The Jacket's Arrived!

This weekend is the Nerd Convention, and I am getting excited. Partly because of the event itself, and partly because I will, in fact, be attending in costume. Hooray!

Long story short, I had not brought ANY of my usual costumes to New Zealand. At the time, I thought they would be impractical, and take up space and weight that I would need for stuff I would actually use.

So instead, I packed multiple tank tops. Surely, in the tropical, South Pacific of New Zealand, they would be needed... right?

Wrong. Non-NZ trips aside, the most use I've gotten from the tank tops have been wearing them as an extra warmth layer. Sad, but true. Plus, given Wellingtonian's penchants for dressing in costume at any opportunity, I now know I would have gotten good use of those costumes.

Meanwhile, part of Karla's plan in coming to New Zealand was to live in a self-imposed video game exile. Meaning, despite all the pretty, shiny, wonderful new games coming out on the market, I am forcing myself to sit down and play all the ones I've already bought, yet not gotten around to playing. So far, it's worked well, and there has been little to no bitterness about the games I cannot yet play... save one.

Xenosaga is the best video game series ever. Its final instalment, Also Sprach Zarathustra, was released in October... and it's been a long, long six months in which I have not bought it.

Anyhow, the main character in Xenosaga is female, which already makes the game unusual. More so because she wears real clothes -- Lord knows that if I ever was unveiling a conspiracy spanning the universe as we know it, I'd be wearing capri pants and flat shoes too!

The coolest part of all, though, is that Shion Uzuki is not a rich, semi-idle heiress like Lara Croft, nor is she a felon, a stripper, or a porn star like the girls of Grand Theft Auto... she's a scientist. More specifically, she is the lead scientist for the most important project in the universes' most prominent R&D organization. Needless to say, she is very smart... but in the true vein of science-types, she is also clumsy, spacey, and at times charmingly socially inept.

A capable, intelligent, self-sufficient and sensibly-dressed woman who's not in any need of a man's rescue? What a novel idea! It's appalling how infrequently characters like this happen in video games.

So, partially to visibly support the creation of such a character, and partially to cope with my pain at not playing the last game, I've been obsessing about dressing up as Shion. I already own most of the pieces of her costume in my regular wardrobe... but I needed the jacket, and without a sewing machine, making it was not an option. Luckily, Ebay came to the rescue, and now I am delightedly putting together the finishing details. I can hardly wait to wear the ensemble to the convention... hooray for cosplay!