Archive for category Convention News

AX Recap – On Judging a Contest and Meeting Danny Choo

Jul 6

Posted by Maridah in Convention News | View Comments

AX has ended and I’m happy to say it was the best Anime Expo I’ve attended. The new additions to the Nokia Center really add to the convention experience. It was wonderful to see the live performances from the hotel window and to experience them outside. The hotel was just a short walk and was a pleasure to stay at. Food was so easy to find for a change and not having to deal with shuttles was awesome!

I took 4 costumes to the convention, but ended up wearing mostly just one. It wasn’t anything flashy but it was great to be comfortable for a change XD Photos should be up shortly.

A number of weeks back the staff of cosplay.com contacted me about judging a hall cosplay contest. I was very flattered and gladly accepted. It was my first experience in the judge’s seat and it was great. There were so many excellent costumes. I can’t even express how impressed I am with the dedication and obvious love for the hobby that the entrants had. It was incredibly humbling to see the level of quality and to hear about the time some of the people spent on their projects. I learned a lot from it all and had a awesome time. I left inspired and in awe of so many. Even though we only had 4 judges awards and 3 over all awards we easily could have given out 10+ more. There were so many masquerade winning quality costumes entered and we only had 7 prizes to give (and 48 entries!) so it was tough.

Congrats to the winners yet again. Your costumes were amazing on the exterior and interior and really set a high bar for all of us in the hobby!

Yet another thing that made this AX awesome was meeting Danny Choo, big-time blogger (among other accomplishments) and the man behind Otacool 2! I had some time in between judging entries and the awards, so I ran over to the ESPN Sports bar in LA Live just in time to see the DC/fakku meet start. It was so exciting! Danny was so kind to introduce me to the crowd (I felt so honored) and took some photos with me as well. I’m sad I had to leave so early, but it really made my convention!

More pictures up on my flickr here

I also want to say it was very nice to meet some of you who follow my cosplays. I met some great new people and hope we can keep up with each other in the future~

I can’t wait for next AX. I hope others had as great of a time as I did. It really was a highlight of the year for me and I’m sad it’s over!

Fanime over, AX on the horizon~

Jun 5

Posted by Maridah in Convention News, Ramblings | View Comments

Fanime has ended and I’m sad to have to say goodbye to friends I won’t see for a long time. That’s the worst part about conventions. It’s so much fun, but it’s so short.

I didn’t bring my armor for Saber Lily because I just wasn’t satisfied with it, but Anime Expo is July 1-4th, so I can always give it a go there. I did fix up the dress so I could wear it without the armor, but it’s all so last minute and the dress is too big on me ^_;; I’ll be taking it in before the next convention.

I picked up a copy of Ejen’s book “Cosplay in America” and got to see my page in it! I have a quote in there as well. He chose my comment about friends being the best part of cosplay, and this Fanime really ended up reaffirming that for me yet again. I spent a lot of time in the hotel room finishing up my Yue Ying costume and didn’t cosplay that much this year, but despite that, I had maybe the best Fanime to date. Thanks to new friends and old ones as well, it’s going to be a hard convention to top. We had a killer time just hanging out and goofing around, so I can only hope AX is as enjoyable.

I’ll be adding costume pages for the new costumes as pictures come out. In the mean time, here’s a preview of Fanime cosplay:

Fanime is this weekend!

May 26

Posted by Maridah in Convention News, Press | View Comments

I’ll be gone Friday to Monday at Fanime Con (http://www.fanime.com/) and I’m working around the clock to get stuff done for it. I’m excited since it’s my favorite convention of the year. Many of my friends show up to this one, so I’m ready for awesome pizza and good times with them.

If you will be there, come say hi if you see me! Hopefully I will have Saber Lily and Yue Ying done. They still need so much done on them and I’m rushing even though I don’t want to do that :< All my armor is made, but the props are still in the works as are the fabric parts. I need more than 24 hours in a day right about now...

In other news, Ejen Chuang, author of Cosplay in America (http://www.cosplayinamerica.com/) has let me know I’m in the book! I get to see it on Friday, so hopefully I will have something to post for it soon. I’m anxious to see it! He’s photographed so many people over the last year all over the US, so I’m happy to see this book come to fruition, as are a lot of people. He obviously dedicated himself to his project and it’s nice to see it make it to print. Not every project has a success story to follow it, so it’s wonderful to see this one has. I’ve been watching his youtube videos and site updates for what seems like ages, and it was neat to see all that goes into publishing. It’s a lot of work.

All of the preview stuff he has posted for it has been excellent, so I have high hopes. I’m going to be helping to promote the book with flyers throughout Fanime, so if you want more info on where to buy it (he’ll be in the Artist Alley there) you are welcome to come ask me for directions to his booth. Just tell him I sent you

AoD

Jan 30

Posted by Maridah in Convention News | Comments off

This weekend is Animation on Display, a San Fransisco Bay area convention held at the beautiful Kabuki Hotel.

http://www.aodsf.org/

I’m packing up for it, and can’t wait to drive out tomorrow for it. I’m not bringing many costumes, but I am finally going to have some pictures of my Emma Sheen! It’s been over a year since I started it, so it’s about time!

If you are going, email me! I’ll have my phone on me so I can check emails. I think it’s a good convention to just hang out at or do a photoshoot

New stuff will be added as soon as this weekend is over~

Post-ALA

Jan 14

Posted by Maridah in Convention News, Site Updates | Comments off

ALA is over and I’m starting the hunt for photos!
If you photographed me, give me a shout through email about it <3 Thanks to everyone who took the time to shoot with me!

Two new costumes should be uploaded by next week! I’m excited~

I have a few shoots in the works, so hopefully there will even more stuff in the coming month.