Otakon 2011 Finally!

Otakon 2011 has yet again come and gone and I know it's been over for a few months but here's the pictures finally! This year the weather was nice and sunny but a bit on the hot side. Unfortunately we couldn't be there on Friday so we arrived Saturday instead. The above picture is from the Arena where some of the really big shows are hosted such as Masquerade and concerts. The cosplay above is from a game called Animal Crossing sort of like a Sims type game except everyone else are animals.

An awesome Dalek cosplay from Dr. Who Series. I'm not sure whether it was remote controlled or someone was inside. People got a big kick out of it.

Old fashion Tetris piece!

Collection of cosplayers from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The beloved Peter Griffin vs. Ernie the Giant Chicken, from Family Guy.

Magic Knight Rayearth cosplayers. Love the details on their costumes and making armor seems like quite a challenge.

Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu.

Ghost Busters! Sorta disappointed this picture came out fuzzy!

The BF really wanted to see the Chemistry concert but alas it was on Friday. Le sigh. We did go to their Q & A section. Truthfully I had no clue who they were but I did find out they sang the song to Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Mobile Gundam Suit Unicorn. I haven't seen the latter but I did like the FMA Brotherhood series. They were extremely polite and also funny as they answered and joked with the fans that came to see them.

Last of all is my revamped costume of Mahoromatic. In this version I reworked the apron to have a tie across the waist which is higher then my actual waist. I also reworked the red tie thing and added a petticoat. It was also the first time I styled and wore a wig with the costume along with contacts and false lashes. I think these details really added the finishing touches for the character. I might add in a more in depth post on the reworking of the costume later on.

Until next time... time just seems to fly fly fly away!

New York Comic Con 2010

This weekend I attend New York Comic Con / New York Animefest 2010 for the first time. It's located all the way on the west side and is a pretty far trek from any subway station. Though I am a sci-fi and know a bit about comics and superheroes (I grew up watching all the cartoons of the 1990's from Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, Incredible Hunk, Fantastic Four, X-men) there was a lot more to this convention that was outside my realm. When you first see the Javits Center where it is held you are daunted by the fact that it spans some 4-5 blocks and there are hundreds of people milling about. Once you go in there's a huge "Welcome Banner."

I went with my boyfriend and my little brother. Kids get in for free on Sunday =D. My little brother (10) loved it! Intel made up a huge chunk of the convention hall that involved gaming. The huge screen above streamed previews, live broadcasts of the newest things and also streamed live game tournaments like Starcraft 2 and Counterstrike.

The highlight for me were these replicated race cars that people could sit and drive in a racing game. I thought that was really awesome. The line was extremely long and my little brother gave up after half an hour of waiting. They also showcase their new computers which I must say looks very nice. I'm basing this on just how visually appealing they were. They were stark white with clear inside and had all these lights and stuff. I'm not much of a computer savvy person. In that same room were autograph and artist alley section.

To the right was another huge convention hall with all the vendors. There were a lot of big companies like Nintendo, Marvel, Square Enix etc with playable stations featuring some of their new games. My boyfriend was gaga over the new Golden Sun for DS, I had a taste of FF14 the online game and saw people playing some favorites of mine like Dead Space 2 and the new Spiderman game.

Here was main platform for Marvel I believe. They would give out free things like signed posters, replicas of the characters, t shirts etc. As usual there is a huge huge huge crowd clamoring for them so I usually just avoid them. Stan Lee was also present and was signing autographs and greeting fans. I arrived late so I didn't get to see him =(. A friend did get to shake his hand and he was totally amazed. The wii also showcased the new Micheal Jackson: The Experience dancing game. It was a big hit. Everyone wanted to try it. Several people went up on stage to play the game and dance to his greatest hits. At the end there's always a huge explosion of smoke and everyone cheered. I couldn't help but take a picture of this cosplay based on a lovable game called Castle Crashers which is highly addictive and oh so cute! Speaking of cute isn't this SuperPooch so adorable? He was the model for the small vendor that sold pet costumes. I also saw a Yoda Pooch somewhere =D.

Another amazing sight was this remote controlled R2D2. It moved, it had lights and had all the classic R2D2 sound effects. That was really awesome to see.

Here's some more Star Wars love. Everyone was lining up for the show in which people choreographed fights using light sabers and preformed them for all to see. That was pretty nifty.The highlight of my weekend there was being there with the cast and crew of V a sci-fi series on ABC. Though I haven't seen too much of the series. I'm a huge fan of Firefly and really happy I got to see Morena Baccarin =D . There were three cast members and producer and they were really interactive and entertaining.

