イベントレポ : Leipzig Bookfair 2013

Hello everyone! Thank you for sticking around (or for passing by)! In case you didn't know: This blog is terribly inactive. Two, maybe three times a year, I make an effort to revive it by posting terribly outdated event reports including costume galleries and rundowns. Today is such a time:
Here's my report on Leipzig Bookfair.

For the first time in years, I decided to attend Leipzig Bookfair both on Saturday and Sunday. Usually, we'd drive to Leipzig by car on Saturday morning and leave by dusk. This year, though, we decided to get a hotel room close to the con site and to stay for another day. What a great decision! Not only is it much less crowded on Sunday (so you can actually leave the main hall and check out the publishers' booths), the extra day also significantly lowers the stress level for any cosplaying visitor such as myself.

I had early on decided to bring my Wonder Woman costume on Sunday, because I thought it would fit the architecture of the hall. For Saturday, I wanted to bring a new costume. I was torn between cosplaying the Ghibli classic Nausicaä and Batwoman, whose stand-alone series I had only recently been introduced to. Asking my friends for advice didn't help either, as there were more "votes" for Nausicaä, but the people in favour to Batwoman brought up much better arguments. In the end, I decided on Batwoman, as I could not think of any other con that she whould "fit into" in terms of weather, architecture and comfort.
It was my dear Aera who  had introduced me to the Batwoman series somewhen in early 2012. J.H. Williams III's art style (his panelling in particular) totally drew me in and the story and characters are what kept me even when Williams III passed the pen and continued working on the series as "just" a writer. In light of recent decisions made by DC and Williams III's quitting the series altogether, I'm not so sure if I want to continue reading anymore, though...

Saturday

Batwoman / Kate Kane (Batwoman) I had early on decided not to buy a skinsuit, but to draft a pattern myself, because I wanted it to have as few seams as possible. I came across this very helpful tutorial, which I used for the most parts. The most difficult part about this costume were the cape and the mask and I'm not fully satisfied with how either came out, but everything looks quite good together, at least. Luckily, I had purchased a pair of flat boots earlier that winter, so I didn't have to worry about that, too. Wearing sensible shoes for this cosplay was really important to me, as Kate points out herself  how little she thinks of heels for combat. For more information on my construction process, please read my WIP posts on tumblr: ONE | TWO | MAKE-UP . Pictures below taken by EvaYabai (1st row) and DarkAge (2nd row)

Needless to say, hardly anyone recognised me as Batwoman (I did get a few "BatGIRL!"s, though), but the costume proved to be quite comfortable despite the tight suit and mask. My personal highlight that day was the little photo shoot I had with DarkAge. It was my first time working with him and I was suprised how much thought he had put into everything. He wasn't really familiar with the comics, either, but had researched covers and iconic scenes in order to recreate them in his pictures, some of which you can see above.

Sunday

Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman: Odyssey) I had worn this costume only once and received so much nice feedback on it that I knew I would wear it again eventually. Leipzig Bookfair was a great opportunity, because the venue seemed very fitting. I only needed to fix minor parts on the costume, such as repainting the belt, whose paint had rubbed off. Diana was a great deal more popular with the crowd, but also more uncomfortable due to the shoes. Some male "humans" apparently also thought I was wearing these clothes just to please their eyes and therefore were quite... startled when I turned down their grunted "offers". For more in-depth information on this costume, please read my WIP post. 1st row pictures below taken by Franky. 2nd row pictures taken by Acorea.

Altogether, I had a great time at Leipzig Bookfair, as every year. This year, though, we not only had perfect weather; new acquaintances also added to the wonderful experience. Staying a second day was a good idea, as well and I'm sure that I'll be attending the event for two days once more next year.

Right now, I'm preparing for my trip to Connichi, which is the biggest con I usually attend (and the biggest con in Germany, period). I'll bring two new costumes: Sofia Sartor from Assassin's Creed Revelations and Princess Sapphire from The Princess Knight aka Ribon no Kishi.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to write my big pre-Connichi WIP post this year, but I promise to add lots of WIP pictures and in-depth descriptions of my new costumes in my upcoming con report on Connichi.

