VAMPS NYC 2013 Concert

This past weekend I went to see VAMPS in NYC! This was really exciting for me because I missed their 2010 concert so I hadn't seen them since '09! And they're one of my top 3 favorite bands. I took some photos; sorry they're not the best quality, I used my iphone4 and there was a lot of movement lol.

It was a fantastic concert - great lighting and sound, and everyone was extremely energetic and active (even K.A.Z. who is usually a bit more withdrawn). Two things really made the concert for me especially. Hyde was wearing his glowy contacts. I think they reflect light to UV rays or something like that and they're so freakin awesome. This was the first time I've seen him wear them in person; I've seen them in tons of videos of Japan lives and thought they were so awesome so it was great to finally see them in person. They look so evil! XD

Also something that really personalized the concert for me is that K.A.Z. looked over and made eye contact with me and noticed I had my vampire teeth in! He smiled and nodded so that was a lot of fun. And during "Devil Side", he did the same to my girlfriend who was wearing her devil horns XD

This is my favorite photo from the concert (above). I love the composition and feeling of it!

There were also 2 opening acts, one called KILLCODE which was a lot better than I expected. They looked kinda funny though. One of the guitarists looked like Santa Claus. And then the DJ from Slipknot which I thought was kind of an interesting choice. I really liked his stuff but I felt it was a little out of place for this concert. Unfortunately he didn't really get the crowd moving like KILLCODE did. If he had used more of Hyde's voice in some of the tracks or sections of VAMPS songs like he did in the first song he did, I think it might have been a little better. But despite that, he attempted a crowd surf and dove straight into the short asian girls in the front. Needless to say, he didn't make it very far...

Also, it was Arimatsu's birthday (the drummer)! So they rolled out a birthday cake for him which he blew out the candles of and said a thank you to everyone on the mic.

Followed by a sweet drum solo!

I also appreciated that Hyde thanked everyone for standing in line in the cold. And it was! My girlfriend and I stood in line for close to 7 hours in below freezing weather, part of which was windy, snowing, or freezing rain. We only got through with take-out ramen and heat packs we stored in our shoes and gloves!

Love this photo of Ju-Ken lol

Took a quick picture of the set afterward; I love that backdrop.

Looks like Gotham!

On the following day we went to Rockefeller Plaza to do some Christmas shopping at Nintendo World and the surrounding area. First time I've seen the Christmas tree there in person.

And here's the concert swag. They only had 2 items which was both a little disappointing and a bit of a relief. While I would really have liked to have a few more things (having missed the 2010 concert and all the merch that came with it), the quality is great and I love that graphic, and it didn't break the bank. Still, I was a little surprised they didn't have the new best of album there.

I bought a large for the shirt since they're often made in Asia and run too small on me, but this was printed in Mexico! So I'll wash it and wear it a bit and if it's still too large after a while I can take it in a little using all those cosplay sewing techniques!

Amazing concert, really hope they come back soon.

Otakon 2013

Woooooaaaaah I haven't posted since March?!! Sorry about that... summer's been pretty crazy but it looks like now I have a little more time to organize my braaaaains. Anyway I went to Anime Boston back in May. That was pretty fun. First con I've sold my art at. I have some pictures from that on my relatively new Facebook fanpage.

In any case I recently came back from Otakon in Baltimore. It was pretty fun, albeit a little on the crazy side. This was the most packed I've ever seen the convention center, what with it being the 20th anniversary and all that. There were some things I really wanted to see but missed out on, like getting an autograph from my favorite animation director, Shinchiro Watanabe, after waiting in an autograph line for 2 hours. But I did get to see TMRevolution and the simulcast of Yoko Kanno's performance which were both pretty high on my list. As well as eating crab. That's always a must when going to Baltimore. In any case, I'll just leave some pictures here. Although I've been working on cosplay stuff through the summer, I'm a little behind in posting my progress here, and it looks like I never got around to posting my full Stormcloak photoshoot! I'll have to do that soon.

First off, this was clearly a pink ranger cosplayer I saw while on the first part of my journey to Baltimore.

Ate at a really great Korean BBQ in Boston the night before flyin down to Baltimore. I thought the menu graphic was fun.

I've always loved this ship.

On Thursday my friends went into the pre-reg line around mid afternoon to pick up badges and waited for hours. I opted to stay in the hotel room to finish up some last minute work on my costumes. I finally got into the line at about 9pm and only had to wait about 10 minutes. Mwahahaha.

Whenever I get a new wig head, I usually like to draw some sort of face on it, but I've had this guy for a while and never got around to it. So my friends decided to draw on the kuso miso face...

Afterwards I got around to starting my wig for Vyse. At the time, the only wig I was able to find in the right color was very long so I had quite a bit to chop off. Makes for a great mustache, donchathink?

First up on Friday, there was some weird red carpet walkway/awkward outdoor photobooth thing that Otakon/the city of Baltimore was doing?? They wrangled me up for this. I got some printed stickers to boot.

I've been a big fan of Fire Emblem since the franchise came to America so seeing the Awakening version of Ephraim was pretty awesome.

Brewster from Animal Crossing

This guy's hilarious. He came up to me on his own initiative to get a picture with me. It's just a coincidence we happened to both be cosplaying characters with the same color hair. But I immediately remembered him from last year as the Machoke cosplayer. I've got a picture of him from last year...

See? Freakin hilarious. And this guy laughs like non stop.

Ephraim again, this time with a Great Lord Lucina. Really great looking costumes.

Giga Pudding!

This was my Saturday costume, Vyse from Skies of Arcadia! I have a bit of touch up work to do and have to finish the cutlasses before I can do a proper photoshoot, but it was a good first run and I was surprised by the number of people who stopped me for pictures and knew who I was!

My annual visit to Edo Sushi in the mall near the convention center involves drawing faces on the drinks menu placemat.

Metal Sonic!

More Fire Emblem cosplayers! They looked absolutely ravishing. Especially Tharja (she's my wifey in the game ;D)

Fun Gyarados and Harley Quinn

Sheik and Nabooru

Pretty sweet daedric armor from Skyrim

Life-size working and sound-making R2D2! I wonder how much that cost...

Although it's usually a bit pricey, I always try to make a point of having crab while in Baltimore. Cuz it's just too damn good. This time I got a soft-shell crab sandwich. 

My final picture, probably the cutest Kiki I've ever seen! This is just as we were leaving our hotel.

Anyway, I had a really great time but as usual it was a whirlwind up to and through the convention so I'm happy to be taking it a little slower now. But pretty soon I'm gonna get back on finishing up some costumes I'm working on (Vyse included), and got quite a bit of artwork to finish as I have 3 cons coming up this Fall that I'm selling at! Hope you enjoyed the pics and please look forward to more posts in the coming months.