KATSUCON 2011 - THERE'S MAGIC IN THE ATRIUM~

[tenel_ka]

I have learned three things at this convention.

1.) I start acting like everyone's mother when the con comes around. More on that in recap.

2.) I really want to start taking more/better pictures at cons. Cosplayers, groups, people, everything. Like I see cosplayers and groups of cosplayers and I look at photos people have taken after the con and I just have all these ideas for pictures I could take in my head. This really happened during the 999 shoot and when I saw the Disney costumers (Peter Pan group, Aristocats, Flynn and Rapunzel -- SO MANY IDEAS OH MY GOODNESS D:)

3.) I CANNOT POSE TO SAVE MY LIFE. XD

Besides those three things I've noticed, there's another note I have to make upfront here. I'm horrible at meeting new people. Even if I've talked to them on the internet beforehand. I'm awkward and doofy and mumble and say stupid things - that's just the way I am and I always have been. I mean, the first time I met Nate it was a whole lot of "merrr herp derp i'm heather duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh." And then I stared at the wall behind his head.

But the people I met for the first time this weekend though (looking directly at Katsuya Weller and the magical gang of leesers/nekogonya/Mike/Kevin/Tom) were some of the absolute sweetest people I've ever met (not to mention hilarious) and for once I kind of felt like I wasn't out of place/doing something stupid/total social ineptitude ahoy! - so thank you guys. <333


DANCING GIRS!



I... I love these two with all my heart. How do you make Jacen Caedus and Jaina ghetto? LIKE SO. KANYE SHRUG GURL~

MORE UNDER THE CUT!



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18th --

On Friday, both Nate and I had to work. He got off at 1:30 and came to work to pick me up. I had lugged all my costumes and stuff into my office that morning and got a lot of, "OMG COOL, A TRIP! WHERE YOU OFF TO?"

...National Harbor.

OOOO FOR WHAT?

To visit some friends.

That's pretty much all they got out of me. Little did they know that the suitcase I had sitting behind me contained two wigs, some costumes, a lightsaber, aluminum scales, Mace Windu and possibly some normal clothes here and there. I mean, normally I don't shy away from telling people about my dorky hobbies but only a few people at work know about them. We work in a giant company and I don't think many people here would exclaim, "OMG SO AWESOME~" about conventions and such, haha. I mean, I have an amusing enough time explaining the TENEL KA license plate on my car.

"It's a Star Wars character."
"I DON'T REMEMBER TH--"
"From the books."
"THERE'S BOOKS?!?!!??"
"...there are."

Once Nate picked me up, we hit CVS and bought loads of junk food (I hadn't had lunch yet so I was starving - meaning I bought everything in the store) and then set off for National Harbor, which is only about 20 minutes away. Technically we could drive home after the con every night since we're so close but that's not as much fun -- especially when said con is in an amazing hotel like the Gaylord National, holy craaaaaaap.

When we pulled onto one of the main streets of National Harbor, things seemed kind of quiet. I saw a few people walking along here and there, but as we pulled through an intersection with the hotel straight ahead of us, I saw a lone zombie lurching along the street. All alone. Creeping along the sidewalk, arms out, blood and brains all over his face, making zombie noises.

I smiled cause at this point I knew WE WERE AT ANOTHER ONE OF OUR HOMES. XD

A little ways up, I saw what had to be this guy's friend standing there watching him and calling him along and laughing. It was kind of darling.

We got into the garage and went to the top level where it was empty, much like it was last year. Nate spent a few minutes digging around under his car seats for his phone cause he dropped it. It ended up being under my seat where we both wondered how it got all the way over there. We took our 39047239047283947 bags of clothes and costumes and shoes and props and food into the hotel and checked in and made our way to room 5106.

I have to stop for a second and give the Gaylord National shit loads of love here. They are absolutely amazing - the setting is gorgeous, the rooms are gorgeous - the staff is the best. They even said on their twitter how much they love Katsucon. Some of the attendees were told how excited the staff gets before Katsucon and I overheard some of the staff at the front desk talking to each other about some costumes they thought looked really gorgeous. The housekeeping staff even had anime pictures on their carts. <3

(When we went to National Harbor for ICE, we all chatted about how awesome it would be if Dragon*Con was in National Harbor. It's like its own little city away from everything and all con things would be contained in those hotels and that area with the restaurants and stuff. They could even have the parade. XD IT WOULD BE DRAGON*CON CITY~!)

We went downstairs and got food from the super expensive little cafe. We were really hungry and it was there. They were actually really good sandwiches. So that was cool.

