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I-Con! Where every type of fandom under the sun gets naked and runs through the sprinkler...
So! I-Con was a hoot. It claims to be the largest sci-fi/fantasy convention in the Northeast, and it sure looked that way. Over six thousand attendees milling around the Stony Brook Campus...none of which I got to see because I was so freaking busy.
The drive wasn't too bad...until we approached NYC, which is simultaneously the world's most stunning, exciting place and a blight of crowded humanity. If we were small pets owned by some giant super-race of alien beings, New York City would be a habitat deemed "too overcrowded and stressful...may cause females to eat their young in distress...avoid keeping your humans in such overcrowded habitats."
Anyway that's how it makes ME feel...too freaking many damn people, too many trucks, wholly inadequate roads. NYC turned a pleasant seven hour drive into an eight and a half hour drive, with the tail end of the trip being the most frightening part. Eeep! Next time, screw the GW bridge during afternoon rush hour...I'm taking the LI ferry from New England. Seven pleasant hours of driving with a pretty boat ride at the end...now THAT'S my idea of the proper way to conclude a road trip.
The convention site was awesome and very pretty, Stony Brook University on Long Island Sound = SO pretty. If Charlotte ever wants to go there she has my blessings. We were in the sports complex, a huge indoor arena. I don't know how many vendors there were (my guess is about fifty or so, great ratio of customers to vendors by the way) but I was SO happy to find that my table was right near the rollup door entrance. We arrived at 5;30 PM, the sales hours on Friday were from 6 to 10 PM and we had time to spare (I set up ~lightning~ quick even under the most dire circumstances, Yay me!).
I got sandwiched between a Star Wars card -n- crap vendor and a really nice booth full of anime stuff. There was a HUGE booth of anime stuff directly behind us, too. I knew where my money was gonna go, I can tell you that.
This is me at my table. I only had one eight foot long table, but I think I crammed everything on it rather nicely. PLUS I made pretty signs for everything. I actually had my shit together (a nice alternative to the usual state of affairs, you know?).
The Cosplayers were ~everywhere~. I think the ratio was one out of every ten or so, at least on Saturday. Every other person had ears on or something, and a number of people went absolutely crazy with really elaborate stuff. I saw some disturbing things (like a guy who MUST have been pushing 60 or so...overweight, pasty, Coke-bottle black-frame glasses, looks like someone's dad, wearing a complete Inuyasha outfit...I threw up a little in my mouth there), also there were a lot of kids doing Naruto...a LOT. It was like a truck full of Naruto cosplayers backed up to the door and unloaded them. You couldn't swing a dead chocobo without hitting a Naruto kid (heh...get it? FF humor? Those were there too and I took great pride in recognizing the Final Fantasy cosplayers by name. I so rock.)
Without further ado, my cavalcade of cosplay pics:
And that was just some of the stuff I saw. Everyone was really nice, and they got a big kick out of being recognized.
So anyway, I did really well. I sold all my little arm dragons and a TON of masks, including that really nice gold and copper Medusa that took me so long to make. Normally I'm hap-hap-happy when I sell such a pricey piece but THIS one I was actually quite attached to...I'm afraid I sniffled a little. Stoopid emo artist chick.
I did so well, I paid with cash for next year's table in advance. Saved about a hundred dollars that way. So, I know what I'll be doing next year on the second-to-last weekend of March. :-)
Picked up a TON of anime swag while I was there (of course. I was like a gambling addict in Las Vegas, surrounded as I was with anime crap dealers on two sides). Rumdiculous and Ash-Grey-Sky...I have neat stuff for you (going to mail it out tomorrow, probably).
Oh, which reminds me. On Res's advice I picked up an anime series, "The Twelve Kingdoms". Greg bought me BOTH box sets, so I have the whole series (yay for sweet husbands!). Been watching it...it's SO addictive...like potato chips, I can't stop once I start watching. More on that later (but thank you for telling me about it, Res...I LOVE the story).
Aaaand...that's enough for now. My fingers are bleeding!
The drive wasn't too bad...until we approached NYC, which is simultaneously the world's most stunning, exciting place and a blight of crowded humanity. If we were small pets owned by some giant super-race of alien beings, New York City would be a habitat deemed "too overcrowded and stressful...may cause females to eat their young in distress...avoid keeping your humans in such overcrowded habitats."
Anyway that's how it makes ME feel...too freaking many damn people, too many trucks, wholly inadequate roads. NYC turned a pleasant seven hour drive into an eight and a half hour drive, with the tail end of the trip being the most frightening part. Eeep! Next time, screw the GW bridge during afternoon rush hour...I'm taking the LI ferry from New England. Seven pleasant hours of driving with a pretty boat ride at the end...now THAT'S my idea of the proper way to conclude a road trip.
