trenchkamen | AniZona 2 Con Report, part 1 [cosplay pictures]

I was disappointed by the lack of X / Tokyo Babylon cosplayers at AniZona, as was also the case last year. Tara and I were the only ones. It's a dead fandom in AriZona, especially compared to the plethora of Trigun and Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto cosplayers. My regular version Seishirou did not get recognized once, but one girl (and that's all it really takes) in the Con Suite was talking on the phone and got a good look at my dead!version costume and said "I am currently staring at Sakurazuka Seishirou", which made me immensely happy. She said that the suit and the sakura garlands made it painfully obvious who I was. Ironic, considering that even when I answered inquiries about my costume from other con-goers, I got blank stares in response. They'd know who I was if I was Kakashi or something. I had half-heartedly tried to convince Sam (

zychi) to be my Sakurazukamori!Subaru, but alas, he had other priorities. Not that I can really blame him.

The pedestrian X-version, obviously, sans sunglasses since I forgot to find news ones since the old ones broke. I had found some glasses that would have been perfect, had they not had an irremovable decal of Winnie the Pooh on the lens. Since I had forgotten my wire-rimmed glasses, I did not get to do the Tokyo Babylon / I'm-a-nice-vet version for Tara. And I've still got the mod wig.

This is a pretty decent picture of the Dead!Version.

Two extremes of the timeline. Two people were taking pictures of us at one time; I am looking at one, as is Tara. We finally coordinated which direction we needed to look. After, like, ten pictures.

Glare off lamination = bad. But isn't she just jailbait-cute?

Again with the bad glare. This is the most sakura-like tree in the entire con.

Less glare, bigger smile. We're having fun here.

As stabbityblkmage put it, "It's the Con Zombie!"

I blame this on raving like mad at the dance. And now everybody can see my profoundly un-sexy lingerie.

This was the Big Project of the convention. Annie (xcerebraledemax) had been killing herself the past weeks before the convention designing and sewing every single one of our costumes. This is based on an original concept of Alice and Wonderland that she and Kaity (keichisfuuma) had worked out, with the characters loosely based on all of us and a couple of new characters for effect. As the story is an interpersonal concept I do not know how many details they want me to share, but if they wish, they can elaborate.

The models are as follows: Annie was the Queen of Hearts, Kaity was the Fallen Prince, Whitney (Whitney, what the hell happened to your LJ account?) was the Cheshire Cat, Adrienne (kaiye) was originally supposed to be our "Alice" figure, who is actually herself, but at the last minute filled in as the March Hare when Tracye (white_manjushri) fell sick on Saturday. Annie had made and designed all of these costumes specially for each of us to model. I'm impressed with the job she did, especially given time constraints. I would like to see her and Kaity do more with this story.

The lovely Queen

Our biohazardous Cheshire Cat. That mask is from her Xaran costume from Halloween.

We had to arrange her skirt last minute with safety pins. It looks fine, and nobody checked closely enough to know.

The Mad Hatter. I look so happy. Kaity had suggested super gluing the monocle to my face. I did not allow her to do that.

The Fallen Prince and the kitty cat. Row.

It starts out sweet, but...

...slowly...

...reveals...

...its true colors.

A good front picture of Whitto, sans her ears. She raved in this costume, and it looked awesome. She's got the natural raving moves.

The kitty gets around.

You can tell this was one of those "Hey! Smile!" pictures.

On stage at the Masquerade, while Kaity reads the monologue I had written about an hour before we stepped onto the stage. I forgot to look up on the cue. I'm really smart.

Again.

You can see Whitney's tail in this one.

The only group picture on my camera, surprisingly, with these two guys I don't know jumping in somehow.

This is Sam (zychi). He is dressed as Ness from Earthbound / Super Smash Brothers, more pressingly the latter given his obsession. Ness can't be older than ten. Sam barely looks older than ten in that wig and those shorts. Now you see why I am convinced that I will be going to jail as soon as I graduate.

The ever-sassy sisters Lauren II (a_k_i_y_a) and Tara. You can barely see Allison (akuma_no_mi), the third sister, as somebody from Plastic Tree. Lauren II is Monkey D Luffy from One Piece (Christmas version), and Tara is Sumeragi Subaru from some manga nobody on my livejournal has read, probably. Tell me that isn't jailbait waiting to happen, srsly.

Lauren as Gothick Lolita Sub-Zero and Allison as Gothick Lolita Scorpion, both from my childhood game Mortal Kombat. Oh, you think I'm joking. Look carefully at the belts. Allison even has Scorpion's "Get over here!" harpoon. Brilliant idea, ladies.

It's the Mortal Kombat gamers wish was.

Steve-o (stabbityblkmage) as one hell of a detailed Random Pirate.

He's not at all Jack Sparrow-inspired or anything.

This is our impromptu attempt at re-creating Super Smash Brothers. I think this Zelda thought we were insane. I told her we were taking fetish pictures. You know, "for the bathroom".

Again, with that really good Link from the cosplay. She's such a good sport. I dig her shield. And that is what Sam's actual hair looks like.

At the cosplay with the Mortal Kombat girls.

They played the KMFDM song and fought and stuff.

I'm sorry the pictures are so blurry. I did the best I could. AND IT WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH.

Heather belts it Chicago-style. She won best performance for this, which she damn well deserved. I'm so proud of her for getting over her stage fright enough to get up there. She's got one hell of a set of pipes on her. That Kenshin is her mommy, who is pretty kick ass. It takes a kick-ass mom to dress up like a cartoon samurai and get on stage at DorkFest.