Well the Cosplay Cuties once again voyaged out onto the perilous Illinois toll-way on their yearly pilgrimage to Anime Central. This year our group number grew from 3 to 4 with our new addition, Asako, our school's Japanese foreign exchange student. Although our group once again made hardly any planned events we had a blast cosplaying, shopping, and making new friends at our fourth ACen.

Asako, our newest member from Japan, had never heard of cosplay but really enjoyed the new experience and was absolutely adorable as Chii from Chobits and Miyuki from Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. Samantha, a veteran member, played "Mom" all weekend and was in charge of driving, the room, and getting everyone where they needed to be. Besides writing the poorly performed skit she cosplayed as and artbook version Umi from Magic Knight Rayearth and the Cheshire Cat from Miyuki-chan. Mary was the ever popular Asuka from Evangelion and the Seven of Hearts from Miyuki-chan. Sunny, in charge of constructing the majority of our costumes, appeared in her re-vamped Rei, from Evangelion, school uniform and as the Violet from Miyuki-chan.

Fitting four girls and all the luggage each one brings into a small blue VW Bug named "Gidget" is no easy task. Somehow we managed to fit most everything and trusted our food for the weekend with another friend who would be arriving at ACen later. Sunny and Asako had to sit cross-legged in the back and were carrying things on their laps. It's amazing we managed.
It appears that the members of The Cuties are forever cursed to get lost every time they travel to the O'Hare area. Samantha nearly ripped the steering wheel from in front of her while driving she was so annoyed. Yet again we managed to miss the correct exit and ended up REALLY off track. Thank God for cell phones and online maps. With a quick call back home the girls were set on the right track again and even managed to get to the hotel coming the opposite direction they intended. (Not without practically killing everyone in the car by quickly deciding to take an exit and without driving Sam a little insane.
But we made it! Alive! It took forever to find a parking space. Oh behold the wonder of a compact car! It can fit into such small spaces. Samantha got the group checked in. Much to her dismay the hotel didn't have the room she reserved even though it was guaranteed to her because she had one of those deals that you pay even if you don't show up. We got stuck with a smoking room, single king size bed and a cot. Just getting the damn cot was quite a chore for Samantha who called down to the desk at least 3 times between 4:30 and 11 before it arrived. They eventually said they didn't have anymore cots and Sam spoke with the manager, had to become the demanding bitch, and the cot was quickly brought to the room.
After checking in we met up with our friends Mike and Alex from Otaku no Radio who helped us move our luggage. After changing into our first round of costumes we registered and met up with our other friends from the show, Brendan and Victor. Sam rounded everyone together and got the group registered for the Masquerade and managed to get Mike to agree to be in the skit. (Thank you Mike!) The people in charge of the masq. remembered us from last year. "Oh no! It's the Cosplay Cuties!" We were then told some rather humorous stories about guys who were staring at our Cham Cham trio from last year.
The rest of the evening was spent wandering and taking pictures. We had our picture taken by the beloved Kevin from A Fans View and for his upcoming cosplay book Sam read about on the COSP mailing list. Steve Bennet recognized us from last year and we got our pic with him too. We eventually did attend Otaku Big Date and Anime Hell and then spent the rest of the evening talking with the guys. (Who ate most of our food and drank almost ALL our soda!)
On Saturday we got up at a reasonable time and got into costume. The Mike dropped by and we had planned on waking the other guys up by jumping on their beds but we found that they had already left. We headed for the dealers room and said hi to our boss Steve, from Anime Pavilion. We talked about working for him again this summer and introduced him to Asako. We continued on our merry way, shopping and taking pictures.
Eventually Mary and Sunny split from Asako and Sam and only met up with the two again in the hall where we met up with Asako's AFS family. Casey was adorable as Yuna from FFX! (The best one at ACen in our opinion!) Sam kept being stopped by people thinking she was Mana, a J-rock star.
The Cuties did an interview with Otaku no Radio that Sam had promised Brendan in advance. It was a nice break and Mary got a free cup of maruchan ramen out of it. Most of the day was then spent loosing group members (mainly Sunny), shopping, and attempting to practice the skit. As always when you get a group of girls together there is bound to be emotional problems and there were quite a few times when someone ran off upset about something. Mary was hungry most the day (since we never really stopped to eat anything - stupid us!) and Sam thought she would rip out her hair if she had to deal with and/or try to fix another emotional episode.
But the we managed! In the early afternoon most of the group started to get ready for the masq. Eventually everyone did make it back to the room in time to get ready. Samantha, who had to keep the girls moving and was the only who knew where to go. (And didn't want to risk loosing anyone again.) Missed the only panel she really wanted to see, the Megatokyo panel! Maybe next year she'll finally get to go to it.
Our surprise costumes from Miyuki-chan in Wonderland we a huge hit! We made quite an impression on all the fanboys. Mary quickly got over her shyness and Samantha had no problem walking around in a leotard because of her dance experience. We appreciated having Mike with us who carried all our stuff in his backpack and could watch our back and scare away any really imposing guys.
The lobby was crazy! Hundreds of people trying to line up to get into the masq. We eventually found a nice spot near the large statue in the lobby and sat there posing for pictures. Our time to line up was 7:30 but the staff and security had us in line really early. It turns out that we were down there way too early. Once again we spent hours in line. Samantha had to be careful about her costume because the dye was rubbing off certain parts of her hand-painted costume. Sunny was constantly wrapped in a coat and Mary was reapply double sided tape every 15 min. Asako was really the only one who was very comfortable.
The line we waited in was right next to windows so people outside and in the line to our other side were always staring or taking pics from both sides. FOX news was there as well and got footage of us in line. One of those pan up from the feet to their faces things. The hungrier and more irritable everyone got the longer we waited in line. But Mike kept everyone in good spirits. We practiced our skit and waited.
The skit went okay. The MC introduced us reminding everyone that we come every ACen and when they heard our names they really stared cheering. Samantha walked out first to hear everyone screaming and started the skit. Although it wasn't perfect is managed and we didn't get gonged off, thank God! But we doubt they really cared about our skit. From what we hear everyone was much more interested in our costumes. ^_^
We enjoyed the rest of the masq. and cheered for the winners. We had hoped to win something, we all did put a lot of work into our costumes. (Samantha spent over a month hand painting hers.) But the winners all had excellent costumes. Once again we lost a member of the group, Sunny this time. Asako, Mary and Samantha stayed down stairs and posed for pictures. We had hoped there would be an after masq. picture session like the last two years but we managed. The guys from Otaku no Radio stood by while we posed and Samantha looked for the COSP photoshoot that from what we understand never happened. Mary met her new friend Colin who openly stated "Seven of Hearts, I love you!"
After the fun in the lobby we headed upstairs and changed into normal clothes to head down for the Soap Bubble dance. Mary found a note for her pinned on the message board from Colin. Sunny met with one of her new friends while Asako, Mary and Sam went to dance. Mary and Sam aren't really into techno dance and had fun being the odd ones grinding. After Sam confessed she was so hungry she was about to pass out (she had only eaten an apple, 2 cookies and a piece of bread all day) Brendan, that wonderful man, took charge and ordered a pizza aka real food! We stayed up until almost 5am talking and eating pizza. Sam fell asleep lying on Mary's leg in the room.
The next morning Mary got up extra early to go meet her friend Colin and Asako dragged her luggage to her AFS family's room. Sunny and Sam were left to finish packing, drag things to the car, and check out. Alex and Mike helped move the luggage and we discovered we couldn't remember which direction the parking lot was. Sam managed to pull muscles in her arms carrying things and packing up the car. For the next few days she couldn't hold anything without her hands shaking.
Sam was the only one to wear a costume. She donned her Cham Cham outfit (and was wearing it when she packed the car) just for the hell of it. We said bye to the guys and went shopping one more time. Mary wandered off with Colin, Asako wondered off with her new friend, and Sunny stuck with Sam. Sam was interviewed by a tv station from New York called Anime TV and was sad that the other girls weren't in costume with her.
Sunny and Sam said goodbye to Steve, made a last round of the dealers room, bought an ACen shirt and found the other girls. We then met up with a few friends we had met in years before and had another photo with Steve Bennet who wanted us to stop by his booth before we left. We told him we had to leave but he could always contact us though our boss Steve, who he knows. We finally parted and headed towards the car. Samantha displayed an amazing ability to quick change out of a cat costume in the car with Sunny as a body guard.
We headed out confidently but soon found ourselves in the same situation as we were when we came. LOST! Samantha damned the whole state of Illinois's road system and was ready to destroy a nearby road sign. Before we got back on track we even managed to visit the nearby airport in hopes of getting a clue of where we were again. But once again the cell phone came in handy and we were on our way home. Mary paid for lunch at the Wendy's oasis because Sunny and Sam had packed the car all by themselves. Sam got quite a few odd looks from people who though she was a prostitute because she came in wearing her black wig and red lipstick. But after visiting the bathroom she came out with her real hair pulled up, normal lip color and the wig stuffed in Sunny's purse. The ride back was quiet and rainy. Everyone fell asleep except for Sam who was driving.
All in all we had a great time! There were a lot of problems and we were all very tired and hungry but in the end who can not look back on ACen with fond memories. We look forward to next year (even if we won't have Asako with us! *Sniff*) and our next cosplaying experience.

