Recollections: Perfect Spin Off Cosplay

Anime Expo
Location: Anaheim Hilton and Convention Center, Anaheim, California

Prelude: The mission: Get 5 people with little to no prior knowledge of Yu-Gi-Oh, and get them to do a competitive skit for Anime Expo. The prime example:
Wayne: We need a Yugi
Kie: I heard that Darryl's free
Wayne: Get him then
*few hours later
Kie: I'm having problems convincing him, request backup
Wayne: Got it, I'm on the case.
Darryl: So, you've come to your senses and want me to be Boo Takagi or Okamura for USA Musume right?
Wayne: Not exactly. We have a skit idea for AX, and we want you to have the STAR-ring role. (lovely emphasis on star, in fact, a furry star)
Darryl: Cool! So who do I get to be?
Wayne: Yugi, from Yu-Gi-Oh
Darryl: .... Yugi.... oh my god (and hence the title of our skit came into being)
Wayne: I've got the hair and puzzle made for you, you just need to supply yourself and some random bondage gear. What else will it take to get you in the skit?
Darryl: I wanna dirty dance with Kie
Wayne: Deal!
Darryl: Yes!
Kie: Whaaaaaaaaaaaa?
Wayne: Kie, don't you want Darryl to be in our skit as Yugi?
Kie: Yush!
Wayne: Then it's settled! Welcome aboard Darryl!
Kie: But but but dirty dancing!
Darryl: Don't worry Kie, I'll lead!

Thursday: The first day of AX. If you saw me this day, count yourself lucky! I arrived about noon and intercepted Darryl at Carls Junior. Met up with his AX Staff buddies and afterwards we went to the masquerade booth with the two Kuribo and Blue Eyes White Plushie (BEWP). I rediscovered the wonders of Hilton parking at a mere $4 for the time I was there, compared to $13 that was a flat rate at the Marriott. I found out I actually needed my badge before registering for the masq, and thank goodness, Kitsy's already signed up for us. I go with Darryl to the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) to the mysterious 1.5th floor to get my badge. For some reason I wasn't in the system, so a few well placed calls later and I was hooked up. I still need to get a refund on my other badge, hopefully it will come soon or be applied towards next year. After that, went back to the masquerade booth, saw Wayne #2, Rachel, Ashley, Hai all there too. Summoned the rest of the crew save for Lance and we all retreated to Darryl's room at Marriott 835 to record the soundtrack. We all chatted for a while and looked at plushies but finally got the recording to start. I see Darryl is quite fond of the fuzzy electrical starfish wig for Yugi. Recording starts, and Paffo is first with Pikachu and Isis lines. Since I needed to go to work on finishing all the trim for Black Magician, I went next as Kaiba. I was doing really well until I got to "disable". Redid that line about 10 times but it still sucked and we just moved on. Luckily that line got edited out later. Then I got a trouble call from the Fee in the middle of recording but luckily she fixed it so I was exempt from going over to help out. I departed after that. I was told that heroic Darryl had tons of problems with his lines, but everyone else was there to help coach him. Recording the lines was terribly amusing and it's a good thing we didn't keep the outtakes. Those were embarassing. So back home and I work on DM until midnight. And I actually finish!

