London MCM Expo - October 2009

Well it's been a week now so about time I did my review of it. Not that it will make much sense really but ah well. This has also been posted on my livejournal (public entry).

Friday

So Friday... that was an interesting day. Got back from signing on at the job centre to mind a missed call from Heather on my phone and a voice message. I hadn't taken my phone with me as I wasn't going to be that long and I'm paranoid as hell about someone pinching it... but anyways, listened to the message to find we had a problem. Kathy's flight had landed, but no-one had a way of contacting her apart from me. No-one knew what she looked like apart from me. Yeah, so I grabbed her number off my phone, forwarded it on to Heather and continued to get my stuff ready for when I had to leave.

A few minutes later my phone goes again. Facebook message from Pounce asking for Kathy's number to give to Heather. After I had replied, again started moving my luggage downstairs with help from my father. Phone goes again. Kathy's phone isn't switched on, where is she flying in from? I wasn't 100% sure but I told them where I thought she was flying from. End of call. Phone goes off, facebook message from Kathy. 'Where are they?'... and thus began the great facebook messaging rally, XD

Basically a lot of facebook messages were passed back and forth between me and Kathy with me ringing Heather and Matt with the info I found out, like gate numbers etc. Once that was sorted my taxi had arrived to take me to the coach station. Once boarded my coach I found a text from Fluffbuns Matt asking me to ring, again confusion about Kathy, XD Once that was sorted I could then sit back and relax a bit. I had a two and half hour coach journey ahead of me, XD

Once arrived I was probably waiting twenty minutes or so before finding Heather, Matt and Kathy. After much squeeing we tackled the underground and eventually found our way to the apartments. Bags were dumped, including Kathy's HUGE SUITCASE OF DOOM!!!! Seriously that thing could have fitted me and MY suitcase in there with room to spare... It was huge.

After bags were dumped in appropriate rooms and more squeeing and mouth dropping at size of apartment we went on a trek for food, XD Didn't take too long before we went back to the apartment. I then finished off my Lucheni costume... with Elisabeth playing at the same time of course. Had to get myself in the mood after all, XD Then a Kaka appeared after finishing whatever she had been doing. Then she had to go out again. Such a social butterfly is our Kaka, XD

Then a Gemma appeared and more squeeing occured aswell as lots of hugs. Then it was time for food to be consumed. More squeeing and excitement. Then sleep was attempted.

Saturday

Woke up early. Me being the cruel person I am, turned on the light in our room in an effort to not only make Kathy get up but to make me wake properly aswell. We had costume preperations to do after all. To cut all the preperations down short... we got ourselves ready and I put on the fake stage tan... my god... that stuff just made me look dirty. It was hysterical. Add to that the gross hair and the stripey top... thus my nickname for the weekend came to be...

Dirty French Mime

Thank you so much Jase for that, XD XD The DFM even turned up in our game of Apples to Apples on Sunday... and I died everytime it was played, XD XD

But back to Sat.

Once all the preperations I could do were done we headed out to excel. The flipping cue... it must have 9:45 by the time we got into the expo... we must have cued for like an hour. And we had early entry tickets. It was insane!!! And very very hot.

But once we got in it was fine. Had a walk around before the great Emi hunt began. Do you know how many toilets the Excel Centre has? It was nearly an impossible task, and that must have taken us like an hour to achieve aswell!

But once found my costume was complete as Emi attacked me with make-up. We had a giggle over the fact that we were Western imitating Japanese who were imitating Western... XD XD Got to love Takarazuka cosplaying, XD

Then bags were dropped off and we stalked around singing for a good long time. Well Kathy and Emi were singing, me I was just looking threateningly at the Free Hugs whilst playing with my dagger... I didn't get asked for a Free Hug once, XD XD Kathy took some photos... then I had to go back to the apartment for a costume fitting. To cut another long story short, we couldn't finish the costume in time and had to pull out of the Masquerade. Me, Kathy, Heather and Matt ended up sat chatting about lots of random stuff for a good few hours, also did some more costume planning as we do.

The others got back from the masquerade. Food was prepared and consumed. Afterwards everyone apart from me (and Kaka cus she wasn't there for most of it) drank alcohol with a most of them getting drunk... very amusing to be one of the only sober ones there... Joe visited us for like an hour or so, Kaka plaited his hair... we had a giggle at the drunkards. More talking... eventually everyone went to sleep.

