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!

Colossal 2017

Hey everyone! I just got back from another awesome Colossalcon and my priority 1 is sharing my experience with all of you lovely people!
But of course I have minimal photos of my own cosplays because I'm a dummy and always forget to have people take photos of me on my own phone >_<

Nevertheless, here's how the weekend went!

Thursday I didn't even end up going, as I was still finishing up Jordan's Ruby cosplay (primarily painting the scythe), but I'm pretty sure if I had gone on Thursday I'd be even more exhausted. On the bright side, I got everything done pretty early and got to spend a relaxing evening with my husband and puppy.

I believe this is the third time I've gotten him to cosplay with me so we were both very excited.

Friday was a pretty easy day, I spent the day in Hestu and did lots of expand-a-banding people's inventory when they would ask for my photo. Went to a Voltron panel. Hung out with my friends. It was a good day.
I was also involved in a late-night RWBY panel as Yatsuhashi (in pajamas), which was interesting. I was tired and minimally involved since Yatsu is such an minor character so it was a struggle to stay awake but I made it through, and safely got back to my firend's house, which whom I was staying.

In anticipation of the panel, I made a basket full of Grimm. RAWR!

Saturday was a bit rough since I only slept for a couple hours, but I still had a lovely time with Jordan as our genderbent Ruby & Penny. We got lots of compliments and went to the RWBY shoot (after wandering around the waterpark for a good long while trying to find it).  Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and never made anyone I actually know take photos of the two of us, so hopefully I'll be able to find some one the internet and I'll share.

Also did a short stint in Hestu on Saturday for the Zelda shoot which was tons of fun and there were so many amazing cosplayers there. The BOTW game was strong. And I got to shoot my favorite thing from the whole weekend, which is pretty much the whole reason I wanted to make Hestu in the first place!

After the RWBY shoot Jordan & I went out to lunch with some friends and when I came back I put on Guy for a little bit, hoping to find the Rebecca cosplayer I'd seen as we were leaving. Fortunately, I found her almost immediately!

Sunday was pretty easy, hung around a while to say goodbye to friends, dressed in my magizoologist outfit since I brought it so I figured I might as well wear it at least once. Then came home to cuddle with my favorite boys.

All in all, it was exhausting but I had a lot of fun. With any luck, people will be posting photos over the next week or so, so I'll try and keep an eye out for things. And maybe someday I'll remember to get photos of my own cosplays on my own devices XD
If you want to see photos of all the other awesome cosplay I saw there, check you my facebook album HERE!

Secret Cosplay: Revealed! (And Tekko Stuff)

Well folks, it's time for the big reveal! Ok, I know most of you guys already saw it on Facebook and/or Twitter but whatever. Here he is, the adorable dancing child of the forest: Hestu!

Not what you were expecting? Most people weren't, but if you think about it, can you come up with a more appropriate character for me to cosplay?

• He lives in the forest
• He dances a bunch
• He's super cheerful
• He helps the hero in exchange for stuff from the forest
• He sings and makes goofy noises
• He is a tree

Yes, there are a metric shitton of awesome characters in this game and I want to cosplay about half of them, but Hestu was decidedly ahead in the ranking. Here's how he turned out:

I had a ton of fun wearing him around on Saturday, and got a great response. A bunch of people asked to video me doing his dance, which of course I agreed to. I can't wait to see some of the photos/videos and I also can't wait to wear this again at another con. After going back to my friend's apartment saturday evening, we did a little shoot in the courtyard, here's the result:

I even made special little business cards to hand out to people, which I ran out in maybe an hour, so I need to print about 5x as many for next time. They were little inventory expansion cards with random melee weapons, shields, and ranged weapons on them.

Now I need to figure out who's next... well, I pretty much know who's next since I've already started on Bolson, but I have a bunch more that I'd like to do that will be significantly more intricate and time-consuming... or potentially just not possible with my current set of skills (I'm looking at you, fish prince). Anyway, I'm looking forward to cosplaying more from this game because it was phenominal. Oh yeah, I found a Link and a Zelda who were both awesome and got my picture with them.

I also debuted a second costume at Tekko, which is the first time I've done two new ones for a single con in quite some time. It wasn't really intended either, but I was working on my genderbent Penny for Colossal, and just happened to have it done way early so I figured "why not?" It was nice and comfy, and relatively normal clothing, so I actually wore it friday & sunday, and drove to & from Pittsburgh in it.

I'm looking forward to wearing it again at Colossal, with my husband as Ruby! Except that it means I need to make another Crescent Rose by then.... oi. I haven't really even started his costume yet but fortunately I still have time and my Colossalcon commissions are reasonably light compared to usual.

So yeah, Tekko was awesome! If you'd like to see the rest of my photos, just check out my Tekko Album on FB.  I'm super pumped about everything right now between more cosplay stuff and Persona 5 taking up all of my free time, so I'm going to sign off and go do that stuff, ciao!