Last weekend I was at Animecon, a Finnish anime convention held in Kuopio. I went there together with Hasakitsuki and my twin Jäätynyt Enkeli. My mom actually drove us all there and we started our journey on Friday morning. It took us around 5-6 hours to drive and when we finally reached Rauhalahti spa hotel we checked in for the room and after a trip to the food store we went to sleep.
Saturday
Saturday was the first con day and me and Hasakitsuki woke up at 8:00 Finnish time, put on everyday clothes and headed for the hotel breakfast. Jäätynyt Enkeli and mom came soon after. After the breakfast (mini donuts yum!) we headed back to the hotel room and changed into our cosplays - my cosplay for the day was the casual/plain clothes version (aka hakama edition) of Hakuouki's Hajime Saitou.
When we were ready mom drove us to Kuopio's Musiikkikeskus where Animecon was held. We came an hour or so after the con had opened its door and so there was no inside rush or lines at the front door.
Animecon outside entrance
We went inside and soon enough I found some familiar faces like Ri-kun, Sairu-chan and Joel who asked if I wanted some mayonnaise after exchanging brohugs, and yes, he was cosplaying Hijikata from Gintama. :D Ri-kun tagged along with us most of the time when we wandered around the con checking out the Dealer's Hall and stuff. I didn't buy anything except Tropical flavor (pineapple & mango) summer edition Pocky from the awesome Japanese guy's candy table. I just had to buy one and taste them and oh God were they yummy!
Animecon Dealer's Hall seen from above
At some point we went outside to have some photoshoots with Hasakitsuki, Sairu-chan and me. Ri-kun joined us half-way into the shoot. We took a whole bunch of photos with everyone but I will just post the ones of my cosplay.
Some hours later our group got hungry and we also found Jäätynyt Enkeli who came with us when we went out to town to eat. We had actually done a scouting round earlier when we checked where the closest food places were and so now when we actually were hungry we knew exactly where to go.. and our road took us to Hesburger. Hyvää ja halpaa paskaa, conikansa tykkää. :DD I had some chicken nuggets and the others had random hamburgers and when we were done we dragged our asses back to the con where we derped around some more, took pictures of cosplayers and stuff. I must say all the Asterix cosplayers were so awesome, especially the guy who cosplayed the village smith and roleplayed the heavy hammer thing after I and Hasakitsuki took a photo of him. xD
I don't have so much more to say about Saturday, we didn't really do anything special, just hung around with random friends and such.
Lagging on the stairs with Ri-kun as Kyo Sohma
Oh, and there were these awesome tinfoil signs places here and there and they were just too great!!
Awesome, right? xD
Mom came to pick us up a few hours after the con had closed and so me, Jäätynyt Enkeli and Hasakitsuki returned to the hotel. We didn't feel like going to Iltabileet (night party) because we are not really loud-music-alcohol-and-dance people. Yeah.
Sunday
Again we three woke up 8:00, put on everyday clothes and headed for the hotel breakfast. I couldn't eat as much today because my stomach was derping and so I left to the hotel room to take a dump before the others. When everyone had eaten we started to put on our Sunday cosplays and for me it meant debuting my rasetsu version Hijikata cosplay. I'm actually surprised I got on my contact lenses super easily this time, had pretty much no problems and it was quick too! Oh, and I'll make a review of the contacts later, didn't have time before Animecon.
When we all had dressed mom had decided to go swim and so she wouldn't drive us to the con.. which meant we had to take the bus. 10:43 or something the bus would depart and so we went to wait at the bus stop... and the bus came late and pissed Hijikata was pissed because I had realized I would have had to go to the con without my swords because they were in the car's trunk.. and mom had the keys with her aghdsaghj. I got tired and annoyed from waiting for the bus so I decided
and went back to the hotel room.. only to realize I didn't have the card key. But luckily I had forgotten to close the back door (or well, not so luckily had I taken the late bus because someone could have walked inside and stolen our stuff...) so me and Hasakitsuki could get back inside. We stayed inside and waited for mom to return and when she did she was surprised we hadn't left. We helped her empty the hotel room and take all the stuff to the car because we had to check out at 12:00. When mom went to the reception to check out it was super hot in the car so I decided to open the window.
BAD IDEA.
Why?
Because when mom came back and tried to close it the window decided to be a dick and call it quits; it made this horrid hi-gais-i-am-broken-now-sry sound and wouldn't go back up and in my mind I was all
Oh shit no...
And then mom got really angry at me because it was Sunday and all the car repair shops were closed and it would cost a craplot to fix and we had to drive back home 5-6 hours after the con and the weather had promised rain and agjfdsghj why couldn't I just have opened the car door instead? WHY DOES SHIT LIKE THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?? So yeah, I felt pretty damn bad. Like, really.
oh you fucking fuck take this and this and this and..
Oh well, mom drove us to the con and I was feeling really frustrated and hating myself for a pretty long time before I managed to get on a better mood.. so if I looked like I'd just want to disappear and kick everything then that was why. It didn't really get much better either because we couldn't have any outside photoshoots because the weather went from pretty okay to RAIN EVERYWHERE OH GOD SAVE US. Or well, at least me because I had a vintage silk kimono and I was fearing water stains like hell. We were actually sitting at the outside stairs most of the time even when the rain started. There was this roof so the rain didn't get on us at first.. until it started raining Niagara falls and I leaned backwards to not get rain on me and Ri-kun then turned into a human rain shield to protect me. They had felt like running out in the rain anyway so. We went inside when the rain got really bad and inside we walked around the Dealer's Hall again. Me, Jäätynyt Enkeli and Hasakitsuki couldn't stay the whole con day because mom came to pick us up.. but at least she came just when the rain calmed down. We bid Ri-kun and Sairu-chan farewell and headed for the car and yeah.. that was Animecon for me. At least mom managed to temporarily fix the car window somehow for the journey back...
