There is something vaguely tragic about the fact that the first thing I write about regarding my first Danish convention is not the con itself but the WCS competition. (Not that J-pop con was bad, but I'll talk about that later because this is a much more pressing and emotionally charged issue for me)


Firstly, I will admit that I'm posting this on devart rather than my LJ because I have alot of overseas cosplayers watching me and this seems like the kind of issue that alot of you might have interest in. If you're Danish, even more awesome, we're giving a panel tomorrow at 11am so you can ask questions....which imho is absolutely ridiculous, this NEVER happens in Asian countries, so I'm Asian at heart...sue me...


I was very kindly invited to judge the Denmark WCS round @ J-pop con by the organizers who I met at this year's WCS, and it was a really big honour for me because I've only judged a couple of small competitions and karaokes before this. My fellow judges were bell and iris, the 2 german reps for WCS 2009 and Nadia, a highly respected italian cosplayer who's also been a past WCS contestant. Personally I felt this was a good move on the organizers part because firstly, we don't know any of the contestants which reduces bias and at the same time the judges have had first-hand experience at WCS (most of us the recent one) I confess I've never judged anything of this scale before but I've been cosplaying for well on 7 years now, and I've attended cons in 7 countries and done WCS, so I think that at least gives my opinion some backing.


There was apparently some "scandal" though that might be exaggerated because I have yet to see for myself the extent of this dissent over the judges choice for the Danish WCS representatives for 2010. (I'd like to add it happened approx 4-5 hours after the results were announced and the unhappy parties complained to the organizers which led me to think firstly...wow...lag....secondly, why on earth are you guys making it difficult for the organizers, shouldn't the blame go to the judges if you're not happy about the decision?) And although I can understand why our choice may have seemed unorthodox, I did mention why we chose who we did before we annouced the results, which I will elaborate further on in awhile. I have also led to understand that part of the anger was due to

1. what was seen as the organizers and judges to coercing a team who originally was not running for WCS into taking part

2. for the "three degree interrogation" that the 2 teams that we were highly undecided upon were subjected to (4 judges, it was split 2/2)

An overview of the situation. No point not mentioning names since you guys will obviously google and I'm pretty sure you'll find out who I'm talking about 1 min within reading this post, and I reckon our names (judges) must be all over 4-chan by now (kazzy, rika, be proud of me, i've finally made it to 4-chan HAHA)

The 2 groups that the judges were pretty much undecided about were mononoke and halloween kingdom hearts. When I say we were undecided what I mean was, 2 judges rooting very very strongly for 1 team and the other supporting the other team all the way. My personal choice was Halloween kindgom hearts.

Mononoke was what I would call a technically good choice for WCS. They had excellent workmanship, beautiful costumes and they had a couple of props which were nice, although there was some technicality issues about it which I will not go into. However, their skit was nothing stunning, it was good considering the nature of the series, basically a scenario of the medicine man exorcising a demon and I felt it did indeed capture the essence of the show, but they lacked what I call the X-factor.

Now you may not think much of the X-factor, but I would like to point out that Japan won this year's WCS competition, and in all honesty, they did not have the best costumes, nor the best skit, but I felt they had something that was lacking in many other teams. There was a quality about their performance that cannot be explained in anything other than an urge to sit up and really pay attention to what they were doing.

J-pop con gave me beautiful costumes and some really awesome(amusing) skits, but I can safely say, the only team that made me sit up in my seat and pay attention (both figuratively and literally) was the Halloween Kingdom Hearts team. They did not have the most elaborate costume, in fact I didn't even notice them until bell pointed them out to me during pre-judging, and even then I didn't really take note. Even when they came on stage they didn't feel very professional or particularly amazing, but when they started their performance, I was......for lack of a better word, enthralled. The gist of their skit was Halloween Sora meeting a "dead ballerina" version of Halloween Kairi and then a creepy very visually powerful dance followed. In itself it was nothing particularly spectaular, but many many elements came together to make in superb, like the lighting, the chemistry between the cosplayers...dude, just youtube it. My instant reaction after it ended was to check my judging sheet to see if this team was doing WCS and I cannot describe my disappointment that they apparently were not. Apparently I was so intensly captivated by them that I didn't realize that the cheering for them was really loud, which many people pointed out to be later.