Bad thing here - my camera started acted up. I think the internal battery fell out somehow - there is a magical hole in camera now and whenever I turn it on, it asks me to set the time and the date. I got really effing sick of doing that every time I turned it on, so most of my pictures say they were taken on 1/1/1980. This worked into an awesome aside by nekogonya later on Saturday, which I will get to. XD

After eating, we started getting into Barbie and Ken costumes! This costume was fairly easy for me on Halloween. I pretty much milled around the house and out front of the house and handed out candy. I could also take the shoes off whenever I want. At a con, it's completely different. The shoes were killer and the wig was just pissing me off, haha~ XD This helped me to decide that Barbie isn't coming to Dragon*Con because I would probably wear it for an hour and then give up. I wore it for about four hours at Katsucon and my feet and head/hair were all toast. The combs in the wig didn't help keep it up as well (that bitch is heavvvvvyyyyyyy) and it kept slipping back on my head (the bangs were also pissing me off and I was standing there cutting them in the room over the trash can while I had the wig on). I'm sure in pictures out there you can see red hair under the wig. :|

We were meeting Katsuya Weller for photos at 6, so we milled around a little and went to check how long the badge line was. It was a little long, so we opted to wait until after photos. People double-taking and going, "BARBIE AND KEN OH GOOODDDDDDDD" was heartwarming, lololol. And we loved the guy who came up, asked for a picture and then said, "So how many outfits do you have, Ken."

Nate says, "About 100."
I add, "105!"
And the guy goes, "Haha, awesome! Keep it up, bro! Thanks!"

HERE IS THE PICTURE HE TOOK. XD


(Thanks for harassing my butt, camera bag strap D:)

Here is MOM INCIDENT #1! While waiting for 6pm to roll around, some darling runs up to me in a pink wig and I realize it's leesers! She exclaims how happy she is that she found me (we never really talked about where to meet and stuff for 999 the next night cause we were all just horribly excited about the costumes in general XD) so we made sure we had each others phone numbers and nerded a bit. Nate whispers, "WHO IS THISSSSS?"

He knew it was someone from the 999 group but he didn't know who. I said, "JUNE!" And Lyse goes, "HEYYYYY JUMPYYYYY~" And we giggled because we're dorks and Nate adds, "OMG HAYYYYY JUNE."

Then we said bye for time being and I went all Mom and was like, "DON'T DO ANYTHING CRAZY NOW, GIRL~" With a finger waggle.

MOM INCIDENT #2 comes with Katsuya! Nate and I went to wait for her in the lobby and we found each other and rejoiced and the first thing I do is make sure SHE IS OKAY. I am following her on Twitter and she was up late the night before and tired and so on and I'm all, "DID YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP, ARE YOU FEELING OKAY?" She assured me she was fine and we wandered down to the atrium to get Barbie and Ken pictures! IN THE TOY STORE IN THE HOTEL. THEN WE FOUND COWGIRL JESSIE. <3 I will link these pictures when they're up cause Katsuya takes awesome pictures and Jessie was so cute and Nate was being a ham. I'm sure my wig is messed up in them and REMEMBER, I CAN'T POSE TO SAVE MY LIFE -- but they will be darling nonetheless because TOY STORY~ <3

When we said bye to Katsuya there was another moment of me, "YOU MAKE SURE YOU GET SOME SLEEP TONIGHT, OKAY?"

We wandered around some and got our badges. We also dropped by the Dance Off and found Josh! He was dressed like House! XDDD



I also found a kickass Wallmarket Cloud:


LOVE the wig & the buster sword! <3333

The Disney gathering was at 7:30 and after we got our badges we headed over to where we were supposed to meet... and oh my goodness the ADORABLENESS SURROUNDING IT.


LOOK AT THE HUMANIZED ARISTOCATS. <33333 SO EFFING CUTE~

Everyone was a sweetheart and we cracked tons of jokes and we even had a non-Disney awesome with us:


RUFIO. RU-FEE-O!!

We all migrated over to some tables to wait and see if anyone else would show (since a lot of us were there early) and Nate ran into the cafe really quick to get a drink. The Giselle was an absolute doll - I let her know we would catch up to the group in a sec:

Me, quickly stammering: "Ken had to go get a drink. He was whining that he was thirsty!"
Her, waving a hand dismissively: "Ha! He's such high maintenance!"

SO CUTE. <3


MY DARLING JESSIE~ <3

Blanko (Peter Pan) snapped some shots of each little group and right after she got me, Nate and our favorite Jessie, I had to bolt cause my feet were protesting. It wasn't even the heels, but the fact that the toes are pointed. My toes were on fire and I had to hang on Nate on the way back up to the room. When we got out of the elevator on our floor, I took those bitches off. Then we started making IT Crowd jokes about Jen and her messed up toes when she buys shoes way too small for her.

We had to change into Star Wars costumes for the gathering at 9:30 and Nate had to take a shower to wash the ROCK HARD KEN HAIRSPRAY out of his hair. Unless Caedus has rock hard Ken doll hair, he might sometimes. I was going just to change until I took off that wig and saw the damage. The comb on the front had scraped so much on my hairline and scalp that there were chunks of skin all over the top of my head. OH HELL NAW.

(This is when I definitely knew Barbie could not come to Dragon*Con.)

So I had to wash my hair as well and when I hopped out, Nate was trying to put his Caedus contacts in. This is always an adventure for him. BUT. HE GOT THEM IN HIS EYES THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AND YAY MONUMENTAL SUCCESS! We put costumes on and during this time, one of our favorite bb's showed up: blood_sorbet.

