Category: Convention Photos - Mai Sheri Costumes

Bravo, Bravo

12/8/2016

Ball-pit photo © Paul Hillier. Don't smoke, kids, it's nasty. My cigarette is totally fake.

I wasn't planning to be at ConBravo! this year, because of the convention-burnout from all my spring events. But the masquerade put out a call for volunteers and since I can't resist the siren call of working for a masq (and I could allow myself to have a day off from my sewing projects) I ended up there for Saturday afternoon and evening anyways ^_^

I wanted to wear something comfy, easy to change out of (since I needed to be a ninja for the masq), and "new", so I elaborated a little on my makeup test from the winter and dressed as Luci from The Wicked and The Divine. I love the look of the Devil Herself, and had a lot of fun trying to look like a badass all afternoon XD. I spent most of my time hanging around the Cosplay for a Cure room or shoving my camera in friends' faces until It was time for the masquerade, when I changed and shifted to ninja-mode. I got the "interactive" ninja jobs, which was fun, and there were lots of beautiful costumes entered! However, as a masquerade vetran, I think that Bravo might want to consider reducing the time limit for entries, or we need to bring back the "Masquerade 101" panels. Or Featherweight's tip-sheet handouts. Something to remind entrants that 2-3 minutes on stage is a very long time .

The night wrapped up with spending some time at the dance (it's been years since I went to a con dance!) and hangouts with friends because I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to everyone yet. Thank you to all my friends and the ConBravo! masquerade and events staff who made it a really fun day ^_^

As usual, I'm going to toss in a plug for The Video Ninja's coverage, including the full masquerade, retrospective, and interviews: ConBravo! 2016 playlist

So what's next? Fan Expo! I'll be there with Cosplay for a Cure this year, looking forward to that and the masquerade and cosplaying with friends. Gotta spend the next couple weeks getting my costumes finished though!!!

Island Elves and Avengers

2/8/2016

A couple of weeks ago I hit up Centre Island for a cosplay picnic, and dragged along Mr Stark and Dan the Video Ninja as Hawkeye and The Hulk respectively. The island is one of my favourite places in Toronto and it was great to be back there once again with my friends. Here's a collection of photos from the day, mostly taken by Dan and I ^_^

YetiCon at Blue Mountain

10/7/2016

YetiCon was a treat at the end of the spring - a reward almost for 3 months of conventions and events every other weekend. In other words, it was the vacation that it deserved to be instead of the usual chaos that conventions usually are for me. As a result, I'm not quite sure how to write about it - I mean, I had a great hotel room with lovely roommates, wore comfy and fun costumes every day, and did a couple photo shoots... but I didn't participate much in the rest of the convention activities.

Due to a large oversight on my part, Cersei wasn't ready to enter in the costume contest like I planned, and because I spent all of Thursday night working away on that dress, I spent most of Friday at the con tired and trying to unwind. Saturday Kurumasha and I watched the costumes contest and cheered on our friends, poked our heads in on a couple of panels, and spent the evening in the pool and hot tub. Sunday was the "adventure" day - I was channeling Flash while riding the Ridge Runner coaster in my sloth kigu and riding the gondola to the top of the mountain, and we also spent some time at the magical tea party where we met a miniature unicorn XD

I didn't carry my camera with me for most of the weekend and so I took very few photos, but I've collected a few below.

Dream Land took some cute photos of my "Chihiro", which I have added to my Spirited Away gallery . I also shot Chihiro with PPhoto (first time shooting with her; so excited to see the results!), and Kurumasha and I shot out Rat Queens elves with Elemental (like, the millionth time shooting with her - total fave). Both those shoots will be posted at a later date ^_^

Anime North 2016

10/7/2016

Once again, Anime North happened. Once again, I was there.

I stopped by Thursday to pick up my badge and take advantage of the hotel being mostly empty to do a shoot with Dream Land Photography : another Kate Bishop-inspired outfit, this time because Lelola had given me an appropriate dress to use ^_^

Friday I wore my Flashback Tizzie (for the first time with the right necklace!!) and even though it was disgustingly hot, Dream Land once again made sure I look awesome in his photos. Once Kurumasha arrived we snagged some Rat Queens pics together at Cosplay for a Cure , and spent the rest of the evening wansing around the con looking for (and finding) friends.