What followed after was that I actually said this to one of the organizers, that I was very disappointed that the KH team wasn't competing because I would have loved to sent them to WCS and as we were about to adjourn to discuss the results, I was suddenly told that the KH team suddenly wanted to run for WCS. And this is where the chaos begins.

It wasn't that the KH didn't want to do WCS (who doesn't) it was because they thought that Halloween Kairi, being an original design would not be allowed to compete. I would like to point out that nothing in the WCS rules specifically applies to this and that there have been WCS finalists who have done costumes that technically don't exist, as in they are original or partially original designs, such as USA 2009 and the Japanese Code Geass team from 1-2 years back. When we told them that they could possibly be considered as we thought original costumes of an existing character, especially since we could identify her as kairi, were fine, it seemed to me that they actually wanted to try out for the running.

If there was any coercing going on, I can say it only happened, when I sent the organizers out with a direct command, go and confirm for me if they want to take part. I told them to tell the KH team that we really loved their performance and we thought they had potential and that we had to know NOW if they wanted to be considered because results were due in an hour. I would like to make it clear that the team had every intention to take part but did not due to rule-issues which they qualified for in the end.

However, despite this, I still felt a little uncertain, because I personally felt that the KH team did not seem particularly confident nor prepared to do WCS, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that I really wanted to speak to them myself to determine if they were suitable to represent Denmark in a world convention. Upon my insistance, it was decided that we should speak to both teams, so I will take responsibility for the occurance of this "third degree interrogation" but as it was, I felt this was the best way for me make a final decision, because someone had to break the tie. That being said, even if I had chosen mononoke in the end, I don't think I would have been able to live with myself after that, knowing I had not chosen the team that I supported with all my heart.

The questions we asked were pretty similar for both teams. To the mononoke it was, why should we choose you, what do you have to offer, what would you do in Japan if you won, would you try again if you didn't, why you cosplay and the like. It was not just the answers I based my decision upon, it was how they replied, their body language, everything, actually in retrospect, yeah that's kinda like third-degree interrogation isn't it? Though I don't see why people should complain, don't you Danish want the best that your country can offer for WCS? cause I know I want the best singapore can give to go to nagoya next year.

To the KH team...I confess, I was horrible, I was downright mean, but it was because I loved this team so much that I wanted to be 100% sure that they wanted it, and that they could handle it, I didn't want their WCS experience to be ruined by because I was a bad judge and sent a team that wasn't prepared despite the fact they had so much potential. We asked why they didn't run straight for WCS, reason above stated, the usual, what they wanted to do if they got there, would they try again, why they cosplay and I straight out asked them, were they prepared. I was so straighforward on that and I came down so harsh on them I made one of them cry. As bad as I feel about it, talking to the two teams really cemented it for me that KH was the one I wanted to send to WCS. Their replies I will not speak of here because some of the things we asked I feel are personal (especially in the asian context, but suffice to say they reflected the type of cosplayers these 2 teams were)

To my surprise, one of the judges who was very strongly supportive of the mononoke team, but who at the same time also did like the KH team changed her mind after we talked to them. Simply put, though it might seem a little misleading. World Cosplay Summit for us has evolved to something more than just going to Japan with your best costumes and your best skits and showing the world what you can do, because in all honesty, whatever you can do, another country can do just as well if not better. Japan won because they had the X-factor, and KH won mononoke for the exact same reason. We were invited to choose a team that would best represent Denmark in a world summit that would involve the coming together of a group of people who share a similar passion (for me that passion shone through in the KH team's performance). We awarded mononoke with best group and best craftsmanship, something that I have been told has never happened before, because we felt that they deserved it. But it was the KH team that really made us feel like Denmark had a chance of winning WCS and for me that is the job of a judge, to pick out the best.


This will probably come across as very arrogant and in singaporean terms, bhb, but there was a reason why I was asked to be a judge. I have been to WCS, I have seen what is like, I have a grasp of what by WCS standards is good and what is not (no matter how strange those standards might be) and I do believe I know better than a person who thinks that cosplay is all about elaborate costumes and a good skit, because it is not. It is a hobby and what makes it such is because you do it purely based on passion, for the love, for the joy and the fun that it gives you. Jill and I did not win WCS, we were not the team with the best costumes, we were not the team with the best skit, but I can say that I do believe we did Singapore proud. I believe the best team that can possibly represent a country is one that does not go with their first and foremost thought as winning (though that is definately important) but to have fun, to learn, to make friends, and to do the best they possibly can, because passion is not the same as professionlism, because it is truly something that shows when cosplay is brought to the stage. And for me, it shone brillinatly in the KH team.

