2016 Cosplay Plan

After being tagged on Facebook to share my 2016 Cosplay plans, so I thought I would share them here as well.

First off is Gabranth from Final Fantasy XII. I have started working on this one awhile ago, but so far I have only started on the swords and some leg armour. I'm hoping to have it finished in time for AVcon so I can wear it in the Cosplay Competition.

Next up is Mega Evolution X Charizard from Pokemon. I am hoping to have it done in time to wear it on the Saturday of AVcon along with my cousin Megan from Biased Raincloud Cosplay

Maltheal from Diablo is a maybe for Supanova as it depends on whether I want to make yet more armour after Gabranth and Charizard. I love Maltheal's weapons and I think they would be fun to yield. 

This is more of 2017 cosplay plan, but I want to do a Warhammer 40k Space Marine cosplay. Due to the size of them I will probably need all the extra time I can get. This is also one of the reasons that Maltheal is a maybe. 

Last of all is Nurse Joy from Pokemon. I have no actually plans to finish this in 2016 so I won't be stressing about. This is more of a I'm going to do some sewing to make myself hate making armour a little less project.

Funny Cosplay Moments Part 2

Welcome back to the second part of funny cosplay moments, where I tell you funny moments that I have had in cosplay. This year at AVcon as you know I cosplayed as a Weeping Angel, this led to a few interesting moments.

I had a gold pass so I was able to get in early to have a look around, which I took full use of as I didn't know how easy it would be to get around and have a look at stuff with the wings on. This meant I was able to have a bit more of a chat with stroll holders.

One stroll holder, as I walked passed, told me no murdering, and we started to have a chat about leaving bodies in the toilet and how no one would notice the smell. Um ok than. The second one just stared at me and wouldn't say anything, that was until I asked her if she was a Doctor Who Fan.

The best reaction was from a boy who may have been about 13, on my way out of the dealers room and into the artist alley, I pasted by this boy who was going the other way. When he saw me, he stared at me as he spread past me, as he got closer he told me he couldn't blink, and span around so he could still see me and walked backwards into the dealers room. One of the artist in the artist ally saw this and had to laugh. 

Funny Cosplay Moments Part 1

When you cosplay, it is only a matter of time before you run into some weird or funny moments with involving other people. While this years AVcon marks my thrid year of cosplaying I have had a couple of interesting moments. This one will be a series as it could end up a long one, and the more I cosplay the more funny moments I come across. I will start with a story from the very first time I cosplayed.

The first time I cosplayed, I cosplayed as Hope from Final Fantasy at the opening ceremony of AVcon 2013. I was with a couple of friends, one of which was my cousin who was cosplaying as Miss Fortune from League of Legends. We went to the opening ceremony and decided to go the Pancake Kitchen afterwards.
It was on a Friday night and we were on North Terrace where AVcon was walking to Hindley Street where Pancake Kitchen was, one street over. For those who don't know Hindley Street is well known for being the nightclub central in Adelaide, just about every second building is a pub or a club and on North Terrace there is the Casino. Mix that with the cosplay folk leaving AVcon, you can only image what kind of things go on.
Getting back to my story, we were leaving AVcon, with my cousin in front, me behind her, with our friends following us. We didn't get far before we pass two guys (I think), one of them stopped, looked at my cousin and asked what I thought was "Who are you from, Final Fantasy?" She just walked past, and I did too, but as I did I replied in my Hope cosplay "Get your facts right"
It wasn't till we got to the Pancake Kitchen that I found out that they actually said "I will be your Final Fantasy"

Supanova 2015 Plans

With AVcon over for another year I thought I would share my plans for Supanova.

At this point in time I am planning on going just for the Sunday. Some of you may have already noticed over on Facebook that I have already started a cosplay for it. The cosplay I have decided on is Dreadlord with Great Weapon who is a Warhammer model.

I have wanted to do a Warhammer cosplay after seeing some photos of some really cool Warhammer cosplays on the internet. So I went though photos of Dark Elves models as thats the army I started with when I found Dreadlord, and I feel in love with the version with the Great Weapon. I like big props and I cannot lie.

I decided to do Dreadlord for Supanova as out of the three cons in Adelaide I felt that Dreadlord would be best suited to Supanova due to it being a popular expo and its focus being more general than AVcon and I haven't made up my mind whether I'm going to Comic Con yet.

AVcon haul 2015

With AVcon over I thought I would share the things I brought while at AVcon. Be warned I brought a bit.

This year I brought I brought quite a few Pokemon related things.

 Before AVcon I saw those Pikachus pop up on Facebook when a friend posted them. She was selling them at her stall and I knew I had to have them. So my first stop was at her stall to pick them up.

 Snorlax!!!!!

 I first this was cute.

 Those were super cute, I love how they even put tails on the back of them.

 I collect Pokemon cards and wanted to pick up more

 Those were at Culture Craft, a stall in Artist Ally.

