.Amani
Saturday, July 27, 2013
AnimeNext 2013
Earlier in June I attended AnimeNext for the first time. AnimeNext has always been one of those small-scale conventions that for years I've heard stories about it being subpar (besides the friends that hang out there), but this year I gave it a bit of a chance since Baby, the Stars Shine Bright was going to be a special guest, with fashion show and all. Most of all, Akinori Isobe was going to be there, which RARELY happens, which made it a little more interesting than when the brand usually visits places like Otakon or AKon, etc. It really makes me wonder why he would come to these disorganized events versus the actual huge cons that BABY goes to time and time again xD
Anyways, I only attended Saturday since that was the fashion show day (Sunday was the tea party & MC Melody Doll panel, but with church and then my shortness on money I wasn't able to make that..) I didn't even really want to go to the fashion show, really just to BABY's booth to get a little something and then that's it. I -considered- actually buying a pass but as the time got closer to the con I couldn't afford it, so I went without. I only had one place I'd go to so it was whatever. The prices were absolutely ridiculous though, pricing their tickets more than NYCC and I think maybe Otakon! Certainly not worth that money.
Luckily I hitched a ride with my friend Raven and her boyfriend in their car, which made things so much easier since public transportation from Brooklyn to butthellnowhere New Jersey was going to be 30-something roundtrip (it wasn't even that deep in NJ!) So I was grateful for that.
My camwhoring as I was waiting to be picked up xD
I decided to wear my BABY Marie Antoinette print, which is my most favorite dress in the world.
When I mean 'favorite', I mean I told my mom, my Pastor and 1st Lady that if my life ever came to an end before they leave this world, that I'd be dressed in it = u= along with a funeral pyre of all my dresses kiddingggg
I haven't worn the dress in a few years... and it's age is sort of starting to show. But I decided to wear it anyways because of nostalgia~
Despite the weird humidity that day, I still decided to go with a hime hairstyle-- I spent the whole night altering my favorite halfwig that started getting jank... now it's 'permanently' set with curls and a beehive for me to do easy mori styles with my hair. This day I wasn't all satisfied with the bump though.. wish I had tried to make the hair bigger because it looked so small when I slipped the crown and stuff into my hair = =
Me and Raven~ (she blocked out her face because she thought she looked derpy = A= whatever girl)
She's rocking Morrigan, a small indie brand made by one of my friends.
Besides my dress, everything is offbrand or taobao~ the angel tights are from taobao and they are gorgeous and such good quality. I'm so happy they fit! The Princess Melody choker knockoff was cute, but a bit annoying because of the crown's weight it kept shifting to the side... but whatever. Parasol is from Lumiebre.
Soon as we got there we broke off though, her and her boo had a list of panels that they put in their schedule to try and make the most of the cost of the con tickets.. (at the end they complained that it really wasn't worth it xD hah)
So separating from them, I met up with Laura and Susan, who were in their Tiger & Bunny cosplay, as well as Angela and her boyfriend who were in Lupin III cosplay that day.
Laura perfectly playing the part of attention-whorish Barnaby. Susan was sl00tetsu (Fem Kotetsu). Their whole weekend consisted of T&B outfits, it was a first where I didn't see them dress a day in lolita.
One of the nearby girls in her Stocking cosplay~ Said she recognized me from the net! Hay gurllll
We stepped outside for a bit for a hilarious Lupin x T&B shoot session. The photos were too good, here are just a couple~
Lupin and Fujiko stole plush Bunny!
Damn it sl00tetsu, stop derping!
Eventually Tiger & Bunny got their plush back. Fujiko and Lupin were disappoint.
Divas~
Does she have the booty?
She dooooooooooo
Once we had fun with that, I made my way into the dealer's room, and beeline'd straight to the BABY booth.
Some of the local shopgirls posing~
Taking a snapshot with them
The fashion show was going on at that moment, and they told me the designers should be there after the show & Q&A. So I went around the dealer's room for a bit. Tried to look for a kimono/yukata shop that sold big-sized geta sandals, but of course there was none... wishing I got a pair last Otakon.