Saturday I was very glad that I hadn’t planned to wear a wig with my Spirited Away costume because I probably would have ended up with heat stroke. I really have no idea how anyone in a big or elaborate costume survived the weekend! Walking back and forth between the hotel and the North building for the masq was hell. On the positive side, the bathhouse costumes that Kurumasha is 100% responsible for were great greenroom staff uniforms - she did an amazing job. The greenroom ran about as smoothly as it could this year, which was awesome. I hope we can only improve on that experience again next year! It was great getting to interact with the Novice competitors as I took them to workmanship judging; so proud of each and every one!

Sunday didn’t go as originally planned: I decided not to wear my wig with Alice because it was just too hot (only threw it on for a few photos), ended up behind the table at Cosplay for a Cure for a little while, lost the friends I was supposed to meet because my phone had no signal, etc. But I did at least manage to catch the masquerade awards to cheer on my friends and the novices that I met in the green room as they accepted their awards.

Overall it was a very, very positive weekend. In spite of the heat, in spite of a severe lack of sleep, in spite of sore feet and legs most of the time; I had a lot of fun seeing so many friends and so many good costumes. I pretty much got to spend the weekend with all my best friends (except for Mr Stark </3) and doing one of my favourite “jobs” working the greenroom. Even managed to get at least one shoot of each of my costumes this year, which is an accomplishment itself. Wish I had more time to shoot with people and socialize more, but the heat and my lack of phone signal really hurt that.

Selfie-con photos below - most are mine and the ones that aren't are noted ^_^
See you all again next year!

Assorted AN videos I snuck into!

And finally, I've updated my galleries with photos from Anime North: Hawkeye , Tizzie , Spirited Away , and Alice !

Ottawa Comic Con 2016

28/6/2016

Second con in Ottawa in one year? What is this sorcery?!
Because I have a great affection for Kurumasha and was over-due for another convention road-trip with Ragz , I jumped at the chance to check out Ottawa Comic Con this year. I took on the “assistant director” position for the masquerade so my job was to keep Kurumasha sane throughout the weekend (or at least attempt to). Of course, that means I didn’t experience the convention like the average attendee, but it was still a good time.

It was great getting to meet more of the Ottawa-area locals as either entrants or den parents, as well as spending time with friends that I’ve been seeing at cons for years. I spent most of the weekend with Kurumasha; either in the Cosplay Lounge doing masquerade prep work, or backstage in the masq greenroom. I know there were a handful of disappointed cosplayers who weren’t able to enter due to the entry cap (it is a popular event!!), but otherwise everyone I interacted with was incredibly enthusiastic and positive and patient, which is really what I love to see at a masquerade. Even the audience was quite possibly the most enthusiastic I’ve ever seen, which is incredible.

Thankfully, the weekend wasn’t 100% work. I was able to spend enough time walking around the show floor to do some shopping (new mini POP vinyls and fun posters !), and to hang out and take Elfies with Rebecculous (and Sha), and even hop in front of Elemental ’s camera backstage with Ragz and Logan (my Gravity Falls crew: let’s adopt Logan, Y/Y?), not to mention a couple of dinners with the Ottawa crew ^_^

I didn’t take many photos because I ended up being so occupied with work most of the weekend, but a small selection of my photos (plus a few more from others) is below!

And while I’m posting photos of Wendy Corduroy, how about some bonus photos? In April I shot her at Celebration Square with Dream Land Photography, and I also had some fun back in February with a thrown-together “Weirdmageddon” Wendy (worn with my friends’ assorted other Gravity Falls costumes) to watch the series finale. My Gravity Falls gallery has been updated with the new photos!

Civil War Geekery Con

17/5/2016

The Geekery is a very geeky cafe/restaurant in Niagara Falls (Canada), and they like to host events for the community. This April I attended my first “ Geekery Con ”, and was honoured to have been invited as a cosplay guest!

I met soooo many new people at this con (I don’t know most of the Niagara Falls and Hamilton-area locals who were in attendance); cosplayers, photographers, and geeks in general. I didn’t have my own table (since I don’t sell anything), but I just hung around with the other cosplay guests and tried not to block traffic; it was a packed place! We did some fun photos on the cute Avengers backdrop, and I recorded my second interview for We Got The Geek Podcast , which you can listen to here!

