2010 Fanime Con Report

Okay my turn! Fanime Con Report!

As some of you might know I have been writing reports a lot lately but I've decided only to write reports for the conventions, no more gathering reports because it just burns me out to write so much detail nearly every week. Besides it usually just ends up to be 5 stars each time since I enjoy them so much.

With that being said let me get to the Fanime 2010 Con Report!

Day Zero: Jon and I left the apartment around 1pm to get to the convention around 4. So we rode the bus, bart and cal-train. It was a really nice commute I watched Jon play Patapon it's very cute. But when we got to San Jose, my camera fell out of my pocket, which I didn't realize till we got to the dash. I nearly flipped out and I said it had to be in one of the bags. Well we got to the convention center and realized it was gone, it had fallen out on the cal-train. I wanted to cry by that point but we decided to call the lost and found- it was just a recording... So we decided to just check in at the Fairmont; which we did rather quickly and then headed off back to the Calstation to check for my camera. Amazingly as son as we walked in a guy was turning it in. I was nearly in tears and squealed out it was my camera. He teased me a little but finally gave me the camera. With relief we returned to the convention and met up with Mel and her boyfriend then went off to wait in prereg line which took us 2hrs to get through.

I took several photos while we were in line and met a very nice indian couple they were very sweet. When we got to the end of the line a staffer said that "there will be cake" and Jon and I both were thinking PORTAL. Funny thing was when we were done the couple's mother was like "they said that there would be cake", lol I said "The cake is a lie" and she was like "It really is isn't it?" not knowing anything about Portal. It was funny. We then went to the Swap Meet for a little, parted ways with our new friends and Natalie, Maria and a few others... We went to dinner, Jon and I at an amazing restaurant. McCormick and Schmickt Seafood (sorry for the shitty spelling). I got Kobe Beef Carpaccio, which is a very thin kobe beef served with virgin olive oil and some weird salad. It's lightly seared but it might as well be tare-tare. Never the less it was an amazing dish. I also had bbq red potatoes that were delish. The mac was something we could have skipped. Jon got a Salmon Quesidia and we went back to the hotel... Which I must say was amazing. We then wandered back to the Swap Meet and got some amazing deals. Met up with Mel, EBK and Jessica. Once we were done we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a well deserved sleep.

Day One: Friday we cosplayed from Avatar the Last Airbender, it took us a while to get ready but we were soon out the door and enjoying the convention. Not as small as Thursday but not as busy as Saturday Friday was a lot of fun. We had an avatar meetup and met several awesome people and hung out a little with Natalie and her friends. We switched out into our Black Rock Shooter cosplays after lunch, did a small photoshoot with EBK and hung around the convention a little before going to the Vocaloid gathering... Which imo was a bust. Jon and I, and another Black Rock Shooter (Rin) were pretty much shunned at the gathering and we were yelled at by some annoying Miko when we needed to stand to shift poses. Craig, also got shunned even though he was cosplaying a vocaloid. After this we were pretty irritated and overall troubled so we decided to switch into Scouts because our feet were killing us. Having switched costumes, my headpiece for Scout wanted to act up after we wandered around the con. Met up with Jessica and had dinner at the Loft... It wasn't as good as I was hoping but eh... Whatever I had beef Capacio I wanted to see if it was as good as the seafood place, it wasn't. We then went to the rave for a little after changing into my kitty rave gear. It was okay we weren't really impressed and left- we met up with my friend who was cosplaying from Basara; Date. We hung out a little then went to the second day of the swap meet... Got even more deals, played some airhocky and we left only to return an hour later and got even better deals- manga for 50cents. After this was done we went back to our hotel room and slept.

Day Two: Saturday we cosplayed solely Avatar the Last Airbender, I was Toph. The meetup was amazing and was SOOO much fun! Many many photos and talked with several awesome people. Met up with Max and Nana, then we parted ways and I had lunch with Kris and Jon. We then returned for the Dodgeball event hosted by Jason (HappyHeretic) and played a bit before wandering around, had a photoshoot with Jorge and had dinner with Natalie (Thank you so much for driving us to wingstop!!). We then went to Whose Line Fanime which was amazing. Dante (Reuban) couldn't keep his shirt on. After we were done we pretty much enjoyed the rest of the day, that being said we were slammed for photos ALL DAY LONG. It was really hard to get anywhere but it was worth it. Went back to the hotel after enjoying the rest of the evening.

