![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argurotoxosThere were about five of us in the hotel lobby who were idly waiting around for our respective friends to arrive. At first, we maintained our isolation, but there is a certain connection that comes with being placed in similar circumstances and I soon found myself talking to several other people about Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, and video games.
Shampoo came out to say 'hello' to me about an hour after I arrived and let me temporarily stash my luggage under a staff table while I picked up my badge, which turned out to be more difficult than expected -- neither my name nor my email were on the pre-registration list. Fortunately, Julie happened to be in the vicinity and when the staff called her over for help, she said that it might have gotten accidentally removed from the list somehow and told the staff to give me a badge anyway. "At the worst, we'll be short $20." (Later, I went back through my email and did find my pre-registration receipt. I also checked my Paypal account and the money did go through.)
I had told Tomo I would be waiting in the hotel lobby for everyone and I didn't want to wander too far from my luggage, so after obtaining my badge, I headed back to my corner perch near the entrance.
Kun and company arrived slightly before 3 PM, which was good timing on their part; the hotel wasn't letting anyone move into their rooms until then and Kun's mum was able to check in right before the throng of con-goers started massing in front of the reception desk. Once they were there, it was like a fresh wave of energy and excitement had spread through the room. I hugged Tomo, Kun, and Chris and met the other friend they had brought along, Kelsey, for the first time.
Getting up to the room was a relief; I could finally put down my bags in a place where they would be undisturbed for the next two days and get out my skateboard for Killua. Chris changed into his Neuro cosplay, while Kun and Kelsey got into their Shaman King costumes. Kun's Yoh outfit took longer to get on than anticipated as we had to redo the binding and bandages several times and her hair also had to be styled.
As for Tomo, he decided to borrow Kelsey's Yako skirt for the day, which fit him almost frighteningly well. He started out with fake breasts, too, but ditched them before we left the hotel room. It was 4 PM on Friday and we were ready for the convention at last.
Friday was spent mostly wandering around without any set plans. Chris decided to go to the mall since his black Neuro gloves had ripped and he needed to buy new ones and Kun and Kelsey went with him, leaving Tomo and myself to make our way through the convention rooms. Practically our first stop was the dealers' room, which seemed to have a more limited merchandise selection then I had remembered from PortCon2005. I was particularly disappointed by the small CD area and the lack of any Japanese manga. There weren't any Hunter x Hunter items except for a few posters - all but one of which I already had - and the English manga volumes.
The best part of the dealers' room was that there were people who actually knew who I was. Even when I cosplayed Killua at AnimeBoston, I think more vendors recognized me than con-goers. At PortCon, almost all of the vendors were familiar with Hunter x Hunter, but only one con-goer commented that they knew the series. There were also no other Hunter x Hunter cosplayers and, unlike at AnimeBoston, no one asked to take my picture. I don't mind the lack of photos - I cosplay because I love the characters, not because I'm actively searching for attention - but the lack of Hunter x Hunter fans in general was depressing.
In total, I only spent $25 on merchandise at the convention -- $10 for a Death Note, $10 for a 2007 PortCon T-shirt, $3 for a box of green tea pocky, and $2 on two pins I bought in Artist Alley. I also picked up a free teaser poster for the next Star Trek movie near the registration tables.
After Kun, Chris, and Kelsey returned from the mall, we went through the dealers' room again before heading up to our hotel room for food. Kun's mum had packed a wide variety of food and snacks for us, including a whole cooler full of drinks, and we decided to have a dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our room instead of going out for food. Kun has a few photos of us making the sandwiches and eating in her photo gallery. She also has some of the only photos of my as Killua at PortCon since I didn't take any myself and I opted out of doing a photoshoot just for myself later; my cosplay was basically the same as the Killua outfit I had at AnimeBoston, except I found a better T-shirt (it's actually V-necked!).
At one point on Friday, I ran into Jekka. She said that she had some things to give to me (!), but she had left them at home and would probably get them that night. Little did we know that it would prove unexpectedly difficult to meet again . . .
Kun, Tomo, Chris, Kelsey and I spent a good amount of time on Friday in our hotel room, which might seem odd, but it was much fun. I had taken a look through the con schedule while waiting for everyone in the lobby, but hadn't seen anything I was interested in and was particularly disappointed by the panel choices. The only exception was the tauntingly vague 'Vampire' listed in the gaming section for Friday and Saturday nights; I assumed it was White Wolf, but I had no idea if they would be following Masquerade or Requiem rules. As I learned on Saturday, it was Masquerade rules, but spending Friday night in the hotel room as a group had been very enjoyable and Saturday night was out of the question because of the rave.
