we were all super gung ho and cheered her on!!! After that, the gang and I were hungry so we drove all the way to Kura Sushi for some delicious revolving sushi where they were super nice to us and gave us all free Gachapons!!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ IT FELT LIKE CHRISTMAS. Then we checked out Kinokuniya til we were the last ones left in the store (sorrymasen). We went back to the con and hung out at the pool til it was time for the rave which was super fun!!!! God bless Tina (who is one of the designers for 50% Dangerous!) for taking care of us and showering us with love and hydration, WE APPRECIATE YOU ヾ(＠⌒▽⌒＠)ﾉ

And last but not least, Day 3! My last day was completely dedicated to the Club Konpeito Ponpon (try saying that 10 times fast) J-fashion Mixer where everyone was dressed up in the cutest looks!!! I walked into the event and my eyes were hit with so much color and happiness that I started crying tears of joy. The guest DJs, Drop Team Epic, were even playing while the festivities were going on so not only were my eyes happy but my ears were as well. We were served some delicious and really filling sandwiches! And the mocktails...oh the mocktails...my mouth is watering as I type this but they absolutely blew my mind. I’ve never had one in my entire life but I am glad that I am alive to experience the wonders of a mocktail. I ordered this blueberry flavored one and they added a cute little shark gummy candy in it and the whole time I was just singing the Baby Shark song in my head (Baby Shark dodododododo). They even added some pop rocks in it but my dumbass choked on one because I’m a 5 year old that needs supervision at all times. While we were eating, they did some raffles and thanks to the lucky ticket that Tina nicely got for me, I actually won something! I’m wearing it right now but it’s this soft fuzzy Little Twin Stars blanket cape pillow thingey that Kinokuniya graciously sponsored! And then they had the guests, 50% Dangerous and Kurechan, choose their favorite looks and they chose my beautiful gorgeous amazing friends Van and Meci which was so well deserved! I LOVE MY FRIENDS SO MUCH ꒰๑˃͈꒳˂͈๑꒱ﾉ*ﾞ̥ After the prizes, it was selfie hour and kandi making time! I made a neon rainbow kandi bracelet that reads BEGONE THOT on it which I will pass down to my future grandchildren who will then pass it down to future cybr family generations to come.

All in all, Okashicon 2018 was a FRIGGIN BLAST and I will 10000000% return next year and wholeheartedly encourage others to attend as well! I am so so grateful to the entire team who made Okashicon a reality and give them a gazillion claps for all their hard work!!!

Thank you so much for reading this far and I hope you have a swell day! (^з^)-☆

#okashicon #okashicon2018 #animeconvention #con #conlife #decorafashion #kawaiilife #jfashion #japanesefashion

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eternaltchotchke · 7 years

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Aight and here's all the shit I got plus all the badges I could find for the years I've been to Sabo.

I'll put a read more about like. Everything because I admittedly wanna talk about it, like Sabo as a whole because like I said in my last post, I think that's gonna be the last Saboten I'm going to...at least unless I do a booth. But that's besides the point. So yeah read more if you wanna read all my nostalgia shit. Stop here if you're good, lol. I’m warning you, it’s fucking long AF.

2009: My second ever convention. I actually got to go because a friend of mine got tickets for her birthday and she invited me to go with her. I was, like, the kind of person I think her parents wanted her to be like? ‘Cause at the time I was a nerd, but I was introverted and I think they were under the impression that I was a good christian straight girl(™) and well. Lol, neither of us were. This was way before I ever tried doing cosplay, and well, technically I did a really shitty Misty at PCC that same year, but like. OMG. It was terrible. I think this was the year I did a ‘lolita?’ outfit? But really it was just me trying to be edgy. It was kind of cute, but man, I would never wear it today.

2010: So this was senior year of high school and the con was actually at the Hilton just down the street from my school. It was my third convention and I got tickets for my friend and I invited my cousin, but he got food poisoning on one of the days he was going to go, so I ended up soloing it for the rest of the weekend. I went as Miki from Shugo Chara and...it was...bad, lol. I tried making the hat, and well, it was a craftfoam hat and everything else I just kind of found around the house. I don’t remember much else from this con to be honest, just that...I went as Miki for at least one day.

2011: This was the year that I got a lot more into Hetalia. I had just graduated from high school and was still kind of...figuring myself out. I dragged an, at the time, friend there with me to a Hetalia cafe and that was fun. I think that was the first time I’d had a con squish? Crush??? The America was mega cool and ooh, I know that was also the year I went to the Eyeshine concert! I was really into Johnny Yong Bosch’s voice ‘cause I was watching Code Geass and Bleach at the time, and well. I like voice actors a whole bunch? And the concert was really cool and I still have the video I saved from it...and yeah. Good times. Actually, p great times, heh.

2012: This was the year I finally went with con friends! God, it was such a good time because for once I had people to hang out with the whole weekend. I’d met a good majority of them at the last PCC and one of the main people I remember is Maddi who’s still one of my best of best friends. There’s also Sabby and again, one of the best friends a person can ever have. We weren’t close at the time, but I do have a pic with her in it? So. She was there. And I think one of the people in it is Hanna who is an awesome person and I love her so much. She’s great like, the coolest person and dang it all, I love my friends?