Friday: Wake up bright and early and get to transporting the DM staff, and armor pieces and all of Kaiba. No one is awake when I arrive and I found out that already I have some damage to the DM armor which needs to be repaired. I spent from 7-9 distro-ing pictures from Fanime that I had developed. Met up with John Taylor from City of Hope and chatted for a bit, returned his business cards. I saw Jayjay, Laura Feeney, Gina and the rest of Sakura Mochi while meandering around. Sent out reminders to the C!NP girls that they need to get ready for the Mini Masquerade performance at 9:30. Since I couldn't get in touch with Tiffy, I went to her room for a little bit and found myself a new plushy pillow Kelly! Yay! Tiffy and I exchanged piccies but since time was running out, I had to go to my car and change into Kaiba since Darryl was already at the Mini Masq. It took me sooooo long to get into Kaiba, because it's a hard costume to put on by myself. But it was do-able. I use my briefcase as primary means of storage like usual and head on over to the Mini Masq. Met up with Kim Lim and Patrick from Anime Boston as my fellow judges and we schmoozed with the contestants and staff. The orchestra had already set up their equipment and there was a little scare to the UM girls that they would be right after the orchestra but we got that cleared up with Casey. Kie was dressed but didn't have any make up and the other two were in pajamas so they all had to go back and change after a quick sound check arranged by V-Tech. Tiffy sounded so good considering that she had a sore throat. The Mini Masq started and by entry 22, still no girls. @_@. They were due after entry 25. So a phonecall to them to remind them to get up to the ACC Main Events ASAP> They made it up just in time. They were slightly winded but luckily there was an intermission so they could have a breather and some water. Performance time and it all went out so well! No rumbly stage like last year which was awesome. They stayed for the rest of the Mini Masq and after that they departed for a photoshoot with Kyle. Judging only took 15 minutes and I gave my award to Chibi Bishoujo, a very nice youth Sailor cosplayer. The Best of Show group had a very "Spirited" Away sketch and was overjoyed with the award that they came up and hugged all the judges and took pictures with us. I had a really positive experience from the Mini Masq. I went downstairs and met up with Kelly in her Chun Li. I haven't seen her in ages! So we browsed the dealers room together, each of us getting stopped for pictures separately and once in a while a picture together even though we weren't matching. I got challenged to duel a few times but couldn't since I didn't bring any dueling decks. Considering that I don't have any dueling decks, I'm hoping that Kelly can hook me up and bolster a deck that I'll make some day. Afterwards Kellykins and I changed out and went to get lunch (this is 4 PM) at the little cafe downstairs since she'd already ate at the coffee place, pizza place and corner restaurant. Of course Kelly locked herself out of the room so in order to get back, we intercepted Ashypoo in the middle of her Suikoden gathering. Since Kelly was super tired she took a nap and I tried to get Ashy's key back to her. Luckily I caught up with Tiffy and gave her the room key. Paffo and I went back up to 13339 in the way corner where I found their mom slaving away on BMG and a pair of incomplete duel disks. Kiyoshi taught me how to bevel with foamcore so I cut out the second pair of DD wings. Paff and Kiyo geared up in Zelda while we waited for Kie to show up. Neko mom needed alot of help with BMG so I stayed in the room working on DD's and coaching her in the fine art of last minute cosplay. After an hour or so of trying to call up Kie so she can tell mom want she wanted done with BMG, she shows up. By that time the DD's have shape. I had plans to get into either Rare Hunter or seifuku Kaiba but I had to cancel them since I was working in the Neko room. I also ended up having to cancel on going to that final Ranma 1/2 episode party hosted by Viz at Downtown Disney. After some talking with her mom, Kie was convinced to put on Zelda while her mom and I would work on BMG for her. Her mom wanted me to cancel BMG from the skit, but since it we already recorded the soundtrack, that was unacceptable to me. So of course I would stay and help her mom with finishing it. It took Kie about an hour to put on her Zelda costume and in that time I finished painting her BMG wand with gold and pink, and the wings for the DD's. Kiyo had left early as Link and came back to get them and all of the Zelda group departed. I didn't leave the Neko room until about 10:30, after the fireworks. In that time I completed the core unit to both DD's added the red triangles to the wings and did alot of trim work on BMG's boots and arrows with her mom. Got back home at a decent time to finish repairs on my DM, and pack everything up in the car. I nearly forget to pack the hat but luckily I woke up at 1 AM and threw that in the trunk too.

