Cosvision 2016 - it scarred me.

(Or actually Cosvision didn't but I'll tell you more about the title later.)

Cosvision is over now and I'm super tired but I'm trying to write this blog post before I forget everything I have in mind.

So, on Friday I left work a bit earlier than usually (half an hour or so) and went home to wait for Lawi with whom I would travel to Hämeenlinna. After 4 p.m she and her mother (also known as our driver) arrived at my place and we started our trip to Hämeenlinna.

The weather was kind of... Interesting. Everything between snow and rain poured down to the earth and I have to say that I was in a little panic. Luckily nothing bad happened to us but I guess that it tells you enough about the weather that someone had actually driven off the road so... Yeah.

We arrived to Hämeenlinna in the early evening and went to our hotel. They had a room on their own and I had booked two rooms for Shiro Samurai, Frozen Angel and Sacchan. They would arrive later so I had promised to inform the hotel about the late arrival etc. Anyway, I got the key card for one of the rooms and took my stuff there. 

We had decided with Lawi and her mother that we would walk around Hämeenlinna and get familiar with the city. We were very happy to notice that Valintatalo (a market) and the convention place itself were pretty near to the hotel! There were also many good places nearby for photoshoots. 

After our little walk (and visiting Valintatalo to get something to eat and drink) I decided to go and sit in the hotel room. I also tried to make a vlog but my camera decided not to cooperate with me (fuck you camaro). 

I was pretty happy to have my laptop with me because I would have been bored as hell without it while waiting for my company to arrive.

At some point I decided to have a glass of wine and Lawi kept me company for a few hours. We laughed our asses off because she said something like "the abuse of coca" while meaning Coca-Cola... We were pretty tired. xD

Twenty to twelve p.m I had a small heart attack when my mobile phone decided to tell me that it's alive - in other words, Frozen Angel called me and told that they were in Hämeenlinna and would arrive to the hotel soon. I went outside to greet them and believe me, I was super happy when I saw them - it had been AGES since I had last seen them! ;__; 

We had decided that Shiro Samurai and Sacchan would sleep in one room and Frozen Angel and I would take the other room. We all decided together that we would wake up at 8:00 a.m. and then we decided to get some sleep - well, I managed to fall asleep at 2:30 a.m. or so...


I had decided to cosplay 2p!France on Saturday. Even though I didn't make anything myself for that costume it nearly drove me insane because I just couldn't find a right kind of a dress shirt for it but luckily Frozen Angel had managed to find one for me so I didn't have to cancel my plans. It took us a few hours to get ready but it didn't bother me that much - I enjoyed just spending time with my company.

Hashtag selfie addict.

When we arrived at the con I immediately bumped into Trixena (who had actually tried to contact me but I haven't had time to check my phone, oops) and we begun talking about the con. The area outside the building seemed to be a bit empty but I thought that it was because of the weather which was not that great.
But then we went inside...

There was much lesser crowd that I had expected. Really. I had expected a lot more since Cosvision is that one convention focusing only on cosplay and then... I don't even know what to say. I spent an hour or so chatting with Trixena and greeting Päivi who was in a hurry because of the cosplay competition but had time for a little small talk.
Finally I met my company again and we decided to go to check the Dealer's Hall. There was this guy from whom I've bought a few T-shirts and I decided to go and check his table. And what's the first thing I see? A PERFECT LORD VOLDEMORT FIGURINE. ;__; It cost something like 35 euros so I decided to buy it - I would have felt sorry for myself later if I didn't buy it.

I also bought a Deathly Hallows necklace from Purple Octopus and I just might have ordered a customized Malfoy family crest necklace from her.

After that we were going to see a lecture but then we noticed that it had been cancelled so we didn't have almost anything to do. At this point I think that we decided to visit Valintatalo, buy some food and go to the hotel. Shiro Samurai and Sacchan stayed outside at the ruins nearby the hotel and Frozen Angel and I decided to go to our hotel room...
And at this point I noticed that I had forgotten my jacket at Verkatehdas - the convention place.

