From Dipoli with love

The Europe's largest annual independent, non-commercial roleplaying-game convention Ropecon was held 10.-12.8. in Espoo, Finland, in congress centre Dipoli. (The name comes from the Finnish word roolipeli and should be pronounced accordinly, but as long as I'm not there to hear it, go ahead and butcher it with English pronunciation if you want. ;P) While the focus of the event is on "ordinary" & live action role-playing games, wearing a costume from massively multiplayer online role-playing game seemed appropriate. After all, various kinds of creatures ranging from elves, hobbits, ninjas and pirates to death gods, cat girls and super heroes (and even a lone tetris block) were present.

The inspiration for the costume came from some clothes Pasifika recieved as a gift a good while ago in Vana'diel. The Fisherman's set looks both comfortable and very nice - not to mention 'not too complicated to actually make it' - so it was an easy choice. This year, the overall themes of the event were romance and teamwork, so the weapon of choice is Charm wand +1 and headgear obviously Bridal corsage... or it could be Lilac or Gala corsage, who knows without checking? ;)

Some parts of the original Fisherman's tunica look like they could be made of metal, but because I have only clothraft skills and not golsmithing, it's all made of cloth - and the Charm wand is mostly fabric, too. ^^; Saturday was a warm day, so the boots and the gloves had to go after a while. (Besides, wearing the gloves conflicted with having the Ropecon wristband equipped, which allowed access to the event buildings when shown at the door. x)

You'd think I'd attract a lot of attention in my costume, but like I already mentioned, I was one among many costumed con guests. Although there was a separate event for anime fans few weeks earlier, costumes from popular anime series were everywhere... shinigami from Bleach, ninjas from Naruto, and many others wandered around the event site, mingling with the more role-playing game oriented costumes. (Look, it's the team from Prince of Tennis on a tennis court near Dipoli! ->) Only few came up to me to ask/talk about my costume, and none of them recognised it... but that was kind of expected. I was a bit upset about one guy guessing I'm some kind of fairy godmother, though, but I guess it was the Charm wand that threw him off the track. XD

One of my favourite members of the Ropecon staff is the Interested Rock (Kivi jota kiinnostaa). Sitting on the information counter, the Rock always has a warm smile for me even when the busy and possibly quite uninterested members of the staff just buzz around. I had thought that the Rock would be - like the Galka - of no particular gender, but this year's theme proved me wrong. After spending the first day of the event alone, the Interested rock was joined by a very feminine-looking rock that, according to the sign, was interested in the Interested Rock. Aww.... go Rock! :D

There was a lot to do and see at Ropecon. One of the highlights for me was the historical /historical style dances ball, where tens of dancers gathered together on the dance floor - and during some of the most popular dances the number definitely went up to 3 digits. Usually I've had a medieval-style gown for the ball, but the Fisherman's outfit didn't in any way prevent the lords from coming up to me and asking me to dance with them. ;D Hmm... I'm not in any of the pictures from the ball, though, so... even if there are no screenshots, you just have to take my word for it. x) There was also other kind of dancing... I saw a bunch of people perform the Badgerbadgerbadger-dance at the lobby in the main buiding. XD (There ->)

After the closing ceremony of the event, I was pretty tired... if only returning home could be this easy... x)