ACen: Year 1

All my con reflections get super lengthy, so prepare for lots of information and pictures!!! ^^

This past weekend, Tom visited Chicago again. One of the plans was to attend Anime Central, which ended up being a blast. We only had one and a half days planned since it was our first time at that con. I prefer to ease my way into bigger cons; test the waters.

On Friday, we commuted over to the con to pick up our Saturday badges and snuck around the dealers hall for a bit getting most of our shopping done. I wore my Jigoku Shoujo/Core project cosplay, and unfortunately my camera died before I could get many decent pictures....

 ...but I have a shoot planned for this outfit anyway, so look forward to it! (◠ω◠✿)

After sneaking around on Friday and doing most of our shopping, we still went back into the dealer's hall on Saturday with our spending-happy friend Nancy. Nancy was kind enough to photograph our Saturday cosplays, but I don't have many pictures yet. 

I do however, have this iPhone photo of me posing with LITTLEKURIBOH (a.k.a. the talent of YuGiOh abridged)!!

He recognized our Venture Brothers cosplay (which was an honor!), and was so so nice! It totally made my entire con experience to be able to meet him. I never thought I'd be able to, but wow! Such a pleasant surprise. ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

I bought a ton of gifts for friends at his booth, but since they're autographed or given away already, I won't post them online~ ;P

Now, to the sweet haul!!!~*

Tom was nice enough to pay for pretty much everything we bought. I only bought gifts for other people that weren't able to attend. (◡︿◡)

Pictured: Wall Scroll, Mami Tomoe Nendoroid, Gurren Lagann Movies 1 & 2, The complete 2nd season of Code Geass, Hair clips, Rings, D. Gray Man artbook, Asuza figure, and Pinkie Pie keychain

The only panel we attended was the premiere of the Panty and Stocking dub, which we both appreciated immensely. P&S is one of my all time favorites, so it was great to see justice done to it. Definitely recommend purchasing the DVDs from Funimation when they are released!!

At the end, we got this adorable free poster, and a couple postcards. They were also giving out prizes at the end, but so many people left right after the viewing that they had a lot of prizes left over! Tom and I stuck it out and I ended up getting a gorgeous Scanty and Kneesocks wallscroll!! I was worried I wouldn't have room for it, but I worked something out. ;) You'll see them displayed in other posts. 

vvvv

 ^^^^
Our friend Nancy was sweet enough to buy this amazing No. 6 poster for me. ;o; When I first saw it, I had so many feels. (OTP!!!) I knew I had to have it, and Nancy made my dream come true~* haha <3

My clips! I'm in love with them. It's always hard for me to justify buying accessories since I can make bows myself no problem... but I don't know how to knit cute, soft, loli bows like this one, so I had to get it.

 Rings!! They are so overkill, I love it. I have so many gaudy rings. They are the best.

^

Tom's DVDs

These are the gifts I bought for my sisters!! I wish I could have gotten them more, but I didn't have much money. ;o; I tried to pick out what they would love best though. 

Finally, my piece de resistance... the famed $70 and-then-suddenly $80 Mami Nendoroid....

It was a huge punch in the gut to Tom and I both when the sales dude sold her to us with $10 tax!!! -falls over- Like wtffff (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

I had her pre-ordered, but my distributor never got her in! I called and they said she wouldn't be coming to America, but to keep an eye out at cons. Luckily, we found her, and even more lucky, Tom was willing to buy her for me. I've been dying to display her with Ciel so they can have tea together. <3

These pictures really do her no justice. She is gorgeous in real life!!! I don't even have all her pieces displayed. 

 I'm gonna have to switch their heads sometime, now that I finally have two nendos... heh hehh hehhhh.

Our con adventure ended after the Adult Swim photoshoot when someone pulled the fire alarm and everyone had to evacuate the building.... :/
 It was really a ridiculous situation, but we were about to head home anyway, so it ended alright. It was then that we really got to see how many people were at the con!!
ACen was huge and every second was so much fun~ I wish I had gotten to see more people, but there is always next year. See you then!!
xo

CandyLens Review!!

This has been an amazing week of deliveries for me! I've received all the packages that I was looking forward to within 5 days of each other. And Tom is arriving tonight,  so I'm definitely in a good mood.