Arkapasso
There were an awful lot of Homestuck & Adventure Time cosplay that were in complete bodypaint vs body stocking... it kind of made the dealer's room a nightmare, I was swerving them all so hard. I hope no other lolita or cosplayer got their stuff ruined.
Soon after I made my way back to the BABY booth, and bought a cute drawstring totebag.
Cute bags galore. A lot of the pricing were actually REALLY good, serious sale prices on some of their bows and cutsews and stuff. If only I had more money....
One of their displays
All the dresses were so cute... I was half tempted by the Magical Ice Cream dress (the red stripish one), because it was my first print I ever bought. I ended up selling it later but.. now I want it back again ; ; in black this time. The black OP was gorgeous too.
BABY print fabric dressed the tables ; o;
Lexie, who managed to get the opportunity to work as a shop girl ; A;
Nancy in her badass bonnet, who also managed to become a shopgirl ; ; Lucky hoes
Don't worry little loli.. *cough* I'm not a creep or anything = w=
Soon enough, the designers came with the guest models.
Saki Tachibana, Masumi Kano, and then Tomo and Satsuki from the band Moonstream
Trying to get us to buy a dress xD
The guys were being really silly the whole time. Photobombing everyone's photos of the designers, etc. xD
Saki was more quiet, I guess because she's much newer to the whole travelling thing.
I had to take a photo with Kano-san.
Her outfit for the day.
I love Kano~ I always try to start a conversation with her ^^ I believe she is the head designer for the main Baby the Stars Shine Bright line? Or at least she's been designing for them for YEARS. A lot of their designers don't usually stay around for too long..
Back in 2008, Baby the Stars Shine Bright had a fashion show at New York Anime Festival, and I was chosen to model one of their outfits. Though back then I was much newer to the style, and my makeup and hair/wig game was trash, and I was too sick or nervous to really have done a good job (in my opinion), I was surprised when Kano-san remembered me when she came to Otakon with BABY in 2010. It made me feel really good and she was very happy to see me, and kept telling her translators about me having modeled for them.
So now I make it a mission to always speak to her! Her English is very limited, and my Japanese is practically non-existant xD But we've broken-talked about a lot of things... like I was asking her about old designers that used to come with her (Luanne, Katoh (?), Mitsuba) and she told me how all of them moved on and don't work at BABY anymore... then she began to ask me if I met any of the designers I have yet to meet xD Those girls have mainly been at San Francisco events or in Texas so I've yet to see them in person...
It was very awkward because I didn't know what else to say to her, but she kept coming back asking me things! One of them being about my Marie Antoinette dress xD I told her that it was the first edition that was released in 2007 or 2008ish (it was since re-released, with a slightly different pattern), and that it was my absolute favorite dress in the world. And then she goes, "I made that, did you know?" and I internally died. Jesus, take the wheel, my life has been made.
I asked about BABY's location, if it was possible to meet her at the main shop if I ever went to Japan, but she said she doesn't work in the store at all so there'd be no real chance to see her there. But I'm sure one day if I finally go to Tokyo I'll be able to run into her somewhere there.♥ I look forward to it.
Group shot of the designers, singer models and the shop staff~
I of course ran into a lot of girls there, one of them being Aleksandra (above). I generally don't know an awful lot of NJ lolitas, so most of them I didn't talk to besides a girl or two that I saw went to Frill convention.
From then on I got kicked out of the convention xD Which was hilarious~
I found that I was being stalked by one of the main staff, some loser from my ex-friend's anime club. The guy has always tormented her whenever she had a booth at the artist's alley, trying to divert crowds AWAY from her table among other things~ really petty.
