This week on Fake Geek Girls
A mixture of fashion and geek culture. Explore our world and what it means to be chested and invested in a culture targeted towards dudes.
Friday 27 June 2014
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Yuukas Anime North Round Up
Anime North has come and gone and I’ve only just been able to get over my post-con blues! Not only does Anime North mark the beginning of con season it also marks my one year anniversary of starting to cosplay! AN was my first con ever and was also where I made my very first cosplaying debut. I couldn’t have had a better first time experience and I had hoped that AN was all I remembered it to be. I shouldn’t have worried because AN2014 went above and beyond all expectations! I shouldn’t have worried because AN2014 went above and beyond all expectations! For me AN has set the bar and I’ll forever be rating every other con against it. This is because it really is a unique con experience. For one it takes place outside as much as it does inside the convention centre, there are constantly people outside enjoying the nice weather and just hanging out with other con-goers. This is what gives AN such a sense of community, despite it being the largest anime con in Canada and taking place in a huge venue it manages to have a comfortable small con vibe to it.
This year I was determined to see more of the con than I did
last year, which can be difficult because there is always so much going on!
From 9 am to 2 am there are panels, photo shoots, concerts and raves and so
much more to go to. Despite all of these of options there were only two events
that we ended up attending: the masquerade and the One Piece photo shoot. It’s
definitely not because we didn’t want to do more, it’s just honestly so much
fun to wander around outside of the convention center to meet people and take
photos. There were so many amazing cosplayers this year that I couldn’t stop
snapping photos!
We tried to start our con experience early by going to the
pre-registration early check-in on Thursday, but the line was so insanely long
that we waited until Friday. This was just as well because lines were short
Friday and we were able to fly through pre-registration and weapons check!
Friday Grayson and I cosplayed best bros Legolas and Gimli and Shereoh debuted
her Thousand Sunny cosplay. It seemed like our costumes were a hit! We didn’t
do too much this day besides scope out Artist Alley and get our photos done at
the always fantastic Cosplayers Canada booth.
Saturday was when we got our Strawhat crew together! This
was a very relaxed day as One Piece cosplayers seem to be a dime a dozen and
only a few people asked for our photos. We spent lots of money in the dealers
room to the point that we had to drop off all of our merch in our car before
heading to the One Piece photo shoot and masquerade. We met so many amazing One
Piece cosplayers at the shoot-Everyone was super nice and looked fantastic! I
was less enthused about the masquerade in all honestly. It felt drawn out to
me, but the cosplayers competing more than made up for it-It was a great show
of creativity and talent..jpg)
My biggest mistake was waiting to wear my warmest costume on
the warmest day! On Sunday I wore my Fem!Winter Soldier costume and it was hot
enough that the glue and foam on my prop am melted off…! Even though it was
uncomfortably warm we still had a great time!
We were able to meet up with
SutekiGo who were wearing their beautiful Magi group cosplay and the rest of the day was spent doing one last
round of the dealers room and relaxing outside in the shade.
This was an amazing weekend and I’m so thankful to everyone
who both stopped us for photos and who stopped for me to gush over and snap
pics of! Anime North 2015 can’t come soon enough!
Grayson Graves Revisits Anime North
Last year was the first time I attended Anime North and it had never really been something that interested me. Yuukatan insisted that I accompany her and who am I to deny the chance to go adventuring with my best pal.
Like all kids my age, I had been introduced to a wide variety of animated shows at the dawn of anime and its introduction into mainstream western media. I followed along closely with Pokemon, glimpsed at Sailor Moon and invested my time with some of the digiDestins but I had never really gone beyon that. My years as a film/theatre student had me check out the classics like Akira but I had never ventured further. Anime North really didn't seem like the place for me but I tagged along anyways. Much to my surprise there was plenty of things I was interested in (ie Doctor Who) so when Yuukatan and Shereoh asked me to go with them this year the answer was an obvious yes. Within the span of a year I also immersed myself in the world of Anime. Heavily investing my time in One Piece, taking into consideration the popular animes that year and finding new stories that I absolutely love. Anime North the second time around was a whole new experience.
Several of our friends attended the event and we even found an easier way into the convention centre parking lot that allowed us more time to experience the con.
