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MechaCon 9 (Very Late, Yes I Know...)

Disclaimer: This is first of all a FIVE month old post that I knew would take me forever to write (and trust me it is long), so I procrastinated like you wouldn’t believe. Yet I feel the world still needed to see this, thus here it is. Sorry if it sounds rush, I’m tired of putting it off. I tried to keep most recognizable names out, but if you recognize yourself and want to be remove, let me know and I’ll gladly do it. Also there are a lot of references, so if you didn’t get it don’t read too much into it. And lastly, please don’t be offended by anything the characters Vaughnaara and Kyubey say; towards me or otherwise. They are both fictional, if exaggerated extensions of my twisted psyche after all. Enjoy.

Vaughnaara: Uh huh, five months after the convention, and again you still haven’t posted about it.

Vaughn: Okay I accept that you’re right and all, but are we really starting this blog off like this?!

Vaughnaara: Indeed.

Vaughn: I’ve been busy you know; I stay busy…

Vaughnaara: *rolls eyes* Playing Realm Reborn is considered “busy” I see…

Kyubey: And Pokémon.

Vaughn: Not even a lot of that Kyubey. Wep, let’s get started I guess, before I get sidetracked again…

Day 0

First and foremost, I want to give a shout out Lil Vaughn, aka ‘VForExtreme12’, as he has pretty much been my road buddy this year to almost all the conventions in a fairly reasonable area, and for putting up with my bull each time. For those of you that are new to these blogs/misadventures, MechaCon is stationed at the Hilton Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is the biggest anime convention we have here. Shank drove us down there Thursday afternoon; I would be rooming with him and Lil Vaughn. I thought going so early we would generally be the first people there. Granted there’s still a good chance we probably were, not long after people started popping up everywhere. I spent into the evening hanging out with fellow cosplayers I haven’t seen since from a month ago, to probably last year this time. Sure I cosplay, but the catching up is what I enjoy now; trading con stories and hearing of their travels elsewhere. It was too bad Becca wasn’t gonna be there this year. I was starting the wonder if it was going to be the same without her; she’s one of my ‘Robin’s’ after all.

Kyubey: …I remember her; she’s worn a kigurumi of me before.

Vaughnaara: W-w-wait hold on, you have ‘Robin’s’?

Vaughn: Yeah like eight.

Vaughnaara: …You’re Batman?

Vaughn: I never said I was.

Vaughnaara: You’re implying it.

Vaughn: I’m not implying anything! Alright fine, sidekicks… People that more or less help keep me from becoming you!

Vaughnaara: *Aside smirk* You make that sound like a problem.

A short time later I left with the roommates to walk the streets of New Orleans again in search of food. We had already been to Harrah’s Casino earlier for Lucky Dogs (hot dogs). I had to be careful what I bought because I honestly didn’t come to the convention with much money… The actual amount I will leave up to the imagination however… Plus, 80% of the time I forget to eat at cons anyway; I lose my appetite; it’s the greatest thing. We found an Arby's down the way and grabbed some food from there. At some point, while a lot of us were hanging out at the restaurant and bar in the hotel, I got the bright idea to have a Dangan Ronpa anime watch party. I felt like I needed a dose of “despair” to get me prepared for my cosplay the next afternoon. *Scratching Head* …If I remember correctly it was Jordyn, and Nina’s room, and Erinne, Lil Vaughn, and Shank came to watch also. I think I have that right… Anyway we watched about 4 eps; all I had at the time. Went back to the room, drank a bit, help the Martin’s get their art stuff into room, and finally went to sleep.

Day 1

Friday morning, woke up ready to jam! One thing about home (Louisiana) cons is that I’ve been doing this for so long now, that I can just walk around in normal clothes and be treated like I’m somewhat of a champion. To them, I’ve protected the realm from Ganon! I’ve defended the realm of Kingdom Hearts! I’ve saved Cocoon! Spent the morning running around as Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss and ate breakfast, (or bunch I guess) with Brittney and Rhett. They mentioned the ball later, and I wish now that I had paid to go because of what transpired there later. After a little while I eventually found Brett to ask about the Vocaloid panel because I didn’t know if I was in it this year or not. Answer was yes and we had two hours; *sweatdrop* glad I asked… I thought the panel went well considering. I actually got to wear Kaito since it didn’t come in time for the con last year. I’m honestly just kind of there for support since I don’t really dance, and don’t know any of their songs to sing (yet). I went and grabbed water for them for when they left the stage; it’s the least I can do.