So I guess when he saw me, he recognized me and had another staff member search my things for a pass while he watched from afar. Which they claim is their new policy as far as people swapping badges and whatnot, but that was most likely half-truth lol
Really creepy, right??? So when I said I didn't have one, I was escorted to the staff room (when the first guy escorted me and then I saw him not too far away I noticed the creep, that's how I know it was him), where the people in there were really nice compared to this bloke who was very much "HEY GUYS I DID A THING". I was escorted to the the front afterwards because I obviously not about to pay for a pass, when I obviously came to do what I wanted in the first place haha
Later on, talking with some other friends, they told me this guy likes to stalk people and wouldn't be surprised if he was following me online. Haha, is his life really that uneventful that his vendettas are that serious? I only met him like, twice at most, and that was at least 4-5 years ago now, plus I haven't been friends with the girl he hates for almost the same amount of time. Thirsty, much? Maybe he should reduce his sodium intake~
In the end it was a laugh for me and all my lolita friends because we know this dude must have felt victorious... for giving me the red carpet out when I had my time with the designers, already did my shopping, and was just about to make my exit anyways xD hahaha
It felt good to have assistants guiding me out~ holding doors for me~ but next time a horse and carriage would be nice.♥ Very appropriate for my hime outfit.
/queen
After that I went to meet with Laura and Susan who were eating and acting like complete fools at the Holiday Inn across the street from the con xD
I also changed out of my lolita clothing because it was way too gross and sticky.. switched into a MAR*Sish outfit.
Tiara to the side~ boobs out~ #good
From then on we were hopping from hotel to hotel, everywhere seemed to have something going on~ we spent the night chilling at the bars and trying to find dranks and scoping out all the cosplay.
A frustrated looking Usagi, looking for her Mamoru I guess?
One of the only cosplay I took a photo of~ if you know me and my obsession with Final Fantasy, you know Garnet was always on my "one day~" cosplay list. To see a well-constructed Garnet outfit gave me feels. The girl was seemed shy or timid but sweet ^^
The best cosplay though, just as I was meeting back up with Raven to leave?
A POE SPIRIT
I LITERALLY LOST MY SH*T
I know the photos were blurry but it works SO well with the cosplay. If you are a Legend of Zelda fan you know EXACTLY what I mean @ @
Dude even had a little sound recorder thing playing the poe sounds and everything.
I just simply could not contain my feels
I even got a little video of it, with the sounds and the movements:
Overall it was a good night, filled with hanging out with Laura and Susan and their silliness, and later us with Nicole and her buzzed 'idgaf' silliness xD It was very enjoyable because of friends..
Can't say the same as far as the brand event though~ as far as I heard, the tea party was a bust (the con staff literally having girls self-serve themselves to plain lipton tea and store cookies) despite BABY doing a promotion of a party ticket with a purchase of $200-300. There was no hostess there to help them either so it was said to be very awkward and uneventful.
I tend to feel sorry for BABY~ also for the tri-state lolita community because something always end up happening that kind of jacks up the experience with brand events in our area~ it really ruins the chances of future events because of disorganized/irresponsible convention staff and what have you. Hopefully they'll continue to do events with Otakon which would be the the biggest con of the East Coast~ or maybe one day they'll have their own brand event with the community itself here~ ♥
ANYWAYS, that's all for this con xD I definitely would NOT be back, with or without money or a ticket. xD For the lack of quality vs. their pricing, the costs of actually going, etc., it's definitely not worth anything to make your way out to in my opinion~ sorry not sorry. Keeping to NYCC and Otakon that are actually worth going to (and cheaper in the end) ♥
But in the meantime... the BABY swag I managed to get~ to add to my scrapbook and my brand bag collection xD
♥
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4 comments:
That dress is truly gorgeous on you! I love how well your hair compliments it :)
The Btssb tote you chose is so adorable! I have a thing for tote bags haha. They're just so useful!
8D NFG 2013! You know my motto, girl~!
planning to~ will probably make an event page for it before I leave :]
The magical ice cream dress is adorable! And you look amazing in your dress~
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