Overall I really liked the experience though a few things were lacking. One was that the AnimeFest was delegated to a pretty small and seemingly unfinished wing of the center but then again it's the first year so it's not perfect. Another one was the autograph sessions times and people were nowhere to be found unless you ran to the crowded autograph section or went online. I would like a hard copy at the convention so I can plan while I am there. There was also some pretty bad "con funk" (aka people who seem to forget to take a shower or wear deodorant). Besides that it was fun. I will have to see who and what is going on next year before I decide to attend.

I hope you guys enjoyed the quick rundown on some things during Comic-con =D
Until next time... get out there and delve in the fantasy of superheroes ever so often!

Belated Goodies

It's been forever but I finally got the pictures from my boyfriend's camera! Here's all the swag I got from Otakon! Besides the usual maps/event list/magazine that comes with the Otakon bag I brought five shirts one for my old college roomier, her fiance, my other h.s. college buddy, my cousin and my sister. I also snagged some cute cute pins (I'm a sucker for pins) and went to the "Welcome to the Space Show" Panel.

The production staff who created that movie also created "Read or Die" which is the anime that my cosplay "Yomiko Readman" is from. I got to see them and they were so polite and there was a lot of thoughtful questions between the audience and the staff. What really made my day was when it was the staff's turn to ask the audience question, one of them asked about my cosplay. I was way too shy to say anything. I also got all three autographs on the first R.O.D manga and had them sign it to "Yomiko" and it was great to see them and I think it was a surprise that they saw someone cosplay as Yomiko since the series is fairly old. I blushed like mad when they commented I made a cute Yomiko. This experience has made this Otakon the best of the four years I've been attending this convention.

Here's me doing what Yomiko Readman does best.. reading =)
For More Otakon Pictures check out my Flickr =D

Until next time... be inspired by inspiring people!

Otakon Cosplay

Otakon this year was the best. This would be the 3rd or 4th time I went. Between me and my bf we took tons of pictures of the cosplays and some are on my Flickr account. Here are some highlights of cosplays I thought that were cool. The above picture is looking over the fountain in the Baltimore Convention Center. This year it was so huge it took up the entire center and also part of the Hilton Hotel. The weather was beautiful and fortunate enough the weekend was between heat waves so it was very nice. The lines this year went by pretty fast with the new barcode system. I must have waited less then half an hour to get my badge. Unfortunately this year the badges they had to offer wasn't so diverse so I opted for a crab playing some drums.

The above I think is from Megaman. I love Megaman series and how they just name the characters. Like the guy that has the snake on his head is appropriately named "Snakeman" but as for the Lightbulbman I can't confirm his name. The reason I love this cosplay besides the throwback to classic games the light bulb on top of the head actually lights up! Now that's awesome. The battery pack was in the schoolbag hanging in front of him.

Another awesome throwback is these Street Fighter group of M. Bison, Ryu and Juri. I think they did an awesome job. There was also a martial arts skit done of Street Fighter and it's always great to see one. The ones above are a cosplay of this fictional boy band made of top Japanese Comedians that parodies today's boy bands. They did have a very infectious hit called "Yatta" which is an encouragement song that despite the economic uncertainty you're still breathing and there's always tomorrow. They were on Jimmy Kimmel Live and hilariously weird.

There were way too many cosplays to mention as so many of them took a lot of time and effort. This year was no disappointment but there were tons of cosplays I didn't see when I browse other people's photos. This year close to 30,000 people attended. I'm waiting to get the pictures of my own cosplay out of my bf's DSRL camera so I can post them and also of all the swag I bagged =D!

Until next time... "Yatta!" (we did it!)

Finally Complete!

Phew! It's finally complete!!! WOOT! That is my cosplay (people don on costumes and act like a certain manga/comic/anime character) is done for Otakon. This year I'm doing Yomiko Readman from R.O.D (read or die) who is also a secret agent who is a bibliophile with the power of paper. In my previous post I had finished the vest which was a huge accomplishment for me. Today I got off my lazy butt and finished the coat. It took about 3 hours to finish.

