I've been asked how the con was, and I figured I should probably write up a con report since I didn't have time afterwards to do a video round up with any of the CB crew like I did with Fan Expo. So I'll break it down day by day for you peeps. This is just my personal opinion, no disrespect to anyone involved. Over all I had a good time, but that had very little to do with the convention itself...

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Friday
Friday was the last day of my exams, and unfortunately my time for writing my Canadian Lit got bumped from 1230 to 330. I was not happy. It would now mean I'd miss the majority of the con for that day, seeing as I had promised Ally I'd go to the swimsuit contest as Ivy to support her (She was entering in a Harley swimsuit she had made). So I write my exam and get out around 5. Took a while to drive down, and then there was a mix up on where I was meeting my friends so they could help me into my corset. By the time we were all ready it was time for the contest, and we had to book it. Luckily no one cared we were late. I met with the other judges, talked with the two voice actors that were guest judging as Ally went off and prepped as a contestant. Izzy was in the audience with our other friend Reg.

The contest went well, a lot of really good competitors, some I knew and some I didn't. When it came to the end and we had to pick a winner, I let the other judges talk first since I was well aware that one of my best friends was competing, and although I thought she did great, I didn't want any hint that the contest was rigged, or she was picked because she was obviously with me and my crew. But thankfully I'm not just a big biased ho-bag and the others suggested her because of her ability to stay in character through all the mishaps and stupid bitches trying to bring her down.

Explaination:
During her talent Ally got nervous and forgot the lines to her song and had to pause. Through out this she remained in character, with full voice/accent and joked even though I knew she was sweating on the inside. She did good, and eventually was able to finish rather well. Second mishap happened during the Q&A session. A girl I am unfamiliar with broke the jovial mood by asking "What's with your accent? Have you ever been to Brooklyn? They don't sound like that." The room went silent. Ally struggled a bit, keeping the accent up as she attempted to answer the question in a kind/funny way. I was annoyed, and one of the amazing powers given to me as a judge is a microphone, so I intervened because I am less nice. I usually pride myself on being a very accepting individual when it comes to all fandoms and fans, but I didn't like such a blatant attempt to put someone else down publicly, especially when it was being directed at my friend. So I asked her how old she was and questioned if she was even old enough to be in that panel room (swimsuit contest is 18+) if she had never watched the B:TAS from the 90's. Now here's the kicker.... she replied "I'll be 26 tomorrow, but I've never been into Marvel." I laughed and said "Bitch that shit is DC, who sent you?" One of the voice actors also chimed in and called her an idiot and the whole panel room booed her for this very very bad mistake. This furthered my belief that you can be a well loved ass (like myself) but you need to be a smart ass. Know your shit or keep you mouth shut. Ryan also pointed out that Harley's accent isn't Brooklyn based since it's Gotham. Harley and the other Joker goons have a very distinct dialect I think is loosely based on Long Island.

In the end Ally got first place as Judges' Favorite, with our other friend Marc winning Audience Favorite for his E.Honda. Many pictures were taken and everyone was in a good mood at the end. I met some awesome people like Britany Quinn and Jesse of Undiscovered Photography and Rion Risque, an awesome cosplayer that everyone should check out on FB. I also walked away with a prize. Turns out Marc had the box set he was given a long with a trophy so he gave it to me because I had wanted to see Rosario Vampire. I'll watch it soonish, promise ;3