Normally we only get to see Miss Natalie at Dragon*Con, so it was really really really awesome that she was at Katsucon. IT WAS LIKE A PRESIDENT'S DAY PRESENT, OH MY GOODNESS. She quickly changed into her Jaina outfit and her and Nate were completely awesome and helped me put my damn scales on. See, the thing with these is I was so focused on how to make them that I ran out of time to figure out HOW TO WEAR THEM. With our collective brains though, we quickly whipped up something that worked, grabbed our lightsabers and ran to the elevators. We were supposed to meet by the fountains and when I looked out the window by the elevator and down into the atrium I saw like... seven lightsabers. *kip dynamite fist pump* YESSSSSSSS.

We found Rachael and there was A. MACE. WINDU. and there were many pictures to be had! I don't get the random guys in t-shirts and jeans with lightsabers in the pictures though. Like it was a STAR WARS COSTUME GATHERING LOL not LET'S ALL POSE WITH LIGHTSABERS GATHERING. XD


This is one where it was the people in costume with lightsabers, lololololol. LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY LIGHTS~ (AND MUCH LOVE TO RACHAEL FOR THIS PICTURE and the next three~ <3!)

Natalie was holding my lightsaber and talking to her Mom (whom I love love love) while I took some pictures for Rachael and all the sudden I hear her like, "IT'S NOT MINE DON'T TOUCH" and then, "Heatheeerrrrr, Heatherrrrrr these guysssssss" and I take a photo and look over and this one guys is like, "THIS IS COOL. THIS MAKES ME WONDER WHAT KIND OF CHARACTER WOULD HAVE A LIGHTSABER LIKE THIS. I AM ENVISIONING ONE IN MY MIND."

Me: "There is a character who has a lightsaber like this."
Him: "WHAT?"
Me: "Yeah, she's in the books. Her name is Tenel Ka and she made a lightsaber out of a rancor tooth."
Him: ".....WHOA. Is there art of her and the lightsaber and all that?"
Me: "Yeah, mine doesn't look exactly like the art cause I needed a place to replace batteries and wanted my hand to be able to fit around it and stuff, but yeah. There's a couple pieces of art!"
Him: "WHOAAAAA. AWESOMEEE."

I thanked him profusely, then got asked what exact color my blade was.

Me: "...................IT'S CALLED SUNRIDER'S DESTINY ON ULTRASABERS.COM!"

Since that's what it's called on the site, hahah~ XD


Leia and Tenel Ka


EMO FAMILY TIMES


YES.

We headed upstairs towards the lobby level and the gazebo and stuff and as we were going up the stairs from the atrium, a group of Utena cosplayers is passing us going down on the escalator. One of the first was like, "TENEL KA! TENEL KA!" And then, "MY JEDI GIRLFRIEND!" We laughed, got to the top of the stairs and one of the last Utena cosplayers in the group is stepping on the escalator and continues, "TENEL KAAAAAA! MY JEDI GIRLFRIEND!"

Natalie and I busted out laughing and Nate was like, "..... my Jedi girlfriennndddd." We wanted to find them and be their friends, lololol. The fact that they knew who she was at all made us love them automatically. We had also passed a fairy (one of Tinkerbell's fairy friends!) earlier who was with a fairy group taking photos and she said, "Tenel Ka!" as we walked by. YAYYYY EU FANS XDDD


What they really want to do is fight each other.


WHOA DID I SET THAT PLANET ON FIRE? WHOOPSSSSS.


so darling~


SOLO TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE~ FORM OF GHETTO BOOTY. This was all me and I CAN'T BE SORRY FOR IT. XD

I was showing Natalie how to get to the gazebo and stuff since it was her first time at the hotel and I turn around and there is nekogonya/Ashley(/OMG CLOVER <3)! She said Lyse had pointed us out, you know probably like this: "YOU SEE THOSE NERDS OVER THERE BY THE RAILING WITH THE LIGHTSABERS? THAT'S SANTA AND JUNPEI~" XDDDDDD

So we geeked about 999 and the con and we petted the scales on my arm (I was doing that all night D:) and then we all got kicked off the floor cause they were gonna clean it. So we revved up for 999 GOODNESS the next day and said goodnight. I probably had another MOM INCIDENT HERE since that was my thing this con. I also told her I brought her A MAGICAL AXE. WE WERE EXCITE ABOUT THIS. XD

After being kicked off the gazebo floor, WE WENT DOWNSTAIRS AND WE SAW SOME NINJAS! Beth and Roger! They astound me with every costume they make cause they are always so perfect and innovative. I had seen these Samurai costumes (from Mini Ninjas <3) at Dragon*Con, but now they added walkie-talkies into the helmets so they could talk to each other. And Beth's costume for Saturday had retractable claws in it. I CANNOT GUSH OVER THEM ENOUGH~



Nate and I said goodnight to our Miss Natalie and headed up to the Erin/Jeremy/Beth/Roger room. IT WAS OUR KATSUCON CHRISTMAS PARTY LOL. XD Erin, Jeremy, Beth, Roger, Andre, Ronnie, Chip, Alex and Denis were there - plus myself and Nate and we all talked and of course nerded (what else do you do at cons). This is where we ate magical cupcakes and delicious cake shaped like a monkey that Beth made for Roger's birthday. XDDD

This is also where Darth Caedus drank a Capri Sun.



