5 points for looks!

[aimeekitty]

gee! I guess we must not be that hideous. :>

Just in case you don't recall, just last week, some gremlin on Cosplay.com had this to say about us in our Rose of Versailles costumes (the same ones that we just one "Most Beautiful" in at Comic-Con):
"Speaking as someone who was raised in Japan, I thought that the RoV group surely had the greatest costumes among all the contestants, but at the same time, the models in the costumes looked absolutely the worst. I would have given them 50 pts out of 100 --- 45 pts for costumes and only 5 pts for the models. I would have given other contestants higher scores. I'm sorry, but that's what I felt. Why? We Japanese people are used to seeing ugly faces, but we're not used to seeing OBESITY. Obese girls are so rare that they are severely RIDICULED in Japan."

so, for a moment, please let me be petty and immature.

NYA NYA NYA NYA
=^_^=...

more seriously though, this award really means a lot to me. Comic-con is one of the main cons that I regularly go to where people really "bring it". I'm always really excited to see all the gorgeous costumes that people come up with, so to get a good award at Comic-Con means a lot to me. Even more so though, this particular group and costumes were really really dear to my heart, so to get an award with them, just means all the more to me. I know that "we" have gotten awards at comic-con before, but I was a cog in a big group for those (which was the way I wanted it to be), while this was a very personal emotional effort to me, so I guess it means a lot more. I'm really grateful to my all my girls that we did this group together not just for Comic-Con but for Fanime with beloved Char and Anime Expo, and I'm so glad that we were able to do it this one last time with a positive result. I know I've said it before, but again, I'm also eternally grateful to all my friends for help on my costume, including A.J., Annie and Judy. I really could not have made it on my own. Congrats to all the winners at Comic-Con this year, there was some AMAZING costumes, and everyone deserved the great awards that they got.

also, the last thing I saw at the con, was an accidental walk by the "Corpse Bride" booth. I'd previously thought that the large display was just a diarama, static statues. However,... it was NOT.
IT WAS ACTUAL PUPPETS FROM THE MOVIE.
there was one of the animators there, and Crisso, Derek and I talked to him for a while. They are completely flexible, fully jointed (with face joints) little foam (the clothes were mostly foam, with armatures inside) and silicon puppets. I just about died it was so amazing. There are NO VISIBLE JOINTS on the puppets. There is a small hole in the brides ear cannal for instance... he stuck a little metal control into it and turned it slightly, and she SMILED. just like a real person, the flexible silicon of her face stretched and squashed into a nymphlike little smile. It was AMAZING. I still can't get over it. Apparently when you turn the little control, it turns little tiny gears inside the puppet's face, to make their mouths open, or to smile or frown. There are also additional "control panels" that you can press manually in the puppet's face... and the eyebrows, for example, are completely maleable (and stay where you put them....!!!)
I WANT ONE SO BAD. O_O (which is tragically, almost impossible)

Comments

[tristencitrine.livejournal.com]

I'm sooo HAPPY!!!!!

Really wish I could have been there with you all!


Got a saboten from you and it rules. It more than rules. IT IS THE PERFECT SIZE FOR MINIORIHIME!!!! mau mau mau :)


You all deserve to take that award and dance around with it. dance dance dance! Never doubt how beautiful and well loved you all are!

[mewbot.livejournal.com]

OBESE?
What the FUCK?
Um. Far from it. You guys aren't built like Asian girls.

"Obese girls are so rare that they are severely RIDICULED in Japan."

Actually, I felt rather appreciated by all my Japanese friends for my figure. Most of them were admiring my.. um. Two most prominent feminine assets.