I'm a bit sad we didn't get to photoshoot our rasetsu!Hijikata and oni!Chizuru cosplays because of the crappy Sunday weather but oh well, we have time to do that at home. Because of that I barely have any photos of my rasetsu Hijikata cosplay but at least I have this one that was taken when we were sitting at the stairs before the rain started.
Photographer is Sairu-chan.
Oh, and before I end this post.. here's a cosplay video with the few pictures of cosplayers that I took:
I'm also looking for photos of my cosplays, if you happen to have
some I'd be very happy to have them. :) You can send them to my email valkoinensamurai[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks.
I've been changing my Animecon plans God knows how many times in my mind but it's about time I settle on them, preferably now. Hakuouki warning and I regret nothing!
I've had a lot of trouble coming up with who to cosplay on the Saturday but I settled now on hakama!Saitou because I have only worn this version once before and it's comfortable and looks cool. :) I've worn Saitou's shinsengumi/season 1 outfit many times already and I'd rather not get strangled by that damn scarf every once in a while heh.
Sunday
Series: Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
Character: Toshizo Hijikata (rasetsu)
RASETSUUUUUUUU ~
Oh good lord how I've been looking forward to cosplay a rasetsu (aka fury) version!
Finally, IT IS TIME aghjdsahjg hehehehe...
By the way, I ordered red contacts here not long time ago and got them just before Skecon. It was the fastest delivery ever or something.. I had thought I'd be lucky if I'd get them before Animecon but sweet Jesus they came in like a week, if even that, from the other side of the world! I approve!!
Oh, and as far as I know some of my pals are having a Hakuouki group on Sunday so I'll go hang with them for a while too. I might be the only rasetsu but who cares.. we all can't be mad at the same time right? xD
That's it for my part, see you guys at Animecon in case I don't do any rasetsu!Hijikata preview before the con! Sayonara!~
Today I decided to cut my rasetsu!Hijikata wig. For some reason I can't find any really good clean references that shows his hair but this one is kinda okay:
This is what the wig looked like before I attacked it with the scissors:
The bangs are fine as they are (maybe a bit on the short side but still okay) but the back and sides are too long. I went ahead and trimmed and layered the sides and back. I've only done small styling modifications on wigs earlier (just slightly trimming bangs for example) so this was quite the leap for me. I was actually rather nervous although it probably didn't show on my moves; I kept my head cool and just thought that if I would butcher it at least I have enough time to get a new one. But my wallet wouldn't be happy about spending extra money...
Oh well, about 1 hour later I had this in front of me:
I'm pretty satisfied.. although I could have done some things a bit better, more carefully. *coughlayeringcough* The sides aren't identical when examined closer but good enough anyway.. or so I think at least, considering so far this is the most I've ever cut a wig. lol xD No one is a pro at start.. small steps I take, small steps, always a little bit more challenging ~
I ordered two wigs some few weeks ago and yesterday I got them. Today I decided to try them on because I've been all cosplay hype-ish all day. xD I can't wait for summer con season to start ~
About the wigs.. both are for Hakuouki character cosplays I will do in a more or less close future because that series is so.. ghfjdskjf;afgh. <3 I swear I'm probably never gonna stop loving it.. xD
But now for le wig photos. Excuse me the messy background.. the only mirror currently
in my apartment is in the bathroom so, yeah. Obviously this means my photos are mirrored. I have bought a fullbody
mirror but it has yet to be put to its proper place.. Oh, and I'm wearing a yukata for the heck of it, didn't feel like wearing "normal clothes" today. Also I didn't bother with make-up except some rather sloppy eyeliner, pretty much. For some reason it looks way better on photos than in real life though. lol
Oh well, be prepared for some rasetsu (aka "fury") time this con summer autumn becaaaaaaause.. ~
le rasetsu!Hijikata wig
The ponytail is a clip-on so I can use the base wig alone for western!Hijikata's rasetsu version too. I just need to trim and layer the back a little and it'll be all good to go. Now to just buy some red contact lenses hohoho...
The next wig I might not use this year or I might ehehe ~ but the temptation was too great to resist anyway because the character is one of my absolute top favorites ever.. if not my favorite.
Okitaaaaaa ~
I seriously love this wig.. so fluffy. <3 It's extra awesome because it can be used for both of Okita's hairstyles! I didn't take any pictures with the hairknot thingy because "my" *coughborrowedfromschoolcough* wighead isn't here and it would be quite a challenge to fix it with the wig on my own head.. oh well, I'll take photos of that variant later.
Oh, and if anyone wonders I do have a wig for Okita already (I cosplayed him at Desucon in Finland last year) and it's all cool and all but I couldn't resist buying this one because it was so cheap and works for both his hairstyles. This new wig also is a bit bigger by cap size so it fits me better.. I guess I have a sort of big head... OTL
Not so much more to say than that. I'm eating Easter marshmallows (candies) and I swear to God the green one tastes just like fish oil, what the fuck man. xD See ya!
