Katsucon 2014 Con Report!

My overdue Katsucon report! Beware, it's a long one! Check it out, even if just for the pictures I had a lovely time, as always. Katsu is one of my favorite cons to attend and I'm so glad to see so many friends, and do one of my dream cosplays.

Wednesday- TRAVEL

So, we decided to go down for Katsucon early because of the incoming snow storm, so gryfeathr, baronvonblitz and I made plans to stay at rincebrain's house in Baltimore for Wednesday night so we'd be closer to DC for the journey on Thursday. So, the two of them picked me up from home later that night, and we stopped for donuts at Wawa before heading on our way. By that point the snow was already starting and steadily getting worse.

We made our way cautiously down 95, following our Truck-sempais (the salt trucks) for much of the way down. Now, we were doing pretty good, ya know, until we were almost to our destination, when.... we slowly slid off the rode into a small ditch. It wasn't scary so much as "well, shit, we are totally stuck on this declining hill". This was at 1 o'clock in the morning, for the record... To summarize a very long night quickly: We waited for over 3 hours for a tow truck to come, all the while lovely citizens stopping to check that we were okay, and finally Gryfeathr's poor car was pulled out of the ditch. Unfortunately, her car was undriveable after that, but luckily our friend Jeff came and picked us up. It was 5AM by the time we got there, and we, erm, ate more donuts before catching some shuteye.

Thursday- TRAVEL

Thursday we spent lazing around, since we couldn't head to the con until later that evening when jimbly, who graciously offered to pick us was to swing by. Played some video games, ate some Subway, etc. Let me remind you, it was still snowing all day, and there was at least a foot on the ground IN BALTIMORE. (I'm pretty sure Maryland was having a heart attack). Around 9PM, Jimbly arrived and Gryfeathr and I joined him to finish the last leg of the way to DC. After suffering through the worst traffic jam and imbecilic drivers, we made it to the Gaylord after 24+ hours of trying to get there...

If nothing else, at least the Gaylord rewarded us with a balcony room (which I've never had before after 4 years), since my roomies ( bluucircles Kiyasea , and later sewthoughtful/KisaSteph, and Armen) had a hard time getting our reserved room and had to wait hours for it.

The view from our balcony! Splendid!

Friday

Friday morning I changed into Origami Cyclone, which is a bit of a process in and of itself. Luckily, friends in the room helped me with the parts that were difficult/impossible to put on myself. My shuriken got a little damaged during the arduous car ride, so I had to fix it up the night before with provisions from CVS, hahah. When I went down to the con, I ran into rjpara and then sorairo-days ninjadude73, Vinh291 and company, and hung out with them for a bit.

Then at noon it was time for my shoot with Skwinky! We had a lovely shoot outside, and even ran into the Nando's Chicken! I thought that was the funniest thing (they even clucked at me).

Look, it's my newest sponsor, Nando's Chicken!!


When we were done, I headed inside to meet up with Gryfeathr for my shoot with her! Another wonderful shoot with a wonderful friend! After finishing up that shoot, ctgraphy approached me wanting to take some photos. She's a big Tiger & Bunny fan, and was super sweet!

Then I spent some time chilling with Janiekat  and her friend raipelelle and also later with Sorairo-days again. I was super surprised, and mighty glad, that I could sit down in my Hero Suit, as long as it wasn't a chair with a backing!! Dodged a bullet there. Later I was asked to be filmed by George Dugong for his con video. It was fun but also nerve-wracking hahah. He was a super nice guy. I also did a quick shoot with Anna Fischer-- it was a pleasure to meet her and work with her for the first time!

I'm in Beat Down Boogie's video at 0:42!

I then met up with kdoranphoto and she shot me for her con video! I was super excited to be part of it, and the video came out awesome (you can watch it here). She then took a few shots of me as well.

From KDoranPhoto's video! I'm at 0:13 and 3:15!

By then it was about 6 o'clock and I had enough of wearing a Hero Suit. I went back to my room to change out of costume. I last-minute brought Jack Frost with me to the con because LOL SNOW, but I decided just to wear casual track suit Rei instead because I just wanted to be comfy.

