Anime Milwaukee 2020

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This year at Anime Milwaukee was a rush, back at the end of November, I was made the manager of the Masquerade and photo room. It has been a wild couple of months getting ready for the contest this year, we needed trophies, sign-ups, certificates, and most importantly staff. When I received this dept there was nobody, so I had to quickly assemble a team, train everyone, and get the entire show plan written out.

We arrived early this year to have at least some time to relax and get my new dept ready for operations. In the little downtime, we had Dante, Java, Tanoshi and I decided to take photos around the con center while it was still empty. It was so nice getting the place to ourselves and having full control of the area. First I tossed on a casual Bakugou I had been slowly putting together. My favorite part is the necklace as it's an homage to his Halloween design.

Afterward, I did a quick change into Rarity, it was about time I got nice photos in this dress, and the Hilton Hotel is the perfect place for her. We took advantage of the red carpet-esque style of the hotel, with its beautiful staircases, crystal chandeliers, and velvet draping.

Once the photos were all done the crew went down to the Monarch Lounge for a couple of drinks. After such a long first day we needed some time to unwind and take care of ourselves before hell weekend began.

I am so thankful we took that opportunity Thursday night, as once Friday morning hit and we had the office fully functioning. We were constantly running fandom meetups, signing people up for the contest, and assisting our judges Aradia Tombes and Sledgehammer Creative with whatever they needed. It was chaos, but I had the right group of people at my back!! Ian helped with the macro details, Java was killing it signing people up while fielding questions, Allen was our perfect tech guru getting music for each person who didn't bring any, and Shayne was phenomenal at corralling people and moving pace on time.

My highlight of setting up the contest was taking advantage of our theme, "Amke the Thirteenth". Instantly I knew I wanted to combine the horror of the craft world with the most iconic horror piece. Our Black Glitter covered Skulls were born. These were such a hit with our contestants that it has fueled my desire to continue making custom trophies for Amke all the years to come.

Even with the back of the house running and feeling like such a train wreck, all of our feedback was great!! The only real hiccup we had was a contestant falling off the stage. They were thankfully not injured and I'll hopefully be seeing them compete again in the future.

While this Amke was hectic, I am so happy I took over the reins for our Masquerade and hope to continue making it the best show that I possibly can.

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If you missed Amke and would still like to see the show click the video below.