Day Three: Sunday; we cosplayed from Soul Eater. I cosplayed Dr. Stein Jon cosplayed Papa. We hung out with Taryn/Hatsune Yuna for a bit and wandered the con most of the day checked out the AA and DH mainly this day as we weren't slammed for photos. Had our photoshoot at 2pm with WinterWish and Vanessa. It was a fun photoshoot, but we had to blow off a group of Soul Eater cosplayers I felt so bad for it and later on I apologized when I saw them again. After that we went to McDonalds and Quicklys for lunch. It was hot as fire in Stein but we dealt with it. We went to the DH and registered for Yaoi-con, I won two posters while I was there. Went back to McCormick and Schmickt's Seafood with Vanessa, Kris and Jon and again I had my Kobe Beef plate. Afterwards we did a photoshoot with Kris and Taryn which we thought we weren't going to be able to do. Jon went to the Gong Show and was a bouncer for the panel which was funny. I hung out with Kris, Julie and Celina, and Taryn till Jon was done with the Gong show. We then packed and got ready for the last day and passed out.

Day Four: Monday; Woke up early made sure we had everything and then returned to the convention which is really depressing I feel... Everyone was really out of it and quiet and just it was a sad day. Jon's gi ended up popping on Sunday so I couldn't do a photoshoot with Max and Nana like I was hoping so we cosplayed scouts. We got several pics along the way. Checked the DH and AA one last time got our last bit of items and went to lunch at Jack in the Box... Returned to our room cleaned up a bit more and soon we were our way home. Somehow by some strange coincidence we ran into Craig and his friends and we were really happy because we didn't have to commute alone. We then parted ways at the BART and returned home... On the bart a real weirdo started screaming on the bart and yeah that was about it... Then had dinner at Gerry's.

Pros: +Awesome Avatar Meetup on Saturday
+Hung out with friends
+Found camera

Cons: -Vocaloid meetup sucked
-Heat on Saturday
-Lost camera

Overall & Stars: ***** AMAZING CONVENTION! My best convention thus far.

Shout Outs: Shoutouts to everyone I did not mention! I love you guys~!!

Sakura Festival: 2010

This time I did get sleep! OMG right!? But despite getting sleep I was still worn out by the end of the evening. Woke up around 7am to meet up with a group of cosplayers at 9am. Arrived after our (Jon and I’s) roommate (Rhett) dropped us off, thanks again Rhett. Met up with ININ and Elite Slayer, talked a little met up with a few other cosplayers and headed to Civic Center after eating breakfast at May’s Coffee.

On the way to the Civic Center I nearly had a wardrobe malfunction and I got catcalls from women and men both. ._. Kinda disturbing really. But anyway we arrived at the Civic Center with Blizzard Terrak and immediately we got stopped by people to take pics of us. Kei was the first actually and asked me to do a rather awesome pose. Thanks for being patient with me I was kind of derpy, Kei. ^^ Then a group of photographers came up and I was standing in said position 5-10 mins and my poor knee wanted to give out by that point.

Met up with Gloria (Cosplaying Matagari) and hung out with her and her friends. Saw Hanyaan and EBK, took some more photos, wandered around taking photos and getting photos taken which is why I only had near 60 pics. Met up with a neat Miku and Kaito… Saw Natalie and Maria, and Jason and San (I keep forgetting your name my apologies), and Celina, Julie and Mel had creepers come up to me and well yeah. Most of the time I hung out with people taking photos with them.

Lots of pics were taken and soon we went to the parade, by this point my poor blisters had blisters. Walked the route, heard people shout out for BLACK ROCK SHOOTER!! Which was awesome, and then a guy walked up and started playing our theme song, it was awesome. After the parade we went to eat with Blizzard and Jorge and Gloria and her friends.

Lunch took forever to get but hey it was busy. Then we walked around a bit, I met up with Jessica and we had a photoshoot, Ben and Michael met up with us there too. It was a lot of fun… And after a while we parted ways with Ben and the rest of us headed to the BART… Where a drunk woman came up to Michael and was like “IS DAT SWORD REAL!? *Grab!*” Poor Michael was very surprised. Then the woman came to me and was all “IS DAT YO REAL HAIR!?” I was like “Uh… No… *hobbles toward BART in her stillettos trying to evade crazy woman*”

We parted ways with Gloria and rode home on BART with Blizzard and had Rhett pick us up. Overall it was a wonderful time despite my exhaustion.

Pros: +Met awesome people
+Hung out with friends
+Amazing experience
+Had fans as BRS
+Parade was fun

Cons: -Creepers
-Catcalls
-Weirdos
-Heat
-Exhaustion
-Blisters

Overall & Stars:***** Just a wonderful time I will be going again.

Also: SHOUT OUTS TO EVERYONE I DID NOT MENTION!
*Also; sorry for disrupting you BartBoy- I hadn’t realized you were judging at the time. >< I feel really bad about that.
Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49034562@N04/sets/72157623769301777/

Wonder-Con 2010

Friday: I did get some sleep before the con this time however it still wasn't enough sleep as I was exhausted even when I got up. Sunday was worse. Never the less, I did not attend Friday as Jon had work and I had to finish up costumes before Saturday. My roommate originally was going to go three days but he didn't want to, instead he gave me his badge for Sunday and said to make use of it... So why would I argue? Haha. Anyway...
Saturday: Saturday rolled around 6:30am and I was up, tired, but getting ready despite the cold weather I was fully aware I was involving myself with. Jon and I both got to the convention center, waited in the line for saturday which was crazy... But since we had preregged we did not have to wait hours on end to get into the show. We still had to wait a little but we got through rather easy... However the task to get through the ginormous Dealers Hall/Artist Alley was crazy!!

