So I have a tattoo.

If you aren’t in the know…that’s Legend of Zelda related.

Today while talking with a customer about Dragon Age. Customer was curious about the new game, so I was telling him I was reading the books. “It has books?”

“Oh yeah! It has books, comics, even a dice based role play game.”

After the customer left, my coworker asked me why I don’t have a Dragon Age tattoo yet.

You know…Because getting a tattoo is just that easy.

What do I get? I mean, Dragon Age doesn’t exactly use one symbol that sums up the whole game. The dragon is different for each game! My Zelda tattoo is a Goron symbol…so maybe a symbol from the series? Which one? Hawke’s estate? Warden griffin? Mabari? Templar logo? [which is different in Origins then DA2] Chantry? Seekers? Inquisition? Kirkwall’s city symbol? Maybe one of the markings from the fade?

Where do I get? I need it somewhere that can be covered for work. Will it balance with my current tattoo? If I get cold, will my sleeves rub it and cause me to get an infection? Will the area get too much sun? Do I put it on the same arm as my current tattoo or on the other arm? My shoulder? My back? How big will it be? Will it stretch weird if I try to look at it in the mirror?

Who will do it? I live in a small town and the tattoo artist buildings don’t inspire confidence. How good are they? Can I compare what they did on a person to the reference they were given? How much do they cost? Do they have healthy tattoo conditions? Will they use the same ink as my first tattoo?

I need to point out…My tattoo I have now. I started planning that design when I was 13. I got it when I was…like 25? If I still liked a design 12 years later, then yeah. Get that sucker. You don’t just go out and get a tattoo. That’s how you end up with a tattoo you regret. Maybe I’ll start THINKING about a Dragon Age tattoo. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get a Dragon Age tattoo in like two or three years, but not now.

Also, I’m scared of needles. It took having a friend sitting beside me as moral support and promises of ice cream for being brave to get a tattoo of a design I’ve wanted for over a decade to get my first tattoo. It will take a lot for me to get another one.

This weekend was my very first Anime Boston. I had a BLAST. I mean it. I had a wonderful con, even if Sunday went a little badly for me [sorry to anyone who saw me in the second half of the day on Sunday. Really sorry]

Thursday I got me meet our roommates Joe and Saddie. They were both Zelda geeks like me so I had a lot of fun talking to them about the games and I got to see Joe’s original Super Link cosplay. It had so many little details that had origins in all the different games, like Majora’s Mask on the shoulder guards and Midna’s swirls sewn into the fabric of the tunic. Joe’s costume was finished right down to the wire, so his mom dropped off some of the final details around 3am, so no one [not even Joe] had seen the finished product until Friday morning when he put it on the first time.

Friday I was a Hufflepuff and acted as Frank’s pack mule since his costume didn’t have pockets. Since I had Frank’s wallet and phone, I couldn’t risk being apart from him too long, so I only got to talk to Willow in artist alley for a little while on Friday, but he promised to stay in one place long enough for me to go for without him so I could hit up a panel I really wanted to go to.

I got to meet a lot of Frank’s friends and we hung out with them a lot since he only gets to see some of them once a year. I really liked Zack and Maggie, who we spent most of the weekend with, so I liked spending time with them. Frank calls them his “Type Moon” buddies, so they naturally had heated debates with Frank about Fate Zero and the various Fate Stay Night endings.

We also spent a lot of time with Chris and Becky in Artist Alley…and by “a lot” I mean that I never got a proper look around any time we went in there. Each time we were in Artist Alley, I tried to drop in on Willow or we were at Chris and Becky’s booth. I tried to look around once, but only made it to one booth of anyone I didn’t know. I had to bite my tongue the whole time we were with Chris and Becky though. I want to ask Becky about a costume commission, but she had a stress attack recently trying to finish some commissions before Anime Boston, so Frank told me to wait until after con. I went the whole weekend without mentioning it.

Saturday I helped Frank get into his Gilgamesh armor. He finally had pockets, so he kept his own phone. This afforded me a little more freedom to wander, but I was still in charge of his wallet. Also, I could count the number of people I know at the con on one hand. Frank, Willow, her sister, the daughter of one of my old coworkers, and two people from my gaming club. I mostly stayed attached to Frank’s hip just in case.

