Anime North 2012 Report [image & word heavy]

Time for my annual AN con report~ I thought I came down with con plague since I was sorta coughing and losing my voice on Sunday but I'm feeling better now! Though I don't know if I'm recovering from a mild cold or if it's reoccuring allergies... anyways--Anime North 2012!

It's my 6th year attending this con and my 5th year being a part of the Artist Alley (Crafter's Corner). I shared a table with the wonderful Nikkie (littlepaperforest) and her friend Amanda who were just absolute sweethearts and helped me out so much while I was off participating in other events!! I also had the best roomies ever, Jill & Kim, you guys were such a big help to me with setup and getting me food and everything! It was also nice to sit beside Jess (pheleon) again, we're veteran AN buddies for sure! ;) Lastly, I want to thank everyone who came out and bought something from me!! I wish I could have been there to witness all my katamari felties going off to their new homes but I never expected them to sell out so quickly! THANK YOU!!!

That was the positive, and I don't get many negative comments, but I thought it's about time to mention something that sort of ruined my mood: I didn't take any pics of my display at the CC because honestly... it's sort of an embarrassment LOL. I really toned things down and kept things simple, since most of my things were packaged anyways, I just laid everything flat down. This probably wasn't such a good idea, but really it happens nearly every year--someone was buying something on the other half of the table, and for some reason they don't see my stuff even though it's right there or don't care but they simply plop their bag and everything ON my half of the table, directly on top of my merch and messing my arrangement. And then after they gathered their stuff, they simply walk away, not even bothering to apologize for messing up my things. ????? Okay? I know you probably don't give a crap about my work but for what reason is your things so important that you need to use my selling area as space to pack your things? Maybe next time I should design an even more elaborate display so people won't dump their stuff on it and treat it like it's nothing. -__- Sigh. Moving on...

For the most part people were friendly, but since I'm horrible at making conversation with people and I find it hard to smile naturally, I just let my friends do most of the talking. >__<

Friday - I arrived late and got stuck in the pre-reg line. Insane. There were two scanners and about ten people processing thousands of pre-regged people. Obviously there is something wrong there??? It was really hot out and I got blisters from walking back from the hotel in heels... not smart, lol. And then to find out someone tried to claim our table. And the location of the CC did a 180 and we were now in front of the wrestling stage (Anime...Wrestling...??? What??? WHY???) Not off to a good start to say the least! But Chantal, the co-ordinator managed to smooth everything out and I will be eternally thankful!! *A*


I was on the lookout for Blue Exorcist cosplayers and managed to find quite a few Rins! I managed to snap a pic of Yukio x 2 and a Rin. Friday was a little slow and the day felt very long. I didn't get much sleep either but I was able to loli it up the next morning!

Saturday - Doll North marketplace in the morning! I got to wear the lolita-ish styled dress I got more than a year ago!! (Special thanks to Jess who helped do my hair lol) I refused pics of myself because well... after walking around outside to get to the location, I don't think I was presentable anymore... T__T The Doll Market was the only Doll North event I attended. It was my first time participating in any Doll North event!


Here is Kaede being lint-rolled by my friend Kim. XD I think we're a bit obsessive with the cleanliness of our dolls!


Our bishie cafe lol. I put Kaede on a doll stand so he was a bit taller than usual..


I wanted to have a cafe theme because I was selling handmade sweets props, so I got Kaede a chef outfit :) He rode with Hajime, Kim's doll (left) because I didn't have a SD sized carrier bag.


I brought along Yukio and Myles as well :)


A mix of my handmade + second hand things. Traffic at the Doll Market was realllll slow compared to the CC...


And I guess partly the reason for that was the table location... I was all the way in the corner of the room. >__<


A girl came by holding her Crobidoll Jun! Such a small world--I had never met anyone with a Jun before because I thought it was such an unpopular sculpt! But here he is, named Spore, standing next to Haji and my Kaede! He's super adorable! They are even wearing the same wig! >3<


I also got to meet Theresa, who I knew from Instagram and later recognized from the first DD meet I went to. She was super nice and I enjoyed chatting with her! Here are her lovely Dollfie Dream girls!


Some cute little octopus plushies!


Next, I saw these two cosplayers and nearly died from happiness!!!! *__* AHhhh!!! Amaimon and Mephisto from Blue Exorcist ♥ ! SO well done, they looked AMAZINGGG!! (´ε｀ )♡


Chibi Link... so adorable! I love the little plush props!!


Then I saw Catherine who I also recognized from my first DD meet. She was holding a pair of beautifully co-ordinated Dollfies! Love the pink & blue combo!

