Second time using post music, go go go!
Last year's trip up to the grand ol' city of Milwaukee (which feels a lot like Geneva but with more streets and some stadiums) had me with a group of three others. This year, it was just Kristy, and it was great.
The two of us decided on going to the con pretty early on - it was sort of a moot point, like, we already had it planned so whatever. The only decision was deciding on a cosplay, and we settled on doing gijinkas of Fluttershy (her) and Rainbow Dash (me). Hopefully I'll be able to find at least one photo of us so you can see how Goodwill'd our outfits were.
The day started at 5:55am for me, which was when I woke up. I had a hard time getting any sleep so I think I was running on about three hours total the whole day. At 6:30 we set off, traveling mostly country roads until merging onto 94 and getting into the city. I still marvel at how much of a Jenga puzzle those highways are.
Even though we were there at 8:30, registration took longer than last year. We had hoped to get to the Doug Walker panel at 9 but to no avail (we got out of line around 9:20). Because the dealer's room wasn't open, we awkwardly traversed between the two hotels the con was split between until 10am rolled around and we were able to go to the dealer's room.
Along the way, we got shout outs. A lot. And got our pictures taken. Frequently. And gave out hugs. Many, many hugs. Throughout the day, we encountered a few other MLP cosplayers: an Applejack or two, a few Pinkie Pies, some Fluttershys, a couple Raritys, and a Princess Luna. Or as we call her, Moonstank. (There are reasons.) Though later on, Kristy made a good point - "You notice how people were happy to see the My Little Pony cosplayers but they weren't happy to see each other?" "Yeeeap."
The two of us were actually kind of excited to see others, and there was a very nice Pinkie who gave me some of her muffin while I was in the reg line and later gave us candy. So I dunno what the others' deals are.
Several rounds through the dealer's room/artist's alley resulted in a modest amount of swag.
Yotsuba&! 10 was obtained this year, as 9 was last year. The t-shirt and a couple of the prints are my greatest find; they're from an artist named Jake Reuth. Guy was super friendly and loved talking to us, since Kristy and I are interested in getting a booth possibly next year at a couple cons. We art-nerded so hard it was greaaaat. And him and I are bffs in the Zune department. I bought one of the prints solely for the reason that it had a vector of his own Zune in it.
My other super fantastic find was this:
Tiger & Bunny merch was super hard to come by, and the two booths that had it barely had more than keychains - keychains that cost fourteen dollars. And not cool ones, just regular PVC ones. The reason has to do with Bandai and I immediately went "oh". Thankfully that figurine was well within my budget so I was happy to buy it. Kristy's main grab was a plush of Clara from Kuragehime, which was very nice and cuddly and of decent pillow size.
We also pre-reg'd for ACen at a super discounted rate than the current badge price. Aw yeah roadshow rate.
And while wandering around the room, we saw Doug with his camcorder and covertly snuck around so we would intersect him. I just said hey, and then he wormed up to Kristy, who immediately went into "Troy meets LeVar Burton" mode and then just squeemed as he zoomed in and out on her. I stepped to maybe cut in the shot, but he turned the camera on me, so I just sorta went Christmas pterodactyl on the camera before falling on him due to insufficient toe balance. I apologized, but he went "No, that'll probably make it in!"
LittleKuriboh was at the con, so we went to his panel. He and his wife are very, very funny people, and were great at bouncing off each other. It was just a Q&A, but it wandered off so many paths that were many-a-great things to be heard. I ended up getting the last question.
Marianne: "Uhh, you - you with the rainbow hair. You have a - wait, are you a Pony?"
Kat: "Yeah, sorry."
LK: "Sorry, haha..."
'cause I know he's not a Brony fan. Pony, not Brony. I get it. But yeah, I asked about Doctor Who because I can.
After that, we went to lunch. Someone said we "have to be sisters". Not "are you", but the definitive "you are". So yeah. Me and Kristy are sisters now I guess.
The last thing we did was go to a trailer showing of The Secret World of Arrietty, which, us having both seen The Muppets twice, marked our third time seeing it. But we got free posters after it!
And then we went home. 'cause there was really nothing else to do and we'd been going for about nine hours at that point on very, very little sleep. And Krisy was already sick.
So yeah! Tomorrow the kidlets are going to the aquarium where there's a special jellyfish exhibit, but I can't go 'cause the year Fine Arts Council gets good, I don't live in the dorm anymore. :T Ah well. The con went very well, I think. Blew my wad as per the norm but really enjoyed myself. What more can I ask for.
