Con and the Dragon

Since kolibri made such an excellent post on her Con experience, I thought I would jot down my own notes, too.

As kolbiri mentioned, we selected Bob Marley as the Patron Saint of our trip. And after getting into the train I promised to make an effort to follow the guidance of the great regggae-muffin.

And thanks to the blessing of Marley-sama, the Con was just what the doctor ordered: a few days away from stress, everyday grind and mundane people (not that there is anything wrong with them, but us freaks need other freaks now and then).

But I digress. After getting across US border with abnormally little effort, we arrived in Seattle, checked into our hotel and fell asleep pretty much immediately.

So in the morning it was time to get to our costumes and into the Con...

UNDER THE STARS OF HEAVEN THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE SUCCESSOR!! THE TRAGEDY CONTINUES!!

On Friday I was cosplaying Kenshiro. Now Kenshiro is the hero of Hokuto no Ken, perhaps the most popular Anime of all time in Japan, but woefully unknown in the West due to its extremely violent nature and appallingly bad localization. This was far more a tribute to my childhood hero than attempt to attract tons of photographers and Anime fans. I might not quite have the physique of Kenshiro, but he was the reason I started lifting weights all those years ago, and I wanted to do my hero proud. I really enjoyed our photoshoot with Al (a Hokuto fan himself) and then had my first proper chance to go around the con, look at the artwork, chat to people and attend panels.

I did not pose for that many photos on Friday but you know, even though only a grand total of 9 people recognized my costume, I did not mind: those 9 people were ecstatic -us Kenshiro fans are a rare, dying breed, and any sign of other fans makes us happy beyond belief. HOKUTO SHINKEN IS INVINCIBLE!

ERO-SENNIN

Saturday was a complete reverse of Friday. I was cosplaying as Jiraiya from Naruto, and boy was he popular! I was hugged, cheered, grabbed, and asked to pose for literally hundreds of photos, even though I spent a lot of time in panels and cheering the karaoke competitors. I was stopped every ten steps and posed so much my calves started to ache (its the damn kabuki step that Jiraiya does). Far more importantly, it was so great to see how happy people were to see my Jiraiya cosplay.

Even during the events where I have been the Guest of Honor I have not been stopped so much and photographed so often. I never realized Jiraiya was so enormously popular both amongst the male and female Anime fans. True, the costume had a lot to do with it (and I am very proud of what we achieved) but even so... I never would have expected that the old perv would be so well-loved. People seemed to like the Toad Scroll I made more than anything else -a lesson to be learned about the props.

On top of it all, six of the smallest, cutest children I've ever seen, aged around 5 or 6 each came to talk to me spontaneously, wanted to pose in pictures with me, or talk to me about Naruto (which I do think is kinda little bit too adult for such small children). Considering that Jiraiya throws Naruto (the kid star of the series) down a cliff to certain doom almost as soon as they meet, I found it bizarre that children all gravitated towards Jiraiya and trusted me implicitly just because I was wearing Jiraiya's costume. Perhaps it is the fluffy white hair? Or the fact that in the series Jiraiya is the closest to a father figure Naruto has. It was really touching. I spent maybe an hour talking to 5-year old kid who had entered the chibi competition at the Con -just like all the rest of the kids he really liked Jiraiya.

Costume-making-wise, I learned valuable lessons, too. The headband I was wearing caused me more pain than all my kickboxing matches combined: I was literally going to throw up out of sheer pain. Then it dawned to me to put some padding between my forehead and the affectionately-named "Max" headband. Lo and behold, the pain was gone. Note to all you aspiring cosplayers, pad anything that puts pressure on your head!

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE...

Kolibri asked what I liked most about the Con, and I had to think for quite a while: I loved to observe all the creativity and love the cosplayers had poured into their costumes. I have made games professionally for 12 years now, and I can honestly say that it is the creativity of the fans like this that gets me off my bed in the morning.

In addition to his, I loved chatting with all the Anime fans, attending the panels and debating the finer points of censorship, raiding the dealers room, checking out the artist alley or cheering when the otherwise god-awful Final Fantasy Anime series played the Victory Music theme after every battle. :) I find it relaxing being around people who like same things as I do. Our world is so judgmental and cruel towards those who break the norm that we have to wear masks all our lives so we would not be scorned by the society. Funnily enough, when I am wearing REAL masks to show off my love for fantasy and fable, I can be more true to myself than I am in my everyday life.