A while back, I was invited to Florida
Super Con to judge a qualifier for the cosplay Central
Crown Championships. But I'd never been to Florida
Super Con before and I quickly learned that
while the Crown Championships are awesome, that the con itself is a little different
to most cons that I go to. And as I rode past
the front of the convention center and went down the block to a hotel
above a taco place. The biggest problem with Florida Super
Con reared its head for the first time. That being there is no attached hotel
for the Miami Beach Convention Center, which will become
a much bigger problem later. But for Thursday night I had friends
arriving and badges to obtain. I made it and so did Tulin
He only got a little bit squished. The other judges are not in this hotel. They're in a different hotel. But I'm in this hotel and this particular
room is above a taco restaurant. And the way you get in
is you walk through the taco restaurant. So I'm going to have to walk through
the taco restaurant in my cosplays. You're welcome. Taco restaurant. So that's going to be a thing.
But here's the room. It's pretty small. The size of this room
would not be a problem. But because Joe could not come,
I did invite Pins and Snip to come. They are bringing their cot. They have a bunk bed cot. So the cots going to have to go like here. So the room is about to get much
smaller than it is, but friend times yay. With Pins and Snip in tow. We made our way through the lovely streets
of Miami to take a short
two block walk to the convention center. Okay, how do we get in? That way? Thank you. Only to discover that you can't enter the convention center
from the side we were on. Convention Center Drive? Do we have to walk all the way around it? I figured you could walk in here. Because they only had one entrance
open on one side for the security. But we got kind of lucky
and ended up walking right inside when somebody walked out. So for at least this time, we got to walk
over to the con in the air conditioning. This was the only time this happened. Every other time we went to the con,
we had to walk all the way around the Miami Beach Convention Center
in the hot and humid Miami weather. I guess we could have walked
the other way. Yeah we're going to go that way
next time. Yeah. This feels kind of apoc-apoc- apocaliptic. You know what it is? You know what it is like right here? It's a ~Liminal Space~. Yeaaaaaaah. but once we got all the way around
to the other side, we grabbed our badges and made our way
into the dealer's room to go see my booth. Because I had a booth at this con. This was my first one. Oh, my God. This is cute. Innit? Oh, yeah, I'm right. I'm right here. Oh, no. This set up is so cute. Sarah, that reminds me of the oil painting
you made. Oh, my God. It really do be looking like that. And we found my booth
nestled in between the already set up booths of my fellow judges, Avera Cosplay
and Dovah Designs, two incredibly talented
and incredibly professional cosplayers. I think you'll see that all the cosplayers at the con
were incredibly, incredibly professional. Anyway, here's this being stupid
with the empty famous people booths. Bye sarahhhhhh. Yall there's a Segway. Hey, a Segway. You know what that means? This video is sponsored by Kitsch. So now that my hair is pink,
I try not to heat style it. And Kitsch sent me a bunch of their heat
loss curling products. The ones I like the most are the Satin heatless curling set,
and the pillow rollers. The Satin set is really easy to use. It's just this one long tube,
which I also like because it means I will not lose any rollers. All you do is
wrap your damp hair around it through the ends
with the little scrunchies it comes with, which have also become
my favorite scrunchies, because they're satin
like the rest of the set. So they don't like frizz up your hair
and then you leave them overnight. And I actually leave my curlers
in way longer than overnight. I'll do like 16, 20 hours. The satin set is what I have done
to my hair today, though, and I feel like it's really easy to sleep in. And because I leave my curlers
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I did really like the pillow rollers. You get six of them and they come
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this video. Let's go back to Florida Super con. That was a great Segway, wasn't it? It was literally a Segway. Worth running
for. You’re working up the appitite for that fried chicken. Oh fried chicken. So after sprinting for my Segway joke,
that was funny. We headed off to try Raising Cane's
for dinner, which I had never had before. And I really wanted to try it because
everybody says it's better than Zaxby's. But my Raising Cane's review is
it is nowhere near as good as Zaxby's. But it's good. Anyway, that was Thursday. It is Strawberry Day. We are taking my whole costume
to the booth and Pins and Snip have brought a suitcase
to bring the machine in then all of the rest of the booth
stuff is in there. But we have to carry all of it
several blocks. WOO 10 minute walk. A ten minute walk. Let's go. Yeah,
it was much longer than a ten minute walk because we ended up
going around the south side, which is where the construction was,
carrying an entire ball gown and a sewing machine
in a suitcase in the Miami Heat. It was not fun. So when we got to the con,
we were super sweaty. But I set up the booth
and I got into my cosplay and like I said,
this was my first time having a booth. I didn't really know
how it was going to go. The only thing I really had for sale at
the booth was like some patterns. But yeah,
since I didn't have much to sell, I had this idea to bring a sewing machine for the booth to try to teach people
how to sew at the booth. But I didn't know you had to ask for power at a booth
because I'd never had one before. So. But anyway, because we didn't have power,
we just decided to teach people
how to thread the machine instead. I had pitched this idea to Bernina
and they said they would send one. So thanks so much to Bernina. They shipped a crafter down to Miami
for me to use at the booth, which was so kind of them.
