Otakuthon 2013 Report: Part II (Saturday + Sunday)

The second part of my Otakuthon con report! ^__^ There were a lot of really nice cosplays but these were the only photos I took myself and mostly they are of those who passed by my table. As usual you can click on the photos to enlarge.

 Kogami from Psycho-Pass!! :D The Dominator lit up and everything, so cool~~

Hanji Zoe! I think Attack on Titan is getting really popular now cause we saw quite a few cosplayers.

And speaking of which here is Jordan cosplaying as Sasha and being in character by being herself.. xD

We saw this Rei (from Free!) cosplayer early Saturday morning and I sort of ran after her to take her photo lol..orz. When I asked for a photo she said, "Do you want me to go all out?" and I said sure, and she removed the jacket and did this pose and everything!! xD For those who don't get it...Rei wears this swimsuit in a segment of the episode where they try on diferent swimsuit and he poses like so. I thought it was brilliantly done! xD

Saw this really nice Danganronpa group! I don't know all the characters' names yet except for Togami, the one with the glasses lol ><

Hoshi and Sister from Arakawa Under the Bridge!! I love this series and this brings back memories of that one year where I saw two Hoshis at Anime North and asked them to sing for me hahah...I saw a Maria too but didn't manage to get a photo of her.

Fanalis..es..from Magi! Masrur & Morgiana~♥ 

Haruka Nanase (from Free!) was with them too so I asked for a picture :) There were actually quite a bit of Free! cosplay going on too, with the actual swimsuits!!! On the last day, another Haruka and Makoto (both guys) walked by but I didn't have a chance to take photos of them...Jordan managed to snap a pic of a Rin and Haru though!! Bahh I think I saw more nice cosplays than I managed to get photos of....I usually end up chasing after them like a crazy stalker..eheh... u_u I just appreciate the effort that other fans put into their costumes and I want to share it, okay? >_<"

Can I repeat how much I love this venue? The con centre has this really nice open space too with lots of nice lighting. There were lots of people gathered here for cosplay shoots!! It made walking around kind of hard though because we didn't want to accidentally photobomb anyone...I only walked out here a little bit and went back into the exhibition centre where I spent most of my time.

This really adorable Armin cosplayer....how adorable is he/she??! *_*

Stephanie also came by, looking super cute as always! She came by my table at Anime North and at Atomic Lollipop but it was a total coincidence to see her here as well! I really love her coordinates and I hope I didn't make a fool out of myself because I kinda look up to her in terms of style haha.. >////<

I found Menma from AnoHana....:u;

Here you can see what I wore for Saturday...in a photo Jordan took of me and a really cool looking Pyramid Head cosplayer :D I am sort of grabbing onto its head but you can't really see..=n=

Took a stalkerish secret photo of members from Seirin's basketball team...(from Kuroko no Basuke) across my table!

Corporal Levi & Christa from Attack on Titan!! I saw a really cool looking short person with Levi's shaved hair cut (not a wig) and they looked really cool, like a real-life Levi. They walked past but I felt bad asking for a photo for some reason...they looked so cool I was afraid they'd say no...because at Anime North a Levi cosplayer said I couldn't take their photo...which is totally cool, but now I'm even more hesitant to make sure I'm not disturbing them or if they seem approachable before asking for photos...>_<

Colossal Titan!!! I was waiting for one of these to show up at a con after seeing so many of them at other cons...I gave him my mini plush and he posed with it! *_* It really made my evening, thank you, whoever you are!!

These two French-speaking girls dressed in adorable fairy kei fashion came by on Sunday morning to show me how they coordinated a bracelet they bought from me the day before into their look...so cute :)

Teikou!Kise and at that moment Kaijou!Kise and Kuroko walked by, so I managed to snap a photo with them in the background too LOL!

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Aoba from DRAMAtical Murder!

Momoi and Riko from Kuroko no Basuke! I love how Riko has the container of lemons in honey. xD

Fem!Takao and Fem!Midorima, also from KuroBasu! Not sure how I feel about gender bending but I was happy to see the orange Shuutoku jerseys!!

Risechhi and Narukami/MC from Persona4!

And that's it! I had to pack up early at around 3pm to catch the bus home because Jordan and I both had work the following morning... and I spent the last few minutes of the con deciding what to spend my money on in the Artist Alley... I wanted to trade my Attack on Titan chibis with others but in the end I chickened out and only traded with like two people, hahah >__>""  I wish I could have stayed longer though because someone came around telling each artist about a trade thing that happens afterwards which sounded really nice!