It started out as a size 42 lab coat which was enormous on me and was discolored by the various staining one does in the lab. I bleached the whole thing for 10-15 minutes and to get the off tan color submerged the coat in a hot bath of water that had 10 packets of tea aka "Tea Dying". After an overnight dip it was a nice darkish tan color and I washed it so it became the perfect shade of light tan (this btw is a very simple and easy way to create that antique color look for fabric). I cut out the collar brown cuffs and pocket linings and sew those on. The sleeves were too long and it was way too wide so I slimmed it down and made the sleeves shorter. My cousin noted how it was too long so I cut about a foot off and hemmed it.

The above is the whole cosplay done! I'm very proud of how the whole thing came out. The hardest part would have to be the vest and sewing the sleeves back on. What makes me super excited is that the character designer, director and the producer of the R.O.D anime is also going to be attending. I'm hoping to get their signatures on a poster or DVD!

I have decided to make a briefcase as a prop but I'm not sure on whether I should make it elaborate. Since she can utilize paper as a weapon I was thinking of creating "floating cards" that seem to spill from the briefcase. I've thought of how to pull this off and I think some fishing string and thin wires and glue could be viable. Hmm ...

Total time: About 10-12 Hours
Total money spent: $18 ($16 worth of fabric, $2 for a fabric pencil)

Until next time... get the brain thinking and thinking!

Making a Vest

I've been writing on and off about my attendance to one of the biggest anime conventions Otakon this July 31 - August 2. I've planned to do two cosplays over the three days. So far I am done with Lei Fang (post of how that came along). The next one is Yomiko Readman from Read or Die (ROD) which is the above character. I love her because she's this introvert quirky bibliophile secret agent with the power of paper. My awesome friend introduced the OVA to me and suggested I cosplay her since I look similar to her down to the glasses >_> .

That was last year and this year I'm determined to finish this costume. Her outfit seems very everyday plain the fact that I'm so petite it makes it very hard to find clothes that doesn't look like a kid's. This is where I got to bust out the sewing machine and what not. I found an awesome and rather easy instructions for a Vest Tutorial on Threadbanger and it even comes with a Youtube video.

I used a T-shirt that fitted nicely on me and penciled a pattern using that on newspaper leaving about an inch for seam allowances. There was one back piece and one left/right piece which are exactly the same. I was happy to find the perfect shade of tan brown at an awesome fabric store P&S Fabrics on Broadway. They recently moved across the street but if you're in the area in NYC... they have a lot of fabric, buttons, yarn, thread, ribbons etc etc. One thing I love about the store is that they have knitted/crocheted swatches of the yarn they sell so you can feel and see if you like the results.

This is my family's sewing machine. It's one of the industrial version that either my mom or grandma got from a factory that was closing down. This baby is at least 20 years old and it still keeps on trucking! My mom and grandma takes very good care of it and knows the ins and outs. I'm still a novice but my mom was surprised on how quick I was picking this stuff up to the point in which she said I can easily surpass her skills. That I highly doubt because she makes all the samples that everyone else in the garment factory follows and the go-to girl for any questions. I realize I need a new pin cushion for the top so I think I'll browse around Etsy for a cute one.

After about two hours of sewing and mom teaching me how to sew buttonholes the vest comes to life. I love how it came out though it was a bit tighter then I wanted. Must do larger seam allowances. I washed it and waiting to iron it at my boyfriend's place. My mom was extremely proud =D

Here I am in my impromptu cosplay. My mom took the photo so it was kind of not good ... hehe... The shirt and dress are from my closet and the red tie was something a dear friend brought for me a while ago. The vest look pretty good. This week I'll be working on the coat which is a whole other headache...

I do hear and read a lot about family who don't support watching anime/cosplaying and the like. I'm very glad my family is not the same way. They're more amused and shrug it off as "kids will be kids" or it's a "generation thing". One great thing that came out is my mom and I bonding over making my costumes. She loves that I'm learning from her and though it's for costumes she's thrilled nonetheless.

Until next time... let loose the creativity ...

Otakon Cosplay Development =D

It's about a little more then a month till Otakon which is a huge anime convention. Besides meeting some of the creators, voices, writers, music and fan based panels and workshops they have... one of the biggest things is Cosplaying. That generally is making/buying costume and role playing as a character from an anime, game or w/e. I've been debating on who to cosplay as I'm still a beginner.. This year I'm planning to do two >_< (call me crazy!) . One is the girl above from the game series "Dead or Alive" named Lei Fang... though believe me I can't pull off that kind of pose in such a high slitted dress.

