Otakuthon 2015

Otakuthon--my 3rd con of the season! The summer continues to fly by! I have finished constructing all my planned costumes for this season, so now I can sit back and relax for a few weeks!

Photo credit: Don Dolce Photography

The weather was generally very nice for the whole weekend. I didn't mind that it was a bit on the cool side, as I really hate overheating in costume. I haven't attended Otakuthon since 2012, when I debuted my Cosmo costume and wore Alice. I had a much better time this year, and I think should add this con to my regular con season.

Friday: I met up with my travel buddies/roomies early friday at the bus station. The party consisted of Blayke (my boyfriend), Harriet (a friend from school) and Hotaru (Harriet's friend--a Japanese exchange student). We took Megabus in from Toronto and arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon. We checked in to the hotel first and freshened up. We went grab some caffeine and then pick up badges.  After a short stint in the dealers room we grabbed some quick food and then lined up to go see World Cosplay Summit.

I have to say--I was really impressed with the WCS event. The stage was great, and the lights were fantastic. The MC was enjoyable, and handled both the french and english sides well. As for the contestants, I was very impressed with the level of quality of the costumes as well as the onstage presentations. They all did Canada proud! The cosplayer interviews afterwards were delightful, and I hope that they continue this tradition! It was nice to hear the voices of the artists and get a little background information on the contestants and their costumes. Above all, I wish the winners good luck next year at WCS in Japan! Fight-o!

To round off the evening I met up with the Splatoon Squad for a late dinner and went back to their hotel to pick up my armaments for the next day.

Saturday: I was up pretty early to get into costume. Blayke was kind enough to go and grab caffeine for us--and deserves like 10 gold stars and a million hugs for all his help this trip! I wore Vaporeon in the morning, and Harriet borrowed my Alice costume. We checked out the rest of the dealers room before heading off to my first photoshoot of the day. I shot with Elemental, and it really was a pleasure! She found a really beautiful--and secluded--fountain and reflecting pool to shoot my water Pokémon at. She was lovely to work with and I hope to shoot with her again soon--which I actually did later that afternoon! hahaha I went back to the hotel and changed into my Inkling Girl costume for the Splatoon group photoshoot. Both shoots went really well and I am excited to see the photos!

After all that we were sufficiently starving and went to grab a very late lunch. We went back to the con for a bit before rejoining the squids/kids and heading back to their hotel for mask/makeup/costume removal. We had dinner at Reuben's--yum! Then Blayke and I went on an evening adventure to explore old Montréal for a bit.

Sunday: After packing up and checking out, we went to Jardin Nelson for a delicious brunch--crepes! Then we explored old Montréal until it was time to catch our bus to return to Toronto.

Overall I had an excellent con weekend! Looking forward to attending again next year!