In other words that meant that we had to leave the hotel again quite soon and go to Verkatehdas again to get my jacket. We decided to check out the photoshoot places though since we wanted a good place to have a photoshoot of France and Prussia.
It's funny how nobody recognizes 2p!-versions of Hetalia characters, especially if their design isn't that much out of ordinary. For example nobody recognized my France - not that I expected anybody to do that but I find it quite funny in some way.
Anyway, we found good places nearby Verkatehdas. At this point we went back to our hotel room and decided to eat something. Salad and beer, that's my diet. :DD
I also had some kind of an anxiety attack for some reason and I was so lucky to have Frozen Angel with me (Shiro Samurai and Sacchan had gone somewhere for a food hunt)... Those anxiety attacks can turn out to be hellish and it's not nice to be alone when you get one, I can tell you that.

Pretty soon it was time for a photoshoot!
It was freezing as hell outside without my jacket - my arms were frozen, my feet hurt and posing for camera felt almost an impossible task to do. For some reason (probably because of the dry skin) my chest was very itchy and because I'm known for my intelligence I decided to scratch it... Doesn't sound too bad yet but wait for it.

At first we decided to photoshoot my France. Here we go!
(And remember kids, never start smoking. It kills you. Slowly but surely.)

Lying on that staircase killed my back but I love how well the pictures turned out! ;__;

After this shoot it was time for the France/Prussia photoshoot.
Note; Frozen Angel and I are just friends. Very good friends indeed, but just friends. And if you definitely dislike PruFran/FranPru pairing, scroll past these pics. I'm not forcing you to watch them. Thank you.

All of the pictures above © Shiro Samurai.

After taking these pics everybody was so frozen that we could have found a choir and start to sing "Let It Go" so we decided to retire back to the hotel. Shiro Samurai and Frozen Angel decided to go to the rooms while Sacchan and I decided to have a glass of white wine - tasted damn good!
When we tried to take the elevator upstairs (the rooms were in the 3rd floor) we noticed that Sacchan's hotel room key card had somehow broken and we couldn't make the elevator work. We decided to call Shiro Samurai who kindly came to rescue us.
Then I went to the hotel room, begun to take my costume off... And noticed something very interesting.
I told you that I had been scratching myself during the day. You can't actually see it in the pics since the itching area was under the shirt. And now I have two, almost 10 centimeters long scars on my chest (this explains the title of this post)! The wounds were bleeding a bit and I just stared myself from the mirror like "Eh..!?". Also my shoes had killed my feet pretty badly and walking properly is still out of question.

Cosplay without pain is pretending.
We decided to wake up at 7:30 a.m. next morning. I was so tired that I felt like fainting and fell asleep surprisingly early - 1:30 a.m. 0__0

On Sunday I had decided to cosplay Ayame Sohma. Shiro Samurai had told me that he would cosplay Hatori Sohma but then shit happened and he couldn't do that. Well, someday we will make this pair cosplay - won't we? >:3
He had also bought me some lenses - one pair for Ayame, one pair for Italy from Hetalia (wait for Tracon - I kicked Cicero out of my cosplay list since I haven't got time to make that costume this year) and one pair for Tetsuhiro Morinaga from Koisuru Boukun/The Tyrant falls in Love. I will review the pair for Ayame soon so stay tuned!

Since it was Sunday it meant packing our stuff and so on. For me it was a pain in the ass since my stuff was almost literally EVERYWHERE. I will never learn.
Anyway, this is the first time I managed to make the make-up for Ayame just the way I've always wanted to make it. I'm proud of myself.

Bonjour, madames et messieurs. 

At 12:00 I had finally packed my stuff into Lawi's mother's car and Frozen Angel and I were able to start our walk to the con place - the other two had went there with a car.

At first we just walked around the con place randomly and then we found Lawi. I chatted with her for a while. Then we decided to take a selfie - there's always time for one. Even when you're looking for your photographer.

Believe me or not, we're not related in any way but we look kinda same - excluding the nose thing though since my nose has been broken two times. :I

Soon after we found Shiro Samurai and Sacchan. Since it wasn't raining at that time we decided to go and take photos of my Ayame cosplay.
Photographer © Shiro Samurai.