All these photos were taken by Samantha and Mary. A few of Sam's digital pics got lost when she transfered them to the computer. (Like of those really cute little Kenshin and Yahiko and that cute group of Kenshin guys. ~_^)

Our TagBoard has moved to our newest ACen review page. Sorry!

Our Shout Outs:
Brendan - It was great to finally see you. Thanks for taking charge and ordering the pizza. (Sam: Hang in there, I know how hard it is to be the "mom" of a group.)
Victor - The silent type! It was nice meeting you, thanks for carrying our purses!
Alex - It was nice meeting you. You were also a great help over the weekend. (Mary: I love the Eva bag! Thank you!!!)
Mike - Thanks for agreeing to help with our skit and for fetching everyone all weekend.
Whip-chan - (Sam)It was great seeing you again! We'll have to start emailing each other again.
Colin - Thank you for saving me from the depths of a drunken stupor. (Mary)
Steve - We'll see you this summer at GenCon!
Steve Bennet - We loved having our picture with you. Next time we'll be sure to stop and say hi at your booth.
Peter Zimmer - (Mary, Sam, and Asako) We'll see you at the next anime club meeting!
Casey - You were a lovely Yuna! Your wig was perfect!
Claren - We hope you enjoyed your second ACen!

Otaku no Radio - They'll eventually have a report up.
A Fan's View - Everyone knows and loves Kevin's site.
Anime Pavilion - Our boss Steve's store.