Desucon 2012 cosplay plans!

Hello summer-hungry geeks!

I'm super early with this cosplay lineup post but I have already decided on my appearance at the upcoming Desucon in Lahti, Finland, on 8-10 June. There's still several months to go but, as I'm making an entirely new and somewhat challenging costume for the con, I want to start it already now while I still have plenty of time (and hype!) to get it done without it being yet another last minute project.. I hope. :D

This is what my plans look like~

Friday: Juushirou Ukitake from Bleach

Saturday: Ichito from Asaki, Yumemishi

Sunday: Souji Okita from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

I'm bringing my signature captain Ukitake cosplay on the first day and I will be taking the shikai twin swords with me too, woop! It seems our Finnish Bleach group decided on Friday being our group's main day – we're totally assembling once again! Gonna keep this greatness going~

When it comes to my planned Saturday cosplay I gotta say that this will be one of the most obscure cosplay choices I'll ever do and yet I don't care because I adore his design, period. Ichito is the antagonist from a visual novel game called Asaki, Yumemishi that was only ever released in Japan. I stumbled upon this character by chance when browsing online and I was immediately curious about the source. I've tried to read up on what the game is about and done my research but it's been quite limited since there's not a lot of information available in English, aside from a few scattered summary blogs. He might be a cursed undead spirit who's treading on psychopathic grounds but he looks cool and that means I want to cosplay him. Besides, I think his mystic backstory is what makes him rather intriguing because you have to piece together what happened to him through the routes of the other romanceable characters.

And for my third and final cosplay I will splurge headfirst into my latest new anime obsession and that's Hakuouki. Okita is currently one of my favorite shinsengumi members in the series, if not my favorite. I decided to do the sickbed yukata version or whatever it's called – the purple yukata he wears in bed while not doing too great. I don't know if it has an official name, probably not because I can't find anything? But anyways, this is a quick new cosplay to throw together and it should be possible to get both Ichito and this yukata version of Okita completed in time! Oh and yeah, my cosplay friend group is planning a smaller Hakuouki gathering so there's gonna be a lot of fun and derps~

That's all for this time, stay tuned for upcoming progress posts!
Shiro Samurai says bye~

Chibicon 2012 cosplay plans!

Hi everyone!

Chibicon is coming up at the beginning of next month and, after some thought, I have finally settled on my cosplay plans for the con. I don't know much about Chibicon, I've barely heard about it before but I heard an anime convention was coming to Oulu and yeah, that's enough to get my interest. xD

My original plans included bringing my Ichigo Kurosaki cosplay back but I read up on Chibicon's cosplay prop rules and it seems like they have some limits in place and well, my supreme super-sized zanpakutou would probably end up collecting dust all con day in the cloakroom and that would be kinda uncool. Very uncool. My Ichigo cosplay just isn't that impressive without the oversized butcher knife. Chibicon's rules don't like big props and that means Ichigo has to remain sulking in my closet.

So what am I cosplaying instead, then? Something else from Bleach, of course.

I'm gonna go with Byakuya's first appearance version. Anyone who has watched the anime or read the manga might remember that the first time he shows up in the series is when he arrives in the real world together with Renji in tow. What makes this version different from his standard attire is that he isn't wearing his captain's coat and instead appears in just his shinigami garbs. It's a peculiar thing, I'm not sure why the cloak was omitted but regardless this version exists canonically and that means I'm gonna cosplay it!

As much as I would like to do Byakuya's default outfit I just don't have the energy to make another captain's coat right now. I thought that this version would be a nice middle-of-the-road option where I get to do a character I really like in a version that's quick to put together and on top of that it's one that's rarely done. If ever?

I've already made those kenseikan hair pieces or, as I like to call them, "hair bananas" lol. I made them very budget-friendly by bending and stacking two layers of cardstock paper on top of each other and then using thin cardboard for the bottom and I shaped it with staples and secured it with duct tape for stability on the underside. It probably sounds incomprehensible and yeah, this was a bit of a trial and error project where I had to make do with what I had easily and cheaply accessible. During my first test run they were too big and thus troublesome to attach; I had to use strategically placed bobby pins to keep them somewhat in place. I later modified my kenseikan and now they sit a bit better and are easier to attach.. although I could still use a helping hand to fasten them, heh.

I've also made his scarf. It was very easy to do. We had this whole pretty white fabric roll at home and I wrapped several meters around my neck in front of the mirror to check the drape before commiting, lol.

