Otakon was long, fun, and also tiring.

Thursday I woke up early and drive to Boston to meet up with Astro (Lara), and later headed to Logan Airport. As you can see we are totally psyched for Otakon. When we arrived, we quickly checked into the Holiday Inn (located in the inner harbor). Met up with Greg (who was actually waiting for us in the lobby), and we dropped off our bags and went to the Baltimore Convention Center to wait in the Pre-Reg line. Meaghan and Peter found us and decided to tag along.

Friday I woke up and got in my Balthier get-up. I left with my awesome Balthier gun and went to the Con-Ops to get my weapon checked. Sadly the gun was not up to their standards, as the hammer and trigger needed to be removed. So dissappointed as I was, I made my way back to the hotel. I got stopped quite a few times cuz apparently people like Balthier. On my way out, I ran into Samantha and Kevin, who were the people of hoping to meet eventually, but was happy to find them so early. Sam was the actual reason I came down, cuz to me she had the striking resemblance to Aerith, and being a fan of Aerith I had to see her cosplay. I quickly left for the hotel to fix my gun. I managed to remove the neccessary pieces, but apparently the gun would not go back together after putting it back together. So i had no choice but to throw it away and get the other gun I made (which people still seemed to like). I regrouped with Sam, Kevin, and Meaghan and we headed to the Dealer's Room. I didn't find anything I wanted, since I already had the FF stuff they were selling. We then went down to the Game Room and ran into another Balthier and a Fran (both from the promo art. Nothing else is special to mention. Just a regular day of walking around and getting my pic taken.

Saturday was also the same. Got up and dressed into Balthier for the Final Fantasy XII shoot. It was planned for months, but sadly not many showed up as expected. There were 2 Baschs, a Penelo, another Balthier, 2 Larsas, a Gabranth, and a very, very bodacious Fran. She was engaged to one of the Baschs, and he did not mind it when people asked for "Balthier and Fran to pose", since those poses involve closeness. Later on was the All FF shoot, which I took charge of (someone needs to lead it). I was told I did a good job, since I made sure everyone had a chance to be seen. Later I was able to meet Hitoshi Sakimoto (composer of the FFXII, FFTactics and Tactics Advance, and Vagrant Story music). Piano Squall was there was well, and I got my CDs signed by him and Sakimoto. Sakimoto was also impressed with my Balthier cosplay as well, which made me feel a little pride in myself.

Sunday I did not dress up. I just packed and went straight to the convention with Meaghan. We hit up the Artist's Alley because I wanted to get some art goodies (Balthier and Cloud posters). Then I checked out of the hotel and flew back home with Astro (Lara).

Pics:

The lovely Samantha (as Aerith) and Me

So I herd u liek mudkipz

Balthier and his engineers

Princess Ashe and Balthier

Balthier has this thing for princesses

What she doesn't know, is that I gave her bunny ears

More to come when I come by them.

-Omi