I think we went to sleep Friday around 1 AM, though Chris was up until 2 AM playing Jump Ultimate Stars on his DS. He would talk to himself as he played, comments like 'Ahh! Get away from me' or 'No, stop hitting me there', so it was rather entertaining. Chris also had this thing where he would say 'kitchen' and snap his fingers in a circular pattern randomly that made me laugh every time; eventually, he didn't even need to say the word and the hand movements alone would crack me up. Fortunately, I took a video of it that will be uploaded later.
Saturday started out as Kurosaki Hisoka day for me. However, I didn't do the scarring since I had L on for Sunday and didn't want any of the red to rub off onto L's white shirt. I don't think there were any other Yami no Matsuei cosplayers and no one commented on my cosplay, though every time I saw a Near cosplayer from Death Note, my mind would keep going 'Muraki'. (Near practically looks like a trenchcoat-less Muraki.)
Kun cosplayed Quatre from Gundam Wing on Saturday and also got surprisingly little response, though one of the vendors did give her a sheet of Gundam Wing stickers for free. I only saw one other Gundam Wing cosplayer, a Duo who was Kun's friend and who did a Gundam Wing photoshoot with her.
Chris was Neuro again, as he was for the entire weekend. Tomo slept in Saturday morning - he's quite hard to wake up, as we weren't particularly quiet while we were getting dressed and Kun and I discovered that one of the disadvantages of being on the second floor was that the noise of doors opening and shutting on the main floor reaches you during the day - but once he was up, he just wore regular clothes. As for Kelsey, she was Riku from Kingdom Hearts for Saturday and part of Sunday; her sword and trenchcoat were very impressive.
Kun, Chris, Kelsey and I ate breakfast at the hotel's restaurant Saturday morning. It was somewhat expensive, but the hotel gave us a discount and it was served buffet, all-you-can-eat style. The pancakes were a little too sweet for my taste, but they had the best bacon I've ever had.
The rest of Saturday morning consisted of more wandering time and while we waited anxiously for the Masquerade in the afternoon. (Or at least I was excited for the Masquerade, especially since I hadn't been able to attend in 2005 because I was staffing.) Kun and I went to watch Cat Dancer for about half an hour around noon, which was the first time I'd really attended one of his performances. At one point, he played a techno remix of one of the Gundam Wing songs and draped his red 'wings' around Kun, so she was very happy.
Shortly after that, Kun left to do her Gundam Wing photoshoot and Chris and I walked around together before heading to the video game room; he had signed up for the Super Smash Brothers tournament earlier and I stayed to watch him play. Unfortunately, he lost in his first match, but it was the closest battle they'd had so far.
Yami no Matsuei is not as fun to cosplay alone. That's probably true for almost any character, but as I've never had anyone to play off of as Killua, I don't notice it as much with him. For the very first time as Hisoka, I was Tsuzuki-less. And so, even though I'd already seen a number of L's around the con and it's not typical of me to cosplay a character that's duplicated a lot, I decided to change into my L cosplay after Chris was finished with the tournament and before the Masquerade. I think I also startled Kun when she arrived in the room and I peered out at her with my eyeliner on.
Kun and I went down to line up for the Masquerade about twenty minutes before it was scheduled to start only to find that the line had already extended into the parking lot. While waiting, a group of three Bleach cosplayers put on a small performance on a grassy spot opposite the line using a stereo they'd brought with them. We also encountered lines of people offering free hugs both inside and outside; what the appeal of it is I'm not sure, but they seemed to grow and multiply throughout the convention like bacteria.
By the time we made it to the Masquerade door, there were only about three rows of seats left, but I was honestly surprised that there were seats at all; the staff used a different chair set-up this year and it certainly helped them get the most out of the space they had. Kun decided to leave before the Masquerade officially began, but I stayed to watch and take photos.
In order to see at all, I had to sit on my legs and I didn't have a clear shot of the stage, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Jekka was hosting the Masquerade dressed as Ed together with a woman dressed as Riza Hawkeye, both characters from Full Metal Alchemist. The audience was a bit rowdy at times, with someone in the back yelling "buttsex!" sporadically and others teasing the hosts and a few of the cosplayers (including the almost unavoidable short jokes for Ed), but it was mostly in good fun.
