Tales from an Anime Convention

[Starath]

Last weekend was an absolute blast, but a few things happened that I wanted to share with you guys. I'm exhausted at the moment so I'll cover the most important bits that might interest ya'll.

I kept hearing about there being an Optimus Prime cosplayer. I never found him, unfortunately, but I was confused about something: The people who told me about him were either annoyed or perplexed.... they said it was Optimus Prime with black fur, like he was trying to be an animal. It took me a full day before I realized that they weren't seeing an Optimus Prime..... it was Optimus Primal! o_O

Although I'm sad that I didn't see him, I'm extremely amused about the reactions people had about seeing a fuzzy "Prime"; they must not have known who he actually was, and so there was the "Trukk not munky!!! RAR!" reaction and the "Trukk is munky...? Wut?" reaction. But I knew who he was!

Meanwhile, I spent all of Saturday, from 9:30 AM til 1 AM as TFA Blitzwing. It was a good test run for the outfit, because now I know what to fix before Botcon. The reactions I got ranged from "Cool a Transformer!" to "OHMYGOD I LOVE YOU!!!" My favorite thing someone said to me was "I don't know who you are, but can I take a picture? My boyfriend will know." In Artist's Alley someone was selling button pins with the Pokemon Card element symbols on them. I bought three: One fire, one water, and one psychic. I pinned them on the arm of my jacket, one for each of Blitzwing's personalities. There's no Ice element symbol in the Pokemon cards, which is why Icy got water. For those of you who are wondering, I chose psychic to represent Random because he causes confusion. [/rimshot]

Later that day I ran into some kid who thought he knew a lot about Transformers. Even after I explained my Pokemon buttons, he didn't understand why I was wearing them, and accused me of trying to be a Pokemon, not Blitzwing. Whatever, kid.

Unfortunately I have only one picture of myself in costume which isn't very good. Hopefully a friend who took my picture will post it sometime.

Anyway, time to go home, attempt to do homework, and crash for another solid ten hours.

[/EDIT]

My friend posted the picture Yes, I know I look very tired. xD And I had more pockets around my waist, but by that time (past midnight) only two of them had survived.

[GoktimusPrime]

Good to see someone else willing to have a go at Transformers cosplay!

Here are some of my previous attempts...

G1 Megatron

It was my first attempt at a Transformers cosplay, and I'll admit it - it was really crap. :p

Optimus Prime Mk I


Optimus Prime Mk II

The only difference between Mk I and Mk II is the hands (Mk II's aren't as good)

Ratchet



Optimus Prime Mk III



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And this one's technically not a Transformers cosplay, but it has a Transformers image...

I was at a convention in 2005 ... didn't intend to go but kinda got dragged along by some friends. So I didn't even bother planning or preparing costume. Then I saw some of my friends registering for the cosplay competition, and just for fun I put my name down too... but what would my costume be? I was just wearing... well, what I normally wear. :p

I decided to choose a character with no physical form! And so I chose to be The Malice of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. As any LotR fan knows, Sauron's Malice is actually a character in the story! So I took a piece of paper and a pen and I wrote down "The Malice of Sauron" and then got a strip of sticky tape and stuck it on my chest. When I got on stage the MC asked me who I was meant to be, and I said the Malice of Sauron. One of the judges said that I didn't look anything like Sauron, so I clarified that I was not Sauron, but I was Sauron's Malice - a separate yet definitively portrayed character in the story. The MC then told me to do go into character, so I started singing the Ring Poem in Black Speech -- the actual inscription on the Ring itself. I hadn't prepared this, I just happen to know how to recite the Ring poem in Black Speech... and Elvish... and German... and Japanese. Yeah okay, I'm a nerd. :p

But t'was all just for fun. After I was done, I didn't hang around for the rest of the cosplay competition or even to hear who the winners were, since I wasn't even taking the competitions seriously. So I went off to enjoy other parts of the convention, but then some friends ran up to me with a prize pack and excitedly told me that I had WON a prize for most original concept! Sweet!

Here's a picture of my "costume" and the prize I won for it.



Only my Optimus Prime Mk II and Malice of Sauron costumes have ever won prizes. Ironic that one of my prize-winning costumes is one that I pu virtually no effort into and even less last minute thought! The most difficult costume I've ever constructed was Optimus Prime Mk III which didn't win anything. :p No wait, I did win a prize for doing the Hare Hare Yukai dance in it... but that was for my sexy moves, not for the costume.