☆~ Animaritime 2014 ~☆

This weekend i was able to go to Animaritime!!
I cosplayed as Godoka/Ultimate Madoka/Madokami from Puella Magi Madoka Magica!


that me -_-


It was about a five and a half hour drive from where i live and we left around lunch time Friday so i didn't get to attend Friday, and we left Sunday morning so i didn't get to attended then either, but Saturday was so busy and hot, i don't think i'd survive one more day in my cosplay.

I finished my cosplay Friday night and wore it till around 9 Saturday night, since i attended a 'So you want to become a magical girl?' event, which i'll talk about after!




The Convention:

Animaritime is the second convention I've ever been to, Hal-Con being my first, but it's also my first anime convention, so i was excited to see all the anime merchandise and cosplay there!

I left the hotel, which is across from the convention center, at around 12pm after my sister finished at her Terraria event, all dressed up and nervous, i mean- this was my first anime convention and I've never been to this part of New Brunswick!! After crossing the road to get outside the convention center i was stopped for pictures at least 5 times, it was kind of overwhelming to be honest, but pretty cool!


Convention center ft. my grandmothers arm


So after ditching my little group (sorry mom and co.) i made it into the convention to finally look around, stopping for a few more pictures before going upstairs to the vendors and artists room to explore (in which i almost died on the stairs, heels + long heavy dress + stairs = dEATH. )

Not too much happened that really stands out to me, i got asked for pictures and i asked for pictures, and i made small talk with people standing around (being too shy to be like "aYYE GODOKA IN THE CONVENTION CENTER, WHAT UP MY MEGUCAS?") (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧

But i did end up getting hugs!! Before i went in a convention a girl that was walking with her friend said that my cosplay was amazing and that i deserved a hug, then when i was looking around for figures a little girl ran up to me and said i was really pretty and asked if she could have a hug (//sobs//), i met up with one of my pen-pals and she gave me a hug (she was the Homucifer to my Godoka, god(oka) bless her), and finally i met up with one of my friends from school (who is also v/ shy) and she hugged me, it was gr8!!


my face looked gross here //cries// but loOK AT HER.

Overall the convention was a lot of fun and there were a lot of nice people complementing my cosplay and asking for pictures so i had a great time but then again it was kinda... bad? Despite there being a lot of vendors and artists it didn't feel like there was much there and the convention had this certain atmosphere, if that makes any sense, although it was fun and there were a lot of nice people, it seemed like everyone kept to themselves, it made the convention feel a bit gloomy..(´_`)




The Events:

Out of all the panels and events at Animaritime i only attended 2 (it was going to be 3 because i was going to the Animal Crossing gathering, but my mom got lost some wheres in Fredericton with my convention booklet //squints//). I attended the 'Introduction to Japanese' event from 4-5 PM and the 'I Want to Become a Magical Girl!' event from 8-9 PM!! (Both in the same room so i didn't get lost //fist pump//)

The 'Introduction to Japanese' event was just what the title implies, an 'Introduction to 'Speaking' Japanese' class. I ended up running into a Misa cosplayer who was going to the same panel, in which we tried to find the room together so we wouldn't both get lost (she got us front row seats so i shared the candy i had in my bag with her while we talked and waited for the panel to start!!). I thought there would be a lot more teaching but it was pretty much just reviewing how some Hiragana and Katakana can be pronounced differently, some sentence structures and a bit of pronunciation, i honestly can't remember much from it but it did help me understand sentence structures a bit better then i did before. Of course there was, like any event, that one person who knew it all ('Watashi wa gakuseidesu ka!!!' i hear the person across from me in the other row scream as i try to hear myself talk) but overall it was fun! 


Thank you based Misa Misa

The later event i attended was the 'I Want to Become a Magical Girl!' panel (This time i went alone and i managed to get the same front row seat i had last time, which was the one closest to the center!). In this event we just talked about Magical Girl animes (and some mangas) and we watched a few trailers (The one for the new Sailor Moon, 4kids' 'Mew Mew Power' and  'Cardcaptors' ("4kids, oh how you've ruined our childhoods"), The one with Inori the Internet Explorer magical girl, and the 2D and 3D trailers for the Miraculous Ladybug (in which i think the 2D version is so much better and cuter, you fricked up Toei, i would be on that anime faster then you could say 'magical girls'.) When we got to the Madoka Magica slide the person running the event did the pose Will Smith did on the red carpet to me and she said "We even have a Madoka right up here in the front row!!" in which a few people behind me yelled "Praise Madokami!" and "Thank you based Godoka!"

All I've really got to say about this panel (besides how funny it was when the girl running the panel asked how much filler there was in Shugo Chara! in which everyone, including me, was like "well... um.. i-- i, um.... a lot. there's a lot of filler." and when everyone groaned over 4Kids) is that if i disappear this summer, i'm probably watching every season and movie of Pretty Cure.


"And in the front row we have Godoka, my ultimate waifu."


"hey little girl, wanna make a contract?"





What I Bought:

Sadly, i didn't have a lot of spending money for the convention and i really wanted to buy a Madoka or Sonico figure, but sadly there were no Madoka figures and the Sonico figures i found cost way too much for me (not to mention they weren't official, i could tell by the really bad paint job on her hair, but shhh..). I did, however, end up buying a Madoka Pin (the vender took my picture then it caught my eye!), A Jinx print (the artist was so nice and wOW. look at that amazing art.), and a tiny AlPacasso alpaca (i was five dollars short of getting a giant one, i almost cried when i opened my wallet).


