Sakuracon 2010
5/9/2010
Sakuracon 2010 was beyond fantastic. Seriously, best con experience I’ve had since ’07. I found a really nice balance at this con – I was able to make/wear something beautiful and challenging but also got to do a cheesy skit with my friends and prance around in a Pokemon costume. This combination of complexity and stupidity sat really well with me and made for an awesome con. Please excuse the HUGE wall of text in comparison to the very small amount of photos. I didn't take too many photos this time around but I'm re-wearing both costumes at Fanime so I'm sure I'll make up for it then....although that report will probably be just as long... THURSDAY: I arrived in Seattle around 2:30PM and Krystal picked me up at the airport. We immediately went over to the convention center to pick up our badges and, as fate would have it, we ran into Chris, Randi and Michele! We caught up briefly as we worked our way through the line and, once we had our badges, Krystal and I wandered off on our own to get manicures. (Which we decided we effing deserved after all the stress we went through for our FY costumes.) Afterward, we met up with her mom for dinner at Red Robin and ran a few errands before heading back to Krystal’s house to pack. As Krystal was packing, I attempted to make my Jessie boot covers as her dogs gave me an allergy attack. Kayla, Mandy and Chris picked us up (I was so excited to see them!) and we were finally on our way to the con! This year, Krystal, Lizzie and I stayed at the Olympic Fairmont hotel while the others roomed at the Sheraton. Lizzie was on staff and got the room for free so, although it was a 5-10 minute walk from the convention center and we were separated from everyone else, it was hard to complain. When we got to Seattle, Krystal and I dropped our stuff off at our hotel and rushed over to the Sheraton to finish some last-minute stuff. The twins were sleeping so Kayla, Mandy, Krystal, Chris, Jack, Tess and I hung out in the hallways by the elevators. At this point, Kayla and Mandy gave us surprise gifts – our very own pokeballs and, in Krystal’s case, an adorable Togepi! We all sat around chatting and working on our costumes. In addition to Sakuracon, the hotel was also hosting some sort of military convention so we got some strange looks every so often. At one point though, the elevator opened and one of the military guys asked “Why do you have a Togepi?” We all laughed because it’s one thing to recognize Pikachu, but TOGEPI? About 2 minutes after the guy left, another guy popped out of the elevator and said “Hey, a Togepi.” Then it happened AGAIN. We all laughed about it and, once we got far enough on our costumes, decided to call it a night. Krystal and I trekked back to our hotel and I fell asleep around 2AM. FRIDAY: Krystal and I woke up around 9AM in hopes of getting down to the convention center for the Princess Tutu panel at 11AM. However, it ended up taking us much longer than we thought and we didn’t get into costume until around 11:30AM. Seeing each other in costume for the first time was really exciting – we had been planning the costumes for a year and, because we had spent so much time TALKING about the costumes, it seemed impossible that they would ever come to life. After getting dressed, we walked through the cold and rain to the convention center. In the brief time we were outside, my forehead symbol washed off but our costumes were otherwise unscathed. Once we got to the con, we took a few pictures then picked up some lunch and headed over to the Anime Hunters panel. Afterward, Krystal and I wandered around in costume for a while, seeing friends here and there and taking photos along the way. Overall I was really happy with how everything turned out in the end. I think our costumes are interesting by themselves but as a pair we look really neat! The only thing that really bugs me about the costume is the pain of the wig but, because of the awkward placements of the hair loops, the discomfort is hard to avoid. One of the coolest moments was being approached by Hoshikage, a talented cosplayer on cos.com. Hoshikage and her friend cosplayed the same version of Yui and Miaka years back and we referenced their costumes frequently while making our own outfits so it was really cool to meet her! Around dinner time, everyone went back to their hotel rooms to change and I ended up falling asleep while Krystal got into costume. (Give me 15 minutes alone at a con and I’ll fall asleep.) I changed into regular clothes