#it better be soon cuz we got a fuckin anime con to go to

[ministry-of-acid]

In other, less fabulous news we are sick with a capital 'S' which means the zine that should have been posted this weekend (a rhack one for a change!) will be delayed until we no longer feel like death eating a cracker. Also, the next zine which we're already planning is going to involve Ancom putting Authright in one of those playboy bunny suits. Ancap might be there? Maybe? He seems the one to finance something like that. It is bunny holiday season, despite us being just a little too communist to really care about the reason for the season. Oh! And someone is doing an art trade with us which is super cool cuz we've been sent death threats numerous times for being really bad at art or something, we have anons disabled and liquor on hand for a reason. Anyways! Maybe we'll go to Texas soon! Maybe we'll stop feeling like absolute re-heated dogshit soon!

[thatonedovahkiin]

Alright long-ass post about Anime Austin this last weekend. Read it if you want but tbh I just wanted to get this off my chest. It’s nothing bad, it’s just lengthy c:

So, this last weekend I went to Anime Austin--a very small, new, convention here. The main reason I went was so that I could meet my absolute favorite cosplayer Leon Chiro (if you haven’t looked at his works please go check them out he is SERIOUSLY the best male cosplayer I’ve seen). When I heard that he was coming to Austin I freaked the fuck out and I wanted to go so so badly but I was worried that I couldn’t cuz..well I’m broke. But I had a really good friend come in clutch and give me a free pass, I can’t thank her enough because if it weren’t for her none of this would’ve been possible. I threw together a quick Gladio cosplay the night before (I made the cosplay in about...4-6 hours) and I made a cup noodle sword (I didn’t want to go as Gladio without a weapon c: ) since Leon was going as Gladio on Friday for a photoshoot and I fixed up my Andromeda cosplay for Saturday.

I was honestly really worried that a lot of people were going to go to this con because of Leon since he is an international guest but to my surprise there actually weren’t that many people. I mean there were quite a few attendees (especially on Saturday) but y’know there weren’t as many as there were at Ikkicon, and I feel like there were more here than at Anime Overload (which is surprising cuz it’s an older con...but honestly not as organized).

But anyway, I went on Friday to go to his panel dressed up as Gladio. I went in the panel room like...an hour and a half before the panel was scheduled to start since I thought a bunch of people would flood in the room but surprisingly there were about..like maybe 20 people in that room? But once he walked in, he saw my cup noodle sword that I made and was like: “Well what do we have here?!” He looked so excited so I got up to go hand him my sword, before he even took the sword he gave me a hug and greeted me then started swinging it around a little bit. Like honestly that sword has no stability whatsoever so I was super surprised it even stayed together as he swung it around everywhere. But throughout the panel I honestly really loved getting to know him and asking questions that I probably would’ve never done through one of his livestreams or just online in general. It was really nice being able to talk with him one-on-one. After the panel I gave him a cup noodle, a pack of M&M’s, and I took a picture with him. He even complimented my scar and recommended a certain SFX product to help make the scar the way Gladio has it (I used gelatin and he recommended Collodion since Gladio’s scar goes in his face, not out) ; v; And I told him that I had a cake for him and he looked so excited about it and I basically talked with his handler (who is the SWEETEST DANG LADY EVER) on when I could get it to them.

Later that day I went in a little panel room and waited since he was doing the FFXV photoshoot, a couple of people came too and it was really nice hanging out with a bunch of other people and talking to them. Eventually we all actually started lining up for the photos and I didn’t go until near the end. He saw that I was there and said hi, and he asked if my sword was fragile, I didn’t give him an exact answer but he was busy at the time so I just waited until he walked out. So he came out after he was done taking photos with someone and took the sword and started swinging it again, just seeing if it was durable and then POP it fucking flew off and everyone started laughing so hard. He looked so embarrassed and kept apologizing to me about it, saying: “we’ll fix it for you, I’m so sorry, we’ll go ahead and fix it” and everyone was offering to go with me to get it fixed and I was honestly so like...happy that everyone was even offering and telling me where I can get it fixed. I told them it wasn’t a big deal since it was just a gag prop and thanked them. I got a great photo with him though with the broken sword. I fixed it in the end though and took it back on Sunday to show him, he still apologized for it ♥

On Saturday I didn’t get to see him for a majority of the day since he was really busy with pre-judging for the cosplay contest. But I did see him when I went to go in for my pre-judging and the poor guy looked SO exhausted. I gave him his cake, a photo of him with my broken sword, and a little note about the cake. I was honestly SO nervous during the pre-judging because I was worried that my cosplay wasn’t good at all and just how I would look in front of the judges, I was even more nervous thinking about my walk-on (but surprisingly I nailed that shit HAHA). But after the cosplay contest I saw him and said hi, he looked so so tired and I felt so bad but I told him I was out for the day and asked him if he was doing anything tonight and tomorrow. He told me he had the late night panel going on and initially I didn’t think of going since it was..well, later in the evening and I was exhausted. But on the drive back home I talked to Branden about it and after some convincing we both decided to go. He didn’t entirely want to because of the drive through downtown but he saw that I wanted to go so he was convinced luckily ♥ After we rested up a little and ate we went back to the hotel to go to the panel and honestly I loved that panel way more than the one on Friday. I felt like it was more close-knit and just fun in general since there were about 10 people at that entire panel, plus I was with good friends! At that panel I challenged him to arm-wrestle me, we got him to talk in a Southern accent, and y’know just had really nice conversations.