Anyhow, I'm doing a review on the contact lens' site CandyLens.

I ordered the Geo Extra Forest Red from them about two weeks ago for my Enma Ai/Hell Girl cosplay. Worried that they wouldn't arrive in time for ACen, I kindly asked them to send the items as soon as possible.

Well, they arrived yesterday alongside the wig I ordered off ebay for the very same cosplay! Very very fast service! I was so pleased and immediately got to testing them out.

obligatory contacts vs. regular eyeball photo...

Even from far away, you can still see how big and red they are! 

I was so pleased since the last pair of contacts I bought were small and didn't change anything about my eye color but make them dark BLEH color!! >3< That was frustrating. I can't remember where I ordered those old contacts, but I won't be buying from them again. CandyLens, however, has such amazing service and quality that I'm not afraid to buy from them again!! In fact, I could use another couple pairs right now for my Hime-Gyaru looks.

It's been about a year since I put Geo-style contacts in, so it took me a REALLY long time to put them in. But I stayed patient and got them in fine after about 20 minutes (!!). Getting them out was a little tough too, since I have long nails. I had to look up a tutorial. ^^;; 

Now for some close-ups....

From the side...

These are the other contents of the package. The lenses arrived safely in the brown box, and the absolutely ADORABLE piggy contact case was included for free. I love it! It's so sweet. They even included a sweet little card thanking me and telling me to enjoy my lenses. It certainly brought a smile to my face.

Service: 9/10


Quality: 8.5/10


Enjoyment: 7/10
~Just because of all the trouble I had getting them in/taking them out. That's really 90% my fault though. ^^;

Overall, I would absolutely order from CandyLens again!! Great service and products. I'm very pleased. :)
Thank you, CandyLens!!

Character Corner: SEGA Ciel

This new blogger layout is throwing me for a loop! @_@

Exciting news!!! My newest Ciel Phantomhive figure came in the mail!!! It's the SEGA Ciel from 2009. He looks AMAZING in real life. The pictures don't do him justice!! I never understood that saying until now... I wasn't expecting much, it being a SEGA figure, but I just had to have him. I must own all the Ciel items in the world!!!! Lots of pictures ahead, so get ready~

He arrived in a tiny box!! I was pretty surprised. It was a little damaged, but he came such a long way, so I was expecting it and it's not a big problem. Ciel himself arrived in perfect condition!! 

 He's got a nice and simple circle base. That cane of his is so darn fragile! I was freaking out that I would break it or its attachment. 

 

Hello, gorgeous.

 

Nendoroid Ciel has to get used to this newcomer....

My Ciels thus far!!! They all have neckties. hehe~

 We are a big happy family.

 Ciel gets the same pose often....

The Hideyoshi nendoroid petite is new as well. :> My sister bought him for me at Sakura Con! It was my first year missing out in 6 years.... :'(

Man, I wish I was good at camera-stuffs.... YoY

Ciel is a character that, like I said, I simply must have ALL OF HIM!! Are there any characters that quite so are special to you? Tell me all about it. :>
xo

Character Corner: Ciel Items

Welcome to my new segment: Character Corner! (A replacement for Fan Friday?) Here, I will allow myself to nerd out over characters and series that I love/loved. I'll be offering reviews, advice, and personal reactions to various fandoms, characters, and artists. (Hopefully it will get me posting more as well!) 

+  +  +

Anyone who knows me can confirm that I am always madly in love with one anime character (at least) on a regular basis. However, there are certain characters that I hold so dear to my heart. The most important characters to me are Ciel Phantomhive (Kuroshitsuji) and Euphemia Li Brittania (Code Geass). I will most likely elaborate on this later, since the interworkings of my brain are pretty crazy weird.

some of my favorite illustrations~  

Lately, I've been re-reading one of my all-time favorite manga Kuroshitsuji; thereby re-kindling my love and appreciation for Yana Toboso and especially Ciel as an entity and character. (Not the anime... its very hard for me to watch as I am so attached to the comic)

I don't know if anyone remembers quite how excited I was when I finally received my Ciel nendoroid (read; VERY EXCITED), but I've been looking into collecting more Ciel items (since there is an unfortunate lack of Euphemia items!!!). I recently came across some well-priced merch on well-known seller AmiAmi.

