Youmacon (at last)

Hello friends!

Sorry for the long hiatus… I realize you’re probably used to that at this point but I’d love for that not to be the case lol. Since I last posted a bunch of stuff has been going on, which is mostly why I haven’t been posting. Youmacon was a couple weekends ago, and it was super fun! I have a couple photos to share from that, and eventually I’ll have my hands on some more when I get photos back from the shoots I was involved in.

The other big thing that’s been going on, and the main reason I haven’t been super active online lately is that Jordan, Donner and I have moved! We didn’t move far, we’re just a few minutes down the road from our old place, but the new house has a bit more room, which will hopefully be filled up in the not-too-distant-future with an expanding family. We’ll see how that process goes. Anyway, things are kind of a mess right now but when I have most of it put away I’ll make another post to show off my new craft areas!

So Youmacon. I had a blast at Youma; despite having a pretty full cosplay schedule it was a pretty chill con, which is always nice. The impromptu Fire Emblem gathering we had was waaaay better attended than I was expecting! Look at all these folks!

And look at the wealth of game representation we had! We planned the Tellius stuff around my friend’s Lord Ike and my Ashnard, but we got folks from Blazing Sword, Fates, and Geneaology/Thracia too!

This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.

We also got some fabulous derp photos with all of the caped characters (and Rhys (and Reyson)).

Look, a flock of birbs!

I’ve also wanted to get something resembling this art forever and I finally made it happen!

Also, while we were hanging out waiting for the official shoot to start, we got our photo taken by the folks at MLive!

Apparently they think my friend is a very salty solution lol
Here’s a link to the article, there are lots of great cosplays to see!

So Ashnard got to have lots of fun this year, and the other major thing was my debut of Fran! I’m so excited with how this cosplay turned out and I love her so much I want to wear this all the time!

I had so much fun wearing this cosplay even though it was a bit of a chore between the somewhat unruly weapon and the giant hoops, but I was so happy it didn’t even matter.

I definitely learned some things wearing it the first time too, so I can improve my experience next time. Mainly that the horn needs to attach to the wig, because as soon as I started sweating a bit the lace front tape just gave way. I’ll still use the tape to keep it in place but I need a strap or something integrated into the wig to keep it on my face when the tape gets loose. I also need a pair of flat shoes because I would have worn this on the con floor way longer if my feet didn’t want to die in those boots after the 5-6 hours I was in them. When I took them off to eat some dinner my feet were so happy lol.

We had an awesome Apocrypha group and did some shooting with Robbie; I’m super stoked to see the results since he always does an amazing job. It was cold as shit out by the river but it was so beautiful! You know I’ll share them as soon as I have them but for now, ta-ta!

Youma 2017

Welcome back, folks! As per usual, sorry for the prolonged absence! October was a bit hectic, between hosting and recovering from my Harry Potter weekend, and launching full-force into a commission that needed to be done and shipped before Halloween, plus the serious con crunching I did with my last minute necessity of doing an extra cosplay. So, I'll be rolling out all of the details and construction of that stuff this week, but while Youma is still fresh in my mind, I wanted to give you guys that rundown first.

But before I do that, I wanted to plug my social media expansion:

Mikey is finally on Instagram! 

I finally caved after 8,000 people have told me I really should be. And it'll be pretty exclusively cosplay-related photos, because I have no reason to post other stuff there (except maybe photos of my dog, because he is a good boy). So, you can follow me @mikeydoescosplay for the easiest updates on my WIPs and cosplay photos, since you won't have to sift through the inane stuff on my Twitter account.

And with that, on to Youma!!
I'm including primarily photos of my own cosplay here, if you'd like to see the hall shots I got of other awesome cosplayers, check out my Youmacon facebook gallery. 

Thursday

Thursday was super chill and I got up there way earlier than I needed to, but I was glad to since it meant I got a decent parking spot and didn't have to worry about a ton of traffic. When folks finally got there, I did eventually change into Masrur from Magi, since two of my friends wanted to get our little group together at last. Unfortunately, one friend got in super late and the other just never got into costume, so it was just me. But that's ok because at least i finally wore the cosplay I made about 2 cons ago! And I got a few photos! And a few people even recognized me, even though there weren't that many con-goers around yet.