It took us nearly four hours to get through the DH/AA the first time. However this was not because I was trying to shop, nor was it because I wanted to look at everything, it was actually a mix of these PLUS the fact that my costume was very popular. I cosplayed Leeloo Dallas in the thermal-bandages!Version. I would literally stop at a booth to look, but have to turn away as someone asked for a photo, hand over my things to Jon, take the photo, get my stuff back, turn back to the booth and then take two steps and again stopped for another time. It was overwhelming. I know I had to have over 100 photos taken of me that day, I don't know the exact number but I know it was over that.

I had a few little issues; a group of guys came up and were like "Pants are on aisle 5!" with big dorky grins, trying to flirt. And then another time I was walking through the DH some idiot grinned and waved and flashed his camera right in my face causing me to barely see anything. I wanted to kick his ass but whatever, I couldn't stop and chew his ear off.

While in the DH/AA we caught up with Kris and Jorge and we finished up what we could in the DH/AA and decided to shop on Sunday. We then saw Steff and Becca cosplaying from Metalocalypse and they danced on stage of the "Just Dance" as "the bird is the word" it was hillarious. We also got to meet up with Vanessa and CherryTeaGirl who were cosplaying from DigiChara and who too, danced on the game for the Spice Girls. It was funny as all hell. We then parted ways a bit and caught back up and asked if Vanessa and her friends wanted to go to lunch. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find food... But we finally found it at this hole in the wall deli...

Funny thing is after our group of 7 they ran out of sandwiches but I did have a great pastrami sandwich! After we had lunch we all hung out a little and again parted ways, I had my photoshoot with Kris inside the convention because I didn't want to just wear my Leeloo outfit outside with kids around. (There were a lot of kids outside at the Metreon, I didn't think the parents would appreciate it). With that being said, we ended up parting ways with Kris, walked around the con a bit and went home at 7pm.

We got quite a bit of swag that day and I bougt a tribble, which oh! Reminds me...

When we headed back to the con, there were two amazing Klingon cosplayers who I got my photo with. >3 Including the tribbles, one started screaming in Klingon the other was like "awwww I can translate for it".

Sunday: Forcing myself out of bed on Sunday was amazingly difficult. I cosplayed Reno (Before Crisis) from FF7 and Jon cosplayed Turk!Vincent. We chose to do these because we realized any comic or movie cosplay was going to be troublesome to cosplay there. So we actually got shopping done. However when we were on the bus I realized I forgot my camera... So we stopped and got a disposable. Luckily there weren't a lot of cosplayers on Sunday. Also what was lucky for us was the fact that Jon got his Sunday badge very quickly.

Afterwards we headed into the DH/AA. I got two volumes of Mouse Guard, hardback, a tribble shirt and a squid plushie which I carried around the entire con pretty much. we met up with Gloria and her friend, suggested food and said I wanted to look at the rest of the DH/AA. Which I did, I met up with Bunnywarez which I didn't get to visit as Leeloo, and drew their first bunny for the day on their large sheet of paper. It was awesome. Afterwards we left the DH/AA to get food, contacted Gloria but ran into Celina and Julie who were cosplaying Amy and Yun Sung from SC4, we decided to wait for Gloria so we could get food, meanwile I spoke a little with a really awesome Batman. Once Gloria and her friend caught up we went to Mel's diner with our party of 9.

We then split up again from Julie and Celina and their friend Donna who was cosplaying a Lugia Giginka. Finished our meal, I had an amazing cheesecake and chicken tenders and fries. And GLORIOUS coca-cola since I have gone 40 days without soda. We then headed back to the con, it was raining and it sucked. But we got there without too much problem. Went back to the DH/AA and went to a raffle at the Squib booth, where I got my squid. I won a postcard pack which is really awesome, then we went to the Final Fantasy booth type thing where Jon knew an ex-coworker and he won the Grand Prize! A white-mage chocobo plush. It's so cute. XD

Afterwards we pretty much just hung out and wandered around with Celina and Julie. Though while we were sitting down near the balcony type thing a group of high-on-sugar teenagers came up to take pics of Donna's costume but turned to Jon and was like "Wow you look really asian!" He was like 'o_o uh... That's because I am..." Everyone laughed and we enjoyed the rest of the hour we had and soon parted ways. On the way back home, we had forgotten our umbrellas, and got soaking wet, I hope I didn't get sick >< but yeah... It was not fun going home. Then walgreen's photo place was under mantience so now I have to go pick up the image cd when Jon gets home.

Overall it was a wonderful time.

