The Big Con

 

Mommy: "Excuse me little sir, could I get a picture of you?"

 

Tama: "Mommy you don't have to ask for my picture..."

 

Mommy: "That's what the rules say. We have never been to a convention before so I just want to make sure I'm not breaking the rules." *giggles*

 

Tama: "You can take my picture if you want to..."

 

 

Miku: "Tootles! I'll be out and about appeasing the demands of my fans. Thus is the glamorous life of a Diva such as I!"

 

 

*Somewhere far down the hallway, another performer prepares for his first appearance of the day*

 

Len: *quietly sings his warm-up exercises* "Black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear them, the stronger they get! Sometimes, I think I should launder them, but something keeps telling me, 'don't wash them yet, not yet, not yet'..."

 

 

*Anyone within earshot could hear the not too quiet boy delving into his mental delusions fantasies*

 

Len: "And then the crowd went wild! Even the security couldn't keep the sea of fans from chanting "Len! Len! Len!" Only my hand raised victoriously would bring down a hushed silence."

 

 

Len: *mumbles* "Is the volume even turned up all the way?"

 

 

Len: "Then with one last roof-shaking power chord a cheer would erupt, and the stage would be filled with bananas! I could feast for days!"

 

 

Miku: *Slowly creeps up behind Len, preparing to smack some sense into him*

 

Len: "I could have a yellow limo stocked with nothing but banana cream pie!"

 

 

Len: "MIKU! Are we on yet? Have you seen Rin? She seems to have disappeared. I think Luca and Meiko went to go get a drink. They said I'm too young to go into a bar. Hey, why don't we go find Kaito? I bet he would-"

 

Miku: "Dude, shut up. You are too loud." *momentarily her Diva persona slips*

 

Len: "How can I keep quiet? My adoring fans can't get enough of the better Kagamine twin!"

 

 

Miku: "What do you mean 'fans'?"

 

Len: "They were screaming my name!"

 

Miku: "There was *one* squealing girl. She was probably twelve!" *smacks her hand over Len's mouth* "Now listen here banana boy, I've got something for you to do but you have to be quiet. Got it?"

 

Len: "Mrfph."

 

 

Miku: *whispers* "Okay, down the hallway there is a little boy wearing a Wind Waker Link costume..."

 

Len: "Yeah, I saw that one. You sure that was a boy? Kinda lumpy in the front..."

 

Miku: "No, not that one. That was some older lady!"

 

Len: "So you mean the one with the long blond hair and the stitched cap?"

 

Miku: "No Len, that was also a girl!"

 

Len: "How about one with a red handkerchief and a blue vest..."

 

Miku: *loses patience* "No! That was someone's Tetra cosplay! Although I am impressed you got the right game version...

 

 

Miku: "The Link you are looking for has silver hair. He is also very short."

 

Len: "Ah! I see!"

 

Miku: "Now I want you to go and say hello to him. Do you think you can do that? He has got to be one of your biggest fanboys."

 

Len: "Silver-haired Fanboy. Got it!"

 

Miku: "Most of all, don't F it up!"

 

 

Miku: *slams the ear piece down*

 

Len: "Oow!"

 

 

Len: *whispers* "Sneak. Sneak. Sneak. Sneaky. Sneak."

 

 

Len: "And... breathe."

 

 

Len: *whispering again* "Sneaky, sneak..."

 

Miku: *loud whisper* "You moron! Just go up to him!"

 

Len: *whispers back* "Good sneaking takes time!"

 

 

*tap*

 

 

*tap* *tap*

 

 

Tama: *startled* "Ah!" *unintentionally the shy boy swings his sword out at the stranger without looking at them*

 

Len: "Ah indeed!"

 

 

Tama: *looks up as his shield and sword clatter to the ground*

 

Len: *energetically* "Hello there little Link!"

 

 

Tama: *wordlessly he just stares at his idol, eyes growing ever larger while the silence drags on painfully long*

 

 

Tama: *voice so quiet it can barely be made out* "Are... are you the REAL Len?"

 

 

Len: "Well, my twin sister's name is Rin. She gets really bossy. We sing a lot, and she made me learn to dance. We spend a lot of time on tour with Miku, Luka, Kaito, and Meiko. You gotta be careful of her. You do not want her to find you eating he candy... she's a real witch! We even have our own video games!"

 

 

Len: "So everyone calls me Len. I write Len on my homework. I have a BIG banner in my room with my face on it and it says Len on it. And Len is written on my underwear..."

 

 

Len: "So yeah, I'm Len!"

 

 

Tama: *quietly in disbelief* "Mommy so that's the real Len?"

 

Mommy: "Sure sounds like the real Len! Are you going to say hello?"

