So I just went to Momocon 2013 (Mar 8-10) and had an amazing time. It was the smallest con I’ve been to yet so it was a slightly different experience for me (I’ve only been to D*Con, AWA, PAX East, and AnimeBoston). I’ll start by going through my experience chronologically.
So I got there Friday around 2 and checked in to my room. I got super lucky and had a room on the 4th floor. I was easily able to use the stairs instead of the elevator (not to mention the costume contest was right next to the stairwell in the 3rd floor so I didn’t have to deal with crowds to get to it) and we had access from the room to the lower roof level. I wasn’t going to get a room originally, but it made costume changes and late nights way easier. Whether I do it again next year will depend on the types of costumes I have and what panels happen late at night. As nice as the room was, I honestly didn’t like the Hilton so much. I think it would be better in one of the other D*Con host hotels. The Hilton is just… odd. I also don’t understand how there were so many elevators, yet using them was impossible, even when there weren’t many people around.
Anyway, I meandered around, scouted out panel rooms (I had the schedule app but wanted to map them in my head), and went to the dealers room / artist alley. It was like freaking Ikea in there, I got lost in the maze and needed help to find the exit. :-P Throughout the weekend I went several times, and I bought an Artemis for my Sailor V costume, talked with the contacts booth people (finally found perfect Sheogorath lenses!), and said hi to photogs. One small disappointment I had is that every time I went, Katie George / Monika Lee / Riddle / Lindze weren’t there. I really wanted to buy some Disney princess prints in person that I’d seen online. Oh well, they were super busy and at least I got to see their panels.
Later Friday I wore my Magical Girl Nyan Cat outfit and got a decent response to it. Almost no one got the Nyan cat reference though, I need to work on that! I went to a couple of Meredith Placko’s panels, which were great and got me thinking about philosophical cosplay stuff. Then I went to the Disney karaoke contest. Unfortunately I was too far down the wait list to be in the contest, but at least they were nice enough to let me in even though the room was full :). So I had signed up online a month ago when it was open. When they first posted signups I immediately started filling it out, but stopped when it asked me for a sample of my singing. I had no time to make one (costumes!!) and gave up. But then I saw people posting in the group saying they didn’t submit a clip. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to do it, so I signed up, but way too late :( I REALLY wished I had been in it. Not for the prize, but for the attentive audience and appreciation for my song. I did do the normal karaoke later and sang my Brave song, but it wasn’t as fun bc everyone was just talking and it seemed no one cared (except for my new friend I made! In fact she went after me and sang stunningly, and no one seemed to care either :-/ ) So next year, I’ll be ready to be a contestant!!
After that was more panels I think, hung out with my bf, then changed into Sailor V for the late SM panel. I hate to sound negative, but I kinda wish I’d gone to bed instead of going to it. There was a very small crowd, no one but me dressed up, and everyone was half asleep. I guess I was more disappointed that so many people had said they’d go and didn’t. My humble advice for Momocon is to have an SM panel during normal hours for Pete’s sake!!!
So next morning I wore Sailor V again. Everyone loved it and kept stopping me for pics. I got my bf to take nice Sailor V pics of me on the rooftop. I went to a couple of Katie/Monika/Riddle/Lindze’s panels, which were super informative (I had no idea wig clips popped open, DERP!), and changed into Aela in the afternoon for judging.
I had an awesome judging experience! They were so nice and appreciative of my work, and I also felt I got everything in I wanted to talk about. I had fun talking to other participants as well. I then grabbed my Volpin Props ancient nord helmet (kept it out of contest stuff since I didn’t make it myself) and went to the lobby for pics. I had my 10 minutes of photography fame! :-P Looking at those pics later, I realize the war paint combined with the odd opening in the helmet made me look really weird, like I was deformed or something :( I was able to edit a couple to un-derp myself at least. Also a staffer came by and made me unstring my bow, even though the rules said string that can’t fire is okay (trust me. I tried to fire it, it was pretty pathetic :-P). So yeah, another humble tidbit for Momocon, make sure all the staff know the weapon rules well, or just put in the rules no bow strings at all.
Harrison himself saw me later on and was like “that’s my helmet!” I told him how I made my armor and modified the helmet for my big head, and he complimented my paint job :) YAY! Best fan girl squeeee moment for me at the con! Knowing how much I love Skyrim, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m a huge fan of the guy who made realistic Skyrim stuff AND his own awesome set of iron armor.
Craftsmanship contest time! There was a lot of waiting around, but that’s usual for contests, plus I had fun talking people’s ears off. Also there were 2 other really awesome Skyrim costumes!!! We are totally planning a Skyrim meetup at D*Con :D Eventually we were led out and got to do the walk on event. Yaya wasn’t hosting, which made me sad. But anyway, I ended up winning Best Master!!! I am SO grateful and surprised, especially since I’m really a journeyman, and this is my second win ever. I got a trophy and a huge bag o’ goodies as well. I was so disoriented I didn’t even realize I shook Mark Meer’s hand and had a goofy face during all of the pictures. Eventually we got official Momocon pics, and anorakai.com interviewed me. I was a total goober and couldn’t form proper sentences. :-P
I hate to say anything negative since I had such a fun time, but for the sake of constructive criticism, I wish they’d made an effort to hide the contestants before the walk-on. We were paraded through thick crowds, made to stand for a long time outside of the room with the gigantic crowd ogling us, then walked into the room, through the whole audience to get to our seats! There was no surprise and specialness to our walks bc of it. Other contests I’ve been in made an effort to hide us and keep us backstage. There was a room next to the main events they could’ve used to hide us. Its not a huge deal, not trying to sound whiney. It could be a small con thing I’m not used to, or maybe a limitation due to using the Hilton this year. Oh well :-/
After that I changed, had a drink with my bf, and went to bed. I briefly had my pinkie pie gear on for the rave, but realized quickly I am NOT a rave person and left after a few minutes. Yes I’m lame.
On Sunday I really wanted to stay for Cathy’s panels (gstq fashions) but we had to check out at noon, the bf had to leave, and I was so dang tired. Trying to get my car back from valet sucked, took way too long. Seriously, the Marriott during D*Con was way better (even with way more people!)
Anyway, overall I still had a great time, the highlights being awesome cosplay panels, watching the Disney karaoke contest (even though I was super jealous), and of course the costume contest! I will be winding down the next couple of weeks before PAX East by finishing up blog stuff and pics, hunting for pics, damage control for my craft area, and PLAYING GAMES!!!
Costume contest prize pack!