Self Help Hipster’s Castlefest Report

What do you do when you have a friend who is WAY into Cosplay and awesome at it too?

You steal one of her costumes, put on one of her wigs and you let her take you to one of the fantasy-hippie festivals she likes.

No, seriously. Cosplay was something I always wanted to try. I love nerd-stuff and I love dress up, so this is pretty perfect.

You wanna see what I did all day?

Shit ton of pics in my Castlefest report after the jump.

wake up

Yoooo, good morning. I like to take pictures mid-yawn to see what horror my future husband awaits him for the rest of his life.

This is what I’ll be wearing today. Ever since I saw the costume on my friend I’ve been in love with it. Today I get to wear it and be Edward Kenway.

For those of you who don’t know: This is the costume from assassin-pirate protagonist Edward Kenway from Assassin’s Creed IV. If this is all too nerd for you, your loss: It was fucking badass.

But first, BREAKFAST.

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First we put on my regular face.

Then it’s time to pretend I have cheek bones, put my hair up in a little bundle and it’s WIG TIME.

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I have no words.

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Okay, bruised and bled up: Let’s DO THIS.

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This is my friend and she is Dante from The Devil May Cry: Demon hunter and devil killer. She looked AMAZING.

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In hysterics over how we look.

Opinions are VERY all over the place regarding the blonde on me. Let me know what you think in the comments. This is one of the rare occasions where I am actually curious to what people think about my appearance.

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In the car, on our way there!

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The terrain is HUGE, very green and I cannot get over how everything and everyone is looking. It’s a smorgasbord of people in medieval, fantasy, steam punk, cosplay and regular clothes. You can buy anything from traditional dresses to regular soap to chicken wings to anime and comic books. You can hoop, talk to people, eat, run around making sheep noises: Anything goes.

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Badass if I ever saw one.

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A pretty happy badass too, looks like!

There are live bands and performances and I will listen to anything as long as it’s not death metal but I thought this sign was pretty funny. (Translation: The more you drink, the better they sound).

We had a drink. Five minutes later, because of that fucking hood that blocks all my side vision, I almost poke my eye out by running into a lantern. Go me.

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So here is a thing that happens: Because your friend knows how to make amazing costumes you look like you know what you’re doing. This makes the photographers at an event want to take your picture. The next step is to pretend you know what you’re doing.

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Assassins need to reapply their lipstick too.

Okay, so I see this guy and I basically go: (GASP) “OH MY GOD IT’S THE DOCTOR” I immediately got super-excited because I totally want to go as The Doctor for Halloween this year.

But you don’t even understand, okay? This guy had that shit DOWN. From the outfit, to the facial expressions, to the way he talked: He was perfect.

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I was embarassingly excited and asked him for a picture, he obliged AND he gave 3D glasses. I died.

No, but really. You don’t understand how happy this made me. I just thought I was going to see a few hobbits, an elf and maybe a Daenerys. But there were A LOT of other cosplayers!

I even ran into a female Dean Winchester and she was EVERYTHING.

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After garlic bread with olives and spare ribs from a GINORMOUS GRILL, we cross off the next item on my to-do list: Trying mead.

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Verdict: Weird, but not terrible. Would not order again. Will not become food critic anytime soon either.

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Then I run into The Doctor AND The Doctor and I basically fangirl myself into a stupor before I pretend to be a cool assassin again. HOW cool do these two look, you guys? Honestly.

Then this happens. I don’t know what it is but I want to share it so I’m sure I wasn’t hallucinating the whole thing.

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We meet a bunch of other cosplayers and take selfies with them (The best and worst will be on the Ravenstar Cosplay page, completely out of character I just picked a few normal ones).

The (ADORABLE) one next to me is from Avatar, and the girl next to her is Elizabeth Swan, which made sense if you saw her costume but it’s not in the pic.

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HOLY SHIT IT IS GRU AND THE MINIONS.

(And what do we spot in the lower right corner? Hint: It’s fluffy.)

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…I think she’s from Mad Max? Help?

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I start chatting with another pirate. He shows me pictures of his previous costumes and Castlefests.

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I’m into it.

(Also, spot what’s in the lower right corner once again. People and their props!)
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We walk around some more, have a drink here, chat with people that know my friend and we get photographed wherever we go.

I can deal with a camera in my face no problem, but when my friend tells me that on Saturday the count of photographers quadruples, I’m very happy I joined on a Friday, not during the weekend.

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Crazy people hide in bushes.

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It’s now around five o’clock, we’re posing for a couple of photographers and halfway through I’m like “fuck you wig”. This happens (pic by Adriaan Kastelein), and I am now a brunette female version of Edward Kenway.

Also, as soon as my normal hair emerges the photographers roar with enthusiasm and after I see the pictures I do agree with them and some of my friends:  I should NEVER go blonde. The wig IS awesome though.

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Let’s have a muffin.

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I’m not sure how impressive my menacing stare is after I have been happily munching on an apple cinnamon muffin, but a girl can try.

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(photo: Adriaan Kastelein) How absolutely stunning is my friend, right guys?

Around 18:30 we went home, ordered sushi and then I drove back home and finished this report.

Cosplay verdict: Really fun. It’s dress up in your favorite fangirl and nerdy stuff, you pose for a couple of pictures and you talk to other nerds.

Castlefest verdict: the vibe is really nice, the food is good and it’s a great place to go and watch people.

I’m pretty sure for me, 60% of today was that I LOVED this outfit. I have loved it on my friend forever, as it was so spot-on and perfect and I loved wearing it. I would not have liked today as much if I had just been in a half-assed anything. If you’re going to do this, you gotta go the whole nine yards and get yourself an amazing costume. Plus, it was really fun to pose together, so I’m excited to see our assassin/demon hunter pictures together.

Might do it again. Might even try to make something. Who knows. I don’t think it will be as epic as the Edward Kenway, but I would love to geek it up in something custom-made some other time.

Okay, enough nerdgasms for one day. Tomorrow I’m doing Pride with GirlsLove2Travel so that should be fun too. Just normal fun in regular clothes though, if I show up in Edward Kenway I’m pretty sure they won’t let me on the boat. Dresscode violation.

Report on that Sunday morning. Gonna catch some sleep now, bye.

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10 comments

  1. Awesome report! You almost got me excited to try it out as well sonetime. And I agree on the blond hair thingie, you just rock being a brunette!!

  2. Ommggg deze post was fantastisch!!! Ik vind het blonde heel mooi staan! Maar ja.. blauwe ogen en bruin haar is toch ook wel heeel erg mooi.
    En ommggggg the doctor! Waaaauw! ok genoeg enthousiasme en uitroeptekens voor 1 comment.

  3. Ik had het verslag al gelezen gisteren, maar wat een onwijs leuke outfit! Blond staat je erg goed! Vrijwel ieder jaar ga ik naar de Elf Fantasy Fair (denk nu 6 of 7 keer geweest), maar verkleed gaan durf ik nog niet haha! Ik zou heel graag verkleed willen gaan als iemand uit de serie The Tribe (van vroeger), Game of Thrones of The Walking Dead :).

  4. Ooooh, ik herkende the doctor gelijk! Hij was tot nu toe ook elk jaar op Imagicon, waar die de cosplaywedstrijd won. En terecht, want hoe hij zich kleedt en wat hij allemaal doet is echt geweldig.