Pros: +Very mature convention, no squealing fangirls.
+Wonderful security! They even complemented me on my costume several times.
+DH/AA had wonderful guests, wish I could have gotten Kacee's autograph from Chuck.
+Registration was very easy.
+Had fun taking photos.
+Met a bunch of awesome people and ung out with friends.
+Awesome photoshoot with Kris.
+Klingons
+Mel's Diner
+So many other things I won't lengthen te list with.

Cons: -Couldn't do shopping at all on Saturday but that was alright. 4 1/2hrs to get through DH/AA
-Kind of wish that the DH/AA was split up it was very hard to get through.
-Some idiot flashed me with his camera.
-Some idiot fanboys flirting with pants joke, but I admit it was pretty funny.
-Didn't get Kacee's autograph from Chuck.
-Missed Millia Jovich she was at an RE panel. ;_;
-Some other things I'm sure but I can't think of them right off.

Overall: Awesome con, I will be returning next year. I just hope to have certain costumes done by then.

*****Stars: Surprising right!? AOD had 5 stars, and now Wondercon. But Wondercon isn't your typical convention either.

Photos will be up shortly.

AOD 2010

Friday: Day 0; Pre-con I did not attend the hotel. However I  did stay up 24hrs prior to Friday... So I ended up falling  asleep around 10pm and woke up Saturday at 7am.

Saturday: Day 1; Woke up at 7am... Got changed into my  costume, had a lot of issues with my costume and prop... I  really wasn't happy with the overall look the screw looked  lopsided at some times of the day. It wasn't very fun wearing  it either this time around... I'm thinking of sawing off the  teeth for my next cosplay of Stein which will be Fanime.

Gloria was supposed to meet us at the BART once we got  ready however she got a ride. When we arrived at the  convention we went straight to Pre-Reg which seemed much  longer to get through compared to At-Door registration. I  didn't mind I got to speak with people in line.

Once we got our badges we went off to investigate the  convention. We already had panels lined up, which was a  good thing. People overall flipped out over my costume and  the screw which clicked. For the most part we just hung  around till Opening Ceremonies.

This was an interesting panel, got to meet the Guests of  Honor. Which is typical for all cons. Once this was over we  went to the MacHall panel which wasn't what I expected we  ended up looking at a lot of images from Ian MacHall's  computer. Pretty funny actually.

We ended up meeting up with several people through the con  however we ended up meeting with Chris and ate at Popeyes  and soon returned to the con afterward... The rest of the day  went well, went to the Dealer's Hall, Jon picked up a signed  copy of an artbook by MacHall. The New People CEO  requested to click my screw and squealed once she got to do  it... So did several other people who were amazed by it.

After all of this was done, hanging out with friends and other  people we ended up going to a Bishounen Panel which was  family friendly. It was alright, everything I knew pretty much.  The rest of the day went nicely, while I was meeting up with a  friend; Manya; a staff member from the Masquerade asked for  me to join the Masquerade; more on that later, needless to  say I accepted. Then hung out with Manya and her boyfriend.

Then I met up with Celina and Julie who were cosplaying  Medusa and Stein. Ran into another friend who cosplays  Aizen and CosplayRose who was cosplaying Amaratsu from  Okami till Masquerade... We ended up missing the party at  New People because we didn't want to take the chance to  miss the Masquerade and the line was uber long. A young man during this time walked past me saying "Steeeiinnnn~" and right before he left the room I clicked the screw and the young man flipped out; wigging out on how COOL the screw was and etc. It was pretty fun.

So I ended up in the Masquerade, Number 17. We had a briefdown in the masquerade hall and I soon went off to talk with my boyfriend and returned, chatted with Rose and a few other friends and soon the masquerade started and enjoyed it entirely. It was a lot of fun so many good skits. I especially liked Jango from One Piece's Skit, Rose's walk-on and Cooking Mama panel. Though there was one panel that stood out, but in an odd way, they lost their wigs and knocked down the mic. o_o;

When it came down to mine, my heart was pounding! I walked onto stage, people screaming out for Stein and I proceeded to take one pose, and then the second and moved the screw; the clicks echoed throughout the room and everyone screamed even louder. I finished up my skit and headed off stage. The rest of the masquerade finished and soon it was a half-time, the show was hilarious. As was the MC for the entire event.

Soon it was time to hand out the prizes. Judge's Awards went out first, and the Judge Kane absolutely loved my screw and went on about details and called me onto stage. I accepted my award and took photos. I was taken back, shocked that I would have won. I was so happy. X3

Afterwards, we headed off to the cosplay room to wait for our prizes. I said goodbye to Rose who also placed, runner up for best construction and went to the swap meet where I got a really cute little Miku figure. Swap meet was small and had a lot of con funk. .___.; After that we got changed and went home.