We hung out for a little bit then decided we finally needed to change -- my scales were hanging on my arms at funny angles now, IT WAS AWKWAAAAARD. XD

As we almost reached our room and opened it, there was a guy walking by. He stopped us and he gushed over Nate's Caedus chestplate and my scales. He offered to buy my scales off of me right there and was taking all this money out of his wallet (he says he carries a lot of cash because of "the business he's in" wuuuut). He said they looked so amazing and I was blushing cause it's nothing and there are others who are way better with that stuff than I am (seriously, mine are SO GHETTO).


Please don't mind my scary killer look and my dead eyes. I was so out of it but I wanted to get some kind of close up on those effing sleeves since they BROKE MY HANDS. XD

When we got into the room, we were all, "OKAY WE'LL GET OUR NORMAL CLOTHES ON AND COME BACK DOWNST--" this is when we passed out. I even had black stuff from the scales all over my arms where I wore them and half-assedly tried to clean it off with a tissue but I was so out of it that I gave up and just crashed.

PASSED OUT, I TELL YOU. Sleep was so nice though.


SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19th --

Saturday morning we sort of fell out of bed and really slowly got dressed. We were in t-shirts and jeans cause we wanted to hit up the dealer room first. As we were lethargically pulling ourselves together, Natalie arrived and I helped her get into her Maylene - from Black Butler - costume. She says she just calls it Kuro - which I should do cause when I try to pronounce or write it, it comes out like, "KUROSHIJISSITIJIIJIIJIJISI" - because I am made of fail. She headed off to her giant group gathering at 11 and Nate and I went downstairs where we magically ran across Denis!

The three of us headed to the dealer room and putzed around. I bought one of the boxes with MYSTERY FIGURE OMG where you don't know who you got until you opened it. It was a Death Note one. I wanted anyone but Misa. I got Light. He is a dick but I am totally cool with getting that figure. XD I also bought a Ryuk keychain and a SILENT HILL KEYCHAIN(!) WITH ROBBIE THE RABBIT ON IT. I didn't even know there was SH merchandise like that so I was happy to find it.


OH GOD DENIS THERE'S A CREEPER BEHIND YOU LOOK OUT

Ronnie came and found us so we could see Erin in her Executive Koala costume. She was realllllly hot in it (every part of her was covered up completely) and didn't know how long she would keep it on. So we went out and found her and omg I love this thing:



We wandered for a few minutes with them and then Chip and Ronnie had to head out and Jeremy and Erin were gonna go get pictures of EXECUTIVE KOALA. Nate was gonna wander to Potbelly's by himself to bring stuff back until Denis realized where he was going and ran along to catch up to him. I wandered the atrium and found Jeremy and Erin, and helped give directions to her on what to do from Jeremy since he was taking pictures kind of far from her and she couldn't hear him. XDDDDDD


ME AND MY BFF EXECUTIVE KOALA. <3

Natalie texted me that she was up at the room and I headed back up to pretty much be lazy for a bit. Natalie had a paper to write that was originally supposed to be due on Sunday at midnight but the crazy professor was like OH BY THE WAY I CHANGED IT. IT'S DUE SATURDAY AT MIDNIGHT, which was obviously wtf that night. We lounged on the magical king bed and she started her paper while I flipped through things on the tv until TEH BOYS got back and we ate lunch. OM NOM NOM PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY. Hahahah, I am 12.

I took some pictures of Natalie in her Maylene costume. SHE LOOKED SO CUTE IN IT~ <3






LOL WITH STUD MACE







After this, we discovered something magical. I had Cartoon Network on and this show came on. It was called Regular Show. At first all four of us were like wtf. Then we realized how oddly hilarious it was. Luckily it was on again after that. We ended up watching four short episodes of it (which is two 30 minute blocks) and fell in love with it. Then they put something else on and our trances broke and we realized we should be doing other things. XDDDDD

It was about 4pm at that point, and Nate and I were going to start getting into our 999 costumes (that's 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors -- not nine hundred and ninety-nine costumes XD). I was supposed to be a dude, so I put on this magical sports bra I had (magical is the word of the day, you see) and was going to do the whole binding thing over it with an ace bandage. I put the white tank top over that and instantly scowled. There were lines from the ace bandage -- if I reversed the two things, the black sports bra would show through.

what what wuuuuuut? nooooooo

I FORGOT ANOTHER WHITE TANK TOP.

I storm out of the bathroom area, waving around my 243984902490278 foot Santa scarf. "NATE WHICH WALMART IS THE CLOSEST TO NATIONAL HARBOR? I THINK I NEED TO GO."

