Convention – Page 6 – AJ Mullican, Author

T-minus one day, 8 hours

Convention, Cosplay, Geek, Interview, Sci-fi, Social Media

It’s almost that time of year! Phoenix Comicon begins tomorrow, and while I won’t be able to get there until the festivities are already in full swing (have to wait for my husband to get off work at 1pm) I’m sure I’ll have the time of my life. 🙂 My cosplays are complete–I even got the 4ft fighting fan prop in for my Temari cosplay–and most of what we’re taking is already packed and ready to be loaded into the car tomorrow.

I have three interviews set up so far, and though I’m not overly optimistic at getting more I’m happy that at least a few people wanted to talk to me. I have my questions all ready on little 3×5 note cards that I’ll have handy in my cosplay pocket or purse. My phone has a decent voice recorder app that I’ve tested myself, so that’s taken care of. All I’ll need to do is transcribe and post at the end of each day. Each long day.

This year will be my first attending as media/press, so it will be interesting to see what kinds of things I can do. I know I can’t take photos of the guests without permission, but I plan on taking lots of cosplay photos and Periscoping in the hallways as I go to and fro. Probably won’t be able to Periscope any panels, but maybe I can manage live tweeting a few. And of course, I’ll be on the Talk Nerdy With Us Instagram to document the fun I’m having.

I have a ton of panels that I want to see. Cosplay panels, writing panels, sci-fi panels…things that will help with various different interests I have. I may even go to some of the panels that my sister wants to see. It will be her first Comicon, so I want her to have as much fun as possible. She’s chosen some interesting panels, but there are a few that conflict with panels that I want to see. She doesn’t seem to mind, though, and seems genuinely excited to be going. She’s a bit of a hermit (stays at home when she’s not working & only really leaves the house to go shopping with Mom or to go to Pet Smart) so I’m glad she’s getting excited about going to a big, crowded place full of strangers.

The countdown continues! I may even Periscope or live tweet from the car on the drive up (lol) but not for more than a few minutes. I’m sure no one wants to see 3 hours of interstate. Or 3 hours of me chattering away.

See y’all tomorrow and all weekend on the Talk Nerdy With Us Twitter and Instagram feeds!

Next question….

Celebrity, Convention, Cosplay, Geek, Work

T-minus 3 1/2 days until I arrive at Phoenix Comicon, and as the time draws nearer I’m starting to get interview opportunities from some of the convention guests that I requested interviews with, as well as other guests who are eager to be interviewed by websites and magazines to get their names out there.

It’s exciting to be attending as a member of the media. I don’t know exactly what special privileges I’ll have (taking photos at panels that otherwise wouldn’t allow them, perhaps? Who knows), but just having the opportunity is great. I can’t thank Talk Nerdy With Us enough for all the opportunities they’ve given me in this past year. (Hard to believe I’ve almost been with the site for a year!)

It’s also going to be interesting to be conducting these interviews in costume, as I’m going to be cosplaying most of the con. I’m sure there will be other press in costume, because come on, it’s Comicon! Still, I have to maintain a professional veneer throughout the day because I will be representing Talk Nerdy With Us. I can’t just tell some jerk who disses my cosplay to piss off, because that would look bad for Talk Nerdy With Us. I have to take the high ground. Be the better man…er, woman.

Well, I guess it’s time to get back to drafting interview questions. Here’s crossing my fingers that my phone’s voice recorder app works well! Lol

T-minus 8 days

Anime, Celebrity, Convention, Cosplay, Fandom, Geek

That’s right, just a little over a week until Phoenix Comicon! I am almost completely done with cosplays…one little strap to do, but I need a buckle for it so it’ll have to wait until Friday when I can get to the craft store.

There will be much ironing and helping each other into our costumes when we get to my in-laws’ house. We’ve done what we can, but considering it all has to get smooshed into one garment bag there’s going to be some wrinkling. Going to pack safety pins and possibly bring along my craft/sewing bin in case of cosplay emergency that needs to be handled before we get to the con.

I’m of course excited for Comicon, but I’m also excited that I get to introduce my sister to this wonderful world. I know she doesn’t get out much and doesn’t like crowds, but neither did I when I went to my first con, and that first con got me hooked. She needs to get out more and meet new people, so hopefully she enjoys this experience and opens up a bit…plus, there’s the added bonus of being able to potentially meet some celebs that interest her. I know there are usually a lot of voice actors and artists from different animes and mangas she likes, and there are usually panels about manga and anime art that I know she’ll have fun with….it’s just a matter of getting her to go to them.

I’ve been practicing Periscoping so I can get a few live feed shots of the con for Talk Nerdy With Us. I keep forgetting to look at the camera–and when I do, I keep looking back at the screen to see how I look. Derp! Oh, well, I still hope people will enjoy my tweets and Periscopes.

Off to get ready for work!

Why stress when the worst is over?

Convention, Stress, Work

I’ve been thinking that all is sunshine and roses, now that I’ve nearly finished the cosplays. Just a couple of snaps, a strap for my husband’s prop, and boom! Done. So why am I breaking out with horrendous stress acne?

