Acen 2011: A pictorial con report.

[Tev]

Welp, I'm back from Acen in Chicago with lots of pictures. I'll be swap-tagging all of these to both save on space and to break them up in to "safe for work" and "probably not safe enough for work."

Anyway, the weather was pretty awesome this year. We managed to have it be sunny and cool almost all con long.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP3956.jpg?t=1306129098
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2434.jpg?t=1306129641
She went as a Vuplix. I was tired of seeing the sea of lowly Rocket Grunts and decided to add a touch of "class" to the organization as a Rocket Executive.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2442.jpg?t=1306129896
You'd think after walking around in those heels all day, she'd be more willing to get back in her pokeball....but nooooooooo!

There was a ton of people there this year. I let my friends hit up most of the photo-shoots, and I still walked away with a few hundred pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP4258.jpg?t=1306130141
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Then there were these pictures that no swap tag could contain...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/DSCN0499.jpg?t=1306130984
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2320.jpg?t=1306131005

Also, look who I found!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/DSCN0387.jpg?t=1306131035


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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2652.jpg?t=1306131306
So there was this Kamina guy. He was pretty cool.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2647.jpg?t=1306131420
He brought his own ride that was all tricked out and such. But really, that's not the NSFW part of this story.


You see.......he brought....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2640.jpg?t=1306131563
his own.......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2644.jpg?t=1306131595
......Yoko.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2645.jpg?t=1306131631
....Yep.


What's a con without a Slave Leia anyway?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP3742.jpg?t=1306131691

I don't even know where this is from....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP3900.jpg?t=1306131769

These three guys had no explanation for why they were doing what they were doing. That didn't stop them from doing it all weekend.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2775.jpg?t=1306131834

Though objectively, this guy did it better.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/DSCN0522.jpg?t=1306131907

This Princess Rue managed to stay on point for almost ten minutes straight while the crowd of people tried to get their pictures in. I was rather impressed.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/DSCN0495.jpg?t=1306131960

Anyone hungry for some Italian?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP4277.jpg?t=1306132046

I really like this picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP4197.jpg?t=1306132112

Hey Shiney, you totally need a new avatar!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMGP3967.jpg?t=1306132158


But yeah, Acen was decent overall this year. The Masquerade on Saturday was a little less impressive than usual, but the regular walk-ons and hall costumes made up for it over all.

[CelesJessa]

Then there were these pictures that no swap tag could contain...
(IMAGE OF ARADIA AND SOLLUX)


Ahaha holy shit, that's my friend's sister and her boyfriend. We all went together. (I MADE THOSE HORNS and did his makeup) And helped on that shirt (Aradia's). It was pretty amusing, because that morning, he was just standing there while I did his makeup and Aradia was painting his nails, and our other friend was doing the makeup on his arms. I'll tell them you enjoyed their cosplay.

There were about eight billion Homestuck cosplayers there, and they were all amazingly nice. I talked to a Dad cosplayer for, like, an hour, and there was a Vriska selling Homestuck stuff who we talked to a bunch (and she gave me some free art :3). Another Homestuck cosplayer gave me some charms that looked like Vriska's horns, so that was super nice. There was a Equius cosplayer running around who was pretty much Equius embodied. He was hilarious and never dropped character. I have pretty much no photos because my friend took all of the pictures, haha (over 400 in all).

EDIT okay I lied I have a few pictures that I took on my cell phone:
Sidewalk chalk! Just a tiny part of it.
http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/487/photo0184c.jpg

Doc Scratch!
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6981/photo0182l.jpg

The photoshoot was completely insane. It took over an hour and a half, and then they had a huge picnic afterwords, where everyone played with sidewalk chalk.

Our hotel was a complete piece of shit and practically stranded us at the convention center, so that was fun. Thank god for an amazing cab driver who helped us out a ton. I still got home at 2 am, bleh. I will say more when I've stopped being entirely exhausted and/or excited, or when I get some pictures from my friends.

[Azisien]

Oh my gawd it is Shiney!

And that Master Roshi was unexpectedly amazing.

[Lumenskir]

Whenever I see a grumpy Slave Leia I always try to figure out if they're in character or just instantly regretting their decision.

[shiney]

CORN!

[Tev]

Our hotel was a complete piece of shit and practically stranded us at the convention center, so that was fun. Thank god for an amazing cab driver who helped us out a ton. I still got home at 2 am, bleh. I will say more when I've stopped being entirely exhausted and/or excited, or when I get some pictures from my friends.Which hotel were you in? We usually end up at the Hyatt itself and this year was especially awesome because we managed to score rooms right next to the hamster tubes. We didn't have to mess with fighting for mostly broken elevators or long flights of stairs all weekend long.