I threw back on my normal clothes and put on my flip-flops and threw my purse over my shoulder. WE WERE ON A MISSION. Denis was coming with us on our mission. We left Natalie in the room to finish her paper - another MOM INCIDENT HERE. "Now finish your paper, okay Natalie? IT'LL BE DONE WHEN WE GET BACK, RIGHT? THEN YOU CAN GO BACK OUT TO THE CON PARTY~ *clap*"

... -_-

The three of us piled in the car and end up at the Wal-Mart kind of near Nate's place actually, haha. XD I bought two different tank tops IN CASE ONE DIDN'T WORK. And Oatmeal Creme Pies. Nate bought a huge thing of water. And corn bread, lololol.

We made it back around 5pm and started to get ready. We had to be downstairs at 5:45 for the shoot at 6pm. It was so much easier to get ready for Santa than it was for Barbie, hahah~ Of course, I didn't have time to paint my eyebrows white -- I wasn't sure I wanted to do so anyways. I had tried it a few weeks ago to see how it would look and it was so... loud on me. It probably works better with other colored wigs besides straight up white and white paint. Speaking of wigs, that bitch did not want to cooperate. Instead of slicking back a bit, it decided to continuously stick out like an afro.

I also ended up not using the ace bandage (LOL ACE LOLOL SORRY). To make it actually look like my chest was smaller, it hurt like a em-effing bitch and I couldn't breathe well. So Santa had some semblance of boobage. D: I DIDN'T WANT TO BE IN PAIN AGAIN, HAVING BARBIE FLASHBACKS. I costume because I have fun doing it - if I'm walking around in pain, it's not fun. ;-;

ONCE WE WERE READY(!!!!) we headed downstairs super excited like it was Christmas morning. Natalie ended up going to find her Kuroahsisitijtitjisjisijsisjiji KURO crew again for more pictures and hanging out and Denis went to go find a friend of his. So Nate and I waited in the lobby and fiddled with the watch I was wearing which didn't clasp at all. We had to do surgery on the clasps with a wire.

I looked up from my watch and saw a dude standing behind Nate. I realized it was Kevin-Snake when I peeked around giant Nate-Junpei. All three of us were like, "HAYYYYYYY 999 CREW SO EXCITED!!" He told us we weren't the only ones having watch issues - those things are heavy as hell and look really awesome but sometimes they like to break. WE DEALT WITH IT CAUSE WE'RE BIG KIDS THOUGH big tough costume wearing kids, bro.

He led us over (LOL EXCEPT HIS CHARACTER IS BLIND) to where everyone had arrived - the rest of the group and the photographer! I was giggling like a mad fangirl inside and awkwardly standing there like a dope on the outside. We weren't together for five minutes before someone was like, "OH GOD 999 CAN I GET A PICTURE!" We were all shocked that someone knew who we were and we thanked them for being awesome -- then another Clover came up! We got a picture with her too and I gushed over her wig and then it was PHOTOSHOOT TIIIIIIIIIME.

Don't worry, when those pictures go online I will probably make a gushy entry mostly in caps (cause you know that's how I roll when I get excited -- see above) talking about how awesome the photographer was at capturing the game and stuff, how awesome everyone looks, how I look kind of cool except for my wig (lolololol) and how much of a flipping giant Nate is. SOMEHOW JUNPEI TOWERED OVER EVERYONE.

Amanda (the photographer) was really cool. She had done some studying on the game before the con and had character art saved to her phone so she could refer back to it and take certain photos. She even came up with nicknames for our characters, hahahah~ mine was "CRAZY" -- whenever she needed Santa in a photo she would go, "CRAZY!" and point where I needed to go. XDDDDDD


MUAHAHAH~ prep for the JUNE LANDS ON JUNPEI WHEN THEY MEET SHOT. XDDD


Clover, Snake and Ace chillin'~

First there were solo shots and everyone was sort of hanging out (see above pictures lol) while those were being taken. Lyse-June (from here on I am totally referring to everyone in this shoot as real name-character name) saved my ass by having a tube of super glue with her as one of my straps from my boots was coming off. In turn, she got saved by Michael-Ace who noticed her hairbun was on the wrong side of her head. XD

A note here. THOSE DAMN BOOTS. They were falling apart by the time I got back to the room. HOT GLUE WAS MY BFF until I actually needed to move around a lot in the boots, hahah~ but they looked good when they needed to (I HOPE XD)... we'll see! I have already started to fix them because I kind of love them and Santa is staying in the costume rotation. He is MAGICAAAAAL. And shops at amazing scarf stores.

Ashley-Clover and I were talking and I was telling her about my crazy time warping camera and she made a comment about how that just made the camera awesome cause it was seeing the future through a morphogenetic field. I ALMOST DIED OF 999 GEEKERY IT WAS PERFECT. <3

Amanda took us to a few locations in the hotel (it was waaayyyy too windy outside for us to go out there without losing costume pieces XDD) and took a whole bunch of pictures. We had way too much fun being dorks and brainstorming photo ideas while other photos were being taken. It was so great cause we all loved the game so much and the characters and everything -- kdjafksjdfaksfjdsdfkjasd CAN'T EXPRESS MY LOVE ENOUGH.

Here are a couple preview shots Amanda posted!