Saturday: I wanted to sleep in! But no, I get moving at about 8 when I get a call from Darryl. The due time for craftsmanship judging is noon and the soundtrack is at 2:54 with everything in place. Augh! It's too long! So first thing to do is to get over ato the Marriott and work on the soundtrack with Darryl. After some cutting and paring, we got the skit down to the 2 minute time limit. That took about an hour. Sexy Baby initially was put in at an extremly loud volume but we turned that down too. Met up with SJ for their craftsmanship, so Gina and I traded notes on the Sera Myu Diamond costume construction. She was unable to find the neck piece gem. After I sent Darryl to bring the script CD to the Neko's I went to Kitsy's to help her put on the Kaiba. See, when I put that costume on Kitsy, it only takes me 5 minutes. Everything's napped in and she's ready to go. I pack up the cards and take them downstairs for judging and then I head up to Darryl's to change into Black Magician. I'm halfway done with Darryl shows up to change into Yugi. I head down first and take some random pictures in the lobby. Then Kitsy, Paffo and Kie (in boots and gauntlets only of BMG) show up with Kuribo and BEWP for judging. We wait about 12 after Sakura Mochi and it's within that time Darryl suffers the fate of being Yugi. Darryl accidentally leaves his DM card with the judges for reference and he reclaims it later. We all head back up to the Neko room after craftsmanship and Lance shows up. We were going to plan to rehearse but the 2 PM meeting time has come, so we all head down to the ACC. The meeting goes on til 3 PM but we sent Paff, Kie, Kitsy and Lance back to the room to listen to the soundtrack and finish costumes. Darryl and I stay behind and elave a whole mess of props backstage so we don't have to transport them later. We decide to leave the more noticable parts of the costumes behind as well, such as fuzzy starfish and the DM hat so we don't get stopped for pictures. We stop by to try and find Darryl's DM card but no luck. Darryl says he'll just use Beaver Warrior for pictures. Grab some cold pizza and water for lunch. Back to the Neko room while Darryl, Lance and I work on blocking and skit movement. After a few runs, we bring in the girls for full rehearsals. We go through the skit about four times. Things we had to control were Darryl's wind blowing action and Kitsy's laughing at Darryl. Lance gets his cards in order as well as his Reaper of the Cards equipment. Darryl's having problems keeping his jacket up so he makes himself a string bra to keep it up. Kie still needs work done on her cape and dress and the hat isn't even started yet. Paffo has to fix up her hood and her hair. 6 PM rapidly approaches so me, Lance, Paff and Darryl grab the remaining props and head to the ACC> Kiyo has left to get the crosses from the Neko car and will meet us there. Up at the ACC it's schmoozing and waiting for Kie and Kitsy to show up. 6:40 rolls around and finally a BMG shows up! It's Hikkles tho, not Kie. 7:10 rolls around and Kie shows up with her BMG outfit, sans hat. During pre-masquerade preparation Kitsy and I help her out making her hat. She forgot the pattern to her visor though and so she'll just have to go without. Her dress isn't hemmed, but since craftsmanship is over, all we need is something presentable. Her BMG costume is "complete" about 8 PM> Also had to periodically fix Darryl's jacket bra. Trying to get the DD"s on Darryl and Kitsy was also and adventure in masking tape. We were entry number 31 and at the pre masquerade meeting, we were told that intermission was going to happen after 25. After we find out that the group name is still Baby Neko Twins, we tried to change it to YuGiOhMyGod, but then also found out that intermission is after 31. @_@. So we all get ready and I miss out on the opening of 30, Tiffy's Chicago skit, but finally get let in the room, since I was getting tape for Kitsy. Thank goodness the group title was changed, and adequate time was set for us to plant all our props. We got good response with Fanservice, US Censorship and most of all, Hong Kong Bootleg cards. Darryl hands over the 8 x 10 glossy of himself to Misa afterwards. When the skit is done, we go outside for fan pictures, but since there was intermission, we got a ton of pictures taken. That was actually pretty lucky. After that was all said and done, I take Pikachu to return to the LP2, to find Rachel and Karisu's little daughter waiting. Rachel had to keep her in check until we returned and when she saw me she automatically glommed onto Pikachu. Kyu kyu little Merle. After intermission was over, we missed about 6 skits in order to take re-enactment photos. Once I returned tho, I pretty much was confied to my set as Merle would bounce around playing with the Pikachu around me. So I didn't get a chance to talk to Tiffy's team or other groups, but it was okay, since lil Merle was so happy. And I wasn't the only one with a little girl orbiting him. Darryl found himself surrounded by Sara and her Mini Magical Girls team getting tormented about being Yugi. Kitsy told me that there was some girl who thought that she was me since I wore the exact same outfit just one day earlier. It was AJ. :D All throughout the intermission AMV's played with Merle and Pikachu dancing around the seats up until awards were announced. Whoa there, YGOMG won an honorable mention in presentation. All my sins upon Darryl have instantly been forgiven! The Yugi hair, the plushie pelting, just being Yugi in general. All absolved. Interestingly enough, we got a nice trophy and random DVD's of anime we've never heard of. How ironic. But we didn't get a 8x10 glossy of Darryl back. Kie was sad, she wanted it back. After the masquerade is over at midnight, we all went out to take pictures. Then I get a happy-gram from Fee, "Dude Wayne you are SOOOOOOO in big trouble!" I try to do damage control but no avail and so the only answer is to return home ASAP, skipping out on any remaining pictures. So in a whoosh, Kitsy changes out and I squish the entire Kaiba costume into the suitcase and file back to the Marriott. iPLAY follows me and is molestering me down the escalator. But finally I get to Darryl's room, change out, get to the car and dump everything in the car and go home. I told the Nekos previously that they could hold on to the Kuribos until Animagic, but the Kuriboh's magically came home with me. Since they are twins too, I think I will name them Paff and Span. :D