And then there are a lot of people that I hung out with at the time that...admittedly, I want to forget. One of them, I hate so very very much. Because they were a toxic person and terrible to my best friends and fuck, I wish I had actually stood up for my friends when I was younger and called out some of the shit they pulled because I should have. But. Well. Hindsight...and then the other? Well, I don’t hate but...I guess thinking back on things? It’s awkward and I was awkward and man, that was a...time. I see ‘em sometimes and it’s like, sweet bajeebus you haven’t changed at all.

There was a lot of shit that happened on the last day and like, one of it was there was a panel that didn’t go well and then the other was someone was kinda mega rude to a friend? And while yeah I understand their stance on things, they said things in a rude way that just...could’ve been said a lot better or at least in a kinder way.

But as a sidenote, that was the year I got Laboon! And I still have him, and I still love him. He’s a good whale.

2013: ...this was...the year of kind of an end to some things. But, the beginning of some really REALLY great things. This was the year I became really good friends with Jed, who is like, one of the best of best friends a person could have. He’s such a cool dude, and nerd, but also cool and I might not say it often enough but I’m really lucky to have become his friend. I gotta say that for all my friends, especially Sabby, Maddi, and Jed. I love y’all so much and really, I can’t imagine what my life would be like without y’all?

Anyway, this was the most stressful con I had ever been to. Admittedly? The first day was p good, I went as Cecil (here we go, Cecil version 1 lol) and Jed was Carlos and we had a good time all around. Theeeen Twitter ‘cause at the time, there was a lot of like...sonas for the websites and I was like, I have all that, I’ll be twitter! ...but I ended up having to wait a….long time for my friends to arrive and god, there was just...nothing but drama that day. It was not good.

Day 3 was 1000% better because me and Jed went back to Cecil and Carlos and all around that was just a dang good time. I think someone had actually told me that I was their headcanon Cecil? Which like. Literally made everything that weekend so much better because I was using my real hair (which at the time was sort of long) and I played up my brown skin. There were quite a few other Cecils, but from what I could remember, most of them were the blond white ones and that kind of helped me stand out.

Oh, and that was the first year we attempted flower crowns! Well, I tried, I literally got two garlands of roses and wrapped them around each other. We lost them on the first day, but another Carlos and Cecil found them, which was hilarious to me and I was really glad that happened actually, hah.

2014: HELL.

2015: --god no do you really wanna know about 2014? Okay one sec.

2014: So. I didn’t wanna pay for a ticket. I REALLY didn’t wanna pay for a ticket because also I was flat broke and honestly cons were so far out my price range at the time I shouldn’t have done it.

I did it anyway.

So 2014 was the year of volunteering and doing panels. It was also the first year we did a photo shoot, which was really fun and Maddi’s and Sabby’s were great. I still do love the ones we did for me and Jed, but there was something really nice and bright about the X-Ray and Vav stuff. To be completely honest? I don’t remember much like, for specifics of the con, just that we did panels and that I met a p cool Garrus cosplayer (who still cosplayed the same Garrus at PCC this year, and from the looks of it, it didn’t seem he made it at all more comfortable and I was like, DUDE. MAKE IT SO YOU CAN FREAKING SIT HOLY FUCK).

I’ve admittedly been going back through all my social media accounts to see if anything could jog my memory, and the only thing I remember clearly was that someone thought I was master chef in my Geoff cosplay and that was funny to me.

...I was also apparently America for a day. Which was p alright because I was admittedly a dang great America. Funny story, the only reason I know I was America was because someone from my past recognized us and snapped a pic. I’m like, looking at it and it’s just so funny to me that it turned out as good as it was for like, a really quick throw together thing.

2015: SHIT I HAD TO GO BACK TO MY OLD SHIT TO SEE WHAT THE HELL I WAS AND I FORGOT I THREW TOGETHER A CASUAL!DORIAN FOR THAT. Good fucking god, that’s hilarious, I was always somehow left tiddy commitee...even though it was a v casual Dorian, I guess I just had the right amount of hair for it, lol.

Also, it was the year that we did a panel for the Ladies of Hetalia and then we also did a Youtuber Let’s Players panel with prizes and I only remember spending the night before making those prizes, but the one that everyone really loved was the Geoff picture, which also was a fucking pain in the ass to make because would you be surprised that that picture was really hard to find a good enough quality one to print out? The best thing was though, that I kept running into the people who won the picture and I think some sort of cult formed around it. I’m not sure. I worry for that picture frame sometimes…

I think that was also the last time I cosplayed Cecil. Sabby was my Dana, which I mega appreciate her for, and I took a lot of liberties on my outfit...and based it much more heavily on the weirdness of Cec rather than the button up and tie version that was really popular. It was more fun just to do a Cecil cosplay TBH, and I actually can’t tell if Jed was there or not? I’m also not sure if Maddi was either...uhhh, most of the stuff I can find are selfies of me and Sabby which...I’m not sure of a lot of details actually.