It was an ordeal getting to the bus station though, and I think it was my fault for not looking at the map that was printed RIGHT THERE inside the Otakuthon program booklet. I consulted with Jess before we left and I knew where to go....yet somehow we got confused West with East so we walked in the opposite direction we were supposed to go in....OTL. After about almost 20 minutes of walking the place didn't look right and we were told that it was in the opposite direction....so in the end I had to ask these two ladies and they told us it'd be better off if we took a taxi because we'd never make it back in time. At this point we walked back to the con centre but we still had to walk 20min and our bus was leaving in 15min. I thought maybe we could make it, because in my experience coach buses were never on time...and I had NO idea how to flag a taxi! But one appeared and Jordan thought it was a better idea just to be safe, despite the fact that I was raging and freaking out cause this was money that we could have saved because of one stupid little mistake....well, it turned out that it was a good thing we took that taxi (despite the driver not even dropping us off where we were supposed to be and getting caught in downtown Montreal rush hour traffic/construction, it really felt like being in New York again..) because the bus was ALREADY THERE. And it left at 5:30, on the dot. We made it just in time and I was so relieved!!! I don't know what would have happened if Jordan wasn't there to keep things calm and think about what's most important...ahh overall, so totally uncool and embarrassing on my part but I'm glad it's over! -__-

On the bus going home!! We bought Megabus tickets but on our ride there we ended up riding a Coach Canada bus that was running 30min late... but on the ride back home we got to ride the double decker Megabus and we sat on the second floor. Lots of leg room but their free WiFi somehow wasn't working at all...

It was really bright because of the windows above but we were so exhausted from lack of sleep for the past three days that we fell asleep after eating. It got dark pretty soon though...

Finally back home! The con package and badges we got were a lot nicer compared to the stuff we got at AN...I really liked the little eco bags.

I forgot to mention that they had some bjd-related events too, as well as a table selling doll things in the Artist Alley. I forgot to take photos, but they mostly had Blue Fairy dolls and other lesser known sculpts. Again, nowhere near as much stuff as Doll North but I was surprised to actually see them there.

I was on the hunt for Attack on Titan prints and bought one from sakimichan. I think I saw the WIP on her tumblr ..and the Dante print was sort of an impulse because of his abs mainly lol. The Eren/Mikasa/Levi print I saw from two aisles away and I forgot the name of the artist >_< but it's probably my favourite print that I got. I also bought a small print of Howl from an artist sitting at the table next to us, though I forgot her name.. >_< her table partner made these really cute clay character charms. I bought some Free! stickers and traded a Eren/Levi keychain with Aki a few tables down from me and I commissioned Linda for an amusing pigeon portrait of cleaning Levi. (btw if you haven't heard of Hatoful Boyfriend, the dating sim game involving pigeons, I highly recommend you watch this Cry Plays on Youtube). Finally, I traded an Eren sticker from another artist I forgot to get the name of...Sigh, I thought I had compiled more loot to show off like I see other people do but sadly this is it. >A<;

Overall what I can gather from my experience from Otakuthon is that in terms of sales, it was decent but nothing compared to Anime North. There was a lot of traffic, but not many people were buying, mostly looking. A larger looking/buying ratio compared to smaller cons like Atomic Lollipop, but maybe people in Toronto just like to spend money? xD Though this is only from my POV because many artists at Otakuthon seemed to have sold out of prints on Sunday and seemed to be doing well, especially those selling Attack on Titan and Free! fanarts.

One thing I do love about Otakuthon is the organization. My e-mails were answered promptly, the sign-in instructions were clear and given well beforehand. Even the sign-up procedure was really smart and there's no need for time-stamped e-mails.

Also, the coordinator went around to each artist and introduced herself to them which I thought was nice. Most of the work was run by volunteers (checking badges, registration, etc.) and they were all very nice and didn't give us any trouble...I can't say the say for AN though where I've noticed that some volunteers are loud, rude and kind of obnoxious...and once they even grabbed my arm to stop me from entering the artist area because he didn't see my artist badge even though it was frickin bright orange... (ahem.....)

But yes...thank you Jess and Laurence for letting us stay over!!! Thank you Jess for taking the time showing us around Montreal, and if we could have stayed longer I would have definitely checked out some sights. If I have the time next year, I would definitely visit again and hopefully be proper table buddies...though right now I have my eyes set on a con in Vancouver that happened the same weekend as Otakuthon this year, where Angelic Pretty was present....but...well...we'll see. ;) As for now...no more cons for me and a much deserved break before I go all-out for school again soon!! It has been a lot fun going to these different conventions because they're all so different and entertaining in their own ways. I am forever thankful to all those who like and support my work!

See you all next time~~!!? ヽ(‘ ∇‘ )ノ