Saturday, September 26, 2015

Hickory-Con 2015: My First Convention and Blog Post!


Hello there! I am pleased to report my findings from Hickory-con!!!

Lets start off with what Heiwa and I learned at our first convention.

1. Show up on time! If you are late the lines get long. Heiwa and I had to stand in line behind a brilliant person who thought to eat lunch while they were waiting. By the time we made it inside I was starving.

2. Bring Cash! Nothing feels worse than standing there and staring at an AOT sling bag for a reasonable price and realizing your with out cash. ( They also had a flawless Free! bag that I wanted. Darn first time fails :P)

3. Don't Be Afraid Of People! There is going to be a lot of them at any given time so you better not be afraid. Personally, I am terrified of large crowds so today was a huge step for me.  Also, be agile. I cannot tell you how many times I ducked under over sized props or dodged fangirls running towards their favorite characters merchandise.

4. Get A Good Nights Sleep! Our dear Heiwa didn't get her full 8 hours so about an hour, hour and a half, into the convention she got a little (lot) tired.

Last but not least....

5. Have Fun! Heiwa and I (mostly me) spent the night before hand stressing the convention the next day. The biggest thing to remember was that everyone going to the con wanted to have fun.


Lets start off  our picture segment with anime related cosplay!
This here is Juvia! (FairyTail) Just kidding of course. This was a vendor at one of the stands, She was really into the lighthearted feel of the event and great to talk to. Her stand was really unique actually, She was doing green screen pictures where you pose in your costume and they edit in your choice of preset back rounds. Such as but not limited to: Japanese back round, Flower garden, outer space, ancient ruins, under water, ect.
They were very reasonably priced and good quality. Heiwa and I were gonna get pictures, but we didn't have any cash... Big mistake!


Next we have Evans and Crona from Soul Eater (Can be found on Netflix) These two girls were really awesome to watch them with their friends, they had another friend who cosplayed as an AOT character. They totally knew how to go to a con. I look forward to cosplaying with friends like that someday :P
Hope that doesn't sound creepy.




Non anime related cosplays!!
This girl was really nice to talk to. She was very crafty when it came to making her costume and was more than willing to share the wisdom.


I have been told that these are "HomeStuck" Trolls. The costumes were great and there was more than the 4 in the picture but I caught them at a bad time :P The guys face is a little blurry but I promise you his costume was on point.


Heiwa and I knew we needed a picture when we saw these two coming. It was awesome to see the knight walking up the side walk, Heiwa decided he must have been her knight in shining armor. I told her it didn't count if he was cosplaying. Army boy was mine :P
Still hoping that wasn't creepy...
Heiwa and I caught The Queen of Hearts on her way into the con. She actually has her own facebook page which I will link here. I still think that DingBat Cosplay is a great name. I checked out her page and she really has some cosplay skills and a great personality! Go check her out!

The vendors!!!! I only have a picture of one booth however its worth looking at.

This vendors had glass blown HP wands and it was so cool. They had a sorting hat and invited people to sit down and see what class they got. It had a great personal touch which made it even better. This is a link to the wonderful woman seen at the booths page. Lindee and Chris wands, the magic with in you Go check them out :)

Next up the always fascinating Cars!! (not what you were expecting? ^-^)

We are going to start with the impressive De Lorean from Back To The Future! It is a classic by any means and I was really impressed that the small-ish town of Hickory was able to get it. Apparently on days that are rainy they open up the doors and show the inside of the car off as well as the outside.


Next we have a new addition this year, Anyone remember the awesome movie(s)
Men In Black? How about their car?

Well here it is! The car from the movies. It is a 1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria.
The owner conveniently placed all of the information in the paper in windshield (as shown above in the bottom left corner of the windshield).  The owner also had the sound track(s) of all of the Men In Black movies playing on repeat. I could almost see Will Smith in the drivers seat, it was that perfect.

They also had the one and only (just kidding, there are probably a thousand of them.) Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo Inc. The van itself was very impressive however we didn't take pictures because they asked for donations to their Great Dane Rescue operation for a picture. I so would have done that, except my outfit didn't have pockets so I didn't have cash.

Thank you so much for reading my first blog post :)

~Aki Ame Okami

Hickory Comic-Con!

Today Aki and I got to go to our first real comic-con!  We traveled to Hickory- Con in NC to participate in the largest one-day convention in Western North Carolina. We were only there for about two hours because we had other responsibilities to attend to today, but we had a blast! Even though the convention was more comic-book targeted than anime targeted.
We got some pictures of the best costumes we could find, and we've decided to post them here for you guys to see. You can also find more of our pictures, and pictures of other participants on the facebook page for the convention here: Hickory Comic-Con Facebook Page

This woman had a very elaborate costume! Both Heiwa (shown left here) and Aki (shown left below) enjoyed getting a picture taken with her! 
 Aki is shown left here.
 This cosplay was one of our favorites! The cosplayer made the arrows all by herself, and she did a very nice job!



























Shown below are some "Homestuck" cosplayers. They were kind enough to let us take their picture. 


 The lady in blue (Juvia, from the anime Fairy Tail) was using her talent of photography to take green-screen photos of the con-goers. Aki and I should have gotten a picture, but we forgot until we  left.

























Some more of our favorite cosplayers! They were also kind enough to let us take their picture.

 The convention center had the "Back to the Future" car out front for photo opportunities.




This woman was the owner of "DingBat Cosplay," and she had a very elaborate costume! She can be found at DingBat Cosplay 























In addition to the "Back to the Future" Car, they had the Mystery Machine and the "Men in Black" car. We were able to get a picture of the latter.
 When I saw the young man on the right, I (jokingly) told Aki that I had found my knight in shining armor! But she said that it doesn't count if he is dressing up for a comic-con.


We enjoyed our morning at the convention, and we learned a few things:

Most important, always be early to a convention. The lines get longer as the day progresses.

Second, if you do come late, consider eating your lunch while waiting in line to get in. You may not want to (or have time to) eat later.

Lastly, wear comfortable shoes (and deodorant. Please). Standing or walking all day can be painful in uncomfortable shoes (and Con-funk is real).

All photos are courtesy of Aki Ame Okami.

~Heiwa Kibo Hane