Day 1
Started the night before the convention when the always wonderful Sam Maggs hosted an Xmen: Days of Future Past premiere party. I dressed up as Rogue and won some cool swag because of it. The Morning of the con was a bit shaky. Yuukatan and I dressed up as your favourite dwarf/elf best friend duo but the popularity of them lead to the misfortune of misplacing my wallet. We would like to apologize to anyone who in that frame of time might have stopped and asked us for a photo and if we had seemed ungrateful or ungracious or if we refused one. Hopefully we explained the situation but if not again we are sorry. Thank you for being understanding or for coming to find us later. We appreciate everyone/every time someone asks for a photo. We work really hard for that very reason and we really love that you are excited about our costumes. And we would also like to thank the person that returned my wallet to the security booth and didn't take anything from it. My con experience could have been much different. Other than that my con experience was magical. Everyone really loved our Gimli and Legolas. 
We were happy they were such a hit. We even had regular folks ask for our photos in the restaurant. Which was nice because even though they might not understand, they certainly appreciated it. Also thanks for waiting til we were done eating ;)
Yuukatan and I somehow also got roped into a Marvel Photoshoot.
We also met some other fantastic LOTR's cosplayers. A whole other fellowship that had beautiful costumes and Yuukatan has photos of all of encounters.
Day 2
I think Day 2 can be appropriately retitled the Strawhat Adventures. We celebrated One Piece all day on Saturday. We hung out in our One Piece Fem!Cosplays, went to a One Piece Photoshoot, met other fans and bought One Piece merch. (Maybe we went overboard---no pun intended).
Luffy is always one of my favourite characters to cosplay. He is ideal for a good time. Having your entire crew by your side helps too. Shereoh also had an amazing Thousand Sunny cosplay the day before.
Anecdote time - I got some great scar make-up stuff for my Luffy cosplay and some wonderful vender stared at me for a good five minutes before I realized he was looking on in horror. He was shocked because he thought I had mutilated my face to be this character. I explained to him everything and it was a good laugh and he complimented me on my make up. We got along great and it was one of the highlights of Saturday.
Another wonderful OP Saturday Moment was meeting this guy.
By far my favourite Luffy cosplayer of the weekend.
We headed to the Masquerade at the end of the night but it was a bit disappointing. All in all we loved Saturday and we were happy that we got to wear summer clothing because it was scorching.
Day 3
Can be summed up in this photo.
It was hot and we were tired but we still really enjoyed the day. We spent a lot of it resting in the shade and we met up with the always wonderful SutekiGo .
We bought the rest of the things we wanted to buy that day and Yuukatan tested out her brilliant Winter Soldier Cosplay.
I can't wait to finish my Cap cosplay so that we can duo again.
We can't wait for Anime North next year because we always have such a great time :)
Saturday 7 June 2014
Cosplayer of the Week : Sutekigo
Our selected Cosplayer of the Week is not just one cosplayer but several of them. SutekiGo is a group of cosplayers that got together in their highschool days to form outstanding group cosplays that we always love and admire. After meeting up with them again at Anime North we knew we had to feature them on our blog. We are never short of amazed with what they have in store every time we see them. Sure, we consider them friends but that doesn't stop us from being a bit intimidated by their skill and dedication to the characters. We met through a mutual friend a few years back and thus began a budding friendship. But beyond that SutekiGo are cosplayers that have really inspired Yuukatan and I to take charge and cosplay together. So to honour that we have selected them as our COSPLAYERS OF THE WEEK!
What got you into cosplay?
Thanks for asking us! This was fun x) I hope we get to hang out with you guys again at the next con! :D
Members:
Nicole: http://nikichi.deviantart.com
What got you into cosplay?
Nicole: Since we were young and new to the whole and convention scene, we used to be over the top excitable about seeing cosplayers at conventions. Eventually we worked up the courage to try it ourselves.
Lisa: Like Erin running down nine flights of stairs to catch a Youko Kurama cosplayer that she saw out the window of the Double Tree.
Erin: And I missed him! I ran all the way for nothing.
Nicole: First time cosplaying was totally nerve-wracking!
Lindy: And we totally sucked (laughs)
Erin: It’s still nerve-wracking! Trying to finish everything on time, and wanting everything to be perfect because you feel like the show and characters deserve it.
Lisa: We just love the characters so much that we want to bring them to life.
What was your first cosplay?
Erin: (laughs) It was terrible. Just so terrible...
Lisa: Thankfully, I didn’t cosplay with them that first year (laughs)
Erin: We cosplayed Yu Yu Hakusho, mine and Nicole’s favourite show... and we butchered it. I was Kurama; Nicole was Hiei; and Lindy was Yusuke.
Lindy: Only like three people took our picture.
Nicole: And they would always ask, “Are you...?”
Lindy: Cuz they were unsure (laughs)
Erin: Cuz we sucked (laughs)
Lisa: To be fair, back then we didn’t have a lot to work with.
Erin: But we still sucked.
Nicole: We had to start somewhere.
Lindy: No picture will ever see the light of day.