I'm super happy with how he turned out, and he's actually not that uncomfortable, other than the breastplate rubbing a bit under my arms. Eventually I'm hoping we can get our little group together but I'm not in any rush now that it's all finished.

Friday

Friday was great because there were still a bunch of city folk out and about in the convention center and I got to watch as they slowly disappeared and more con-goers arrived. I was dressed as Hestu for most of the day, which is the first sime I've worn him since I altered his head.

When I initially made his tree head, I just made the whole thing out of cardboard, including the but that actually went around my head. There was some foam for cushioning, but it was still super uncomfortable, and gave me headaches after wearing it for 30 seconds. So I decided to change it up because I want to wear this cosplay more since it's more fun and let's be real, Hestu and I are pretty much the same person... plant... being... thing. So to fix the issues I was having, I found a baseball helmet at the thrift store and pretty much just glued what I already made to the top of it. I added some extra fleece wrapping to cover the helmet, reattached the eyebrows and the velcro to attach the mask, and voila, I had a tree head that didn't make my actual head feel like death any more.!

The best part about wearing Hestu around on Friday was that apparently being a tree meant that I was more approachable/less intimidating that most of the other cosplayers? Because no less than 10 times I had normal people come up to ask me what was going on and/or if they could get a picture with me. One couple in particular was super excited to get photos with me, and the lady and I posed with the maracas. It was fantastic. I also had someone from a local news station come and talk to me but sadly I can't remember what station, nor was I successful at finding a video online, alas.

Once it got into the evening hours I changed out of Hestu and into my brandy-new cosplay that I finished sewing literally 24 hours before I left for the con (and those of you who know me know that's cutting it way closer than I ever do). I'm of course referring to Crow for my P5 Phantom Thieves group. 

Despite the incredible frustrations with having to hand sew on the ridiculous amount of trim involved in this cosplay, I am SO HAPPY with how it turned out, and so glad I managed to get it done in time to be a part of this Phantom Thieves photoshoot. I had so much fun and everyone's cosplay was ON POINT.

Photo courtesy of back_of_beyond_cosplay

It was such an honor to be a part of this group of incredibly talented cosplayers. You should check them all out on Instagram because they have a bunch of other wonderful cosplays too:
Skull: climbingtartarus
Queen: madster.photo
Oracle: lightofhope18
Joker: galbadian_aristocrat_cosplay
Panther: lyssalalaa
Noir: I don't have her info but I will share when I find out!
Fox: multiversecosplay

We shot with Robert Tate Photography and I cannot wait to see how the photos turn out! I will be sure to share them when we get the proofs back.

Saturday

Saturday was another awesome day with 3 group cosplays planned, all of which were great!
The morning started with some good old-fashioned Ghibli cosplay: Howl and Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. Ok, we also had Turnip Head, Calcifer, and Heen. The best thing about doing Howl this time: I had a new wig that wasn't totally disgusting.

The weather was lovely (if a little chilly) so we got some wonderful photos outside along the riverwalk. I'm hoping some day we'll be able to get my Markl in here too, and perhaps find a Witch of the Waste so we have a full crew!

After spending time wandering the con floor, I went back and changed into Mad King Ashnard for the Fire Emblem shoots. We organized a little Tellius gathering (which only had 4 people but was still great) before the main FE shoot.

I love this costume so much, it's ridiculous. I don't care that almost no one recognizes me, because the ones that do are keepers, I made a new friend that was as a matter of fact. And that cape is so freaking luxurious. And the shoulder pauldrons of doom are wonderful. And the giant terrifying sword. I even really like how I look with that wig and weird facial hair. The only thing I need to do is find a better way to attach the shoulder armor to the cape, because every time I moved my arms they would pop off, and I actually lost one of the spikes as a result. But that aside, it was great to get some awkward family photos with my friend cosplaying Soren.

We also decided to recreate the HERON PUNCH since my Sophie from earlier came back as Reyson.

I didn't take any photos at the big shoot, since my phone was dying by that point and I didn't feel like worrying about it, but I did get a nice villain photo with my friend.

Reyson also got a lovely selfie of us with my friend's Ike.

While the photoshoot was of course dominated by Awakening and Fates cosplayers, I was impressed at the representation there. We had at least one cosplayer from every game except Thracia 776, Binding Blade, and Sacred Stones, which all things considered was pretty good!