Sunday: Day 2; Got up early again changed into my Leeloo cosplay and headed off to the con again... Dressed in pants and a kimono shirt. I had Jon make a multipass for me I was so exhausted; I lost the multipass on the BART. And... I found out yesterday that I forgot to put my tattoo on my wrist for Leeloo (feck). In any case I went to get changed and ended up hanging out with Gloria while Jon went to a webcomic panel. I had a lot of people come up to me, asking me for photos and squealing over my Leeloo costume. This was the majority of the day, people freaking out over the costume. I had a LOT of fans for this costume and I can't wait to cosplay it again.

Not a lot of happenings on this day... I did enter the Hall Cosplay contest, didn't win but a friend of mine did. X3 Had lunch with Tatiana and some of her friends, including a Reno I had met at AnimeDestiny. Also met up with the daughter of Conpix who held a panel at Anime Destiny. Jon lost his badge sometime after, we think it got set down probably when we were taking pictures. Also Jon thought he lost his Zune, but luckily he found it yesterday... It nearly costed his fun at the convention. So those who are wondering; we found the Zune! We ended up losing Gloria a lot of the time through both cons but we finally found her right before we left. There were also several other people I wasn't able to find which bummed me out. Manya lost her badge and Hatsune-Yuna I didn't see at all on Saturday but she had called out for me. Other than that I had a lot of fun! We hung out at the con till 5 and then headed home... On the way home a crazy old lady ran up to me and screamed "I WANT YOUR HAIR!!!!!" ...Yep.

Pros: +Just overall wonderful time enjoyable small con.
+ The attendees were great.
+ Staff was AMAZINGLY sweet and helpful! First time I didn't  have ANY trouble with ANY staff at a convention.
+MC was hilarious at Masquerade.
+People staffing masquerade were very helpful especially  since it was my first time entering a masquerade.
+Dealer's Hall wasn't cramped like most cons, rather spaced  out compared to most.
+Registration was a breeze.
+Panels were awesome.
+Right near Japan Town.

Cons: -Layout was a little odd for the con.
-Artist Alley at the top where there were like 6 booths near  the Dealer's Hall wasn't a good idea it got backed up really  quick and it was hard to make it through.
-Artist Alley below was a little... Awkward as well.
-Photographers taking photos on the steps leading up from  the AA to the Dealer's Hall.
-Wasn't three days, but I still had fun for the two days I was  there. X3

Overall: Wonderful convention I WILL be returning for next  year. I adored this convention and it's staff members, as well  as it's attendees. I was completely amazed with this  convention and I look forward to next year.

***** Stars: It's been a long while since I've posted this many  stars for a convention. I think the last time was my first  convention; Animazement 09. Overall this convention was  amazing and had the same feel that AZ09 had. I will be  returning for 2011.

AOD Gallery: http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss274/foxberryconventions/AOD2010/
KValentine's Masquerade Video: (Stein's Segment): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLnWZ9Hh2do

Winter 2009 Meetup

Winter 2009 Meetup

Joelyn's meetup was awesome. Jon, Gloria and myself ended up going after being invited by BlizzardTerrak; a photographer that we met at the J-Town Meetup. It was a small group but eh... What are you gonna do right? X3 In fact I felt that because it was smaller it was much more fun. These little meetups tend to be much more fun than conventions sometimes. I think it's because we get to know people a little more than just in normal cons.

Pros: -Got to meet a bunch of awesome people; like always.
-Fun photoshoot with BlizzardTerrak.
-Just overall had a great time.

Cons: -Restaurant sucked. Yeah... That's about it.

Overall: Small but fun, got to make new friends and spend time with people whom I've come to enjoy the company of. X3 People are an interesting sort; especially when it comes to cosplay. Restaurant sucked though; sadly. I think that the restuarant just can't handle larger groups as the times that Jon and I went before it was really good but yeah.

***** Stars: Overall awesome time; it was a small meetup but that's alright. It was worth the time spent.

Event Report!: Happy Holidays from Westfield & J-Town Meetup!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!!


It's me again with another update; I've been procrastinating a little so I am covering two events at the same time. I hope you don't mind, and I know I've been promising that I'd get around to it, and ya' know- I never did till now.


With my apologies said; lets get down to business, yes?

Holiday Hetalia Meetup Dec 05 2009

Like normal I ended up not getting any sleep before this event; My sleeping schedule really is screwed up. Despite the exhaustion Jon and I got ready for the event rather quickly and headed out for our meeting place; Westfield Mall in SF. I suggested this mall for the meetup due to the fact that I didn't feel that people would really want to hang out outside in the chilled air the entire time. Everyone seemed to agree that Westfield would be a good place to meet at and so it was settled that we'd go to Westfield and then head off to Union Square for a nice group photo infront of the Christmas tree there.


In any case; I was a little late, as we were waiting for a friend who was going by the BART as well- but that's small potatoes really. After arriving at the BART to wait for Gloria and her friends (the ones we were waiting for) Jon and I decided to let the others know that we'd be up there soon... Needless to say; I always, always get missplaced in this mall and we failed to meet up with everyone so we went back down to the BART- by this point Gloria had arrived and our entire little group headed up to the Bloomingdales Dome rather than the Nordstrom Dome like I thought it was originally supposed to be at. We ended up losing the mother of France that was with us at the time... *sighs* that was a bit mess.


