Nan Desu Kan 2010 (now with photo imagedump)

[Vibri]

Oh lmfao I guess I should have known that the touhou cosplayers I saw in the DDR room were sm.org users.  I should have said hi!  You should use regular charge attacks more instead of bombing in PoFV :>

[Kichi]

...

...
It was at that point that I got an unexpected surprise, when someone tapped my shoulder. It was none other than a Sakuya cosplayer, with her mother in tow. Her mother showed me a photo of Sakuya and Cirno (the Cirno from the day before, this time in costume), and told me about this adorable 5-year-old cosplayer dressed as Tewi that I just had to see, as well as another Sakuya and an Aya running around taking photos at the speed of light. They mentioned that once you saw her, you wouldn't stop seeing her, and I made it a personal goal to take a photo of her before she took one of me.

>Added sidequest:
>Front-Page Exclusive
>Sneak up on the other Aya and take her photo!

After that useful infodump, I asked her mother to take a photo of me on my camera.


...


I soon received another unexpected treat in the form of the Totoro cosplayer who had eluded me yesterday!



And down the hall from that, who should I encounter but Mokou. This is Kichi on the forums. Say hi!
...

  That Anise cosplayer is actually one of my friends, and I was quite surprised at how well their cosplay turned out.

The other Aya was a long time friend of mine, as well as one of my (best friend/old roommate)'s girlfriend.  SHe also dressed as a traditional mythological Tengu Friday and Sunday.

And that Totoro Cosplayer is my friend's little sister actually.  My friend was the one leading her around most of the convention.

And HAIIIIIII!!!

[Alfred F. Jones]

You should use regular charge attacks more instead of bombing in PoFV :>

I was trying to bomb at all, actually! But they made me use a controller, and I've never used a controller in my life, always used keyboard. All I could do was charge.

Anyway, part two of the second day.



On my way to the elevators, I found Yowane Haku waiting for me. I asked for a photo. She pulled a bottle out of NOWHERE and stuck her tongue out at me.



And heading upstairs, I found Nanoha Takamachi in her elementary school uniform hangin' out.



HEY GUYS I MET JESUS AT NDK.



More EGL, 'cause I just can't get enough of it.



No, Matsuri, Sakura would not own Nanoha. Ever. Get over it.



Also for Matsuri, Simon and Antispiral Nia. Oh very yes. Simon looks pleased. I can't blame him.



I promised myself I would try to not take photos of Bleach cosplayers, but some of them were too good to pass up.



Ack. I don't know who this girl was, but DAMN she was gorgeous.

On a less (or more, technically) superficial note, this photo is a great example of one of my photography techniques. Have you noticed how my photos tend to draw on the ambient light of the area without using flash? This is because I hate flash with a passion, and adamantly refuse to use it ever, instead adjusting my exposure time and staying still as long as I need to to get a good photo.

Why?



This is why. As I took a photo of her, someone else also took a photo, and my camera caught their flash. See how much it washes out the colour of her clothing, and bleaches her hair? I really despise the effect of direct flash on a subject, so I make it a challenge for myself to avoid it entirely.



And besides, early in the day, I don't need flash. Suigintou here was standing in the well-lit area outside the artists' alley, and hardly needed any flash at all to look good.



Hetalia cosplayers! Everyone loves Hetalia.



At this point, I pulled out my tripod, and started using that as well. It had the curious effect of making my photos less flexible. See if you can tell.



This is for Donut. Can you see what's on their paper fans? :objection!:



I also saw the Pope at NDK. And the pope was pretty far away from Jesus. ZING!



This is the first of literally DOZENS of Maka Albarns running around NDK. Whereas Friday was overrun by Hatsune Mikus, Saturday was Maka Albarn all over.

And right behind me, who did I find?



FUCK YEAH, HELLO VADER. :dragonforce:



Avatar cosplay, as I noted on Friday, was not in short supply.



My second Maka. Soon, I started trying to refrain from taking photos of more of them, since they would overwhelm my camera.



I've always had a soft spot for Rozen Maiden cosplay, and for Hina Ichigo especially so. Hina Ichigo is the best. :3



Now in the photoshoot area, they were having a Pokemon get-together. Rocket Grunts surrounded the group as various Ashes and their respective Pikachus duked it out.



