London MCM EXPO May 2011: Con report art 1

Well I'm back from EXPO guys, and nomming on a strawberry jam sandwich *NOM NOM NOM*.
It was a hectic weekend, full of free stuff, photographs, crack, tears, breakages and awesomeness! I'm so glad that I was able to go for all three days this time! ^-^
Anywayz, on with the report!!! (Warning: PICTURE HEAVY!!!)

 Right to left: Venus, Dana and Pirate Tom

Friday~
Friday got off to a bit of a bad start, firstly my dad woke me up at 7:30am to tell me that he'd frozen/broken my iphone after (WITHOUT ASKING) trying to unlock it for hours, then I found out one of my contact lenses had dried out (I did manage re-hydrate it though!), then my sister stood on my bustle and ripped it T.T, then when me and Dana were late and running for the train I ripped one of the ribbons off my boot cover... fml! So I only had one for the whole day... I still need to fix it actually >.<
Finally we got there, and were bombarded with requests for pictures! Probably due to Dana's easily recognisable Cheshire cosplay, still we had shit loads of fun!! ^-^

 Dana in her dark Cheshire Cat cosplay!

 Me cosplaying dark Alice

 

 Some wonderful people! Soul is Coral, Medusa is Suzanne and Maka is Phoebe!

Seeing as I didn't buy the £30 weekend ticket Friday was just about chilling, so me and Dana met up with Tom, Venus, Phoebe, Suzanne and Coral and just had some fun times relaxing in various places and taking pictures until around 8:30pm when me and Dana excused ourselves and had to go home.
Before we left though I'd had to take out my contact lenses, and you may remember me saying that one had dried out *facepalm* well it like, stuck to my eye or some shit, and I couldn't get it out, I then proceeded to be a fail and actually pinch my EYEBALL and try and pull that out along with the contact lens *head desk*. Needless to say it hurt like a motherfucker and my eye is still a little red T.T

 One of my favorite photos!!

 Gotta love em!

 Playing on the statue!

Our adorable Pikachu!

 Saturday~

A smoother start! Much smoother! I cosplayed Deidara from Naruto Shippuden and was happy at how comfortable the costume was! I was grateful for the warmth of my Akatsuki cloak. Our friend Katie tagged along with us that day, and was in awe of the many replica weapons and enthusiastic cosplayers!

Unfortunately shortly after I met up with Jumoke Katie, Dana and Venus were asked to leave the convention because they didn't have tickets and weren't planning on buying any. The only reason we can think of for them getting kicked out was because it was ridiculously crowded that day. Omg it was horrible!!!

 

Me and Jumoke found Belle and Verity and then we came across Coral, Phoebe and Suzanne and said hello before going inside. Belle and Verity were clever and had bought pre-entry tickets so me and Jum went with trepidation to join the queue... Where we stayed for 3 hours T.T 

We met up with Belle and Verity again and went to do some shopping in the vendors hall, where you could hardly get near the tables it was so busy!

I bought a sexy Sebastian pillow, and because my friend Elsie's dad works for Tokyopop I got tons of free manga! I also bought a Code Geass and a Kuroshitsuji poster, and got another Kuro one for free! 

FREE STUFF FOR THE WIN!!!!

After that we went outside to cool down (the vendors hall was like a tropical jungle of anime merchandise, climate and everything! >.<)

Miku is Belle and L is Verity!

 The wonderful Jumoke cosplaying Yoruichi Shihouin from Bleach!

 Some other cosplayers came over and L got raped by Itachi (we all laughed and photographed!)

Deidara (me) was accused of being very gay, and beaten with a yoai paddle, for the first time that day, seeing as I was spanked more than once >-<'''' lol! 

After we got a bit cold we went inside and chilled with the hilarious and amazing Soul Eater group of win which Coral, Suzanne and Phoebe were part of. Also to my great surprise Georgia and Naomi of IchirakuCosplay, two cosplayers who I've admired for a very long time! They were cosplaying Stein and Medusa, and totally rocking it!

A bit blurry as we were all hyper and moving around a lot.

Maka is Phoebe, Medusa is Naomi and Stein is Georgia!

There was a LOOOOOOT of crack, and a massive fight between Soul, Maka, Stein and the Joker which I'll be uploading to my youtube  channel soon!! ^.^

 Threesome anybody??

Just... lol! XD

  

Saturday afternoon was my favorite I think, just for the pure hysterical lolz! I'll be making a con video shortly (hopefully this evening!) and I'll also be uploading the Joker and Maka fight! Part 2 coming soon! I just need to make some more space on my computer before I can upload any of the photos from it ^-^'''' running out of space is such a nuisance!  

x x x x

Chiru

x x x x

 

When Parents Won't Allow It

   Good evening ya'll! This will be a post about parents who won't let their kids cosplay, and the possible misconceptions that could be driving their decision.
I've been thinking about it for a while, and I finally came to the conclusion to just 'go ahead and write it!' this blog is currently and primarily here for people of the age where they are still under the ruling of parents or guardians, those who still live at home and don't have the right to say, 'I'm an adult! Get out of my life!!' Without getting grounded and their privileges forcibly removed.