Also, I figured you'd be there somewhere, but since you didn't say anything earlier, I couldn't track you down for a meet-up.

[BB]

If anyone saw a meowth handing out Rare Candy when told to use Pay Day, that was my friend CJ. She was also someone from Homestuck but I'm not sure who.

[CelesJessa]

Which hotel were you in? We usually end up at the Hyatt itself and this year was especially awesome because we managed to score rooms right next to the hamster tubes. We didn't have to mess with fighting for mostly broken elevators or long flights of stairs all weekend long.

Also, I figured you'd be there somewhere, but since you didn't say anything earlier, I couldn't track you down for a meet-up.

I was in one in the next town over (just, like, a 10 minute drive). It was cheaper and SUPPOSEDLY had free shuttle service to and from (apparently not). They were pretty terrible so we've all decided to stuck with a hotel within walking distance from now on(the Hyatt is so expensive)

Yeah, I actually didn't know if I'd be able to go until really late this year (I had to wait in line for four hours for my registration on Friday) so sorry about being elusive.

I cosplayed as Bluh bluh huge bitch and stabbed the cutest Tavros with his lance.

[TDK]

Was that Daft Punk?

You motherfucker.


Also haha oh my god Buzz Lightyear.


Edit: TELL ME SOMEONE SAW ZEE CAPTEIN! D:

[Tev]

Was that Daft Punk?With the Blues Brothers!

[CelesJessa]

Here, I found a picture of all of the Trolls from the photoshoot. It was quite impressive.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/7197/homestuck.png

[synkr0nized]

It's the good cosplays, like some of the ones you've posted, that make up -- almost -- for all the shitty ones at cons. Thanks for sharing.

[Tev]

Yeah, that Princess Tutu cosplay, and a bunch of the Silent Hill stuff was really what made the weekend for me. Though hanging out with the Steampunk crowd and the various Lolita fasionistas was quite fun as well.

[synkr0nized]

I mean you got some pictures of some great costumes, for sure. That Vash really stuck out to me as well done, though I don't mean to belittle some of the other ones.


I was bet once that I wouldn't go to a con with a costume from Tenchi, but I promised to if it was a good reproduction. Never happened.

I think I'd have to drop a decent amount of money to get a costume I'd be happy enough with to wear.

[Tev]

I think I'd have to drop a decent amount of money to get a costume I'd be happy enough with to wear.Yeah, unless you've got some serious sewing talent, cosplay can get pretty expensive. While we were at the Lolita fashion show, my girlfriend was listing off the prices of the various dresses that were prancing up and down the runway. I don't think I saw a single ensemble that was under a grand.

Though, if you are some kind of crafting cosplay wizard, amazing costumes can fall out out your closet for next to nothing.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1190/525906429_93fe0546e1.jpg

This is a friend of mine that seems to be able to pull amazing costumes almost out of thin air every year. She's just that good.

[Loyal]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/Loneglade/Acen%202011/IMG_2318.jpg?t=1306130755
There's good cosplays, there's bad cosplays, and then there's this. My god I can't decide if this is amazing or horrifying.

[CelesJessa]

I think I'd have to drop a decent amount of money to get a costume I'd be happy enough with to wear.

Not necessarily. It would depend on the character, I guess. I mean, I don't know if you consider the Aradia and Sollux earlier good enough to wear, but they weren't that expensive to do (especially Sollux). Aradia sewed her own costume out of a T-shirt that she dyed to be the right color, and made the hood out of leftover t-shirt fabric. The horns are just annealed wire under tin foil under sculpy screwed duct taped to a super cheap headband (It was once screwed, but there was a mishap during travel), and the makeup was about $8 but it was enough to cover Vriska, Sollux, and Aradia (and still had some left over). Sollux's costume was even easier, we just painted the symbol on a black t-shirt and got two pairs of sunglasses with the colored lenses and reconstructed them to do that. Also orange nail polish for, like, $1.50

BUT like I said, I don't know if you consider theirs to be good enough, since it was a pretty cheap/quickly done cosplay (I think it looks pretty good for being done in about 2 weeks). If you're crafty, you can do cosplay for not terribly expensive (depending on the character, of course) Also, it's so much cheaper if you have friends who you can split costs with and share material.

[synkr0nized]

No, I don't consider those two to be very impressive. However that's more the nature of the character designs than a critique of the two individuals.