In which we cosplay for honour

 

 These years it seems that the only thing I blog is my annual London MCM Comic Con trip. There's so much work that goes into prepping it, and I am really proud of the final results.

This year we went as different playable heroes from the game For Honour. So here's the standard set of us four, plus our orgin characters.

Berserker

Conqueror

Nobushi

Peacekeeper

The naginata is actually made from a painted shower curtain rod, and some cardboard.

Fighting in the fields

We met some of the team who actually work on the game! They came over to say hello and admire their work.

Fear me.

 

I went on a bike.

  Bonus photo. Ok, so obviously there are tens of thousands of people in cosplay. But this makes me happy because as we were coming in on the train last year the guy on the comm was joking around with us and said "in case you were wondering, I'm DLR man." This year, we saw this. Did they get mascot costumes just for comic con? I can believe it. I've never seen a specific London line have it's own costume. Now they had two!

 

Plus here's the bonus 'work in progress' pictures for my nobushi!

Painting and creating the kimono jacket.

Progress from kid axes to cosplay axes.

Creating the 'wooden' mask.

Making 'bamboo' leg guards from foam.

In which I became Sera

I havent really blogged in 2016 but in many ways it's been one of the best years of my life. (For me personally, not so much for the world) And that's partly why I didn't blog. I was doing so many things that I didnt want to spend the time writing about them. And the same with the fashion outfit pictures. I realised that part of the motivation was me taking photos of myself to feel better about myself, to see myself looking good and get validation from the quality of the pictures, and the nice comments. It was also about self-discovery, I was playing with styles, being inspired by others and choosing what to wear so very thoughtfully. I think that I've reached a place of having a lot more body confidence, and so counter-intuitievly I take less pictures of myself.

For a while. I mean, there's always selfies. 
That being said, I realised today that actually, I just miss it. I miss the diary aspect of it, having that record, just for myself, to see on what I did every year. I also miss photography. It's been months since I went somewhere with my camera (although I also developed a back problem so it's harder to carry than it used to be - that's a different story). I also looked back through my old photos and was inspired by my past-self, and  I want to keep giving myself that chance.

So I'm going to dip my toes back into blogging. I'm not going to set myself any goals of once or twice a week like before. But if there's one thing that's a real highlight it was MCM ComicCon 2016.

 I've blogged about this year after year. But this year was definitely the best ever. I went as Sera from Dragon Age: Inquisition, along with my husband and two talented good friends, also as characters from the same franchise.

 My girl.

Here's the set of my crew, in our classic comparison shots.

Andy as Hawke

Nic as Cassandra

Tom as Alistair

Don't we make an amazing set?  One thing that made this year so good was all being in a theme together. We all looked so good, spot on for our characters. I felt proud of everyone.

One of the things that made this year so good, was that we spent hours hanging out with other Dragon Age cosplayers, and taking so many photos with them. Here's Andy as Hawke, with a whole group of adorable Merrils.

 And me with a group of other Seras, running around and throwing bees.

 And this Dorian wasn't with us, but he is just so spot on for the character it's incredible.

I love my Sera costume, even more than my Erza one, and I desperately want to wear it again some time. I am so proud of the jacket that I made. It's all sewn together, no glue. It fastens on the front with the little clasps and fits properly. I have it hanging up in my home office waiting for another convention, or costume party. And if I get invited to a Halloween event, I'm being Sera all night long again. It's so wonderfully freeing to be her.

I didn't take a lot of work-in-progress shots this year. Not like when I decided to blog the entire process of being Erza! But I do have a little bit of progress shown on making the dress, and even cutting the wig:



 

 

Oh, and I think even the weird haircut kind of suits me! I keep thinking... should I get this done for real? But then I remember that the point of Sera is she looks a mess.

I even fletched my own arrow.

Best Comic Con Ever.