 

Miku: *irritated monotone* "YES Tama it is the really real Len. The most Lenniest of Lens of every fanboy's dreams. Oh, how could I ever contain my excitement and glee. It is the great Len Kagamine. In the flesh. Watch as the ground trembles in awe."

 

 

Len: "Woops! Looks like you dropped your sword!"

 

Tama: *stands speechless and starts to blush*

 

Miku: *mutters* "Oh good god Tama! Your idol of idols is kneeling at your feet! If I have to go back and tell Ringo that this failed... someone will have to pay..."

 

 

Tama: *grabs the edge of his cap*

 

 

Tama: *slowly pulls it down*

 

 

Tama: *another long silence draws out until it is finally broken with high-pitched giddy giggling*

 

 

Len: "Ah... Link? I have your sword..."

 

 

Len: *sounds unsure* "If you want, we could take a picture together...?"

 

 

Len: "Excuse me, but would you want to take a picture of me and Link?"

 

Tama: "That's Mommy."

 

Len: "Okay then Mom, take the picture when you think it looks good!"

 

 

Len: "Say Banana!"

 

Tama: "What?"

 

*CLICK!*

 

 

Miku: "Not without me!" *mumbles* "I have to have proof for Ringo..."

 

Len: "Everybody say BANANA!"

 

Tama: "Cheese."

 

 

Soon after, the Con regretfully came to an end. Fun, exciting, but ultimately very tiring. Upon arriving back home the costumed Link wandered into the backyard for a little bit of quiet.

 

Tama: "Mommy is it okay for me to play my Link game back here for a little while?"

 

Mommy: "How are you going to do that?"

 

 

Tama: "Watch an I'll show you. I can take my sword and hold it like this."

 

 

Tama: "And I hold it next to the long grass."

 

 

Tama: "I swing my sword really hard and cut the grass. Don't worry Mommy I do it really carefully. If my sword goes too far I have my shield to protect me."

 

Mommy: "I'm not too sure that's entirely how the shield is meant to be used..."

 

 

Mommy: "How is that playing your Wind Waker game?"

 

Tama: "Because they didn't name it right. It should have been called Weed Whacker since you cut grass all the time to find potion bottles."

 

Mommy: *giggles* "Just make sure to come in the house before it starts to get too cold or little jelly monsters come out of the grass."

 

Tama: "I will Mommy."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Len: "Why didn't the banana stick around? Because it had to split!"

 

Mommy: *groans*

 

Here are some close up photos of Tama's shield and sword:

 

 

Made from multiple layers of paperboard (what cereal boxes are made out of), wood glue, wood filler to smooth the edges, a ribbon and paint. I still don't quite know how I managed to paint this by hand. I am not a painter. I do remember that there was a lot of repainting tiny sections from lines getting out of control. I'm still really amazed that it looks vaguely symmetrical. This was one of those projects I really didn't even know if I could pull off. It surely is the first geeky remake of a video game thing I have ever done.

 

 

 

The sword used paperboard, wood glue, paint, polymer clay, and felt. I just wanted something strong so I did it this way with layers.

 

Now this whole photo story was done at our city's first 'con' (they are calling it a pop-culture convention) so we at least knew that there would be some anime stuff. So it was never a question on if we should take any of the DD. Tama's Halloween costume was just TOO perfect. I have been nervous for a few weeks, just not sure how I would deal with various social anxieties. So I knew I needed to keep myself busy the day before hand so I didn't just completely freak out and then not go. So I decided I wanted to make Tama the loot bag and some potion bottles to go with his outfit. Much to my surprise I have all the perfect colors of felt to make it with. It's an easy design that I could have done in a few hours. Raven had already decided he wanted to take Miku, so I thought about bringing Len. So I went around the house gathering everyone's stuff and I started to freak that I couldn't find Len's default eyes. I thought I was going to have to use Snow Miku eyes that are pretty similar. For months my default Len has been Alister and who I intend Len's default head to be for. Eventually I found Len's default eyes in the 06 head I had been working on for a custom Len. The mouth had been almost entirely sanded off by that point, so I got the brilliant idea to just get him finished off (in part because Alister was royally ticked off to have to dress up as Len.)

 

So thus started the mad dash to get custom Len done. The remaining sanding took MUCH longer than I thought. This also ate up my time to work on more accessories for Tama's outfit, but I can still do those later. Once the mouth was finally sanded off (and I started to get a blister on my thumb from it) I debated for quite some time over if I should just paint his big happy mouth, or go the scarier but possibility faster route to do a mouth mod even though I have never done one. The worst that could happen is the hole for his mouth could get entirely out of control or his head would melt in the oven... As I sat here thinking, I looked over at my dremel and my brain went into auto mode. Before I realized it there was a hole drilled in the head. "Well then, I guess that settles that."

