Dragon*Con 2011 Video!

Beat Down Boogie posted their 2011 video!! And guess who made the cut!! *happy happy happy*



You may see some familiar faces. Such as 4 of the 6 ponies from my group! My friend Rob from My Wicked Armor is Garrius from Mass Effect is at :19, My pony friends are at :26 & 2:07. My Haruko is at 2:30, and my friend Melanie is Cassandra from Soul Calibur 4 at 3:33.

Although I must say, my favorite moment goes to the Buddy the Elf. (1:00) I love how in character he is :D

Dragon*Con Part 3

My Sunday of Dragon*Con was probably my favorite day overall. I had so much fun and had a lot going on that day. I started my day off as Haruko from FLCL. I was walking around and met the guys from Beat Down Boogie. They made an AMAZING video of Dragon*Con last year and they filmed my costume for their new 2011 video! I was really excited! I hope they use my footage. If your curious what Dragon*Con is like, check out their video below. It's incredibly well done. :)



Next I set off to the Star Wars costume contest. Every year I tried to enter my Jedi Barbie costume and every year it fell at the same time as somewhere else I was committed to be. When lining up I met the owner of Nocturne Armory. He was really nice and good company to keep while we waited for the contest to start. While we were waiting he gave me a pair of his handmade lightsaber earrings! (pictured below) I was so surprised! It was extremely nice of him :)


I was entered in the Star Wars Infinity division. Which means things outside of the immediate licensed Star Wars Universe. There was a Princess Leia in my category though that threw us all up for a loop. We had no idea why she was put in infinities. :\ The contest had guest judges! Youtube stars Chad Vader, the voice of Ahsoka from Clone Wars Ashley Eckstein, and Chewbacca himself Peter Mayhew. It was a good show and I had fun participating. Well.....



I placed! :D I was awarded Staff Favorite. I was sooo thrilled! I was awarded a fancy metal (haha..It's the ceremony medal from the end of A New Hope!) and a certificate. See all the winners from all the categories here. The staff that ran the event were so friendly and nice. It was a very good atmosphere. And they made the medals themselves! Hats off to the crew who ran this event, it was fantastic!

I can't believe how many people remember Jedi Barbie from the past few years I've bringing this persona. I met my biggest fan! I can't believe it either, but I have fans. It was a good feeling. That my costume can excite and brighten up someone's spirit in such a way. :)

If your curious about my saber, it's made by Alan over at Vader's Vault. He does exceptional work! I really love my saber! And check out how bright it is!


That was taken with an iPhone. It really turns red sabers a pale yellow. It's amazing! :D That's the power of PINK! Muahahaha! Read a full break down of my costume over on my cosplay.com Jedi Barbie page.

Well, later that night I met Chad Vader! He found me in my Dalek dress cause like me, he's a bigger Doctor Who fan than a Star Wars fan. I talked to him for a while and he is a really awesome guy. He even featured me in his 2011 video twice! Oh yeah!!



I had a great year at Dragon*Con. I met so many amazing people and had the best time! I can't wait to go next year. It really is my favorite time of year. And there's no con quite like Dragon*con. :D

(All borrowed images link back to their respected owners/sites.)

Exciting Weekend!

I'm back from AFO and I'm really happy with how my costume turned out. :) I took my time on it and made sure everything was to the best of my abilities. I arrived at AFO late and wasn't able to sign up for their contest during the hour allowed. So I decided to be there bright and early Sunday to see if maybe they had cancellations. Despite some unexpected drama I was able to secure a spot. So to pass time a good friend of mine was nice enough to take some photos of me and boyfriend. He was a good sport and was my Naota for the day. :D I have decided that this will be my last summer Florida convention. It's just to damned hot outside especially if your wearing winter wear.


The bass is built to scale and was made by a friend of mine. It has a few actual guitar pieces on it which helps shape the illusion especially from a distance. It's quite heavy though...significantly heavier than an actual guitar. So as a prop goes its kinda impractical. I am hoping another friend of mine can clean it up and make a mold of it. Then it would be a lighter plastic rather than wood. We'll see what he's got time for. Either way it won't be done before Dragon*Con.


The contest was good experience for PariahCon and I'm glad I was able to get a spot. I was so surprised and happy when my name was called. I placed 2nd in the intermediate division. It was my first contest ever, so it really made my weekend.

I'm so proud of how my Haruko turned out! If you are curious about my costume breakdown, you can read full descriptions over on my Cosplay.com page. This costume will definitely be coming with me to Dragon*Con!! Depending on their Cosplay Contest time, I'm planning to enter that one too. 22 more days until Dragon*Con and I've got so much to finish!! Wish me luck!

Costumes and AFO!

It's been a long couple of weeks. I've been working on Haruko for about a solid 3 weeks now. Whether it be sewing or searching the bowls of the internet for costuming pieces I've been working on it quite a bit.


My vest is complete! I used Simplicty pattern 2341 and added a few mods to it. I added quite a bit of lenght and the small sleeves. The collar is a bit tall, but I like how it turned out considering this is my first jacket. If I feel the need I will re-do it before Dragon*Con. The black lines are actually hidden pockets. If you dabble in costuming, you know pockets are essential. You can see the outline of my phone in the pocket, but I don't mind. I'll put on the side covered by the scarf :)

My gloves were a very pale yellow color when I purchased them. (Auction photo, I wish I had taken one myself) I liked the shape and decided I would dye them. I mixed rit dye sunshine yellow and tan. 2 tsp tan to 1 tsp yellow. I ran out of tan from testing the dye combos otherwise I would have liked them to be a tad bit more brown. All in all, they are in the appropriate color spectrum for Haruko and that's all that matters.

Next on my plate tonight is updating my boots. The white boots I purchased are good for Haruko but were to small around the cylinders to fit me. So I sewed an extra panel into them. Tonight I will put tops on them to make them taller and more accurate. AFO is this weekend. So expect at least one more update this week before the con. :D

Costuming Progress!

I wanted to share with you some costuming updates I've made :) If you didn't guess before, I am cosplaying Haruko from FLCL. The pink haired girl pictured above. Since I'm entering AFO's costume contest for research I had to enter with an anime costume. Haruko won since 1. She's awesome, and 2. I already had a decent wig.

So far it's been challenging. Mostly, trying to find winter wear in the middle of summer has not been pleasant. I've had a nightmare of a time finding gloves and boots. I am determined not to wear gogo boots! I searched and searched and bought a pair that were damn near perfect! I had them expedited from China only when they arrived, they didn't fit :( The tall cylinder was way to small for my calves. So it's been back to square one. I came across this site that has tons of links on how to make your own boots! This will certainly be a challenge. Firstly I have no idea what materials to use! Otherwise, I did find this pair on ebay. They aren't costume accurate, but they could do the job.


Since I didn't have my fabric yet, I decided to tackle some of her accessories. One being this fancy shackle of hers. Mine is made of 100% craftfoam. Heated to get the shape then hot glued the ends together. I used a thicker craft foam for the base than I did for the strips so it's really solid. I painted my craft foam with Mod Podge to prep for spray paint and it worked really well. I used a glue called Beacons 3-1 craft glue to assemble it together. It soaked through the foam and gave me a horrid texture on my once smoothly spray painted surface. UGH! Oh well, I keep telling myself, "It won't show up in photos, it won't show up in photos!" lol

I have 2.5 weeks till AFO. More updates to come :)