HHog

Whoa, didn't mean to forget about writing part 2 for so long, ahahaha!
Anyway, here's part 2 of my epic adventure in England, wahey!

So, I left off on the night before Summer of Sonic, in the hostel with Steph, Roger and Silvia. After coming back from Brighton Pier we were all dead tired from walking, and went to sleep.
The next day, we all suited up in our cosplay outfits, Steph and I as Kazooie and Banjo respectively, Silvia as her cat character, and Roger in his "Evil Doc" lab coat.
Silvia had prepared a little "meetup" at the hostel for fellow lodgers up there, but they didn't have a bulletin board for us to hang up our announcement to meet up in front of the hostel to walk over to the event together, so after we haphazardly ran into a handful of people headed the same way, we eventually set out for the half-hour walk from the hostel to the SoS event. In full costume.
Needless to say, it was an interesting experience to say the least! We got plenty of looks, a few laughs, a remark from a passerby who wondered if we were "trying to find the Yellow Brick Road", a couple of honks from cars passing by, and naturally, ran into a few more likeminded folks also headed for the event, one of which promptly shouted "Oh my god, Banjo Kazooie!", our first genuinely positive reaction of the day - of which there would soon be many more to follow.
Round the corner we went, walked up to the queue and immediately got cheered by crowdstanders like we were some celebrities; honestly, for a Sonic convention, I wouldn't have expected this many cheers for what essentially started out as characters on a Nintendo system!
(As well as a physical threat or two, paired with the words "That's for Nuts 'n Bolts!". )
So then we moved on through the line, and... erm... blatantly cut ahead of 1/4th of the line by standing with our friends , , and who arrived sooner. Bad manners, I know.
But I guess it was sort-of okay, as there was no risk of not being able to get in anyway, since the event was Registered Entry Only, as anyone who went there should know, judging by how ungodly quick the tickets went. O_O
That, and the goodiebags didn't run out either (in fact, they still had a bunch left last I saw before leaving). So it all went well in that regard!

So then, we all got in no problem, got greeted by who I promptly handed my "H" hat to wear as he requested me beforehand so he could "cosplay as H Hog". XD
So then, we entered the con area, walked around for a while, mostly posing for pictures in our costumes, saying hi to everyone we recognized from previous meetups, and eventually found out that there was a whole second floor to the event upstairs, where we could grab a snack and check what kind of merch they had to offer.
Among all the pictures taken, the most notable would have to be when we ran into the guys of Sumo Digital who were there to showcase their "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed", and just had to get a picture of Steph and I to go 'round the office.
To quote a back-and-forth between them we were told about;
"Are those two... really dressed as who I think they are?"
"Banjo and Kazooie, yeah!"
"But...why are they at a Sonic the Hedgehog convention?"
"Well, WE put them in the last All Stars Racing, didn't we?"
So that was, in my opinion, probably the high point of the day, along with the knowledge they'd be cheering for us at the upcoming Cosplay Contest.

So yeah, in a nutshell; we just ended up spending most of the day just strolling around in costume, chatting it up with everyone, pausing here and there in order to watch the videos that Sonic Paradox and prepared for the event (check for links at the end of the journal), posing with and our respective girlfriends for our annual traditional "Let's Steal the Rarities Cabinet" picture ( fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net… ), playing a round of All Stars Racing Transformed, listening to the Q&A sessions when we were able to, and of course, prepare for the Cosplay Contest!

How'd that go, you ask? Well, Steph and I were surprised enough as it was to actually make it TO the finals, but amazingly, we actually got 4th place overall! Okay, so we didn't land an actual prize, but getting as far as we did was rewarding enough in itself. The amount of cheers and recognition we got was overwhelming, along with a surprised "Oh... Banjo Kazooie!?" from Takashi Iizuka himself when we were introducing who we were supposed to be before actually getting on stage, which - I must admit - got me a little bit starstruck for a moment there.
Sadly none of the friends we arrived with got a spot in the finals, as was rocking his amazing "Professor Pickle" outfit again, and Euan was looking as good as ever in his trusted Eggman costume (although not shaved bald anymore this time around - which is probably one of the reasons another Eggman cosplayer snagged a finals spot ahead of him ).

So after that we mostly hung around at the art table upstairs to relax, as the heat from the costume was getting to me a little by now, and it was the quietest area at the time until they eventually started to tidy up the merch booths and such.
So after getting practically shoo'ed out of the event by after saying our goodbyes to her like 3 times ("You're still here? Bugger off!"), we gathered in the front lobby for a final few group photos, got my hat back from Jay, and... prepared to head back to the hostel in the suddenly pissing rain.
As luck would have it though, there was a shuttle bus driving between the venue and Hove Station, so we got on there, and courteously were let off only a block or two away from our hostel, which was on the road to the station anyway. Yay!
After that we finally got out of our outfits, sadly having to call off dinner with Aaron and Stacey since we were all just way too tired to walk all the way back over to where the SoS venue was for it, so since Roger and Silvia were the least tired out of all of us, they offered to set out to look for a place for us to eat, while Steph could have a rest and I a much-needed shower (that bear costume was sweaty like you wouldn't believe @_@; ).
This was the untimely moment where I would find out the defect I alluded to in my previous journal; Remember those guys who were busy with the plumbing on the room we were originally going to be staying at?
Yeah, I would have wished for those guys to have worked on the plumbing for the upstairs room instead, as our ensuite shower was...
*Not secured to the wall properly
*Not adequately pressured to pump the water up through the hose into the showerhead in the first place
*Lacking a stopper to plug the drain with, had I wanted to opt for a bath instead.
Absolutely delightful. "Smart Sea View" indeed.
So since I was already undressed in the showerroom, modesty preventing me from just running out the hostel room and use the shower in the hallway, I had to make do with running the faucet and splashing lukewarm water over myself to rinse off the sweat. Lovely. -_-;

So then Roger and Silvia came back eventually, showed us to a nearby Indian restaurant across the street, had our dinner there, and went back to the hostel for some well-needed rest -- as we would have to get up early to check out and catch our train back to London in the morning.

Well, I've spent entirely too much time writing again, so... Stay Tuned for part 3, coming soon!

Frobman's videos:
-Shadow in Brief: youtu.be/JifZiXdJHJw
-Sonic 2006 in Brief: youtu.be/hACvw9fmczw

-Sonic Paradox's "Seaside Denied": youtu.be/dNwspV1x_gk