Like any other con, AnimeFest had it's ups and downs. The con was Friday thru Monday, since it's Labor Day weekend. I couldn't get there till Saturday morning on account of work. I arrived about 10 am and called my hostess. No answer. I kept trying throughout the day, but I could never get her. So that meant I had nowhere to stay. This was not a good way to start the con. I decided to go register while I was waiting for the call that never came. And guess who I ran to in line. Baby Lain! Ha ha, she got into line right behind me. She was in costume, which got me all fired up. We shot the shit for fifteen minutes or so. It was cool, even her husband was a Gunnm fan. I remembered the lesson I learned from Otakon; I got her cellphone number so we could meet up later. Since I didn't have a room or anywhere else to change, I carried my stuff back out to the parking lot and changed there. That was difficult/awkward/hot. It kind of handicapped my costume, but . . . I guess it looked alright, considering.
It turns out I was the only PH there. Which made me the cock of the walk. The gathering was very small; small enough that I thought, "Sheesh, is this what I went to all the trouble of making a new Pyramid Head for?" There was me, a doctor from SH 1, a nurse, and movie Dahlia. The cosplayers were great, fun people, don't get me wrong. It's just that after Otakon and A-kon, a four-person gathering seemed minimal. It was fun hanging out with them. But the gathering kept getting pushed back and linked up with other gatherings. I had planned to be out of PH by 3-ish so that I could get into Sechs to cosplay with Baby Lain. But the gathering didn't dissolve until 5. That's when I got the call from BL saying that she has to return her borrowed wig, meaning she'll be out of costume by 6. Considering that at Otakon it took me 3 hours to get into costume, this was bad news. My main reason for going to AnimeFest was to cosplay alongside her Gunnm cosplay, but now it looked like that wasn't going to happen. I was bummed. Sechs isn't the kind of costume you can put on in a parking lot. Plus, I didn't have a place to stay for the night. This had me thinking maybe I should just go home. Cut my losses and retreat.
But I decided to try. I called BL back and told her what I could do; she called her wig lady back and it turned out she'd be staying till 10 pm, so that gave us an extension on the wig (no pun intended). So I grabbed my crate-o'-cosplay and hurried to the con. I found a bathroom that was closed for construction to change in. The whole time I was worried I'd get locked in or discovered and evicted by some hotel staff. Then Baby Lain calls me again, letting me know that she didn't mind waiting all night, but her friends were getting restless. So I worked even faster and managed to get the costume on in an hour. The costume was still pretty beat-up from Otakon, but most importantly, I was very happy with how the new mask looked. It was much better than the previous versions. I left my crate and backpack in the bathroom and hurried to find BL.
*smile* Although she was only able to stick around for ten minutes, those ten minutes made the whole trip worthwhile. At first I was trying to think of legitimate poses and trying to hide the bad bits of my costume, but then we started having fun with it and that was great. It was hard trying to stay in character and not smile, since I was so delighted. Then she left with her party and I roamed the con for an hour or two. No one recognized my cosplay, of course, but alot took pictures. Alot of normal people were taking my pic too, which was flattering.
I stayed at my brother's place that night, some 30 miles down the road. It turned out he would be free on Sunday, which meant GIR could go to the con. I decided to let him wear it, since I was very sore from Pyramid Head and Sechs.
Things turned out pretty good for his cosplay. We didn't get to the con till 2 pm, but I was taking it easy that day, so I didn't mind. (Normally I'd be chomping at the bit.) The weather was unseasonably cool and overcast, which is the best weather you can ask for when wearing a mascot. The late start that morning had allowed me time to do some last-minute repairs to GIR, so we were able to get him into costume in short order.
It was delightful to be on the outside of the costume and finally see people's reactions to it. I was a proud parent. Maybe a little overly protective, always straightening the costume and checking on my brother's comfort, etc. Me and his girlfriend had little GIR armbands to identify that we were with him, and people started calling us the GIR crew. My brother really got into the act, engaging the people alot more than I would/could, taking bigger chances with the costume than I would dare (since I know how fragile it is). One downside was that all the girls hugging the costume started leaving little make-up stains. I was happy that they liked it so much, but I kept thinking, "How the hell am I gonna get that clean again?" My brother wanted to wear GIR to the rave, at least for a little bit. I didn't like that idea; I thought that was a recipe for disaster. But the masquerade kept dragging on longer and longer so finally he gave up and we called it a night. The masquerade largely sucked, by the way.
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