Monday 10 November 2014

Con Season Wrap Up

Toronto Comicon 

This was our first year at Toronto Comicon. It is a relatively small con that is picking up every year. As far as cons go it wasn't our favourite con of the year. But that doesn't mean we didn't have fun. When we get together it is always a great time. We got to test out some of our costumes only to finesse them later in the year. 




It might not be a con we make it out to next year because the drive home was absolutely terrifying. A huge storm hit and the drive home was really unsafe. 




Anime North 

Anime North is always such a blast. This year was no different. Although the con had a bit of a rough start it lived up to its previous year. We went down a day early and decided to go to our friends premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The movie was a pleasant surprise and Grayson won a Cosplay contest for her Rogue costume. 


Anime North is such 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. The Morning of the con was a bit shaky. Yuukatan and Grayson dressed up as your favourite dwarf/elf best friend duo but the popularity of them lead to the misfortune of misplacing Grayson's 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 until we were done eating ;) 


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)

Day 3 was mainly spent resting in the shade. We all wore our hottest costumes that day and buying up what we wanted for the weekend. We can't wait for AnimeNorth 2015! 



SDCC 


SDCC is always such a wild ride. It is such a huge convention and the whole city is turned into a geek haven. The girl gang always go down a few days early so we can explore and enjoy other parts of the city and not just the convention. This year our friend Bunny Cools (whom we had met the previous year at SDCC) came with us for the adventure and what an adventure it was. The first day was spent leisurely exploring the convention Nonuniqueindie and C-estmabiologie wore magnificent cosplays. (Clara Oswald and Gamora). We always check out some great panels at SDCC too. If there is any place to do it. This is it. 


Saturday was spent mostly at the Orphan Black Fan Meet Up. Year two and we take home the prize for the Theatre Contest. Super cool and awesome. We all wore different clone cosplays and the girls absolutely killed it. Not much else was accomplished after that because of all of the excitement. 

Sunday was again spent on the dealers floor looking at anything we had previously missed. It is hard to wrap up the feelings and amazing experiences of SDCC.  

Fan Expo


Fanexpo was amazing this year. We met a lot of friends and saw amazing cosplayers. Some of our friends also made the trip down. Grayson and Yuukatan wore their Legolas and Gimli costumes again, tried out there Cap and Bucky with Shereoh and Nonunique's Nick Fury and Hawkeye. Grayson also tested out her Nebula alongside Nonunique's Gamora and Shereoh showcased her Sango. There was a wonderful cosplay lounge that allowed us to rest and fix up and meet other amazing cosplayers. It was a real treat. We wish all cons had one. 

There were some great panels and we went to a wonderful Doctor Who panel. The biggest disappointment of the weekend was Karen Gillan's cancellation but we understood. 

It was an amazing weekend. Topped off with this really surreal moment of entering the CN Tower square after the con and having all eyes on us. We took over 100 photos with tourists. It was amazing. 


Youmacon 


We closed up the con season with a trip down to Detroit. Not to toot our own horn but we are a dream team. Travelling is always smooth sailing. The car is always packed full of gigantic props but we manage to make a 9 hour drive comfortable. 


With tons of costumes planned for the weekend we started working hard but our busy lives soon got in the way. Weeks turned into days and then the con was only a few hours away. Oh! The life of a cosplayer. So we opted for our favourites and went as the Monster Trio on Friday. The costumes were already finished which gave us time to work on others that weren't quite there yet and were an overall success. We usually go as the Strawhats to relax and lay back but they were a big hit at Youmacon. Despite a few hiccups (ie - the cold and Yuukatan's shoes) we always love dressing up as them. It is always such a cool experience. The One Piece photoshoot also took place on Friday and it was so much fun. There were so many talented cosplayers. In typical Strawhats fashion we also made some really cool friends. We ended up staying late and watching a One Piece panel that we absolutely adored. 



Saturday we were all very tired but that didn't stop us from having an amazing day. Shereoh wanted to try out her Thousand Sunny cosplay again which is always a great success. Yuukatan wanted to be comfy and warm and brought her Legolas cosplay and Grayson opted for more One Piece with her young Law cosplay. It was a strange crossover if we do say so ourselves. As you can probably tell the weekend was heavily influenced by One Piece. We were fortunate enough to have a bit of a relax period when we waited in line for the masquerade to begin. We watched an hour solid of breakdance battles in the meantime. Our friends SutekiGo entered their first ever masquerade with their Magi cosplays and ended up winning best overall craftsmanship! Congrats guys! 


Sunday was supposed to be when we debuted our Inuyasha cosplays. However do to time constraints and one of us forgetting a major costume piece we bounced back to the Strawhats. A delightful turn of events that allowed us to connect with so many more people. Grayson befriended several children with her Luffy antics and people we had met days before saw their chance to reconnect. Despite spending most of Sunday taking Selfies in the Renaissance centre, the day was amazing. 





We are definitely a dream team. Youmacon has a wonderful vibe about it. Positively one of our favourite cons and we can't wait to go back next year. 

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