OHMYGAWD I JUST-- <333333333 Tom as Seven, Mike as Ace (ACEFACE ACEFACE), Kevin as Snake, Ashley as Clover -- then me as Santa and Nate as Junpei kneeling and Lyse as June in the front. I want to add INFINITY HEARTS TO THIS, BROOOOOOOO.


leesers/Lyse as June and draelight/Nate as Jumpy Junpei! Kevin-Snake was actually the one holding the flash behind Lyse for this shot. XD


See, here is a picture I took with my camera while the shot above was being taken! :3

After the photoshoot, we all goofed off and took some derpy pictures with our own cameras.


YAY CRAZY!!~!!~!~!11


Seven is moe you guys, he is so moe. SNAKE WANTS NONE OF THIS PRETTY, PRETTY SEVEN.


Junepi SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER AT THOSE NON-RECYCLING JERKS. JDSKAJASKJDSAKJDA JUNPEIIIIIIII


SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER AT ACE BECAUSE ACE HAS--- ohgod where did Ace get an axe someone take it away from him. D:


Do I see a potential Clover-bomb?


THERE SHE IS~ so much crazy in one frame. Now we just need some weapons up in here!


I just... the whole scene with June and Junpei and the elevator is the best thing ever. So perverted. So horrible. SO PERFECT.


YES PLEASE. Lyse has the inspiration for the picture right here~


So within our 999 group there were three real life couples - and when you put these couples together you got some... interesting pairings (Kevin and Ashley are dressed as a brother & sister! XDDDD). And then we were all like SEVEN, FOREVER ALONE~ but if the couples were gonna be this weird then Seven is probably better off. Plus, THERE IS ALWAYS LOTUS FOR HIM. <3


This is awesome though cause Mike said or did something and Lyse made THE BEST FACE EVER. EVER. It's so perfect.


SPEAKING OF MIKE, Lyse leaned over to fix her sock/boot and Mike instantly jumps at the chance for this picture. And I swear it didn't take but a few seconds for the other guys to rush over and be like YEAHHHHHH DERRRRRRP HIGH FIVE!!!11 She was about to stand back up and then realized what was going on and eyerolled then went back to fixing her boot again so they could get their picture. XDDDDD

Afterwards, the gang debated on what to eat (we weren't too hungry yet - I don't know why since we are hungry and eat food all the damn time o_o) and Nate and I found Natalie and headed back up to the room (after saying bye omg to everyone I LOVE THEM AND MISS THEM ALREADY. EFF YOU CON FUUUNNKKKKKK). At this point my boots we're like, "LOL WE BROKE IN LIKE SIX DIFFERENT PLACES" so I took them off and threw on some capris. Somehow my wig was comfortable and my shirt and scarf were as well. I ended up lounging around in those for a good half hour to an hour after getting out of the boots and pants, haha. Then I realized I was still in the wig when I got up and went to the sink. WHOA WHITE HAIR.


Here is darling Nathan while we were in the vending room on our floor. Chillin' with an axe in his hand and a grin on his face. CON DEMENTIA SETS IN.

HEH, SO LOOK AT THIS SHIT MESS.



Natalie had to head out around ten and Nate and I had ordered a pizza which took like an hour to get there, lol. So by the time it arrived we were hungry. We ate said pizza, chugged soda and watched an episode of Death Note.

And then we got old. By that I mean after said episode of Death Note, I was sitting there in my clothes to go out to the dance later. I said to Nate, "I'm gonna take like a half hour nap or something, is that cool?"

Nate responds with, "Sure, I'll check out my forums and stuff on the computer and I'll wake you up in half an hour."

Half an hour passes.

Nate: "Heather." *poke*
Me: "Nggggggggh." *falls back asleep*

...

Me: *wakes up, checks phone, realizes it's about two hours later, gibberishs back an answer to a text message and falls back asleep*
Nate: *is completely passed out with laptop on his stomach*

...

Me: *wakes up, checks phone, 4:28am. stumbles out of bed, changes into pjs and headbutts Nate*
Nate: "Ngggggggggggh." *falls back asleep*

And that is the story of how we didn't do anything else on Saturday night except pass the eff out. AGAIN.


SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20th --

We woke up with about an hour till checkout and slowly finished packing and getting ready, then we lugged all the stuff to the car and went back in to go to the dealer's room. I picked up an adorable shirt with Boo on it (the front has him hiding and the back has him all IMMA GET YOU, SUCKA with his teeth and arms out and stuff) and a Jenova's Witnesses shirt because it was on sale and the FF7 fangirl in me will never die as much as I try to hide it sometimes.

We found the others (Erin, Jeremy, Beth, Roger, Denis, Alex, Chip, Ronnie and Andre!) and ate lunch at the sports bar place in the hotel. It was a little pricey but very tasty. And it was nice to sit around and chat about costumes and the con and everything. And of course we talked about DRAGON*CON WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, hehe.

Nate and I headed back after that and pretty much finished the rest of Death Note. Like I said before, DELICIOUS ENDING. XD

I also unpacked, which is crazy because usually after a con my suitcase sits there for at least a couple weeks before I even touch it.