Static Arts: Lady Ciel 7240 JPY

That's a decent price for this rare figure!! I've been eyeing this figure for ages... I just love my traps.

Unfortunately, he's currently sold out at AmiAmi right now... I've put up a hunt for him at MyFigureCollection, but alas, no responses yet. Fingers crossed that someone is thinking about selling him or that he comes back in stock (somehow).

Ciel Plush 2980 JPY
Pretty good, considering I've seen this plushie for $60! I'm hoping that I'll find him at a con, so I'll hold off here for now. :) He's still in stock for those that are interested!!

Ciel Mini Doll 3360 JPY

Finally, a cute Ciel doll!! It's not for me as I'm saving up for a BJD, doll-wise. He's on back-order right now. :) Not particularly fond of this style for him, either.... however, if they made a Euphemia doll, I'd be all over it! 

That's it for today's Character Corner. :) Welcome to all my new followers!!! It's great to have you around. Let me know what you'd like to see!!

xo

Fan Friday #4

I've been trying to do a blog post every day or every other day. It's getting easier and more fun to blog every time. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to take pictures with my camera though, so bear with me if my pictures aren't top-notch!!

Without further ado, here's Fan Friday #4!!

 

Cure Black and Cure White figmas!! Hobby Link Japan is having a Summer sale, and I was lucky enough to find these dears for an amazing price. I'm extra happy since I'm determined to buy figures (or figma) of every character I cosplay, and Cure Black is one of those characters!! Now I think I just need a Euphemia figure...

Books of Adam. I ~adore~ Books of Adam. He is basically my alter ego (maybe), which should be apparent to you all when I finally post some of my own comics. >~> Check out his latest posts!

John Kenn's artwork on Post-it notes. They're so perfect.... I don't even know where to begin! It's everything I love! Post-it notes! Ink-work! Creepiness! Cross-hatching! Just check out his stuff, it's amazing. 

Creative shelf arrangements. I loooove shelves, and I came across all these different ways to arrange stuff into shelf-form! Very creative. 

This image is just great, though I wish I knew the artist or source. :( I just stumbled upon it. If you know the artist, hit me up! It looks like something my friend Anneke might do. haha

This soon-to-be-realeased (?) manga depicting Jesus and Buddha as roommates. This is bound to be interesting in so many different ways. Not to mention the art is great. :) Look it up!

The Black Cat Kotobukiya figure. I keep forgetting to mention that I finally bought her from a local comic shop! I've been eyeing her forever, and I'm so happy to say that she's finally in my collection. <3

Fan Friday #1

My first ever Fan Friday! I saw a lot of other blogs doing something like this, but not always on Friday. I guess Friday works really well with positive words. It's just ten things I find really awesome! :)

I know it's a bit hard to see, but if you click here, you'll get taken to the cutest soundboard on the internet! It's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic themed. All the characters with speaking roles are represented!

Smooth Jazz Nyan Cat!! I've loved Nyan Cat since it first swept the internet, but this one is much easier to sing along to. :)

This gif. It's kind of a spoiler for the new HP movie, but since everyone's raving about this moment, it's hardly a spoiler for me to post it on my 1-follower blog. |D

This cosplay photo! You can find the deviantART user here. 

These dresses from this Etsy user. They're so cute and such a good price!! I want one... 

This deviantART print. It's so pretty. I think it'd make a great tattoo. You can find it here. I hope she makes it available for sale. 

This figure! My god, she's so gorgeous. I simply must have her!! Kind of pricy, but she looks so high quality... Maybe if I can get someone to split the price with me, I'll preorder her. :3 What a great face~

This deviantART print featuring all the Disney heroines!! They're so cute and so accurate!! All my favorites are there. :) Alice, Esmerelda, Meg, Rapunzel, Belle.... Most of my favorites aren't included in Disney merchandise, so I love seeing this compilation. The artist is here. 

This fantastic DIY project. It's such a cute idea and it doesn't have to be just for a wedding. :) It makes a great present for anyone and it's way easy + cheap to make. 

I hope you enjoyed my first Fan Friday. :) Visit the links and support some artists!