 

Thankfully everything after that went fine. Especially since I had no sleep that night. I reached a point when I didn't think I'd get him done. It was like almost reaching the finish line but I just couldn't make it. The very last part that needed to be done was his faceup. Generally I tend to spend hours on those. I decided to give it a try. It wouldn't take me long to know if it was just screwed and I'd just give up at that point. Sometimes I surprise myself. Start to finish his faceup was done in 45 minutes. (I do not recommend this since I did not use any clear sealant, so I'm expecting the vinyl to be stained. I was really expecting his faceup to be redone after the con anyway.) The time was cut so close that I had to carry his head in my hand for the mile that Raven and I had to walk to the bus station. I only got a few weird looks. "Happy Len" is also the first custom DD not finished at home. Because of the wet paint, I couldn't fully assemble him until we were at the convention center.

 

Throughout the day I was floored by the massive positive response the Kiddos got. For a while it almost felt like every time I turned around someone was asking me about them. I'm still amazed that with as severe as my social phobias are, I had no problem talking to strangers about the DD. One girl made a b-line towards us and asked what they were. After I told her she said, "You got the dream part right! I need these in my life!" And of course like any good enabler I wrote down the info for her.

 

I was surprised that quite a few people asked what booth we bought them at. I think most of them would faint if they knew how much they cost. It was really funny to be walking around and hearing "Miku!" "Len!" "Link!" from various directions. There was this one younger teen girl that came close to see them and made some comment about liking Len but not as much as Link since Link is her favorite character. She was talking so fast that I almost couldn't catch what she said and she continued to yammer on as she walked off. People are so weird. LOL! I was delighted that there was even a girl about 7 or 8 that saw them and her face lit up and she started madly pulling on her dad's shirt as she excitedly whispered "Dolls!" At least five people came up to me and said that they knew of DD or knew someone who did. I'm not sure how many were actually DD or someone mistaking a DD for a resin, but it was cool all the same. I'd have to say that the best reaction had to be when Raven and I were waiting in line and a couple walked in front of us. (The line was blocking part of a walkway going in a different direction.) The guy was probably around mid 20s and as he walked past, he turned and saw Tama. Without a word the guy's eyes grew HUGE and his jaw look like it was going to hit the floor. I don't know what was going through his mind, but even his look of sheer wonder made me smile.

 

Now the biggest and most amazing reason why Raven and I went to the con (over the staggering fact that our city was even having one!) was to see Johnny Yong Bosch. How the heck they ended up getting him I have no flipping idea. But he was there. While we were waiting in line for his panel I made the comment to Raven that it was interesting seeing so many obviously anti-social people out and socializing (as I stood there staring at the walls and ceilings because I have a very difficult time looking at people unless I'm talking to them.) Johnny started the panel with joking about arriving in our airport in a prop plane. "I can't remember the last time I was in a prop plane." He didn't seem delighted at the prospect. As much as Wenatchee thinks it is a suburb of Seattle (3 -4 hours away) we are still far from it. Seattle is cool. They have Sakura-Con. We are not cool and have Wen-Con (seriously people? That's ALL you could think of??) Nearly all of the panel was questions about Power Rangers... UGH! So roughly 40 minutes in I asked him if he had any favorite memories from Trigun. I was shocked I even had the chance to ask anything. The room was packed with 50-ish people? 75? Unfortunately he said it had been too long back and he couldn't remember. However I thought it was funny how many of his stories about stuff he had done over the years so sounded like crazy stuff that Vash would do. Like climb out the window in a car going 60MPH in an attempt to get back in through the other window. It was not some stunt trick or anything but out on a highway. Not sure if you could find a video of him telling it on YouTube. It was surprising that he didn't get hurt! The whole time I was thinking about that it's such a crazy stunt that Vash would do it the same way. The whole panel felt like it lasted 15 minutes before it was done (it was an hour.) Raven and I had sat in the front row so we had to wait for quite a few people to leave. From behind me I became aware of some guy talking in my direction and I didn't catch what he has said until I clearly heard "Them. What did you get them for? $500? $1,000?" It was a rather blunt conversation starter as I was trying to locate who was talking to me in the crowded space. I thought some big guy just barely out of the corner of my vision was asking, but I was confused over who would know something as specific as even the ballpark figures for DD. I turned enough to look at the guy I thought was talking to me, but he had this look of silent shock on his face. It only confused me even more. I started to try and answer as much as I could to a disembodied voice, when someone started walking past me. "I know a lot of people who have them." I looked up and Johnny was talking to me!!! OMFG! Somehow I mentioned that Len was lottery, and Johnny actually look surprised at that. Can't remember if he said congratulations or not. After that I remember mentioning that we would have 25 DD by November. His final reply was "Everyone has their passions." At first I was just so surprised at how nice he was!

