Anime Boston report
Apr. 8th, 2010 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofthethreadAnime Boston was tiring but fun. ^_^ Seemed like not many friends went this year though. Mostly, I saw and chatted with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
animeangel, athena_chan and mostflogged over the weekend. Also got to see tristencitrine for the first time in about 2 years. Saw neo2469 around since we both did cosplay chess and bugged ngmaster about whether the retirement from cons was a big April Fool’s joke. :-P Only saw Henry from ACP 3 times for like a total of 10 seconds; we always seemed to be going in the opposite directions whenever I ran into him! And I missed some people like animeangelblue, ichigokitty, springstar, and winq completely. :-(
Friday:
Started off by getting dressed in my Youko costume, checking in for my panel, and going to the historical costuming panel. My workshop was right afterwards at noon and went decently although I was a bit nervous and my throat started getting a bit sore halfway through. (So not used to talking for over an hour on my own! ^_^;;) Attendance was only about 15 but those who came seemed genuinely interested so I was pleased (even the staff member who was there to handle tech stuff was interested!); I’ll admit I was a bit worried no one would show up considering that I’d been too busy to advertise it much online and how early it was in the con. ^_^;; I finished the material I had planned to go over in an hour though so from questions I got, I ended up going a bit into 18th Century underpinnings (I’d brought the ones from Ekaterina to show) and what costumes I’d done in the past to try to fill the remaining half hour. Gave out chocolates as a thank you to people who came. ^_^
Went back to my room to drop off panel stuff, had my brother take some pics, and then wandered around for a couple of hours before changing into Count D’s artbook kimono for the evening. Several people realized I was supposed to be D but a few mistook me for Ai from Hell Girl. ^_^;; I guess since she is also black-haired and has a dark kimono with flowers in different colors and a red layer underneath. Wandered for a couple of hours and did some photos before changing to go out and get dinner with my brother.
Saturday:
Got up at 7 so I could lace myself into my 18th Century corset and get dressed as Ekaterina in time for chess rehearsal at 9:30. I’d restyled my wig before I left for the con, dousing the bangs with hairspray and leaving the curlers in since the curls came undone so easily during NYAF. This turned out to be a bad idea. The bangs looked really stupid after I took the curlers out Saturday morning but I didn’t have time to fix it before rehearsal. ._.; So, I hid under my veiled hat most of the time and didn’t get new pictures without the hat as I had hoped.
Wandered for a couple of hours after rehearsal and then got lunch and changed into D’s kimono again. Had to reschedule the full shoot withthedreamerworld to Sakura Matsuri (it should be really pretty with the cherry blossoms!) but we did get a few photos in. The preview pic is up on my ACP page: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?c=36049
Didn’t bother to change into D’s tailcoat to watch the masquerade and go to the ball as I planned since I hadn’t worn the kimono that much. It was disappointing that the masquerade and ball were on the same night this year. I like to go to both but with the overlap, the masquerade ending about half an hour behind schedule, and the ball ending half an hour earlier than it said on the schedule, I only got to the ball for about half an hour. :-/
Finally had dinner around 11 and then stayed up until 2AM, starting to pack stuff up and restyle my Ekaterina wig with help from the hotel hairdryer. I washed the hairspray out of the bangs and redid the two little curls. Fortunately, it looked a lot better after that so I didn’t have to go onstage with really stupid looking bangs.
Sunday:
Got about 5 hours of sleep before getting up to prepare for cosplay chess. Because of the past vs. future theme, I got cast as Ekaterina (basically a fictionalized Catherine the Great). And since there are usually some wacky crossovers in chess, I had Russia from Axis Powers Hetalia as my special attack. XD (Because even with deposing her husband in a coup and having him executed, Ekaterina is not very good for combat since she always had help from guards or D’eon and company. >_>;;) It was silly fun and we captured Asuka towards the end:
Then, the other side retaliated by sending Italy after me. I tried to exile him to Siberia and was a bit surprised when Russia didn’t come back but assumed it was a timing thing. Stumbled over the lines I’d prepared a bit but hopefully, it wasn’t too obvious I had to improvise some of this. ^_^;; We were actually supposed to have a quick argument because Russia didn’t want to go to Siberia due to the cold. Then, Japan (Italy’s special attack) would kill me and I could be helped offstage instead of trying to fall over in my corset and panniers. Good thing that pocket hoops are collapsible! ^_^; But it was a fun match and I think this was the best one since 2007.
Wandered around a bit afterwards to say bye to people and have lunch. Got a hall ribbon for Ekaterina when I walked by some staff members in the food court. ^_^ Then, back to the hotel to finish packing up. I paid extra for a 4PM checkout to avoid having to rush to get everything done before chess and to have a place to change afterwards. (Be dressed as Ekaterina, have everything packed up, check out of the hotel, and check bags before going to chess at 9:30? Not going to happen. Luckily, I’d booked a special offer through the hotel website and even with the extra fees for the late checkout and a couple of days of internet access, it was still about $120 less than 3 nights at the con rate. >_>) Got on a bus shortly after 5 and finally got back to NYC around 10 since traffic was heavy.
My brother is working on pictures now and I'll post links when they're done.
