In short, I had a pretty good time at this year’s Youmacon. I didn’t have any new costumes to finish, so no morning of con rush to finish and get out the door this year! Instead I had a bunch of stuff at the office blow up on me. But I cleaned that up in time to go. Happy days!
After a lot of thought, I decided not to cosplay on Thursday night. I had been toying with doing the OL version of Mikuru, but decided against it in part because no one would likely recognize it as cosplay. So normal me just had to do, which is fine…usually. The pre-reg pickup was reasonably quick once the line got moving. After that I had to great pleasure of chatting with a couple of friends who I had been looking forward to seeing at Youmacon. Later I went to the How to Con panel, which was hilarious, followed by the Sera Myu panel which was…interesting. Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting Sailor senshi dancing. The Sailor Mercury was quite cute though!
Friday was Mikuru cosplay day! I was happy the socks I had wanted came in time and I think it went over pretty well. Not too many pic requests though since the Haruhi craze is pretty much over. The highlights of the day for me were really the AMV contest, karaoke, and the AMV dance that night. I still don’t get people who go to dances and just watch other people dance. And I felt sorry for those guys wandering about looking for girls to dance with. Just dance! I still don’t know if my AMV entry won or not, but it was fun seeing it on the big screen.
Saturday is the biggest day of any con. For me it means getting out my newest costume. I’d tuned up my Princess Sakura and entered the Hall Cosplay competition. As always, I enjoyed telling the judges all about the costume and what went into making it. And I got some very positive feedback. And feeling more daring than usual, I followed there suggestion to get some professional pictures taken by the photographer they had for the event just down the hall. After that, I joined the CLAMP cosplay shoot in the very humid pool room. It was fun! I always worry that I’m messing up the shoot, but I tend to be a little over critical of my cosplays. Other people seem to think they are pretty good, so I should just chill a bit.
Last year, I missed a lot of the guest, so I wanted to make up for that this time around. I went to the Yugioh: The Abridged Series panel, and a little later, partially by accident, attended the Team 4 Star, of DBZ: Abridged, panel as well. I ended up changing a lot of my plans in order to avoid ridiculously long waits in line. The 4 inch heeled boots I was in were not made for long periods of standing. And my outfit was definitely not made for sitting on the floor too long either.
As a result of this, like some divine retribution/irony, I ended up in standing room only at the Masquerade. Since standing just wasn’t going to work, I found myself sitting on the floor, unfortunately on top of my belted right leg. After half an hour in this position that leg went to sleep and I couldn’t feel it at all! So I stood up not knowing if I was going to topple over or not. Soon, the feeling came back and a short time later, at the end of the skits, some seats opened up and I was able to sit down. The Masquerade skits and costumes were quite good on the whole with a minimum of puerile yaoi skits, thank goodness!
I had planned to go to the Saturday night rave, but things were behind schedule and I had absolutely no desire to wait in any more lines. I’d already changed out of the boots and into flats, so walking and standing were no longer problems. I mainly wanted to make sure I didn’t miss my chance to sing. So I spent a big chunk of the night in the karaoke room enjoying the singing of an old con friend and some very very lively young women! I capped off the night with a few hilarious hours watching hentai in the VAT room.
Sunday is usually a sad con day for me because it marks the end of the fun. This Sunday was a little different though because I had a good time getting omiyage (souvenirs) for the family. And I met up with some more con friends that I had been wanting to see. I went to the Laura Bailey panel too. She is a super sweet heart! And at the panel, I met a young lady who I’d seen in Cosplay Shougi the day before, but didn’t have a chance to get a picture then. She sat down right next to me and agreed to pose for the picture below in which she is cosplaying Kuradoberi Jam from the Guilty Gear video game.
I had a great time at Youmacon! But it was time to go home, besides I had gifts for everyone deliver. Hopefully I can go again next year!
. If the cost of the reader can get under $200 USD and the magazines and manga I love are available, I’d be all over that. To be able to take your entire reading library wherever you go must be one of those great book lover dreams.