So thank you so much Bernina. Check out the link in the description. Bec is ready bec here. Go. Oh my god. I'm shaking too much! You can do it. I like how it's not timed. I like how it's not timed. But she she's rushing
Ive done this timed before so im like maybe it's timed
so I wanted to rush. Oh my god I cant see! use the light. They didn't give us power. I wasn't aware
that you had to ask for Power Yeah! Yeah! You can do it. I think I'm missing a step here. Oh, wait, wait. Good you did it right! Yay! Also, here's me getting gifted. Some beautiful miku art from Jollychi. It's so cute. im gonna cherish this forever. Thank you so much. That was really sweet. Yeah, that was really sweet.
But Go record Michael Jackson. Oh, my God. We've been sitting here
watching Michael Jackson. He’s still going. Hes on his second song. Why do i have to record Michael Jackson? They want me to go over there. These two want me to go over there
and record that man. He's on his SECOND SONG. All right. Okay. I will walk over there and get Michael
Jackson, y'all give commentary on what you think about me getting michael
jackson Allright Sarah is on her way. She's on the move. She's goin, And guess who’s still going? Michael Jackson. He's dancing,
he's spinnin. He's got the same moves
sets over and over again. At first I thought it was like
an actual choreographed song, but he's just doing the same,
The same three Michael Jackson moves. He's working the crowd. He's
working the crowd. He’s doing a walk
He can't see him at all anymore. He's behind a pillar. Sarah's got it, though. we can see sarahs pink hair. Wow. It's exactly what I expected. (smooth criminal playing) Oh, he's done. He's stopped. He has stopped. That is the end. His second song.
He did it. Woo, everybody's clapping.
Is there going to be a third? Who knows? Pins is back. What’s happening. (alarmed) What's happening!? Michael Jackson just did a performance. Are you Michael Jackson now? Oh s___ He's doing a third! He's doing a third! He is doing a third number. Oh, it's Thriller. Wait, is he actually singing? No, he's just somebody handed him
like a fake microphone. Like,
do we think that he's exclusively booth so he can do these Michael Jackson
performances? Wait, is that his booth? I dont know. We thought that wasn't his booth. He was walking and he started singing and dancing, he's
not affiliated with the board game booth! I like my reality better. Like that's his board game booth? Do I do
I believe he's a random person? Yes. But is it funnier
if he has an entire business so that he can perform it on Michael
Jackson performances? Yes. So that's the reality
im gonna live in. Isn’t Thriller like a ten minute song? It's Long. He handed off the microphone, He's
doing the dance. I was there
when someone handed him the microphone. HELLOOOO! Sorry We enthralled by Michael Jackson. It's become pretty clear
that Michael Jackson was just over there, but with lots of people having learned
how to thread a machine and speculations
had on some random cosplayer and as my giant water bottle ran empty,
we called Friday Done. I didn't have a coffee cup,
so it's a wine glass full of coffee. Saturday was the day of the contest, so we hung out at the booth for a little bit
and pins and snip were in there. Beautiful squishables
Valentines day plauge outfits. I love these. They also did the Christmas ones. You don't know what the squishables
plagues are. What are you doing with your life? They are so popular already anyway. After a while it was time for Dovah, Avera
and I to go get locked in a room for a bit for pre-judging. I'm missing the furry meet up. I don't get to go
because I have to go back here. Prejudging is a thing that happens before the stage show
and it's done in cosplay contests so that the judges have a chance
to look at the costumes up close because that's the real meat
and potatoes of a costume contest is looking at the actual craftsmen
ship of the costume. And one like this
there is a stage presence element. So we have a relatively good idea about
who's going to win before the stage show. But then we don't actually fully decide
until we actually see the stage. Anyway, I was the needlework judge,
so I was looking at all the sewing. Usually the first thing I'll do is I'll go around to the back of the costume
and flip over the hems. I do that first because it tells you a lot about the costumes,
