Megatron, Starscream and mini shorts

All photos are taken by Karan.

Finally, a report from Tampere Kuplii and our first competition

We have been cosplaying as a pair for five years now and just recently we participated in a competition at Tampere Kuplii comic festivals. The cosplay competition was our main focus, so my report will mostly circle around that. There were two lectures we would've liked to see, but the other clashed with competitors photography session and the competition itself and the other was on the next day when we had to claim our car and leave. So we just hung around, which actually was really fun. We got to meet other cosplayers, talk about costuming and share thoughts. We actually met two other Star Wars cosplayers by chance! Both of them where members of 501st and the Rebel Legion.

Photo by Mikko Lintula. Creative Commons Attribution 1.0 Finland.

We arrived to Tampere on Friday and checked in to our hotel. It was close to the convention centre, just few hundred meters away. We warned the clerks that we are not moving in, even if we would soon carry few cardboard boxes inside. We also mentioned that we would attend to the comic festivals and thus look bit different next day. I think it's polite to inform the staff if you are going to stroll in the hotel in costumes. Actually the hotel was really costume friendly, minus the leaking steam iron which peed on my shirt. The child quests were thriller every time they saw us and Yoki even got her picture taken with bride-to-be.

As expected, we still had some things to do before Saturday. Tired from four hours drive, stomach full of Chinese I glued the last details on our packs lying on the bed as Yoki went through next days plan. We also "rehearsed" our short skit on the hotel room without costumes or props. The " ", because it was more like a walk through than an actual rehearsal. Most of the time we just argued where we would enter the stage. Too tired and exited we trusted to the saying that bad dress rehearsal (without the dresses) would guarantee that the show itself would go well.

The next morning we got the costumes on including light make-up and assembling in hour and a half. While it was our first wear with the full costume, it was also the first test run for the backpacks. We had finished the fastenings on Thursday evening. They worked, but for next wear they need little tweaking. Then we were off to the photographing. The second take gave a sneak peak from our performance to other competitors. As usual, we went with humor.

Photo by Jussi Sorjonen. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 1.0 Finland.

Slight excitement was in the air as we waited for the competition to start. We had a chance to check the stage before hand. We also informed the host that we would not speak, because we didn’t have voice amps. We did speak while at the convention, but wanted to keep the illusion of radio audio while at stage. Then we waited. First the audience was let in, and then there were some problems with the mikes. After everything worked the host went through the competition format. The competition was in two phases. After all the competitors had been on the stage the judges would choose ten finalists to be part of an open voting on local newspaper. The competition itself was catwalk typed, but it was allowable to do a short skit.

About our skit… The part we had planned went really well and I think the audience also got the idea behind it. But the second half of our stage time was probably more entertaining in all it’s unluckyness. Like I said before, our backpack fastenings worked great. I can’t say same about our armor fastenings. It just happened that the gluing on Yoki’s crotch piece failed at the crucial moment!

Note the threateningly tilted crotch piece on the left. Photo by AG.

For a moment I froze totally thinking how we could possibly save the situation. Gladly Yoki saved the day! She glanced down, pulled her hands to cover herself and finally pulled the flag she was carrying in front of her. The audience laughed, I was able to breathe again and Yoki earned applauses. The host also stumbled in her words and finally just drove us off from the stage. We have some video footage from the event. Yoki will probably include it on her next transmission.

The rest of the competition went in a blur. I remember I tried to fix the crotch fastening while in the audience. After everybody had had their moment in the flashlights big group shot was taken. While the judges deliberated who would be the ten finalists the audience enjoyed trailers from upcoming movies. Conveniently the competition was held in a movie theater.

Photo by Santtu Pajukanta. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 1.0 Finland.

When the results were announced our costumes were called first. I remember I took the flag and tumbled down to stage and Yoki somehow managed to follow me trying to keep her armor together. We both were so exited and confused that we didn’t hear what the judges said about our costumes.

And then after group shot of the finalists, it was over. While we were leaving the area one of the judges stopped us and asked was it part of the show that the crotch piece fell. We laughed and told that is was just an accident. Thank goodness for helmets! I bet that there wouldn’t be any doubt about it being an accident if the audience had seen my expression the moment I saw the armor piece lying on the floor!

The winner of the competition was group of three from movie Despicable Me. We landed the third place after Black Rock Shooter. Thank you if you voted for us! And big thanks also to those who stopped us and gave positive comments about our costumes! Now the pain feels worth it.

Photo by Jussi Sorjonen.Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 1.0 Finland.

Next wear for Snowtroopers will be at Desucon Frostbite 14-15.1.2012.

Foretaste of Decepticon femme humanforms

We made a record today! For the first time in our cosplay history we had a official photoshoot prior to wearing the costumes at convention. We headed out to the heat this afternoon with our ladyfied Decepticons and had the most pleasant shoot to date. Not because of the weather, we nearly fried, but thanks to Karan who worked as our photographer. Thank you a thousand times and few more to go with the rest! The photos turned out better than I ever expected! Also our location was most suitable for the shoot. Thanks to Yoki for that one!

I will make a full photoshoot post after the weekend, but here is one for a sneak peek. Enjoy!

Photo taken by Karan.

Casualty Cosplay, mobilize!

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Yoki: The prints are done. Now we only need to fill the gaps.

Hiron: What gaps? Where? In the insignia?

Yoki: Yeah, the stencil is not perfect.

Hiron: *stares at the picture of the insignia, then the stencil* Is it bad that I don't see the difference?

Yoki: *watches how Hiron puts on the black gloves* ..That's so creepy.

Hiron: *Megatron's voice* Come here Starscream, we got some unfinished businesses~.

Yoki: *Starscream's voice* Slagging no...

Hiron: Seriously, you need to learn how to pose like a lady. Look, twist your body like this and make a curve. *gives an example*

Yoki: Umm, like this? *tries to mimic and fails, totally*

Hiron: Okay... Good... Now loads of practice with that!

Yoki: If they could hold hands?

Hiron: ..Is the inner fangirl getting loose?

Yoki: I've no idea what you are talking about...

-yoki, out