 

Once I realized who was talking to me, I was completely squealing inside while trying to carry on a conversation, in a suffocating mass of people most of whom were quiet, and me just trying to sound as nonchalant and casual as humanly possible. Once Raven and I got out of the crowd and found a quiet place, his looked like he was wavering between stunned and trying not to laugh in shock. It all happened so fast that It wasn't really registering in my mind. The first thing I said to Raven was "What just happened?" LMAO! Raven had to confirm to me three times that I hadn't just imagined the whole thing or made it up. Surreal almost doesn't even describe it. Out of an entire room of people who probably would have punched someone to just get Johnny to simply talk with him, he chose to talk to me about DD! Okay, what alternate reality did I just fall into?

 

And here is my final prize from the day:

 

 

 

I'm a weirdo who doesn't enjoy digging into the personal lives of well known people who's work I enjoy. I admire them mostly for their work and just figure that their personal lives are their own. I went to see Johnny because he was Vash's VA (and Ichigo, and Makoto! as well as many others! OY!) I have never been to a signing of anything, especially for someone so famous. I pretty much was expecting that he would sign his name, so I can't even tell you how entirely delighted I was to see this written in my manga! Right after he signed it I was so nervous that I wanted to hurry up and move so we wouldn't be blocking the people behind us. I finally looked at it like 5 minutes later. I was so delighted to see what it was that I started laughing. It has been some time since I've seen the anime so I forgot that Vash says that a lot. It was like the cherry on top of the ice cream on top of the cake. It was a WONDERFUL and surprisingly delightful day.

 

~Sister Kyoya

I'm really glad you had such a good day. With everything that's been going on for you, you really deserved a day like that.

 

I had to laugh at Len's black socks song because the only time I have ever heard it was when my younger sister used to sing it all the time. I almost thought she made it up, because it was so ridiculous lol.

 

Also Tama meeting Len is the cutest thing ever. Wait till he hears that Len is there to stay.

Congrats on getting out and having a good time. And it looks like Tama-Link will be more than happy to help you with your garden.

 

And where did you guys get that wig for Miku, I love it! Mine wants one.

Congrats on getting out and having a good time. And it looks like Tama-Link will be more than happy to help you with your garden.

 

And where did you guys get that wig for Miku, I love it! Mine wants one.

 

We had a great time. The first major public outing with the kids in as far back as I an remember (which, since I have some significant memory issues, may not be as far back as I think it is). Very exhausting, though and since we went right back to working the next day, still trying to recover.

 

As for the wig, I am not necessarily the carefullest of guys, and really tend to do poorly with long hair. Therefore we find it necessary to have both a "portrait wig", which only SK may touch, and an "everyday wig", which is usually shorter, easier to maintain, and not as big a deal if it does get ruined, for all of my girls. Since we were travelling, we figured it would be best to go with Miku's everyday wig. This is actually the Volks Snow Miku wig, just cut short and styled by SK. Still very beautiful.

This is actually the Volks Snow Miku wig, just cut short and styled by SK. Still very beautiful.

 

I was afraid of that. I really like the style to get my Miku so when she wanted a change from her twin tails she could go with the pony tail. But doing that to the twin tail would mean I lose the options. Pity for me, but it's a really nice style, good job.

hehehe, kiddos look like they had fun!! And Link's shield is amazing *_*

 

oooh man, we had Johnny Yong Bosch as guest at AnimeBoston last week!! did he have a creepy cat story, and the Power Rangers frog story?

Ah, Tama's tiny props are amazing!

I like Len's mouth mod, too. Seeing his happy smile seems to cheer me up as well.

 

You're really courageous to bring DDs to a con. I'm very glad that you had positive reactions from the other con-goers!

Though I guess that a con is probably one of the best places to bring them out, I'm far too apprehensive of people to even try doing something like that, so I'm very impressed that you not only brought them but even did a long, carefully posed photo story.

I'm surprised I hadn't commented here. I really thought I did. Argh!!! I'm getting old. That and I hardly ever have time to actually go down to my office and use the computer. Anyhow, Tamayuki's costume is just spot on. I love his sword and that shield is phenomenal. His Mommy does great work.

 

Another great job is Len's mod. He looks like such a crazy, happy boy and I love how he surprised Tamayuki. That was some great posing right there. I am so happy you all enjoyed the Con and you got to speak with Johnny! That was so awesome and also all the positive vibes from the other attendees about the DDs too!

Glad you had a good time! Tama looks so cute as Link and those props seriously look amazing!

i always admire people who made their own props..good job. hope to see more