I measured around 2,5 meters of that fabric (yes the whole width, huge scarf is huge) cut it out and sewed it. It feels like I'm having a whole curtain wrapped around my neck. xD I hope this thing doesn't get hot and I also hope I won't need to pin it in place lol. Damn you Byakuya and your über-precious-family-heirloom-crème-de-la-crème scarf...

That's all for now, bye!
Shiro Samurai out~

Kitacon 2012 – Headhunted into the cosplay competition

Sup!

I was at Kitacon this past Saturday, on 11th February to be precise. It's the world's most northern con at the time of writing and, heheh, it's the only con in Finland that can be considered close to me. Normally I have to travel to the other end of the country for cons so I'm really grateful that there's something I don't have to sit in a train for half the day to attend lol.

Oh shit. I realized I forgot to take photos again. :DDD

Oh well, my friend Jäärä visited me during the weekend with the culmination being going to Kitacon together. As previously Kitacon was again held in the Kulttuurikeskus building. The con was small but comfy and the atmosphere was just right! We just walked around the con and had fun and all that jazz, time flew by quickly. Maybe that's why I forgot to take photos.

At some point when we were just vibing one of the cosplay competition judges saw us and went "hey guys, you two should seriously consider entering the cosplay contest!" or something like that. We were caught offguard because we hadn't gone there with the intention to compete at all and well, I have some serious stage fright lol. We thought about it for some minutes – at first we were unsure but then we signed up anyway. A fun little detail is that they had actually just closed the registration but they made an exception for us!
We competed as a duo by the way, if it was not obvious. I was so nervous, oh my god! Me and Jäärä were the last ones (number 22) to go up on the stage. I probably looked like I was shitting myself pale while waiting in line at the backstage. I'm really not the one to stand on a stage naturally. Once at school I was shaking so bad I couldn't hold my papers in hand during an oral presentation. I have like no memories of what I did on stage but it was one of those classic 'lavajuoksu' types, meaning you walk to the stage front and strike a few poses and then you walk away so the next contestant can enter. I did relax a bit once we entered the stage together and the audience cheered loudly. We actually got second place together, which felt really nice! It felt so fancy to get a medal for cosplaying. :D

Oh I almost forgot! We ended up getting featured on a local newspaper called Pohjolan Sanomat, that was crazy!

Someone took a candid shot of me. Notice the medal!

Fun fact is that I've actually competed twice before and one of the two was at another Kitacon, but that was a one-time-only Kitacon in northern Sweden. :'D It was an even smaller event than Kemi's Kitacon and I competed with my Ichigo Kurosaki cosplay. I ended up winning second place at the time – although I think my solid wood shikai form Zangetsu did a lot of heavy lifting. xD Everybody rained compliments on that massive butter knife lol. If I recall correctly I was asked to compete during that time as well – it's almost as if there's a pattern...

I don't really know what else to say except sorry for not having any photos to show, again. I really need to get better at documenting and going to cons with blogging in mind! I get so carried away in having fun so that while I'm at the event I just forget all about my blog responsibilities, lol!

Thank you for a fun day!
Shiro Samurai out~

Kitacon 2012 cosplay lineup

Hello!

My next anime convention is going to be Kitacon in Kemi, Finland. It's held on 11th February and seeing how I live very close to Kemi it would be rather dumb of me not to attend. :D This is the fourth iteration of Kitacon and I gotta say it's so nice to have events in the north, even if it's just one-day events. Almost everything is in the south and so we poor bastards who live up here with the reindeers and stuff really miss out, haha.

I've been really into Bleach lately and I'm gonna stick to this hype for a while longer, hehe. I've considered cosplaying all canon variations of Ukitake so you can probably guess what my cosplay plans for Kitacon will be...

Yes I'm doing ponytail Ukitake, aka the Turn Back the Pendulum. I guess it's technically a new cosplay because it's a different version of the character but the only difference is basically that he has his hair tied up and the front bangs are a tiny bit longer, maybe. It's a stretch to call it new because the only thing I need to do is the hairtie lmao. Easy cosplay is easy. xD

I've already done a test run with the wig and everything tried on and err, maybe it's just me but I find I look totally awful with the hair tied back?! I can't stand how my face looks in almost every angle, feels like it brings out my worst features and it makes me horribly insecure. Oh well, I should do this version at least once so let's bite the sour apple and go. Love for the character wins.

If everything goes as planned my friend Jäärä will travel up here and do a pair cosplay with me as captain Retsu Unohana to match. She's doing the Turn Back the Pendulum version as well and will have a Minazuki plush prop! It's gonna be a lot of fun, I just know it!

That's all folks, see you!
Shiro Samurai out~