Sakura-con, Sakura-con! A week later I shall finally tell you all about the one social event I attend annually. ^_^; Yes, this three-day weekend is my life. Shut up, I'm a geek.

To put it lightly, the event was AMAZING. The attendance was double what it was last year (over 8000!!). Of course, we also moved to a MUCH larger venue...in downtown Seattle, which made paying for everything a total bitch. ^_^; Oh well, gotta have little stresses in the weekend of fun, ne? Not that there weren't other little stresses...but hey, I think I did better than in previous years. -.- We'll leave it at that.

Friday I cosplayed Ryuuichi Sakuma from Gravi in his Kumagoro costume. ^_^ And there was much glomping. Turns out there was another guy in the same costume and we had to pose together for a good five minutes. It was fun though! He actually had a bunny, while all I had was a sign that said "Have you seen my bear?" Scat-chan was K to go with my Ryuuichi and was recognized as such, which just proves that you don't need the right colored wig if you do your hair properly. ^_^ Even with black hair people knew she was K. Too bad she couldn't whip her gun out...we'll have to do our own photos at some point.

Ra-chan and her brother didn't get new costumes this year, so they were Hiei and Kurama once again. One of her brother's coworkers was with us too, and she was Lupin. ^_^ It was pretty cool. Also fun to have another yaoi fangirl with us.
As for what other cosplays there were: LOTS of BLEACH, FMA and Naruto. Other than that...a ton of Gothic Lolita/J-ROCK. I'll save my rant on the state of cosplay for another time...

We spent a majority of the morning wandering the dealer's room. Might I remind everyone that it is not a good idea to putchase 25 manga at the first stand you see? 'Cause halfway through you'll be bugging your friends to leave when your arms are tired. >.> The dealers room was FICKIN ENOURMOUS this year!! We spent three hours in there and barely got through half of it! My spoils from the con? Several plushies,(small Kon, Chibi Byakuya, Chibi Yoruichi, A new tiny Sesh (<3!)); two BLEACH keychains (Renji and Kisuke); two Roy and Riza figures (sooo cute); 4 new fanart prints; about 10 new manga (which I have already read...); the new Kyou Kara Maoh! DVD; RG Veda anime; and couple Tsubasa gashapon (Fai and Primera). And that's not to mention the 200 I shelled out for doujin this year. >.< OUCH. But I REEEEALLY expanded my couplings! Next year I'll have to actually invest in a yaoi paddle...every fangirl (and fanboy, apparently!) should own one.

The AMV contest was also Friday...which wasn't as spectacular was I had hoped it would be. I kind of regret skipping out on Katie Bair's wigcrafting panel for it. Oh well...maybe there will be something like it next year.

I think we pretty much went to bed after that...even though I actually finished the costumes in time this year, we were STILL up all night preparing all our stuff to go. @_@ Oops. I really wasn't prepared to go into the con on 3 hours sleep, so I slept more this year than I normally do at the con. *sigh*

Saturday's costumes: Me as Youzen from Houshin Engi, Scat-chan as Alice from American McGee's Alice. Not many people recognized my Youzen costume, but those who did were quite excited. ^_^; Why don't more people know Houshin Engi, it's great! There was a Shinkohyo on Friday, but I couldn't find him again Saturday, sadly. Meanwhile, there were a few other Alices, but I think Scat's dress was the best. ^.~ It's not just me being egotistical, either.

Saturday we were up early to go see Fred Gallagher's panel! (the author of Megatokyo, for those who don't know.) He's really a very funny guy; it was worth going in at 8 to see him. ^_^ The guys from Penny Arcade showed up at the end too..and they're pretty funny as well. I still kinda wish I'd bought a Boo plushie, though. Maybe next year.

There was also a Gaia Online panel, surprisingly. The problem was, there was a tiny room for it and over 200 people showed up! They crammed a lot of us into the room and there was STILL a giant group outside! Guess that'll show them to cram Gaians in a small room. The panel itself was kinda dumb...mostly Gaians complaining about minor problems on the site. *eye roll* I swear, this is why I only go to my guild...there was some swag to be raffled off, though! Scat-chan almost won, but was off by one ticket number. ^_^; Gomen, Scat-chan!

More shopping, a little wandering, then we ran into David and his Katamari ball! ^_^ Yes, our friend David was a huge Katamari ball. He couldn't go more than a couple feet without people snapping a ton of photos. There were even a couple princes who came up to push him, and some people who glomped on as though they were rolled into it! It was hilarious!

Then my favorite event: the cosplay! There were....SOOO many FMA skits. >.> I swear, I'm gonna get sick from exposure before I even get to finish the series. There were some great ones, though: The homunculi as Fantana girls, and the one with Roy singing "If you were Gay" to Ed. >D Is that the name of the song? I'd never heard it, but the other fangirls seemed to know it. I must have missed out on something. Oh, and there was a Strongbad E-mail! With TROGDOOOOOOOOOOORRR!
*cough* Anyway!

After the cosplay event there was a wedding!! Might I say it was the most awesome wedding I have ever seen! The girl wore a dark purple dress, and there were 'dead' people everywhere. >D When she came up to the stage they started playing the wedding march...which became the Imperial March!! I so want a wedding like that...all chaotic and in front of strangers and stuff. >D Except I want a Rose Bride dress. And that is, of course, if I ever get over my issues with men.
Putting that aside...

Scat and I watched some anime between then and the morning (and sleeping...) We saw Samurai 7 (which was good, though I fell asleep) and DearS (which was also good, though I fell asleep again! I need to stop sleeping during anime!! ; ;) slept a little, (New costume: Scat-chan in Hanajima's plain-clothes outfit that no one got! (; ;), me as Ryuu-chan again),then watched Flame of Recca so Scat-chan could see it (awesome!!) and Jigoku Shoujo (who we decided Scat-chan should cosplay next year!). More dealer's room (which we were in WAAAAAAAAAAY more than we said we would be...) and the closing ceremony. At the closing they threw swag at us! It was scary! I didn't really try to catch stuff, I like my limbs were they are, thanks. Oh, and the MC Mark 'kissed' a Roy cosplayer. >D

And that, my friends, is the end of our Sakura-con experience! Next year is it's 10th anniversary, how exciting! We already have lots of cosplay ideas for next year...now the problem is deciding which of them we'll actually DO for next year! Will I be Ichimaru Gin, Ayame, Yoh, or perhaps Ririn? Will Scat-chan finally get her Egypt saga Ishizu costume? Will my sister (or anyone else, for that matter!) get off her butt and get me supplies on time for once?! >D Only time will tell! Now this fangirl needs to read some doujin...ja ne!

Song of the moment: Ichirin no Hana - High and Mighty Color. This is the 3th OP to BLEACH...does anyone else dig their music yet? ^_^ Cause I'm totally hooked. I SO wish I could go see them at Shiokazecon...