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Otakuthon 2015

15/9/2015

For several years I was going to one convention per year in Québec, between Con*Cept, Anticipation, Otakuthon, and G-Anime, but this year was the first time in a while that the timing to make the trip worked out! I was able to get the time off, and volunteering for WCS Canadian Preliminaries staff helped with the cost, and I had a great time ^_^

Friday was a very long day, starting with settling into the WCS greenroom before 8 am and not getting back to my hotel room until well after midnight. Most of the day backstage was pretty boring since my job was to guard the props belonging to the WCS entrants, but I did have good company from the rest of the staffers ^_^. Things got more interesting once workmanship judging started and I was a more active Den Mom and runner. Even then, most of the teams had brought their own designated helper, so greenroom emergencies were few and far between. Some pretty ridiculous photos might eventually surface of Kurumasha and I helping Melting Mirror with her wings though! I say it every Anime North, and I'll say it again now... I like working masquerade Greenrooms. I like being helpful and giving back to the community with my time and energy, and I like having the chance to interact with all the cosplayers. The show itself didn't run late into the night, but we stayed behind until all the entrants had left, just to make sure that the room was fairly tidy. Then we had a late-late dinner with friends. Then back to the hotel. It was a really really long day.

Saturday and Sunday, on the other hand, were all about just bumming around the Palais des congrès in costume! Saturday was Cersei and included a private shoot with Elemental, and Sunday was Postal Twili Midna and I spent a lot of the afternoon keeping an eye out for Legend of Zelda cosplayers (and other awesome people) to hand out mail. Didn't got to any panels or workshops or concerts or game shows - I literally just walked around the con enjoying cosplaying. And while it wasn't terribly exciting, it was really nice to spend a couple of days doing that without trying to rush anywhere. And since I spent lots of time being visible, I even showed up in a bunch of photographers' galleries and a couple of cosplay videos!

Unfortunately, neither costume was particularly good for keeping my own camera accessible, so I barely have any photos of my own! In fact, the only one of note is the selfie I took with an older gentleman on Saturday night; partially because I think he makes an awesome Maester (although that wasn't what he was cosplaying), but also because he was very nice, polite, and actually a con attendee. He was the kind of person I needed to run into after having two consecutive encounters on my way into the building with men who didn't have the first clue about anything geeky and just wanted to hit on women in costumes. It definitely wasn't the most pleasant way to end my Saturday night at the con, but unfortunately it's one of the realities of an event where the lobby and outdoor areas are open to the public and in a busy part of the city.

In any case, overall I had a great weekend hanging out with a lot of friends, wearing less "casual" cosplay than at most other cons this year, and eating lots and lots of BBQ pork buns (that's what happens when staying in the hotel in Chinatown hahaha). I stayed in Montreal an extra day after Otakuthon ended which was fantastic for just getting to chill, eat awesome food, and enjoy the weather walking around the city. If its possible to join staff for WCS Preliminaries again next year, I'd happily go back.