2016: Man, that was the year of Undertale, Dragon Age, and Hamsteak. Er. Homestook. HOMESTUCK. Also the year I got a really nice camera to take pictures with. It was really fun because I got some great pics of our God Tier outfits and I’m still p happy with my Dave cape. Special thanks to Jed for making 99% of that hood. I still owe him a fuck ton.

This was also the year that me and Sabby went to a really fun quiz panel with an awesome Mettaton who is still p dang cool. I wasn’t sure if there was another this year? I don’t think I was able to make it to it, and I know that there was just so much work put into it, I was super blown away.

I also brought back Fen one last time, and that was fun. I dabbed for a dude and that made him super happy, then I just fucked around for the rest of the con. Ooh, also there was Naruto running. Late at night because also, sometimes you just gotta be a fucking loser with your friends. We...kind of started a whole thing? And I feel a little bad looking back on it? But it was at least, at first, just me and Hanna that Naruto ran down the empty hallway to Haruka Kanata and that was just. Such a fun time.

We did another photoshoot that year too, got some legit pics for hamsteak cosplays which was awesome. Then I had a lot of fun editing them. I’d say there’s more to say for this con, but...not really. Oh, but we did spend a lot of time in the activity lounge? Which I love the activity lounge ‘cause they have crayons and hang up your drawings on the walls and I did a ‘great’ drawing of Dave and Karkat that someone took home.

2017: So here we are, eight years later. To be honest? I was actually sort of dreading this con. There was so much just...not happening and I was feeling kind of eh...and I should’ve definitely gotten more done on Gabe but I didn’t. So instead I did Boxerwatch which was still fun, and my armor actually held up really fucking well. Which I was mega happy abound.

Saturday was kind of...a time. Like, I wanted to have fun, and I know I looked cool AF? But it was so hot and humid and I was in like, three layers of clothes and craftfoam and I didn’t bring a change of clothes. Which was stupid on my part. But! Jenny lent me her hot dog costume? Which literally made my day and it turned the whole thing from an /eh day to a THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER sort of time. I’m not gonna lie, I love wearing those mascot sort of costumes because the shenanigans you can have while wearing them. It’s just so good.

Sunday was awesome because I got to hang out with Clyde, Sam, Ray, and I met Keyboard who is p dang cool. Also, I met my hello new person quota of one, so, double accomplishment. On top of that? My armor held up ridiculously well that day and so did my shitty painted on beard and I was literally. So fucking comfortable. I know I was missing a fuck ton of things for Gabe but it worked out alright since I went with a mega casual version. I’m definitely gonna make sure I can wear that jacket anywhere I go though because I love it a bunch? And it was mega comfy. Plus I’m thinking of making the shoulder pads something permanent to the jacket so I could have my own Gabriel Reyes jacket to just. Wear and feel cool in. Well, not cool. More like fucking sweltering because also I live in AZ.

Monday was just a casual day. I think I’m coming down with something and I wasn’t gonna kill myself by wearing Hanzo so, I edged it up. I was kind of really bummed because the Eyeshine concert was cancelled and it was sort of the main thing I was looking forward to all weekend? But I think Sabo might have messed it up p badly because on the website they set it for Sunday at night, which would’ve been perfect ‘cause then all three of us could’ve gone. But the schedule moved it to Monday and I was sad ‘cause it was their farewell tour...and I kind of felt like it’d be just...one of the perfect ways to end my time going to Sabo.

And so yeah, that’s kind of it? Like, I definitely did have fun over the years, there was stress AF during some parts, but then there were some really really great times. I’ve sort of...lost a lot of interest in anime since I started going, and while I will admit, I do still enjoy watching it, I’m so choosy about what I like and what I’ll watch that a lot of the main things available at Sabo don’t interest me nearly as much. There’s one more anime cosplay I wanna do, and admittedly it’d be really freaking easy to pull off...just gotta get the stuff. But other than that single cosplay, I just...I would like to focus on different things. Plus, it’s just so hard to get stuff together because of the timing of it all. Working as a teaching assistant means that I have very little time during those weeks leading up to the con to do anything. The week before was kind of hell, as I had to stay on campus until at least 5:30 most days and god, I couldn’t work on really anything. That and I didn’t have the mental capacity to work on Gabe over the summer, plus I’d planned to have Cyberninja!Hanzo at least started but that just couldn’t happen.

But anyway, that’s it really! This turned out a lot longer than I meant for it to be and I’m probably going to cross post this onto my DeviantArt. So thank you Saboten-Con, it’s been one helluva ride. There were some ups, downs, turns, and spins and while some of those times really really sucked...there were many others that were just so great and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

#long post technically #sabo2017 #thx for the memories sabo i had a great time #also i apologize to any of the tags this pops up in #i talked a lot about stuff and cosplays and it's probably gonna show up in too many tags im so sorry

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