I went down to the Gazebo level, where I ran into bluucircles , taniashiba , and Twin-Cosplay 's Star and Windie, and we goofed around for a bit. Then Bluucircles, Kiyasea, pincushioned/Caeasaur, and I ventured out to find some food. Our first attempt (the Thai place) failed so we ended up at Baja Fresh. (I swear they gave me more guacamole than chips, how do?) After dinner, we checked back at the registration line, which had been hours-long waits all day (HELL NO), and were pleasantly surprised when it was only like 5 minutes. After that, it was back to the room, and soon to sleep, I suppose.

Random interlude of selfies with Sorairo-Days throughout the weekend, lol. (Top two from Friday, bottom two from Sunday)

Saturday

Saturday morning I changed into Origami again for another action packed day, but this time with other Heroes, woot woot! When I was done getting ready, I went down to enter the Hall Costume Contest. (This was my first time enter a costume contest...) I waited for about 45 minutes before I was called into the room where first someone takes your picture and then you meet the three judges to talk about your costume. I explained how I made things, they asked some questions, etc. They were particularly impressed with my gauntlets, hahah, which are one of my favorite parts of the costume. Sadly, there was only about 5 minutes before they had to move onto the next person.

After I was done with the judging, I went to meet up with the others in my Hero group for our shoot with Sorairo-days. There was some wardrobe malfunctions unfortunately, so I just waited with Sorairo-days in the meantime (there was this adorable toddler who we couldn't get enough of to entertain us for a while). After barnabunbun(TehChibi), baronvonblitz, and Shiny & Jackal Cosplay(Bishie) arrived, we looked for a place to shoot, and ended up in the basement level where the gym is because of how crowded it was everywhere else. But it worked out just fine, and we even had fun at the arcade, where we shoved the four of us into a tiny photo booth. It was a sight to see, that's for sure.

How many heroes can you fit into a tiny photo booth?

Pretty sure Ivan would beat you all at arcade games.

We then were all filmed together for George Dugong's video, and made the cut! You can watch it here (We're at 1:50). After we were done on the basement level, we went upstairs to the Gazebo, where I spent much of the afternoon just hanging around. My feet hurt so I didn't feel like walking around. There, I was very glad to run into dem-hips, gryfeathr, and spritewight in their genderbent ROTG cosplays before they changed out of costume! But yeah, spent a few hours chilling BaronVonBlitz in her Darkness Barnaby.

Photo by ambercoolphotography

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who gave us lovely feedback about our costumes! It's also so rewarding to hear positive words from fellow fans (or even people who don't know the series at all)! Also, I had a wonderful time with my fellow Heroes! I'm so happy I had friends to cosplay Hero Suits with, and we all love T&B so much, I had a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again!

so many T&B feels ;----; I'm so happy to do Hero Suits with friends, Imma cry.

By early evening, I changed out of Origami, once again with the help of JanieKat, to wear Attack on Titan with her. Because of our first names, we have this running joke about Erin Jaeger/Jane Kirschstein, so it was fun to cosplay Eren and Jean together.

Jane Kirchstein and Erin Jaeger, hurr hurr hurr.

Selfies with babe Wisecraxx!

JanieKat, Raipelelle and I soon after went out to grab some dinner (but not before running Wisecraxx!), so we braved the cold wind all the way to the harbor edge to Potbelly, which had a line practically out the door. We ended up back at Freshii (which connects to the Baja Fresh) because it was a reliable fallback, hahah. But my wrap was yummy, so it's all good.

Back at the con, we hung around for a while. At one point, we were asked to take a photo, only to realize it was for the ACP Valentine's Meme, hahah. (Well, I realized and didn't say anything, meanwhile Janiekat didn't find out what it was until later, hahah) Eventually I said goodbye and headed back to the room for sleeps~

ACP's "Lovers in the Snow" meme, lmao. I had a delayed reaction as to what they were asking us to do oops.

Sunday

Sunday was Free! day, so first thing I changed in Rei's winter uniform and headed out to meet up with Sorairo-days for our shoot with Starrfall Photography. We first shot a bit outside and then came back into the atrium as well. We got some super kawaii photos, and Starrfall was a joy to work with.

Sunday Selfies with Sorairo-Days, Bluucircles, and janiekat <3

Sorairo-days was so excited (as usual) because we were cosplaying Rei and Nagisa together, and I had a lot of fun! We even went in the (crappy) photo booth together for some super cute pics.


