So let’s start from the beginning.
When I arrived in Raleigh Thursday evening, I had only two goals in mind: get my badge and get my cosplays finished. I should probably mention that this is the first time I’ve ever had to finish a cosplay in the hotel. I usually don’t give myself such a heavy load cosplay-wise, but there were so many awesome groups/photoshoots happening, and I wanted to be a part of as many as I could. Hence, five (almost six) cosplays got taken for a ride, and four of them were incomplete in some sort of way. A nice last-minute cosplay party was the result of that, which lasted until 2 in the morning.
Despite a late night, we were all up bright and early that morning for some troll-ification. Honestly, Friday was probably the worst day of the con for me because of many reasons, including but not limited to lack of communication, not properly keeping track of time, trying to do too much all at once, and so on. I was Porrim for most of the day, and that costume took quite a beating what with the wind and the slight chill it brought, yet I didn’t lose a single piercing! I believe some people even thought they were real! The Dancestors shoot that was supposed to happen got canceled because of all the no-shows (that happened quite often this weekend :/). Maybe I can try to organize a second attempt at Banzaicon. That evening I switched to Handmaid (complete with remade horns) for the Ancestors group. Most of us involved were pretty tired and cranky at that point, but I still had a great time and am really looking forward to sharing the results of that little endeavor. The plan after that shoot was to change into Mindfang and have a Mindfang/Redglare private shoot, but we were way behind schedule, and I was also having some costume malfunctions while trying to quickly change, so I was essentially hanging out in the front of the con center and chilling with Autumn while the not-rave was going on. It was around this time that I had my first and only anti-Homestuck incident. I’m happy to report that it was pretty minor. Essentially this guy just walked up to us while we were chatting with another person and loudly interrupted by saying “Please don’t tell me about Homestuck” and then just walked off. And we’re just staring at him like “What the fuck? We weren’t even looking at you?” I was pretty much done with Friday so I called it a night a few minutes later.
Saturday morning meant turning into my favorite winged wonder one more time. Two other people in the hotel were also sprouting wings that morning, so there was a lot of awkward shuffling around each other while we got ready. Once we got down to the con center, I definitely was not ready for the instant positive reception we got. We were being stopped every three seconds for photos. People in line we yelling our character names and waving at us. I truly felt like a rock star that morning! GT Vriska was worn mainly for two private photoshoots, one of which I have already posted, and the other which was a bigger photoshoot full of my winged pals. Next was a quick change into something not grey for once, Anarchy Panty. I was worried about how the costume would hold up, but save for a few minor malfunctions, everything was fine. My fluffy tutu saved me from a couple of upskirt moments due to wind, haha. I had a photoshoot with Dresden, who is awesome to work with, by the way, and then did some wandering. As I walked around I realized that there just aren’t enough Panty cosplayers out there, so I decided right then and there that I’m going to cosplay her more often. One last quick change that day led me to reprise, you guessed it, Mindfang. I just really wanted to be her for the 18+ meetup, which I want to apologize for one more time. If I ever attempt another one, I’ll be sure to have a backup plan instead of leading you around like lost sheep.
Sunday was supposed to be the no cosplay or simple cosplay day, but Autumn convinced me to don Mindfang one more time in hopes of finding a photographer for Mindfang and Redglare. That turned out to be a wonderful idea because not only was cosplaying Mindfang on Sunday absolutely amazing, we did indeed find a photographer for us: my friend Wille, with whom I had to cancel on Friday. Apparently all the headaches I’d gone through on Friday happened for a reason, and that reason was so I could have one of the best damn photoshoots I’ve ever been a part of that weekend. As that lovely highlight came to a close, it was time to shed the grey and head on home.
Animazement was great for me people-wise. I ran into one of my old friends I’d hung out at previous cons with and hadn’t seen in over a year. I met lots of people I’d only spoken with online. I saw some lovely people wearing awesome things I’d helped make for them. The few “normal” people that approached me couldn’t have been nicer. All of this being said, I probably won’t attend Animazement next year. I’m not sure who they as a con are appealing to with their programming, but I don’t believe it’s me anymore. None of the panels appealed to me. None of the big events appealed to me. The guests might have appealed to me if I had time to spend waiting in line for an autograph. The point is, I don’t feel like I should invest in a convention when the convention isn’t trying to make it worth my while. So maybe I’ll go to Momocon—it’s apparently happening on the same weekend next year. Who knows? I’ll worry about that later.
I’d like to say thank you to anyone who stopped me for a photo, anyone who complimented my craftsmanship, anyone who called me beautiful, the two or three of you that called me your headcanon (that’s high praise for someone as obsessed with Serkets as I am), to all of my photographers, and to anyone I hung out with or chatted with at any point in time. It was YOU who made this Animazement one to remember for me. I hope our paths cross again soon. <3
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