My laptop has officially died after 2 years of good service to me

rest in peace veda T.T

I'm leeching off my friend's internet in her room now, so quick update

I'M NOT DEAD, only my laptop is T.T if you've left me a msg/comment
I'll try and get back to you asap. If it's urgent, e-mail me, address is on my dev ID

Will be in Denmark this weekend for J-pop con~

Cosplaying Elizabeth from Kuroshitsuji on friday
Star Date Sheryl Nome on Saturday
Euphemia in her white gown on sunday


seeing as I can't really arrange any meet-ups with anyone atm, OH VEDA WHY DO YOU DIE ON ME NOW OTL....just come and say hi if you recognize me short asian girl about 158cm give a couple of cm for my epic heels

I'LL SEE YOU GUYS SOON (once I get a new laptop)

Firstly thank you to lovely lovely who housed me, fed me, brought me around, gossiped with me, bitched with me cosplayed with me and most importantly GAVE ME LOADS OF MF PORN, did I say porn? I meant pretty artwork during my weekend stay in London. MY LOVE FOR YOU IS BOUNDLESS AND INFINITE, we must have more sessions my love, it was immensely fun.



Secondly, please don't ask me what London is like T.T I spent 70% of my time at the con, 20% at 's place and 10% on the tube. The tube is kinda like MRT, but narrower, and stinker at some points LOL.




Okie yes on to the con proper


A warning in advance, this is a very truthful account of my exp with the con, and it probably won't make you very happy if you're very pro-london expo



Definately one of the largest con I've attended by far in terms of numbers, I'd say possibly as many as manifest or even more? That being said, I'd follow up with, also the biggest con that seemed least prepared for the amount of people they were going to handle. I was vaguely amused that they stuffed all their stalls/booths/cosplay stage what-not into one hall, and had an entire other hall for ppl to queue to get tickets. Crowd-control was good but I suspect it was more because ppl were polite and responsible and bothered to stand in lines rather than on any part of the organizers. We were basically being shouted at for no clear reason, because the queue was pretty orderly.


The queue in front of the hall was an absolute mess and while I can agree that shouting was in order, I don't think it justified a "WOULD YOU PPL FUCKING GET IN LINE", I thought a " GUYS MOVE THIS WAY PLEASE" or even without the please would have sufficed. I can safely say that out of all the cons I've attended, Singapore, Malaysia, Aussie and Japan, this is easily the worst organized one of all (although I did expect it to some extent considering how unupdated the website was). I queued for 2 hours on the first day, which wasn't too bad considering how many people there were, but what really pissed me off was how rude the lady at the ticketning booth was, I'm sorry that I'm not local, do not know shit about your con and that your website totally doesn't have any info regarding on-the-day ticketing and there are no signs to inform me that "no, I cannot get the next day's tickets on sat" (which is incredibly inefficient imho) and there was really no need to be so snappish when I was clearly rushing to get my money out for you since I had no idea how much the tickets were....-.-" But to even it out, we had this really awesome guy Robin and his cute lolita friend (whose name I have forgotten shoot me) from Netherlands who we socialized with throughout, while we karaoked with my ipod and attracted more attention than we should have (but in a good way) So basically only went in on day 1 and we covered the entire hall in less than 2 hours, which was vaguely ironic haha....

Onto the hall itself. I have been spoilt rotten by Sg/Malaysia cons because I was totally taken aback by the lack of fanworks. The artist alley was pretty small as it was already, barely even 1/4 the size of last year's Comic Fiesta's one. Overall, I didn't see alot of really good quality artworks (WHERE HAVE ALL THE EPIC UK PPL ON DEVART GONE?) but there was alot of original works. It's a good place to exhibit original stuff I'd say, but if you want fanworks of the likes that we get in Asia, forget it, don't bother. The price of merchandise was exorbidant, but don't take my word for it, I'm from Singapore and the exchange rate is 1 pound to sing 2.2 so yeah. I saw artbooks that I can get in SG for $40 in kino for 40 pounds at the con. I've been told that the booths are ridiculously ex so that might explain it? Alot of bootleg taiwanese/china stuff, I was pretty amused, but there was some official stuff, THEY HAD SKELE ANIMALS, I took a photo of the booth sadly none of those cute bags I like *sighs* They had alot of booths selling those cute hats with ears that you see at supernova and manifest with a much bigger variety, but it was 20 pounds for one...AND I COMPLAIN WHEN IT'S 30 RINGGET, so shoot me. What really really annoyed me though was that they cornered off the cosplay comp section (which was good because it wouldn't be affected by the outside noise) but you needed another ticket to get it...like WTF. No wonder all the cosplayers all hung around outside the event place and didn't go in...-.-"