so there's a million ways to finish a hem properly. So I'm just looking for
any number of them. The bottom of Misstaurus.cosplay_art’s
hems were both bag lined and top stitched,
so there were no right edges in sight. That's kind of the big thing
I'm looking for. A raw edge is basically just where you cut the fabric
and then you don't do anything to it. That's bad because that means the fabric is fraying
and over time that fraying will get worse. And that is not a super
well constructed costume. Another big thing I look at is
if techniques are done properly. So take Paladin Mable here. They had some really beautiful
mitered corners with bias tape on their Lumine cosplay,
and that shows me that not only do they know how to use bias tape,
but they also know how to use it properly. And they took the time
to get those corners totally perfect. The other stuff I'm looking at is fit
and patterning so take this Alice cosplay. While it's a relatively simple design,
it was entirely hand patterned and it fit her perfectly and that tells me that this person knows
how to tailor a costume to themselves, but also knows
how to pattern an entire cosplay. And that is a whole skill set on its own. And you cannot see this. But all over the costume
she had done these little tiny hands stitching details to match the character
and it was just so beautifully and perfectly done
and such an intricate part of what looks like a very simple cosplay,
but is actually pretty complicated. This Elden ring costume
from Sunlight of Astora was mostly armor, so I didn't have too much to look at. But this is a good example
of when raw edges are kind of okay. In the game, this armor set has these
long, red, shredded fabric pieces, and on the costume they weren't
just cut at like a jagged angle. He'd actually shredded them
to match the shredding in the game. So it worked really well. And while it is a raw edge,
there was still work put into it to get it to look the way it should. And I just have to show you this, Cruella
because the other big thing we're looking at
is variety and complexity of technique. And this Curella design is a great one
because it has this long train with all these ruffles that she herself had hand
cut all of those strips of tulle and they were beautifully ruffled
on to the train. But on top of that, she also has a really well tailored
jacket and jackets are not easy. There's a reason why you've never seen me
make a blazer before. They're really complex and difficult
and really hard to get the fit right and hers fit beautifully. But this was a relatively small
qualifier as well. We only had 16 contestants to look at,
but that's pretty understandable considering
that there is no attached hotel and that all of these people
had to get to the con in one way or another with their cosplay
in the hot and humid Miami weather. And I don't know
if you've ever worn EVA foam before, but it's foam
and it doesn't breathe at all. It's like the hottest thing
you can wear ever. So all of these people
not only suffered to make their cosplays, but they also suffered just getting to us
to show us their cosplays. But with everybody prejudged, it was decision making time,
which is always really hard. All of the cosplays were amazing
and it really does come down to tiny little details when it comes
to deciding who places and who doesn't. And I've never done this before,
but for some reason we decided to put all of the papers on the floor
and kind of did like a process of elimination thing
and then argued over a couple people before finally deciding on
what we thought would be our winners. And with that list
handed over to the staff, it was time to get ready for the stage,
which I did at the booth. Again, I just put my Sakizo back on
with no lashes. I'm sorry I'm not wearing lashes
for this part because again, no attached hotel,
but once we were all ready, we got to be a little silly
around the main stage for a minute. What did you pick up? What did I pick up? No, no, turn, turn. Stop stop. Foam? Foam Somebody's foam? What the ___ is that? That looks like it goes
to tech equipment backstage. Yep. Well. Just put It on the table
then when your handler comes back. Can you video this? Oh, I. On the day I went away. (singing) Ready? Here's my impression of Sarah Spaceman
ok ready? a lot of a lot of movement.