Security came and found France after we all had finally met up with the rest of the group. For a while everyone; including the others that had met up earlier here and those who followed in after our small group; all got together and took photos. We then went out to get food... Jon, myself, a very cute England and America couple, France and a few others ended up losing the main group... We finally found where the majority went- they went for PASTA! I didn't want any and instead ate hot yummy oatmeal from Jamba Juice. America and England decided to eat at this other place and then caught back up with us once we were all done eating.


We then all went back to the Bloomingdale's Dome and I finally was able to get ahold of all the cosplayers; which seems to be like coralling wayward sheep (hehe teasing guys)... Finally I was able to get everyone to stop looking at my fake boobs (As I was cosplaying Christmas!Ukraine) and focus on me. We then all went down to UnionSquare with people staring... Jon (Prussia) lead the group and I headed the back. We all got to Union Square in one piece! We met up with a group of people giving free hugs! Which of course as you all know; Hetalia people love free hugs for some reason... And finally we went to take our group photo... Once this was done we ended up mauling the Grinch since we could not find Santa (the one at the mall was busy) and took a few photos with him.


Afterwards we were all going to go to Westfield again but I was told by the mother of France that we were "unofficially" kicked out of the mall. Apparently they did not like us "loitering" there, so Jon and I attempted to grab everyone who was heading back but the main group just wanted to split ways and go shopping... Which was a good idea. So with a small group of our own, we managed back to Westfield to find anyone who else would like to go down to Embarcadero Center... We found people and decided to do just that. So Jon and I gathered our group and headed down to the center; which was like normal; abandoned. We all took photos there and ended up on Pier 1, the Ferry Building, and walked around a little until I had to take Sailor!Italy back to her parents and Mafiso!Italy and Lichtenstein to their's. I then went back to our ever thinning group and we decided to go down to Pier 39, Red!China decided to head on home; and we decided after a little while to do the same rather than go down to Pier39... And so our group headed on home parting ways at the BART.


I zoned out on the BART and fell asleep promptly when I got home.


Pros:-Getting together with people that I got to hang out at WorldHetaliaDay with.
-Receiving the weird stares and smiles from the norms.
-Going to the Embarcadero Center and Pier 1


Cons:-Getting kicked out of the mall
-Splitting ways with everyone pretty much two hours after the meetup gathered.


Overall: I enjoyed myself; maybe not as much as World Hetalia Day but enjoyed myself none the less. Next time we will look elsewhere to cosplay at and not Westfield as the security were rather rude with some people apparently.


**** Stars: Would have given it more considering the situation with the mall security and the small amount of time we all hung out.


Hetalia Holiday Meetup Photos

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Holiday J-Town Meetup Dec 12 2009

Again another event I did not sleep before; though despite this I enjoyed myself.


Originally this meetup was supposed to be at Golden Gate Park; however rain doused the plans and we all had to end up at Japan Town; calling was made a day before the event and sadly enough it was a very rainy and damp day to the point that Jon and I were planning on backing out if not many people showed up. It's been quite a while since it had rained this much in San Francisco.


Jon and I decided to cosplay Prussia and Ukraine again because of the rain; knowing it would only damage the cosplays if we were to do Spirit and Stein. It also sort of "rained on" our plans, pun not really intended as we couldn't really bring food to J-Town being that it is a business area. So Jon and I decided to put our RiceCrispyTreat sushi in little treat bags and hand them out... That was a great success and a lot of people loved them.


We were again; late to this event as well thanks to the Bus being late and the BART being late and the Muni being late... Everything runs slower on rainy days in SF. But we finally got there. We met up with Gloria and a few of her friends, and I got to see the cosplayer/judge who cosplayed Death the Kidd at Yaoi-con and of course got to see EBK. We all took photos infront of a Christmas tree that was set up inside and afterwards went and did some group shots; rain let up just enough for that... Afterwards we all went to lunch and well... The group ended up doing the same thing the Hetalia Group did; and split up and went our own ways.


Once we were done eating we returned to the main area where we met up; talked with a few people then did the Purikura booths; which I still need to upload. After that we went to the bookstore, picked up copies of the photos and returned home. I again proceeded to pass out when I got home.


Pros:-Got to take some very awesome photos.
-There was a very cool Captain America cosplayer which I ogled the costume of- very well made.
-Hung out with Gloria and other cool cosplayers.
-Got to talk with EBK and a few of the other photographers there.


Cons:-RAIN~! RAIN! RAIN!!!
-Cosplay meetup was very short and I didn't really get to talk to many of the others as everyone really just wanted to take the photos and go home since it was such a rainy event.
-Did not take place at GoldenGate Park as I would have hoped; thanks to weather.
-JapanTown was rather small and I've been there a lot so it's nothing new to me.


