Showing posts with label Soujun Kuchiki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soujun Kuchiki. Show all posts

July 29, 2012

Närcon 2012 - Cosplay chess and tabi socks with holes

 Hellous ~

I just arrived safely at my dad's place in Bålsta after a successful trip to Närcon. I met a lot of familiar faces and some new friends too and generally had a very nice time. Now follows a rather long summary from start to finish what happened on the journey to, at and from the con ~

Tuesday (24th July)

Me and my twin Jäätynyt Enkeli's journey from northern Finland to southern Sweden started. We had packed our stuff earlier and took the bus at Haparanda bus station 17:10 (Swedish time) that went to Luleå. We walked with our luggages to Luleå train station and I noticed a girl with blue-blond hair who was sitting close to the grill/kiosk/whatever who looked disturbingly familiar. Turned out it was one of my con friends who was going to work at Närcon! Me and my twin had a place at the sleeping car and my con friend, 'Ecce', had a sleeping place too although, I think, in the one next to ours. We talked for some hours in our sleeping car and some other early congoers joined in. One of them looked creepily similar to one of my Finnish con friends... and I don't even exaggerate when I say 'creepily similar' in the sense of pretty-damn-sure-they-are-twins-who-were-separated-at-birth. lol When I first saw her my brain went "Fuck, isn't that [insert Finnish friend's nickname here]?? Wait... it can't be.. it just can't... WTF IS THIS SHIT? IT TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE HER. SCAAAAAAAAAAAAARYYYYYYYYYYY." and then, for the the rest of the train trip and even at the con, whenever I saw her I was totally brainfucked for some minutes until I could tell my brain it's not the same person. Not. Not. Nooooooooooot. I'm not sure do I want to meet my doppelganger... my twin doesn't count.
One hour or so before midnight Ecce left to her sleeping car 'room' and two random strangers entered our sleeping car.. and lately one more. One con goer was there too. Luckily they didn't snore so I could sleep.

Wednesday (25th July)

Around 12:30 or something like that (late train...) we arrived at Stockholm central train station. There we noticed what an epic fail we had made when we packed our stuff at home.. why did we put all our stuff in one of the luggages and leave the other one completely empty except two decoration katanas?? So what was labeled as "my" suitcase weighed probably closer to 20 kilos and the other one like... maybe not even 5 kilos. Guess was it fun to be the one having to haul the heavy-as-fuck one? Nope. Well well, we took turns kind of hauling the heavy-as-fuck one and made it to the train that would take us from Stockholm to Linköping. Around 15:00 something (or a bit earlier, I dunno) we got to Linköping.
When I was about to go down the stairs a random girl took my Urahara hat and put it on her head and started to walk away like nothing happened. I waited like 5 seconds if she would give it back to me, but she didn't and just kept walking towards the stairs. I then took the hat back and put it on my head and asked her "Why did you take my hat?" in all seriousness and she just answered "Because it's fun" in a casual tone of voice. The fuck. I almost wanted to punch her in the face, what an idiotic answer and behavior. I know you're a congoer and I am too, but that doesn't give you any more rights to steal my hat. You're a total stranger and I am one too, where is common sense? Some people... *sigh*

Oh well, met up with Psycho Cat who had been waiting for us at the train station; we had booked a room together for the con stay. So yeah, we walked to Sky Hotel Apartments, aka our sleeping place. Actually it's more of a mini apartment than a hotel, we had our own mini kitchen! It was nice and cheap, at least I think so. So we dumped our luggages there and went to the nearby food store to, well, buy food. Me and my twin bought milk, yoghurt, rosehip soup and rhubarb soup, small Kellogg's cereal packs, candy, noodles, chips (CHEESE DOODLES!) and frozen thai/asian food. Yup, that's the con diet, cheap and unhealthy like crap. :')) <- double chin lol After that we went back to the 'hotel' and derped and awaited the next day to dawn.

