Youmacon 2009
12/8/2009
After skipping Youmacon in 2008, I was really happy to be back for 2009. The new hotel was wonderful and I was so happy to be able to cosplay with my midwest/Canadian friends again! It was the con of made-up songs and bright costumes and, although I had some personal issues, the experience was pretty great overall and I plan on returning next year. After pulling an all-nighter, I left for the con on Thursday and took the Megabus to Detroit with Al. His family lives near Detroit so his dad was able to pick us up from the Megabus stop, which was greatly appreciated. We spent the day with Al's family and picked Megan up from the airport that evening. We went back to Al's apartment for the night where we watched Slumdog Millionaire and did some last minute costume work. I was sad to see that I didn't have enough flowers to adequately cover White Rose's skirt but after working on it for so long, I was just ready to be DONE! I eventually made it to the "done enough" stage and called it a night. On Friday, we woke up around 10AM and headed to the con around noon. The car ride was surprisingly fun and was really a testament to how stupid we are. The video below includes most of the footage and features Al's horrible No-Face impression and my equally appalling my Youmacon rap. Also, Megan's "super kawaii gestures" which I don't think I'll ever forget... We found out that we couldn't check into the hotel until 3PM so, rather than sit around for a few hours, Megan, Al, and I changed into our P4 costumes in the lobby bathroom. We stored our stuff in Al's van and met up with our P4 buddies, Chris and Tara. We were disappointed to hear that our Chie, Rise, and Naota would not be joining us but the five of us walked around together for a while and just explored the con since Tara, Megan, Al, and I had never been to the new location. We spent some time in Artist Alley and took some Deathcom photos. Afterwards, we brought our stuff up to our (big and beautiful!) room and then Chris, Tara, Megan, Al and I went to eat at the food court. Next, we went back to the con for judging. I don't do craftsmanship judging very often so I liked being able to enter as a group, if only so I could hear the way that other people present their costumes. Craftsmanship judging always makes me feel super insecure and awkward.. Afterwards, Megan, Al and I went back to the room for a while. Megan and I had the intention of doing a Saga Frontier skit but, besides the giant flower she had built for me to "bloom" from on stage, we didn't have anything else planned. We spent about an hour in the hotel room mixing music before we had to take a break to change into our Saga Frontier costumes for a late-night photoshoot with (Elemental) Amanda, Jia, Saeru, and Avianna. Saga Frontier groups are rare so I was really excited to be part of the group! I felt alright about my White Rose costume but not super thrilled. The skirt was heavier than I anticipated so, despite having a poofy tulle petticoat, the skirt looked flatter than I hoped. I also ran out of roses, which I mentioned before. Of course, these problems can be fixed with a small hoop skirt and more roses but I was disappointed that I wasn't able to make it the way I wanted the first time around. Ah well, that's what trials runs are for I guess. After the photoshoot, it was almost 1:30AM but Megan and I still had to figure out an ending to the skit. We wanted to make a short, "classy" skit but struggled to find an appropriate ending song so we started getting silly. An off-hand joke about Claratin made us laugh pretty hard (as most things do at 2AM) and we decided to incorporate it into our skit. We recorded the skit using the crummy mic on my laptop and old SFX from "Game of Life." It was short and stupid but we liked it so we called it a night and went to bed. Not before making a Paranormal Activity parody though... The next day, we woke up around 11AM and went to the mall to buy CDs so we could burn the skit. We took our time and had lunch before heading back to the hotel to change into our Saga Frontier costumes. We went to judging at 2PM, which once again made me nervous and uncomfortable. Afterward, we tried to take a couple of photos with Al outside but it was absolutely FREEZING so we quickly moved back inside. However, we ran into Kevin again and he offered to take some photos for us outside, in a secret spot blocked by the wind. I am so grateful we ran into him! After that we went back to the room for a while to relax until the masquerade. We headed to the green room around 6PM, which was actually pretty enjoyable. The Youmacon staff is AWESOME and made the green room as comfortable as possible by providing the contestants with snacks and drinks. We got to hang around with Dani, Kristen, Zach, Jim, and Lindsey which was awesome as always. Also, Al made up a Youmacon song while we waited for the skits to begin which, I'm willing to admit, was way better than my Youmacon rap: The masquerade itself was surprisingly good! There were some hialrious skits (The Sausage Link, Gurren Lagann "Yes" dance, and Zach and Jim's skit being my favorites) and even the "bad" skits weren't bad! It was Megan's first time doing a skit though and she was incredibly nervous - I could literally say something to her face and she wouldn’t hear me! Our skit went relatively well though despite some technical difficulties. We managed to walk away with Best Journeyman Presentation, a judge’s award for craftsmanship, and Best of Friday for our P4 costumes! I have never won a craftsmanship award beyond an Honorable Mention so I was proud! Here's our skit: That night, things kind of went downhill. I hoped to hang out at the Canadian room party but things didn't go as planned. I ended up getting into an argument with Al and spent most of the night crying and talking to him in the hallway. Baw. It was unnecessary and a really crummy end to an otherwise good day.
On Sunday, I woke up feeling tired from the night before but tried to stay as optimistic as possible. We changed into our Persona 4 costumes again and walked around for a bit but I was eager to leave (as I usually am on Sundays) so we left around 1PM. We ate at a restaurant on the way back to Al's apartment and dropped Megan off at the airport shortly after. Overall, it was definitely a good con! I’m sad that drama had to put a damper on the con but, other than that, Youmacon gets two thumbs up!
1 Comment
10/20/2013 04:11:13 pm
I was sad to see that I didn't have enough flowers to adequately cover White Rose's skirt but after working on it for so long, I was just ready to be DONE!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |