Sakura-Con wrapped up last month (WOW does time ever fly), so it's time to get around to posting my recap for this year! The story of Sakura-Con 2013 was that it was the con-going experience that looked as if it would happen, then looked as if it wouldn't happen, was set up to happen, was eventually called off and then finally, at the very last minute, actually happened. More specifically, my plans leading up to the con were rather shaky, then sort of firmed up before I left for Russia. The intention was that I would have plans that I could easily call off after I returned from Russia since there was a good chance that I'd be ill when I came back (I did my best to keep well, though)! When I came back, I wasn't too sick, and therefore, it looked as if I would be able to go to the con. However, a few days before I was set to leave, my illness worsened and after that, recovery was slow. On Thursday when I was supposed to leave for Seattle, I had to make the disheartening decision to call the trip off. So from that point on, I tried my best to stay positive and make the best of the weekend (I even spoiled myself by splurging on posters X3). However, I still couldn't keep very positive Friday morning (especially after having to tell *Erin-Aru that I wouldn't be going - a heartbreaking phone call to be sure). So on Friday morning, while I was mopey and tired on the couch, my mom came in and asked me "do you want to go to Seattle?," causing me to instantly perk up. Since my temperature was normal that morning (ironically), my parents made the necessary arrangements to get me to the con for Friday evening - because they're the best. Ever.

                    I am so grateful that I had the privilege of eventually going. It was a magical time, filled with so many precious and beautiful memories. *Erin-Aru and her family were kind enough to let me stay with them for the weekend, so I got to hang out with Erin and her family as well as go to the con, which was a real pleasure. It had been over a year since I last saw Erin since she enrolled in the Navy last year. Since and before that point, we'd made many cosplay plans which were never fully realized due to her Navy duties, so getting to cosplay with her, do her hair and makeup for her like I had done oh so long ago, as well go con-going with her, just like the time we met two years ago was a long sought-after opportunity. I am so happy that I didn't end up having to miss out on it.

Now here's a recap of the shenanigans that we got up to over the weekend.



Saturday

                    After a long night of *Erin-Aru and her mother, *mhahse57 staying up all night in order to finish her Jade 3AM dress, the morning was spent adding the finishing touches to her cosplay while I slowly woke up and got my Vanellope cosplay on. Because of Erin's cosplay preparations, we didn't get out to the con until around noon (Erin wanted to get there for 9AM, making us originally have to wake up at 7AM... Because she's crazy). This was good because I was worried about holding everyone up with my cosplay preparations, but I was able to comfortably get my outfit on and then wait for Erin to get to a point when I could do her hair and makeup. Overall, despite being longer than expected, it was a comfortable pre-con prep; I cannot stress to you enough how cozy Erin's family's house is and how amazing and involved her family is with the cosplay and con-going life.

                    Picking up my pre-registration was seamless and fast. Then afterwards, we derped and vlogged a bit in the reg building's bathroom:



                    After getting into the swing of the con for the day, we grabbed some lunch. While we were getting pizza, I spotted a Turbo and proceeded to totally freak out and keep my eye on them so that we could get a photo of me with them (~KupcakeKawaii).



                    Then, when we finally settled down to eat, we got a text from ~SomebodyKuma who we'd been trying to contact for a while in order to track him down. He told us "2PM Disney gathering in the courtyard." What time was it? 2:10. So we had to wolf down out pizza and run outside with the hope that we wouldn't miss the Wreck-It Ralph part of the shoot. We got there to find ~SomebodyKuma, who, despite having planned to be my Felix, WAS NOT COSPLAYING FELIX. Why? Because he couldn't figure out the wig that I'd lent him to wear with it. I was there and offered him help. Did he take it? No. Everyone go shame him. 'Kay? 'Kay.

                    Eventually I heard "next series... Wreck-It Ralph!" And proceeded to hand my camera to Erin and excitedly run through the crowd in order to get in on some photos.



                    This was my first time in a gathering shoot that involved a platform and I have to saw, being up there with a bunch of cameras pointed up at you, rather than straight on at you is really awkward since I didn't know where to look, so I just ended up smiling into space. After I got down from the platform, I started conversing with a Ralph who had been in the shoot. He was super cool! And really sweet, just like Ralph himself - he even gave me a gold coin! I feel like an idiot for not grabbing his contact info, though, ughhhh. ><'



                     After the photoshoot, we ran into *LifeAsAnArtist and ~happysmily (who both looked absolutely darling). I finally got to meet *LifeAsAnArtist's Japanese exchange student who was visiting that week; she's so sweet! ~Lightning-St0rm and ~TranquilChaos28 also came by, as they were part of *LifeAsAnArtist's Les Mis group; their cosplays never cease to blow my mind, so it was nice seeing them in person again.





                    While hanging around in our little group, I discovered that the floor vents right behind the convention centre's windows were on. I quickly questioned my dignity, thought about how grateful I was that Vanellope wears tights and proceeded to hop up there and exclaim "I had to do it, guys!" And in true shameless cosplayer fashion, everyone in our group who was wearing skirts (and even ~TranquilChaos28 who was wearing pants) joined me in my Marilyn Munroe-ing glory. We spent quite a while up there since it was rather refreshing standing on the vent, plus we attracted many bystanders who took our photos and even join us up there briefly. We regret nothing.





… That wasn't the only shenanigans that took place in front of that window, though:



                    The rest of the day was spent shopping (or more accurately, taking stock of things we were going to buy on Sunday), feasting on red bean and green tea breads and getting photos taken. The intention was not to book ourselves up too much by going to any particular panels or events since I was sick and didn't want to be strained, so overall, our con days were spent catching up with friends and basically just moseying around the convention centre. After all the business of Tsukino-Con this year, it was nice just getting to enjoy Erin as well as my other friends' company. We got a lot of photos taken of us and got a lot of compliments on our outfits, which made us both very pleased.



                    AND :devhikari-twlight:; SHE WAS ALSO THERE, NONE OF US EXPECTED IT. SHE IS A NINJA - A CON-APPEARANCE NINJA. She just popped up in the Artists' Alley with ~SomebodyKuma and gave me bread like a bread fairy. It was crazy. She looked so stunning as Lightning, so needless to say, I had to get some photos of her while I enjoyed her unexpected company.





                    I had a goal of essentially finding my haters that day, which on my list, consisted of a Turbo, a Taffyta and various other Sugar Rush racers should they be present. I found an awesome Turbo, as I already mentioned, but finding a Taffyta didn't happen (I saw one from a far, but she had a Vanellope with her and I just couldn't get in the middle of that). But, in the Dealer's Room, there was a Gloyd. I was about to possibly ask them for a photo, but as they walked by me, they yelled out "darn glitch!" That sent me right about over the moon, exclaiming things like "I got hated on, oh my gosh, they really do care!" :'D There was a shocking number of Ralphs as well as other Vanellopes. While on escalator near the end of the day, there was another one of my going up the escalator while I was going down. She called out "hey other me, how's it going?" to which I called back "goooood!" Then she called back "quick, top shelf from afar!" We both stuck out our fists and exclaimed "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" at the same time and in the exact same way, it was the best.

                    Every time you cosplay from a certain series, you get to feel out the fandom's cosplayers. While past experiences have made me established that most D. Gray-Man cosplayers are rather cold and unwelcoming, I can say that Wreck-It Ralph cosplayers are super sweet and energetic, and ready to party it up when they see each other. Needless to say, cosplaying Vanellope was a fantastic experience.

                    Closer to the evening, Erin and I had a photoshoot together on the iconic Sakura-Con stairs. While we were up there, I got asked by ~LucidVisualDesigns if he could photograph me. It was awesome working with him and the shots came out really well!





                    While we were on the stairs, a girl came by with her group of friends and stopped to ask me if I had a tutorial on deviantART (no doubt referring to my Vanellope tutorial). I told her that yes I did and she said that she'd seen it. My first time being recognized from the internet by someone I'd never seen before! I was ecstatic.

                    It eventually became Erin's goal to get photos with at least one John and one Dave, as her brother and boyfriend. Finding a Dave in the evening proved to be much harder than we thougth it would be, however once we eventually came across one, it was all pretty easy from there; in total, she found about 4 Daves, 3 Johns and various other Homestucks.



                    I brought my Rose cosplay along for the weekend with the intention to wear it to Sakura-Con's formal dance. While I was convinced that it was Friday night, Erin convinced me it actually took place Saturday night. As it turned out, I was right. Despite not being able to wear it to the event I had originally intended to, I still decided to take the cosplay along with me and keep it in Erin's family's car. Erin's Jade just looked so beautiful and I really wanted to be Rose for her, even though the chance seemed unlikely. When Erin's father and uncle were going to leave for the day, I had to make the decision whether or not to keep the cosplay. I chose, after much deliberation, not to. However, later in the evening we learned that Sakura-Con was going to have its own Promstuck that night, which caused my feelings to change. As luck would have it, one of Erin's friends who was hanging out at her house was about to drive to his house and would have to pass through downtown, so he was able to deliver the cosplay to us.

