Today’s post will be about my Saturday experience as Silica from Sword Art Online (SAO). The experience was not quite the same as when I was Homura. For one thing, I was cosplaying by myself, second, there was WAY less people requesting a photo and third, it was not an easy outfit to put on. (-_-); All right, so let’s begin with the morning of.
The easiest things to put on were the black parts of the outfit: crop top, skirt, thigh highs…done. Then it was time to put on the red top, red bottom and the armor. A little coordination was needed for that. Next was the wig. I actually prepared the wig the night before with the hair pieces; I did not want to spend extra time in the morning for that. While I was wearing it, I had to tease the pigtails to give it the poofy look. Since I am right handed, Kyoko helped me out with the left side.
Once we were set and already, we went to the Days Inn for breakfast. While sitting down at our table, I realized that I had a malfunction in the front. At some point, Kyoko and Mami noticed the one in the back. After we ate, we went back to the hotel and I started pinning things together. Thank you Walter Hunt, inventor of safety pins!
Later in the afternoon, probably about 2pm, there was a SAO fan gathering. Similar to the Madoka gathering, we did character groupings. However, the SAO gathering did specific scenes from the series. The overall experience for this gathering was definitely different from the Madoka one. I will talk about it more in another posting. I can tell you one thing though; every gathering needs a leader, 'cause disorganization and mass confusion is not fun.
I left the gathering early because the Dealers Room was closing earlier than it did on Friday. At some point Kyoko, Mami and I went our separate ways and I met up with another friend. While walking around the Dealers Room, I spotted from the corner of my eye a young man staring at my cosplay. I turned around to look at him and then he started talking and asking me questions about my cosplay.
He asked how long it took me to make my cosplay and gave me advice on what I can improve on it; he specifically mentioned my gloves. I did tell him that this was my second homemade cosplay, and he mentioned how long he has been cosplaying. Also, he stated that he wished he could make a cosplay completely out of metal, however, he was unable to due to the no metal rule. I do not mind talking to people about cosplay, but this was kind of awkward… :/ He did not touch me or say anything bad, but the approach was out of the norm. (@_@)
After I nicely concluded the conversation and gave him permission to take my photograph, we left to continue walking around the Dealers Room and headed for the Video Game Room. There I encountered another Silica. :D I’m not sure about other cosplayers, but I tend to like to take pictures with those who are cosplaying as the same character as I am, or give a simple “hello” to other cosplayers from the same series. Some respond with a smile and “hello,” while others are non-responsive or give me the most discombobulated look. With the Silica in the video game room, I said “Hello, Silica” and requested a photo with her. We posed together with our props; I had the white flower, while she had Pina’s heart, the blue feather.
When I found Mami and Kyoko in the room, I learned about the most peculiar encounter that they had. Mami and Kyoko did not cosplay, but they did adorn a wig and color contacts. Someone approached them and asked for a photo. They declined, but for some reason, the person was persistent about taking a picture of them! (O_O) Man, this person could not take no for an answer…So to end the ordeal, my friends just walked away from it.
Alright, so after our time in the Video Game Room and trying out games, we headed out to get dinner to bring back to hotel. At the restaurant I placed my flower inside my bag for safe keeping. While walking to the hotel, somehow(!) I don’t know how, my white flower disappeared from my bag! I was like huh? Where did it go?! Thank goodness I had everything else, but to this day, I cannot figure out how it vanished from my bag (-_-);…
So there you have it! My experience as Silica had its ups and downs but nothing too horrible. I had the chance to interact with other SAO characters/cosplayers and learned a bit more about my own cosplay (mishaps are lessons in themselves). Overall, I would not mind cosplaying as Silica again. Hopefully, no more malfunctions!
© 2014 Linda Thai
Photography by AC and Chet Royer
For more pictures, check out the Something Deeper: Anime, Manga and Comics Page on Facebook
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