I suppose it could be due to yesterday’s hectic work day, but then again I’ve had worse. No, I think it’s the impending Comicon that’s got me looking like I have humongous lumps on my face, neck, and chest. They’re not “ripe” (haven’t come to a head), so the pressure is quite painful…not to mention they’re not exactly pretty to look at. Gross would be a better description. Disgusting. Abhorrent. I could go on, but I’m too lazy to get a thesaurus right now.

Could it be the next two cosplays that have me broken out? Doubtful, because I have three months to work on them as opposed to the one month I had to work on the Naruto costumes.

Maybe it’s just the general stress and excitement of the impending con. I may or may not have interviews to do (can’t say for sure, because apparently some PR people don’t get in touch with the media until the night before the con, if at all), and I have to remember to use the Talk Nerdy With Us social media to take pictures, live tweet, and Periscope things as they happen. Not that I can’t use my own media at all, just that I have to remember that I’m working while I’m at the con, not just playing. And of course, there’s the photo op with Alex Kingston (aka the actress who plays River Song on Doctor Who). The excitement of that could lead to a type of stress-induced acne, I guess.

I know I need to calm down about whatever is bothering me. Just breathe. I just can’t figure out what’s bothering me so much.

Here’s hoping that the current breakout is the worst of it, and that it goes away before next Thursday.

Mission accomplished!

Charity, Convention, Cosplay, Reading

Well, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to, but somehow I did it. I finished the cosplays in time for Phoenix Comicon!

Okay…so technically I’m not 100% finished…but I know how I’m going to finish the last little bit, which is an improvement over being completely clueless as I was last week. And the weeks before.

My list of things to complete is dwindling to the point where I have three very minor things left to do. A couple snaps here, a strap there, and boom! Cosplays done. So what’s a girl to do next?

That’s a simple answer: More cosplay! I’ve already mentioned that I’ve chosen my next cosplay (Magik from the X-Men), and since my husband picked our last cosplay theme he’s going along with it and picked another X-universe character that he liked the look of.

This time I’ll have about two to three months to finish, as opposed to the one month I had to get the Naruto cosplays done. There’s more than just sewing involved, though–this time, we’ve got some fabrication (prop-building) to do. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to attend some panels at Phoenix Comicon that will give us some idea of where we’re going as far as that goes. Sure, we made the prop gourd for my husband’s Gaara cosplay, but that had a YouTube video tutorial that was fairly easy to follow. With the characters we’re working on, there’s less on the Internet to find to work with. I found a couple of step-by-step pictorial instructions for my sword prop, but nothing video. Still, it’s better than no tutorials at all.

Since I have a week and a half left til Phoenix Comicon, I’m going to try to read the book I have to review for Talk Nerdy With Us. I’ve gotten about six pages in, but the grammar and punctuation are kind of terrible. I understand that it may just be a small publisher and maybe they just don’t have the editorial resources that some bigger publishers have, but c’mon. I self-published my book and had fewer errors. The sentence structure so far is very bland and repetitive. Subject-verb-object, subject-verb-object, subject-verb-object. Doesn’t exactly make for a thrilling read. But I’m only six pages in, so maybe it gets better. Gotta give it a chance.

I also have critiques to do for the charity anthology. I’ve fallen woefully behind on those (due to the cosplay crunch), so I have to try to get up to speed on those.

A week and a half may not seem like much time…but a month didn’t seem like enough time for those cosplays, so I think I can do it. I think so.

Magik Motivation?

Convention, Cosplay, Diversity, Exercise, Fitness, Musings

Okay. So I’m a big supporter of cosplayers of all shapes and sizes being able to cosplay whatever they want. So, theoretically, I shouldn’t have a problem cosplaying whatever I want.

Except I want to cosplay this:

Even if I was skinny again, I wouldn’t want to do the crop top and hot pants. I plan on using a corset and regular pants and sticking to the rest of the design as best as I’m able.

But I do want to be thinner than I am now to do this cosplay in September. So the question is: Do I try to lose weight just for a cosplay when I’m constantly telling people they shouldn’t worry about what size they are when choosing to cosplay? I feel like something of a hypocrite.

I still believe that fans should be able to cosplay whatever their hearts desire. And my fan heart wants to cosplay this character. I just don’t know if I can lose the weight. Or any of it.

Every time I’ve tried in the last couple of years, I’ve failed miserably. In fact, I seem to keep creeping up there even when I try to do right. I lose hope when I make no progress, and I eat worse because I have given up hope. It doesn’t help matters that I’m too exhausted to exercise when I get home from work. Oh, and there’s the whole cosplay thing. I’ve still got stuff to finish for Phoenix Comicon (less than two weeks!)…

I think that, despite my espousing of the importance of positive self-image in the cosplay community, I’m going to try to lose at least some of the weight that I’ve put on. Try being the operative word.

Maybe all I need to motivate myself is a little Magik.