Cosplay wise, on day 1 I had with me in a pale imitation of the Singapore Sheryl Army lol, and as our lovely Ranka chan. I do believe we were supposed to have an Alto kun, but the poor girl's wig didn't arrive on time. But what really made my day was who cosplayed the one MF character I've been dying to have but never found in sg/aus. GRACE <3 SHERYL FINALLY HAS A MANAGER XD <3 <3 <3 Met a big group of awesome cosplayers through who introduced them all to us, got to see after quite a long while and met people like rosiel who I've know from cosplay.com since forever but never got to see in real life The UK cosplayers in general are a really open and friendly bunch like the Aussies, not so reserved like the Asian cosers, and and I had mutiple incidents of ppl coming up to us and outright fangirling and asking for hugs which was kinda overwhelming at first, but was also really flattering and leaves you with this warm fuzzy feeling. Went for dinner with the big group of Uk cosplayers for dinner at a japanese place in Chinatown. I DO SO LOVE SOCIALIZING~ Thankz for crash and Grace san who followed us throughout the 2nd half of the day took loads of pretty photos. The whole MF team got approached by this guy from this magazine on cosplay for a feature....no idea what it's about so if anyone has heard of cosplay fever let me know?

Day 2, and came down from Bristol to join us. made such a cute sakura from CCSI wanted to squeeze her to death and was my hot (if a little thin) fiance Ciel Phantomhive in true MF fashion cosplayed May'n (it was by accident though) XD We were only there for awhile on the 2nd day though because the two of them had to rush back up to Bristol, but there was time for a mini shoot and much fangirling was to be had~~ We met a trio of cosplayers from China on the train in, cosplaying from Kuroshitsuji too, there was this UBER cute ciel, and a pretty hawt lau and ....erm the thid guy cosplayed a character from the anime. I started talking to them about wigs and stuff because i was bitching about what horrible shape my lizzy wig was in and it turns out that one of the supplies I get my stuff from is really well-known even in China ~

In terms of cosplaying standard I'd say UK resembles Australia, loads of Handmade goodness, I remember a very very amazing godzilla on day 1 whose costume was made of household items like wastepaper baskets, soccer balls and plastic mats, a kirin from petshop of horrors who painted the scales onto her dress OTL and an amazing girl!ciel and sebastian duo on day 2. They've got some crazy stuff there, the VK cosplayers there splatter themsleves with blood and wear vampire fangs (and still look good) and there was a pair of sisters on day 2 who painted themselves purple for err...WOW nightelves I think? In general the really really good cosers came from the movie side, I remember the usual star wars bunch, an amidala, stormtroopers, an amazing remote-controlled R2-D2,darth maul (GOOD LORD THERE WAS A MARA JADE AND I COULD TELL SHE WAS MARA JADE, I FANGIRLED SO BAD) harlequin, scarecrow and 2-face from batman which was really nicely done and alot more. But there was alot of stuff that also made my eyes bleed...and had a really bad experience with a renamon cosplayer. She went up to help me ask for a photo and the jerk brushed her off and went "won't you ppl stop pestering me, there are like so many photos of me I bet they'll be all over the net, go away" Dude, why the fuck are you even cosplaying then, just stay home and wear your renamon costume in your sleep...-.-" sheesh, even if you didn't want your photo taken you could have rejected her nicely by saying you were tired or something. I was utterly appalled when told me about it, you do not see this kind of behaviour in sg/japan/malaysia, EVER. Overall the trend in UK seems to be more towards classic, with the usual dash of Bleach, Naruto (not so much VK thank god and NO KHR, sorry KHR fans but sg/aus has overdosed me with the fandom already) I'm amused by how I told that I was willing to bet that the first cosplayer I saw was either bleach/naruto/death note...and the first 3 were kenpachi, naruto and a raito and misa respectively on the train....OTL. But all in all I met lots of awesome people, and it made up for the rather dismal event so I had loads of fun overall~~

