Edit; official facebook page right here

So here it is, I think I'm finally clear-minded enough to write a good report about Animecon 2012.
Prepare, it's gonna be long.


Actually, my con weekend started on thursday, because I still had to make some finishing touches to my cosplay and the entire freaking wig and in the end I didn't really get any sleep so friday and thursday feel like one day to me
So friday morning, Liza and I traveled the long four hours to Almelo, by train, gods the awkward, especially with that staff that I had to carry around. It was fun to already meet some familiar faces on the train though!

When we arrived, we checked in to our hotel room, and god damnit it was gorgeous <3 We had so much space and a bath and I could dance through it, it was great. I was so glad we had the hotel room because it was so nice to be able to return to your own peace & quiet whenever we wanted to. Not to mention being right above the dealerroom made it really easy to just go to the con area whenever we wanted!

We didn't cosplay on friday, since we'd only brought Medusa and Pit. It's something we started last year but I really enjoyed it, just being able to walk around the con, meeting people and not being incredibly awkward and uncomfy. I also was stupid enough to spam around that the next day, the saturday, was my birthday Haha I was just too excited to have a con-birthday because I'd be able to celebrate it with everyone there and that just meant a lot to me. Yes yes I'm a sap. xD

We also had the cosplay compo rehearsals, which were total drama. I accidentally destroyed Liza's wings and we only found out the cause some time later. Then I knew what not to do during the actual act though, so I was glad we rehearsed it!

Good times were had, let's skip to Saturday!
We woke quite early, and my dearest ~Medowsweet wanted some apple juice so we went out to get some, and when we came back there was this delegade of lovely people in front of our door who had come by to sing me a surprise happy birthday song! IT WAS SO CUTE <3 YOU GUYS OMG. <3

We had to hurry though, because at 11.40 we would have the official judging for the cosplay contests! We ran a bit late, but they could forgive us because of the surprise party. xD The judges were last year's WCS Team Denmark and Team USA, who are all wonderful lovely people and they were so nice <3 I thought the judging would be scary or depressing, I wasn't thát sure about my costume. (a lot more confident about Liza's... but that's because she plans ahead and works on time and all I did was play Assassin's Creed 2 until I started getting nervous and worked like mad. Sometimes I get tired of myself. Assassin's Creed was awesome though <3)
But I couldn't have been more wrong, they were super nice, inquisitive, and interested and they just seemed to like everything. When Liza demonstrated her moving wings and connectable swords they even went "oohhhh" which just... really made me happy. They also liked the snakehead and the appliquéd sleeves of my Medusa, and that was even more wonderful. I was seriously beaming when we came out of judging, I'd just had so much fun and I was so honoured to be able to meet them. <3

Then we had some free time, which we spent photoshooting with ~wingedLizz and just walking around the con greeting people. We got so many nice comments, it makes me blush even thinking back to it! It was so much fun to walk around and hear people gasp "Kid Icarus! I love that game!" Of course we would pose for them~

AND THEN. COMPO TIME. DUN DUN DUUUUUN
We had to go backstage at 3.30, so that we could wait for the audience to arrive and make sure everyone was there before the compo started. We got to see all the other contestants and they were all very nice and SO PRETTY. It was unbelievable. I love doing compo's  for the sole fact that I get to sit and chat with all the pretty people I admire... which is what we did. As the compo started, everyone got more and more nervous. Liza and I were the before-last, group number 6.

And then we went backstage.. and the gophers put everything in place and hid Liza on the stage.. and then the music started. EPIC NERVES.
I could tell you about the act, but that would not really get the message across, so I'll just wait for a HQ version to pop up We do have some pictures though.


After the acts, everyone gathered backstage to go on stage one more time so people could take pictures and all that jazz. And just before we went on there, the host of the show, Jeroen, came up to me and said, 'we're gonna troll you.' and a certain dear friend of mine [you know who you are ~Meeltjuh  <3] was very happy about this xD So I already got nervous and what happened next, I will never ever forget.
Jeroen announced us all back on stage and then proceeded to tell the entire audience that it was my birthday. And they sang Happy Birthday for me. I've never been sang for by this many people, and I was so.. happy and touched and overwhelmed! To everyone in the audience that sang for me, thank you so very very much <3 Thinking back to it now I still get happy shivers!!


