How I switched sides - Desucon 2013 cosplay plans change

There's now under a month left until Desucon (hype!! 8D) and the con carpool search seems to be slightly on the brighter side; I've found two people whom I could tag along with but I have yet to make sure 100% which one it will be because one of them informed me, about one week ago, that he might not be able to go to Desucon after all. Oh well, if he can't go there I do have that other person to check carpooling possibilities with. We'll see, I'll probably make a post when it's settled.

Oh well, the last few weeks or so I've been bouncing back and forth between changing my Desucon cosplay plans slightly and it seems I've got turned over to the "yes, I will change my plans" side now. Worry not, it's just one cosplay that got changed! My current cosplay plan list is now as follows:

Friday

Series: Fruits Basket

Character: Kazuma Sohma (manga version)

Kazuma ain't going nowhere because I've already planned a pair cosplay with Ri-kun as Kyo and I'm looking forward to it quite a bunch haha. Besides he's pretty much finished.. err, except for that random not-very-traditional haori tie... I might add it though.

Saturday

Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

Character: Hajime Saitou

 This is where my plans changed. I originally planned to go as Kenshin (OVA, Battousai version) but.. plans changed. Basically, I switched from being a big enemy of the shinsengumi to, well, being a shinsengumi. xD Also, fun fact: one of Kenshin's toughest enemies and coolest is Saitou. Then again, Rurouni Kenshin's Saitou is that much more BAMF than Hakuouki's taciturn bishie Saitou. xD I hope I run into that Kenshin cosplayer I heard will be there, crossover photos herpderp ~
I also realized that by cosplaying Saitou I would get somewhat less stuff to take with me -which is good because heavy luggage is not so gusta and both carpool possibilities aren't space wonder cars- and that's because several parts of the cosplay would be used for my other Desucon cosplays as well - namely the wig, shoes and juban as well as some smaller stuff. Also I've been longing to get a chance to wear Saitou again ever since I bought a new black authentic kimono that fits me better. And besides I've been sort of obsessed with playing Hakuouki Musouroku (aka Warriors of the Shinsengumi) lately...

Sunday

Series: Brave 10

Character: Rokuro Unno

kimono!Rokuro as seen in Brave 10 anime's last episodes stays on the list as a rather chill Sunday cosplay.

Nothing else to say, see ya at Desucon!

Quick Kazuma preview + I now live in Sweden!

First off I must mention something not-so-cosplay-related but which still affects my cosplay hobby in some ways and yes, it is also important; I moved away from home the 1st May and currently live in a very small youth apartment in northern Sweden, not far from my mom's place (read: former home) in Finland. That also means that a chunk of my cosplay posts from now on, if done in my apartment, will have a semi-crappy background. I will try to do photoshoots and such at mom's place every now and then because the yard there is great as a background.. but I guess most quick previews, contact lens try-ons etc from now on will be photographed at my apartment so yeah, I'll apologize for future messy backgrounds and yellow lightings in advance. I will try to check though if there's any cool photoshoot locations close to my new apartment. :) Oh, and about the cosplay making itself I'm pretty sure I will continue to work on my cosplays at mom's place because the good sewing machines are there as well as all crafting tools and stuff. I can't really bring much stuff to my apartment because the space is very limited..

Oh, and before someone gets all worried and asks me...

 •••

I will still attend both  

Finnish & Swedish 

anime conventions/events as long as my economy allows it. 

•••

If anyone wants to help me out funding my cosplay hobby xD
I do art commissions at deviantArt:
Art Commission information ~ ^_^

•••

Oh well, I decided to do a super quick Kazuma cosplay preview sort of thing today. I didn't bother with any make-up and yeah.. now comes the yellow lighting and semi-crappy background for you all to enjoy.. not. ._. Also ignore my non-tabi socks and that I'm not wearing zori.. I will of course have the proper footwear at Desucon.

