Ken Entler
1-14-2004
Writing 082
Three years ago I had an experience that I will never forget. I waited anxiously and worked hard to prepare both myself and my costume, for my second year going to the Cincinnati anime convention "sugoicon". The previous year I had the first experience of such an event and that's when I was sucked in. No idea what to expect I went and was confronted by hundreds of people dressed in costumes from cute to almost bondage. At first I thought to myself "wow these people are freaks". But as time passed I started to get jealous. I wanted my own and vowed that next year I would come with something, anything!!!
It took me 7 months to figure out what costume to do. There were so many choices. Looking through books, magazines, my own collection of anime, and just about anywhere you could think of I compiled a list of 34 characters I would want to do. Now that I had choices, how was I to narrow it down? First I removed the things that were Impossible or just plain impractical to do at the time, such as giant robots and things that required a metal forge. Next I took away things that were common, I didn't want to come and there to be anyone else at all in the same costume. Then finally I chose one that to my count this day only three other people have done, mine by far looking the best. I chose to do Parn from an anime called "Record of the Lodoss War". Anime in case you don't know is short for Japanimation. Which is a cartoon made in Japan and unlike regular cartoons can be made for any age or genre type. In case you have no idea what that looks like, I'll tell you. Picture a tall man with shaggy brown hair and a boyish face, that doesn't reveal the inner turmoil inside of him, wearing a green turtle neck and green pants under his armor, his armor being an aged gold color. It has large shoulder pads, and a breastplate. His belt has plates hanging to protect his calves and hold his large sword, even his boots are armor plated. With that in mind, try to imagine now, how can I build armor? I already said I didn't want to use a forge, and on top of that money is low. So the answer was; cardboard. The good part was I could cut it to any shape I wanted and it was easy. The bad part was, it was easily ruined if say someone were to hug me and latter to my discovery, even just bump into me. The costume it self was made from more than just cardboard though. I also used, laminating paper to cover the cardboard and all its flaws or connecting pieces. Nine belts, two for each boot cut short and used as buckles, two on each side of the breast plate used for the same thing, and finally one that had the armor plates hanging off of it. The shoulders were hinged so I could take it on and off with ease. The edges of the cardboard were covered with a U shaped fabric with a hot glue gun to keep up appearances. In the end it was all spray painted Antique gold. The boots that I had used for the armored boots were leather so it turned out to be a bright shiny, and I dubbed them my "pimp boots". But alas somewhere after the last day of the convention the boots were lost. To this day I do now know how you can lose a pair of shiny gold size 13 boots. Completion of the entire costume took one month and was a scavenger hunt of sorts for all the parts. As soon as it was done it got laid out on a chair and placed where no one could harm it. I was as protective of it as a mother bear to her cub, that's just how proud I was.
That night I didn't sleep much, I was way to anxious know that in eight hours I would be at a convention again. The first year was fun but this year I had a costume and I wouldn't feel left out. My friend's arrived to pick me up for the trip around nine in the morning. Which is a bad time of day for me, any time before noon is really. All together there were 4 of us traveling in a car and a van. So we started out from Beavercreek and ended up in Cincinnati in an hour and a half. Traffic was surprisingly small. Arriving at the holiday inn, we quickly parked and ran in for opening ceremony where the staff says what's going on and the guests introduce themselves. The hotel was very spacious, with a large raised area in the center lobby that held all the people there when they were gathered together on the last day. Which were some odd sixteen hundred people. Everyone else had come in costumes again this year too, more then half the people in attendance. As I was saying, the convention started and immediately it was hard to know what to do. We had been handed a booklet detailing all the events but there were always some 15 things going on at once not counting the videogame room's. I ran up to the room at that point wanting to put my costume on. When I came back down things were totally different from the first time I had come to this convention. People were friendlier, and those three days were the most times I have ever had photos taken in my life. Not one person who brought a camera didn't stop me for a moment. This was also the time I discovered the flaw in my costume. The large shoulder pads, which were connected by two paper fasteners each, to look like rivets, were easily knocked off if merely brushed against. During the stay it must have come apart 20-30 times, and each time I had a different stranger reattach it for me. During the stay while I wasn't wearing the costume, I took in several movies on a big screen in the main viewing room. The shows that had been picked out were all things had not even been released state side yet to my enjoyment and to my annoyance because they were subtitled. Besides those I went to a class on the making of kimonos for both male and females. I participated in a 50 person two man teams "armored core 3" video game tournament. Which two of my friends who participated together won. Sunday was the last day and most people had left on Saturday wanting to be able to get home in time for school or work Monday. But the five hundred or so people who stayed were all ready for the cosplay contest. I had signed up on the first day and was number twenty three. While we waited in line other people sang karaoke much to both our pleasure and displeasure. The judging was a fun experience, each person went up in front of eight judges and spun around, then was asked ten or so question about the construction of the costume. Important factors included; how much time did it take you?, did you work on it yourself?, how hard was it? Are you enjoying yourself? When my turn came up I was rather nervous, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach and didn't want to stand up at all, but forcing my self I stood and spun for them. The first thing they said was "hey wait, is that cardboard?" I told them it was and apparently cardboard was one of the worst things to build a costume out of, but I had done the best job they had ever seen. I didn't win any contest which I chalk up to being nervous, but I wasn't in it to win, I was there to wear a costume I had constructed myself, and meet people that shared a common interest with me. All my goals were reached and I had one of the best times of my life.