Perhaps it was just me, but I wasn't very impressed with most of the skits this year. A number of them seemed to be either out of character or on crack and my sense of humour is usually a few steps away from most peoples'. I was also surprised by the number of people who elected to sing for their skit and the length of some of the songs, though there wasn't anyone who was terrible.
I had four memorable Masquerade moments. The first was a Death Note skit which, in my opinion, was the only good Death Note one. A random fangirl was squeezing a plushie on stage and bragging about how cute it was to Misa, who was standing opposite her. Not saying a word, Misa drew out her Death Note, wrote down the girl's name, and waited for the her to collapse. Once she was 'dead', Misa strode over, took the plushie, and then walked off stage. Lovely morbid humour. I particularly liked Jekka's comment afterward: "Death Note: it teaches us such a wonderful lesson."
Next was a Sailor Mercury who, I believe, was dancing to a song from one of the Sailor Moon musicals. I don't like Sailor Moon myself, but she was good and her costume was nice and very, very shiny.
The last two were both Zelda skits. In the first, I had been stretching out my legs since they had fallen asleep when the next cosplayers were announced: "Sheik and Link". 'Sheik?! As in the Sheik that Sarah loves? So that's what Sheik looks like . . . I have to get a photo of this.' And I did. However, it wasn't very good since I was so far away and I had hoped to run into the Sheik later that day to get a better one . . .
My last memorable moment featured two Links, one light and one dark. They started on opposite sides of the stage, swords and shields held ready, and slowly advanced toward each other with music in the background. Closer, closer, almost to the center . . . and then, raising their shields in front of their faces, they kissed. It was executed very well.
After the Masquerade was over, I met up with everyone else and we headed back to our hotel room. I don't remember what we did directly afterwards, but around 9 PM, Tomo, Chris, Kun and I decided to head over to the mall for food and I had to put some shoes on since I did cosplay L barefoot (and I only got reprimanded for it once). We ended up getting Japanese food and then taking it back to the hotel since the mall was closing soon; Tomo and Kun ate while walking, but since I'm not talented like that, I waited until we were back in the room to eat.
The last big event of Saturday, which was also the best for me, was the rave/dance. I'm very selective about where I dance and I hate doing it unless I feel comfortable; I either have to be alone or with friends in an environment where I feel secure. However, once I'm comfortable, I love it. I went to the rave in L cosplay and tried dancing sort of like I'd imagine L would, hunched over and staying relatively close to the ground.
Chris, Kun, Tomo, Shampoo and I formed out own little dance group and took turns dancing with each other. Chris and I came up with some very strange dance moves, which was rather appropriate since both L and Neuro walk and move strangely. There was also a point where Tomo picked me up and had me sitting on his shoulders while I waved my arms to the beat.
Since we had gotten to the rave an hour after it had started, there were no more glowstick for sale, but the positive side was that they had opened one of the doors to the outside to air the room out. Kun thought that the music started to go downhill after the big group dance to 'Cotton Eye Joe', but I was too caught up in the dancing to really notice. At that point, as long as it had a beat, I was good. It was exciting and wonderful and exhausting all at the same time.
Once the rave was over, we made our way back to our hotel room. Kun commented that she didn't think she'd be falling asleep anytime soon and Chris and I thought we might play some Jump Ultimate Stars later, but in the meantime, I decided to take a shower. I distinctly remember wondering why it was so quiet in the room while in the bathroom and when I came out, I wasn't surprised in the least to see Kun passed out in the opposite bed from the one she had slept in the night before. Chris sent me a rather apologetic look while Tomo and Kelsey were reading manga in the other bed, so I crawled in with them and borrowed some of Kelsey's Cain Saga manga to read. The Count Cain Saga is by Yuki Kaori, who also wrote Angel Sanctuary and Boys Next Door. I've lost most of my interest in Angel Sanctuary, but I can't deny that Yuki Kaori's work is gorgeous and I really liked what I read of the Cain series.
Sunday was my actual L cosplay day, with Shampoo cosplaying Misa with me in our own little Death Note group. Chris, Kun, and Kelsey also cosplayed together in a group for Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro with Chris as Neuro, Kun as Eishi, and Kelsey as Yako. However, they didn't stay in costume long since only one other con-goer knew the series and Kun and Kelsey changed back into their cosplays from the day before.