I'm very pleased with these pics - I just love them! I also noticed that I haven't had a solo photoshoot for Ayame yet - well, that one quick photoshoot in Tracon 2013 doesn't count right now. This is the first real photoshoot I had... And I'm going to make some other Aya's outfits too! The red coat is one of my plans next year... x)
After taking the pics we headed inside to look for Sacchan and Frozen Angel whom we found in the Dealer's Hall. We spent time together for a while and then I decided to visit Valintatalo again since I was running out of cigarettes. When we came back Sacchan went... Well, somewhere and Frozen Angel and I headed back to the Dealer's Hall. There we ran into Trixena, Päivi and Satu. We chatted for a while and Trixena kept us company quite a long while - it was nice to have her around since I don't see her that often either.
There was this epic Dalek cosplayer once again. I had been longing for a chance to speak with him and finally I had that chance! ;__; He was a very nice guy and he had a great sense of humor.

The rest of the con was spent speaking about different topics... And this thing happened: when I was about to say that I was going to get the costume off me someone came and asked if she could take a picture of me! ;__; I was super happy since I'm very pleased with Ayame as a costume but hardly anybody has asked pics of it and now it happened! ;__;
Then it was time for me and Lawi to leave Hämeenlinna. I almost started crying when I had to say "goodbye, see you soon" to my company since I had been missing them so damn much and then suddenly I had to leave again and ugh ;__;

My feelings about the con itself, you ask?
Well, it could have been better but I've also attended worse cons. There could have been more lectures and panels but otherwise the atmosphere at the con was pretty relaxed. I still don't know if the large crowd missing was a good thing or not... But anyway. I had pretty much fun in Cosvision and I would attend it again! There's some things they could improve but I still enjoyed attending the con, meeting my friends and spending time with them.

Some bonus pics...

It was completely freezing and Frozen Angel decided to hug the hell out of me when I begun to feel like I had been made out of ice.

Eyes please, could you even try..?

"There's a fucking branch in my wig! Damn birch! :I"

See you in a next WIP post - or perhaps in a lens review post? ;)

-Firith

Tampere Kuplii 2016 - let's keep it laconic.

Yep, let's keep it laconic since there's not really that much to tell you.

Because my sewing machine decided to have a holiday with a horrible timing I didn't have time to finish Chikane and that meant no competing for me. This was the second time that it happened to me with this cosplay and I'm seriously starting to get annoyed with this.
But anyway I decided to attend the convention on Saturday. Not on Sunday though; I decided to go to the Krav Maga training instead of attending the con. Tampere Kuplii is more like "I'm just hanging out with friends" type of a con and even though it's fun to spend time with friends... Well... This time I didn't feel like staying for two days.

On Friday I left work a bit earlier than usual (fifteen minutes or so) so I could catch the bus on time. I seriously don't like travelling anymore but then I noticed that my little cousin Danya was in the same bus and I went to speak with her (she also goes to conventions a couple of times per year).
When I arrived to Tampere Rikari and Monccu were there waiting for me. I had to go to Cybershop to get the lenses for Severus but then we just hung out for an hour or so when we waited for the rest of the group (Kage, Yuurei, Minskitsin, Terhi and Heini) to arrive - we had decided to go to restaurant HuviRetki and have a nice dinner.
When we were waiting for them at the railway station a drunkard came to me and Rikari and begun to speak to me.

"Hey, I'm sorry I have to say this. You're a beautiful young lady (if only my glance could kill the man would be dead by now) but I have to ask you this; why do you have that thing?" and then he pointed at my lip piercing. I stared at him for a while and just told him that I like piercings and tattoos and I'm likely to get more of them in the future.
It seems like I'm some kind of a drunkard magnet or something... This always happens to me. ":D"

Anyway, the rest of our group arrived soon enough and then we went to get some food. I was a bit worried about the eating thing since my stomach has been malfunctioning for a few months now and eating... Well, I eat because I want to stay alive but I don't still enjoy it. Somehow I still managed to eat some chicken and French fries without constant burping.
Gure and Jarkko had kindly promised that I could stay at their place and Gure came to collect me from the center of the city in the evening - before that I had already met Asuka, Hukkai and Alex and had a quick chat with them - and then we went to their place.