Afterwards it was time for something completely different, cosplaying Sakura Oogami. Scared out of my freakin’ mind… This cosplay idea kinda started as I nonchalant thing, but a good amount of my friends were ecstatic when I said I might. My cosplay parents offered their assistance, and before I knew it I was looking in the mirror of their place at…myself with long white hair, but you get the point. The only thing I didn’t have, was dare I say this, a bra to wear. Maybe one day, but I’m sending one of my girlfriends to get that. I also just really like the character in general. I needed to hurry up because Thomas wanted to take pictures and needed to leave soon. He was cosplaying Asahina lol. I was originally going to find a restroom or somewhere to change into it, but one girl after questioning what character was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to see it. At the same time my roommates came around the corner; they knew already, they couldn’t wait to see it either. I went ahead and changed there; no worries, I already had most of needed stuff on under Kaito. And…it worked. Haven’t had that much praise/attention since I started wearing Sazh. Couldn’t walk very far for about 15mins since everyone wanted a picture, part of me hoped it was for the character and not because I was in a skirt; I’ll never know I guess… First things first, gotta see what the artist alley friends thought. Nae of course can’t help giggling because of course it’s obviously me underneath the hair. Stephen and Shai were highly amused. Gabby wasn’t amused at all, Tif was however. Kam didn’t seem to recognize me, granted she was also quite busy at the time with her booth. Before I headed downstairs I found some people that were also cosplaying from Dangan Ronpa, and I gladly joined them for a bit. I eventually found Thomas and we went to surprise Sarah. I think that made her day when she saw us. Of course as popular as Sakura was, I have to keep those pictures off of my normal Facebook because the world is still not ready for ‘me’ in particular in that kind of cosplay. I’m completely straight yes, but I also don’t feel like being hounded and possibly shunned by family and a good amount of friends. This is the ‘despair’ (heh) I’ll continue to fight, until I become more world renown so to speak. What’s sad is that guys on TV can do it all the time like Tyler Perry, and no one thinks twice about it. …Sorry gang I’m going on a tangent…

The MechaCon Ball happened to be going on at the time, so I decided to put this one away for now. What to wear next…? Ah, my Kigurumi! I found a Rilakkuma one at Kawaii NOLA when I was there a few weeks prior. It’s night time now so whatever. Put one of my more subtle wigs on with it. People lost their minds yet again. Hung out with some other friends for the rest of the evening, at some point getting yogurt sounded like a good great idea, so we all ventured out onto the street. THANK GOD Ari decided to wear her Kigurumi as well, otherwise that would have been a long walk… Just before we got to the yogurt place we ran across some guys that were crossing the street with us. Of course I kinda stood out like a sore thumb. The only reason they didn’t start jeering at me was because Ari was standing next to me in hers. Eventually I headed up to my room to sleep, only to find Hai, Stone, and Bambi, hanging out in the room with the roommates. Of course I joined in, are you kidding me?! I quickly realized that Bambi was dressed as Kyubey; yeah I know. I quickly threw my Kaito wig back on, and ended up signing yet another ‘contract’. So now Neku and Kaito souls belong to two different Kyubey’s respectfully. I’m starting to give Voldemort a run for his money…

Kyubey: (Pleasured face) YEEAAASS… YES GOOOD…

Vaughnaara: (・_・;) Oh dear god…

Vaughn: (O_O;;) G-Get out Kyubey!

Normally I’d be wanting to sleep to be up early the next morning, but I only get to see them all maybe twice a year. Plus I never can sleep sound in a place I’m not used to. After they left I crashed for the night.

Day 2

It’s probably better that I didn’t sleep; as a makeshift titan I needed to have an uncanny look about myself anyway. Yep, the Attack on Titan photoshoot was this morning. I was supposed to be Armored Titan, but I never made any armor… I needed to find Britt and Rhett this morning. One to congratulate them on their recent engagement, and two, Britt had some face paint she was letting me borrow. (Thank you by the way Britt, you’re the only reason it worked out.) I only had 30mins, so I quickly applied it. To say I have never done such in my life (I usually have someone else add eyeliner if needed), I think I did really well. Testing out the body suit weeks before, I quickly realized a problem with wearing it, it wasn’t going to leave much to the imagination… I thought wearing an old high school jock strap would work, it didn’t really do anything (possibly made it worse), and that too was now cutting into my thighs. Not one of my better ideas… I learned later that a pair of shorts would have worked fine (sigh). When I got there, Tek was with a female Colossal Titan. She would later wear a maid outfit for the shoot, loved it. Eventually a lively Colossal Titan showed up, dancing pretty much the whole time. The shoot went well, thanks to playing football years ago, Armored Titan’s poses were no problem. Despite my (arguably) monstrous appearance, I did quickly befriend two girls, a Petra Ral and a Fem Gaara. After the shoot, the dancing Colossal Titan and I hung out for a good while: taking pictures, dancing to the anime’s soundtrack I was playing from my phone, trolling one of the Eren’s we kept running into, classic.