                    We finished our dinner of crepes, sat for a while and then I went over to my bag full of Rose cosplay and said, "alright, let's do this" and proceeded to change into a new cosplay at a con for the first time. It was relatively easy since I was able to slip the dress over my Vanellope tights and the undershirt I was wearing under my Vanellope hoodie. But after taking off my wig and putting on my Rose wig while still sporting my black Vanellope eyebrows, I realized I hadn't planned things out as well as I should have. So I had to get Erin to quickly get me to the nearest bathroom, all while hoping that we wouldn't see too many people on the way there.

                    Despite Promstuck getting shut down due to it posing a fire hazard, I was still very happy to get to join the Homestuck mob, even if only for an hour and a half. We went to the Skybridge after I got changed to chill out and get some photos (the Skybridge is probably my favourite part of the whole convention centre, and it looked beautiful at night).







                    We then had to go get ready to meet Erin's dad, so we proceeded down towards the centre's main floor. However, on the way, something amazing happened. We came across a gathering of a whole bunch of Homestucks. Since Erin and I wanted photos of me with a John and a Dave (like we had done for Erin), we went to pick ourselves out some to get photos with. We came across a super sweet John and Dave, who, while getting photos of them with me, also got a group shot of all four of us Beta kids (even in chronologically-coordinated outfits)! They were totally up for getting photos with us, and were so kind. It was this experience that really affirmed how much I love being a Homestuck. I adore this fandom and it was so touching how sweet these two were and how cool they were getting photos with us and hanging out with us briefly. Needless to say, this experience was a sweet conclusion to my first day at Sakura-Con 2013.




Sunday

                    Sunday started with an amazing Easter celebration with Erin's family. Her aunt and uncle had us come over for Easter baskets which we had to hunt for (and we were so lame at it). The baskets are absolutely beautiful, I was so touched. Afterwards, Erin's family took me with them to Easter breakfast at a pancake house. It was such a lovely experience, I am so grateful.

                    As was the case with Saturday, I was worried that my cosplay prep would hold everyone else up, since Maya has some finicky parts that can take a while to prepare. But this was the day that Erin was set to be Misty. As Erin did for her Misty cosplay two years ago (the year that we met - this felt like a real commemorative cosplay for her to wear on Sunday again this year), she used temporary hair colour to give herself orange hair, rather than a wig. This was extremely time-consuming, so I was able to leisurely put on my makeup while Erin and her mother got her hair coloured. It was a very comfortable preparation for me, and it's always pleasant getting to spend time with Erin's family.

                    We got to the convention at about the same time we had the day before. Our essential objectives for the day were to get Erin's jacket back from the Lost and Found (long story) and to do our shopping. Both these endeavors went really well. My shopping mission to purchase everything from the Artists' Alley related to a certain Marvel character went very well (*fangirlfangirlfangirl*), and I also managed to get Wreck-It Ralph and Ace Attorney stuff! Erin (as well as spoiling me ridiculously, as she always does), bought herself a lot of sweet stuff as well!

                    I saw my cousin, ~Sheilo that day while Erin and I were eating and taking a shopping break. I had been trying to find her the entire time I was there, so finally seeing her was a beautiful reunion.

                    Erin and I both got asked for photos quite a bit that day, something that delighted us. We even got photos taken of us together, which was a lot of fun.

                    Before leaving, we got some photos of each other on Sakura-Con's stairs, as we had the day before:









                    We also went to play the glomp game together! I try to play this game whenever I go to Sakura-Con, since it isn't allowed at most Canadian cons I go to. I went and played the day before as well, but Erin didn't join me. She decided to join in on Sunday though, and we both had a blast.





                    After that, we went to the Skybridge to go and meet Erin's father and uncle. We were there until they literally kicked us out (aw yeah). This was my first full Sakura-Con Sunday, and I have to say, it was not depressing in the least. We had an enjoyable time, got as much as we could have out of the day, and overall, it made for a nice close to the Sakura-Con weekend.



                    Erin's father and uncle took us out for dinner at a diner on the way back home. We swagged around there in our cosplays and even met an anime fan in the bathroom! We also took out all the stuff we bought that day and roleplayed with them, just like when you're little and you play dolls with friends. We felt so cool.





                    Overall, an amazing weekend. Thank you again to Erin and her family for letting me stay with them, I am forever grateful.

                    As an afterthought, here are some of the cosplay highlights of the con, courtesy of my Flickr:




                    Thank you for reading! Now it's time to get down to sewing, since my friends and I are going to be doing a major cosplay collaboration this summer AHHHHHH I'M SO EXCITED I CAN'T WAIT! :'D

~ The Pandanator