I have been thinking about getting a new wallet and really liked this one.

I brought a few lolita things as well.

 This a Baby the Shines Bright letter writing kit.

 I really want to try my hand at a Hime coord and thought I would start with this.

 This is one of two bags I got.

 The other being this one.

I also won a raffle, and those were the things I won.

 Close of the rings.

 Close up of the earrings.

 I also brought two parasols.

 This is the other one.

 The black jumper I got for being gold pass, and the [ink one I brought

I also got this shirt for being gold pass

 I saw this faint Hello Kitty at a shop and had to get it, along with the smaller one

 I know a girl who has this beanie and wanted to get one for myself.

 I also got those four paints of Yaya Han

I got this one signed. 

 I also got those Doctor Who mugs, the two single ones change when there is something hot in it.

 I thought it suited geting a Weeping Angel.

And the Tadis was pretty cool too.

I also got this Tetrs mug which changes when something hot is in it.

My friend was also selling a few BJD things which I had to have.

AVcon wrap up 2015

Now that AVcon is over for another year, I think it's only fitting that I do a wrap up.

As I don't actually live in Adelaide I had to travel down on the Friday. I also decided to take the day off work and make good use of it by going down early and I made it to Adelaide about 10:30am. First stop was Adelaide Moulding and Casting for some Worbla I ordered than off to Rundle Mall for some shopping, think crafting and gaming supplies. Than off to the cutest cafe in Adelaide, the Hello Kitty Cafe for some lunch. The food there is really yummy, the only problem is that it almost looks too cute to eat!

After Lunch it was time to check into my hotel, unpack and get ready for the night. I went with a causal Lolita outfit. I got to the convention centre just before 4:30, got my ticket, had a tour of the new convention centre and went to the meet and greet. The meet and greet was good, they had drinks, and it was really good to be able to talk to Yaya Han. She was really good to talk to! After the meet and greet it was the opening ceremony. Than off to the pre AVcon Lolita dinner.

Every year the Adelaide Lolita community has a pre AVcon dinner on the Friday night. This year's tea was held at the Hungry Hippo Board Game Cafe. It's this really neat cafe where you can hung out, play board games and have something to eat while your at it. 

I had a early started Saturday as I didn't know how long it would take to apply the body paint. By the time I was ready it was time to head off to AVcon. I brought a few things before heading off to photos with Yaya Han. When I went to have a photo with her, she recognised me and commented on my wings. Which was super nice. Afterward I had a bit more of a look around before having a group photo taken of the Adelaide Cosplay Girls group. Than it was time to get a paint of Yaya Han signed. 

After all that happen I decided to head back to my room and get out of my costume and have a shower as my feet and back were hurting and it was lunch time. I didn't do much in the afternoon as I was worn out. I did head back to AVcon for a little bit though.

Sunday morning wasn't as early a start as Saturday, and I ended taking longer than expected to get ready. One ready I headed off to AVcon. As I had entered in to the Lolita parade I was in full Lolita. There were quite a few girls entered which was really good. I didn't place but it was lots of fun being on the stage with the other girls.

After the parade I went to a tea party hosted by Moripop. It was located in the Maid Cafe in AVcon. It was really good hunting out with the girls as a few of the girls who entred the parade also went to the tea party. We were also treated to a dance by some of the maids which was really cool. 

Afterwards I didn't really do much at AVcon as I was really tried and worn out so I went back to my hotel room to start packing and relax a little.

AVcon 2015

AVcon is finally here! Only a couple of hours left till the opening ceremony and I'm really excited for this years AVcon. Why am I excited you ask? For a couple of reasons. 

For those who haven't heard the really big news earlier this year. Yaya Han is coming! For those that don't know she is a really great cosplayer and is someone I look up to. Her cosplays are always amazing and I am looking forward to meeting her.

This year I'm bringing out my biggest cosplay yet, a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who. The actually dress wasn't too hard to make, but the wings and the wig took so much work. So I'm looking forward to showing it off

I also decided to enter into the Lolita parade. I was thinking of entering last year but I couldn't decided on what to wear. This year I got my act together and was able to get organised early enough to enter. It will be my first time up on the stage. 

Lastly I also got myself a gold pass which I think will be fun.

So that's why I'm really excited for this years AVcon. 

My first Cosplay

Over on the Facebook page Adelaide Cosplay Girls, they have been sharing photos of people's first cosplay. My first cosplay was one that was shared, and I thought I would go into a little more detail about it.

My first cosplay - Hope from Final Fantasy XIII

In 2012 I went to AVcon along side my cousin Megan from Biased Raincloud Cosplay. We just want for just one day. I heard of people dressing up as different characters, and thought I would give it ago. I didn't put much effect into it and pretty much throw it together either the day before or the morning before I was due to leave to head to Adelaide. I went as a Pokemon Trainer and because of little effect that went into it, I consider it less as my first cosplay, more of a intro into cosplay. Megan and myself saw so many people cosplay and thought that it looked like so much fun that we thought we would do it next year. 

