Motaku 2012, Officer Jenny Cosplay, and Future Plans

  So summer isn't completely over of course, but I sure as hell wish it was. Those of you in the U.S. probably know what I'm talking about when I say this summer was hotter than balls. It seems for now though that extreme heat is starting to disperse a little, and I'm starting to come back to life so to speak. Along with it being so hot, I've also been struggling with some on and off bouts of depression all summer. This has been really weird for me since I'm usually always pretty positive. However, after doing some thinking I've been able to determine that the main cause for the depression is more than likely the result of some major stresses at work, and the lack of time off. I don't get any vacation time until next year, so going to summer conventions like I planned didn't end up happening. I don't need a vacation every month or anything, but a little trip this summer with some friends could have done me a lot of good I think. Having all your plans fall through can be a real downer. 

One thing that sucks about life is you often need money to do the things you love. One of the things I love is traveling to con's, and of course cosplaying. To get money you often have to work a job where you are constantly stressed and pushed to your limits on a regular basis. The end justifies the means though, so usually after I go to a con, or work on cosplay, it helps push aside the stress and unhappiness for a time, and I can get by. But that can only last for so long, and go so far. When things get so bad at your job that those things no longer help keep the sadness at bay, or when the people around you who love you can't help it either, that is when you know you have a real problem and it's time for a change. So with that being said, I will be making some very significant changes very soon in order to improve my current situation.

Now enough of all that, I wanted to tell you about the one convention I went to this summer which was Motaku 2012.

It was held August 17th-19th in Kansas City. I didn't really consider this a full con trip, because I only went for Saturday since the place is right down the street from my house basically. I decided to just go casually for a day since it was my first time at this particular con, and I had heard it was fairly small. I wanted to check it out to see if it would be worth going to for the full weekend next year.

For the most part I really enjoyed the convention. It was fairly small as i was told, but there were still a lot of nice cosplayers there and some stuff to do.  One thing though I will say, is that they could of easily renamed this convention "HOMESTUC-KON 2012" because that's pretty much all I saw there for cosplay. Seriously. That was it. If you don't believe me, just google Motaku 2012 and see how much homestuck shows up. It was ridiculous. I'm not saying I have a problem with Homestuck, or it's cosplayers by any means whatsoever, I was just so shocked at how many of them were there, it was sorta funny lol. They are taking over :D

 As far as my cosplay goes, I went as Officer Jenny from Pokemon! This was suppose to be a secret cosplay for ACen that didn't end up happening so I decided to finish it and wear it to this. Cosplaying with me was my boyfriend, who went as a Gijinka of growlithe. That't right I have a boyfriend right now.. Remember that guy Michael you saw in my Acen post? Well a little while after Anime Central, he asked me on a date and I accepted. He's quite the gentleman :3

 Photo by Hachiko Cosplay Thanks again Hachi!

Making Officer Jenny/Growlithe

The Officer Jenny cosplay was made entirely by me. I was so excited to make this since she has always been one of my favorite characters. Out of the whole cosplay I think my favorite thing I made is the hat! I use stiff interfacing covered in fabric and spray painted some buttons to go on the side of the visor and the pockets on the shirt. I made the star out of polymer clay and spray painted that as well. The visor of the hat was made using a recycled plastic sheet from a document cover (yay cosplay recycling!). I used a simple sew pattern for the skirt (it was so simple I probably could have figured it out myself if I had even tried..) which I had to alter. I completely hand drafted the pattern for the top. The pouch was altered from a thrift store purse I found, and I sewed the gloves as well. My wig is from Arda :) For Growllithe I actually made the hoodie and undershirt using a hand drafted pattern. My boyfriend was working on making matching pants but we couldn't get those finished in time. They will be done for a photo shoot though, which will hopefully be soon! Michael's wig was style by both him and myself, mostly him. 
That's really all for Officer Jenny. I didn't make a big write up because it was such a simple cosplay but if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

 
We got some really positive feedback, and someone even tried to propose to me with a Zubat, which was quite interesting. Besides walking around and posing for pictures, I participated in a panel for my friend Geoffrey, who hosted a Cosplay Life Drawing Panel. I have to say posing in those high heel pumps completely still for 5-10 minutes increments was quite an ordeal but totally worth it! 

My friend Jas was in the panel and he did a few sketches of me that were incredible as always

His artistic talent never ceases to amaze me. He actually had a table at Motaku for his art. It was unfortunately the last time he would have an art table at a con, but you can still check out his art HERE! If you want any of his fan art prints go get them fast because he is about to get rid of them all!


I also got to spend time with my main lady Linda! She went as her Jigglypuff Gijinka. Together we all looked pretty adorable!

Here's a picture my good friend Bethanie snapped of us posing for a video.

Photo by Bethanie W. Do not use without permission

All in all Motaku was pretty fun. I only had one complaint which was that I had purchased my day badge for 25 dollars, but not once while I was going around the convention was I ever checked for it. I'm not saying that I would have not purchased the band to get in had I known that, but it does make it a little frustrating when no one attempts to check it when they are suppose too, because that means that someone could just not buy a badge and get in wherever they want while you paid good money to do it the honest way. There weren't even people at the door for a lot of the panels and rooms to check. Maybe Motaku had a staff shortage or something, but I hope it's improved on next year. With that said, I do hope to attend again next year, but probably not for the full weekend again.

For the Future..

For the future there are going to be some changes. Basically from now on I will not be posting my cosplay plans in advanced until they are started and fully confirmed. I wrote a lot in a journal about this on my DA but to sum it up, I've been running into the issue of plans falling through on things, and also in all honesty, I suffer from cosplay ADHD where I get really excited about one cosplay and skip to the next. So for now, my future plans are to attend Nebraskon 2012. Badge is bought and everything! For that con I am currently planning 3 projects, one of them being a swimsuit. I will let everyone know later what those are once I'm sure they are happening. I have also started an armor build. I am working on making the Mark VI armor from Halo, which I started a while ago. I want to have it done in time for Halo 4's release in November (SO STOKED!!!). Again as soon as my cosplays are confirmed I'll be updating of course.

Any way I realized that was a long winded "try to catch up on everything post" but I hope you stuck with me through it without falling asleep.

Hope to have something to show you all soon!


-QK