Reminiscing: Otakuthon 2008

(Editing Note: I had originally posted this on Friday within the Current and Upcoming Cosplay Events post, but I decided upon reflexion to give it a separate post, just to keep things a little more organized and easy to follow. So please, pretend the date you see atop is Friday, July 31, 2009.)

Last year was actually the first time I could make it to Otakuthon. Some of my friends from L'Alliance Impériale were planning to go for a Final Fantasy VII cosplay, with three of them dressed as Shinra Soldiers and a fourth as Tifa Lockheart. As I know next to nothing about Anime and video games, my first question was "Is there a female character that does not show too much skin?" (I really don't have the right body shape to go for a navel-bearing bikini/bathing suit type of costume and I believe in working with what you have to make yourself look good). The answer I was given was "Well there's always Aerith..." ("Anything else?" I asked after a couple of days, "No, that's pretty much it!"). And so I embarked on my first Anime costume project. I'll skip the research process and the construction details and go straight to the results (if anyone is interested, just ask and I can write a "making-of" post later).

Gwenyver as Aerith Gainsborough, Otakuthon 2008

I didn't have the money for a wig, so I call this costume "Beach-Blond-Aerith" (I name a lot of my costumes "Beach-Blond-Something"). The only construction detail I'll mention is the two side-gores I had to add at the last minute (I made the dress the week before so when I say last minute, I mean the night before the Con) because I was two month pregnant (and now my Baby is five month old *sigh*) and the pattern I used, which usually fits me so well, was uncomfortably tight around my tummy.

The Final Fantasy VII DreamTeam: Marie-Ange-The-Celt as Tifa Lockheart, Gwenyver as Aerith Gainsborough, Tionniel, Teknobug5 and Mageknightterra as Shinra Soldiers.

(Picture taken before the Masquerade, for which we won "Best in Show" to our great surprise)

For the Masquerade, I had some help to do my hair and mostly my bangs in the right, pointy, cartoonish way, but I was bugged because I had forgotten my bracelets and armbands at home (I live an hour away from the venue so I went home on Saturday night, but I wasn't about to go back for these accessories when the price of gas was around 1.35$/L!).

All of the Alliance Impériale members present at Otakuthon 2008: Optimus Super Prime as Optimus Prime G1, Mageknightterra and Tionniel as Shinra Soldiers, Marie-Ange-The-Celt as Tifa Lockheart, Gwenyver as Aerith Gainsborough, Luc Skywalker as a Raccoon Police Department Officer (Resident Evil) and Teknobug5 as Shinra Soldier.

Many of these friends are going this year and Tionniel, Mageknightterra and Marie-Ange-The-Celt will have a table in the Dealer room, in the Artisans' corner, selling Naruto and One Piece bookmarks and buttons, and Celtic jewelry, so I invite you to go visit them.