A lot of a lot of movement. Really, really awesome. And then FORK . Ready? movement movement movement The pink converse really do make it. They really do. Don't jump. I was going to.
No stage diving. No diving. If you can hop gracefully, I need to pull my tiny skirt up to get my legs out. I'm okay. She’s toddlin.
It was do that or jump. But then it was time
for all the contestants to have their moment in the Sun. Cosplay Crown
Championships is a walk on only style competition,
so there aren't any performances. However, each contestant
basically hands over a little blurb like describing
how their cosplay was made, and the emcee reads
that while they're on the stage. So you can be up on the stage
for quite a while. Anyway, here is all 16
wonderful contestants from the Florida Super Con Qualifier of the cosplay Central Crown Championships. And to crown our champions we’re
gonna bring out judges back to the stage. You ready? Allright the armor category award goes to Bec the Noir Cosplay As Ysera From World of Warcraft (cheering) So the winner of the SFX catagory
goes to Miss Taurus cosplay. For the needlework category. We have Foust as Alice
Little from American McGee's Alice. Ladies and Gentleman we're at our top three Awards. Third place will get a $250 check. Big Check BIG CHECK. Second place will get $500 in the form
of a very Big Check. And first place
is going to get the big Thousand Dollar prize Aksi our first place
winner will be representing the South East At C2E2 with a full trip Chicago to represent us. Guys give it up! All right, guys, we're going to start
with our third place winner. Third place is Brian Heart Cosplay As Loki From the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. In second place, we have a costume that features
I think she said something like a hundred feet of teeny,
tiny little ruffles and it's Fire
Tanner as Cruella from Cruella. Allright we’re at the pivitol moment,
Again, This person who we announce is going to be
the representivie going to C2E2. To be the most Prestigious cosplay contest
in the entire world for the Crown Championship. Okay, so we're going to need a lot of screaming,
a lot of cheering for the winner. All right. You ready? One, two, three. It’s Sunlight Of Astora
As the Tarnished From Elden Ring. So I've actually competed
with and judged sunlight before. He was awarded second place at Dreamhack
last year for this same cosplay. And normally that is not allowed. Normally
you're not allowed to enter a costume that's already won a prize before, but Crown championships
does not have a rule like that. So in this case, that's fine. Anyway, I've been competing with this guy
for years and he has never won a best in show before
and not to put him on the spot, but I speculate that that shaking might be sobbing behind that chain mail. Well done, friend. And yes, before you ask, I actually know
a bunch of people in this comp. That's usually how it goes because we're not a huge community,
so we kind of all know each other. I've competed with Miss Taurus before. I've competed with Mabel before. Bec is my discord mod.
But I'm fair and honest. I would never give an award to somebody
just because I knew them. And in fact, I would say, if I know you,
I am more critical of you because I probably know your body of work
and I know what you can do. But also, that's that's why
there's three judges for fairness. Anyway, here's everybody
celebrating backstage. And with the competition done,
our crew headed back to the hotel for an iconic Pins
and Snip style con dinner. Okay, this is the traditional
Pins and Snip hotel meal. This, first of all,- It really is-
crucial. Crucial is the rice cooker, right? Second step is the tuna creations packets. I'm going to Thai chili. And then also that makes it amazing. Complete Meal. We might go to the emo rave,
This will be my emo look. is this shirt. It's the pin snip
cosplay dinner, Con dinner of champions. Is it really a con
if you didnt eat rice?did you really go to a con
if you didn't eat rice and a tuna packet? It’s emo rave time, spooky. On our way to the emo rave
we met back up with Dovah and Avera. TRASH! Oh, I thought you were looking at me. (laughing) TRASH! Anyway, we finally got over to the rave
and I like I don't go to many raves, but the idea of an emo rave was like,
okay, this has to be good. And guess what it was. This rave started at like 11
and ended at like 1 a.m., I think. And we stayed the entire time. I have never done that before,
but they were playing like every emo hit of the 2000s and 2010s
and we were all just dancing like idiots to all of these songs that we all love
and just having a blast. And I loved this. This was my favorite thing