There were so many L's and Misa's from Death Note at the convention (though only one Light!) that I honestly didn't expect any comments on my cosplay. However, perhaps because some of the other L's had left already, Sunday was the only day I actually received attention from other con-goers. One girl I talked to asked if I would marry her and then said that she was sad I was dead; it was very weird, but I played along and was uncomfortably amused. A second person asked for a hug, and a third asked me to hug their Gaara plushie. "Because both L and Gaara are angsty." (I don't think that L is angsty myself; it more the eyeliner look that brings L and Gaara together.)
Shampoo wasn't staffing most of Sunday, so I was able to spend part of the morning with her. We sat around a table in the hotel lobby talking in comfy chairs, which was where I had two random encounters. The first was when a second L came to sit next to me and we shared some of my green tea pocky.
As for the second . . . remember the Sheik from the Masquerade? I had given up on ever getting a better picture of him for Sarah after I hadn't seen him again all of Saturday, but who should happen to wander over to our table and sit on the chair directly opposite me? I could hardly believe my luck and quickly asked him for a picture. He was very nice and I got to watch him throw some of his shuriken at random passers-by.
My third random encounter happened in the hallway going toward the video game room. There was some kind of zombie game going on Sunday that fit with the convention's undead theme, which lead to people running around asking: "Are you alive [or undead]?" I was making my way back to the video game room in my hunched L walk when a boy of about twelve tagged me with an accomplished look on his face. When I turned to stare at him with total incomprehension, he said: "Oh, you're not a zombie."
"No; I'm a detective."
"Oh. I though you might be dead, because you sort of look like it [because of my L eyeliner]. Sorry."
Oh, the bizarre conversations you'll have at conventions . . .
I also ran into two other people on Sunday: Jinx, who I hadn't seen for two years and didn't even recognize when I first met her because of her haircut, and Jekka, who I hadn't been able to find outside of the Masquerade since we had first encountered each other on Friday. I actually ran into Jekka while we were loading Kun's car for the drive back to New Hampshire about an hour before we left, so it was excellent timing. Jekka gave me two presents: a Killua pencil board she had found in Japan and a set of Yami no Matsuei stickers. It was wonderful to talk with her for a little, though I felt somewhat guilty that I didn't have anything to give her in return.
We left the convention Sunday around 2 PM, though we weren't able to say 'goodbye' to Shampoo before we left. On the car ride back, Kelsey and I were the only two who stayed awake the entire trip (not including Kun's mum, of course, who was driving). Kelsey generously let me borrowe her IPod, which was the first time I'd ever used a MP3 player. It didn't take very long for me to figure out how to use it and I enjoy going through other people's music to see if there are any bands we have in common. As it turns out, Kelsey also likes Apocalyptica and E Nomine.
I honestly don't remember much of what happened once we arrived at Kun's house. I think we ordered Dominoes pizza for dinner, then hung out as a group for a little longer until Tomo, Kelsey, and Chris had to go home.
PortCon this year didn't seem to have either the panels or the dealers' room that they did in 2005. I also didn't like the Masquerade as much as I thought I would. However, I still enjoyed myself enormously because of the people there.
Cosplay-wise, the most popular series seemed to be Naruto, Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. There were also a number of Death Note cosplayers, though I don't understand why Misa is more popular than Light. I also saw a gang of pirates on Friday and a number of zombies on Sunday, but I'm not sure if they were supposed to be from actual series or not . . .
PortCon's theme next year is mech, which I highly doubt I'll be following; About the only mech anime I was a big fan of was Gundam Wing and that's something that I don't have the desire to cosplay, as much as I used to love it. However, I am definitely looking forward to going.
My photos from PortCon are here. Kun's are here (though here Gundam Wing photos are here) and Kelsey's are here. Jinx's photos are here; she has several very good ones of herself, as well as three L photos, though I look weird and rather out of character in the two I'm in.
Finally, there were two noteworthy cosplayers that I, for various reasons, wasn't able to get pictures of myself; the photos that I'm linking to in this section were taken by other con-goers and found through the 'Memories' section of the PortConMaine forum.
The first was a Thief Bakura, who was - surprisingly - the only Yuugiou cosplayer there. (There were more Pokemon cosplayers than Yuugiou!) She was quite good and had a printed picture of Yami no Yuugi on Saturday that she used while she walked around asking other con-goers if they had seen the Pharaoh.
The second and most impressive cosplayer I saw during the entire convention wasn't from an anime series at all. Instead, it was someone who had dressed up as Xerxes from 300.
Next: 03 - New Hampshire . . .