[wtf.livejournal.com]

Gotta love the trolls. x_x

Congrats on the award! You certainly deserve it! Those costumes are simply fabulous, and I love every new set of pics I see. *_*

[jshan.livejournal.com]

Congrats, Aimee, and to your fellow cosplay groupmates, too! ^_^

The facts that that commenter brought up might have been true. All of my Japanese friends are very slim, and when I went to Japan, I did not see a single obese or even plump person in the crowded shopping districts. It made me wonder if there really ARE no fat Japanese, or if all the plump ones are hiding indoors in few of being ridiculed. (The Japanese jeans sold in department stores like Isetan, start at size 22 and end at size 28. That's a 22 inch waist. >_>;; (even 28 is a mite too ambitious for me XD;;))

Anyway, I wanted to say that, even if the facts are true, to apply them to a different country/culture/racial predisposition, and in such a care-less and tactless way, is absolutely inexcusable. In fact, I find it amusing that the commenter would be so hung up on a Japanese standard of beauty, while not adhering to the Japanese practice of politeness to strangers. =P

[acquiesce.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I wanted to say that, even if the facts are true, to apply them to a different country/culture/racial predisposition, and in such a care-less and tactless way, is absolutely inexcusable. In fact, I find it amusing that the commenter would be so hung up on a Japanese standard of beauty, while not adhering to the Japanese practice of politeness to strangers. =P

AMEN.

Also, I don't know much about RoV, but during that time period, wasn't it considered beautiful and healthy if you weren't a stick? It showed that you had money and was well fed, etc... strange people.

Your costumes were beautiful! I'd like to see that person try and make something like that themselves.

Congrats on your award! It's well deserved and you should be very proud ^^

[rotem.livejournal.com]

Congrats! That's really great. ^^

[daenerys.livejournal.com]

You girls ROCK MY FUCKING WORLD!!! After all that, this is just what needed to happen and you deserve this award more than anything!!

And OMG I just say the trailer for "Corpse Bride" tonight and can't wait to see it. I am so jealous you got to see one of the puppets in action, wow that is so cool *_*

[purplerebecca.livejournal.com]

That's so awesome! Congratulations! ^__^

[bleupencil.livejournal.com]

"We Japanese people are used to seeing ugly faces, but we're not used to seeing OBESITY..."

HAHAHAHA!!! What a tool!
I think they need to get the hell over themselves and deal with it.

[kevinsketch.livejournal.com]

"I think they need to get the hell over themselves and deal with it."

Actually, I would say HE needs to get over HIMSELF. He may say he speaks for an entire people, but he doesn't.

[bleupencil.livejournal.com]

Oh, I most certainly agree! I say "they" however, because I knew not whether it was a he or a she. Sorry to perplex anyone with the wrong context :\

*headdesk*

[kevinsketch.livejournal.com]

oh, no sweat. My misunderstanding.

[yaso-khuul.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the award girls! Strike!
You really showed them, so any stupid remarks or e-mails go to the TRASH CAN!
Wheeee!

[columbine.livejournal.com]

"Obese girls are so rare that they are severely RIDICULED in Japan."

Unfortunately, it's true in Japan... my mother was a size 12 and was made fun of all her life... it's probably why she keeps telling me to lose weight. And why I'm never happy with my figure...

But the funny thing is men in Japan are gaining weight like crazy... double standards for men and women...

But I have what most Japanese women only wish they had... a D-cup... and frankly, I'm just fine with that... ;)

Congrads on the award... you looked great in your well crafted costume.

[beetlebomb.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning. I NEVER want to go to Japan now.

[blastmilk.livejournal.com]

Yayayay! Congrats, you guys rock it so hard.

Also... Corpse Bride puppets OMG! You lucky girl, those sound so exquisite!

[tacohime.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to you ladies on your award and to SDCC on exercising such good judgement.

[sapphic-lens.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!! This is so well deserved, I'm really really happy for all of you :D

[irc-goliath.livejournal.com]

YAY! Congrats!!
I knew it all along ^_^ heeeeeeeee

[hoshikage.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I'm so happy you took home this VERY well-deserved award!

[ericglass.livejournal.com]

1) Congratualtions. The award is well deserved.
B) I had no idea thay were using puppets for the film. Based upon the trailers, it looked more like CG to me. I'll have to see this eventually.