I didn’t do any shopping (bad Jen!) but I did end up with a lovely thank-you gift/raffle prize of a print from Toy Bacon - if you’re aware of my affection for playing LEGO games , you know how perfect this is LOL. The mini-con wrapped up in the early evening, but I stuck around for a while longer to take over the dining area of The Geekery for Skyleaf ’s birthday dinner! Eating with friends was a great way to end my day in Niagara Falls ^_^

Thanks to Candy Cosplay and crew for the carpool, and to Jason and the Geekery/We Got the Geek family for the invitation.

Kitchener Comic Con 2016

1/5/2016

Just like in Toronto, Kitchener’s geek community has its fair share of drama, personality conflicts, and people who are simply poor representatives of fandom. However, the positive energy at Kitchener Comic Con this year totally dominated the atmosphere and made for a great event. Granted, my experience was coloured by spending most of the day working the Cosplay for a Cure booth which is always a positive experience, but still.

Because I was at the booth most of the day there’s not a lot that I can say about the event itself aside from the general commentary above. I debuted version 1 of my latest Alice in Wonderland costume, and although the other Cure girls were also in their rock princess costumes, the booth was busy enough that we didn’t get photos together. I was able to sneak away for a little bit for solo shots with Dream Land Photography . Ragz Cosplay was there in his latest Spiderman costume and standing next to him, I was mistaken for Gwen Stacey several times hahaha. Iron Girl wore her Elsa costume and was “borrowed” by the Marvelous Girls of KW throughout the day to join their (canon) princess group.

“Ain’t No Pretty Princess” Alice gallery page is now up featuring photos from my shoot at KCC.

Toronto ComiCon 2016

29/3/2016

Before I talk about this year's Toronto ComiCon, it's been a while, so I want to catch up on a few things real quick:

I'm going to lots of cons this spring! Every other weekend, in fact, starting last week with MTCC. Here's what it looks like:

(March 18-20: MTCC)
April 2: Kitchener Comic Con (I will be at the Cosplay for a Cure booth)
April 16: Civil War Geekery Con in Niagara Falls Canada (I'm a featured cosplay guest!)
April 30: Toronto Knitter's Frolic (OK, it's not a media con, but I will be there - without costume - at the Zig Zag Stitches booth)
May 7: Free Comic Book Day (location ??)
May 13-15: Ottawa Comic Con (masquerade staff)
May 27-29: Anime North (masquerade staff)
June 10-12: YetiCon

I'm making lots of things! On top of costumes for myself and collabs with friends, I'm pushing my boundaries with props, which includes having entered Worbla's TranspART contest . I really hope I manage to succeed at actually making something which isn't a disaster!

... That's probably enough of a brief catch-up for now! Moving right along....

Toronto Comicon a.k.a MTCC a.k.a MTAC!

I went in to Comicon this year with a plan: buy some makeup, buy a wand, cosplay with friends, and take selfies. I had even avoided scheduling any shoots ahead of time, because I just didn't feel like it. Anyways, neither of the makeup or wand vendors which I had hoped to shop at were at the show this year, which was disappointing. I didn't get my new costume done on time so I wasn't part of the group that i had wanted to join. And I kept forgetting my camera at home, so I only grabbed a few selfies with friends and cool people on Saturday.

BUT, I did get to hang out with friends for most of the weekend, saw lots of great costumes, and was kidnapped for mini shoots by Dream Land Photography , Santiago Ortega , and a huge group of Game of Thrones cosplayers. Stopped by the body-painting panel by Evie E and Shelle-Chii and picked up one new thing to try with my makeup in future. Oh, and I got lots and lots of street-passes ^_^
As usual, here's a little gallery of my selfie-con pics as well as some of my favorite shots which have popped up so far Additional photographers: OOC Photography , Tim Bermingham , Michelle Flannigan , Very Frank Pictures . And bonus content: I got the opening shot in Neffy A 's video!

G-Anime 2016

31/1/2016

I'm working through my back-log of posts! I don't have a whole lot to say about the con because I didn't go to any panels or events and didn't even shoot anything, but I did get to debut my latest casual costume, "flashback" Tizzie from Rat Queens, and I took a handful of photos of my friends and I. Here are my photos from G-Anime this year - mostly selfies and elfies ^_^

DTAC 2015

28/12/2015

Catching up on last year's final con. No report for this one, just a collection of photos and video. I didn't have a camera for this convention at all - so the pics are even more self-centered than usual and photogs are labeled on each ^_^

The Video Ninja / Everage / Ralf Vandermeulen / Santiago Ortega / Toronto Cosplay Collection / Very Frank Pictures
Dream Land Photography / C4Murals