Saturday, I only had one panel I really wanted to go to…A Majora’s Mask panel. I was devastated when they shut the doors to the panel before I even got close enough to see the door, so Frank texted me and told me to join him in the line for the panel he wanted to see. I really didn’t want to go, but I’m glad I did in the end. I got to meet some more of Frank’s friends and we befriended this Mako cosplayer who sat next to Frank in the panel. With all the jokes flying around, I had assumed he was already a friend to Frank, Zack, and Maggie, but nope. They met him in the line while I was trying to get in to Majora’s Mask. He was awesome though.

We also got to meet up with a Fate Zero group Frank is friends with. Lindsey and her…fiance? Boyfriend? Husband? Um…And her Joe [not my roommate Joe] were Saber and Rider. And there was Dave, who was really awesome Lancer. We spent a good chunk of the day with them. Frank ended up buying a round of drinks for Maggie, Zack, Mako, and his whole Fate group. Racked up $100 bill at the bar. OUCH.

I was a Hufflepuff again on Saturday, but this time I got love! A Ravenclaw at the mall food court told me my Hufflepuff costume was better then her Ravenclaw, but we had the same skirt so we actually looked like we went to the same school. Then in the Dealer’s Hall, a Slytherin and two Gryffindors saw me and flipped out since I was the first Hufflepuff they’d seen. They wanted some pictures with me and we all made jokes about Hufflepuff house, but when the Slytherin made fun of me directly, I told them “No one suspects the Hufflepuff. We can find the best places to hide the bodies” and walked off. He apologized when I ran into him again later.

My costume also got a lot of love from the police at the bag check. One lady even requested to be the one to check my bag so she could talk to me without holding up the line. In fact, I was mostly noticed by non cosplayers. Frank said it was because cosplayers see a school uniform and try to place the anime, while anyone else sees the uniform and thinks Harry Potter.

I had a little worse luck on Sunday. By the end of the weekend, my bones were starting to hurt and shortly after cosplay chess, I was in so much pain, I started to cry. The left side of my left knee was also completely purple and tender to the touch. I have NO IDEA what happened to it. It sucked because I had been having fun and if I hadn’t been in pain, I know I’d have enjoyed spending more time with Zack and Maggie. I met up with Willow in her Rider cosplay and she got some pictures with Frank.

Oh. And I hit a little kid with a bathroom door and made them cry. The stalls couldn’t lock, so this kid kept trying to push my door open. Third time they did it, I slammed the door and whacked the kid in the face with the door. The mom was horrified I’d weaponize a door on her child, but had no problem with a small child walking in on people who weren’t wearing pants.

I had a great weekend over all. I met awesome new people, some are even local! Zack and Maggie apparently only live just outside Boston. I spent my whole budget for the weekend in the Dealer’s Hall. A vender was selling his Fate Zero figures at the wrong price. The sticker had fallen off the box, so he was selling them cheaper then he should have. I naturally took advantage and got five of them. I got two Sabers though, which made me sad, but Frank thinks I can use it as a Player figure in Pokemon…which works.

So I took Frank to Party City on the Thursday before Anime Boston to get a wig cap for his Gilgamesh costume, but while we were in the check out line, I saw these Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time party invitations. I naturally bought a pack.

Now I need to have a party so I can use them. They had plates, cups, and napkins too. So I think it should be a Zelda party. OH! With a Zelda cake! I can use my tiny Wind Waker figures as cake toppers. And we can all play Zelda games together. I’ll bust out my N64.

There were only eight in a pack, which means I can only invite eight people…but if I go back to get plates and napkins and cups, I could just get another pack.

Hello Zelda fandom!

So my boss put me in charge for our Legend of Zelda midnight release! I wanted to make our midnight so awesome all the other stores are jealous of mine and cry when they realize I don’t work for them.

I spent a good amount of time brainstorming with my best friend and got some great ideas, but there is a limit on how much Game Stop can reimburse me for decorations so a lot of what I’m doing will be coming out of my own pocket. I’m mostly dealing with this by making most of the decorations that the store can’t pay me back for stuff I can also use as props for cosplay later or things I can put up in my own room after the launch is over…

But that’s decoration. I wanted to ask you, the Zelda fandom, what YOU would enjoy from a Legend of Zelda midnight event? What would make the experience worth it to you to stand around until midnight? I’m looking to get as many ideas as I can so I can take a list to my boss and see how much I can get approval on.