Youmacon Talk #1

Well, in all my antsy-ness for this convention to once again arrive (I have no life. As an anime fan this is the biggest event of the year, for me. Besides starting college. xP), I’ll just post to this blog anytime I feel like chatting someone’s ear off about it. Which is usually someone who doesn’t care to hear about anime conventions.

Mmkay. So first things first. They freaking raised their admissions prices. Dx Last year it was $45 for the entire weekend, which I paid for even though I stayed only Saturday and Sunday, and this year, a three-day weekend is $50. I know, that’s only 5 more dollars, but still. Five dollars can buy me a pair of earrings or a cell phone charm in the Artists’ Gallery, and I just don’t get why they raised the price. Has their center, the Renaissance Center, started charging them more? I thought they made a tidy profit last year and did really well, maybe something this year has changed and they need to make extra money. *shrugs* Either way, I have to save up a little bit more this time.

Also something that was a bit saddening, not so much angering, is the fact that they’ve changed the weekend to November 3-6. No longer is it Halloween weekend, like it’s been for a while now (well, the last few years). Dx It was kind of fun to be there knowing you’re dressing up as a character for a cosplay but you’re also kind of getting into the spirit of Halloween at the same time. >x3 Plus it was more fun having something to do on Halloween for once rather than give out candy to little kids. xD Of course I don’t go to any parties yet. Last year my friends wanted me to go trick-or-treating with them.

But that’s kind of what I’m thinking is happening. That is, that maybe they’ve moved up the dates to after Halloween because they think more people will come since any Halloween plans they had don’t conflict with Youmacon. But that’s lame. If someone passes up the chance to go to Youmacon for one day or the whole weekend just because one day of the convention falls on Halloween, then obviously they’re not that into it. If they would rather go to a Halloween party or whatever, then ugh. Whatever.

But I’m just assuming that this is the case. It seems plausible, but I’m not sure. I’ll ask a worker when I get there, or something. Either way it’s kind of sad that the Halloween spirit won’t be present at the ‘con this year. =T And once again, like many years before Youmacon last year, I’ll probably absolutely nothing to do on Halloween. xDD Meh.

 

Secondly… I’m going to cosplay as TWO characters this year. =D My first cosplay is Momo Adachi from Peach Girl. Last year I was Misty, because, firstly, she was my first favorite anime character in technicality (even though when I started watching Pokemon as a child I didn’t know what anime was), and secondly, because it was a cheap-@ss costume to come up with in a few months’ time. xD (I decided I would attend in mid September last year, and the ‘con is at the end of October Dx).
So this year I’m going as a character from my first real anime and one of my all-time favorite series, Momo from Peach Girl. My first manga was Peach Girl, and the first anime series I watched knowing it was Japanimation. I’m a real fan of it. A few months ago I finally finished collecting all the volumes in the now out-of-print series, and I also have the anime boxset and a wallscroll. Now I also have a cosplay! >w<

For my Momo cosplay I bought myself a nice light strawberry blond (it’s a real light orange. Nothing shockingly orange, and slightly natural looking) wig, just styled it last night with Momo’s second hairstyle (when she gets sideswept bangs in the later part of the series) because I like that look, and because the wig not only looks stupid without bangs but the wig cap also shows considerably without the bangs. Dx The wig was meant to have bangs anyway. Anyway, the wig’s a nice affair that I bought for about $30 on eBay. <3 It’s awesome.

The first item for my cosplay that I bought, however, was a sky-blue tennis skirt. At the time I bought it a thrift store I thought I would use it for like, a Sailor Moon cosplay. But when I got home and Googled the Sailor Scouts again, I realized it was too light in color. Dx But then I decided, why not be Momo? =D
Next came the matter of altering this skirt to make it like Momo’s school uniform skirt. There was an embroidered logo on the back that I had to carefully remove with a fine sewing needle and scissors, then, going through about 3 regular and one giant-sized blue Sharpie, I carefully created the simple plaid pattern as seen on Momo’s skirt in the anime. (much easier to create than the more complex pattern design in the manga) I first had to use a ruler and lightly pencil in half-inch wide lines vertically and horizontally across the whole skirt, then carefully color it in without letting the marker bleed. This took about a week to do, in between other things I was busy with. Well worth it, it came out great.

So then I remembered that a few months back, a friend of my sister’s gave me a few of her old clothes, which included some cotton vest-type things. One of them just happened to be a sky-blue cotton-blend vest. TT__TT <– tears of joy. It was *perfect*. I dug it out of my closet and immediately decided I was going to use it. It has a rounded collar, while Momo’s is a v-neck, but I think the collar on my new polyester blouse will do. >x3 I went to Wal-Mart and got myself a cheap $12, short-sleeved, polyester-blend button up shirt with a nice collar. It works perfectly! Of course, there were stupid buttons on the sleeves so I had to remove those and trim off some straps here and there. And I ended up removing the buttons going down the front because they poked through and showed up on the vest. ^.^;; So now I’m going to have to tuck in my blouse carefully into my skirt before putting on the vest, or else it’ll be open underneath and look weird. XD

