Yesterday me and my sister spent the day at Yasumicon, an anime convention in FIU, FL. It was our third convention, so we came in fully prepared of what to expect and what we should focus our attention on. Before we reached the building, we could already spot the usual suspects of dedicated cosplayers, although no matter how many times you see it in person, there is a certain oddity to watching some of the most familiar characters casually walking around the campus.
"Oh my God, it's Cloud!!", squealed the gawking female onlookers. While the costume work is good, it was amusingly ironic to catch him in the middle of a cellphone call.
Soon enough, we reach the main building, and just like the first two times, it takes a good couple of minutes to adjust our eyes to all the wonderful toys on display.
For me and my sister, anime conventions are like flea markets to us. Our primary goals for each convention is to always scour the different vendors, looking for the best deals we can find for all the available memorabilia of our favorite shows and games (or in some cases, whatever looks really cool).
However, there was a particular piece of merchandise I've been wanting to get my hands on for a while.
If you're wondering what my thoughts were when I first laid eyes on these babies, consider this following scene from the Venture Bros and you'll have a good idea.
Despite the warning sign, I did indeed get to pick up and feel these replica weapons (with the vendor's permission of course). I'm no weapons expert, but the swords felt real enough; They were heavy, the edges were sharp (consider the potential headlines, but please make sure to not actually act on those impulses), and the Gunblade in particular had a clicking trigger. And not only do the quality of these replicas improve with every convention, but the price would drop each time as well. But I decided to resist temptation for the third time and continued onward.
I regret to inform you that my collection of cosplayers for this event are a bit paltry. There was a perfectly good reason for this, though:
A ridiculous amount of the cosplayers were characters from Naruto. Nearly every character you could imagine was shown here, including a few I wasn't immediately familiar with as I'm following Toonami's current schedule.
The second most cosplayed series, however, was Kingdom Hearts II. Scores of Organization members, Sora, Riku, and even a couple of Heartless adorned the area, which was more pleasing given the relative freshness of the series. Still, I was hoping for more variety.
Not the kind of vendor you'd want to haggle with.
Time passes, I make a few purchases (which I will show you in detail in the bottom of this entry), and we continue onward through half of the area, and then this particular vendor catches my eye...
Glorious, no? This vendor specialized in nothing but replica weapons, all sharp and all intricately detailed. Two kinds of Buster Swords, Gunblades, a Tessaiga, the Sword of Omens, Zangetsu, the Master Sword, a Keyblade, the Sword of Power, and even an original fusion of a Gunblade and Tidus' Brotherhood. There were even a few stainless steel katanas, including one katana that was nine feet long.
The Gunblade was $65, and even came with a stand. I was very, very tempted. I nearly took out my wallet and purchased it. But I had spent a good deal of money already, and my room was still far too messy to find a place for it. So sadly, I turned my back on it for the third time in a row. Maybe fourth time's the charm...
Anyway, I would like to take this moment to show you all the notable cosplayers who were nice enough to stop and smile for the camera.
I just wanted to take the shot of Gambit and Rogue, but then this guy on the left decided to step in. Perhaps he's just a very bad Logan cosplayer.
I've seen the guy on the left more than once in previous conventions, but I have no idea exactly what show or movie he's from. I've been afraid to ask, personally.
Couldn't resist. This kid's deadpan expression was worth it.
Seems Snake is camera-shy.
I was hoping to meet some cute girl cosplayers, but was sorely disappointed by the turnout. The girls who were attractive were dressed up as underage characters, which made me uncomfortable overall.
There was this...collection of people who were putting on some sort of dance, with the Jiraiya cosplayer taking center stage. People would start chanting "Jiraiya, Jiraiya, Jiraiyaaaaaaaaaaa!" while Jiraiya would dance with any girl cosplayer who wanted the attention. I couldn't have walked out of there fast enough.
And for my personal favorite, I pick this cute and well detailed Namine cosplayer. The other two guys with her weren't bad either.
Afterwards, we made a stop at a small indoor theater that was playing various anime. Once we entered, we watched two episodes of an unidentified, fan-subbed series which I found out later was a 2007 show called Tokyo Majin, an action/supernatural series about high school boys and girls with superpowers and kung-fu who fought against zombies, eyeball-spiders, and a steroid-pumped Samara/Sadako knockoff with an exposed spine and open fingernails that shot black threads. Also there was a rocking opening theme with wonderfully engrish phrases such as "Crush your spine!".
It was awesome. I'll be picking this series up with AD Vision brings it over to America.
To top off the day, my sister and I stopped in one more room, which was housing a cosplay contest. Unfortunately, the quality of these next set of pictures are rather poor, due to the low lighting and distance of the room.
A large line of cosplayers wait for their brief turn to pose and get applause from everyone else. Contestants included...
This.....colorful character, who previously cosplayed as Envy in the last Yasumicon...
More Kingdom Hearts cosplayers (featuring Yuna)...
Even more Naruto...
Captain Gordon, who got a special award for being an "Atlus Fan"...
A Tonberry, who sadly did not bother to put the mask back on when my camera was ready...
And this...guy (who got an award for "Best Original Character).
Now, I must warn you, the next cosplayer may induce nightmares.
First came Man Faye.
Then Sailor Bubba.
Then Fat Tifa (count yourselves lucky I don't have a link to that one).
And now, without further ado...
Man Misty. He got quite a rouse from the crowd, especially with his little dance. Fortunately for you, I don't have any pictures of that little number.
Okay, maybe just one.
Now, let's end things with all the wonderful toys I acquired.
Four, in total.
First we have Judge Gabranth. I've been trying to find the Final Fantasy XII figures since the beginning of this year, and nearly gave up hope when I could never find them. Of the four, the Judge here is easily the most detailed, and well worth the $30.
Next up was Axel, found in three different vendors. I tried haggling the first two, but got rejected, but I scored on the third. $25, bumped down from $30.
Death Note's Ryuk, probably the most unexpected (but most welcome) purchase for me. This is actually a statue of his Live Movie version, but since they look pretty much identical, it didn't matter either way. Haggled him from $35 to $25.
And finally, the biggest prize of all, Final Form Sora. According to the vendors, this figure is a limited edition of only 3,000 copies. He was sold for $50-$95.
I managed to get him for $20. Don't ask how I pulled that off. I'd rather keep that a mystery for future entries.
And just for the symmetry of things, here's what my sister bought.
EVA-00, which goes pretty nicely with her previous Evangelion-related acquisitions.
She's a really big fan.
And for her other purchase (she's very frugal with her money), she bought this...milk thing.
She's also obsessed with milk. This thing's name is Mozzarella, who is part of the Moofia. Okay....fine.
All in all, a decent convention with my best turnout of toys. I'm looking forward to the next nearby convention, which is in November. My sister is dying to cosplay as someone, and is bugging me to join with her. Currently her favorite idea is having us cosplay as Ryuk and Misa, respectively. I'm leary about the idea, personally, but I'll promise pics if I pull it off.
See you next Sunday.
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