Overall: The cons above really had nothing to do with the host BARTBoy; he did what he could with the situation that he had. None the less I still have to pretty much grade the event with my overall experience. Other than the cons, I did enjoy myself it wasn't the strongest event that I've been to- but that's because of the weather and I feel it could have been better if it wasn't raining and it was at GoldenGate but again the host couldn't do anything about this. I will be attending another meetup by BARTBoy however as I did enjoy my time.


*** Stars: Would have given it more if the situation was not how it was. None the less the event itself was fun.


J-Town Holiday Meetup Photos


Next Event/Convention: Animation On Display; Hotel Kabuki- San Francisco CA


Wishing you a wonderful Holiday Season from Foxberry Studios!

Con Report!: Yaoi-Con 09~!

Suuuggoooiii~! Guys! I really don't know where to start with this one. All I can say is WOW! But that's a little redundant. I've finally gotten around to writing my con report for Yaoi-Con because the Con-Depression-Fairy visited me. I haven't had 'con depression' since Animazement 09 so that tells me something; Yaoi-con was an awesome convention! Now, I'm not going to actually go through with a fine toothed comb with this one and explaining details to the max. You may ask why... But it's because; in my opinion "What happens in Yaoi-con STAYS in Yaoi-con" because I don't want to ruin the fun for anyone else next year. I will however go through each day but everything won't be accounted for; mainly because of the above and the fact that I've forgotten stuff. Foxberry has a bad memory! With that being said, let's get down to business, yes?

Cosplays involved: Gokudera (KHR), Estonia (APH), Dr. Franken Stein (SE), Reno (FF7BC)

Thursday; Day 0: There were no events going on this day. However I do have to report on this because despite the fact that there were no events, Jon and I were supposed to get to the hotel with Mel- though Jon had to work late leaving us unable to attend on Thursday. At first I thought it was a bad thing but I've come to realize that I wouldn't have gotten any sleep what so ever despite my horrible deprivation of sleep anyway.

Friday; Day 1: So Jon and I arrived from SFO to the Marriott from the shuttle. We had to wait 40 mins but that's okay, I was entertained by the people looking at us funny. In any case we ended up getting to the hotel room which was a really nice room actually and I met two friends of Mel's who were really sweet. Tiffany and Emma. We decided to cosplay to the convention so we wouldn't have to waste time doing so at the hotel knowing that Mel and her two friends had to get dressed. After settling our bags in we soon went off to get our badges, it was rather quick so we didn't have to worry too much. However we were all gathered in one large room to wait to gain our badges. I got to watch two anime while I was there Inbari and Big Windup.

Jon and I were recognized three times by this point as Gokudera and Yamamoto, all three times I wasn't aware and Jon teased me. Mel dressed as fairy Britannia called me over to a group of Hetalia fans, one was dressed as Canada and smelled like Maple syrup... It was pretty special. XD After we got our badges we decided to change into our Hetalia outfits because the KHR gathering did not go through as planned, no one showed up. In any case, we soon changed and I cosplayed Estonia while my boyfriend cosplayed an OC Beijing. Afterwards we retreated to the swapmeet and I got some pretty good deals. A few Hetalia trinkets and 1-16 of Dragon Knights manga for a steal. Our Hetalia gathering went much better and we got lots of photographs.

After this we decided to go out to eat and we found a wonderful Japanese restaurant, Jon and I shared a combination plate (chicken teriyaki and tempura shrimp and veggies) and we got some sushi. I had a really good 6piece kappa (which is cucumber roll) and we had some Tamago (egg sushi) I wasn't really fond of the Tamago... It was cold scrambled eggs pretty much, but rather sweet. We then returned back to the hotel room, got dressed again, changed into my KHR outfit once more and went to Bishounen Bingo; did not win anything in the Bingo but I DID win something in the end raffle; a Lambo poster from KHR. Very cute mind you. If you ever go to Yaoi-con make sure you attend this event, I won't explain it in detail but I must say even my boyfriend found it entertaining. Once this was over we returned to the hotel room and played Dirty Minds and went to bed.

Saturday; Day 2: Woke up at 8am got dressed into Stein... The stitches did not work out well, so Mel helped me with drawing on stitches with an eyeliner... Worked out nicely. Jon's cross however did not work out so well. It ended up being too long but it wasn't bad looking in the end. Once we were dressed and out of the hotel, we ended up going to the Fanmarket, where some very lovely artists were, purchased two prints and wound up at the Dealers Hall, checked out both of them before 12pm hit- I got two doujin while I was there SteinxSpirit and GermanyxPrussia. We then ran into our Hetalia group, apparently we cannot escape Hetalia no matter what fandom we're cosplaying from. X3 We went out for lunch by this point, had sandwiches and hung out at a park then returned to the convention.