Jinx on my wall of anime!
Close up! Dat art.
I dub thee Princess Alpaca of Fluffington 
As if the Alpaca wasn't cute enough.
Madoka is now on my backpack with my Hal-Con pins!





Overall:

Overall my experience at Animaritime was really good! I had a really good time there, met a lot of really nice people and seen a lot of amazing cosplays! Hopefully i can attend next year, meet new people, buy more anime merchandise, and maybe feel 100% about my cosplay and the convention!





Extras:

Snapchat Selfie #1
Snapchat selfie #2

me and my fellow magical girls!
(ft. my angry eren eyebrows)



 my friends (top) and pen-pal (bottom)!!



two really amazing cosplayers that i fangirled over! (they were so nice!!)




Thank you for reading!!


☆~ Tsunderequeen's Guide for Cosplaying and Where to Buy It ~☆


Hello my little tsun-tsun's!
Today i'll be talking about cosplay and where to get it (please keep in mind that i'm nowhere's close to a professional cosplayer and these are just my opinions and tips!!)
First i'll start with websites i recommend, why i recommend them and what they sell, here we go!




Bodyline is a Japanese based Cosplay/Lolita website. 
Their products range from sweet, gothic and classic Lolita, punk clothes, maid uniforms, sailor fuku's and cosplay and they're always adding new products! They also sell wigs, shoes and other things such as socks and bags, they basically have a whole bunch of lolita which is good for beginners, but we're not talking about Lolita today!! ヾ(・ω・*)ノ
i recommend them because their products are very high quality!! (except for that rare cosplay that you're like "w...why, everything else looks so good but wHY?" for example their Madoka cosplay)

Bodyline wot r u doin.

Their products always look like the photo's and fit very well, their shipping is also super fast! 
Every costume i ordered from them so far took only 2 weeks to get to me!!
So if your looking for a high-quality, cheap/fast shipping cosplay website you should check out Bodyline!








CosplayFU is a cosplay website that you can commission a cosplay to be made for you, has high-quality cosplay for reasonable prices AND you can get them custom sized and shipped for FREE, yes that word every cosplayer loves to hear.
Now i've had my ups and downs with CosplayFU, but generally they're a really good site, their cosplays are always well made and very high-quality, but sometimes their accessories that come with that beautiful cosplays can be a little.. cheap looking.. (or look pretty crummy i should say).
But don't let that stop you from shopping for cosplay there, because despite the rare crappy accessories i've found that their cosplays are made really well, so shop on my otakus!!

 
 

I cannot stress how important eBay is. Where would i be without you eBay? without cosplay wigs and accessories, obviously. eBay will be your best friend for all your cosplay needs.
eBay sells, well, pretty much anything. i'm not even kidding, you find the weirdest things on eBay.
From last minute cosplay accessories to wigs and costumes, eBay is your best friend in finding those desperate last minute needs for your costume.
I recommend eBay mostly for their cosplay wigs, and eBay is the only place i really trust to buy them, you can find pretty much any wig for any character as long as you shop right!!

 I recommend cosplayflying if you really want to buy a eBay costume (they have 100% feedback and high quality costumes and props)
Also quick tip! To find the best quality/cheapest/most trusted seller/product when shopping, sort by best match and go to buy it now, try to look only at the products that have the gold medal, this means that they have great feedback and are trusted!!





AliExpress is pretty much the same as eBay except it has free shipping for almost everything (almost everything as in everything unless you buy in bulk im pretty sure.) It's pretty much the same as eBay in every way, besides the fact that there's not as much of a selection and there's reviews on the bottom of every product, so if you're not too sure about buying something, your worried about the cosplay being made entirely of silk and cheap fabric, worry no more, read what others have to say about the product!!







I personally haven't bought from storenvy yet, but it's mostly because the shipping can be hella expensive. I'm not even kidding, you'll see something for 20 dollars and then when you go to buy it bAM. 30 dollar shipping. Not all stores are like that though, but if you're looking for used cosplay or quality wigs/sellers i definitely recommend this website! They're kinda like eBay i guess, but they have less of a selection and they're slightly more expensive. Other then the rare stores with shipping that cost 30 dollars this website is overall very trustworthy, so i definitely recommend it! 


 (some stores i recommend are Spreepicky, Circus Doll, CosQueen, and Quantum-Princess)







Looking for cheap good quality wigs and cosplay? Look no further!
A lot of Lolita wigs that you find on eBay (or AliExpress if you look at that entry) come from here, this is the original website where you can look at and order all their wigs!! This website too has reviews that you can read on the page, so if your worried about a certain wig you can read up it it!
They also have cheap costumes (and other bits and bobs) on their website too, but seeing as i haven't bought from them (yet) i cant tell you how great they are, but im sure you can find a few reviews here and there and on the website!!








That's pretty much it! There's a bunch of other cosplay stores that you can go to but i recommend that you go to these websites first! I hope that i could help you cosplayers out a bit with your cosplays, and if you have any questions about anything feel free to ask!
Thank you for reading, and good luck on your cosplays!!