Edit: This post has now been edited and photo links have been added to the narrative. [Completed Tuesday, 10 July at 9:45 PM.]
Shampoo came out to say 'hello' to me about an hour after I arrived and let me temporarily stash my luggage under a staff table while I picked up my badge, which turned out to be more difficult than expected -- neither my name nor my email were on the pre-registration list. Fortunately, Julie happened to be in the vicinity and when the staff called her over for help, she said that it might have gotten accidentally removed from the list somehow and told the staff to give me a badge anyway. "At the worst, we'll be short $20." (Later, I went back through my email and did find my pre-registration receipt. I also checked my Paypal account and the money did go through.)
I had told Tomo I would be waiting in the hotel lobby for everyone and I didn't want to wander too far from my luggage, so after obtaining my badge, I headed back to my corner perch near the entrance.
Kun and company arrived slightly before 3 PM, which was good timing on their part; the hotel wasn't letting anyone move into their rooms until then and Kun's mum was able to check in right before the throng of con-goers started massing in front of the reception desk. Once they were there, it was like a fresh wave of energy and excitement had spread through the room. I hugged Tomo, Kun, and Chris and met the other friend they had brought along, Kelsey, for the first time.
Getting up to the room was a relief; I could finally put down my bags in a place where they would be undisturbed for the next two days and get out my skateboard for Killua. Chris changed into his Neuro cosplay, while Kun and Kelsey got into their Shaman King costumes. Kun's Yoh outfit took longer to get on than anticipated as we had to redo the binding and bandages several times and her hair also had to be styled.
As for Tomo, he decided to borrow Kelsey's Yako skirt for the day, which fit him almost frighteningly well. He started out with fake breasts, too, but ditched them before we left the hotel room. It was 4 PM on Friday and we were ready for the convention at last.
Friday was spent mostly wandering around without any set plans. Chris decided to go to the mall since his black Neuro gloves had ripped and he needed to buy new ones and Kun and Kelsey went with him, leaving Tomo and myself to make our way through the convention rooms. Practically our first stop was the dealers' room, which seemed to have a more limited merchandise selection then I had remembered from PortCon2005. I was particularly disappointed by the small CD area and the lack of any Japanese manga. There weren't any Hunter x Hunter items except for a few posters - all but one of which I already had - and the English manga volumes.
The best part of the dealers' room was that there were people who actually knew who I was. Even when I cosplayed Killua at AnimeBoston, I think more vendors recognized me than con-goers. At PortCon, almost all of the vendors were familiar with Hunter x Hunter, but only one con-goer commented that they knew the series. There were also no other Hunter x Hunter cosplayers and, unlike at AnimeBoston, no one asked to take my picture. I don't mind the lack of photos - I cosplay because I love the characters, not because I'm actively searching for attention - but the lack of Hunter x Hunter fans in general was depressing.
In total, I only spent $25 on merchandise at the convention -- $10 for a Death Note, $10 for a 2007 PortCon T-shirt, $3 for a box of green tea pocky, and $2 on two pins I bought in Artist Alley. I also picked up a free teaser poster for the next Star Trek movie near the registration tables.
After Kun, Chris, and Kelsey returned from the mall, we went through the dealers' room again before heading up to our hotel room for food. Kun's mum had packed a wide variety of food and snacks for us, including a whole cooler full of drinks, and we decided to have a dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our room instead of going out for food. Kun has a few photos of us making the sandwiches and eating in her photo gallery. She also has some of the only photos of my as Killua at PortCon since I didn't take any myself and I opted out of doing a photoshoot just for myself later; my cosplay was basically the same as the Killua outfit I had at AnimeBoston, except I found a better T-shirt (it's actually V-necked!).
At one point on Friday, I ran into Jekka. She said that she had some things to give to me (!), but she had left them at home and would probably get them that night. Little did we know that it would prove unexpectedly difficult to meet again . . .
Kun, Tomo, Chris, Kelsey and I spent a good amount of time on Friday in our hotel room, which might seem odd, but it was much fun. I had taken a look through the con schedule while waiting for everyone in the lobby, but hadn't seen anything I was interested in and was particularly disappointed by the panel choices. The only exception was the tauntingly vague 'Vampire' listed in the gaming section for Friday and Saturday nights; I assumed it was White Wolf, but I had no idea if they would be following Masquerade or Requiem rules. As I learned on Saturday, it was Masquerade rules, but spending Friday night in the hotel room as a group had been very enjoyable and Saturday night was out of the question because of the rave.