Fanime Con
Location: Santa Clara Westin Hotel and Santa Clara Convention Center, San Jose, California

Almost Project Akon 10 good times. Except we didn't have a joint skit. But still camping out in the same room with nearly the same cast of characters was a flashback. And for Fanime, it was basically all USA Musume for me all the time.

Thursday: Gee, it'd be a good idea if I packed my black vinyl shoes wouldn't it? Oh I should bring Shigure for Ha-chan. *stuff stuff*

Friday: All packed. One bag. No gun-case chan. But then again, no weapons this time around. Unless you count the microphone. So off to the airport and get on the plane and find out.... They have to REBOOT the plane. X_X. Literally reboot the plane and start up it's OS all over. That took a good 45 minutes. I'm so lucky that Lionel was EXTREMELY patient and waited for me at SJC for the pick up. Thank you!

Saturday Noon: Supposedly I'm supposed to help with rehearsal at 10:30. Too bad I just got in. Lionel escorted me to room 502, home of the Tiffy and Ashy. 501 was the Hikkles, Annie and Angela. I dropped off my stuff in my own little section of the room. Meeting for the masquerade is at 11. I saw the Neko's downstairs in their KOF costumes. Kix and Fee were in their KH costumes. We gathered the rest of the group together for the pre-masquerade meeting. Gave Karriekins her pressie for her bday, the Nekos the cloth from FD, and Twix the extra silver vinyl. We were entry number 34. Managed to turn in a CD for practice and at the far end of the room. There, I went through my part of the routine about three times. And we got a onstage rehearsal! It was the temporary stage set up but it held up pretty good to jumping girls. Afterwards, the rest of the girls and Henry went to go eat lunch while I went to starve and sleep. I managed to take this time to go the dealer's room but didn't find anything that I wanted or couldn't get at a better price somewhere else. At 2 PM, Lionel got the video camera, and Arty the boombox, and so I changed into RR21 Tsunku to do the test shots. Luckily Karrie kins was finished and she actually went first for video shooting. Then it was me. Angela came down next. Then Ami, Fee, Hikkles, Kie, Annie, Tiffy and last was Paffo. Because we went back up and got Tiffy to do her make up and then I had to spray her hair gold again.