Thursday (26th July)

DA FIRST CON DAY BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM ~~
Yah, morning came, on with the cosplays and let's go! So I got my Kondou wig on time (it arrived the morning we had to leave) and so I could debut him at Närcon, as planned. What I didn't plan was how long time it took to put on everything. Well, the make-up part took the most time because I used that one stuff, whatever-it-is, that takes like 9389594394 hours to dry. And I almost ragequited when my new experiment derped; stupid glue stick just peeled off when I tried to use it on my eyebrows to try to get them flat and easier to cover so I could draw on cooler brows yo. But nope, not today man. Not today. So I thought "screw this shit" and did my usual eyebrow coloring instead.
Putting on the hakama was derpier than usual too, I dunno why.. my twin even managed to kill my hakama's hera (hakama "spatula" to help keep the back in place) or well, the piece of string it hung from broke. Yipee.. Oh well, it didn't matter all that much because you can still wear hakama without it, it just makes life a bit easier. *shrugs*
Jäätynyt Enkeli cosplayed Keisuke Sannan from Hakuouki too and when we all three were done we walked to the central station and took the bus to Närcon. We saw the line of colorful people and costumes waiting to get in and went to stand where it ended. Oh, and let me say IT WAS HOT AS HELL. I kept taking my shinsengumi haori off when I stood still. So we three stood there and soon enough our friend Angie showed up. She bought a wig from me.
At 13:37 Närcon opened its doors and the line started to move, after some few hours of waiting for us. The line actually moved surprisingly fast this year. *remembers Uppcon's 4 hour lines* Soon we were inside the building and started to walk around and derp, like I usually do. Not so much to say except that during the evening I had to go to the CBG room to get information and prepare for Friday's cosplay chess -the biggest official one in Sweden- which I took part in for the first time this year. The theme was manga/anime VS games. The preparation was a let's-go-through-how-this-will-happen thing and we got to know who we would fight against and come up with our own fighting scenes. The preparation was quite entertaining if I do say so myself.. even though I wanted to go pee during the whole thing which took probably 2 hours. -.- Wonderful. My Kondou cosplay pretty much competes with my Hijikata cosplay when it comes to the current "murder when you have to go to the toilet" title...

Me, my twin and Psycho Cat went back to the 'hotel' around 22:00-23:00 something and thank god for that, my feet hurt so much. At the 'hotel' we watched the comedy movie Dumb & Dumber on TV, ate chips, showered and then went to sleep.

Friday (27th July)

Second morning of the con and time to cosplay Hajime Saitou from Hakuouki. Jäätynyt Enkeli was too lazy to cosplay Sannan again I would have had to dress him etc, takes long to get ready so he just went in casual clothes.. or well, the 2012 year's official Uppcon t-shirt. Getting myself ready today as Saitou went way quicker than Kondou yesterday. Simpler cosplay to put on. But before I put on my cosplay me and my twin cooked noodles for breakdast, mmm nutritious...
At the con it was the same usual again: look at the cosplays, merchandise, feel the happy atmosphere... until I noticed my right tabi sock had finally chosen to give in; there was a big visible hole on my big toe.

My reaction
What to do?
I went and looked at all the merchandise booths after tabi socks and I spotted a tabi and geta set. I asked the seller if they had more tabi socks and he said those were the last pair. He could sell 'em for me separately. But I looked at the geta and figured I wanted them too, especially when I noticed they fit me. So yeah, Saitou got new shoes and the day was saved.
It didn't take too long before Angie showed up and asked if I was going to take part in the cosplay chess. At that point I realized I had totally forgotten to check the time! We were running late and left for the CGB room. Almost all people from yesterday's preparation were there and they were going through the standing positions or something a last time. So I went and stood there and when I noticed people didn't really do anything that seemed like we-will-leave-at-this-very-moment signs I asked one of the people holding the chess if I had time to go to the toilet. He said if it's super fast then yes, I just answered medium fast and went on my way. lol Luckily I found a toilet very close to the CBG room, just up the corridor. When I was done someone said "Saitou Hajime!" and me, being pretty stressed (and even confused at the call because pretty much no one seemed to know who I was cosplaying) I was trying to say to her I'm running late but it just looked and sounded like avdgvsafgds so I said "Okey, fine, but make it quick" and posed and then walked fast back to the room. Back at the room people had taken their positions and then we walked out from the room in a nice line towards the outside grass area where we would start the cosplay chess. Oh, and let me tell you: back-stage was hooooooot. I joked with some people in line about the warmth and then I got nervous when people started to walk one by one to the chess playing board. It was soon my turn, as Bishop number 2 to step in. Oh, I forgot to say that I was in the anime/manga team, even though Hakuouki was first a game and I even asked about it before the con and the holder of the chess said I would be in the game team... *shrugs* Oh well, I have my theories why I got put in the anime/manga team and I don't really mind anyway ~
So err, what to say about the cosplay chess in itself more than it was awesomesauce and I certainly want to do it again! <3

We left the con around the same time as yesterday because everyone had more or less pain somewhere... and as soon as I got to my bed...