Now that the morning was over, I felt that was enough titan fun for now. Went and changed, “but into what” as I looked over my suitcase. I decided on my shirt, vest, and hat I normally wear to Lolita meets, wore my dark blond wig, and draped on my dragon capelet. The dragon’s name is Drigger if anyone cares. I tucked Kyubey into the pack I was carrying and again made my rounds. I honestly wasn’t expecting the many pictures and compliments I’d gotten while wearing it; maybe I do have some taste in dressing up. I had to explain that one; I wasn’t cosplaying anyone, and two; I kinda just threw it on.

Vaughnaara: By the way, just wanted to point out to you readers that at the time, I was in control of the Armored Titan cosplay.

Vaughn: Happy for you.

Kyubey: You know I get the feeling some of your friends don’t like me much. Some of them were glaring at me while I was in the sack, kinda made me uneasy.

Vaughn: (Deadpan) Gee Kyubey what in the world would give you THAT idea…?

What else… Ah I found Lyco! Sadly she had to leave not long after. Practiced my stealth on poor Michelle; appearing and disappearing, thankfully she seemed amused. Found Ryan, Angie, and baby Viviane, took a few pics with Cody while standing there. Clearly Viviane remembered who I was, because while we were taking pics, she came over and held tightly to my leg, or maybe she just wanted to be in the picture. I’m still not sure why kids like me so much, though it does remind me and give me relief that I’m probably not the terrible person I sometimes think I am deep down. I truly believe kids can sense things like that. At some point the cosplay contest started, went and watched that with Alicia. I wanted to get better pictures of my friends that were there, but I was too far away. I had completely forgotten that Deleon could hula-hoop, and as Storm, she won the talent part of the contest.

Day turn to night, came down the escalator to where my ‘yogurt’ crew was kinda hanging out near the front of the hotel. Ari gave me her burger with a few fries she didn’t want. I was then that I realized something; I hadn’t eaten at all since last night, forgot honestly. I quickly devour it, though not to the point that I looked like I was starving. Nae, Kam, and/or Lil Vaughn usually keep me from doing this to myself, but since they were busy… I ended up thanking her several times. While we stood there, two faces I knew very well passed by us: Walter Jones and Steve Cardenas. Who are they? Why, only the original Black Ranger and 2nd Red Ranger from Power Rangers respectfully. Several of the Power Rangers were invited to MechaCon this year, last year Jason Frank was here. But yeah those two pass by; Ari and I looked at each other and quietly squealed. Walter in particular was my first ‘hero’, followed by Peter Parker not long after. Suddenly I was six years old again. We inched a little closer; they had stop to talk to David Yost for a moment, but he was trying to get to his cab outside so I didn’t bug him. Steve was kinda in a hurry too, but he did take a picture with me. Walter didn’t mind talking to us, but he also didn’t want too many people to recognize him, so we talked to him for a bit outside and took pictures. I’m starting to think he doesn’t age either, he still pretty much looks the same as he did twenty years ago, hopefully I’ve (what we call) reached max level as well, and won’t age any farther either for a long while. I have a feeling he was heading to Bourbon Street, I almost told him “see ya there!” Which soon we would be heading there ourselves. I sat in the hotel restaurant with my cosplay parents while the others figured out what they wanted to do for the night. As I sat there, I noticed yet another very familiar face at the bar; Paul Schrier II, also known as Bulk from Power Rangers. I summoned up my courage and went to speak to him. We talked for a bit, somehow got on the subject of Skynet, but we were both laughing by the end of it. Hopefully I get to meet them all again, they probably have so many stories to tell…

A little later my sister showed up with Gary and her friend Hunae and everyone was ready to barhop. I was kinda annoyed with myself for already knowing exactly how this little excursion was gonna go with this group, but I bit my tongue. At first we checked out Barcadia a few blocks from the hotel. I didn’t go in because we realized a little late that we had a few people under 21 with us (duh right?), so I walked them back. When I got back to the bar the others were ready to leave, I’ll take their word for it that it wasn’t hitting on much. We eventually made our way to a very ritzy hotel, whose name escapes me, that also had a bar. As we walked in, I heard someone call by name, it was Mitchell. I’m like “…Man whatchu doin’ here?!” “I could ask you the same.” One of his best friends had just gotten married, so technically my crew and I were standing in the middle of the wedding reception. After we left there went to Burbon Street for a bit, Lil’ Vaughn bought me a hurricane daiquiri. I’m stopping there because the kids reading this don’t need to know any more about it. Of course of roomates were pretty much “FAAADED” by the time we got out of there. While the others headed back to the Hilton, my sister and I walked Hunae back to her vehicle. But before Hunae brought us back to the hotel, we stopped at a restaurant for sushi.