[slai.livejournal.com]

Hi Aimee,

Woohoo, congratulations 8D! You are BEAUTIFUL ^-^!

As for that obese comment, if I ever hear that in person when I visit Asia, I will definitely chew them out >8(! I got an indirect comment similar to that one from my Dad when he went to Taiwan on a business trip. Dad showed a family picture of us to some people at the bank who funded his company. One smary mouth secretary noted she looked just like my sister, the 'cute thin daughter.' If had heard her say that to my face, I would have slapped her there and then (or sat on her)!

My Mom, who is also big and large, and I also received mysterious xeroxes mailed to our house with no return addresses of amazing diet plans from somewhere in CA. They started to turn up after we went to a family reunion on my Dad's side of the family in CA >8(! We suspect who sent them, but we can't prove a thing. After the suspect family encountered a few personal family problems though, the anonymous snail mail diet xeroxes stopped >;b!

[utenatai.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[miraelizabeth.livejournal.com]

Saw your lovely, lovely costumes and I am in awe of how great they looked. And you guys looked fabulous in them. Congrats on the award. It was much deserved. : )

[allende.livejournal.com]

Dude, I am so happy for you and the rest of your group! Congrats!

'Most Beautiful' - Now there's an award well deserved. Tell the unbelievers to stick that one in their pipe and smoke it. ;3

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Congratulamations! The puppets sound fantastic too. The engineering would be very interesting...

[little-teacup.livejournal.com]

Oh wow!! The puppets sound amazing!

[saxytenshi.livejournal.com]

I remember briefly seeing your RoV dress at the beginning stages when you posted some progress pics on Cosplay.Com. It has come SO far since that point! You guys had some amazingly beautiful dresses. Congrats! You've worked hard and well-deserve it. ^_^

[saxytenshi.livejournal.com]

BTW, how in the heck did you transport that HUGE hoop skirt?!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

^_^ fits relatively easily in one large suit case (the whole dress and hoop)

[saxytenshi.livejournal.com]

Wow, I would've never guessed... it looks like the base of the hoop skirt could barely fit into a car! *lol*

[twjudy.livejournal.com]

The bottom hoop (out of about seven) is six feet in diameter wide, and four feet deep, so yeah, it’s pretty big. However, the hoops are made out of airplane steel, and just spring back into shape after being coiled or looped. They can’t bend completely in half, obviously, but are resilient to being sort of folded (they can curve into about four inches apart on the curves) into the bottom of a suitcase.

[saxytenshi.livejournal.com]

Aaah, I see. That's really convenient. ^.^

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

yeah, they're really flexible, and always go back to their original shape.

here's the costume in my beetle:
but that's not trying to squish it any, it can easily fit into a suitcase smaller than my beetle, if you fold the hoops.

[black-geek.livejournal.com]

I can't believe someone made that comment on Cosplay.com. What is wrong with people?
I just saw the RoV movie you posted and you EARNED that award!!!

[chunkygoat.livejournal.com]

Dang man - I caught a bit of the drama awhile back & didn't know what it was all about but I gotta say, after having it explained in this post & hearing about your award - U rule, & definitely deserve to throw raspberriez & stuff at them - I agree with the above person who commented that although they felt the need to criticise your weight for how un-Japanese it was, they were hypocritcal in their action of publically casting out their opinion. Glad it all went down this way, is what I'm saying. Those costumes are gorgeous, and the models are too, IMHO. :P

And you are the luckiest girl on the planet (re: Corpse Bride Puppets) - that would be so wicked cool to see in person, and I am jealous. ^_^

[dusk-in-dendera.livejournal.com]

Some people are so retarded in their closeminded-ness. "Obesity"? Whatever. You were all gorgeous in your costumes and completely justified in winning that award. Little Miss/Mister Know-It-All over at Cosplay.com can go ahead and shove their prejudices right up her/his skinny little arse.

[awelkin.livejournal.com]

Congrats on winning the award. Gotta, gotta love irony!

Catherine