(Photo by Jäätynyt Enkeli)
NO IT'S NOT FANSERV--, MY LOWER BACK JUST. HURT. LIKE. HELL.
(I could barely stand straight.. or do basically anything... it was that bad... OTL)
A lot oh-fuck-my-back-breaks-if-I-move-anymore-today pains I managed to get my ass over to the dining table and put some freeze food in the micro which resulted in a lot of derpy 'Saitou eating food' photos. I was eating some kind of sweet chili teriyaki chicken with rice, which I had not tasted before by the way... hence why lots of weird and silly faces happened.

(Photos by Jäätynyt Enkeli)

Saturday (28th July)

On Saturday I debuted my Soujun Kuchiki cosplay at the con, mostly because Psycho Cat did Byakuya and I also wanted to attend the planned Bleach meet... so I needed a Bleach cosplay. The meet was quite nice, we did a loooong line of Bleach cosplayers and marched around the con. I remember someone saying "A lot of Bleach cosplayers-- OH MY GOD THEY'RE MULTIPLYING!!" when we walked by. xD We had a photoshoot outside and also went to the con's photo studio. We broke the con's how-many-people-can-get-photographed-at-the-same-time record for the year I think. trololo ~
Oh well, after the Bleach meet had officially been declared finished I soon went and changed cosplays back to Hajime Saitou because I had talked with a girl earlier who had told me she would be Chizuru on Saturday and that made me go "Agsjahfdsj must change to Saitou!!". So yeah, I went and changed around 13:00 something and then I spent a good chunk of the con day trying to find said Chizuru whom I had only seen early at the morning, aka before the Bleach meet. At the evening my twin called me and said that he had found her close to the entrance so I went there and there she was, yay~
I hung around the rest of the con day with Chizuru (my twin was with his friends and Psycho Cat had gone back to the 'hotel' earlier) and some of her friends, it was nice even though my lower back was -again- hurting like hell, afdghsg. Later I found my twin and told him I wanted to go home because I felt tired and yeah, pained too. Said goodbye to Chizuru and left the con building. It was raining a liiiiiiitle bit but it soon stopped. When we passed the tunnel and were close to McDonalds I couldn't resist taking a photo of the trash bin outside, it's obvious where the con goers go eat...

Trash bin explosion
Sunday (29th July)

Sunday morning came and I decided to not go to the con after all. I had planned to wear (and half-way promised) a yukata with a vine red kaku obi but I figured the trouble to get to the con wouldn't be worth it. If I wanted to go to the con I would have needed to wake up early as shit to get ready (style my hair, dress up etc) and then pack everything (in stress) and make sure I don't forget stuff and haul it to and through the whole con because the cloakroom was already full so I couldn't have dropped my stuff there and... yeah. You see what I mean. Besides my feet were so dead, my back was killing me and I just rather prioritized to sleep and then pack my belongings without too much stress and hassle. So sorry everyone who had expected to see me there on Sunday...
Mine and Jäätynyt Enkeli's train from Linköping to Stockholm and then to our dad's place left 15:20 and.. *yawn* Sweet Jesus I'm soooo tired I don't feel like writing about the train trip back to dad's place.. it's pretty boring anyway so. *shrugs* Sorry, I reaaaaaaaally should sleep now... and if there's any spelling mistakes it's because I'm dead tired and didn't proof-read before posting, oops.

Närcon was great and if anyone read all this crap then thanks for your time ~~

July 18, 2012

My cosplays for Närcon 2012!

Tjenare!

This is pretty late because Närcon is soon at the door but yeah, I bought the train ticket to Linköping yesterday and now I'll publish my cosplay plans here on my blog too!

Thursday


Character: Isami Kondou
Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

Lawdy lawd, Kondou. BADAMTSSH ~
But yeah, seriously going to happen because he's a great character and he so deserves more cosplay love than what he gets! ;_; Which is pretty much zero..
I'm going to reuse my shinsengumi haori and I have a vintage kimono that is close enough for his yellow-brownish kimono. Mine has a small grid pattern and is darker but whatevah.. it's not like so many people will recognize who I'm cosplaying anyway. XD I'm not sure should I use my kendo hakama (game version-ish) or my brown vintage andon hakama (anime version) ... I need to try brown hakamas on first because I haven't tried them yet. lol I don't think people would care if I have umanori or andon hakama so yeah. We'll see what happens but a Kondou WIP will follow shortly whenever I get my commissioned wig.