Until then, you might want to check the WIP tag on my tumblr for that.

イベントレポ : AniMaCo 2012

Today's entry finally features my last cosplay event of 2012: AniMaCo in Berlin. Once this is finished, I'll move on to two more entries about more recent events from 2013.

 

I am a regular at AniMaCo. The convention hall (part theatre, part school) is pretty ugly, but the nearby park has some pretty spots. Plus, AniMaCo is easily one of the most cosplayer-friendly cons I've ever attended: They have big changing booths and also maps that show good locations for photo shoots. They also have a different theme each time. As 2012 the world was supposedly facing it's bitter end according to the Mayan calendar, last year's theme was "concalypse". And truly, when I arrived on Friday and saw the hall was almost completely hidden behind huge scaffolds (ongoing construction work), it looked quite apocalyptic, indeed.
AniMaCo also had one of the most epic con promotional trailers, I've ever seen:

Concerning my costume lineup: There wasn't much time between Connichi, our Idolm@ster shoot and AniMaCo. Additionally, I was still in the final stages of writing my thesis, so I had originally decided not to sew any new costumes for this con.

HOWEVER. When I was watching some episodes of Adventure Time, my sister jokingly said we would make an awesome Finn and Fionna. The idea stuck and you can see the results below.

Friday

Frog Queen (Original Design) As usual, Friday was old-costume-day. I decided to re-wear my Frog Queen costume, as I had only worn it once at Connichi and because I knew there's a pretty lake close to the con site. The day was pretty short and cold, but my sister took a few very pretty shots of my costume. Sadly, she couldn't wear her princess costume, because she felt so tired that day. For more information on this costume, please read my WIP post. Pictures below taken by my sister, edited by me.

Saturday

Fionna the Human (Adventure Time) Thanks to my sister sewing the backpacks (out of felt), all I had left to do was sewing the hats, shirts and Finn's pants - I already had a fitting skirt in my closet. I guess I could've purchased fitting shirts, too, but it seemed so much easier to simply sew them myself, since I had found a nice 4-way stretch fabric earlier. I also love how our hats came out. I used a very helpful pattern I found at Instructables. I only had to do some minor adjustments (like the general size of the hats or Fionna’s ears), but apart from that, the tutorial saved me a lot of time. A note on our swords: Due to our time restraint I didn't prepare any props, but Andy, who wanted to take our pictures, kind of insisted on swords. So what did we do? We went to the nearby shopping mall, bought little wooden signs, coloured duct tape and  plastic gemstones and created these beauties in about 5mins. They're worth a whole 1€ each! Ehem. Well, considering what we managed to fabricate out of such ridiculously cheap items in such a short amount of time, I'm actually quite fond of them! For more information on this costume, please read my WIP post on tumblr. Myself as Fionna, Patalord as Finn 1st picture below taken by my Maddi, edited by me. 2nd row pictures taken by Andy-K.

   

Sunday

Azusa Miura (The Idolm@ster) On Sunday, our Idolm@ster group had a reunion. Not all of the girls could make it though, so we were "only" 11 girls instead of 13. I had fixed some minor things, but I was still not really happy with it. I like my shoe covers, though! It was my first time sewing such things and I think they look very close to the original. I am quite pleased with the silhouette of my skirt, as well. It's mostly the wig (centre parting...) I don't like on me and the proportions look a bit strange, too. But I was so happy to see my girls again! Acorea, who had coordinated our whole group, also took some pretty solo shots of each member. For our full cast, please read my report on our photoshoot. WIP pictures here. 1st row pictures below taken acophoto 2nd row picture taken by Diesel.

We also had shot a video with Diesel that day, which was a lot of fun, too: 

(Don't be fooled by the sunny weather. It was bitterly cold that day!) 