I think we went to sleep Friday around 1 AM, though Chris was up until 2 AM playing Jump Ultimate Stars on his DS. He would talk to himself as he played, comments like 'Ahh! Get away from me' or 'No, stop hitting me there', so it was rather entertaining. Chris also had this thing where he would say 'kitchen' and snap his fingers in a circular pattern randomly that made me laugh every time; eventually, he didn't even need to say the word and the hand movements alone would crack me up. Fortunately, I took a video of it that will be uploaded later.
Saturday started out as Kurosaki Hisoka day for me. However, I didn't do the scarring since I had L on for Sunday and didn't want any of the red to rub off onto L's white shirt. I don't think there were any other Yami no Matsuei cosplayers and no one commented on my cosplay, though every time I saw a Near cosplayer from Death Note, my mind would keep going 'Muraki'. (Near practically looks like a trenchcoat-less Muraki.)
Kun cosplayed Quatre from Gundam Wing on Saturday and also got surprisingly little response, though one of the vendors did give her a sheet of Gundam Wing stickers for free. I only saw one other Gundam Wing cosplayer, a Duo who was Kun's friend and who did a Gundam Wing photoshoot with her.
Chris was Neuro again, as he was for the entire weekend. Tomo slept in Saturday morning - he's quite hard to wake up, as we weren't particularly quiet while we were getting dressed and Kun and I discovered that one of the disadvantages of being on the second floor was that the noise of doors opening and shutting on the main floor reaches you during the day - but once he was up, he just wore regular clothes. As for Kelsey, she was Riku from Kingdom Hearts for Saturday and part of Sunday; her sword and trenchcoat were very impressive.
Kun, Chris, Kelsey and I ate breakfast at the hotel's restaurant Saturday morning. It was somewhat expensive, but the hotel gave us a discount and it was served buffet, all-you-can-eat style. The pancakes were a little too sweet for my taste, but they had the best bacon I've ever had.
The rest of Saturday morning consisted of more wandering time and while we waited anxiously for the Masquerade in the afternoon. (Or at least I was excited for the Masquerade, especially since I hadn't been able to attend in 2005 because I was staffing.) Kun and I went to watch Cat Dancer for about half an hour around noon, which was the first time I'd really attended one of his performances. At one point, he played a techno remix of one of the Gundam Wing songs and draped his red 'wings' around Kun, so she was very happy.
Shortly after that, Kun left to do her Gundam Wing photoshoot and Chris and I walked around together before heading to the video game room; he had signed up for the Super Smash Brothers tournament earlier and I stayed to watch him play. Unfortunately, he lost in his first match, but it was the closest battle they'd had so far.
Yami no Matsuei is not as fun to cosplay alone. That's probably true for almost any character, but as I've never had anyone to play off of as Killua, I don't notice it as much with him. For the very first time as Hisoka, I was Tsuzuki-less. And so, even though I'd already seen a number of L's around the con and it's not typical of me to cosplay a character that's duplicated a lot, I decided to change into my L cosplay after Chris was finished with the tournament and before the Masquerade. I think I also startled Kun when she arrived in the room and I peered out at her with my eyeliner on.
Kun and I went down to line up for the Masquerade about twenty minutes before it was scheduled to start only to find that the line had already extended into the parking lot. While waiting, a group of three Bleach cosplayers put on a small performance on a grassy spot opposite the line using a stereo they'd brought with them. We also encountered lines of people offering free hugs both inside and outside; what the appeal of it is I'm not sure, but they seemed to grow and multiply throughout the convention like bacteria.
By the time we made it to the Masquerade door, there were only about three rows of seats left, but I was honestly surprised that there were seats at all; the staff used a different chair set-up this year and it certainly helped them get the most out of the space they had. Kun decided to leave before the Masquerade officially began, but I stayed to watch and take photos.
In order to see at all, I had to sit on my legs and I didn't have a clear shot of the stage, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Jekka was hosting the Masquerade dressed as Ed together with a woman dressed as Riza Hawkeye, both characters from Full Metal Alchemist. The audience was a bit rowdy at times, with someone in the back yelling "buttsex!" sporadically and others teasing the hosts and a few of the cosplayers (including the almost unavoidable short jokes for Ed), but it was mostly in good fun.
