The Doctors - Anime Fest 2011

What fun!! I’m sooooooooooooo sorry I’m just now getting this post out… school has been taking over my life lately. School and work. >_< Since I just finished taking a quiz and have two exams next week, I have a little time to work up a post. Yeah, I just said that.

Anyhoo, because of school and work, I was not able to attend Anime Fest on Friday and Saturday T_T but got to all day Sunday and part of Monday (where I went to work, go figure). Lucky me, the Doctor Who Shoot was scheduled at noon so I wasn’t going to miss it! Now, something you have to know about me is I detest finding parking. Especially downtown. When I told a coworker about AFEST, he suggested I take the DART rail. I was skeptical (mainly because I had never taken American public transportation by myself before, or ever. Weird right? I’m comfortable and prefer to take the subway or walk in Tokyo and am scared as shit here. But that is Tokyo and this is Dallas. Anyways, took the subway and it was perfectly fine. No scary shit happened. THIS TIME AROUND. O_O

Got to Reunion Tower, found my friends, got to Dokko Kim’s (Kimber) room and we had girl time while we changed into our costumes. She was Hikaru from Ouran High School Host Club and I was… ta-da! A Dalek again… except it was the dress inspired by the “new” Daleks from Victory of the Daleks.. and I’d never worn it yet (even if it was made a year ago). I should have tried it on beforehand and altered it… because it was rather loose… but I didn’t. Bad me. It was so loose in the top (boob area) that if I didn’t hold it up, it would have fallen straight to my waist. The waist area was bad – I could grab a hand full of fabric.. needed a belt to cinch but it would have ruined the look. OH WELL. So I did not get to wear the dress outside of the photoshoot time because I was trying my best to hold it up so I don’t flash everyone. DK and I wandered the con area trying to find the OHSHC photoshoot that was scheduled to happen at 11:30AM but never found it. Rather, they never showed up. Who does that? Who schedules shoots and cancels without telling people? I saw some other cosplayers looking for that shoot also… maybe someone who knows what happened can enlighten me but that’s pretty… irresponsible not to update people, especially if it was rescheduled, cancelled, etc. Anyhoo, she attended the WHO shoot and became my photographer.

The Villains - Anime Fest 2011

Let’s see, there weren’t that many different versions of the Doctor this time around (most were at DragonCon I hear), I was the only Dalek (very surprising), there was a Clockwork Android from The Girl in the Fireplace, a First Doctor, a Tardis (very cute and well done), Eleventh Doctor from The Lodger, Astrid Peth from Voyage of the Damned, and various others… I’m getting shivers now reminiscing all the amazing episodes of Who. ::shivers:: See?!?!? Haha

Dalek and Tardis - Anime Fest 2011

After the shoot was done, I changed into a more comfortable dress and started wandering around. One thing AFEST tops AKON is the panels they have. Not that I was able to attend any, but looking at the panel schedule, it offers more constructive and useful activities for con-goers. Like instructions on a duct tape dummy (I REALLY wanted to go to that one), leather working, foam crafting, digital art, etc etc… I just know whenever I look at the schedules for AKON, I’m not too interested in most of what they have aside from artist/musician panels, autograph sessions, and concerts. Bleh. Might just be me.

Artist Alley was a bit haphazard, being spread out everywhere instead of being concentrated in one area. Not sure how I feel about that… I like that its spread throughout the con but I can’t pictures or video without accidentally getting artist booths into the frame and not getting nagged about it. SORRY! >_<

OHSHC cosplayers with Dokko Kim!

There weren’t as many cosplayers here as there are at AKON (sheer numbers game) but I found quite a few interesting ones. Some I recognize seeing at AKON. That was a trip.

The Dealer’s Room was quite impressive. The mood/lighting is not very friendly but what can you do with the space provided right? There were a good number of items out and snacks.. I overheard one of the vendors say, “My buns are selling like crazy.” I had to chuckle at that. I wanted to purchase soooo many things but I held back… Halloween is coming up so I need to save moneys to work on my costume, gotta buy my airline ticket to/fro Cali and parking at the airport… ughh… textbooks have been draining me.. let’s not go any further lest I get more depressed.  BUT the most fun I had in the Dealer’s Room was when DK and I stopped at the Funimation booth where we had them play Gee by SNSD and had Changsta dance to it. Yup. Got it on video. >:D But I’m not sharing. You’re welcome Chang, if you’re reading this!

This guy could not decide on a cosplay so I suppose he went for an all-kill and did as many as he could. I got a kick out this! Jedi Akatsuki Cookie Monster

Later that night, my friends and I got together for cupcakes at the hotel bar for Reb’s birthday (Astrid Peth).. <3. The night ended with a bit of Shaolin Soccer – oh yeah! Stephen Chow ftw! The following day, DK and I made our way back to the Dealer’s Room… to stalk Ibi some more. Ibi of Sixh, who is currently designing clothing lines with h.Naoto. Here is their Facebook page if you’re interested. Anyways, you basically have to purchase something to have a photo taken with Ibi. Well, I had a photo with Ibi last year at AKON during the autograph session for FREE so cheap frugal money smart me was trying to find ways out of it. DK ended up finding stuff she liked and I got to mooch off of her. AHAHHAHA Thanks DK! To be honest, I was too chicken to approach him or even suggest taking the photo… it was all DK. I has no balls.

Dokko Kim, Ibi, and I (excuse my lack of costume, I was tirrrrred)

All in all, had a great time. Just wish I was able to attend Friday and Saturday so I could enjoy the panels, What is with me and missing panels?! Sheesh! But before I finish off this post, I leave you with an EPIC cosplay…. Fire Nation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Just awesome. Oh yeah, I uploaded and need to tag/delete photos of AFEST to my SFH flickr album so hold onto your panties til it’s done. I will post the link in an upcoming post.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Anime Fest 2011

TOODLES~