The convention site was awesome and very pretty, Stony Brook University on Long Island Sound = SO pretty. If Charlotte ever wants to go there she has my blessings. We were in the sports complex, a huge indoor arena. I don't know how many vendors there were (my guess is about fifty or so, great ratio of customers to vendors by the way) but I was SO happy to find that my table was right near the rollup door entrance. We arrived at 5;30 PM, the sales hours on Friday were from 6 to 10 PM and we had time to spare (I set up ~lightning~ quick even under the most dire circumstances, Yay me!).
I got sandwiched between a Star Wars card -n- crap vendor and a really nice booth full of anime stuff. There was a HUGE booth of anime stuff directly behind us, too. I knew where my money was gonna go, I can tell you that.
This is me at my table. I only had one eight foot long table, but I think I crammed everything on it rather nicely. PLUS I made pretty signs for everything. I actually had my shit together (a nice alternative to the usual state of affairs, you know?).
The Cosplayers were ~everywhere~. I think the ratio was one out of every ten or so, at least on Saturday. Every other person had ears on or something, and a number of people went absolutely crazy with really elaborate stuff. I saw some disturbing things (like a guy who MUST have been pushing 60 or so...overweight, pasty, Coke-bottle black-frame glasses, looks like someone's dad, wearing a complete Inuyasha outfit...I threw up a little in my mouth there), also there were a lot of kids doing Naruto...a LOT. It was like a truck full of Naruto cosplayers backed up to the door and unloaded them. You couldn't swing a dead chocobo without hitting a Naruto kid (heh...get it? FF humor? Those were there too and I took great pride in recognizing the Final Fantasy cosplayers by name. I so rock.)
Without further ado, my cavalcade of cosplay pics:
And that was just some of the stuff I saw. Everyone was really nice, and they got a big kick out of being recognized.
So anyway, I did really well. I sold all my little arm dragons and a TON of masks, including that really nice gold and copper Medusa that took me so long to make. Normally I'm hap-hap-happy when I sell such a pricey piece but THIS one I was actually quite attached to...I'm afraid I sniffled a little. Stoopid emo artist chick.
I did so well, I paid with cash for next year's table in advance. Saved about a hundred dollars that way. So, I know what I'll be doing next year on the second-to-last weekend of March. :-)
Picked up a TON of anime swag while I was there (of course. I was like a gambling addict in Las Vegas, surrounded as I was with anime crap dealers on two sides). Rumdiculous and Ash-Grey-Sky...I have neat stuff for you (going to mail it out tomorrow, probably).
Oh, which reminds me. On Res's advice I picked up an anime series, "The Twelve Kingdoms". Greg bought me BOTH box sets, so I have the whole series (yay for sweet husbands!). Been watching it...it's SO addictive...like potato chips, I can't stop once I start watching. More on that later (but thank you for telling me about it, Res...I LOVE the story).
Aaaand...that's enough for now. My fingers are bleeding!
no subject
The Star Wars booth was funny, because Greg is a total Star Wars nerd and even HE was sick of the SW smack by the end of the convention.
*snerk* Some of those fans take it above and beyond serious. It's kind of frightening.
Ya know, some people just shouldn't cosplay. Really. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but come on. If you look nothing like the character, don't try to be the character. (I'm thinking of the "grandpa Inuyasha") If I ever had the urge to cosplay the only character I could even approach the idea of being would be Integra from Hellsing. I very vaguely look like her, being blonde and blue-eyed and all. I have a friend, though, who looks a great deal like Yuna.
Hee hee...I'm torturing you with the prospect of anime swag and you don't know what it is, la la! :::taunts you with potentially cool convention stuff:::
You're so mean!!
Anyway, I ~hope~ you like it...I hope you don't already have one!
Well you could just tell me what it is and then I can tell you if I have it or not...Yes, I know that's not going to work... Trust me, if it's anything related to anime, odds are I don't have it. My collection is so small it's almost non-existant. :P
Gah, three days! That would have been so much fun.
Great now I'm dying to see Twelve Kingdoms. Just out of curiousity, is the stuff at these events relatively cheap? I was wondering if there was a price difference and all that.
no subject
If I were ever to cosplay I know ~just~ who I'd be but no one would ever guess who I am. The artist hermit-type woman from "Kiki's Delivery Service" (I love Miyazaki). She's down to earth, loves nature, is helpful and artsy, and helps Kiki get her groove back. That feels like me. She even sort of looks like me.
As far as cheap stuff...hmm. Some of it is a bit less expensive than you'd normally pay at, say, Barnes & Noble or MediaPlay (RIP). The big thing is...you can easily find stuff you'd normally have to order from Japan or off E-Bay, you save on shipping, and you can get limited-edition and rare stuff (because larger stores/vendors have access to stuff you normally can't find). Big vendors bring "first release" thingies and rare things to large conventions...it's good for repeat business.
But I found no Pocky! Wahh! Vendors weren't allowed to sell ANY food items and I was SO looking for strawberry pocky for Char (she saved her last box of Glico strawberry pocky and actually sniffs the empty box and gets weepy! What a weird kid).