Perhaps it was just me, but I wasn't very impressed with most of the skits this year. A number of them seemed to be either out of character or on crack and my sense of humour is usually a few steps away from most peoples'. I was also surprised by the number of people who elected to sing for their skit and the length of some of the songs, though there wasn't anyone who was terrible.
I had four memorable Masquerade moments. The first was a Death Note skit which, in my opinion, was the only good Death Note one. A random fangirl was squeezing a plushie on stage and bragging about how cute it was to Misa, who was standing opposite her. Not saying a word, Misa drew out her Death Note, wrote down the girl's name, and waited for the her to collapse. Once she was 'dead', Misa strode over, took the plushie, and then walked off stage. Lovely morbid humour. I particularly liked Jekka's comment afterward: "Death Note: it teaches us such a wonderful lesson."
Next was a Sailor Mercury who, I believe, was dancing to a song from one of the Sailor Moon musicals. I don't like Sailor Moon myself, but she was good and her costume was nice and very, very shiny.
The last two were both Zelda skits. In the first, I had been stretching out my legs since they had fallen asleep when the next cosplayers were announced: "Sheik and Link". 'Sheik?! As in the Sheik that Sarah loves? So that's what Sheik looks like . . . I have to get a photo of this.' And I did. However, it wasn't very good since I was so far away and I had hoped to run into the Sheik later that day to get a better one . . .
My last memorable moment featured two Links, one light and one dark. They started on opposite sides of the stage, swords and shields held ready, and slowly advanced toward each other with music in the background. Closer, closer, almost to the center . . . and then, raising their shields in front of their faces, they kissed. It was executed very well.
After the Masquerade was over, I met up with everyone else and we headed back to our hotel room. I don't remember what we did directly afterwards, but around 9 PM, Tomo, Chris, Kun and I decided to head over to the mall for food and I had to put some shoes on since I did cosplay L barefoot (and I only got reprimanded for it once). We ended up getting Japanese food and then taking it back to the hotel since the mall was closing soon; Tomo and Kun ate while walking, but since I'm not talented like that, I waited until we were back in the room to eat.
The last big event of Saturday, which was also the best for me, was the rave/dance. I'm very selective about where I dance and I hate doing it unless I feel comfortable; I either have to be alone or with friends in an environment where I feel secure. However, once I'm comfortable, I love it. I went to the rave in L cosplay and tried dancing sort of like I'd imagine L would, hunched over and staying relatively close to the ground.
Chris, Kun, Tomo, Shampoo and I formed out own little dance group and took turns dancing with each other. Chris and I came up with some very strange dance moves, which was rather appropriate since both L and Neuro walk and move strangely. There was also a point where Tomo picked me up and had me sitting on his shoulders while I waved my arms to the beat.
Since we had gotten to the rave an hour after it had started, there were no more glowstick for sale, but the positive side was that they had opened one of the doors to the outside to air the room out. Kun thought that the music started to go downhill after the big group dance to 'Cotton Eye Joe', but I was too caught up in the dancing to really notice. At that point, as long as it had a beat, I was good. It was exciting and wonderful and exhausting all at the same time.
Once the rave was over, we made our way back to our hotel room. Kun commented that she didn't think she'd be falling asleep anytime soon and Chris and I thought we might play some Jump Ultimate Stars later, but in the meantime, I decided to take a shower. I distinctly remember wondering why it was so quiet in the room while in the bathroom and when I came out, I wasn't surprised in the least to see Kun passed out in the opposite bed from the one she had slept in the night before. Chris sent me a rather apologetic look while Tomo and Kelsey were reading manga in the other bed, so I crawled in with them and borrowed some of Kelsey's Cain Saga manga to read. The Count Cain Saga is by Yuki Kaori, who also wrote Angel Sanctuary and Boys Next Door. I've lost most of my interest in Angel Sanctuary, but I can't deny that Yuki Kaori's work is gorgeous and I really liked what I read of the Cain series.
Sunday was my actual L cosplay day, with Shampoo cosplaying Misa with me in our own little Death Note group. Chris, Kun, and Kelsey also cosplayed together in a group for Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro with Chris as Neuro, Kun as Eishi, and Kelsey as Yako. However, they didn't stay in costume long since only one other con-goer knew the series and Kun and Kelsey changed back into their cosplays from the day before.