Saturday Evening. So at the time Paffo is done, I resuit up (I change in and out cos of extreme temperature ness) With a little disappearing act by Hikkles, we manage to relocate her and tape 2 run throughs of the group behind the convention center in front of the black glass windows. Very nice effect. First run, everyone stayed in place and second take was the default mode. It was windy and cold, but I was okay and they were okay after some activity. Some people think that RR21 Tsunku is Wizard, painted black, down the visor. And then there's Karrie who calls me Super Vinyl Man. X_X. Then to return the boombox and thanks to Lionel & Arty and have them return to the audience. UM took a 15 minute break then filed into the backstage area. I stayed with Nekos for that period of time. Since we were group 34, we put on the right side of backstage. There were two transparent screens and plenty of water set up. Super sweet set up. Tiffy tried to spike my hair, but my hair was quite disobedient. It did feel quite weird tho, and crusty. Watching AMV's backwards was difficult but otherwise we could see the acts and routines perfectly. Kie did something bad. :D Chub. Luckily it got fixed. Little Sara was so kyu in her Myu costume. Halftime comes around we we're swapped over to the other side. We follow Nando's super sweet PSO skit. Which was odd since he used to be entry 38 but evidentally they got moved up. Ashy and CJ were so detailed with their Grandia costumes. Tiffy gives the UM girls a quick debriefing and it's time to go! We're up! T_T Dieter didn't read our super cool intro but that was alright. No mess ups with the starting of the track, and all went well! The podium presented a small obstacle when I had to get back on stage for the Tsunku rap sequence but that wasn't too bad at all. The girls were phenomenal! 9 months of practice sure paid off! The microphones weren't set too high but I could at least hear all the girls singing. Another plus was the audience stayed quiet and refrained from clapping to the beat which was also helpful to hear the singing. The girls lingered on stage for naisu picture opportunities then rest time! After the masquerade was over, picture time! We must have been relocated 5 times as we were herded towards the main lobby.

Saturday Night. But the main lobby is where we stayed for pictures for a very long time. Got to talk with everyone! Jayjay, Mich, Dennis, Kyle and Sarah. Made some really cool connections! But tons of pictures in between. We didn't get to break until about 12 midnite. I changed out, then took Paffo away for Sexy Beam pictures. Yay! We finally all met up again and deparated for IHOP for dinner/breakfast/any meal is a good meal. I had breakfast with Kie and Annie and Henry and many more people. But afterwards.... dead. I didn't care about the hairspray in my hair or showering. BED.

Sunday Morning. Bed at 2, wake up at 7. I couldn't get back to sleep. So I disassembled RR21 Tsunku and transformed that costume into Jima. I love that costume! It took me longer to put on than I expected but I think it was well worth it. Henry was up too because it was 10 AM his time and we was downstairs reading Harry Potter while I was changing. We went for an early morning photoshoot, atop of pylons, almost getting killed on rooftops, and super lazy pictures at the top of the garage. We even took USB pictures cos my Jima is USB compatible. :D. I was waiting for other people to wake up but by 9 AM I was tremendously overheating in that costume like it's predecessors, Wizard, Dilandau and RR21 Tsunku. So I woke up Ashy and she took some naisu pictures of me so I could change out. Oh and the shower was sooooooo good. I ended up putting more gel on top of the crusted hairspray that I had last nite from RR21 Tsunku in order to slick/spike my hair for Jima. And then pack pack pack! Off we go at 12! Ashy and Henry and I say our goodbyes! Stop off at Togos for a hot pastrami sandwich for my wait at the airport! Luckily check in and security were of such low wait I cleared both in 20 minutes! So I ate lunch and slept until 2:30. When I wake up I see none other than Melkins! Yay! And we hang out cos we're taking the same plane! That was soooooo cool. We can carpool and stuff the next time we go to Fanime!