Sunday

Extra hour of sleep was much appreciated. XD Or extra two hours really. But yes did the same with the light in the morning. Ended up ready to go before everyone else was out of bed, XD It was fun traumatising Jase as the DFM again though, XD That sight in the morning is enough to terrify anyone!! XD

Eventually got out to Expo... bought my Oscar (Rose of Versailles) purse/wallet... had a big squee session, XD Got back to apartment, recieved picture message from my girlies at Fuyucon... <3

After more talking and squeeing and the others getting ready, I acquired a Sissi and went out to find Vampire!Emi for more make-ups. Once that was done it was a quick sprint into the expo to find Heather so we could queue for the masquerade.

Arrived there and was placed in order... we were third from the start. I started shitting myself as I do before I go on stage. Thankfully Joe asked me and Heather to hand out sweets and water. Did that and got to have a good chat and squee with the rest of the masquerade people. Though had a quiet to myself squee over the Phoenix Wright group... that esclated into joing squee with Gemma when I found her. XD Once my sweet job was finished I stood and chatted with Gemma for a bit and we discussed our Phoenix Wright plan for Amecon. She's doing Zuka Edgeworth and I'm doing Zuka Phoenix... oh yes, XD We have many fun things planned for that already, XD

Returned to my place in the queue with Heather. Tried to work out what we were going to do, which all went out the window as soon as we were on stage. We improvised the entire thing but it worked out quite well. Yay for my first ever walk on!! We even got laughs when I chased Heather off stage with the dagger, XD

Got off stage and sat down ready to watch the rest of the masquerade. Ended up with Phoenix Wright sat in front of me... I wanted to poke the hair SO badly, XD XD I even have permission now to do it the next time she wears that costume, XD XD

The whole masquerade sang Happy Birthday to one of the contestants, including the audience... masquerade moved on.

Masquerade winners deserved it. The costumes were just wow. Wasn't too keen on the performance winner but to be honest the performances were slim pickings really... Sorry if any of you did a performance on the Sunday... I'm just used to WHAM BAM performances... I'll stop digging myself a hole now.

So after the masquerade we all returned to the apartment. Had a photo session with Pounce. Got some great stabby shots and shots of me being given an even bigger weapon... oh the fun, XD Finally collapsed out of costume. Feet were killing. We then went out to eat and found Emi there with her friends, and Kaka there with her friends. Found out it was Kaka's birthday... we made the whole place sing Happy Birthday to her very loudly. They even saved us at the apartment some of her cake... <3

After a very yummy meal that Pounce ended up eating the rest of everyone else's when we became full... we returned to the apartment. I did my Japanese homework and games evening began. SO much fun!!!! And group pictures of the apartment group were taken... Made our own Apples to Apples cards, including one for the DFM... ended up not breathing cus of laughing numerous times.

We only had to end so early cus me and Kathy had an early coach back to Bristol the next morning cus of my course that I didn't end up going to...

Monday

Kaka got up with us aswell to help us get across London to the coach station even though she didn't have to be there for a few more hours yet... <3 <3 <3 Got home and collapsed.

Overall

Expo was awesome but definitely not long enough. I got to meet up with lots of people I said I would but still not everyone. Will have to remedy that next time. Forgot to use my camera... oops. But yay for having lots of other people to nick pictures off of, XD

Did much cosplay planning and found out many people are going to the Cosplay Ball this month too. Yay for getting to see them all again!!!

And at the Ball is our mini Elisabeth group... Emi will be Sissi, Sam will be Der Tod, Steph will be Rudolf and I'll be Lucheni again... it will be SO much fun!!! I will be posting a review of that too afterwards with more pictures hopefully.

PICTURES

Me as Luigi Lucheni, Emi as Der tod. In the apartment, XD

Me as Luigi Lucheni, Emi as Der Tod. Epic Pose is Epic!!

Me as Luigi Lucheni, Emi as Der Tod. The passing of the dagger... it had to be done.

Close up!!!! XD

Masquerade Entry. Me as Luigi Lucheni, Minxie as Sissi. Sissi just had to flash those bloomers... XD

Masquerade Entry. Me as Luigi Lucheni, Minxie as Sissi. The pointy is after her...

Me as Luigi Lucheni, Minxie as PGSM Sailor Moon. Proving Sailor Moon can really love anyone and everyone, XD

For more pictures and larger versions of the one shown here visited my livejournal. Link is up the top in the little link section, ^_^

Well that was Expo... bring on the Cosplay Ball this month!!

Dagger 2 and Rudolf 2

As you can see by the title, yes another two cosplay update, same ones as last time too.

But yay for progress!!

First up, again is the dagger. So we left off last time with the dagger drying. So it did dry and I found that the sheath had actually shrunk... the edges no longer matched up properly... Me = Annoyed? Yes. But what can you do?

So anyway out came the no more nails and glued together it became. Not perfect but meh.

Once that was dry the painting commenced! This bit actually took most of the time because of the amount of coats I had to do. The terracotta clay needed a lot more coats than the white clay did.