I was too short to actually see what was going on, so the first photo of them was me carrying my tripod over the crowd, with my camera on top of it.



By this point, I had moved to the side to see better.



Steelix was there, waiting for me.



I left the photoshoot area for the lobby, where I found this girl, dressed as the Nintendo Wii, apparently. It was a really cool cosplay.



From Shugo Chara, Amu's first three chara, all in one place!



On my way to the dealers' room (where no photos are permitted), I found a Sailor Moon. I took her photo, and turned around--



And what did I find but yet a larger group of Sailor Senshi. This was my lucky day.

To be continued!

[Matsuri]

No, Matsuri, Sakura would not own Nanoha. Ever. Get over it.

I AM STILL NOT CONVINCED :V

Also for Matsuri, Simon and Antispiral Nia. Oh very yes. Simon looks pleased. I can't blame him.

ilu ruro :*

Niaaaaaaaaaa <3

[nintendonut888]

This is for Donut. Can you see what's on their paper fans?

Awesome. :3 Also that Edgeworth looks just stuck up enough for the role. That Gumshoe isn't huggable at all though.

[Alfred F. Jones]

I think I've had a soft spot for lolitas ever since I read Kamikaze Girls. These are classic Wa Lolita-style lolitas.



This is for E-Mouse! I didn't see too much Earthbound cosplay, but Ness here stood out.



MORE MAKA. I decided that the only way to cut down on my Maka photos would be to take only photos of Makas with awesome scythes.



And as always, more elegant gothic lolita fashion.



There was quite a bit of Pokeymans cosplay going on. I really liked the Hoothoot on her shoulder, it was cute.



I am a sucker for hoop dresses, yes.



I made my way back down to the photoshoot area, where they were now doing a Code Geass get-together.



GODDAMNIT LELOUCH STAY STILL, I'M USING MY 55-250MM LENS TO TAKE A PHOTO OF YOU FROM CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM.



"Does anyone have any more ideas?"
"Ooh, I know! Let's have CC and Kallen fight over Zero!"



More Code Geass, this time with added Zeros and Ones. I mean, Lelouch. Whatever.



It is somewhat satisfying to see Sailor Moon continue to have such a huge presence at cons. :3



I have no idea what anime this is from, if indeed it's from an anime at all. Perhaps a mecha fanboy like Anthony can help me?



Ghostbusters cosplay, hell yeah.



I managed to get a Rocket Grunt alone, and took his photo accordingly.



Matsuri and Herasy tell me that this is Skull Kid wearing Majora's Mask. Okay then!

After this, I took my camera off my tripod. You might see more fluidity in my photos now.



Sakura and Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, back when its storyline made sense.



Strangely, there was very little Haruhi cosplay going on. Looks like the Hare Hare Yukai fad has passed, mostly.



More Nia! I like this girl's cape, I really do. :3

This was in the elevator lobby. When I had finished with that photo, I heard people yelling "AYA!" at me, and looked up. Who should I see--



But Sakuya. This was the other Sakuya, the first one being identified by her small tea set. She was very chill, and had a group of friends with her, who weren't cosplaying, iirc.



I asked one of them to take a photo of the two of us.

In between this photo and the next, I made my way to the DDR room, where the Touhou fans had set up Chris Ketchum's laptop to play PoFV. I ran into Cirno, who said that she would put on her Cirno outfit as soon as the DDR tournament was over. I promised her I would be back at 5:00 PM to have a photoshoot, then headed out to take more photos.



Nan Desu Kan did their part to ruin TTGL cosplay by enforcing the duct-tape-over-exposed-nipples rule. Bah.



Yep, me and Mokou did a short skit from BAiJR, where Mokou threatens to turn Aya into yakitori.



Archer and Rin were there, probably laughing at my fate.



It's Batwoman! There was a small presence of traditional comics there, but they made themselves known.



I didn't realize this was a crossplay of Fate until he turned around. Seriously. With the cape and the hair extensions and Bardiche, he looked like a she until that moment. Not to insult him, his crossplay was still very good.