IN CLOSING: I love the Gaylord National and wish every con was there and everyone could just magically teleport to National Harbor because it turns into CON TOWN when there's a convention there. <33333



We were discussing another con the other day. Tekkoshocon. It's in Pittsburgh meaning it's right near Valerie and Brian (and they are awesome and already said we could crash there). We would probably go up Thursday night and hit up the con on Friday and then part of Saturday - then we would harass Valerie & Brian the rest of the time. XD

Question is WHO IS GOING TO TEKKOSHOCON? XD (Besides leesers, since she already said so on FB~ XD)

And if yes, ARE YOU DOING ANY MAGICAL COSTUMES? (I told you magical was the word of the day -- along with darling~)

I'm gonna bring my magical camera and take magical pictures since I didn't take many at Katsu thanks to my missing internal battery. D:

We were discussing bringing along Professor Layton & Luke Triton... or maybe Silent Hill costumes... but we don't know yet. INPUTS? <33333

(The only thing that sucks about con is leaving con and leaving all the fun people until next con. ;____; NOOOO, CON FUUUNNNKKKKK!)

Comments

[blood-sorbet.livejournal.com]

SEEING YOU GUYS SO MUCH WAS MY FAVORITE PART OF THAT WEEKEND. Even more than the National Gallery :3 <3 <3 <3 I love yoooooooooouuuuuuuu a ton.

Aaaaa we had so much fun OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH FIST PUMP!!!!!!!!!!!

(I just watched the episode "Peeps" on youtube. Flying Spaghetti Monster influenced it, I am 100% sure.)

[blood-sorbet.livejournal.com]

Oh, and once this quarter is over (only one week and finals to go!), I will post/send the pics I got of you guys. Sorry I don't have time to get them up sooner. I HAVE NO TIME FOR LIFE CJABREKVCBFRHJVBFC,HYEDJBELSHJB D:

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAH, I almost forgot about pictures! IT'S OKAY, DARLING, TAKE YOUR TIME~ :D <3333

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

YESSSSS SEEING YOU MADE MY WEEKEND, GIRL~ <333333 I am so so so happy you made it to D.C. and Katsucon! I was so excited to have you at con and I was also excited that you got to go to the National Gallery! XDDDD

kfjdlajsdkfaj and I need Regular Show merchandise. THERE MUST BE SOME SOMEWHERE. I still need to finish the other episodes. OH MAN YESSSSS.

[nekogonya.livejournal.com]

OH GOD I MISS YOU GUYS AS WELL IT WAS SO MUCH FUNNNNN :<<<

I totally forgot about that picture I tried to photobomb and failed at. Michael's smiling all nice and I'm all "EHHHHHGGGGGGGGG"

I can't wait for the next con. I'm probably not going to make it to Tekko, are you guys going to Ota? :<<

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

NGGGGGH I MISS YOU GUYS WE NEED TO PLAN MORE COSTUMES~ XDDD

I love that picture cause you're completely like WHASSSSSUPPPPPPPP I'M CLOVERRRRRRR it is so darling. Haha~ <3

I hope we can make it! The problem is we didn't get a room (I think we're gonna start calling a couple of the connecting hotels to see if any have freed up) - and if we didn't get a room we could come up for a day since we're fairly close, but they don't sell day passes! It wouldn't be as big of a deal if it was in a hotel since we could just kind of creep in, but we wouldn't be able to get into the con center without one. DDDDDDD:

HOPEFULLY WE WILL FIND A WAY AND MAKE IT! What other cons are you going to besides Otakon? :D

[acadecian.livejournal.com]

One of my friends and his wife did Flynn and Rapunzel! I wonder if they're the ones you saw.

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

Ooooooo! Is there a picture of them in their costumes anywhere that you know of? I probably did! XD

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

HEEEEEEEE! I love your con pics. Makes me wanna go and have fun and take pics (since I don't do costumes).

AND THERE WAS A KUROSHITSUJI SHOOT!?! LOVE THAT SERIES!!! OOOOHHHH, SEBASTIAN YOU SEXAY BEAST!!!!

Sorry. Got sidetracked there for a minute.

KEEP BEING AWESOME YOU GUYS!!!! XDDDDDD

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, darlin'~ <33333 AND OMG YOU NEED TO GO TO A COOOONNNNN!

I will have to see if I can find any pictures of the Kuro shoot! :D

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

I KNOOOOOOWWWWW! BUT I BE POOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!

DDDDDDDD:

Oh would you?!?!? that would be awesome!! :DDD

And you need to listen the the made_of_fail_pc podcast. It was the one I mentioned when you were tweeting about 'Twilight'. they tear it to shreds...

[omicron1337.livejournal.com]

I am still amazed at how awesome a Gaylord Con is. SO PERFECT.

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

SERIOUSLY, EVERY CON NEEDS TO BE AT THE GAYLORD. O_O

[queenmidalah.livejournal.com]

I mean, I have an amusing enough time explaining the TENEL KA license plate on my car.

Haha. If you ever go to ShoreLeave, you must park near my friend and I for photo ops. Her license plate is LDY JEDI and mine is LDY SITH.

