Attending my First Con at PAX South 2020 Cosplaying as Kitana
Well Bombshells, I finally did it. After months of anticipation, I finished building out my first cosplay and attended my first convention ever! For a long time, I always wanted to attend a convention, but never had the opportunity to go. After I graduated from college, I moved back home and found out PAX South was held in my hometown which I never knew was a thing. I knew about PAX East and West, but once I learned about PAX South, I, unfortunately, missed it. Therefore, I knew all year I was going to attend in 2020 and finally get a chance to see what PAX is all about. So now my Bombshells, I wanted to tell you about putting together my first cosplay and experience at PAX.
KITANA COSPLAY
Costume purchased from cossky.com included top, bottoms, sleeves, gloves, and armor
Even though PAX isn’t the most heavily cosplayed event, it is welcomed and I was in no way missing an opportunity to dress up. I love to dress up in theme always; I mean I’m the girl in line at the movies always dressed up in theme no matter the occasion. I never fully cosplayed before, but I was determined to have a great costume.
Thinking about who to cosplay as there was absolutely an immediate thought in my mind who… Kitana. Absolutely Kitana. This was going to be my first convention and first cosplay so why not be a character I loved from the first video game I ever played. A simple choice for me really, but there was just one problem. I specifically really wanted Kitana’s costume from MK 11 and I was not finding it anywhere online. I thought the costume design in MK 11 was stunning and showcased strength and beauty without trying too hard. Plus as much as I love Kitana, I wasn’t really trying to wear one of her older looks where I would have all of my skin out. No, thank you.
I still really couldn’t find her MK 11 costume online though so I started making backup ideas. Luckily though after months of searching, a site finally had the costume up for sale and I was set. Unfortunately, though, I would not recommend the site I ordered my cosplay. At the time it was the only site that sold the costume which is why I ultimately chose them. They did not have the best customer service though and reviews I read claimed the company was really a hit or miss when it came to service. For me specifically, my order came way later than expected taking over two months to arrive and customer service was very difficult in communicating with me. All in all, I was happy with the costume, but not a fan of what it took to get it. If you are interested, the site was cossky.com, but there are other sites out there now that sell this costume.
Now since the costume only came the top, bottom, and arm pieces, I still had to worry about the rest of her accessories. For her headpieces, I ordered a simple blue athletic headband from Amazon for $9 and a Japanese hair stick from Etsy for $20. With the headband to be closer to Kitana’s actual look, I would recommend buying a headband that ties in the back or buying a piece of fabric you can tie around unlike the stretch headband I bought if you want the look to be closer to the original. This style of headband works as well, but Kitana does have hers tied. For the hair stick, I found a great shop on Etsy with amazing custom hair sticks in all colors. I highly recommend this shop, but warn it is out of the states. The shipping was not crazy though or the waiting time. The Etsy shop is called CarnevalMefisto and has multiple styles of hair accessories. I ended up with a blue stick with a skull at the end to fit with Kitana being the ruler of Outworld.
The only thing left was the infamous fans. I was not trying to pay an arm and a leg for her fans so I decided to make them myself. I made them as simple as I possibly could just so I could get the basic idea out there. I purchased two blue wooden fans which I then painted the wood silver. For the blades, I went to Michael’s Craft Store and purchased sheets of silver card stock from the scrapbook aisle. I then illustrated the blades in Illustrator and cut them out using my Cricut machine. After that, I simply just glued the blades to the fan making sure I attached a blade on the front and back sandwiching the fan in between. If you are interested in my illustrator file for the blades, feel free to comment below or send a message on the contact page and I can send it to you for free.
PAX SOUTH 2020
Now that my cosplay was finished, I was all ready for PAX. I’ve heard stories from others who have gone, but being that it was my first, I wanted to go in with no expectations. I truly wanted to go, check things out, make new friends, and see what everything was about. I didn’t have many plans to play or participate in much but more to observe everything that was happening. I did plan ahead some panels and events I wanted to attend, but I stayed pretty flexible throughout the day and played things by ear.
I did only attend on Friday instead of the whole weekend which the way things turned out ended up being the best choice for me. I was disappointed I didn’t get to do more, but I ended up leaving early on Friday due to getting sick so having a whole weekend badge would have been disastrous. I was really more there to get a taste and feel for things which I have to say I was not disappointed. Before getting sick, I really did enjoy myself immensely. From the first moment I walked in till the end, I felt overwhelmed in the best kind of way. I know PAX South isn’t the biggest of most conventions or even in the different PAX, but I was still amazed by everything that made up the event: the people, the vendors, games, and more.
Even though there was so much to look at making things overwhelming, the best part of the event was feeling the sense of community and home from everyone. Everyone there could relate in some way and I couldn’t feel judgement in the room. The event itself and the idea of PAX is having something for everyone in the world of gaming whether it be PC gaming, tabletop, console because it’s just gaming. It’s the thing all the attendees enjoy doing and have in common so I loved knowing I was surrounded by people I could relate to. Not even two minutes in and people were asking to take their picture with me which I found to be so much fun. All-day people asked for pictures or high fives and I could hear Kitana being shouted from everywhere which made me feel good people enjoyed my costume. I did end up trolling a couple of people who couldn’t figure out who I was, but that really added to the fun of it for me. The idea was just to meet and talk to new people.
Since I was really trying to live in the moment and went by myself, I, unfortunately, did not get a lot of footage or pictures while I was there. However, I did put together a little montage of my time there you can watch below.
From the expo hall, I purchased a couple of souvenirs to remember my time. I bought a PAX south branded tee and a Mortal Kombat 11 jersey as well as two enamel pins: Wonder Woman and Blake from RWBY.
From my time there, I would say I definitely want to rerun and experience way more conventions in the near future. Now that I finally got my taste of what I could be experiencing, I want to attend other conventions related to my interests and meet more people. Notes I would give myself is that even though going by myself wasn’t the worst, I would enjoy being there more with my close friends especially if I cosplay. I not only want to share the experience with my friends but being in cosplay does make it difficult to take pictures and carry everything so having my photographer there with me would have been helpful. I do also want to try and experience a full weekend of an event including after parties so I can be a part of everything. If I do this though, making sure I am taking care of myself and resting is important. Either way, I do plan on attending more and I’m already looking into my next con and cosplay.
Don’t let nay-sayers stop you from doing anything you want to do. You’ll never know what you’re missing until you try. Thanks PAX for helping me break out of my shell. See you next time.
Are there any conventions you really enjoy attending? What was your first con? Have you ever cosplayed and as who? Any tips for attending cons? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to like, share and subscribe to get notified of new posts. All you have to do is enter your email on the home page. Also be sure to follow Bombshell’s social media pages: Facebook (@bombshellgamingandstyle), Twitter (@bombgame_style), and Instagram (@bombshellgamingstyle). Thank you guys for all the support and until next time my Bombshells, Bye!
