#hijkata

Lucae’s First Sentinel with the faceclaim of Tatsumi from Orenchi no Furo Jijou will be reserved for you until 06/04. Please submit your application with your character blog before or on that day.

“Otakon 2015 Review:

The quick of it; EVERYTHING WAS AWESOME!!  Now, the 2 page, single-spaced, 11 font, “short” review…

Had a great con this year!  Started out w/ an interesting Katsu issue that I wound up being super involved w/, which was definitely an experience I’m glad I was able to have, sparing a lot of the details.  Like I mentioned before, & will never stop mentioning, due to the severe lack of annoying haterz this year, the lower attendance made everything exceedingly more fun/easier to attend; i.e., I could actually make it into panels this year :D  Actually, the funny ironic thing is despite how much I complained last year about not being able to make panels essentially b/c they were too many ppl., I spent more time hanging out & only went to panels on Friday/barely attended any.  Oh well, can’t win them all.  I will say that I did like the panel roster this year, just didn’t make it to them.

Ota is honestly the ONLY con I can still have an awesome experience even w/o having a panel myself or going to any panels at all, since it’s my main socializing/cosplaying con for the year.  Speaking of panels, I see a lot of my friends had panels that filled out their respective rooms & had a great time (can’t wait to hear all about it!).  For me, had an interesting mixed experience that begins & ends w/: I finished making the presentation portion of the panel in under 2 hours the night before, got no sleep that night & really the whole week, & was a few minutes late to my own panel, the panel in ques. being Eternal Zetsubou! The Dangan Ronpa series.

‘Why?’ You ask, b/c f***ing work projects need to get done, that’s why X/  If there was ever a situation where work takes the higher priority, this is definitely the case & since I like my well-paying job, I would like to return to said job once the con’s over.  That being said, it went pretty well.  Didn’t pack the room but I had it, like, 80-90% filled, which is still awesome.  Didn’t get to do nearly as much backend work (research, etc.) but it was finished & I have more than enough to go off to improve it for cons to come.  It was primarily a discussion panel, discussion happened &, more importantly, I finished on-time & didn’t start running into the next panelists’ time slot.  Also didn’t help I was half dead from not sleeping the previous night & being worried about work related stuff, but all things were good considering.

Pro tip: when submitting panels to Ota, make sure to submit things you pretty much have on lockdown, whether from presenting it multiple times or you know it like the back of your hand.  Ota is NOT the con to get a feel for a panel you’re unsure about b/c it will crucify you.  Fortunately, despite the lack of research, I knew what I wanted to say, how I wanted to make the panel, etc., which helped me considerably w/ hammering it out in less than 2 hours & being ready to talk the minute I got in the panel room.  Ultimately, I will *only* submit panels I’ve presented multiple times to Ota in the future, but I still would say this is the best route to go.  Lastly, yet another reason why I hate AM panels on the first day of the con >.>

F**k, I would say my only ‘problem’ w/ the con was the way 18+ wristbands were handled as well as the reg line…both of which I didn’t have to deal w/ b/c: had my badge mailed in & wound up going to no panels Sat. anyway, let alone any 18+ ones, so it didn’t really matter >.>  I would say my main complaint w/ time/space was that Saturday went by so fast.  For me it was HCC judging time, some hanging out/eating, Walk-on/Masquerade/HCC & Masquerade winners, & then Ota ‘Kon-pai’, & that was it.  Wish the day didn’t go by so fast X/

All in all, f**k Xin for making me buy $80+ more in art books (I JK, you’re cool :P) & I had an awesome time w/ the lovely Vivian & making dirty jokes at the Kon-pai w/ Andrew, Dave, & several others.  Also, spending a lot of time w/ Akiko & Andrea.  There were some that I didn’t mention (loved hanging out w/ you too) & some I didn’t see but I’ll totally catch you at other cons/follow-up on your con experiences.

Now, to clean up, motto work projects & submit panels to Sangawa Project.”

