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I'm not too sure what my schedule will be looking like that day but I'll try to revive my Elizabeth from last year and make it.

I'm probably going as Touko Fukawa / her other half (I'm trying not to spoil things for those who haven't played). I'll hopefully have a tongue with me.

I haven't created a lot of cool stuff yet. Last year I went as Alicia Melchiott from Valkyria Chronicles and made her armor out of craft foam and wonderflex. Actually I first made the armor out of foam, then it got badly beaten up and some pieces torn. I used those same pieces and sandwiched them in wonderflex to give it depth and reformed, gesso'd forever, sanded forever, and painted. This year I only used fosshape to make my hat for Elizabeth from P3. I have a few plans coming up this summer which involves worbla, and next year I'm hoping to make a breastplate and more with it. I'm just a total newbie working with the stuff and having fun experimenting. :)

I attended the two armor making panels and this is just a suggestion for next year, but could there be a small segment included about wonderflex and/or worbla? Someone in one of the panels asked a question regarding the fumes and living in an apartment. The answer given was try to go out to some open space in the community, but from my experience that's not always possible. Since I live in a small community, and the HOA likes fining people for practically anything, I followed a tutorial Kamui posted on youtube on how to work with wonderflex and made some armor pieces that way. Wonderflex and worbla are costly, but it's a solution to avoiding fumes. The downside is the materials make the items less flexible.

I'm in my late 20s and my fiance is turning 30 this year, and we felt similarly. Many times we felt very old but also found people in lines for panels and some staffers that were our age and had pleasant conversations. Our enjoyment hasn't diminished at all, but it has shifted in tastes. We like going to panels more than the video rooms, and we can no longer stay up way late but many things we like to do are early in the morning. When there's downtime, we would go into the gaming room and watch the tournaments. I've been wanting to staff for the past few years, but currently I'm in Santa Cruz and the time commitment for attending meetings, mandatory or optional, is not possible. Hopefully soon though!

Aw yiss that was so much fun. Thanks everyone for giving my cards back after I attacked the Persona 4 cosplayers. :D


Elizabeth is the best character!

I was Elizabeth all weekend from Persona 3 / Persona 4 Arena. Here's a photo for reference : http://i.imgur.com/iyrILpD.png

Count me in for the midnight gathering.

I think a midnight King's Game would be good. People have the option of participating for a round and are able to go elsewhere in the hotel or outside to take photos. Not to mention the game itself would make for an interesting photo shoot.

I'm currently making an Elizabeth from P3 cosplay which should be done in time for Fanime. I'd love to attend any gatherings. I've always loved seeing the midnight gathering in the past. My fiance and I tend to do our own thing at cons, so any day and time works out as long as it's not Friday before noon.  :)

Saturday + Sunday: Alicia Melchiott from Valkyria Chronicles. My avatar is an illustration of her for reference. I'm especially interested in photos from Sunday of our mini throw together group with the power wheel tanks.  :)

Oh god I totally missed this post. I'll be bringing Alicia again with upgraded armor, a better wig, and bread!

I hope this isn't too late, but I was going to be bringing my Alicia costume with me and wear for most of the con.

I can only say from experience. I've used different wig caps but I always get a tight fit whenever I put on a wig from a chinese seller (and this is with the wig on the largest size). I actually have the same problem with some of my Cyperous wigs. It may be because my hair is long and really thick so it adds much more bulk to be fit inside a wig. I've even braided my hair and after a while the cap will move with the pins I use to secure the cap and wig to my head. My hair, even in a wig cap just doesn't want to fit inside a wig from China or Japan. :( I don't have a big head or anything, but the size their wigs are at, they're too small to fit my head + thick hair. My hair is also naturally straight so it's not a matter of any curls adding more bulk.

I second Arda Wigs. Wigs from chinese sellers never fit my head right (maybe i have a big head, or it's my hair) and my hair always ends up showing. Arda Wigs fit well from my experience and are easy to style. Also the girls who run it are available for any questions you may have and can even give recommendations on what wig may work best for a costume.

Cosplayer Hangout was the best thing since sliced bread.. at least to me it was.  ;D I just wish more of the staff knew about it and I expressed this Saturday when I spent a few minutes in there hydrating. On Friday I had an armor malfunction and really needed a hot glue gun. I asked the info desk where the hangout was located (left our Fanime booklets in the hotel room) and they had no clue there was anything like that. Luckily I brought a hot glue gun with me but I still had to walk back to the Fairmont. I know it's hard to communicate to all areas of Fanime, but I was expecting at least the information desk would know. It also didn't come to mind to have asked the cosplay gatherings group or rovers so maybe that's my fault there.

Thank you! At one point the Hilton Hotel Reg staff were directing cosplayers over to us when they were approached for a needle &/or thread! Hats off to the Hilton! :)
I agree and we are going to put two things on the Info department's list: The key for gathering locations & HOW TO FIND THE HANGOUT! :P
Do you have any suggestions for what you would like in the room? Please note that I will not allow sewing machines in there, however I do want to pick up a hand sewer or two. No sewing machines because con isn't where you finish your cosplay but where you wear it and I want everyone to come out of their hotel rooms and do stuff during con :)

Fans would have been nice, like two small ones to cool off in front of. Maybe some hem tape next year for quick fixes in addition to a hand sewing kit. There are some fabrics that are super thick or difficult to hand sew through so the hem tape would be useful and less obvious than hot glue. Not that heat n bond stuff, it has never worked out well for me. :( If there were safety pins, I didn't see any so those would be useful and maybe some notions like hook and eyes and velcro.
The room was great, I am actually thinking of donating a ton of stuff next year since I'm a total hoarder with all my sewing supplies.

The rovers this year made my first year having costumes with prop guns very positive. I constantly asked questions on the board about what was ok and always received an answer. Day of the con my questions paid off and my props were peace bonded just fine and the rules were explained to me in detail since I mentioned it was my first time doing this. There was just one hiccup during the con when a rover asked to see my gun in the dealer's room. Not knowing what was going on (my first time and all) I handed it over and she saw it was very toy like and was ok with the guidelines. She asked me to get it peace bonded and I pointed out the zip tie on it from being peace bonded earlier. She apologized for not noticing it initially and granted I can't blame her because the zip tie was right at the orange tip and the same color. She was really nice about the mix up and told me to enjoy the con.

Cosplayer Hangout was the best thing since sliced bread.. at least to me it was.  ;D I just wish more of the staff knew about it and I expressed this Saturday when I spent a few minutes in there hydrating. On Friday I had an armor malfunction and really needed a hot glue gun. I asked the info desk where the hangout was located (left our Fanime booklets in the hotel room) and they had no clue there was anything like that. Luckily I brought a hot glue gun with me but I still had to walk back to the Fairmont. I know it's hard to communicate to all areas of Fanime, but I was expecting at least the information desk would know. It also didn't come to mind to have asked the cosplay gatherings group or rovers so maybe that's my fault there.

It was great meeting everyone and flying the kite was a lot of fun! Sae I think you were talking to me in the elevator of the Fairmont. I was Alicia with all the armor but I wasn't too sure if it was you.  :-X

Ok so I forgot some major pieces of my boyfriends' Sister costume so he won't be able to dress up with us. Sorry!! He'll be taking pictures though.