Then the shoes. I have a pair of leather ankle boots that have very thick, 1 1/2-inch heels that I planned on using – except they were black. Momo wears brown loafers. Dx So to make up for the fact that I couldn’t afford to buy myself some new brown high-heeled loafers (or find them for that matter Dx) I got out some nice acrylic paint, painted over them, and finished them. (with finish, I mean. xD) So now they’re a nice shade of  brown. =3

Then the socks. =P Easy. I already had a pair of knee-high navy socks. AND THE LOOK IS COMPLETE. As for how I’m going to carry my crap around (cell phone, wallet, camera, etc.), last year I was Misty, who fortunately wears a backpack. This year I’m going to use a floral purse similar to one Momo usually wore. =3 As for the matter of my eyeglasses…. *sigh* My eyes are really sensitive and I tried contacts last year, but I couldn’t manage to grab my eyeball to get them out. Dx So I plan on removing my glasses anytime anybody asks who I’m supposed to be, or wants to take a pic, or some such, and stuff ‘em in my purse’s pocket.

As for the tan, I’ve gotten a nice one this summer, and I haven’t tanned in weeks and it’s still remained, so I’m thinking if I just tan the hell out of myself every day until it gets too cold in the fall xD then maybe I’ll retain a nice enough base, light tan and I can get away with it. Otherwise I might splurge on some decent bronzer or self-tanner that won’t make my skin look orange, and just cover the spots that’ll be visible while in the cosplay. Oh, and as for the makeup, I’m going to go with the signature makeup seen in color illustrations of Momo from the manga – light blue eyeshadow, thick black mascara, and a light pink lipstick. I’ve already set aside the necessary makeup. >x3

 

Okay, so I mentioned I have TWO cosplays now. Well, like an anime nerd, I already started imagining who I’d be at future conventions. I wanted to go as someone from Death Note, either Naomi Misora or Wedy. [Never Misa. I have blond hair and a goth-loli outfit wouldn't be too hard to achieve, but I can't stand her.] Naomi would be fun, especially since she was pretty close to L, in a way. And she wears a lot of leather. xD But I decided on Wedy because a.) she’s got blond hair. I just need to style my own hair in a flippy hair style. b.) She has a really cool 60′s-inspired spy look [I'm not just saying that, in the Death Note encyclopedia, Takeshi Obata said that's how he modeled her, sort of] which would be fun to wear. c.) She’s pretty kick-@ss. =D She may have met an early demise, but she helped a lot with the Yotsuba case with her cat burglary skillz. =3

But of course, I was thinking this would all happen next year. Especially because Wedy has sooo many outfits, she doesn’t have one set style she wears. She has her spy-type outfit, she wears 60′s-style fashion (sort of Russian-like fur black hat and checkered coat dress), and a lot of leather. So I’d have to come up with an outfit similar to what she wears and is pretty recognizably Wedy.

But yesterday I hit another thrift store (they’re so much fun to go to, and you can find awesome stuff for cosplay there. Assuming you aren’t making your own from scratch materials), and I found the most awesome thing ever. A leather dress. It’s this really cool mini-dress that’s made entirely out of black smooth leather. It has elbow-length sleeves, waist-and-thigh-hugging skirt, and though it’s not low-cut, it has a sort of sexy straight-across cut in the front that stretches from the inner edge of each shoulder and sweeps across the chest. And in the back. Well, there’s no back to it. It fastens up at the top at the neck, and the back is completely bare. >x3 The skirt part of the dress zips along the butt.

And it fit. =O It’s such a gorgeous thing and it fit me! >w< It’s a size small from Saks and it fit me. And it’s sooo Wedy. It may not be exactly like what we’ve seen her wear, but it’s pretty much her. And guess how much I paid for this designer dress? $38. The thrift store worker told me that the lady who sold it to her said she’d originally paid $750 for it!! It’s designer. Dx I can wear this out to special occasions, too. Dx I feel bad just using it for cosplay.

But anyway. So along with the dress, I already have these really cool stiletto-heel ankle boots made of black suede that I’m going to wear (these ankle boots are different from the ones I”m using for Momo, lol. I just have a few pairs of boots XD). I’ll pair that with some sheer black nylons or sheer black tights, possibly some black leather gloves (short ones that go up to the wrists) or I’ll just paint my long nails red, style my hair in a flipped ‘do, wear some over-sized black sunglasses, and popping red lipstick. =3 And it’s done. I already have the shoes, dress, gloves, hair, and tights, all I need is the sunglasses and some sort of small black purse to carry my crap in and it’s set. >w< [I'm thinking of using this small satin clutch I have...I want to use something inconspicuous that doesn't detract or distract from the rest of the look]

So this year I’m probably going to be two different characters. =3 Most likely. I’ll also be there the whole weekend, anyhow. I got rooms for three nights (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) at a hotel nearby, and am going to spend the whole weekend there after my last class on Thursday night.

 

Anyway, just wanted to vent all this out, because like I said, I’m preparing for Youmacon already and therefore getting excited about it and wanting to talk about it, but no one really cares to hear me rant like a fangirl about an anime convention. xD Wish me luck on finding the ultimate pair of Wedy sunglasses!! [I need ones in her style, but also ones that can cover up my eyeglasses, too. I can't just walk around wearing non-prescription sunglasses and not expect to fall over once or twice in my high-heeled boots XD]

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