I decided to Cosplay as Hope from Final Fantasy XIII for AVcon 2013. I think I chose Hope as I had been playing Final Fantasy XIII and he is my favorite characters in it. I decided to buy the costume off eBay as I had no sewing skills. The listing said it would take 4 months to make as it's made using measurements you give them. So I ordered it early in case of delays. It didn't include shoes which I find at Kmart, or a wig.

The wig, nothing nothing about wigs I brought from Cheap as Chips. They didn't have the length or style I wanted so I cut it to how I wanted. The first I cut it, I did such a bad job that I brought another one and retried it. This time less badly.

At the convention Hope was super comfy to wear expect for the wig. I had a red line across my head form the wig after wearing it for a short period and was given a sore head though out AVcon because of it. I hated it so much that I actually brought a better wig for it after AVcon. 

My Geeky Story (so far)

Hi my name is Sarah and I'm a geek. I love to play video games, reading (both novels and manga), cosplay and watching anime.

I thought I would share my background as a geek as a way to let you get to know me better.

This is my Geeky Story (so far)

I was a 90's kid, the youngest of four, and Nintendo was king. I can't remember which one we got first, but my first leap into gaming and geekdom was though the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo Gameboy.

My siblings and myself would spend lots of time playing with each other and with friends on the 64. Our favourite games include Super Smash Bros, Mairo Kart, Snowboard Kids. We also enjoyed playing other games like Mairo 64 and Donkey Kong. Being the Pokemon fan I was, I also enjoyed Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2.
Fun fact I got Pokemon Stadium 2 as a Christmas present one year and one of the first mini games I tried to master was the one where you had to catch eggs falling from the top of the screen using Chansey. To get a prefect score you had to catch all 100 eggs and it was crazy on hard, but I think that just made playing on hard so much more fun.

Oh yes, I loved Pokemon and everything to do with Pokemon and it was all thanks to my neighbour who introduced me to it. My very first Pokemon game was Pokemon Blue on the Gameboy and since then I have been addicted to it. I used to collect so much Pokemon stuff that looking back I am surprised that my parents let me get half the stuff that I did. Most if not all of which I still have even to this day.
During high school my love for Pokemon did calm down a bit. I was still playing the games, but I wasn't going crazy about all of the other stuff like toys, videos/DVDs, the cards etc. Now its just BUY ALL THE POKEMON STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel that I should mention books, but there isn't much to tell, other than I read a lot. One series that did make a impact though was the Ranger's Apprentice.
While most other kids who read were reading and loving the Harry Potter series, I was in love with Will and the adventures that he would go on, most of which were with Halt. I started reading Ranger's Apprentice back in about year 6 (give or take a year) and to this day it has remained my all time favorite series.
I was rather upset when I finished the last book, that I think the only reason that I didn't have a breakdown was that I was on my lunch break, and I really need to go back to work.

Eventually the PlayStation 2 came out and by that stage my oldest sister had moved out and the remaining two siblings and myself decided we wanted one. It though the PS 2 that I really started to like different games than my siblings.
My cousin who was a similar age to myself discovered Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X and introduced them to me. Both of which I really loved.
I remember trying to finish Final Fantasy X with my cousin in as short a time as possible and in order to do so we would take in turns to play so that the other could rest. We could not have been older than 12 or 13 at the time.

Small mention goes to Fire Emblem: Sacred Stone. I loved playing this game and only picked it up because I was looking for a game to take away on holidays and it was the only half interesting looking one at the shop. I ended up replaying it a few times, and want to play more of it, but for quite a while I couldn't find another Fire Emblem game. Until Radiant Drawn came out. It was good, but it wasn't great, and I wanted something more. Something only Awakening could fill.

During high school nothing made a big impact on me as the likes of Pokemon or Final Fantasy. I knew what I liked and I kept to those things and those in a similar category. That was until I became friends with a girl I was friends with at the start of high school but than drafted apart from.
We hit it off pretty well as we were both into gaming. It was during this period that she introduced me to a thing called Anime and Manga and it all went down hill from there (in a good way).
The first anime she showed me was Ouran High School Host Club and I was in love and wanted more. Now some of my favorites include Say "I love you" and Sword Art Online.

She also told me about this thing called AVcon.

After finding out about AVcon I thought it sound cool and that it was something that I wanted to go to. Which I did end up doing the next year. I had so much fun that I have been every year since (that was in 2012) and I have started cosplaying.

Its a bit hard to know about conventions and not know about cosplay. When I saw it I thought that it looked fun and that I should give it a go. My very first cosplay was Hope from Final Fantasy XIII. I call him my first even though I wore him and Edward Elric for the first time at the same convention as I brought Hope first, and Edward was a bit of a afterthought. Since than I have enjoyed making my own cosplays.

And that is my geeky story (so far). Thanks for reading!