Oooh look, Snow White! B-but the cape. :<



Right next to the photoshoot area, this dude had such a cool gun that I had to use another dutch angle to capture the awesomeness. The designer was standing somewhere behind me, and he was talking about the very long process it took to create it. Mad respect.



Again, for the Fire Emblem fans, Ike.



I want to say this was Laplace's Demon from Rozen Maiden, but I could be wrong.



The Hina Ichigo from earlier, with an added Kanaria.



I asked these ladies not to get up, since I wanted to take a photo of them still sitting. Oh god, women in suits. :*



Sailors Saturn and Uranus, for Arashi's sake. The SM cosplayers were so nice, indulging me all their photos of their groups.



This was the first of only two Umineko cosplays I saw. Beatrice told me that there was a Battler around, but I never saw him.



I found Iron Lady and Link hangin' out together. Thankfully, Iron Lady didn't recognize me, so I didn't look like a stalker with a crush (which sounded more and more appealing by the second).



Near the front desk, I ran into Rider, this time without Assassin.



I didn't like my first photo of her, though-- too dark. So I asked for a second, and she agreed.



By this time, it was 5:00 PM, and I hadn't made my way to the DDR room to meet Cirno! So I rushed the way there, but I still had to take this fellow's photo.



I made it up, and Cirno was fixing her wings with this crazy powerful instant glue. She put them together soon enough, and we headed outside with Chris Ketchum and this other guy whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment to have a photoshoot.

Next: I go wild with photo fun!

[Matsuri]

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/323/img6548r.jpg

Ooh, nice. The butterflies are a nice touch, as well~

Also, more Nia. Love it :*

All of these Sailor Moon pics remind me that I need to get back to readin' the manga. :3

[Kilgamayan]

The 5:00 "fellow" is Professor Layton.

[An Odd Sea Slug]

MOSPEDA armor from Genesis Climber MOSPEDEA (sp?)

[Alfred F. Jones]

And now for the moment I was waiting for all day: another Touhou cosplay to give me full leave to do what I wanted to do with my photos.

When I first got into this community around two years ago, I noticed the incredibly shoddy quality of cosplay photos in the west. Not the cosplays themselves; those were very good. But the photographers didn't do them justice; they used flash or no lighting at all, and the photos were not very good at all. By comparison, the really good photos we get from the east of Japanese cosplayers are photoshopped, yes, and insanely good to start with-- great poses, specifically-picked-out venues to take photos in, and quality cosplays. But the Western Touhou community HAS the quality cosplays to match-- we just need good photographers to work with.

I made it my goal, then, to take good photos of a Touhou cosplayer. And this was my golden chance. I think that desire shows in the following photos.



To adjust my lighting, this was my first photo. And it turned out very well, I hope. The only beef I have with it is the random person in the background.



So to fix this, I knelt to her right, and took a photo with the trees as the background. Much better.



This is definitely my favourite photo of the entire shoot. It's why you're getting the fullsize version of it as well.



The photos with me in them are, obviously, not taken by me. I asked Chris Ketchum to take these.



I don't usually keep photos with sun glares like these, but I felt they were fitting, so I kept them.



Just showing off both of our complete outfits.



While Cirno dances for spectators, I take photos. Yep, we're both definitely in character.



And now it's time to get serious.



Battle time, SWRS-style! The sun behind her was so bright. Should I put my fan in front of my face and block it out?



AW HELL NAW! I'm a tengu, damnit, I'm gonna stare right down into the sun and take this fairy dow--



_{ffffffffff I'm gonna die aren't I ;-;}



SWRS poses now, with Cirno pointing her finger at me.



And another fullsize version, compliments of the pure and honest reporter.



Facing down the strongest fairy in Gensokyo.



In my defense, I didn't take this photo, or I would have adjusted the lighting. My compliments to Cirno; she didn't even blink at the sun.



I, on the other hand, couldn't keep the grin off my face.



We decided to try out flying. It didn't turn out so well. (You can see my shadow on her dress.)



Unseen is my own attempt at doing the Aya crouch, wherein she balances on one foot and smirks at the opponent. We took it on Cirno's camera, so I don't have it.

And that was the end of the shoot, from my camera. There are more on Chris Ketchum's camera and Cirno's, but I do not have them.



STOP BLINKING AT THE SUN, FACE IT LIKE A FAIRY.