1-14-2004
Writing 082
Three years ago I had an experience that I will never forget. I waited anxiously and worked hard to prepare both myself and my costume, for my second year going to the Cincinnati anime convention "sugoicon". The previous year I had the first experience of such an event and that's when I was sucked in. No idea what to expect I went and was confronted by hundreds of people dressed in costumes from cute to almost bondage. At first I thought to myself "wow these people are freaks". But as time passed I started to get jealous. I wanted my own and vowed that next year I would come with something, anything!!!
It took me 7 months to figure out what costume to do. There were so many choices. Looking through books, magazines, my own collection of anime, and just about anywhere you could think of I compiled a list of 34 characters I would want to do. Now that I had choices, how was I to narrow it down? First I removed the things that were Impossible or just plain impractical to do at the time, such as giant robots and things that required a metal forge. Next I took away things that were common, I didn't want to come and there to be anyone else at all in the same costume. Then finally I chose one that to my count this day only three other people have done, mine by far looking the best. I chose to do Parn from an anime called "Record of the Lodoss War". Anime in case you don't know is short for Japanimation. Which is a cartoon made in Japan and unlike regular cartoons can be made for any age or genre type. In case you have no idea what that looks like, I'll tell you. Picture a tall man with shaggy brown hair and a boyish face, that doesn't reveal the inner turmoil inside of him, wearing a green turtle neck and green pants under his armor, his armor being an aged gold color. It has large shoulder pads, and a breastplate. His belt has plates hanging to protect his calves and hold his large sword, even his boots are armor plated. With that in mind, try to imagine now, how can I build armor? I already said I didn't want to use a forge, and on top of that money is low. So the answer was; cardboard. The good part was I could cut it to any shape I wanted and it was easy. The bad part was, it was easily ruined if say someone were to hug me and latter to my discovery, even just bump into me. The costume it self was made from more than just cardboard though. I also used, laminating paper to cover the cardboard and all its flaws or connecting pieces. Nine belts, two for each boot cut short and used as buckles, two on each side of the breast plate used for the same thing, and finally one that had the armor plates hanging off of it. The shoulders were hinged so I could take it on and off with ease. The edges of the cardboard were covered with a U shaped fabric with a hot glue gun to keep up appearances. In the end it was all spray painted Antique gold. The boots that I had used for the armored boots were leather so it turned out to be a bright shiny, and I dubbed them my "pimp boots". But alas somewhere after the last day of the convention the boots were lost. To this day I do now know how you can lose a pair of shiny gold size 13 boots. Completion of the entire costume took one month and was a scavenger hunt of sorts for all the parts. As soon as it was done it got laid out on a chair and placed where no one could harm it. I was as protective of it as a mother bear to her cub, that's just how proud I was.
That night I didn't sleep much, I was way to anxious know that in eight hours I would be at a convention again. The first year was fun but this year I had a costume and I wouldn't feel left out. My friend's arrived to pick me up for the trip around nine in the morning. Which is a bad time of day for me, any time before noon is really. All together there were 4 of us traveling in a car and a van. So we started out from Beavercreek and ended up in Cincinnati in an hour and a half. Traffic was surprisingly small. Arriving at the holiday inn, we quickly parked and ran in for opening ceremony where the staff says what's going on and the guests introduce themselves. The hotel was very spacious, with a large raised area in the center lobby that held all the people there when they were gathered together on the last day. Which were some odd sixteen hundred people. Everyone else had come in costumes again this year too, more then half the people in attendance. As I was saying, the convention started and immediately it was hard to know what to do. We had been handed a booklet detailing all the events but there were always some 15 things going on at once not counting the videogame room's. I ran up to the room at that point wanting to put my costume on. When I came back down things were totally different from the first time I had come to this convention. People were friendlier, and those three days were the most times I have ever had photos taken in my life. Not one person who brought a camera didn't stop me for a moment. This was also the time I discovered the flaw in my costume. The large shoulder pads, which were connected by two paper fasteners each, to look like rivets, were easily knocked off if merely brushed against. During the stay it must have come apart 20-30 times, and each time I had a different stranger reattach it for me. During the stay while I wasn't wearing the costume, I took in several movies on a big screen in the main viewing room. The shows that had been picked out were all things had not even been released state side yet to my enjoyment and to my annoyance because they were subtitled. Besides those I went to a class on the making of kimonos for both male and females. I participated in a 50 person two man teams "armored core 3" video game tournament. Which two of my friends who participated together won. Sunday was the last day and most people had left on Saturday wanting to be able to get home in time for school or work Monday. But the five hundred or so people who stayed were all ready for the cosplay contest. I had signed up on the first day and was number twenty three. While we waited in line other people sang karaoke much to both our pleasure and displeasure. The judging was a fun experience, each person went up in front of eight judges and spun around, then was asked ten or so question about the construction of the costume. Important factors included; how much time did it take you?, did you work on it yourself?, how hard was it? Are you enjoying yourself? When my turn came up I was rather nervous, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach and didn't want to stand up at all, but forcing my self I stood and spun for them. The first thing they said was "hey wait, is that cardboard?" I told them it was and apparently cardboard was one of the worst things to build a costume out of, but I had done the best job they had ever seen. I didn't win any contest which I chalk up to being nervous, but I wasn't in it to win, I was there to wear a costume I had constructed myself, and meet people that shared a common interest with me. All my goals were reached and I had one of the best times of my life.