Cosplayer: Valkoinen Samurai
Photographer: Jäätynyt Enkeli 

I forgot to mention that all the items for this cosplay (kimono, juban, haori, kaku obi) are from my kimono hobby closet and by that genuine Japanese pieces.
 

And lastly a head close-up I took myself:

This hairstyle doesn't look very good on me I think; my photographer had to take quite a bunch of photos before getting anything I was at least semi-pleased with... oh well.

Not so much more to say about my Kazuma cosplay, it's awaiting its debut now.
I will try to do a Rokuro Unno (Brave 10) preview later too.

Have a nice day!

Hair cutting scissors and Kazuma wig trimming

I bought scissors for wig hair cutting from eBay some time ago and received them today. Earlier I just cut my wigs with mini scissors and well.. it worked but it wasn't the best and my hands hurt like hell if I had to cut for a longer time. I figured that if I will cut a lot more wigs in the future, which I will, so why not get some scissors actually meant for doing just that? Okay, I had my doubts buying from a cheap-ish eBay Hong Kong seller but turned out these are actually pretty sweet.. at least for someone non-professional like me who just needs 'em for a wacky hobby ~

le hair cutting scissors
(yes, I'm left-handed and these are leftie style. Haters gonna hate ~)

And with those I attacked the wig. Sure there wasn't much to cut, I just wanted to trim the bangs a little shorter because the bangs, although pretty nice, were originally of that derp-length that makes me look, well.. derp.

Wig before cutting
(sorry, flash photo)

After trimming the bangs (also layering them slightly) and trying the wig on my head it looked like this:

Excuse yellow bathroom light..
(mirror photo)

Now the bangs barely cover my eyes and thus don't look as derp anymore. I'll do a Kazuma cosplay preview later ~

Kazuma wig test

Got my wig for Kazuma yesterday. I'm at Jäätynyt Enkeli's place right now and I will stay here the whole weekend but I took with me the kimono items needed for Kazuma so that I could do a quick wig test preview while here. Oh, and this is pretty much a closet cosplay for me.. I happened to have all the clothing items for this already thanks to my kimono hobby. xD I just bought the haori and the wig.. not like he always wears a haori but it doesn't hurt to have it ~

I barely bothered with make-up and I'm not sure if I should trim the bangs on this wig a bit or not because on the manga Kazuma's hair length varies; sometimes it covers most of his eyes and sometimes it doesn't. ._. But I think I might shorten the bangs slightly because it might look better on me.

This is the only at least semi-decent photo I got and it's taken with the help of a mirror too so yeah, I'm not actually dead. lol Oh, and it's the manga version.

derp
(oh, yes, the mirror is dirty..)

Not so much more to say, if I decide to trim the wig you'll get a proper preview later.

Desucon 2013 - Problems solved and cosplay plans!

I have now solved the how-to-travel-to-Desucon-and-back problem; I will seemingly travel with a group of con goers from Oulu and hey, in a motherfucking camping car to boot! <3 So much awesome! 8D I'm very happy about this!!

Oh, and I kind of half-promised earlier that when I solve the travel problem I will reveal my Desucon cosplay plans. Here goes!

Friday

Series: Fruits Basket

Character: Kazuma Sohma (manga version!)

I'm not much for shoujo manga but Fruits Basket is one of the few exceptions. It was a friend who got me to read it and while I found the first few volumes.. well.. boring.. until Kazuma appeared the story started for real. I've wanted to cosplay Kazuma for a while now (I can't find anyone who has cosplayed him by the way :S) and when Ri-kun said they could do Kyo -if I did Shishou- I was excited because hey, Kazuma is awesome and all but he just looks like a generic kimono dude and probably wouldn't be recognized without Kyo. :'( But it seems I will have a Kyo so AAAAAWWW YEEEAAAAA, this will be so much fun!