After the shoot was over and I was tired of wearing 18 lbs. of velvet cape, I went back to the room to change into Junpei. Unfortunately the rain picked up on my walk back over to the Ren Cen so everything got wet, including my already heavy-as-hell cape. But there was a very sweet guy walking behind me who offered to hold my cape so it didn't drag through the puddles.

When I finally dried out a bit it was finally bro time with my senpais!

It was so nice to be back in normal, comfy clothing and I had a blast hanging out with two of my best con friends. It's been forever since we've all cosplayed together so it was nicce to be able to just chill. We got some food and I of course refused to take a serious photo the entire time I was in Jupei.

As the evening went on, I ended up splitting from the group for a bit because some guy lost his phone and his friends so I lent him my cell to get in contact with them. Somehow during that time they decided they didn't want to go to the Persona gathering and went back up to the room, evidently having a seriously harrowing journey on the elevators. I decided I didn't want to deal with it so I huffed it up the 25 flights of stairs to the room and consequently passed out.

Sunday

Sunday was actually pretty good, since we got an extra hour of sleep with the time change, so I slept in to what felt like 9 but was actually 8. I got my stuff packed in my car without having to deal with busy elevators and went to breakfast in my Hufflepuff gear with a few extra critters.

We wandered for a bit and said goodbye to the friends we ran into. I eventually decided to shell out the $25 for a Sunday badge so I could wander through the dealer's room and I'm glad I did because there was a lot of great stuff. I ended up spending almost all of my cash (but I was smart and kept enough for tolls on the way home).

Here's the haul! There were so many awesome artists, and I didn't even see everything because the hall was so big and I ran out of money before I made it all the way through lol. My favorite purchases were definitely the Jill/Haar print, which I got to chat with the artist about Tellius-series FE for a bit and re-motivated myself to fix up Haar for this year. Also the Krem pillow that I have been snuggling with the entire time I've been writing this post.

As per usual, coming home from a con this awesome has motivated me to plan out and start working on some cosplays for next year (since I have no more cons this year), and I'm hoping to channel some of that motivation toward some commissions I have to work on, as well as a few more posts about the commission I just finished, the rest of the magical creatures I never posted about, and my Crow cosplay since I did actually take a decent number of progress photos with my recently joining Instagram.

So stay tuned, folks, because there will be a few more posts coming in the next couple of weeks!

Ohayocon 2016 - Rise of the Mad King

Ohayocon was absolutely amazing! I barely know where to start. First off, one of my oldest con buddies joined me again for the first time in a very long time. And of course she makes the most badass Imperator I know, which helps :-)

Our first set of serendipitous events of the weekend include meeting an awesome Max cosplayer on our way back to the room Friday evening, which delays our journey to our comfy beds by an hour or so but he was so awesome that we didn't mind :-D
Now we have a new awesome cosplay friend who fortunately we managed to find again on Saturday night (again on our way back to the room, but this time to extract the Mad King from me rather than head to bed). Sadly I didn't get a photo of him on Saturday because he was a badass biker version of Rainbow Dash. I did get him along with my Imperator on Friday though.

Second on our awesome new cosplay friends list is another wonderful MMFR pair we found on Saturday. A lovely Capable and an absolutely spot-on Nux. This badass cosplayer made me want to WAAAY up my game next time I cosplay our adorable warboy. Which I have now decreed will always come with me any time I go conventioning with my Imperator so I don't get left out of wonderful photos like this ;-)

The next lovely portion of my weekend was spending all day Friday with my wolf pack, which naturally we didn't get a new photo of, but here we are at Matsuri last year; we haven't changed much.

The word wolf pack seems all too appropriate for us, besides just being an actual pack of Wolf's Rain cosplayers, these people are truly my con family. I can't express how much I enjoy spending time with these nerds. And I'm even more humbled by the fact that they gave me presents. It's too freaking adorable to handle. Among them are my first two Pop! figures ever, including Old Man Solo, and a tiny Tenth Doctor, along with the only Star Wars hat I'll ever need.

I really don't know what else to say, other than to repeat my sentiments of loving the shit out of these fellow nerds.