Like many years before, AniMaCo was a nice way to end the cosplay season.

The weather was rainy on Friday and Saturday and freezing on Sunday, but I had the chance to chat with wonderful people and to see beautiful cosplays. I'm already looking foward to next AniMaCo (which will be in 2014, as it's taking turns with Mega Manga Con each year)!

イベントレポ : Connichi 2012

Hello everyone! Those of you who followed my previous LJ blog know that my con reports are always terribly late. And who am I to break this tradition? So, with a three-week delay, here's my report on this year's Connichi in Kassel.

This year's Connichi was different in a lot of ways:
For one thing, we didn't get to stay at our usual hotel close to the convention site, because they had -much to our ... dismay- cancelled our reservation due to construction works. Let me tell you that getting an affordable room in Kassel for the Connichi weekend isn't an easy task - not even when you search as early as January, which is eight months in advance. Luckily, our friend Sarah managed to find a nice guesthouse which was quite cheap and big enough for the five of us. The catch: It was very far from the convention site and almost impossible to reach by public transport. So this year, for the first time, we went to Kassel by car. It's a 5 hour trip from where I live and quite exhausting (even though I only served as co-driver for my sister), but it went considerably well. The road network in Kassel is pretty insane, though. The crossroads and roundabouts are huge and confusing and caused quite some frustration. The guesthouse was really, really nice. Very spacious, nice kitchen (only one bathroom, though), comfortable beds. If everything works out well, we'll propably be there again next year. After all, our hotel is already fully booked, anyway. Yes: 12 months in advance.
Another difference to the prevoius years was that Maddi and I had decided not to take part in the German World Cosplay Summit preliminaries. I can only speak for myself, but it didn't regret that decision for even one second. Apart from all the money and time we saved before the con, it was also wonderful to be able to really appreciate the con itself without having to worry about meetings with the organisers, additional rehearsals and all the emotional stress that comes with taking part in a competition. Even though a lot of people came up to Maddi and me expressing their dissapointment over our not entering I don't think I will take part in the WCS prelims ever again. This year made me realise that I'm not much of a competitive cosplayer anyway and I much more enjoy watching other people's skits than to worry about mine.


Thanks to these changes, Connichi 2012 was a very unique experience for me. Never had I had so much time to chat with other cosplayers, never had I enjoyed a con so much.

That's for the general valuation, let's proceed to the costumes and some more in-depth information about each con day.

My costume lineup shouldn't be a surprise, I already announced it in my previous post.