Saturday

Series: Rurouni Kenshin

Character: Kenshin Himura (Hitokiri Battousai)

Kenshin, you don't need more reasons to cosplay him than that he is AWESOME. I will cosplay the Tsuiokuhen/Trust & Betrayal OVA version, aka when he was still a hitokiri. Yeah, it's the same one I debuted at Närcon Vinter last month. Kenshin was super comfortable to wear and fun so I can see myself cosplaying him a lot more in the future and the future means that the next stop is Desucon!

Sunday

Series: Brave 10

Character: Rokuro Unno

I've been going back and forth on who to cosplay on Sunday the most but when I figured I could use Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan Saitou's wig... their hairstyles are super similar - hairtwins! I'd also get more use for my violet contacts if I did Rokuro so well, it got pretty set. Okay, while I admit I think his default outfit is more awesome I really don't have the confidence or body.. hahaha.. ha to pull that one off so I have to settle with the second (third?) best.. aka kimono!Rokuro seen during the later half of the anime. Chill cosplay except that I'll be half blind so why not? Also, eyewraps are boss and Rokuro is one of my top favorites in Brave 10 anyway. Sure the anime wasn't all that great but hey, I really enjoyed most of the characters!

 Yeah.

These plans are not 100% set yet, there's always the possibility I might change something but I feel pretty sure about these.

Successful trip to Tositori..

I finished school early today and decided to take the bus home instead of waiting for mom to pick me up after job. I walked over to to this one shopping center, which I always pass by, and when I got there I noticed I had about one hour of time to kill before the bus would arrive. So I decided to go to Tositori, this one second-hand shop in town, just to see if there was anything I could use for some more casual clothes cosplays. I especially had in mind to see if I could find a light green shirt for Kureno Sohma from Fruits Basket.

Kureno Sohma
(I'm not going to have that black jacket because he mostly was without it)

Yes, Fruits Basket, don't ask me why I read a shoujo manga. xD Normally most shoujo manga don't catch my interest at all there are a few exceptions though.. but I've had some slight interest in Fruits Basket for some time because I thought the zodiac concept sounded cool. Oh well, when Angie (one of my Swedish con friends) told me I should cosplay as Kazuma and showed me a picture of him I went "looks cool" (mainly because he wore kimono. I love kimono trololo) and decided to start reading the manga some days after that, mainly just to find out about this character. Honestly, at the first 4 volumes I considered dropping it because I found all characters except Kyo, Tohru and Hatori (and occasionally Yuki and Shigure) extremely annoying. *coughwantedtopunchhiroandkagurainthefacesomanytimescough* But something still kept me reading it.. and when I then finished Furuba I must say I'm glad that I didn't drop it because the story sure got more interesting at the later volumes and the characters developed and stopped getting on my nerves as much, haha. Kazuma, Kureno, Hatori and Kyo were my favorites - in that order.

Oh well, back to the second-hand store trip.
I must say I got the jackpot! Found just what I was looking for; a perfect green shirt that fit me okay and best of all.. the price was..

EURON JUUSTO (1 €)

Super cheap. I love second-hand stores sometimes. xD This also means that now it's very likely I'll do Kureno Sohma for a con next year.. I just need black pants and a wig. I already have a bird plushie I could use as a prop bought years ago (I loved birds when young); I think carrying it around would maybe make it easier for people to recognize who I'm cosplaying because most characters in Fruits Basket have very.. generic clothing. I like Kureno and I'm also born on the year of the Rooster so double yay, this will be a comfy chill cosplay to do. Would be nice to have a Fruits Basket cosplay group next year though.. but I don't really know many people who would be interested to cosplay from it.

Oh, and lastly a photo of the shirt in question:

Aww yiss!

Oh, and I must tell you one thing that happened after I had bought the shirt and went to wait for the bus in the bus station. It's not cosplay related but it was rather awesome so I had to make a rage comic out of it. xD

http://chigami.deviantart.com/art/A-wild-money-bill-appears-341326128

 I guess that's it for today. Bye ~