I've competed in many Masquerades over the years, and many of them are up on Youtube! Be warned, not all of these presentations are great. Some are downright silly. Some are very embarassing, but I'll still post them just because it's fun looking back at all the ridiculous things I've done in my cosplay "career." This is not a complete list of Masquerades I've done, but I haven't found videos of them all.
The moment I started watching Le Chevalier D'Eon I thought the moment D'Eon is first possessed by Lia would make a great presentation. I also thought it would be neat to make D'Eon's sword so that the words of possession are hidden at times and visible at others, which was accomplished by lighting the inside of the sword. Unfortunately the lights inside the sword are not visible on video, although I've heard from multiple people that it was easily visible in person. Oh well. This wasn't my most successful presentation but it's good to experiment :).
Anime Fannatiku 2010 Yuuko Breaks All the Rules
Costumes: "Outo" Fai (no costume page)
Here is the first skit of three Otaku Engine performed at Fannatiku! You can see the leadup to SparkleFai. I was a little nervous because I'm not used to having to say lines in person, but I managed. Everyone else was amazing <3. Unfortunately we don't have video of the other two skits yet. Hopefully one day we'll have the other two uploaded! The second has SparkleFai and the third has the most hilarious KuroFai moment XD.
Anime Los Angeles 2010 Death by Sparkles
Costumes:Der Tod (v. Yami ga Hirogaru) Award: Best Dramatic Skit; Construction Award for Obsession with Detail
Garnet Runestar and I performed the end of Act 1 of Elisabeth. Isn't her dress lovely on stage? It was super fun doing this competition with her because it was the first time I'd ever competed with another cosplayer that wasn't a true novice. We both knew what we were doing, so there was no stress building up to this act!
Fanime 2009 Oscar in a Dress
Costumes:Oscar (Manga Ballgown) Award: Best of Division: Individual Craftsmanship
I spent so much time just trying to put this dress together than I didn't have time to figure out a performance. This is just a walk-on, but you can see the dress in its sparkly fluffy glory :D.
Animeland Vegas 2009 Ai Areba Koso
Costumes:Casual Oscar
So what's a girl to do when a tiny new convention makes its way to Las Vegas? Get up on stage and pretend to be Takarazuka star Wao Youka, of course! This was a silly, last-minute thing that was dumb but fun. Be sure to watch the end, because it's by far the best part!
Fanime 2008 Prince Demando and Wiseman Disagree
Costumes:Prince Demando, Dementor Award: Best Individual Performance (for the "Kekki! Hangyaku no Ichizoku" segment)
The Dementor cloak makes yet another appearance as a last-minute Wiseman in this rather ridiculous skit. I practiced the choreography for the first segment ("Kekki! Hangyaku no Ichizoku") as much as I could but I was sick when the Masquerade rolled around. I look a little wobbly thanks to that dumb stomach ache. Unfortunately I didn't realize just how big Caramelldansen had become at conventions, and we were the first of several performances that night that used the song. However, don't let that stop you from viewing this skit! We do make fun of the song quite a bit.
I have never put so much effort into a Masquerade package ever. I made three costumes and two huge props for this performance, and every member of our group worked very hard on our skit. That's why it hurt so much when this Masquerade turned out to be an absolute disaster. We had hardly any places to sit during the Masquerade and nowhere to put the huge flags. The judges were rushed through their deliberations and most of us didn't know if we won anything or not until the next day. It was a horrible experience and one of the reasons I stopped attending Anime Expo.
Fanime 2007 Orleans no Sei Senshi
Costumes:Sera Myu Sailor Uranus Award: Honorable Mention, Individual Craftsmanship
I decided to enter the Fanime Masquerade only a week before the convention took place, so I didn't have much time to come up with a performance. I decided to use "Orleans no Sei Senshi: Uranus to Neptune no Uragiri" as a song. It's actually a duet between Uranus and Neptune, but on the recording it's very difficult to tell their voices apart. I made up the choreography the morning of the Masquerade, but this was more about the costume than the performance.
This is more of a walk-on than a performance. It's very hard to walk in that heavy and long skirt. It's pretty neat to see these outfits in action, though.
Meg and I performed this dance from the Sailor Moon Musicals. . .in huge 6" heels. This was not our choice but since we practiced in the heels for a month solid we did all right. We got a little confused at the end because we had to rework our choreography right before we went on stage, but that's the only glaring error. I got better at dancing since the last time around, but not by much :P.
Ani Magic 2004 The Order of Magdalene
Costumes:Rosette, Chrno, Azmaria Award: Erika Door's Judge Award (for Azmaria)
This was a fun little skit to perform, even though our cosplay group almost didn't perform it. Azmaria fell off the ridiculously small and dangerous stage during our first run. It was frightening but luckily she wasn't hurt. We were allowed to perform the skit again and luckily nothing bad happened the second time along.
This is one of my favorite Masquerade videos. We put so much work into this performance, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it! Unfortunately the video does not pay attention to the Random Demon (aka Dementor) and Azmaria when they're doing important things. While Chrno and Rosette are arguing, the Demon is holding up a sign that says, "I HAVE BATTERIES." That should make more sense.
This performance was thrown together a few hours before the event, but it's still very cute thanks to the adorable Sugar! The "waffo" was a huge hit at the convention, and running around with it is one of my favorite convention experiences to this day.
My first Masquerade ever was lacking. We all knew different versions of this dance (since it changes a little bit every time it's performed) and we just weren't prepared at all. Oh well, it was a learning experience!
