So, Friday I went to AWA with Nathan, Kyle, and Jiaz. Did not manage to run into Piro, not that that suprises me, but did have a throughly enjoyable time anways. As was expected, Naruto character were everywhere, though not many were Naruto himself. As far as Cosplay goes, there were several disturbing images, mostly invoked by either eating-disorder or chubby girls wearing far less than I'd fell they should, though I think the record should show that I feel these types should wear no less than 2 layers and an overcoat. On the top of the list however was the Rose Ball attendee who decided to go as a Pikachu in a Prom dress/Wedding Reception gown. I cannot convey this in words, so I won't try; just don't injure yourselves trying to imagine it. There were also the typical cop-outs of creativity, Sound Test blocks, Tetris blocks, creative but not very elaborate. Several Vashs, Squalls, White Mages (of FFXI), an Irvine, a few Wolfwoods, a Kingdom Hearts Cloud, a few Yunas, and assorted other miscellaneous characters, Oh and a fair number of assorted Catgirls (ugh) and Sailor Scouts (actually, primarily Sailor Moon). If I had to chose my 4 favorite Cosplayer groups I'd go with:
4) Yugi from Yugioh simply because of the look when Jiaz realized that I was right when I told him who the girl with the really really funky hair was supposed to be.
3) The Keybladed Riku and Sora from Kingdom Hearts weilding the Kingdom Key (Sora) and the blade that Jiaz and I can't remember the name for (Riku).
2) Lily and Futch, complete with a tiny white dragon doll, from Suikoden III, Lily's costume was better done than Futch's, but I say that mostly because I happen to like Lily's hat more than Futch's headband, Bright was cute though.
1) The better pair of Riku and Sora complete not with Keyblades but with a Goofy doll (Sora) and a Heartless doll in her purse (Riku). In retrospect, I should've asked if she made the Heartless, it was pretty damn cute.
As far as merchandise goes, the shirts and posters and wallscrolls aren't my style, so while I looked at them, there was nothing really all that impressive. References to Hentai, Glomping, Kawaii, Geekdom, Tentacles, etc, nothing too outstanding or impressive. The Japanese Manga place that Jiaz and I favored in the dealer's room had quite an outstanding selection, including Hot Gimmick in Japanese, art books for Phantom Brave, Disgaea, and Valkerie Profile (bonus points to anyone who's even heard of that), a Star Ocean 3 figure of Cliff, Japanese Disgaea manga, and a little Yuzuyu (of Aishiteruze [Cannot spell this for the life of me, I'll fix it when I get to Tech] Baby ) keychain. It was cute and not to costly, but I'm broke and a disembodied Yuzuyu head is kinda creepy. There was an abundance of weapons, mostly swords, sais, and throwing items (cards, knives, and shurukens) as well as a few maces, axes, and hammers. Plenty of Gundam Models and some action figures. There was an asian gentleman with an extensive selection of Jpop, Video Game, and Anime Soundtracks, but at massively inflated prices. I did stumble upon both sizes of Johnathan plushies from Kaleido Star but I'm not certain if the larger one was a display or for sale, ADV didn't have their own booth. Wizzywig had a adorable selection of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronices Moogles in all 4 of the major colors (white, red, green, and blue for those who have never played the game). I saw a little girl with a moogle earlier at AWA which looked more like a Kingdom Hearts moogle but might have been from Crystal Chronicles, I didn't have a good look, but I didn't see them at any of the displays. None of the other plushies at any of the booths struck me as being kawaii enough with the exception of that Fox thing from Inuyasha.