After the panel we all just started standing around getting ready to walk out of the room and Leon told us a story about how a young lady a while back gave him a hug when she met him and the next day she told him that her boyfriend broke up with her because of that hug. Branden called it out and was saying that the girl deserved so much better, the boy was fucking garbage, and it wasn’t his fault at all. Leon looked so surprised when he said that and just loved it. We then stepped outside to get prints and I let a lot of people go before me since I knew I was going to take a while. Once it was me and like three other people, he offered to just give us his prints which was honestly the sweetest fucking thing ever. I only took one, and I got him to sign the picture of him with the broken sword. I also asked him to take a couple of pictures and I asked him if I could get one of me giving him a kiss so I could show my mom. He then was like: “I mean, is your boyfriend okay with it? Nothing’s going to happen?” he looked so so worried about it and Branden just straight up said: “No dude, she can go for it. She’s her own person, I’m not worried about anything. I have enough confidence and faith in her like...I’m not one of those, I’m not a jealous guy.” Leon looked so so happy when he said that and was just like: MY MAN. He gave him a huge hug and told him how much respect and love he had for him because of how like...not shitty Branden is as a guy. I told Leon that I’ve known Branden since we were 9 years old and he FLIPPED, just saying like: “Never let her go, she’s the best, you guys are so lucky I’m so happy to see that you have kept your bond for so so long”. Honestly I wanted to fucking cry because of how genuine he was, he looked so excited and happy. After all that was said and done we told him we were going to leave and that Branden wasn’t going to be back for Sunday. Leon looked so sad about that and gave him like the biggest hug, Branden wished him the best and I told Leon that I’d be back tomorrow. On our way back home we kind of realized that we didn’t pay for the prints and we said that we were going to give him the money tomorrow.

So finally on Sunday I woke up with THE WORST stomach virus at like 7 in the morning and I actually almost ended up not going. But after sitting at home for a couple of hours, drinking some ginger ale, taking some antibiotics and waiting it out I actually started feeling better and went to the con for a short amount of time. I waited for about...1 1/2 hours for Leon since I had no clue what time he was gonna be at his booth but I hung out with a couple of friends in the meantime. Eventually I saw that he was at his table and my friend and I went. Once we like walked up to the table we saw that there were a bunch of people there just hanging around and we were kind of farther back and decided to wait it out, but he walked over to his table (since he was in the crowd for some time) and he saw that we were standing there, he looked at me straight in the eyes and acknowledged that I was there and waved at me. I felt kind of special tbh lol. I waited for the crowd to die down and get smaller so I could talk to Leon and give him what I needed to. I got him to take a video for Branden saying thank you, I got more pictures, and I showed him that I fixed my sword! He looked so relieved that I fixed it. I told him that I was going home and I almost walked out of there without giving him the money.

So I actually ran back in there and waited a little longer so that he was free. Once he saw me again I showed him the money and told him: “This is from me and Branden. We wanted to pay you for the print.” He didn’t want to take it. “Take it as a donation at least. We’re giving this to you since we want to support you and your future projects. We love you so very much and we just want you to have this, from both of us. Please take it since right now I can’t support you on Patreon just yet, I will soon, but I want to help you now.” He wanted me to take another print but I refused and I swear the man looked like he was about to cry. He gave me a big hug and thanked me so much. Like maaan I wanted to fuckin’ cry. I gave him a lil’ smooch, told him thank you, safe travels and enjoy the cake and I made my merry way home. I actually cried a little bit on the drive back.

I’m so so SO happy that I got to meet him and basically be so one-on-one with him. I’m excited to see him again and to see all of his future projects. Meeting Leon has honestly given me such a huge wave of inspiration and confidence that I want to actually improve not only myself as a person, but I want to get better at making cosplays, work out a lot more, and just..y’know follow in his footsteps.

I really want to thank him for giving me such a confidence and inspiration boost because really, just seeing him online made me like decently inspired but I never was motivated enough to follow through with anything, but meeting him and getting to know him has given me motivation and inspiration on how to go about those projects.

So, thank you Leon for being so inspirational, and thank you so much for helping me be a better person. I’m excited to see you again and Branden and I will both work hard to create bigger and better cosplays. I can’t say thank you enough. ♥♥♥