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

AHAHA THAT WOULD BE THE BEST PHOTO OP EVER~ XDDDD Those are awesome plates! ^_^

Is ShoreLeave in July (or am I thinking of another con)? XD

[queenmidalah.livejournal.com]

ShoreLeave is in July in Hunt Valley, MD. :-D

The most hysterical thing? LDY JEDI's car is black, mine with the LDY SITH plate is a silvery white.

[cereal-killer71.livejournal.com]

I'M ALL OVER TEKKO.

Definitely bringing Commander Shepard, I could grab some Silent Hill costumes too depending on what you guys are planning.

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

OMG YESSSSSSSSS WE HAVE TO GO CRAZYYYY I GET TO BUG YOU IN PERSONNNNNN XD

I have no idea what to bring. O_O We will have to harass everyone and see what's up! MUAHAH~

[toothpasta.livejournal.com]

I'M SO EXCITED. AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT.

I think I'm going to make a quick sudowoodo costume too. I've been such a pokemon nerd lately.

[juxtaposie.livejournal.com]

OMG seeing this stuff is what makes me miss the two cons I frequent. IT LOOKS LIKE Y'ALL HAD A TON OF FUN!

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

Ooooo, which cons do you go to? :D It was fun and crazy like cons usually are, haha~!

[juxtaposie.livejournal.com]

I live in the DFW area, so the two cons I usually attend are A-kon and Animefest (both fairly large, riotous affairs). If you ever make it down for either, hit me up!

[leesers.livejournal.com]

Toy Story 3 = best costumes of all time. ♥

Your Tenel Ka scales are downright insane. When you walked by on... I think Friday night? (It would have been when Ashley introduced herself to you; I recognized you guys by DEM SCALES.) Michael was having a Star Wars fan party over your costumes. XD

That being said, it was incredible being able to meet (AND HANG OUT WHOOO) with you in person. Katsucon was a crazy fun time and I really can't gush enough about being able to rock Saturday night 999 style. I also can't stop smiling at that photo you have of Michael and Ashley on the steps XD Too cute ~

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

AHHH THANK YOU~ I just wish Barbie wasn't so damn uncomfortable to wear! D: THOSE SHOES

And oh my goodnessssss thank you so much on the scales. I finished them and didn't know how well they looked as sleeves and you know I'm paranoid about everything I make, haha~ so hearing that makes me feel better about breaking my hands making them. XD Thank you~~ <333333 Now that I know how to the use the things, maybe I will try more with them! And prepare my hands for that work in the future, lol.

(AND THANK MICHAEL FOR THE SW FAN PARTY HEHE -- I was actually kind of shocked that there were a couple people who recognized the characters!)

I was so excited to meet you (and the gang) and get those amazing 999 pictures! You guys made my Katsucon even better and also the fact that you all were so welcoming and just plain freakin' nice. I am horribly awkward in person but you all MADE IT NOT SO BAD. XD

THAT PICTURE OF THEM TURNED OUT SO ADORABLE. I love how ROCK OUT Ashley looks!

You guys bringing any costumes to Tekkoshocon? :3 I can't believe it's so close.

[leesers.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha you really weren't! XD You keep saying you're awkward but I thought you were nothing but awesome (or maybe I'm just awkward too and thus don't notice |D)

Yes! Well, probably! haha XD Tekkoshocon is usually laid back for me since we ride down to the convention center rather than stay in a hotel. My friend is making an Angel Starr (Ace Attorney) costume and asked if I'd wear my young Ema Skye with her. OR her best friend is making a Trucy (Apollo Justice) so I might be ~extra~ lazy and wear my absolute favorite detective Ema hahaha. Either way, it seems like Tekko might be an Emalicious con for me. I don't think I'll have time to make anything new, but I'll gladly rewear any costumes I already have. :) Do you or Nate have any costume plans as of now? ♥

[tenel-ka.livejournal.com]

I thiiiiiink we might be bringing Layton and Luke to wear on Friday since that's the day we'll probably be there for the most time. XDDD

I MUST GET PICTURES OF AA/AJ COSTUMES~ <3333

(Also, I think you need to start planning your Ulala cause I think I might remake my Eriko Kirishima and we need to PERSONA 2 UP EVERY JOINT EVERYWHERE <3 - and lololol not for this con, I just mean one in the future! XD)

[leesers.livejournal.com]

That would be nothing short of ~*amazing*~ There are few things that make me happier than delicious ProfLay.

I'LL PROBABLY BE A FRUMPY EMA BUT THAT'S OK. There's just something so happy and satisfying about wearing either Heather or Ema for me. They never fail to make me happy and feel all cheery ~

(YES. YES YES AND YES. I've dreamed of making her since, literally, 2004. She was the second costume I ever wanted to do after Heather (with Michael as my Baofu |D ahaha.) I was mad in love with P2 and remember how in awe I was of you, Enig and Karniz. I actually found Karniz and her sis through their involvement in the Bust a Groove fandom then basically shit my pants when I saw you all rocked the Persona 2 as well. It was a happy fandom overload for my little high school mind XD)