I parted ways with Sorairo-days, who had shoots to do, and ran into vintageaerith and shinjaninja who I hung with for a bit. I later ran into TwinCosplay again, and chatted with them as well. Then I headed back to my room to change into Haru, but beforehand stopped by the Information Desk to see the list of winners for the Hall Costume Contest since I didn't go to the Masquerade. I didn't win anything, which is fine. For one, I overheard there were a lot of Beginner contestants (I had to compete at Beginner level since I've never won an award before), so the pool of entries was very large. Honestly, I don't care about winning, because the only thing that actually matters is if I'm proud of my costume or not. Still, I'd like to enter Origami at another con when I get to finish all the details.

After I changed into Haru, I met up with Bluucircles and we wandered around the Dearler's Room (which was only open for like 10 more minutes, oops) and then the Artist Alley. Afterwards I met back up with Sorairo-days along with Vinh and NinjaDude and we decided to get some lunch. We went to Nando's but there was a long wait, so where did we end up going? Frickin' FRESHII. I swear I ate there all weekend, lmao. I technically only ate Doritos this time, so nbd. I'm just amazed at how all weekend everything was packed except for Freshii/Baja Fresh.

I said goodbye to them so that I could meet up with Jimbly and Gryfeathr, who were handling bringing my Origami costume back to NJ/PA since I was traveling back on a bus. I can't thank Gryfeathr enough for facilitating my needs and transporting my Hero Suit! A true Hero TV staff member, indeed!

Next, I met up with Janiekat at my room so she could change into Makoto! By now it was at least 5PM and the con was quickly dying out. It was kind of weird because I've always left the Gaylord around 4 on Sunday every year, so seeing it in this state was so odd!

We joined Kiyasea, Caesaur, and Bluucircles in the atrium where they were shooting, and soon after began to shoot with Kiyasea ourselves. Hilariousness ensued when the fountain show started and Haru was overwhelmed by the H2O.

The fountain show clearly was meant for us. I felt like Lelouch in that picture, lol.  Also, Free!style dancing! Watch this silly video of me and Janiekat!

We then went to the pool (which I've never actually gone to before??) to continue our shoot at the most appropriate place in the whole con center, hahah (even though we were in their winter uniforms). I had a lot of fun getting my feet wet, but had a hard time resisting the urge to jump in, lol.

"No, Haru! You can't jump in!"

Later on at night, we all went to dinner at the Italian restaurant along with BlankoCosplay, ThisCoolIRL and Remy. It was the perfect way to end the con with everyone!

Dinner with friends = perfect way to end a con :3

My eggplant parmesan pizza, yum!

Afterwards we said goodbye to those who weren't staying at the Gaylord and went back to our room, where we packed our crap and then went to bed.

Monday

On Monday morning, we finished packing and got ready for our day in DC. We met up with Janiekat, Blanko, and Remy in the lobby, where we parted ways with KisaSteph and Armen. Bluucircles, Kiyasea, Caeasaur, JanieKat and I had planned a museum trip as a way to relax after the con. (This is the first time I've ever had the day off the day after a con, which was refreshing!) So we all magically crammed all of our suitcases into Janiekat's car and drove into DC from the Gaylord.

Bluucircles and I say goodbye to our balcony and to the Gaylord! :'D

We walked from Union Station to the Museum of Natural History. It's my favorite of the Smithsonian Museums because I love biology, and I hadn't been there for several years. We spent a few hours wandering the museum-- through the dinosaurs, ice age, mammal hall, nature photography exhibition, gems and minerals, etc. The Mammals are always my favorite because I am a dopey animal lover!

From Mammal Hall at the Museum of Natural History!

We headed back to the train station around 3:30, where we grabbed a meal at the food court before we all (except Janiekat) had to journey North to go home. (I had a vegetable crepe!) Finally it was departure time, and I had to say goodbye to everyone taking the train to NY, since I had a Megabus back to Philly. The bus ride was uneventful, and I certainly was missing everyone from a wonderful weekend!
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This is long enough as it is, so I'll leave it at that! Thanks to everyone I spent time with, I had a lot of fun. If I saw you and I didn't mention you by name, I'm sorry! My memory is fuzzy and collecting all my thoughts into a cohesive report is hard, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy our time together!

I had a great time and look forward to next year's Katsucon!