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Saturday
Saturday started out stressful, dealing with parking downtown and trying to figure out costume etc. I had made changes to my Jade that I was pleased with, though over all I know it still needs more work. It doesn't seem to photograph well. Thought due to the combined exhaustion of both Con and and exams I don't think I photographed well this con at all. For the first time in my life I was able to wear contacts to add to one of my costumes and people loved them.
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I got many compliments and freaked out a few tourists. As a cosplayer I don't really care about being in costume around people/normies. And if you do care about that sort of thing AR isn't a con for you, it's right next to a main cruise ship port and it's right in the middle of tourist season. So if you're shy or uncomfortable about all that, you're fucked. Try and keep that in mind if you ever decide to do AR. Anyway, back to the con, we wandered aimlessly, checking stuff out and saying hi to friends. Eventually we made our way back to take a short break. By the time we came back, it was almost time for the Origa concert, something that Izzy really wanted to attend. We ended up waiting in the wrong line due to a confusing system and when we went to try and get in the con staff were happy to oblige but the center staff refused us, stating that the concert was at capacity, and we'd have to wait in the alt line, back in the giant room of lines in case people left. Here's the thing, people were leaving as we were standing there, but there was no one being brought from the room of lines 3 whole conference rooms away. We also could see that the concert room only had a small crowd of maybe 50-70 in it, despite the fact the room had housed over 300 for the opening ceremony. So we walk back to the hall of lines and see people that had been waiting for the concert for hours before. We then get pissed off at the whole thing and debate going to an after party/event at EXP. In the end we stayed and after center staff was gone the con staff let us in to to catch the last third of the concert.
After that we decide to go to the "That 70's Anime Dating Game" panel being held by someone I knew from previous cons and mutual friends. All was good, it was a little bland compared to the riotus 18+ panels my crew (now joined by Jacob of Hentai Cupcake) is used to, but we had fun heckling, and on the second to last contestant I was chosen as a bachelorette. There were a few amusing quirks. Another cosplayer I know through mutual friends was picked as another bachelorette and during her intro her skirt rode up and a dude was panty shotting her, so I sat in her lap and tried to pull it down, but I think she thought I was trying to grab her awkwardly.... So that was odd, but no harm no foul.
Here's the part that gets a little shady. The guy re-enters and sits without seeing us, as per the rules. Apparently he had been a contestant last year, and proceeded to bash the girl he had chosen the year previous. First asking one of the hosts if that girl was in the room, which she promptly replied no. He insulted her breasts and her body, saying extremely disgusting things that did little to impress me and my girls. Needless to say I was annoyed and no longer gave two shits if this guy chose me. There was a question that was basically a lead in to having him grope any body part on us. I wasn't feeling particularly accommodating after his display so I took his hand and twisted it till I heard it crack repeatedly, pretending to be in character as Jade... Really I just didn't want some asshole touching me. If I had known I would have called Jacob up and had him thrust on him. After that the guy was rather adamant that contestant 2 (me) would not win. I wasn't exactly saddened by the news.
After the panel and through the Sunday I did have a few people approach me to say they were glad I had done it, that they had been enjoying the panel up until him, but he had taken it too far when he had bashed some girl that wasn't even there to defend herself. I agreed and told them that I hope it wouldn't detour them from going to that panel in the future, since the contestants change every time.
After that was another one of Hentai Cupcake's panels where they told con stories from their many adventures. It was fun and I was given some of Jeff's cider which is always amazingly yummy. Jon also gave me some sort of other alcoholic beverage I will not name that tasted like candy. Also good. The panel was very amusing, and afterwards I got to meet Miranda, another awesome new friend!
After that we (my crew, Jacob and Miranda) all headed down to the rave, only to find that center staff were pulling the same shit they had done with the concert. In the same massive room there was maybe 70-100 people, while a whole, snaking line up of con kids waited to hopefully get in. Lucky for us, Rion was hype dancing for one of the DJ's and she walked us all through so we didn't have to wait. Much thanks to her, I hate line ups.

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Sunday
Sunday was filled with photoshoots and not much else. We dressed as the Gotham City Sirens for the DC/Marvel Shoot put on by VanGeeks. We got called up, we posed, we talked etc. Unfortunately AR 2013 had been plagued with thefts. Several people at the shoot had their cellphones and wallets taken. Ally's badge was stolen which she was upset about because she had wanted to keep it, but registration gave her a wristband for the rest of the day so she wouldn't be denied access to anywhere. Caitlin had her phone stolen and had to go through the hassle of getting a hold of telus on a Sunday to report it. In the end Jacob and Jon gave them their panelist passes since they were leaving so Caitlin was a least able to go enjoy the dealers room with the rest of us despite having not bought a pass. We went and did shoots with Watermark Visuals, Masamune Captures and Undiscovered Photography, all of which were fun and I'm excited to see. Izzy, Ally, Caitlin and I then went to Maruko for some delicious ramen, and overall perfect end to the con.

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Over all the con was alright, though I'm considering skipping it for a different one next year. Maybe PAX or Cos&Effect, unless i end up as a panelist which also might happen.
The next con for me will probably be AkiCon in October. After a 2 year hiatus from it, I'm excited to go back, since it used to be one of my fav cons of the year. Until then kids, love you and I'll see you around ;)
Updated the groove list.

Chu,
Brit