A bit late getting this out there, but a few weeks ago, I got to do an impromptu road trip out to St Louis for Anime St Louis. Now, anime cons are not my usual cuppa, but I had friends competing in the qualifiers for the World Cosplay Summit and I agreed to come out as moral support/gopher/roadie, etc. The WCS, for those who've never heard of it, is a competitive thing for cosplay duos from a whole slew of countries compete to get a trip to Japan to represent their country in competition. It was facinating to see costuming with a different purpose than what I usually get up to. These were artists who really focused on embodying their characters and telling a story. I'm more of a celebrate the craft of it kind of person, and only have a few character cosplays for the fun of it. Don't get me wrong, there was pleanty of mad skills being represented, they just take it that one step farther. All of the teams had elaborate props and stage setups, as well as well-choreagraphed presentations including everything from dancing to fight scenes!
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| Aren't they just amazing? |
It felt like a bit of a waste to drive all the way across the state and not compete, though. So I took a look at ASL's Masquerade info and they actually had no rules prohibiting non-Japanese source costumes. Score! So I brought out my Queen of Hearts costume and entered it. A local friend also happened to have plans to be at the con, so I batted my eyelashes and G agreed to dress up as the King with me. Now, these were never intended to be competition costumes, so I was unsuprised that out of 80 or so entries that we didn't get anything. But it was fun as hell to play dress up for a different kind of crowd. One thing I noticed that's different from my usual haunts was in how the average person interacted with me in costume. Usually, I'd get someone say something to the effect of complimenting me on my costume by name in order to show that it was recognized. But amongst the anime fans, I was addressed in character. Like, to the effect of people holding doors and bowing and saying "Your Majesty." Such a treat. Note to self: more cosplay of royalty.
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| Tsk, tsk. Trying to pawn off the wrong color of roses. |