    I shared a reasonably brief conversation with a girl on youtube a while ago, who wanted to "crossplay", that is, she wanted to cosplay a boy. She'd been fighting her parents over it for months and they'd been telling her that a) no, she could not bind her chest, it was unnatural, and b) she was a girl, and it was strange for her to want to wear boys clothes.
Something I would like to ask the parents is this; 'when you were little, and you played pretend games with your friends or siblings, did you not at some point pretend to be a prince, a princess... or a knight? A little pickpocket boy? Or a flower girl?' if they answered no, then I'm almost positive they'd be lying. Who hasn't wondered what it would be like to be the other gender in their lifetime? some people feel so strongly that they should have been born the opposite gender that they decide to undergo hormone therapy and have varying surgeries. I suppose these parents that ban their children from cosplaying a character of the opposite gender are the same people who are averse to FTM or MTF transitioning as well?

   Getting back to cosplayers... my own personal take on this is that it's only dressing up, just a little more elaborate. Like putting on a costume to appear in a play, you wouldn't stop a man playing the part of Juliet if it was a traditional production of Romeo and Juliet would you?
Personally I don't know what I'd do if my parents wouldn't let me cosplay boys, because of my height, and natural flat chestedness I find it a WHOLE lot easier to don the garb of a male character. That's not to say I don't enjoy being a girl, because I wouldn't give that up for the world, but cosplay is different.
My parents and family are quite open, the only people who have ever seemed to have a problem understanding the things I'm interested in are my Nan and Grandad on my mother's side. They (oh so stereo typically) watch a ton of television, and there fore go along with a lot of common misconceptions.
   

 

   Which brings me to the many things people think cosplay means.
Really, there's only one HUGE biggie that parents have MAJOR trouble with... "cosplay is dressing up in slutty kitty maid outfits and saying 'nya' all the time whilst bending over in a suggestive manner for photographs taken by older, badly dressed men with hygiene issues". Toooootally wrong there oh dear adults who govern our lives!!!
Just to confirm, if there are any research driven parents reading this, no, it is most certainly NOT like that!!! Cosplay, is the portrayal of a character from a manga, anime, tv show, book, film or video game. An no, not all anime is full of sluts, and big breasted, innocent, confused, young girls. Not in reality. You wanna see what real cosplay and anime are like? Go search Fullmetal Alchemist (cosplay), or perhpaps Naruto Shippuden (cosplay)! That should give you some idea of what some of the most famous anime in the world is like.

    Moving on. Other parents may think that cosplay is a way to draw attention, and is just a plea for someone to look at you. But truth is, many cosplayers were nerds and losers in school and they had always admired the people who had the courage to dress up as their favorite characters, and then one day decided that they had that courage as well. Others just naturally arrived at the decision, such as myself. It seemed fun, plus I needed a Halloween costume ^-^

  
(Note, this was not my first cosplay!! It was my 3rd, and the second male cosplay I had done. My first was terrible so no one shall see evidence >_>)

    Another thing parents associate with cosplay, is lolita. Because of lolita being abused in anime and manga throughout the years it has come to be viewed by those on "the outside" - as it were - as something sexual, and something girls wear to attract the attention of pedophiles. Mostly because of the novel 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov. Thus, parents associate anime with pedophiles, and cosplay with pedophiles, and conventions with dark corners for said pedophiles to lurk in.

    Now, doesn't it seem that all of these misconceptions have been just about cosplay as a whole? Well yes, they all are. It's only made a little more confusing for parents or grandparents when you say, 'oh yeah, and I need to find some good heels for this cosplay as well' just after you've explained that it's a boy you're cosplaying. My nan's reaction was, 'so.... this is a boy... who wears heals?... Is he a heshe or something?' awkward much? It's hard to explain that you're not cross dressing (because that is basically what it is, nothing wrong in that though XD) as a boy who's cross dressing as a girl? >_<

    And thus, I am done with my rant. I truly hope that if you're reading this, parents, you will reconsider your decision about not letting your child cosplay or crossplay. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them!

All the cosplayers featured in this article are girls cosplaying as male characters.
Pictures from top to bottom:
NajoKoji as Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
Cvy as her own Steampunk version of The White Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
ChirucupcakeChan (AKA me) as Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji
OzTheNekoMaster as Oz Vasselius from Pandora Hearts



Photos (c) of their rightful owners. I'm fine with taking them down if requested to!!