Said goodbye to our friends and went in search of other things to do, we met up with a Soul Eater group and were called over to join them for a photoshoot done by EuroBeatKing (who is such a sweet photographer to work with ^__^). After the wonderful photoshoot was over we came to find out that the people we befriended were the judges of the masquerade! We were asked to help out with their opening act but sadly due to malfunctions it fell through. However we got to sit front row near the judges and watch the masquerade. The skits overall were awesome, I enjoyed them a great deal, especially Toby's monologue from Naruto and the skit from Dogs.

After this event was over we had little time to do anything because we had tickets to go to the Bishounen Auction. Now I do not mean to be mean or to ream the people involved with this; however this is my major 'con' of the convention. The lineup and the way it was handled had no organization what so ever. My boyfriend and I were shifted between con officials from con-ops and down the hall at least 5 to 6 times, telling us we're in the wrong area. Finally we got fed up and told one very nice gentleman our plight, and he decided that we were to stand in a "special area", several other people had this issue as well so it was not just us. Further a little bit later Jon and I went to sit down and we were snarked at by another fan because we sat in front of them, and apparently they held claim over the area saying that we broke in front of them... Despite the fact that, well, we were there from the beginning. Rather than arguing with the individual we got up and just stood despite how exhausted we were. Finally things were settled with the lines and we were all let in.

The auction itself was an amazing thing and I'm not going to explain it to you and ruin the surprise for those who would like to go in the future. If you go to Yaoi-con you MUST attend this at least once for its entertainment purposes if anything. Despite the little situation with the mics, which wasn't really a problem for me, it was overall a wonderful event. Once this was over we again had little time to do anything and returned to the hotel room... Got packed and realized that the rave had started. Went to the rave, which was a little dull but at least it was nice and cool inside. Only stayed an hour but then realized we were starving and had little food during the day. This is where my second little 'con' of the convention came in. There really is no food in walking distance of the convention, yes there's a 7-11 and a Trader Joe's but... There's only SO many times one can eat a cheesedog or a burrito. And I was hoping to have actual restaurants in the area. The hotel grill was extremely expensive and we refused to pay 25-25$ for a combination plate. We attempted to order out food but by this time it was too late, and there was nothing close that we could actually get food at. So... I ended up making a peanut butter sandwich and went to bed rather promptly.

Sunday; Day 3: Woke up around 8:40am got dressed as Reno after restyling his wig and took to attempting the bald cap on my boyfriend... which was a disaster, it worked but by the end of the evening; Jon was in pain. Next time we're just shaving his head to a no.1 buzz, people will realize who he is even if he has a little bit of hair so there's no point in putting him through the hell the bald cap put him in. After a slow morning we finally packed up and put our stuff away in Eugene's vehicle (thank you again Eugene). Sunday was a little slow, but that was in part of our issue. Mel cosplayed Rufus Shinra so it was a lot of fun pushing his Geo-Stigma butt around for the day in a wheelchair. We checked out the markets one last time and went to the library before we attended one panel.

Yaoi Positions, which ended up pretty funny and entertaining. After that we decided we were going to call it a wonderful convention, but caught up with Mel and took a few photos, but not before I nearly ejected Mr. President (Mel/Rufus) across the court-yard... Me/Reno squealing out "SHACHOO!! GOMEN NASAI GOMEN NASAAAIII~!" It was pretty funny overall. However we soon gave our goodbyes to our friends and returned home... Exhausted, tired and completely happy with ourselves. Ironically on the shuttle ride home Jon turned on his PSP and was playing Dissidia, the consecutive days he had played up till then was 69. A wonderful end to a wonderful convention. I hope to see you all next year!!

Pros: -Unique atmosphere.
-Not what I'd call an 'anime convention', something entirely different and entertaining.
-Great events.
-No crazy fangirls glomping me.
-Mature atmosphere.
-Lovely hotel, very pretty.
- >3 Beautiful eyecandy!

Cons: -Situation with lines for Bishounen Auction.
-Lack of food around convention aside from 7/11, only so many times I can eat at a 7/11.
-Not many cosplayers, I was surprised... Next time I won't put as much effort into cosplay for Yaoi-con as I did this year... Felt like too much preparation for the convention.
-Next time I plan on attending more panels rather than spending time walking around the hotel. ^^

Overall: Considering what it was, I cannot grade this like I normally would other conventions and events. As such I put this convention in a different class of its own. It's not an anime convention, it's not a cosplaying convention... It's a Yaoi-convention in its own right. And it's at its best. Next year I will plan on going to more of the panels and not worry so much about cosplaying. I've already got ideas for next year, for cosplay to make it easier on myself. Overall... WONDERFUL TIME!

****1/2 Stars: I would have given it five but honestly the two things that bothered me really irked me, that being the situation with the auction and lack of food.

-Foxberry out!

Convention Photos: http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss274/foxberryconventions/Yaoi%20Con%2009/