My sister is great at those kind of button mashing fighting game. The main reason why I wanted to cosplay her is that my bf had brought me several beautiful Qipaos and one was the one below:

The dress is similar to the one she wears except mine has flowers except of a phoenix and its less revealing and a tad shorter. Another reason is waiting on the long long long lines to get registration done. Unfortunately it can take hours standing outside in hot July/August weather. This costume would be good for that... just need to get some good sunscreen...

Also I remember these old shoes from my H.S prom that would be great for this and they're fairly comfortable. I can always add in some Dr. Scholls or something for extra comfort =D. The only thing I was missing are those tiny wrist cuffs. I had white cloth and miraculously a very similar shiny satiny purple cloth that matched the purple edging of the dress. I measured my wrist and cut two rough squares of white for two cuffs and a large purple square to make the borders. I used some pins to see about how big the width of the cuffs to be about 2 inches but always leave extra room for seam allowances. I then cut the big purple square into four strips. My first try the cuff was too wide so I trimmed it down. I used velcro to fasten them together so it'll be easier to take off and put on.

I think they came out rather nice though I think I'll iron them to get a crisper edge to the purple. I had originally planned to put a pocket somewhere so I can store money or something small so I don't need to carry a bag. I suppose a small bag won't be too bad =D

Not too tight... not too loose. I'm working on my second costume tomorrow... this one will be harder even though the clothes are more generic. Due to my petite size it's hard to find the articles of clothing I need. I have a vest pattern all cut out and stopped by the fabric store and got the right color fabric. This would be my first time making a vest and my mom is here to help if I have some questions =D

Until next time... all bushed from making stuffz!

Lil Sewing, cosplay, random Fun =D

I just finished this little sketch yesterday and it's up in LiPeony. One thing I loved as a kid was watching my mom use her big old sewing machine. It's still there now. She had bags of little doodads, spools of threads in many colors and several pin cushions with the various needles in it. As a awesome reminder of those days I thought up of this little print. I've also picked up some favorites on Etsy that remind of my childhood memories by the sewing machine.

Like this adorable felted cupcake pin cushion from madeinlowell shop. It's perfect to put by the sewing machine or when you're hand sewing to keep your needles safe and in sight =D.

For people who tend to lose/misplace or just plain forget where things are this awesome roman numeral watch pin cushion would be super to have. I love the way it looks and it's so uber functional. This lil guy is from LittleClouds =D.

If you're like me or my mom we have spools and spools of thread everywhere and what better way to keep them organized then with this simple personalized thread organizer from MoreThanTuesday. You can also put in ribbons or hang bags that hold your scissors and what not too on the bottom.

For the sewer on the go or well you never know when there's a hole in your clothes or need a quick fix I found this super cute sewing kit from Chennapenna. I've never seen a sewing kit so cute before as the ones I have are pretty plain.

And speaking of sewing I've decided to cosplay (dress up) as the anime character above called Panda Z for Otakon in Baltimore. I've been drawing up the plans on making the body since I have the panda head good to go. Suppose it will be black and white felt with some type of stuffing on the stomach to make that rounded shape. I'll keep yas informed on the progress.

Until next time enjoy the weather =D

Random Goodies =D

Howdy! I just got back from a great wedding up in Boston and relatives from as far as Canada and Seattle came to celebrate! The food was great and we danced the night away. One thing I love about weddings are the little favors and favors boxes etc. Like this one below:

The top is small flower that is translated as "Love (marriage) reaches as far as the sky and is vast as the earth ." A very loose translation but I thought it's very cut and inside were five pieces of Dove chocolate and I can't resist chocolate =D.

I especially like this design on the side which is the Chinese character for "Double happiness" they're altered to look like a man and woman.

Oh and remember the hand carved stamp from the last post well I got these beauties from RusticRainbow as a trade. She also included as a surprise the awesome hairpin above! I adore the color and my sister said it was so cute. I can't wait to wear it when the sun comes out. What's great is it uses a clip that can fasten onto my very fine and soft hair. =D !

I also got this adorable mushroom pin! Look at all the little buttons, beading and details. Plus it sparkles. It's going on my school bag with my other pins. The little bear is one I made from LiPeony and the other buttons says "I buy handmade" and it's from the team I'm in the NewNew Team!

If you're wondering if that's me in the panda head. Yep! I'm planning on wearing a panda suit to Otakon an anime convention this August =D.

Until next time... it's the little things in life that makes one smile