Have been catching up with paperwork and things the last few days and thinking a bit about what to do for upcoming events. Undecided on what I’m making for AnimeNext but I want to wear my Count D kimono again next month for Sakura Matsuri and the Japan Society cosplay party. And I’m considering going to Castle Point Anime Con this Sunday since it’s close and I didn’t get new Ekaterina pics at AB as I was hoping; I don’t have any other events I want to wear it to before it gets too warm out and don’t want to deal with the NYCC/NYAF crowds in that big dress so I’m not sure if I’d get a chance to wear it again this year otherwise. Plus, I could visit withneoangelwink and athena_chan since they’re doing the artist’s alley thing.
animeangel, athena_chan and mostflogged over the weekend. Also got to see tristencitrine for the first time in about 2 years. Saw neo2469 around since we both did cosplay chess and bugged ngmaster about whether the retirement from cons was a big April Fool’s joke. :-P Only saw Henry from ACP 3 times for like a total of 10 seconds; we always seemed to be going in the opposite directions whenever I ran into him! And I missed some people like animeangelblue, ichigokitty, springstar, and winq completely. :-(Friday:
Started off by getting dressed in my Youko costume, checking in for my panel, and going to the historical costuming panel. My workshop was right afterwards at noon and went decently although I was a bit nervous and my throat started getting a bit sore halfway through. (So not used to talking for over an hour on my own! ^_^;;) Attendance was only about 15 but those who came seemed genuinely interested so I was pleased (even the staff member who was there to handle tech stuff was interested!); I’ll admit I was a bit worried no one would show up considering that I’d been too busy to advertise it much online and how early it was in the con. ^_^;; I finished the material I had planned to go over in an hour though so from questions I got, I ended up going a bit into 18th Century underpinnings (I’d brought the ones from Ekaterina to show) and what costumes I’d done in the past to try to fill the remaining half hour. Gave out chocolates as a thank you to people who came. ^_^
Went back to my room to drop off panel stuff, had my brother take some pics, and then wandered around for a couple of hours before changing into Count D’s artbook kimono for the evening. Several people realized I was supposed to be D but a few mistook me for Ai from Hell Girl. ^_^;; I guess since she is also black-haired and has a dark kimono with flowers in different colors and a red layer underneath. Wandered for a couple of hours and did some photos before changing to go out and get dinner with my brother.
Saturday:
Got up at 7 so I could lace myself into my 18th Century corset and get dressed as Ekaterina in time for chess rehearsal at 9:30. I’d restyled my wig before I left for the con, dousing the bangs with hairspray and leaving the curlers in since the curls came undone so easily during NYAF. This turned out to be a bad idea. The bangs looked really stupid after I took the curlers out Saturday morning but I didn’t have time to fix it before rehearsal. ._.; So, I hid under my veiled hat most of the time and didn’t get new pictures without the hat as I had hoped.
Wandered for a couple of hours after rehearsal and then got lunch and changed into D’s kimono again. Had to reschedule the full shoot with
thedreamerworld to Sakura Matsuri (it should be really pretty with the cherry blossoms!) but we did get a few photos in. The preview pic is up on my ACP page: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?c=36049Didn’t bother to change into D’s tailcoat to watch the masquerade and go to the ball as I planned since I hadn’t worn the kimono that much. It was disappointing that the masquerade and ball were on the same night this year. I like to go to both but with the overlap, the masquerade ending about half an hour behind schedule, and the ball ending half an hour earlier than it said on the schedule, I only got to the ball for about half an hour. :-/
Finally had dinner around 11 and then stayed up until 2AM, starting to pack stuff up and restyle my Ekaterina wig with help from the hotel hairdryer. I washed the hairspray out of the bangs and redid the two little curls. Fortunately, it looked a lot better after that so I didn’t have to go onstage with really stupid looking bangs.
Sunday:
Got about 5 hours of sleep before getting up to prepare for cosplay chess. Because of the past vs. future theme, I got cast as Ekaterina (basically a fictionalized Catherine the Great). And since there are usually some wacky crossovers in chess, I had Russia from Axis Powers Hetalia as my special attack. XD (Because even with deposing her husband in a coup and having him executed, Ekaterina is not very good for combat since she always had help from guards or D’eon and company. >_>;;) It was silly fun and we captured Asuka towards the end:
Then, the other side retaliated by sending Italy after me. I tried to exile him to Siberia and was a bit surprised when Russia didn’t come back but assumed it was a timing thing. Stumbled over the lines I’d prepared a bit but hopefully, it wasn’t too obvious I had to improvise some of this. ^_^;; We were actually supposed to have a quick argument because Russia didn’t want to go to Siberia due to the cold. Then, Japan (Italy’s special attack) would kill me and I could be helped offstage instead of trying to fall over in my corset and panniers. Good thing that pocket hoops are collapsible! ^_^; But it was a fun match and I think this was the best one since 2007.
Wandered around a bit afterwards to say bye to people and have lunch. Got a hall ribbon for Ekaterina when I walked by some staff members in the food court. ^_^ Then, back to the hotel to finish packing up. I paid extra for a 4PM checkout to avoid having to rush to get everything done before chess and to have a place to change afterwards. (Be dressed as Ekaterina, have everything packed up, check out of the hotel, and check bags before going to chess at 9:30? Not going to happen. Luckily, I’d booked a special offer through the hotel website and even with the extra fees for the late checkout and a couple of days of internet access, it was still about $120 less than 3 nights at the con rate. >_>) Got on a bus shortly after 5 and finally got back to NYC around 10 since traffic was heavy.
My brother is working on pictures now and I'll post links when they're done.
Have been catching up with paperwork and things the last few days and thinking a bit about what to do for upcoming events. Undecided on what I’m making for AnimeNext but I want to wear my Count D kimono again next month for Sakura Matsuri and the Japan Society cosplay party. And I’m considering going to Castle Point Anime Con this Sunday since it’s close and I didn’t get new Ekaterina pics at AB as I was hoping; I don’t have any other events I want to wear it to before it gets too warm out and don’t want to deal with the NYCC/NYAF crowds in that big dress so I’m not sure if I’d get a chance to wear it again this year otherwise. Plus, I could visit with
neoangelwink and athena_chan since they’re doing the artist’s alley thing.