So first I did the red paint. It was the largest amount and yeah... was easier, XD

Tadaah, red paint complete. Next came the gold bit that the blade sits into and the blade itself. This bit was quite simple to do really and took all of ten minutes?

Yeah in that pic the blade looks blue... but it is silver. I can assure you of that. So I actually had to leave the dagger at this stage cus I had my course and I had to work. But my next day off I continued with painting the gold diamond on to the hilt and the gold edges of the sheath. This took quite a few coats to achieve but I managed it in the end.

And now you can see the silver blade too... XD

Nearly finished now. All that was left to do was to glue on the gems and the gold piping/edging thing. Now the actual dagger that they use in the Takarazuka shows have some HUGE gems on them... and some quite fancy ones too... I couldn't get a hold of those gems so instead I had to get others and sort of do my own design with them to create a similar effect. Same with the edging. What I did end up with though... I am quite proud. Even if I did nearly glue my fingers to this thing... XD

The dagger and blade seperate... and...

The dagger in it's Sheath. Now for second piece of prop work and clay work... it's not too bad. I am actually very proud of it. And I had so much fun making it. I do know how I could improve on it, which I will take into account if I ever remake this.

But for now... I love it. ^_^

Now onto my Rudolf update, XD Not a big one really... only one more item has been added to it...

My leggings arrived. They still need to be modified with the black ribbon and the marroon ribbon, but this likely won't be done until sometime next year. Still nice and simple though. It's the top half of Rudolf that's going to give me the problems... that shirt and jacket... so many accents!! *facepalm* They are going to kill me I swear.

But yay for progress and for completion of another prop!

Bring on the Expo next week!

Dagger 1 and Rudolf 1

Two updates today, one prop and one costume.

First up is the Dagger, aka Lucheni's pointy, XD After finally getting all the supplies in I finally made a start on it today. First I drew a blade template and used it to create the blade pieces out of cardboard. After much drawing and cutting out with scissors later...

Once that had been achieved I then got out the industrial sized bottle of pva glue. Yes, pva, XD XD Using that I stuck the four blade pieces together to create...

Yep, you can see the templates I used in the background there, XD

Then once that was done, out came the clay. And man does that stuff stink. Of course I already knew that from doing my mirror, but this time I used terracotta clay, so my hands went all orange, XD

Anyways first I tackled the bit that the blade fits into, can't remember what it's called. So I cut off a bit of the clay from the pack I had, rolled it out and after much fiddling achieved this...

Then I realised that my plan to use the wire throughout the whole dagger was kinda void... since I had already made the blade and things, XD Whoops, XD

So after that I moved onto the handle of the dagger. Rolling out the remaining bit of clay, I then sculpted the main shape of it, minus the round tip. I then did use the wire in the handle, to make it sort of easier to attach to the blade section once dry and to attach the round tip to.

Then I used the last little bit of that lump of clay to make the round tip. I actually used my ring to make a cardboard template, that I then used to make the circle. Of course my ring was too small, so I then sort of estimated a bigger circle, and then attached that to the handle.

That's the blade and handle together. However it is in two pieces, and they will be glued together once they are dry.

Once the dagger was done I moved onto the sheath. Now as you saw in a previous picture and as I said earlier, I made a rough template to use. This template was too small again, so I estimated again to get the right size, and it actually worked, XD

So yes, I cut off some more clay, rolled it out and cut out the shape. Then I used what the shape I had cut as a template for the other half, though making it slightly bigger so I could curl the edges up.

The sheath is in two parts that will be glued together once dry. Of course then I had to see how the dagger fitted in the sheath, and it didn't come out too badly...

So yes, that's what I spent the last two and half hours doing, ^_^ And I am quite proud. My second piece of prop work.

Obviously once all the pieces are dry they will be glued together. And then once dry again I will paint them. Then once dry again again I'll glue on the gems and gold edging, XD

So yes, the pointy is in progress!! XD

Now for update 2!!

My very first Takarazuka cosplay that I ever planned was Crown Prince Rudolf. This will likely be in either a group cosplay or a paired cosplay with my Tod, Telly <3

After finding the perfect pair of boots on eBay, I bid on them and won... and they arrived today. I am currently wearing them actually. They are quite comfy though currently pinching my little toes, but every pair of shoes or boots you get that you put on for the first time does that. They are almost practically skin tight aswell, which does work, XD

So yes, I now have my Rudolf boots. Yes I will need to attach the flap bit at the top, but that should be no problem.

Walking around in these boots I feel like such an otokoyaku, XD XD

I will also use these boots for other otokoyaku Takarazuka cosplays, ^_^