When we got back, the party was going strong because the rave (ahem) I mean “house party” had started. A lot of my friends were hanging out in the main lobby, some already exhausted from going in earlier. I thought this would be a good time for the Kigurumi so I went and grabbed it and my Kaito wig, and made my way into the rave. Now…here’s where I made a mistake. A kigurumi’s original purpose is to keep you warm right? Made to keep heat in… Well that didn’t register until about 15 minutes into the rave. We left and Sarah and I went to find some friends in her room, but if you’ll ever seen Attack and Titan, and seen steam come off those things, it looked just like that when I finally got out of that heat trap. Thankfully the friends had jello shots, so while I cooled down we ate those and told cons stories. Eventually I made it back to the room at about 4:00AM. I set my alarm to wake up and collapsed onto my blow up mattress…faded.

Day 3

Of course it being Sunday, nothing is really going on con wise; most people at that point are trying to pack up to get out of there. Staggering up, I’d forgotten for a split second we had two more friends in the room with us. I had to stop myself (Vaughnaara) from yelling “OI, WHO THE –BLEEP–?!” But the real reason I was up was for the Kingdom Hearts photoshoot this morning. Problem is my dumba** set the alarm an hour off; yep missed it. No point getting dressed. While the others woke up and packed up, I went to help my cosplay parents with, something… Meh, I can’t remember… On my way back I had to pass back by the main fountain where the photo shoot was supposed to be. I was thinking to myself, “You know it would be really bad if my friend saw me out here…” I didn’t see anyone when I first passed by, and figured they had probably moved it outside for some better shots. Well, I was right, and now they were back in by the fountain, “… ah crap”. Said friend happens to looks up and see me, “…CRAAAAP!” Her expression a moment later reminded me of that angry face Kiki made in ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ when Tombo was with his buddies. And there’s something about seeing a keyblade-wielder (she was cosplaying Aqua) stomping towards you that is just downright terrifying…

Vaughnaara: Yeah I was about to abandoned ship. Haven’t been that startled since that time you were trolling someone we know, and she had to stop herself from devastating you with her shoe.

Vaughn: Hush! I’ve learned my lesson since then...

She ended up not really being angry, though I’m sure she was kinda disappointed. I’ll make her up to her one of these days. In fact I have an idea that may work out for the next time… Leaving the room after packing up, EVERYBODY wanted to touch and swing the keyblades. Poor Oathkeeper and Oblivion have both seen better days, so Lil Vaughn and I were constantly telling people to be careful all the way to the car. On the way back I saw a guy in a Colossal Titan body suit with the head piece off, and I quickly realized it was the same one I had spent the morning running around with! We got each other’s Facebooks, and hopefully ‘John’ and I will rampage/dance again in some form next year. After we got Nae all packed up, Ash needed me to hang around in the auction room for something as she went to work. Of course trying to be a good son, plus her helping me with my Oogami cosplay I couldn’t say no. Didn’t win anything, but at least now I know how these work. Afterwards we headed on home.

Epilogue

So, as most would find out the next day, it was my birthday. People were shocked I didn’t say anything at the con; some angry. But as I was telling everyone and as I tell you all reading now, that WHOLE four days of the con was my birthday, trust me I’m good. I did have to work that day, but man the wishes and stuff just poured in the entire day from everywhere. And shout out to the couple that took me out to lunch later that week; they know who they are.

Vaughn: That’s about all I got, don’t look at me like that.

Vaughnaara: I was expecting that last part to be a lot longer somehow. Oh well… Since it’s now 2014, what do you have planned for this year?

Vaughn: …I don’t even know. Until I moved out I’m just gonna wing it as usual, the sooner it happens the better. I think my cosplay page is getting renamed too.

Vaughnaara: Oh?

Vaughn: Yep! ‘BurningCannon Cosplay’ has been rolling around in my head for a while. I think I’m gonna use that going forward this year. What’s wrong?

Vaughnaara: …I feel like this is gonna backfire horribly somehow, but okay.

Kyubey: I’m still coming with you to conventions right?

Vaughn: Yeah of course. I don’t know about AX and Dragon Con though, if I even go; you probably need to stay behind for them.

Kyubey: Aww… Afraid you’ll lose me?

Vaughn: YES, you were exxxxxxxxxxPENsive…

Vaughnaara: Not to mention useless in most cases.

Kyubey: GO SUCK ON SOME SAND!

Vaughnaara: GO EAT…yourself…? Wait…

Kyubey: OMG SPOILERS YOU JERK!

Vaughn: And seeing as this is escalating quite quickly, I’m cutting this blog short. See you at the next con! Later Daaaays!

#MechaCon #Vaughnaara