YCC7 Review

Hey!

So it was the weekend for Yorkshire Cosplay Convention 7, due to the success from previous years Kitty and Jon expanded into the Magna Science Museum, accommodating a larger audience than the Dome. It must be truly frightening to manage these things even if you are experienced because you end up having to manage so many things that can be out of your control by a long country mile!

The convention set up had a much better space than the Dome, there were side rooms, activities galore and so many stalls! I think if you were prepared to wait for the initial rush to go you were in for a treat.

As you may know from following my blog I was given the honour of being voted in as Miss Yorkshire Cosplay Con 2015. Apparently people think my humble £5 Death Knight sewing is worth a vote! Pretty awesome, it shows you we can all have a go at these things and I hope you do! The cosplay competition was a fun watch too, there were two parades for the adults with made and brought costumes and there was also one for the children (one of the judges being the lovely Sketch McDraw).

One of the problems that became apparent within minutes of opening was that the ticket system, the organisers paid for the box office and this would mean they should be arranging the original entry and filter through for everyone but this was not the case. The doors opened and it was chaotic, it was certainly not the fault of the people behind the desk or those inside the halls. I know people are angry about the messy entry system and it’s being addressed ready for August.

The second thing that came up was the lighting in the main hall, the hall had several lights out, which I am reliably informed were supposed to have been repaired before the thing opened. The organisers had no control over this but it caused traders problems as it meant their stalls were not presented it the ‘best light’… however to be fair, I still had a good luck and the light was not going to put me off buying something if I really liked it, but it’s a shame that the venue didn’t sort it as promised.

In regards to the rest of it, lovely day! For the most part everyone was kind and friendly. My lovely Retro Lancer was more in demand than I was, this is nothing new, it’s an awesome gun after all! I saw some regular faces and friends, and made more friends as well. It’s always lovely to see the amount of effort that goes into costumes from the starting cosplayers to the more professional.

We watched the cosplay entrants; I am simply not brave enough or confident enough in my skills to do something like that. I commend anyone that has a go! And then we watched the performances, listening to some songs I hadn’t heard before and soaking in the atmosphere. Theslowsniper was funny too, he jumped on stage for a little silly dance, Jack is a youtube gamer and a really nice guy, I have succumbed and subscribed… see these events do work!

I hope that if you had a good day like me you’re coming back for August and maybe I’ll get to say hi, and if you didn’t have the best of times please keep an eye on the events and pages because you will see how the feedback is used to improve things.

And that’s all from me for now.

Adios Cowboys…

That Gears Girl.

Image courtesy of : https://www.facebook.com/gonzography?fref=ts go take a look amazing!!!

Birmingham MCM and Voting

Hey all!

Big beg first of all – Could you vote for me? http://www.yorkshirecosplaycon.co.uk/ Rea Nero Bridge. I was voted in by a friend and I thought it was incredibly sweet.

Time for an update 🙂 I’ve moved house with my partner, now we live with a friend and it’s been such a nice change. The area we were in before was worryingly rough so we’re in a nicer part of the county. I changed jobs too and am so far enjoying the new role.

This weekend we went to Birmingham MCM Comicon so here goes with how it all went and all that jazz!

First day – I had a priority ticket but we took my friend, she’s 12 and she had to get a ticket on the day, there’s a big old price difference there between £16 and the £7 on the day. Like many people in the queue we were stuck there a good while, it can be so frustrating and the only reason we did is because there was no pre-entry on there for that age range. It’s not very family friendly feeling if you are forced to pay for either a full family ticket or for a full adult one… I would like to see a junior pre-ticket option in future…

We got into the hall, it was rammed full but none-the-less good fun. I was dressed in my World of Warcraft costume. I don’t think it was very popular but I had fun. I made the costume out of scrap materials and things already in the house, which equates to basically costing me about £5… aside from the skin paint.

We took some pictures, saw the Marvel photoshoots that were going on and then we wandered around. It was a long day but we left right at the end. One of my friends even won the Masquerade with her group so that was damned awesome!

On the second day we headed in, I was dressed like Meg from Family Guy. The top was hand-made as I needed the longer sleeves thanks to my tattoos… The group of us seem to go down well and people were sayin “Shut up Meg” at me, it was a great idea for the group of us, suggested to me by Buster Boy Cosplay. We had a great time and lots of people stopped us, it was also more comfortable than the day before!