Cirno and I made our way back inside, looking for other Touhou cosplayers to have photoshoots with.



We hung out in the artists' alley a while, which is where I found this Grimmjow.



Hanging out with Cirno opened up all sorts of hilarious photo opportunities for me. Like this one.



There was a huge cosplay line for the cosplay contest going on. I found the group of very patient Sailor Soldiers there, and they let me take yet another photo of them.



A thoroughly unexpected surprise: the first and only Utena cosplayer I saw at NDK. Matsuri, this is for you.

And last of this update, all sorts of meme-wearing characters wandered by. This was the first.



... yeah.

Next time: We find more Touhou cosplayers! AYA VS AYA SHOWDOWN! Ayayayayayaya...

[Matsuri]

Wow, these are incredible :3

After seeing all of these, I keep feeling a stronger and stronger urge to go to a con and cosplay sometime. I used to hate the idea of it, but now it sounds like fun

A thoroughly unexpected surprise: the first and only Utena cosplayer I saw at NDK. Matsuri, this is for you.

UTENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :* :* :* :* :* :*

<3

[Alfred F. Jones]

One thing that I saw but didn't get to photograph in time was a group of three Deadpool cosplayers (two Deadpool, one Lady Deadpool) all pointing their guns at each others' heads. It was awesome. Thankfully, one of the Deadpools walked past me, and I got his photo.



"That is such an awesome gun. I have to take another photo."
"Sure. ENCHILADA!"



DIED FOR YOUR SINS.



You mecha fanboys, you need to make shit like this.

So then we left the artists' alley, and made our way back to the DDR room.



Cirno ran into Mokou on the way there.



"Excuse me? Were you talking to me?"



"Yep, I'm pretty sure you were talking to me."



Thankfully, another Shugo Chara appeared on the scene to distract us.

And what's more, who showed up to break the fight?



Yukari Yakumo herself.

She was in the cosplay line, so she couldn't stick around. She told us she had lost her wig, and we should keep an eye out for it.

>Added sidequest:
>Find Yukari's Wig

After bidding her goodbye, our small group set off to the DDR room once more to try and help Mokou put together a small Touhou photoshoot.

... and a very interesting surprise was waiting for me in the elevator lobby.

Her back was turned. Her black wings blocked me from her peripheral sight. It was my chance. I had heard that she was lightning fast with her camera, zooming in to take a photo and then zooming away, and the idea of turnabout appealed to me greatly.

So silently I advanced on her from behind, making no sound, my red sneakers creeping along. I adjusted my camera for the light, focused on the target, and held out the bait--

"HEY, AYA!"

She turned.



(The next photo in the sequence of three was of her blurred, ducking out of the way of my camera. But my shutter speed was faster than her!)

>Quest complete:
>Front-Page Exclusive
>Rewards:
>Photo of Aya Syameimaru (2)
>The satisfaction of knowing that I am the fastest in Gensokyo.



Defeated, the other Aya consented to my group photos.



Though, I could still not be sure that she wasn't conspiring against me to take photos. Somehow.

In between this photo and the next, I tried to get into the dealers' room to pick up a $20-dollar grab bag of stuff, but it had closed not ten minutes before. Darn it!



Heading up the stairs again, we found Aku waiting for us at the top.



And another SM cosplay group shot.



I am honestly surprised the Sailor Moon cosplayers didn't attack me with the Cutie Moon Rod after a while. I probably just caught them by surprise.



After a while of playing PoFV, I wandered back downstairs with Eightclouds, and took photos of other cosplays, like Suiseiseki here.



One group in the artists' alley was giving away free awesomefaces. My funny bone was tickled by them.



Sailor Moon crossplay! Unlike the Touhou community, SM crossplay is relatively rare, since there are just so many girls in the fanbase, and there are plenty of male roles to cosplay.



Mmmm, seductive.



Right next to the photoshoot area, I found one of the most clever group cosplays of the weekend. I'll let these photos speak for themselves.



Seriously, admit it, this is genius.

It occurred to me then that I needed to show Kichi and Eightclouds the site I would be posting all the photos on was (here, on MotK). So I went back upstairs with Eightclouds to grab Kichi, and I ran into this sailor-suited pretty warrior of justice on the way.



