DAY TWO: SATURDAY
We got up around 10AM , and shortly after I began the process of transforming into Sorceress Adel from Final Fantasy VIII for Masquerade judging at 11:30. Luckily I had the bathroom all to myself as Starlightslk and Dizzy left to grab some breakfast before changing into their Robin Sena and Amon costumes from Witch Hunter Robin, while AkaneSaotome had headed out early as Lili from Tekken. In a stroke of perfect timing, everyone returned just as I was finishing up my makeup, and I was able to be out the door just in time for judging at about 11:15. I headed up to the judging location, which was a balcony on the top floor of the hotel overlooking the lobby. While I waited in line, I had a blast leaning over the railing and frightening all children who entered the hotel and happened to look up, although once they got over the initial shock, most of them thought I looked pretty cool. I also hung out with some pretty good cosplayers; I met Green Flame who was cosplaying Aeris from Final Fantasy VII and chatted a bit with my former skit-mate, Inu-girl, as Shiva from Final Fantasy X. Inu-girl had fixed up her Shiva costume since I’d last seen her at Anime Boston ‘06, and it looked fantastic. She had completely redone the wig, which I had always been impressed by, and some of the newer accessories even glowed in the dark! I was so busy talking I was almost sad when I had to leave for judging! I wasn't very nervous for it, given my overly complex costume and the size of the con. Regardless, however, my judging session was pretty quick and painless, and I was happy to see the judges really took the time to study the reference images -- something I think is really important, especially when dealing with an uncommon character.

Once my judging session was complete, I headed back to the room, where Dizzy was struggling to tame Starlightslk’s hair into Robin Sena’s gravity-defying horns. I filmed the hourlong process for a documentary she was working on, until eventually her hair decided to cooperate. That painstaking project finally completed, I left to wander the con halls while Starlightslk finished changing into Robin and Dizzy got into Amon. This proved to be somewhat of a problem as Bakuretsu Con is less than 1/20 the size of Anime Boston (about 500 people as opposed to 10,000), and therefore its location is not designed to be overly spacious. I found it a lot harder to maneuver the halls with Adel than I had at AB; while the Hynes Center had allowed plenty of space for my wings and train, the narrow passages of the Hampton Conference Center made me feel a bit claustrophobic. I was constantly worried that I was poking somebody's eyes out every time I turned around, so I mostly stood off to the side and let people come to me if they wanted a photo or to chat. I was also starting to get a bit hot in the small inclosed space. Eventually Dizzy and Starlightslk came down, and we decided it would be nice to head outside for a little photoshoot by the gazebo. The fresh air felt great, and the red leaves and scenery made for a great setting for photos.

By the time we were finished, it was about 2PM. . . almost time to line up for the Masquerade which started at 3. Dizzy helped me carry my prop - a life-sized Rinoa dummy - down to the ballroom, hidden under a bedsheet. He was going to be one of the performance judges, so he was allowed to come in with me. The cosplay coordinators gave us a brief pre-Masquerade pep talk in the ballroom which was cool; they had everyone come up on stage and get used to the steps, drop offs, ceiling height (I gave that a quick check for my staff) and view of the audience. They also made a real effort to keep the event fun and low-key, which is unusual. Anyone who was nervous was invited on stage to joke around with the coordinators and the fellow cosplayers until they felt more comfortable and supported. This aspect was really a wonderful surprise; at large cons the Masquerades are often so competitive and stressful that it was nice to see a place where NOT taking it seriously was encouraged. Given the size of the event, and the experience and skill levels of most of the participants, attitude was as appropriate as it was refreshing. As it became closer to show time, we were all led out of the room and lined up down the hall. We stood there and chatted with each other as the audience was seated. I had a really nice conversation with the couple in front of me, a pair of really nice cosplayers dressed up as Kagura and Naraku from Inu-Yasha. The hand-painted details on their costumes were great, Kagura had some gorgeous red contacts, and Naraku's bee prop was too cute!