Invested in Cosplay

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Sewing

I’m almost done with Gaara’s vest for my husband’s cosplay! It only took me a day, which blows my mind because I had no pattern, no instructions, no real plan other than to make a rough mockup out of two pieces of fabric, cut a crapton of the actual fabric I was going to use, and pray.

This is the vest I was trying to recreate:

Garaa1

Not too bad, but I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I also had to make a hidden pocket for it, which I will tell you is no easy feat for a novice.

Here’s the almost-finished product:

13239365_1041822272576618_6255135150009946582_n

With this being the biggest piece left to do before Phoenix Comicon, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Small things here and there I can do. The notion of two cosplays from scratch was intimidating a month ago when my husband decided that I’d have plenty of time to finish them before Phoenix Comicon (June 2). I didn’t think I could do it, especially considering I would be making my first coat, but I am so close to the end and it feels amazing.

Con artist

#nerd, Anime, Art, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Sewing

Ha! What a pun!

No, seriously. I may not be the world’s best artist. I may not even be a good artist. And I’m certainly not a featured artist of the con. But I am an artist. And I’m going to the con. So…yeah.

The cosplays are going so well that I can hardly wait for Phoenix Comicon. I mean, there is still a lot of stuff to get done. Mostly little stuff, thanks to my early morning insomniac sewing, but still a lot to get done.

The parts that are finished are looking quite nice, and I have to admit I’m egotistically proud of myself for doing so well, especially on my husband’s cosplay pieces so far. (I’m not particularly proud of the skirt I made for my Jedi TARDIS, but it’s finished now and it would take too much effort to remake the whole thing. Again.)

I don’t have any pictures of his Naruto cosplay–yet–but I have a selfie of me wearing my Temari kimono and headband. At 3am. In the dark. Still, it’s a cute photo, so I’m going to show it off here, along with hubby’s completed Sith Time Lord cosplay (missing just a couple red leather straps that are due to arrive *fingers crossed* hopefully by the end of the month):

As you can see in the bottom left corner of the picture of the front of hubby’s Sith Time Lord, our cat Rory likes to photobomb our cosplay pics. I have several examples of this. Seriously, cat, we’re just standing around in funny clothes taking pictures of each other. Relax. It’s nothing interesting.

We also *may* get my Temari fighting fan cosplay prop before Phoenix Comicon. Hubby ordered it last night, but we don’t know for sure if it will arrive before the con.

My plans for the evening? More artsy-craftsy cosplay art for our annual con. 🙂

Crunch time

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Sewing, Time

It’s now exactly 3 weeks until Phoenix Comicon, and I’m still not done with all the cosplay stuff I need to do–in fact, my list is growing every day!

I have to:

finish my husband’s Gaara coat
work with my husband to make our Sand Village shoes
make the Gaara vest (and put a pocket inside it for keys/phone/wallet)
make the Gaara belt and leg strap thingies
paint Gaara’s symbols on the gourd
make a belt for my Jedi TARDIS cosplay so I have a place for my lightsaber
add belt loops to the bag I made for my husband’s Sith Time Lord cosplay (so he has a place for his keys/wallet/phone)
add a snap on his tunic so it stays flat in front
maybe make another couple of straps for my Temari obi

I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting, but those are the major things. So yeah, 3 weeks for that, and I work a lot in those 3 weeks.

I think I can do it. I’m telling myself I can do it. I just need to buckle down & bust my butt. Once I get the Gaara coat and vest done and the Sand Village shoes for our Naruto cosplays, that should be the majority of the sewing stuff. So beyond that it’s little stuff. The painting shouldn’t take too long…the symbols are simple enough, just need to sit down & paint them. That’ll be, what, an hour or so? So yeah, not too bad.

The worst part will probably be making the vest for the Gaara cosplay, because I have no pattern for it. I have to 100% make it up from scratch. And I’m no Project Runway contestant.

I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. (If I make this my mantra, maybe the positive thinking will make it true lol)

Oh…and think up interview questions for any interviews I get with the con guests.

I can do it. I can do it. I can do it……

Stressing over nothing?

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Sewing

Yesterday, I spent Mother’s Day worrying about the coat for my husband’s cosplay. I was frantically cutting, pinning, and sewing in the hopes that I could finish it before Phoenix Comicon. Before I sewed the first seam I got so frustrated that I started bawling. My first pre-con freakout of the year.

As I started putting pieces together, though, I noticed that it really wasn’t as bad as my mind made it out to be. Sure, there are a lot of pieces. There’s a lot of technical stuff I have to do that I’m not accustomed to doing. It’s my first freaking coat. Still, the instructions are (thus far) easy enough to understand, and I have the aid of a friend who has made the pattern before.

Now that the top outer layer is getting closer to done after only a day of work–most of it spent pinning and cutting–I’m more confident that I can pull this off. There are a little over three weeks until Phoenix Comicon and I have a couple of half days and an off day in between where I can work on it during the week (and not just first thing in the morning before I have to get ready for work).

I just hope it fits.