Huddersfield Majikkon 2015

Huddersfield Majikkon. It's fair to say I was extremely looking forward to this event because I loved it last year. Sadly more bad luck struck this year as my father fell ill from a bug going around at work, passing it onto my brother and some onto me. The day came and I was unsure what would happen, if I was to take the bus and if I should go in cosplay also if I would feel more worse. Alas he did take us in the end so I could go in cosplay. Everything was going swell, wasn't rushed and got everything done. Then soon as got out of the car for the event, the beard for my Aku Aku mask fell of and we couldn't go inside early like last year so was left queueing in the freezing windy cold! Brrrrrr!  I put the mask in my bag only to discover the eyebrow fell of later aswell. Waiting outside, a queue did sort of form eventually  and we had the most annoying people infront of us. One male had so much room infront of himself yet kept backing up into my brother who was more ill. Rude much? (I did keep moving on the spot but made sure it was in the side ways direction not in anyones way to bug them.) So that started the day of badly and some girl in his friend group I think kept walking into everyone and nearly crushing my bag when I was trying to sort something out. But you do get some ignorant people at times anywhere you go. It was so freezing queueing but this is what gotta do for other conventions and it made sure we was right near the front.



I met up with various friends throughout the day which consisted of Jodie, Shaunie, Michelle and Tim. Who also brought some of their friends along and mainly stayed with Shaunie and Tim throughout the day but met with the others whenever saw them.

I met up with my friend Jellie Bee first and enjoyed spending some time speaking to her which I normally can't do cause the hustle and bustle and wanting to get out of people's way. But I managed to do two lengthy conversations throughout the day with her. (Doctor who *whispers*) But yes I got two sticker packs of her; zelda and game control stickers, pikachu badge and a studio ghibli zodiac poster. I also bought some more badges from another stall and I would of bought more before I told myself not to, since I'm a serious badge collector.. But I do nothing with them! I also bought a beautiful flower crown from a lolita stall.

(Jellie Bee)

The sumo wrestling idea was brilliant and hilarious, got Tim and Josh fighting on camera and will hopefully be making a funny video of that at some point to put here. I didn't get to go the maid cafe but apparantly we couldn't take photos anyways... So nothing much missed there. I sadly forgot all about the gaming room and noticed they had tekken tournaments which I regretted. When finally remembered, it was far too crowded to get into to.

It wouldn't be a convention without my wig and something going wrong. Which although I spent a good hour facepainting my face, a bald spot at the top shown on the pictures and my wig kept falling to the side. I had never had this problem on test runs so fair to say I was disapointed but luckily I know the clone stamp on photoshop and have been using it to correct errors on my photos. I also had to use it for cosplayers at times cause of the wind. So it's a handy tool to have. Fair to say I was gutted that my prop started to fall apart cause it was literally something I was very much proud of cause I'm not good at making things. But these things happen and everyone was lovely about it and still made me feel good. Which enabled me to turn it into a joke in the end.

I didn't expect the amount of photographers to ask me for a photo, last year it was mainly the photography volunteers, didn't see many of them this year around except for the morning sadly. But wow. I also had a professional photoshoot with forecast and A shot in the dark (which I won along with a harley quinn cushion and on the day got a charmanda one too yay!) Other photographers I met on the day were food and cosplay (which I love his photos so I felt really happy about that) and Starwind photography (who I also knew!) also Tim Brockley (who attends meets and who I know from previous conventions). As you can imagine, I was pleased photographers I knew about were coming to me and made me feel a little better about being there in cosplay. I also had a few people take photos who was volunteers and convention goers like me. (Will upload some of the photos of me as I recieve them.)

Funnily enough the most photos I got was of my friend who was Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul and the fact I got a photoshoot with another person next week cosplaying the same, amuses me. But also frightens me to make sure to get the photos even better. Which will be a challenge considering one of my photos I took is my favourite to date. Did some meme shots with Sherlock (who I met in the first year of the convention) and some more new people who came with my friends. Regret not getting more pictures inside but my flash wasn't working inside the convention like I got it for.

 (Ken Kaneki, Tokyo Ghoul)

 (Harley & Sherlock, Batman and Sherlock BBC)

Finally, I am really gutted I was not my usual hyper self for the day, but I guess it made me more tame with everyone. I loved the new layout for the main convention room but I found the stage area to be too loud, I personally thought it might of just been me because I was ill but found out some stall holders were leaving cause the noise to calm their head and also some stall holders had their hands on their ears. Maybe it could be quieter next year like the previous year? Or maybe move the stage to another room. I don't know, maybe bad idea but the noise kept me from staying in that hall for too long and spent much time outside. I will be hoping to attend next year cause it's one of my favourite conventions especially for cosplaying. I definately think it's a conventions you can go to with lots of friend's and manage to see them all, unlike other conventions. Everyone works so hard to put this convention together *takes hat of to them* and I hope their convention continues to grow.

 (Goku, Dragon ball Z)

  (Chi chi (with Gohan cut out prop), Dragon ball Z)

Coco Bandicoot - In Progress

So for 2015 conventions, I thought for a long time on what I wanted to do and because I wanted to focus on going to conventions than cosplays and also try and make something for once, I finally came back to a thought in the past of doing a character from Crash Bandicoot. Now ones mind will most definately go to Crash as the obvious which I did but I thought how about Coco too. So after gathering supplies, I actually started making my first cosplay prop and I thought I would make a blog post of it.

Supplies for Aku Aku Mask:
Paint (Tescos) £1 each; Brown and red
Thick cardboard (I generously got from my father's work)
White and colored cardboard (Can be bought from tescos, poundworld etc)
Mixed packet of feathers (any fabric, stationary store)
Black Marker

I had to do this prop, it was iconic for me as a child so it had to be included rather than her laptop. I also thought it would keep the character recognizable or at least the game. I started with the base which was harder than I thought and even when I did measurements it looked odd, finally worked in the end. I then painted it brown at least five coats to get it the color I wanted.  After that I moved onto the eyebrows on cardboard to give a 3D event and the eyes. The nose was tricky since I wanted it a certain way but I couldn't with the cardboard I had. I did eventually settle on the next best thing which I think worked. The mouth was tiring work since it was tricky to cut it out with the thick cardboard I had and because it was already the color I wanted it, I had to be extra careful not to ruin the cardboard.

Here is what it looks like currently, I need to retouch it at parts from fingerprints and marks on the back but otherwise I hope it stays as close to this as possible for the hard parts and will add feathers closer to time. Considering this was all made by me I was and am still chuffed and I hope fellow cosplayers and the public will enjoy it when I wear it to many of the conventions I have planned for next year.

This will be my Coco wig (I thought I would try out my new glasses since I saw all this outside my room when got home from work) which I am to make the Ribbon and ears now that I know what it looks like and the size. Got my shirt and under orange top. Waiting on dungarees and now just need to buy some facepaint and purple converse.

More to come soon, watch this space!