Lisa: And to the three people who did take our picture, we will find you (laughs)
Lisa: Thankfully, I didn’t cosplay with them that first year (laughs)
Erin: We cosplayed Yu Yu Hakusho, mine and Nicole’s favourite show... and we butchered it. I was Kurama; Nicole was Hiei; and Lindy was Yusuke.
Lindy: Only like three people took our picture.
Nicole: And they would always ask, “Are you...?”
Lindy: Cuz they were unsure (laughs)
Erin: Cuz we sucked (laughs)
Lisa: To be fair, back then we didn’t have a lot to work with.
Erin: But we still sucked.
Nicole: We had to start somewhere.
Lindy: No picture will ever see the light of day.
Lisa: And to the three people who did take our picture, we will find you (laughs)
How long have you been cosplaying?
Lindy: We started in our second year of high school.
Erin: So... 2005. Nine years ago. We’re old (laughs).
Lisa: We all met in the first year of high school and went to Anime North together. But we didn’t cosplay until the next year.
Lindy: And only one of us had a wig.
Nicole: And it was bad.
Lindy: It was glued. With white school glue (laughs).
Erin: So... 2005. Nine years ago. We’re old (laughs).
Lisa: We all met in the first year of high school and went to Anime North together. But we didn’t cosplay until the next year.
Lindy: And only one of us had a wig.
Nicole: And it was bad.
Lindy: It was glued. With white school glue (laughs).
(Photo Credit: Joe Huang)
What is your favourite part of putting on your cosplay?
Lindy: Taking it off! (laughs)
Lisa: My favourite part is when we’re all standing together and all look in the mirror and see us as a group.
Lindy: Or when we first walk out of the hotel and we’re walking as a group. And it’s finally all together:
Erin: And it’s finally all done. All the hours and days and months of work. Tears and frustration.
Lindy: All the blood and the sweat and the tears. And more blood. And paint inhalation.
Lisa: All that money.
Erin: It finally pays off when we’re all together in that cosplay for the first time.
What's the best part of cosplay for you?
Nicole: Getting to be someone else for the day. Getting to wear outfits and hair styles that you wouldn’t normally get to.
Lisa: And then looking into the mirror and thinking “Is that me?”
Erin: It’s just a general transformation into someone completely new. And then seeing people’s reactions; seeing how excited people are to see the characters come to life. Because we’re that excited to see other people cosplay our favourite characters.
Nicole: I also like picking a group that we’re perfect for.
Erin: Definitely. Like Avatar. Somehow those characters really suit our personalities.
Nicole: Our evil selves (laughs)
Erin: And it’s also nice that in a convention environment, we get to be our real selves.
Nicole: We can celebrate the fandom without ridicule.
Erin: That’s the best part. No judgement.
What is your favourite cosplay?
Lindy: Inuyasha.
It was very comfy. I liked Inuyasha since I was 13, and he’s been one of my favourite characters since then. It was really easy to make too. I had a lot of fun wearing it.
Nicole: Host Club was our first real breakthrough as cosplayers and I think Haruhi will forever be a favourite cosplay of mine.
My absolute favourite cosplay is probably Yuffie (Advent Children)
It was really easy to get into character and I adore her outfit. It's adorable and super comfy despite the zippers in weird places. I put a lot of effort into painting the design on her shirt. I love how it turned out! Erin also did an amazing job on Yuffie's shuriken. Having an epic prop was the best part of that cosplay.
Lisa: It was kind of a tie between Stein from Soul Eater
and Lelouch from Code Geass
because they’re both my favourite chars. But I have to say Lelouch because… I got to have my own harem (laughs). Makeup was easy, costume was crisp and clean, shoes were comfortable. It was easy to get around in. (Nicole: You just like having your own harem). I just like having my own girls.
Erin: It’s a toss-up between Kouha Ren
(Photo Credit : Joe Huang)
and Ty Lee
(Photo Credit : Joe Huang)
Ty Lee is just so comfortable and easy to wear. No weapons, no accessories. The wig is a bit heavy and probably needs to be remade, but I loved wearing that cosplay. I really enjoyed wearing Kouha too. It was cumbersome and that sword is huge, but I love the way it turned out. It’s one of the more difficult that I’ve made and I’m really pleased with it. I also never get to be cute little shotas (laughs).
Do you have a current cosplay or cosplayer favourite, someone who has inspired you?
Erin: Kaname and Yuegene (HERE)
Lindy: Oh ya, Yuegene too!
Erin: Kaname is such a talented crafter! And Yuegene is so beautiful! I especially love Yuegene as Mikoto Suoh (HERE) I really hope we can meet them one day!