Not Sailor Venus-- Sailor V! I have a soft spot for the masked V over even Venus herself.



When I got upstairs, the guys were playing PoFV on controllers. I found Kichi there, and we headed downstairs then and to the computer room, where I found another excellent surprise in store for me.



Kobayashi from the imageboard, wearing his Chen Guevara t-shirt! He recognized me as soon as I logged in to MotK as Sakura Rurouni and posted in this NDK thread (that would be this post). It was pretty cool to meet another Poosh regular. :3

Next: Ayaside of the Mokou photoshoot, and the final Saturday photos! Aya vs Everyone Else in PoFV, too!

[nintendonut888]

I must say, that Cirno cosplayer looks huffy enough to play the part. And yay, you caught player 2 Aya good! /o/

I'd still never cosplay for various reasons, but this looks more fun than I imagined it would be.

[Alfred F. Jones]

All right, I can endure just a little more to post the final Saturday photos tonight.

Eightclouds, Kichi, and I bid farewell to Kobayashi and his female companion (whose name I never got to catch, unfortunately) and headed outside. We had a different venue in mind, so instead of going to the same place I had with Cirno, we made our way to the median of the main street there and found a small clearing to do skits in. Those are found here in this post for the most part-- but I did manage to get some photos on my own camera. Here they are!



Once again, adjusting to different lighting outdoors than inside.



But once it's adjusted, my camera performed beautifully. This photo corresponds to this one, as well.

Bonus fullsize!



Brokou starting up fire in his fists to beat up Aya for writing lies about him in the Bunbunmaru. Corresponds to this photo.



A rare moment of vanity for me. I wanted a photo to show my friends of my Aya. I think I'll use this as my Facebook page profile photo, so that the facebook contacts I made there at the con will recognize me (and also to terrify my regular friends).



From Touhou Soccer, Mokou's Fujiwara Kick! I joined in, and that photo can be found here.

That was it for my camera, so we finished up the rest on Eightclouds' camera, and then wandered back to the convention.



Gah, such nice outfits all around!



I found Bayonetta again! She was as nice as before, and took out her guns just for my sake. :3

I wanted to relax now that I would be leaving in a while, so I went back to the DDR room with Eightclouds and Kichi. The guys were still playing PoFV, and offered to let me play since they had seen me tear up Shoot the Bullet the day before. I agreed, and they handed me the player 1 controller. First time I'd ever played with a controller, and it took some getting used to.



Still, I think I managed to hold my own. (I had to play as Aya, for goodness' sake.)

After a while longer playing, I then decided to wander around. I would be leaving soon, but all the NDK congoers who were also staying at the hotel were getting ready for a massive rave party.



Still, there were some treats to be found. Like these two lovely young ladies.



And then I got attacked by EVAs. Seriously, why do so many photos around me have me somehow getting attacked by Angels or EVAs?



I ran into an Ichigo and a Rukia getting ready for the rave. They were having so much fun that I couldn't help but take their photo.



I found an Arihiko, for all the P3P players.



An unexpected, adorable surprise. One of the Deadpools and his girlfriend hanging out together at the convention. They looked so sweet together~ Remember: The couple that cosplays together stays together.



Kurogane, from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, before the plot turned into a drug-induced nightmare.



I got into one of the cosplay rooms, where I found the second and last Umineko cosplay of the weekend, in the form of another Beatrice.



In the crowd was a group of Rozen Maiden cosplayers! If you look closely, you'll see that Suiseiseki and Souseiseki's color contacts are indeed switched, giving them heterochromia.



This girl's outfit struck me as incredibly familiar, but I could not remember why for the life of me.



Inuyasha, with Tessaiga! One of the last few dutch angle shots I took.



EVA 02, and Lilith in the background! You might have seen her in the background of my very first Sailor Saturn photo. Never has EVA 02 looked so cute.



Right outside, there was a professional photographer taking photos of this cosplayer. His photos were SO good. I was really jealous.



Vegeta asked me why I was good enough to take a photo of Prince Vegeta. I said it was because I was the fastest. He deigned to allow me to take a photo of Prince Vegeta.



Hell, I have no idea what this is from, but damn if it isn't good.



