ANIME BOSTON 2006: SUNDAY
Sundays at cons always create somewhat of a sticky situation because they often involve checking out of the hotel at noon, even though the convention activities are still going on until late afternoon. Add to that the predicament of the cosplayer, who not only faces the possibility of lugging around baggage, but of having to change out of a costume and into regular clothes at some point before leaving. However, despite my nightmares about a disastrous Sunday scenario, both my roommates and the Sheraton Hotel made the entire experience quite easy and very pleasant. The Sheraton didn’t require check-out until noon, but I had to be at main events for Cosplay Chess from 10:30 AM on, so my room had to be up and out the door much earlier. When I woke up around 8 AM, my roomies were all still snoring, but I decided it would be much easier to get ready and pack up my stuff around unconscious bodies than it would be if we were all frantically trying to sort through the mess together. So I took my time putting on my Advent Children Tifa costume and packing up all my stuff. 
I also made a point of cleaning up the bathroom, which was a sea of dirty towels, toiletries, and cosplay supplies. Everything looked much more orderly when I finally pulled open the curtains and said “Rise and shine!” to the room just after 9 AM. My roommates were all great about getting up, and set to work cleaning up trash and getting their things together. By 10 AM we were ready to head out. Just like check-in, the receptionist at the check-out desk was warm and friendly, and asked if I’d had fun at the convention. When I voiced my concerns about storing my baggage until later that afternoon, she offered to check it at no extra charge. Several bellhops tagged all of my luggage and carted it into storage for me, and the concierge complimented my costume as he handed me my receipts, which I tucked away in my cosplay purse before I lost them. My fears alleviated, I happily made my way to the main events hall, ready to participate in Anime Boston’s grand finale: Cosplay Human Chess.
Cosplay Human Chess is still a relatively new event at anime conventions, but has been steadily gaining in popularity, especially among cons in the Northeast. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is a cosplay game-show style event, in which a giant chessboard is set up on stage, and convention attendees in costume serve as the pieces. Two plain clothed chess players actually play the game on a small board, calling out their moves to the cosplayers on stage. At their direction, the cosplayers move, fight and die. Although the battles are predetermined, the event is mostly unscripted, so for the participants, it is mainly an improv/ad-libbed game, in which hilarity often ensues! At Anime Boston '06, the theme for the match was Shounen Vs. Shoujo, or manly characters vs. more girlie (regardless as to whether or not they are actually girls) characters. My involvement with Cosplay Chess this year came when I was selected to play Tifa from Advent Children at the match. Rather than serve as a normal chess piece and occupy a spot on the board, I was assigned to function as a "special attack" - basically a surprise guest who got to do whatever I wanted, really. My only requirement was that I was supposed somehow harass the rook on the Shounen side: Cloud, played by Dymatrex. After some thinking, I decided to parody 
Advent Children's blatantly commercial overuse of cellphones. I thought it would be funny if, every time Cloud was supposed to engage in battle, he got interrupted by a cell phone call from Tifa, annoying the crap out of him. I talked it over with Dy, and he liked it, so I prerecorded a bunch of cell phone calls, henpecking Cloud for being late for deliveries, playing stupid games, ignoring me, etc. Ultimately, when it came time for Cloud's final battle, which he was supposed to lose, Cloud would try to summon Bahamut and fail, and I would actually show up on stage and the three of us would have it out, and that would be that. So Dy went on stage and everything was going well. But as the game went on, I started wondering - if Cloud has been ignoring Tifa all day, why should she help him fight? Also, how was I going to get off stage? Would his opponent kill me too? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sketch, dressed as Vash, laughing in the corner, and had an idea that would solve those problems. I went over and told Sketch my plan. He liked it, and so did the chess staff. The only problem was, we had no way of warning Dy. So the moment came, and Cloud tried to summon Bahamut to no avail. Grabbing the mic, Dymatrex gave me the perfect entrance line: “What the hell just happened?”
Cloud: “Geez, sorry. What do you want from me?!”
Then Cloud loses his battle, and Dy came backstage laughing, saying “Was that your idea? That was awesome!” So it worked out great. You can see our performance, along with the rest of the chess match, HERE. The rest of the chess match went well, and the crowd really enjoyed it. After it was over, we all took our bows, and Cloud and Vash started strangling each other before I broke them up. Then, as the audience was filing out, Cloud and I did a little hoe-down dance to Cotton Eyed Joe. You can see us and the other chess cosplayers boogying down HERE. After chess wound down around 1:30 PM, I retrieved my luggage from the hotel staff, and made my way to a spacious and deserted bathroom in the hotel to change. It was really hot on Sunday, and it felt good to get out of pleather and a wig and wash my makeup off. By then, it was time to head back to South Station and catch my bus back home. I joined a bunch of FMA cosplayers with suitcases walking to the T Stop, and soon enough I was in South Station’s food court, grabbing a breakfast/lunch of lo mein before hopping over to the bus. The girl sitting in the seat next to me was also at the con, and we chatted about it for awhile before promptly falling asleep.