I'm pretty sure I just had the most epic weekend of my life and london expo had absolutely NOTHING to do with it....



my train came late, my friend and I missed the connecting train and we ended up quite literally an unknown middle-of-nowhere place in UK...

the taxi ride home was 109 pounds.....go do your math...OTL



but my friend was ridiculously nice...T.T she paid for 3/4 of the taxi fare because she's rich and she knows I'm a scholar working on a budget....IT WAS RIDICULOUSLY EPIC and we had the most epic shit going on in the taxi....and God, thank you for letting me know such wonderful ppl T.T


it has been an amazingly epic weekend

OH YEAH, I'm going to be heading down to London for a few hours for my first europe con

VERY EXCITED I AM ~~ yoda speak


On another note

I've been thinking of selling off a couple of old costumes, because I have about 50+ costumes in my collection and my house has pretty much reached bursting point. Some of the stuff I want to sell are old tailored costumes, so workmanship quality is guaranteed. Self-made...err...err...BE FOREWARNED LOL. The thing is that I'm not so much concerned about the price I sell it off at as much as I want my outfits to get a good home. Even if the base is tailored, I usually clock in quite a few hours doing other stuff to the outfits so I sorta have a sentimental attachement to them :/

Posting this journal entry to sorta just test the waters if anyone might be intersted.
I'm prety short YO about 158 but my costumes are meant for ppl around 160-165 cause I very almost always wear heels when I cos.

Just a list of some of the stuff I want to sell, I don't have photos of all of them on DA, but if you leave me a comment I'm sure I can link you to a pic somewhere or I'll send you a photo, and then if you're interested then I'll give you a quote. Note I'm stuck in UK atm, so I won't be able to mail anything out until january next year~ I'll do this properly when I actually make a full list of the costumes I want to sell (after I finish shooting with all of them), but at the moment

Tailored~~
1. Juliet's Orange default outfit (top and skirt) +Romeo X Juliet+
2. Romeo's default outfit (top and the outer coat) +Romeo X Juliet+ this is my partner's outfit, we figured we might as well sell them together
3. Cagalli's green christmas/akatsuki no kuruma gown (just the gown only) +Gundam SeeD+
4. Kururu's tuner uniform (top, coat and pleated skirt) +Air Gear+ the only uniform I have ever owned T.T farewell my love, for I am too old to cos you. Skirt was handmade, but I reckon the quality was pretty decent~


Self-Made~~~
5. Celeste Miriam default (Top, coat, shorts, armor pieces) +Opera Eternity+
6. Maka's Black Dress picture on my DA(black velvet dress only, I destoyed the organza top OTL) +Soul Eater+ (note, made this myself, so quality might be a little iffy ^^")
7. Yuuki's white PJ dress picture on my DA (1 piece) dress +VK+ okay the quality of this is ridiculousl iffy, I really rushed it out OTL, you do not want to be seen wearing this in an event, but it's still passable for shoot. If not one wants this I'm probably going to use it as PJs or throw it away LOL
8. Hel's black dress (top, hat, black organza outer skirt, I want to keep my black inner skirt base but I'm willing to make another one if you want it) +Matantei Loki Ragnarok+ black top is fraying on the edges a little on the inside, another rush job. I think the black organza skirt was super ghetto but I need to go home to sg to check it OTL
9. Priscilla's human default (cloak, arm warps and boot wraps) photos coming up on DA soon I love this to bits cause the material is so nice and I lined the hood and it has FLUFF...but but but it was really easy to make and it's taking up SHIT ALOT of space T.T



I'm thinking of selling these Sheryl outfits, but not too sure when because I might want to do a little video shoot with them~

1. Sheryl Nome Black lolita pictures on my DA (top only, but if you REALLY want the skirt and all the other random stuffs let me know, I'll consider selling them) reserved for bobnewby
2. Sheryl Nome Star Date (top and accessories) reserved for hiyu
3. Sheryl Nome pink casual dress (dress and stockings and hat) workmanship is erm....lol basically don't look inside, but it looks okay from the outside ^^" kinda ^^" reserved for suki-chan~

randomly...someone made me an offer for my K-on dress, I wasn't even of thinking of selling it but :/ hmmmmmmmm I'm not going to wear it anymore so.....and it wasn't particularly difficult to make and I do need the space :/