Doctor Who and wine is a great combination, I tell you that.

I also tested the lenses I had bought for Severus and then I realized something,..
They were circle lenses.
It's not like I couldn't wear circle lenses but it's not that easy to get them into my eyes since my eyes are so small (and that's also the reason I will never use sclera lenses). It took a few moments of swearing and drying the water that ran from my eyes before the lenses settled into my eye and I was able to see and function normally. After all those lenses are quite nice to wear.

In the Saturday morning I woke up because it was way too damn hot - seriously, I slept on a black leather couch, I had a thick blanket and sun shone directly onto the sofa. I felt like a breakfast bacon while laying on that damn thing and decided to rise up.
Gure and Jarkko were both still sleeping so I had to sneak around the apartment very silently. My mother told me that I should sing so they woke up but I decided not to do that and instead have a shower and put the costume (casual!young!Severus) on.
When I was almost ready they finally woke up and we had a long breakfast since everybody was way too tired to function properly. In the end I got a text message from Shameless that he, Elizzy, Camo and Oona had arrived to Tampere-talo and I finally managed to pack my stuff and get out of the door.
And then we had to run to get to the bus in time... We will never learn.

At Tampere-talo there were pretty many men in suits and women in dresses. They were much older than people in the cons usually and we were like "what the fuck is going on here" before we saw a sign that there was some sort of a meeting in one part of Tampere-talo.
Monccu and Rikari were the first people we met and then we just hung out with them for a while before they decided to get some food - and I decided to find Shameless. It was actually quite an easy task to do since he was waiting for me in the hall.
We (Shameless, Gure, Jarkko and I) also met Joona and hung out with him for a while. We talked about gaming and stuff like that and Gure decided to scare the shit out of me with some Snapchat video filters. My dear friend, if you ever read this: fuck you xD

At some point Shameless and I just hung out - well, we went to the Dealers' Hall and I bought very beautiful necklace from Purple Octopus. I'm way too huge Harry Potter fan and I collect stuff related to it. I might never actually use this necklace but it's way too beautiful so I had to have it ;;___;;

And then we had a photoshoot of my Severus cosplay. Pictures © Shameless, (shitty) photoshopping by me.
I've just started to photoshop some things. I don't do much but usually I try to search a better background for the pics. Now I just did it to one pic but still.

A cookie for the one who recognizes the book I'm reading.

Tried to decrease the amount of light and make the shades of black more intensive.

Well, I'm not a wizard with Photoshop but anyway.

Then I took a few pictures of other cosplayers. I didn't actually do much else since, well, I fell almost unconscious at one point (thank God I had Shameless with me) and then I heard that my brother was in the hospital and... Yeah. Even though it was snowing heavily I had to get out of the house because I felt like I would have started hyperventilating,
In the end of the day I bid my gang farewell and walked to the bus station with Rikari. I managed to catch my bus in time and started my travel to home.

There's not much more to say, here are the pics of the other cosplayers.
And I tell you, even though the photoshopping is quite simple it takes time quite a bit. My respect towards those who can actually use the said program increases every time I try to manipulate the pictures.
Oh, and I didn't manipulate every pic since, well, I didn't have time and I was unsure about the backgrounds for them so I decided not to do anything to them. Oh, and the background pictures are taken on Google.

Monccu as lolita and Rikari as Zone-tan. Gotta love your rapeface, Rikari... :D 

My friend Juuli and her girlfriend Anniina cosplayed Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.

SANS <3 

I bumped into this Armin cosplayer and I love that costume! <3

There!
And, my Cosvision cosplay plans...

On Saturday I will cosplay 2p!France. I don't have time to make his real costume... :I And on Sunday I will cosplay Ayame Sohma once again. :DD See you there!

-Firith