The cool thing about this was that now half of the con knew it was my birthday, so after celebrating and eating at the mac with the lovely ERA group and other close friends, we sat down in the lounge and chatted away and made some nice new friends Also all the people that randomly came by to congratulate me were so nice! Everyone was so sweet to me, it feels like a dream. <3 It got late and Liza and I retreated to our room to have a bath and get some sleep.

Sunday came around and we walked with our cosplays some more, got lots of pictures taken (we heard "I couldnt find you yesterday after the compo" a lot xD which was because my shoes were terrible and I couldn't walk very fast, so we didn't make it to the official shoot. argh. xD) and we did a nice photoshoot with Kees Peters. After that time flew by, we needed to pack our bags and make sure we checked out on time. Next time we will do a shoot =kasumi-kimoto <3 Because you are epiiiiccc and you are SUCH A GORGEOUS LEONARDO <3


So we changed back into normal clothes, packed everything up, and then went to see the cosplay competition for singles. (that sounds weird, hahah xD I mean people who did acts on their own ) It was great, there were some fabulous costumes and we cheered for our friends competing, which is always a lot of fun
The ending ceremony followed directly after that, and they would announce all the winners so we were very excited. To be honest, Liza and I both were pretty certain we hadn't won anything, because the other contestants were all so pretty, so when we packed our bags before we just didn't want to bother with keeping our costumes on. xD

Ending ceremony was great, the winners of the singles were first announced, which were an awesome Magna Carta cosplayer and a super cute Skull Kid, and they totally deserved their prizes. Next up was the ECG duo, who would represent the Netherlands in France. *Orochimarisu and *Aotenshi won this and we cheered as hard we could, I was so happy, those two are like.. my idols <3 After that the Brother award for craftmanship was awarded to ~envoysoldier and Wien, I don't know if he has a dA. They got a sewing machine and they totally deserved this, both their costumes were absolutely amazing <3
The last prize to be awarded was the WCS prize. Liza and I thought the Castlevania act would win, so when host Jeroen asked for a drumroll, we drumrolled as loudly as we could!


And then he announced our names *____________________________*

Which is when the dream started. I looked at Liza, she looked at me, and we both thought we'd heard it wrong. Then we jumped up and fell into each others' arms, ran up to the stage, high-fiving all our lovely friends on the way out. I couldn't believe what was happening, I was shaking all over, and then we got the official card thing and the awards given to us by Japanese pop band M.O.V.E. ! I was so shaken! I remember grabbing the mic and saying something to the audience, but I have no clue what it was! Too much fuzz! Then we ran up to the judges to give them a hug, and when they told me that for them it was obvious their choice was us, that there was no doubt... I just couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was.. unreal. Totally out of this world.

We got dragged backstage, and M.O.V.E. came by and congratulated us again, they are such nice people <3 After that.. everything is such a blur. We met a really nice producer of the WCS, had to fill in some forms ("Can you sing Japanese song? "    Uuuhhh no? *__* ), and then Liza made sure we could still talk to the judges. They were even nicer than before and gave us so many helpful tips and amusing stories about the WCS, we talked till late at night and had dinner together <3
In the end it got so late that we had to crash at my parents', which was nice and dandy. They were super excited, just like us. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone though!
So now the big WCS adventure has begun, we have to decide what to wear and prepare for everything! I have been so excited, I haven't really slept since sunday. Hopefully I'll sleep tonight because I look like a trainwreck by now xDD
This saturday we'll take some official  photo's for the WCS and talk the whole ordeal over with Jeroen. I think until then it will all still feel like some kind of really long dream. A fantastic dream.
So.. that's how I started being 20 years old. xD I will ofcourse keep on updating throughout everything, Liza and I will make a shared facebook on which it will be easy to follow all the news and progress, so please do visit there.
That's it, congratulations, you made it to the end of the journal.  <3