Recently I decided to launch a Facebook page too in matching with the name I use here – That Gears Gal

So pop on over if you are also interested.

 

MCM, YCC6 and other things…

So.. it’s been a while and that’s mostly been to fighting a bout of depression that I really didn’t fancy boring folks with. Depression is to me a personal thing, when it comes to causes, but the upshot is when you come out of it the other side fighting it’s a good thing to apologise if you mucked up. Sincerely, I can admit I make mistakes and I think people should be able to do that. It’s not weak at all in my book to say, hey I f*cked up I am so sorry.

So after that I was in talks with my doctor and he suggested instead of giving up and moping around I should go to MCM London, get my costumes out and generally stop putting myself into the gloom and self-doubt.

On the Friday me and my friend Kyle headed off with the car loaded up, the traffic was surprisingly easy going and we hit London before the event opened. Checking into the hotel we were surprised by how nice the Travelodge was, (I haven’t used them before) and then proceeded to unpack and get our costumes on. I took Ezio from Assassins Creed 2 for my first day, I got to wander around and look at the stalls. The ticket system was fairly fluid on the first day and we had a nice time. A few drinks the night before, something to eat and a late-ish night we were all happy to get ready for the big day on Saturday.

Saturday I chose my crossplay of Chris Redfield, lost in Nightmares from Resident Evil. I love meeting up with REUK and I always feel so happy to see everyone. Leon Chiro and Philipe Lauby were there looking awesome, along with Neil Gorton of Capcom who took some pics and videos. It was a lovely day, packed however and I am told that the ticketing system in the morning was pretty much a hellish run, when I went in a bit later it seemed that they had ironed that out significantly to be fair. It rained terribly, and heavily, and a lot of folk outside got a nasty drenching, me included. It sparked a mass rush for the cover but the security at the exit spotted the problem and opened the doors to prevent further troubles.

Saturday night we went for a nice Chinese meal, had a few glasses of wine and then went into the Fox. I walked home after a few drinks and wandered back with another friend in a nearby hotel. We had a nice chat and then it was great for me to relax and settle down before my friend got back. It was a great night and it really did serve the purpose of relaxing my already anxious self. Well served friends, cosplayers and bar staff!

Sunday – Well I decided that after loosing over 9 stone in the last couple of years, of paying the awesome CosplayUK to make the base of my dream dress I would get my guts sucked in a bit and cosplay Anya Stroud’s CIC outfit from the first and second Gears of War.

I was so lucky! Me and my friend, who borrowed the Stranded coat and a lancer, were picked by MCM to be in a video! And then we got some wonderful pics by the gent below. I was so very proud of the dress and all the bits I added to it. I felt like the dieting, the work and the effort to get out all paid off in that regards. I have achieved one of my Dream cosplays and it’s all down to support and friends who help me out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work in Pixls Facebook 

YCC6 – Yorkshire Comicon.

So after the big weekend at London, we had a break and went to YCC6 in Doncaster, at The Dome. It’s my first time making a costume utterly without purchase off commissioners and friends so I was nervous I admit.

I picked a Death Knight from World of Warcraft, and I went for their starting kit. I know there’s plenty more I can do with it but I made a point of buying scrap materials from work and then from trying to reuse things as much as possible. The whole thing cost me about £10 in total and about a month on and off of sewing.

Suffice to say I felt quiet nervous about this one but the new medication has kicked in, my panic attacks are down and I am generally thinking that it’s perfectly okay to try these things because hey, everyone has to learn somewhere!

I met new friends, saw older ones, I loved the venue but it was a bit warm being next to a swimming pool! The day went really fast in fact, but we did have a giggle surprising local Asda (Walmart) people by wandering around, the Ghostbusters even got picture’d by staff. Overall when we left, a little tired and possibly bedraggled it was in a high spirit.

Our next outing is to LFCC (London Film and Comicon) and I am taking Anya again. I simply love the costume and am hoping that CosplayUK will see me, my costume and the bloody big grin all wrapped up in one. I know Stan Lee will be there but I didn’t get a ticket and photoshoot organised in time, so my loss but I hope if you did you get to have an amazing time.

So what are your next plans? And if you ever spot me around a convention here in England PLEASE stop me, say hi and if you are in costume and I have my camera tell me to get a pic for you because I am probably so happy to meet you I might forget that part.

Frag out!

Rea