Friday


Character: Hajime Saitou
Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

My Saitou cosplay, as seen in Uppcon XII and Animecon IX this year, will also be seen at Närcon! complete with a strangling scarf and sword sheaths that keeps falling whenever the sash loosens. lol I really like cosplaying Saitou because, well, our personalities are so similar so I'm pretty much in-character even when I'm just being myself (at least how I am during daily life, con me is more derp though trololo) ... anime alter-egos. 8D And it's so awesome to cosplay someone who for once is left-handed too so I don't have to worry about 'wrong hand' problems. lol

Saturday


Character: Soujun Kuchiki
Series: Bleach

So sweet not to have to make a cosplay based on pretty much only one official art of the character. OTL Obscure character choices are obscure. Oh well, at least most Bleach shinigamis wear the same generic shihakusho so it's a pretty safe bet. lol Just need to add a fukutaicho badge because Byakuya's dad was the fukutaicho of the 6th division.
I guess this will be my last Bleach cosplay for this year because I've been cosplaying soooo much Bleach the last year, need a break. xD But yeah, I want to debut my Soujun cosplay this year because I finished it ages ago (not like there was much to make. lol) and a Bleach meet has been planned for Närcon.

Sunday


Character: ???
Series: ???

I honestly don't know will I cosplay anything during the Sunday because the con closes already around 12:00. I would have to wake up very early to get into cosplay for it to be worth the hassle. It feels pretty 'meh' to put on a cosplay and only have like 1-2 hours to wear the thing. I'm also not really a morning person at all so I might very likely be very worn out on Sunday from the 3-days-in-a-row-early-wake-up-and-put-on-cosplay routine. Yeh. We'll see if I will be there on Sunday at all.. and if I am I might just wear a random kimono.

That's it, ciao!

January 30, 2012

Weekend's cosplay photos

Hiya!

During last weekend I tried to ease my depression by taking some cosplay photos... it actually works; I won't be telling any details about said depression but yeah, I think I got some pretty okay photos of my Jushiro Ukitake and Soujun Kuchiki costumes... both from the series Bleach. I will post a few photos here for now.


Jushiro Ukitake


Weird angles wuhuuu! No but really, normally my face ends up looking ridiculous in more extreme angles but this one was kinda cool. Besides it shows off my tsukamaki (read: handle wrapping) really well. I should have taken more outside photos but the sun set so fast it became too dark... *shrugs*

 

Jushiro Ukitake, Captain of the 13th Division... aka Captain Tuberculosis by fans of the series/him. OTL Yeah, he occasionally coughs up blood... end of story. ;_; Love him anyway, he is so gentle and the kindest captain of them all.


Soujun Kuchiki

Soujun Kuchiki, late Lieutenant of Division 6.
The Kuchikis are one of the four great noble families in Soul Society and even though he smiled more than his son Byakuya Kuchiki, at least according to that only official reference (yes, he is so obscure I wonder if I'm the first person outside Japan to cosplay him...) picture there is of him: ref.
Oh well, about this photo, he is a Kuchiki after all... and we all know that a Kuchiki needs to do the I'm-better-than-you face at least once.. hey, they are nobles after all! xD

That's it for now. Bye.

January 24, 2012

Kenseikan

Yeah, said to myself I would finish them before this weekend earlier and today I got the thumb out from my ass and made them. It didn't take so long actually and was pretty easy to make. Here's some in progress photos (excuse me for bad lighting..) and short descriptions.

 

First I just took these hard paper (poster board?) whatever and cut out pieces that seemed an okay size. I cut out two similar so I could layer them over one another for strenght. I also marked the middle...



Then I just bent the middle to get that V-shape. After that I glued them on top of each other and proceeded to repeat the steps and make one kenseikan more...


When I had both kenseikan pieces cut out and glued together I just used duct tape in the inside to get the two separate pieces to be one whole...


Then I glued some scrap pieces to the ends to create some dimension.
And when I was done I went and took some WIP photos of one of my coming cosplays because now it's done. Yes, done. The kenseikan was pretty much the only thing I needed for it. XD Mhmm lazy budget cosplaying, I had everything else already.


derp
I'm herpderpin' around. lol I need white pins to hold kenseikan in place, black ones are too visible I think... and no, IT'S NOT BYAKUYA. It's Byakuya's dad, Soujun. Aww yeah, obscure character from a popular show. <3 There's only like... one official artwork of him and it's only showing his face from the front, heheh the rest is up to my imagination, woo. I will debut this cosplay during the summer first so yeah, I finished early. Although I need to test character make-up...

Bye bye!