  This con experience was pretty straightforward.  Liked everything in general with the obvious room for improvement in the way reg/pre-reg & 18+ lines were handled.  Also, even though I didn’t attend that many panels, I thought they were really good this year.  Hopefully next year I can attend more panels, but given this is my main “chill la chill” con of the year, I can see hanging out w/ ppl. grossly outweighing the need to see panels.

Anyway, my panel went OK, but definite room for improvement (incidentally, if you saw it, feel free to comment w/ feedback!).  If nothing else, it was a way better experience overall than the first time I paneled at Ota. Either way, never submitting anything that I haven’t presented multiple times before.

Cosplay wise it was pretty solid this year.  It was unfortunate I had to make the executive decision to drop Macha (.hack//GU) & postpone it indefinitely, but it was either that or lose my mind to cosplay (@.@)  Besides that, Kogitsunemaru (Touken Ranbu) went really well.  Had fun doing ears & fangs for the first time ^.^  Now, by the end of the day the wig kept getting tangled, but hopefully it will be better come AUSA when I do his full version (& comb out the wig).  Also, gonna touch up the dye job of the hakama for AUSA as well.

Hijikata Toshizou (Bakumatsu Rock) was far more sturdy & structurally sound than my previous HCC costume (Maximilian from Valkyria Chronicles) & I generally enjoyed working on it & finally wearing it.  Especially liked how the overcoat came out.  Alas, I didn’t win anything in the HCC but I was far more excited about the overall experience & wasn’t too concerned about winning anything.  Besides, I did this as a part of a group cosplay w/ my friends, so I was more excited to be doing that as well.  Wish I styled his wig beforehand + made boot covers but by that point I was too tired to be bothered ~.~  However, I did like how his blue belt came out after I braided some paracord.  Braiding has such a calming effect for me XD

Finally, Pekoyama.  Although I started the con off as her (heck, drove to the con as her), I mainly cosplayed her Sunday.  Anyway, she was really fun to do!  Still had this weird issue of ppl. confusing me out & out for a guy (vs. when I cosplay male characters) despite obvious rack & female figure (my voice is pretty deep & I have a fairly unisex looking face), but it’s just a weird happenstance I thought I should mention.  Nothing that bothered me.  Anyway, the wig was fun to wear, just need to use styling gel to part the bangs more so they don’t keep getting in my eyes, as well as being able to just wear my glasses since the cosplay requires that.  Skirt was a little too big so I need to take that in eventually, most likely before AUSA since I plan to wear it again for that. Although the shirt was the perfect length, it was a little too short for me.  All in all, double sided clothing tape was a lifesaver for this costume.  Once the skirt is fixed that pretty much fixes my main issues w/ the costume, otherwise, it was a fun quick last minute thing I through together, in anticipation of the Dangan Ronpa panel (& the alterations to the sword bag came out awesomely!).

Once I get my pics from the photographer I booked for the con (Sumiko.foto Photography), I’ll post them here in addition to on my cosplay FB page. Lastly, to see all progress on making these costumes, definitely take a gander at my cosplay FB page & check the relating photo albums. They’re a little out-of-date, but I still have a crapton more photos to add to each album, sooo… >.>

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Kogitsunemaru, sleeper version (Touken Ranbu)

Hijikata Toshizo (Bakumatsu Rock)

Pekoyama (Dangan Ronpa 2)

Anyway, like I said before, had an overall great time.  I would go so far as to posit that anyone who says “the con sucks!” are just being salty b/c they didn’t really try to enjoy the con to begin w/, or my fav go-to reason that they couldn’t afford the con in the first place, so are b*tching about every little thing >.>  Having almost 12,000+ ppl. less than their best numbers made everything else more enjoyable (wasn’t super crowded, which is the main thing ppl. like to b***h about), but of course this isn’t good for profits -_-

Personally, I don’t see these numbers getting better due to the price increase &, honestly, dumb@$$ ignorant mofos being “afraid the Blacks are going to riot”, therefore, making it super unsafe *smh*, but it is what it is.

Looking forward to next year ^.^

itou was the Original blonde hair w glasses and tsukishima is just a fake

happy birthday!!!!