Further wonders unfold on Saturday when I meet a badass New Monarchy Titan while dressed as the Speaker. Thank god people still like this game.

And perhaps the most miraculous series of events occurred in conjunction with my newest cosplay, the infamous [SECRET COSPLAY] that I've been ranting about for the last... many many months. Which, if you haven't been on facebook yet, it is none other than the Mad King, Ashnard.

The tale begins on Friday night, when our pack was dawdling in the lower floor near registration, and I see a very tall man with long black hair and a white robe go through the registration door. After a moment I start wailing to one of my pack mates that I think I just saw a Sephiran cosplayer, but that can't be right. Who would cosplay Sephiran, that's even more random that Ashnard. So I creep by the exit to the registration area only to ask, and discover that he is in fact a Sephiran cosplayer.

Apologies to anyone with delicate sensibilities. On that note, I now have a twitter which will be full of more swearing, random cosplay photos, and livetweeting of me being a derp and playing video games. Fair warning, spoilers will likely be abundant.

After flipping my shit more than just a little, I find out that he actually is supposed to have a Micaiah and an ASHERA (WTF?!?!?) and they're going to do a little shoot later. *LOUD WAILING NOISES* My intentions were not to be putting Ashnard on until Saturday because I already had a Soren and Lethe there and I sure as hell wasn't about to change at this point in the evening because that would be the biggest pain in the ass ever. We do, however, intend to get photos of these other lovely Tellius cosplayers when we can find them.
Praise Yune, goddess of Chaos, their Ashera was having some issues, and I don't think Micaiah ever even showed up , so Sephiran found us again and told us they were going to try again the following day. SCORE. We were already intending to do FE shenanigans on Saturday to it would work out perfectly, and since they weren't planning on doing their little shoot until the evening, our Lethe could actually finish working on her cosplay.
So everything is going great until the derp brigade marches through my brain and I realize I know neither WHEN nor WHERE they're meeting up for their shoot. *MORE LOUD WAILING NOISES* So we now have a Soren, Ashnard, and Lethe (and a few non-FE folks) wandering around for a good hour trying to find a very tall man in long white robes (we at least thought we remembered him saying something about 5pm). We finally decide we should just take some photos because we're in a good spot with some nice lighting and a blank background because Ashera knows if we're ever going to actually find these people. 

We got some photos with just the three of us (and those first two photos of Ashnard up above are from our little impromptu shoot as well), and were satisfied enough, if annoyed that we were unsuccessful in our search. Well, providence would have it that my dear friend Trickssi was going to be around for a little while yet and we should come meet her in another area of the convention center. I was super excited cause it's been forever since I've spent any actual time with her so we hustled over that direction and who should we meet along the way? CHANCELLOR GODDAMN SEPHIRAN. There are still no Ashera or Micaiah in sight, but he tells us they're on their way. So after a lovely time hanging out with Trickssi and the rest of the Trimeriad, we finally manage to assemble the ranks and successfully do a Tellius shoot. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! As we gather up for our shoot, an Ike wanders past (who just so happens to be a friend of a friend, no less) and we manage to wrangle him into our shoot as well. I'm not entirely sure he's a Fire Emblem person or just a Smash Bros person, as he didn't seem super familiar with the rest of our characters, but at this point I couldn't have cared less because the sheer awesomeness of our accomplishment in assembling the team was successful. Here are the fruits of our labor. I'm sure there will be more photos floating around as others start posting stuff, but bless Trickssi for sticking around and taking some shots with my phone (especially as she isn't remotely a Fire Emblem fan). 

Having an Ike around was clearly useful in giving us some actual poses and things, including the lovely awkward prom photos XD
So as you can see, it was a hella good con weekend. I found a bunch of awesome cosplayers, hung out with cosfamily, including some family members I haven't seen in forever, and made some new friends! If you want to see the full gambit of photos I took this weekend, you can find them on facebook in my Ohayocon 2016 album.
You can expect a post in the near future with the trials and tribulations of making the Mad King to be coming around shortly. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy all of the photos (and checking out some new additions to the Cosplay Plans Album (which is growing faster than I can control), and observing the spiral of inane livetweeting on my new Twitter account. The flavor of the month is Mikey Plays Tales of Xillia. Be warned there is no spoiler filter, and also no language filter.
Later, lovelies!