I liked the design of her dress, I remember thinking. I wanted one myself!



A small group of D.Gray-Man cosplayers! The girl in the middle had to work hard to get her grin off her face so she could properly frown as Kanda.



Why is Amu's artistic chara the most popular one to cosplay? But I'm not complainin'.



That is one badass family.



"These are bad family values", the female leader told me as she broke out a cigarette.



I found Mars on her own, and asked for a photo. She went to the trouble of taking out her red heels to pose for me, and for that, I dared to take a photo of her legs (I had been refraining throughout the day to take photos of legs, since I didn't want to look like a total creep). She was really nice.



And for the last photo of the night, the whole group of SM cosplayers yet again, probably long used to my presence and resigned to just posing everytime I asked.

That's it for Saturday's photos! Sunday has yet to come up, so please watch warmly. A preview:



WIND GOD CAT.

And now I'm going to fall over asleep. x_x Good night.

[Tengukami]

Wow, you weren't kidding about Iron Lady! And that Cirno was just precious. Even her face fits the character.

This is really, really lovely work her, Ruro. Thank you so much.

[ふねん1]

Excellent photos Ruro! And I love your cosplay. Makes me want to dress up for something like this too. Though it might be kind of hard to do a Touhou character since, well, I'm a dude.

[Tengukami]

Since when has being male stopped anyone from cosplaying as a Touhou character?

[Matsuri]

Since when has being male stopped anyone from cosplaying as a Touhou character?

I would have absolutely no shame cosplaying Shikieiki, myself. :3

Those were all great, Ruro. :*

[Kilgamayan]

This girl's outfit struck me as incredibly familiar, but I could not remember why for the life of me.

I don't remember her name, but she was Kiro's avatar for forever.

[Momiji]

Since when has being male stopped anyone from cosplaying as a Touhou character?

Here here!

These pictures are pretty good, some pretty good cosplay.  Also, that Cirno... :V

I want a Revoluchen shirt.  T-T. Also, Ruro, you must come out to one of the east coast cons someday.

[Kilgamayan]

Also, Ruro, you must come out to one of the east coast cons someday.

I tried this once already. The conclusion was that there were far too many airplanes involved for it to work. :V

[Janitor Morgan]

WIND GOD CAT.

 

These are all really awesome photos. Looking forward to the Sunday ones!

[Nobu]

I tried this once already. The conclusion was that there were far too many airplanes involved for it to work. :V

This is what cars and trains are for.

[trancehime]

Hey, some excellent and good pictures once more!

It makes me really jealous since I don't have the time nor do I have the resources to attend cons around here...

[nintendonut888]

More awesome pictures, as always. A wonderful way to spend my morning.

Also you are a terrible person for dressing up your poor kitty.

[Reddyne]

Glad you guys seem to have thoroughly enjoyed yourselves, especially considering how many cons are in your neck of the woods. You guys don't have a tour of annual conventions like the coasts do.

This girl's outfit struck me as incredibly familiar, but I could not remember why for the life of me.

That'd be Misuzu Kamio from Key's VN, Air. Gao.

WIND GOD CAT.

YEEEEES! He don't look too pleased, though.

I already vented about it before, but yeah, if there were a good, cheap, simple way to bridge the gap between the coasts and no man's land in between, I'd be thrilled. We also would have made good use of it already, too.

[Momiji]

I tried this once already. The conclusion was that there were far too many airplanes involved for it to work. :V

DEN is a huge United hub, and also carries a lot for Continental and I think SWA too now.  So it shouldn't be hard.  I know for a fact that United has direct DEN-BWI flights, as I used to take them a lot.  We must make this happen!  =|

That'd be Misuzu Kamio from Key's VN, Air. Gao.

*BOP*

[Kilgamayan]

You misunderstand. Even just two airplanes is about seven airplanes too many. >_>

[Cadmas]

Wait a moment. That wouldn't happen to be the same EightClouds I've been watching on DA would it?

[Eightclouds]

Wait a moment. That wouldn't happen to be the same EightClouds I've been watching on DA would it?

Nope, not me. I can't draw at all, so I don't have a DA, haha.

And these photographs all turned out so well! It almost seems like a different event from this computer screen. xD