This weekend was Otakon and while it was killer on the feet, it was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my friend Megan who I went to BYU with and haven't seen much since then since she's still living in Utah. It was a girls weekend out for me since Seth stayed home and a couple of Megan's friends from high school that live out here came and hung out with us too. It was awesome just to geek out with similar geeks as I am.
Megan was debuting her long-awaited and very incredible Midna costume from the Zelda video game Twilight Princess. I'll stick up a pic of her when I get one, but she was the star of the convention and deserved every single accolade that they gave her.
She competed in the costume contest as a Novice and won Overall Best on Saturday. And there was some pretty stiff competition there!
I hadn't intended to compete in my FFXIII Exile Coat. It was only ever meant to be an easy-to-make relatively casual hall costume that I can comfortably wear at conventions. However, since I did finish it and Megan was competing I decided to give it a go too. :) And I actually ended up taking home Second Place in the Master Craftsman Division on Friday! With the el lighting up it really made people go 'ooooh' and attracted a lot of attention. :) With Megan and I walking around together on Saturday we couldn't go five feet without being mobbed for pictures. It was a blast but my costume ate through 9 volt batteries like mad. The el sheets would only last a couple hours before burning them out. I bought the local 7/11 out of their entire stock and barely managed to conserve enough power to make it through the official photoshoot and stage presentation before they failed me completely. Lesson learned. Next time before I go I'll buy a huge 20 pack. One of my el strips on my sleeves also cracked and doesn't light up half way down the sleeve so I'll need to replace it. And the dangly headpiece bits need to be rethought and remade with something stronger than the 18 gauge jewelry wire. Maybe some steel spool wire. That should hold. It was a really fun costume to wear and I definitely want to brush it up and wear it again at another convention!