Friday

	Margaret (Persona 4) Friday is usually the shortest con day, so I decided to rewear my Margaret costume. I had made this (and my sister's) costume back in March. For more information, see my report on Leipzig Bookfair. We had originally planned to come together again as our Velvet Room group, but René couldn't make it, so it was just my sister and me. It was nice to wear this costume once more, since I really want to sell it but couldn't say "good bye" just yet.  Pictures below taken by evaYabai (1), Gildartz (2) and Maddi (3&4, edited by me) My sister Patapata as Elizabeth and myself as Margaret.
As expected, Friday was really short. We didn't get to the convention site until 4:30pm, but we didn't have any plans for that day, anyway, so we just checked the dealer's room (lots of plush alpacas and Nekomimis this year), chatted with other cosplayers and did some grocery shopping. Saturday
	Saturday - Wonder Woman (Odyssey) I was so nervous to debut this costume on Connichi. First, because I'd be wearing a comic costume on a manga/anime con, second, because propably noone would recognise me (the Odyssey arc never got published in Germany, afaik). Wonder Woman turned out to be really popular with the photographers and congoers, though, which made me really happy. I'm also really glad that, contrary to my expections, my armour parts didn't fall apart and the costume survived the day nearly unblemished. I've never had a costume that included that much craft foam armour, so I had been quite worried. For more information read my WIP post. Pictures in the 1st row pictures taken by Andy K., 2nd row by Niklas Liebig, 3rd  row by EvaYabai.  Picture No. 10 taken by Rose, picture no.11 taken by En-Ki.
Saturday was a blast. And hot. But awesome. I was expecting to feel (and be treated) like a "commoner" with my leather jacket and pants, but quite a lot of people recognised me as Diana. One women in her late 50ies (I guess) came up to me telling me that she grew up watching the TV series and requested to take a couple of pictures with me in which she posed like a sidekick. I also managed to have some longer  conversations with Aigue-Marine, who wore her beautiful Daenerys costume that day and later changed to her Wonder Girl cosplay, in which she took some pictures together with me (for most of wich I am still eagerly waiting). Speaking of pictures: I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to have mini photoshoots of sorts with Andy K, Niklas Liebig, EvaYabai, Rose and En-Ki, who each took breathtakingly beautiful pictures of my cosplay. I was told that the red fabric I used for my top looks great in pictures, because it kind of reflects the light in an very interesting way. The more you know! The only drawback that day (next to the sun unceasingly beating down on my leather jacket ) was that we didn't get to see Yaya Han's panel, because it was full. I wasn't so much interested in the panel itself; But I'd have liked to see her in person at least once. But then again, I'm not too sad about that, either, because it was during that panel that I had 3 of the above mentioned mini photoshoots. Sunday
	Frog Queen (original design) I was quite surprised how many people recognised me as the frog prince (given, the golden ball might've been a good hint). I was kind of shocked, though, how little people know the actual story and were talking about kisses and stuff when there isn't even a single kiss in the original fairytale. That's German cultural heritage! General knowledge! It made my fairytale loving self kind of sad. My sister had agreed to be my princess, but because I didn't have much time, I simply altered my old Euphemia cosplay from 2008 instead of sewing a new costume. She had to change back quickly, though, so we hardly took any pictures together. For more information on this costume read my WIP post. ↓ 1st row pictures taken by Des-Henkers-Braut ↓ 2nd row pictures taken by EvaYabai (1&2) and myself (3)
As usual, Sunday was quite short as well, because we spent a lot of time in the main hall to watch the WCS prelims. My feet were thankful, though. It certainly wasn't the brightest idea to wear high heels three days in a row. It felt kind of strange to experience the prelims solely as part of the audience, but we highly enjoyed the show. The Rainbow Riders (Team Germany 2012) acted as anchors and they were hilarious. Seriously, those girls have a tremendous talent for comedy! The overall quality of the skits was a bit lower than in previous years. About half of the skits was very, very entertaining and inventive, the other half, however... wasn't. In the end, Cherry Sky won with an incredibly well choreographed, action packed skit to Kamikaze Kaitô Jeanne. They were among my favourites, as well, and I think they'll make a good Team Germany 2013. After the prelims, we spent some time in the nearby park, where I got to take some pictures with my dearly missed Krone, with whom I hardly get to take pictures anymore since she moved away. Eva took some really nice pictures, as well. The day went by really quickly, but I'm happy I got the chance to talk to some cosplayers I'd only known online before, such as Salyu. I also (very briefly) met Sumikins and Rynn (Team USA 2010), who were incredibly nice. I'm so sad I missed them on the other days, because their craftsmanship is truly superb and I would've loved to see them in costume. We watched the closing ceremony, changed back and drove back home, where we arrived around 11pm, completely exhausted - in a good way.

That was my Connichi 2012 experience. I'm already looking forward to next year!


Con season in Germany is slowly coming to an end. There's only one convention left I'll attend: AniMaCo in Berlin, my local con. This is my lineup:

Friday: Frog Queen (Original)	Saturday:  Fionna (Adventure Time)	Sunday: Azusa Miura (The Idolm@ster)

I also had two photoshoots (Persona and Idolm@ster), which I'll cover in another post. Bye!


PS: I just read through this post (spell-checking etc.) and felt it was horribly unpersonal and flat. So here are some outtakes. Yes, serious business, indeed:






Am I pretty yet?