of the whole con. This was the best rave I've ever been to,
and I really wish we had emo raves in Atlanta because this was awesome. If they dont end on black parade
im gonna riot. (entire room of people singing welcome to the black parade) And the non believers the plans that they have made Are we skipping? Ill skip with you. Can you do the Wizard of Oz? Uhhhh we’re off to see the wizard-
Yeah I dont know how to do that. Oh she’s skipping, she’s off
to see the f__in wizard (laughing) So the emo rave ended and we all were
all walking back to our respective hotels and well what's about to happen started because Pins started doing this
art teacher bit. ALLRIGHT
we gotta stop at the first art piece! We have to look at all
the art pieces? YES! Where they'd walk up to these weird statues that were at the back
end of the convention center. And we're like,
What does this make you think of? And they're all like,
Really suggestive statues. And so Avera starts doing stuff
that I can't even show you. And I just I all I have to say
is that this is Pin’s fault and that I did not condone
or encouraged this behavior. But here's a bunch of professional
cosplayers climbing on top of art. Oh, my God, Tim. Is that allowed? He did it, though. Tim NOOOO. Woooo Ill never let go jack. Dont you say your goodbyes. I don't. Okay, this is your fault. Yeah it is. You did this. It’s really the cons fault
for closing at 2am.. If he dies, who's going to go to Chicago? I'll go. Ok. Oh, Curella goes. Oh yeah runner up. If Tim dies, who's going to run cosplay
repair? I'll do it. You can do that. Tim, if you die,
can I have cosplay repair? Yeah. K What is on there. Oh, she fell down, down. It is Sunday morning and it is Tulin day It is my baby boy's debut after, like, two and a half months of work,
the public will finally get to see him. Do a figure 8, what was that? What was that. So, yeah, if you saw the Tulin video,
you already saw me running around being a bird. But I just wanted to play you
some of the live audio from some of these clips
because some of it is just golden. NEAAAAR, FAAAAAR
whereEVER You ARRREEE. Do you want us to die? I guess titanic jokes are a little Yeah titanic jokes aree already too soon again.Are they? (one person) Cacaw (several people) Cacaaaaaaaw Tulin, Tulin, Tulin. that’s not your food. (group of people yelling Tulin and bird)
OH my GOd its the biiiird
We have a friend who loves you so much. That’s our friend, Gabbie come here!
That’s our friend! Oh my god it’s tulin.Oh my god its tulin
Hi tulin. I've had a very good day as a bird. I love being a bird. I cannot wait to be a bird again. 10/10 bird I'm a ten out of ten bird look at that wingspan. Look at that wing span I would like to continue being a bird,
but it's time to go home now. It’s sarah nakey
time, its sarah nakey time I'm literally wearing shorts
and a shirt under this. Sarah nakey time. It's nakey bird time bird time. They were literally playing closing time. Everybody's packing up.
It's the end of the week. This has been the most wild
con I have ever been to ever. But we did it, my very first booth. And also I learned
that I love being a bird. That's it for Florida Super Con. I'll see you back in Atlanta. So it's not lost on me that
there are plenty of parts in the world where cons are not held in places
where there's attached hotels. I'll see you back in Atlanta. I know that, but like every con I go to. If you don't want to go outside,
you don't have to. So I'm very spoiled in that aspect. But like Florida supercon is really fun. The staff
that I interacted with were amazing. The Emo rave was incredible
and they have a qualifier for the Crown Championships,
which is just awesome. So I really liked the con,
but I really didn't like the venue. And that said, I did learn
that the construction that we walked past was them actually building
an attached hotel for the Miami Beach Convention Center. So once they build that,
I would absolutely come back. It is Miami in the middle of July, and it's a little too much heat for me. And I, I grew up in Georgia,
not not north Georgia. I grew up in south Georgia. Okay. I'm used to hot
and it was too hot for me then. Anyway, thanks so much for watching. I hope you liked this video
and if you did, you should break a needle on that like button or comment
or send the video to a friend or your mom because those things
help support the channel. And if you want to support the channel
directly, you can check out my Patreon. But if you're just likeing commenting,
watching, subscribing or sending the video to your friend or mom, but especially subscribing,
then you are supporting the channel too. You really are. So thank you. Bye!
