It’s time to write about ACEN!! Some of you probably know,
but Anime Central or ACEN is a Chicago based con held at the Donald E. Stephens
Convention Center in Rosemont IL. This year the con was April 27th –
29th, and it was my first time attending. I was incredibly excited to go to this con
because I had heard so much about it. I had also always wanted to go to Chicago
and had never been there. Me and my friend Linda wanted to go all out for this
since it was so big. The choice to do so ended up causing a lot of stress for
us as you will see here soon..
As far as cosplay goes, I had originally planned 3 for it,
Ayane from DOA, a secret one, and Black Gold Saw. Due to issues with time and
other life issues in general, I was barely able to get BGS done in time so the
other 2 didn’t happen. I’ll be doing them by the end of the year though. My friend
Linda decided to go as strength. Her and I had been wanting to do BGS and
Strength for a really long time. After deciding to do it for ACEN we randomly
asked two of our other friends if they wanted to join and they actually said
yes. So we had the complete group! Linda
would be Strength, our friend Tima would be Black Rock Shooter, Our friend Lulu
would be Dead Master, and I would be Black Gold Saw. Getting to cosplay with
such talented people was so exciting and also stressful. I didn’t want people
to be like, “WOW those three cosplayers are amazing! But what’s with that
fourth one in the goofy horns and sword??”
I worked on BGS as much as possible before the con. I still
had to take a bunch of stuff with me to finish it at the con though. I barely
got it presentable. For that reason I will not be doing a write up on it for a
while, because I plan to go back and redo A LOT of stuff. I apologize, but I do not want to tell people
how to make something that is not finished.
Joining us on our trip was our always reliable and fun Nam,
the talented Artist Jaz, and our good friend Michael. Jaz had an art table and
got me and Linda badges for it. We occasionally came and sat with him or
watched the booth if he needed to use the bathroom or eat. If I haven’t already
said it a million times, go check out my friends art. He is incredible.
Unfortunately he is retired now from Artist Alleys, due majorly to this con
itself, but you can still see his work. I hope one day he gets back into it.
We left Wednesday before the con at midnight so that we
could get to Chicago early Thursday morning and explore the city a little
before Friday. The one thing we were all aware of when we left was..
It was going to be a tight fit.
Funny thing about cosplaying characters with giant props is
somehow you have to get them to the con. We barely fit in Nam’s van.
That was before my sword was shoved in..
We slept most of the ride, except for when we all woke up
because it looked like we entered Silent Hill outside. Seriously it was the
scariest shit. It was like 2:00 in the morning and we were surrouned by this
thick fog outside. We couldn’t get pictures of it with our camera’s either. I
was half expecting to see Pyramid Head dragging his Sword across the highway
somewhere up ahead…
"Dear god NOOOO"
Another interesting thing to note that I saw, was this
really weird Church in the middle of no where with a neon cross and sign. I
could have sworn it was the inspiration for Lady Gaga’s son “Electric Chapel.”
So strange..
Anyway..
Nam took the liberty of taking pictures of us all passed
out. there is Jaz and then me.
Then there's Michael and Linda..
Michael wasn’t thrilled with Nam’s picture taking. Hehe ^^
When we got to Chicago we got settled in and then it was..
ADVENTURE TIME!!
I’d always wanted to see CHICAGO!!!
For our adventure we took the subway! Which was an adventure
by itself!!
I had never rode on a subway before. It was pretty neat and
it made me wish Kansas City would get a better public transportation system (it’ll
never happen). And I only felt like I was going to die a few times! HAHA jk,
though I did get hit on by this really creepy guy while waiting on one
platform.
While I was riding the subway I saw something interesting on
the walls..
Hell yeah!
First we went to China Town for lunch. I love food so much,
and there is so much good food in Chicago.. After that we made it over to the
Navy Pier. There we rode the giant Ferris wheel. Nam decided to share a piece
of food with a seagull and as a result we got chased all the way down the
Pier..
I’m smiling but that seagull is harassing me off to the side
…
The
View from the Ferris wheel. It was cold
>.>
The next day was the first day of the con. I wore my Alice
Silk Maiden cosplay again since I didn’t make anything else new. It was retired
after this con. Linda went as an
adorable Jigglypuff Gijinka, and Michael went as Ky from Guilty gear
And Nam went as Nam hehe~
I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures at the con of others
because I only had my phone and it takes forever to get pictures. Almost no one
recognized me as Alice (Big Surprise!). A few people did though and that made t worth it.