I wish the Marketplace went on for longer than just 4 hours. There were a lot of nice vendors and I enjoyed looking at everyone's dolls. Everyone was very friendly. There were also so many sponsors from Korean bjd companies! I got to see Leekeworld's vampire Khal in person as he was a raffle prize and I sort of wanted him before. But I ended up not entering in any of the raffles... I did go outside to see the ladies at the BlueFairy booth though... ^^

I'm disappointed the Doll North Doll Marketplace is only open for 4 hours. Seems like a very short amount of time, but then again all Doll North events are only hosted in that one room, I believe... After packing up, I went back to the main con centre to chill a bit before going to my next event: Café Delish! I wanted to go last year just to visit, but never got a chance so this year I really wanted a seating. I went with my friend Jillian, it was her first time at Anime North so I thought we should go check it out :)


The lovely maids welcoming guests into the café


Maids dancing. Moe!!!! ｡◕‿◕｡


Mamiko-chan was the maid serving us~ （○゜ε＾○）
Jill and I were the only girls at our table. The rest were all guys cosplaying Vocaloid characters.. XD


Mamiko-chan's sparkly accessories and blinged out nails! Kawaii!!!! (☆´3｀)
Okay I'll stop with the faces...LOL


Our tray of food! Looked really good...but I was still a little full from my late lunch.


Our cakes with faces drawn on by our maid. :3 So cute.
Next, we played a game of jan-ken-pon (rock-paper-scissors) with the head maid and we got free candy! Overall I really enjoyed Café Delish. It was so relaxing from a very tiring day and the venue is lovely with lots of natural light. Plus the maids were all so charming in their outfits! I can see why the tickets get sold out so quickly! (Not to mention it all goes to charity, too!) I had a lovely time and Jill agreed--I definitely want a seating again next year ;)


On the way back, a girl in front of me was wearing what I recognized instantly to be a Metamorphose Twinkle Journey JSK, thanks to my friend Machiko who posted all about Metamorphose in her lolita fashion & closet series blog posts. I think after actually wearing loli and seeing so many dressed up at AN, I'm slowly getting sucked into it... >__<"


Adorable Maka & Death the Kid cosplays!

Saturday ended earlier and I was actually able to get some sleep cause the noisy AC was turned off...xD

Sunday - Casual and slow day~


A very kind lady came by dressed in a gorgeous yukata(?) and bought one of my little rain cloud pins/brooches! She wore it in her hair immediately and I asked for a picture. You can't tell very well from the photo..but it's there! XD


I asked this girl if she was wearing an AP dress but she told me it was from Bodyline! I had never seen that print before and I thought it looked really cute on her!!


Jess' group of friends came by and one I recognized right away was cosplaying Garterbelt from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt! (*≧▽≦)


I don't know if this girl is cosplaying a character but I really loved her outfit. I wonder if it was difficult to walk in those shoes because she seemed like she was having no trouble at all!


Jess had to leave early to catch her bus back to Montreal. Her table mate Erika was also gone so the table beside ours was empty... so Keiko-chan & Mamiko-chan came over and were up to some maid mischief! Spreading propaganda about the new Puri Meido photo booth which I skipped out on because I was too unsightly for pictures LOL. I skipped out on the Doll North meet in the afternoon too because I was too tired to leave the con centre again.


Amanda & Nikkie, who helped me out so much during the weekend. The con centre has crap lighting... but aren't they just adorable? (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡

It was sort of sad saying good bye to everybody because this year what made AN so great was that I was surrounded by such lovely people. ;__; We'll meet again hopefully!!

As for my loot... surprisingly, I did not buy much this year because I had to budget food + accommodation as well, unlike previous years. I tried hard to cut back on random knick knacks such as buttons, keychains and bookmarks no matter how cute they were because I have way too many not in use. I wanted to get some manga, but I didn't have much time to carefully browse through the Dealer's room ><

My friend helped me get two Hetalia One Coin figures from the flea market for $3 each. SuFin ♥

I also traded for the doujinshi Jess got for me from Japan--Togainu no Chi doujins!!! From one of my fav circles!! So happy! (°◇°;) I also got a pair of Volks Yo-SD hand parts from the Doll North Marketplace! I couldn't believe my luck and I'm so thankful I didn't already order some from SQLabs because I had been planning to (but I didn't want to pay the shipping). I can't wait to spam photos of them on Yukio because they are so friggin adorable! I also had to have that Nyanko-sensei pillow thing. You can put your hands inside its head (like um, one of those mitten things..?) it was pricey but...I had to have it T_T. And lastly, I traded for some cute acrylic charms and a print from Nikkie! :D

What can I say about AN this year? Overall, it was certainly different because of the location of the CC changed, and because I stayed at a hotel for the first time. It wasn't fun dragging my luggage downhill/uphill in the heat and I feel like I wasn't at my table much to interact with people. But it was fun dressing up for a change despite cosplay plans not going the way as planned. I think I got bitten by the lolita bug...

Thank you for reading this freakishly long post. Until next time! ( ^_^)／