while Kayla, Mandy, and Krystal did Death Note and we (including Chris, Jack and Tess) went to Johnny Rockets. I ate really delicious/horrible food and heard about awful fanfiction and had an awesome time. Afterward, we met up in Kayla’s room for skit rehearsal (my favorite!) and we gathered up all our stuff and headed over to the con center to practice in our usual space where we wouldn’t be bothered by hotel/con staff. We practiced until 1:30AM-2ish and then I had to go back to the hotel to finish my Jessie boot covers. (GOD I HATE BOOT COVERS.) Thankfully it only took about a half hour and I was asleep by 2:30. SATURDAY: Sakuracon is a very odd convention in the sense that, for the past 2 years, their cosplay contest has been held at 11AM on Saturday instead of the usual 7-8PM timeslot. That being said, contestants were expected in the green room by 8AM, meaning we were all up bright and early…hooray. Despite having easy costumes to change into, we were late. (NOTN = Never On Time. Never.) I am not COMPLETELY happy with my Jessie costume but I was ecstatic that my wig did not give me any problems and was, weirdly, more comfortable than my Miaka wig. Anyway, we hung out until judging and made friends with random people in the green room until the show started at 11AM. We were able to watch all the performances via a projector screen, which was great because I thought there were a lot of really cool skits this year - Vocaloid, Billy Mays, Alice in Wonderland, Avatar, etc. When we went on stage, I was less worried about my performance and more worried about the wordiness of the skit. Thankfully, the audience seemed to pay attention and caught all of the jokes! When they called awards, I was very surprised/happy to win Best in Show! We got a really neat trophy with a bizarre flaming EGG on it which didn’t make sense but was cool anyway. Here is a copy of the skit: After the skit, we roamed into the hallways and got our first taste of the overwhelming response of the Pokemon fandom. Although we wanted to get back to the Sheraton to drop off our props, we couldn’t walk 5 steps without being stopped for photos –I don’t mean that in a cocky way - we were all REALLY surprised. We finally made it back to the hotel for some relaxation and snack time. I seriously don’t care how much of the con I miss – hanging out in the hotel room with friends is more fun than anything else.
Eventually, we made it back down to the con. Mandy and I were hyped up on caffeine and loved Team Rocket a little too much. We posed a million different ways and yelled the motto to anyone who asked. Everything was incredibly funny and, although I only intended to wear Jessie for the skit, we all said “screw it” to our other costumes and wore Pokemon the rest of the day. There was a VERY slight bit of drama (most likely involving miscommunication) but it passed quickly and we all hung out and had fun until dinner. We changed out of costume and ordered pizza and Chris found a copy of our skit for us to watch. Fun fact: I don’t get very nervous going on stage but I get INSANELY nervous watching the video of the skit for the first time. (IE: I shake from head to toe and can’t sit still.) It literally makes no sense. Anyway, we all ate some pizza and took some pictures and headed off to Lizzie’s bad fanfiction panel! In the panel, Lizzie and her panelists read the most bizarre fanfiction and people act it out in the front of the room. It was funny but I think we were all a little tired so we ended up slipping out early in favor of playing some DDR. We all played a couple games then decided to go to karaoke. We walked in the room and the announcer asked “Who wants to sing Pokemon?” and we were like “HELL YES!” so we sang the theme song NOT ONCE, but twice. After that, we walked around in search for something else to do. I love Sakuracon dearly but their late-night schedule is very limited. Instead, Kayla, Mandy, Chris and I hung out and played Hide and Go Seek and had chair races instead. Then we all sat around and talked until 5:30AM-ish when we decided to go back to the hotel. We hung out in the hallway for a while and at 6:30AM we all went to bed. SUNDAY: I woke up at 9:30AM to shower and pack up my stuff. I had to leave at noon to catch my flight so my goodbyes were quick. (Thankfully, I’ll be seeing most of the crew at Fanime so it wasn’t too sad.) The trip home was totally uneventful – in fact I can’t remember anything about it…so the report ends here!
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