I always have to get pictures with Spartans
Money’s on I-No. Sorry Michael..
Not much else to show for Friday. We got some AMAZING sushi that night.
God I love sushi..
Then it was the big day!!
Saturday
was the day we wore our Black Rock Shooter cosplays. They were barely done in
time but we did it. Nam was kind enough to snap some pictures of us getting
ready.
And on with the horns.
BEST STRENGTH EVA!!
As you can see, we always like to travel comfortably..
I took us a bit but we got there!!
Poor Linda had a terrible time carrying those bad boys around. she looked awesome though!
Our
whole group was signed up for the Masquerade. After wondering around for a
while mingling, we made our way to cosplay staging where we me up with Tima and
Lulu!! They both looked amazing!!
After arriving at the auditorium for staging, we went
through a 4 hour process of getting ready and in position for the contest.
So much waiting :(
They
had to move us off to the side of the stage due to our large props, so we
chilled out behind the curtain.
The whole gang backstage! From the left you have Lulu, Linda, Me, then Tima!!
4 hours of waiting later, we were JUST about to
start the show, when the fire alarm went off..
After arriving at the auditorium for staging, we went
through a 4 hour process of getting ready and in position for the contest. They
had to move us off to the side of the stage due to our large props, so we
chilled out behind the curtain. 4 hours of waiting later, we were JUST about to
start the show, when the fire alarm went off..
Oh yes. That infamous fire alarm..
Here's a video I found of the madness. I'm actually in it at about 9:02 trying to make my way back inside with Michael.
If you were there you know about this. Someone on one of the
upper floors of the hotel thought it would be funny to unload a fire
extinguisher. The fumes produced by the extinguisher rose to the top of the
sealing and set off the smoke detector, forcing an evacuation of 10,000 people...
Needless to say, I was not amused.
Trying to be evacuated with that many people was a huge pain
in my cosplay. We spent what felt like forever in the cold waiting to be let
back inside. When we got in it was a disaster. People who had waited for hours
in line to get to watch the contest had lost their seats, and staff struggled
to gather up all the cosplay contestants. When it was all said and done, they
were forced to cut the skit portion of masquerade; something we could all tell
really upset the staff. That being said, Acen’s masquerade was by far the most
well run Masquerade I have ever been a part of (which may not be that much) but
seriously, they did fantastic. We were all really impressed by how kind and
accommodating they were, and by how well they handled the bad situation.
The show (sorta) went on..
Here are a few photos of us on stage :)
Photo by Jolt Photography
Photo by Jolt Photography
Photo by Jolt Photography
Myself as Black Gold Saw
Photo by Jolt Photography
Photo by Rachael Nadine
All of us together! that is the best all in one group shot I could find. Our large props made us difficult to photograph. You can see us all in a video though..
Our walk starts at about 2:55
Linda won a judges choice in Masters! Go Linda!
The walk was a blast. I was so glad we did it. After
that though, we were exhausted. We decided to call it a day shortly after that
and went home to change, and apply bandages to our blisters..
Then guess who came out to play..
HAHA yes that’s right Rainbow slut. Linda really wanted to
do some Karaoke so we did
Karaoke time!! We may or may not have consumed some alcohol
at this point.
Okay, alcohol was involved..
The last day of the con, we actually didn’t spend any time
at the convention itself. A few of us were tired (and a little hung over) so we
decided to go see Chicago a little more. Everyone wanted to go to the Shed
Aquarium which I was really excited for. I love fishies and aquatic life ^.^
Nam has a way with taking awesome pictures.
KOREAN!! So much amazing food I don’t know what to do with
myself..
After that it was time to go
home. Which was really sad because we all had such an amzing time. I have such
awesome friends, and they are so fun to travel with. I was a little bummed I
didn’t spend more time at the con. We were all so excited to go to Chicago we
ended up splitting the time there between tourism and going to the con. Next
year, ( and there will be a next year) we are going to stay at the con the whole
time. We want to take a separate trip to Chicago sometime though. I want to extend a big thanks to Nam for taking all the aesome pictures. Most of the ones in this post are taken by him. I don't know what we would do with him!! ^.^ I won’t all be traveling to any major con’s this summer. I think our next big group trip is
Nebraskon 2012! We are all kinda hurting for time, money or resources right
now. I can’t wait to do it again though. Next year we are going to hit it hard
ACEN!!
CHICAGO! I WILL BE BACK FOR YOU!!
-QK
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