After the audience was seated, I expected we would be marched back in to sit in the front. . . but we weren't. We stood in the hall, and were lead to the door of the ballroom only once the performers in front of us were on stage. We then entered the ballroom as we were announced, did our performance, then exited to the back of the room. I didn't really care for this setup as it caused several difficulties; first, it prevented Masquerade participants from watching any of the performances which came before us, which kind of sucked. I wanted to have a chance to see everyone, and support my fellow cosplayers. Second, because we couldn't block the hall we were waiting in, we couldn't we sit down (which for some people would have been for a significant amount of time), and we were squished up against the wall, which made moving at all for someone like me very difficult. Finally, this meant you had to carry everything with you onstage in addition to props - purse, badge, money, room key, etc. - because we were not returning to the place we came from. All of these issues would have been eliminated if we had been allowed to sit in the ballroom itself; given the small size of the con and the audience, there was plenty of seats which we could have occupied. At any rate, I was a bit nervous as I'd never done a skit before, not to mention one by myself. I liked what I'd come up with, however. Called Dating For Sorceresses 101, I had made a voiceover recording in which a voice (think 1950s hygiene newsreel) teaches Sorceress Adel how to get a boyfriend. When she admits she has a crush on Squall, the voice recommends she "get to know" Rinoa, and find out what about her Squall finds appealing. Adel, unfortunately, interprets this to mean capturing her will solve the problem. When the voice gets angry, asking how kidnapping Rinoa could possibly make Squall like her, Adel responds by junctioning Rinoa, and saying, "Behold! The future of breast implants!" I thought it was funny, but the joke kind of hinged on a screenshot parody (see photo above) circled around the internet, so I wasn't sure if the audience would really get it. In the end, my skit went pretty well; my props worked, and people laughed, so I assume they got most of the jokes. The only regrettable part was the sound system the con used had the volume down pretty low; I had trouble hearing quite a bit of the voiceover onstage, and I wasn't sure the audience, especially when they were laughing, could hear it either. Oh well. They were amused, so they must have heard at least part of it. When I came off the stage, I found a seat in the back with Inu-Girl and other masquerade participants. I was sick of carrying my Rinoa dummy, so I decided to wear her - she is actually quite comfy!

Once the performances ended, the AMV winners were announced while the judges deliberated the Masquerade awards. I was happy to see the Naruto vid I voted for win Best Drama, as I expected. However, when they announced "Breath of Release" as winner for Best Romance, I had my jaw on the floor. I'd won? Me? But I didn't think anyone really liked it at the screening! I was in total shock as the opening notes of my vid played and the familiar pyreflies danced across the screen. Inu-Girl turned to me and said, "I don't know how you did it, but your vid is so beautiful - I voted for it!" Well, that was one - I know I hadn't voted for my own. However, as I watched the audience, this time from the back of the room, I could get a good look at their reactions. This time, it seemed like most people really liked it. . . there was even a chorus of "Awwwww" at the end. Wow. I never expected that. It was amazing! After the vids wrapped, they gave out the Masq awards. Given that Inu-Girl and I had the most complex costumes at the con, I had a feeling we'd win something - we just weren't sure what. I was so excited when she won Best Craftsmanship; her costume had been completely overlooked at Anime Boston, even though it is one of the best Shivas I've ever seen anywhere, and it was only the second costume she's ever made! I, in turn, received Best Presentation, which was awesome. I even did a little dance with my Rinoa dummy when I went up to accept my award. xD I chatted a bit with Inu-Girl's mom before Dizzy and I gathered my things and headed back to the hotel room to meet up with the rest of the gang. Dizzy and Mesoian went out to get us all some Chinese food for dinner while I took a much-needed shower and scrapped off Adel. After changing into Tifa Lockheart from Advent Children for the evening, I was feeling clean and refreshed, albeit hungry. Starlightslk and I headed to the lobby to wait for the boys to return with food, and distracted ourselves by taking pics of her Robin in front of the hotel's cool stone fireplace.

Soon enough, Dizzy and Mesoian arrived with sustenance, and we had a picnic in the hotel lobby, before Starlightslk went off in search of PatrickD to interview him for her documentary. In the meantime, Mesoian, AkaneSaotome, Mike and I wandered around for a bit. At one point, voice actor Spike Spencer walked by with his entourage, and stopped dead when he saw me and proceeded to check me out. I was shocked, but everybody else started laughing. When he kept walking, I was like, "What the hell was that?!" We were joking about it when, a few minutes later, he walked back the other way. To be funny, I waved and made a face, and he almost walked into a wall. Wow, he was drunk! When we finally met up with Dizzy, Starlightslk, and PatD after they finished their interview, we couldn't wait to tell them about it. LOL. By then it had begun snowing a bit outside, and we headed outside to enjoy it and take some pics. It wasn't that cold, so I was pretty comfy. We found an old bottle, and since I was good at balancing it, Dizzy and PatD took turns trying to kick it off my head for some reason. You'll have to guess whether they successfully managed to do it or not. xD Finally, Dizzy and Starlightslk headed back to the room, while the rest of us hung out in the hall near the pool. However, when Spike stumbled out of his panel (ironically entitled "How To Talk To Girls"), he headed over to me and started talking about how the West Coast is hot like me and I should come out there. I ended up hiding behind Patrick, and the four of us escaped to the hotel basement. We got bored after a while, Pat decided to make a paper hat out of a con flyer and stick a pic of Piano Squall on it. As a joke, we stuck it in the elevator and sent it upstairs. When it came back down, Dizzy's sister was inside. "The hats bring people!" we decided, and proceeded to make more. We kept sending them up the elevators to see what would happen. Although they didn't bring any more people (even when we wrote "Follow Hat To Party" on one), we became highly amused by seeing them move around, or missing. We could hear other people laughing upstairs, and tried to push the buttons fast enough to force them to come down, but it didn't work. Finally, around 1AM, we gave up and decided to head to bed.

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