There were so many L's and Misa's from Death Note at the convention (though only one Light!) that I honestly didn't expect any comments on my cosplay. However, perhaps because some of the other L's had left already, Sunday was the only day I actually received attention from other con-goers. One girl I talked to asked if I would marry her and then said that she was sad I was dead; it was very weird, but I played along and was uncomfortably amused. A second person asked for a hug, and a third asked me to hug their Gaara plushie. "Because both L and Gaara are angsty." (I don't think that L is angsty myself; it more the eyeliner look that brings L and Gaara together.)
Shampoo wasn't staffing most of Sunday, so I was able to spend part of the morning with her. We sat around a table in the hotel lobby talking in comfy chairs, which was where I had two random encounters. The first was when a second L came to sit next to me and we shared some of my green tea pocky.
As for the second . . . remember the Sheik from the Masquerade? I had given up on ever getting a better picture of him for Sarah after I hadn't seen him again all of Saturday, but who should happen to wander over to our table and sit on the chair directly opposite me? I could hardly believe my luck and quickly asked him for a picture. He was very nice and I got to watch him throw some of his shuriken at random passers-by.
My third random encounter happened in the hallway going toward the video game room. There was some kind of zombie game going on Sunday that fit with the convention's undead theme, which lead to people running around asking: "Are you alive [or undead]?" I was making my way back to the video game room in my hunched L walk when a boy of about twelve tagged me with an accomplished look on his face. When I turned to stare at him with total incomprehension, he said: "Oh, you're not a zombie."
"No; I'm a detective."
"Oh. I though you might be dead, because you sort of look like it [because of my L eyeliner]. Sorry."
Oh, the bizarre conversations you'll have at conventions . . .
I also ran into two other people on Sunday: Jinx, who I hadn't seen for two years and didn't even recognize when I first met her because of her haircut, and Jekka, who I hadn't been able to find outside of the Masquerade since we had first encountered each other on Friday. I actually ran into Jekka while we were loading Kun's car for the drive back to New Hampshire about an hour before we left, so it was excellent timing. Jekka gave me two presents: a Killua pencil board she had found in Japan and a set of Yami no Matsuei stickers. It was wonderful to talk with her for a little, though I felt somewhat guilty that I didn't have anything to give her in return.
We left the convention Sunday around 2 PM, though we weren't able to say 'goodbye' to Shampoo before we left. On the car ride back, Kelsey and I were the only two who stayed awake the entire trip (not including Kun's mum, of course, who was driving). Kelsey generously let me borrowe her IPod, which was the first time I'd ever used a MP3 player. It didn't take very long for me to figure out how to use it and I enjoy going through other people's music to see if there are any bands we have in common. As it turns out, Kelsey also likes Apocalyptica and E Nomine.
I honestly don't remember much of what happened once we arrived at Kun's house. I think we ordered Dominoes pizza for dinner, then hung out as a group for a little longer until Tomo, Kelsey, and Chris had to go home.
PortCon this year didn't seem to have either the panels or the dealers' room that they did in 2005. I also didn't like the Masquerade as much as I thought I would. However, I still enjoyed myself enormously because of the people there.
Cosplay-wise, the most popular series seemed to be Naruto, Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. There were also a number of Death Note cosplayers, though I don't understand why Misa is more popular than Light. I also saw a gang of pirates on Friday and a number of zombies on Sunday, but I'm not sure if they were supposed to be from actual series or not . . .
PortCon's theme next year is mech, which I highly doubt I'll be following; About the only mech anime I was a big fan of was Gundam Wing and that's something that I don't have the desire to cosplay, as much as I used to love it. However, I am definitely looking forward to going.
My photos from PortCon are here. Kun's are here (though here Gundam Wing photos are here) and Kelsey's are here. Jinx's photos are here; she has several very good ones of herself, as well as three L photos, though I look weird and rather out of character in the two I'm in.
Finally, there were two noteworthy cosplayers that I, for various reasons, wasn't able to get pictures of myself; the photos that I'm linking to in this section were taken by other con-goers and found through the 'Memories' section of the PortConMaine forum.
The first was a Thief Bakura, who was - surprisingly - the only Yuugiou cosplayer there. (There were more Pokemon cosplayers than Yuugiou!) She was quite good and had a printed picture of Yami no Yuugi on Saturday that she used while she walked around asking other con-goers if they had seen the Pharaoh.
The second and most impressive cosplayer I saw during the entire convention wasn't from an anime series at all. Instead, it was someone who had dressed up as Xerxes from 300.
Next: 03 - New Hampshire . . .
Edit: This post has now been edited and photo links have been added to the narrative. [Completed Tuesday, 10 July at 9:45 PM.]
