The last time I was at G-Anime was 10 years ago, in 2016. Since pandemic restrictions were lifted I've felt I was long overdue for a trip to an Ottawa-area con to visit my friends there, and when Sakizo was announced as a GOH and friends started signing on, it seemed like the obvious choice! That having been said, for me the trip to Ottawa/Gatineau was much more about visiting friends rather than the con itself, so TBH I didn't spend much time at the convention overall.

On Friday I didn't end up going to G-Anime at all; Heavenly Visuals had organized a special on-location shoot at a deconsecrated cathedral (now event venue) which I'm so happy I was able to join! I wore my War cosplay in the interest of y'know, the Apocalypse and all and got a couple of stunning photos out of it from Heavenly and Elemental. Here I'll share the big group shots, as well as a few of my fave photos from my own camera.

On Saturday and Sunday we went to the convention! I didn't go to any panels or programming other than the masquerade (and masq awards), but spent the rest of the time I was there browsing the exhibitors hall and visiting with friends. I wore my Sailor Venus Witch on Saturday (along with Sha, Popfrocks, and Battlefrocks) and was planning to wear Amity on Sunday but ended up ditching the parts of the costume that made it a costume (wig, contacts, ears...) so that was a bit of a fail but I wasn't really feeling the cosplay vibes. The bottom line though is that I had a good time and hope to visit the Ottawa crew again next year! 

I'm working through my back-log of posts! I don't have a whole lot to say about the con because I didn't go to any panels or events and didn't even shoot anything, but I did get to debut my latest casual costume, "flashback" Tizzie from Rat Queens, and I took a handful of photos of my friends and I. Here are my photos from G-Anime this year - mostly selfies and elfies ^_^

So, what you have up there is my convention montage (it's pretty short this time around) and a video review rolled into one. If you'd rather read about my experience, let me sum-up:

Costumes!
Friday I wore my Fluttershy costume, but changed it up a little since I've been wearing her for almost a year now - I re-accessorized to become "hipster" Fluttershy (or Hipstershy, if you will). The fact that Fluttershy is so not hipster just increases the irony factor ;) a couple of pictures of the outfit variant are up in my Fluttershy gallery. I also carried with me the plush parasprite that ShinobiXikyu made instead of toting Angel along.
Saturday was Alice, which I wore at the masquerade with Kurumasha's USO girl. More on that later.
Sunday was Wendy from Gravity Falls, which I premiered at this con. It's a really casual costume, but I had a few friends tell me I did a great job with it, so that' great. And one person who didn't know me recognized the costume as being from Gravity Falls. So that was successful. There will be lots more GF cosplay at the upcoming Con-G and lots of photos too ^_^

Awesome Stuff!
Kurumasha and I won Best in Show Presentation for our skit in the masquerade! We were shocked and really happy. The win has motivated me to try to do some more "just for fun" entries instead of my usual fairly serious plans, but I need more ideas, venues, and costumes LOL. As usual, video of our entry, "The Review" is available on YouTube.
The location was good - I especially appreciated he food court within the building (I ate better at G-Anime than I think I ever have at a con) and that the hallways were wide and there was a lot of tables and seating, which was especially useful since this con was very much a loiter-and-socialize event. Spent most of my weekend hanging out with Kurumasha, Yavarice, Kudrel, Lunnie, CosplayCalamity, MeltingMirror, Dart:DenseBoy, and many other old and new pals. 
Overall I had a great time, even though I only made it to one panel the whole weekend ^_^

Less-Awesome Stuff...
Simply put: the badge-holders sucked. I don't ask for much with badges, but for a relatively professional con to hand out plastic cord to tie through your badge isn't cool. [I have however, heard that they'll be switching to the sweet plastic badges that ConBravo! used last year, so I approve of that] Moving on. 
While the masquerade was generally really well-run, there were hiccups int he registration process which weren't great, in that ahead of time there was little information available in terms of the rules and where/when sign-up would be, and reg was being capped... sorta. Some people were told that the cap was firm and turned away while others were still let in. While I'm reallllly glad that we got to compete and do the skit that we'd been practicing with costumes we'd worked hard on, I feel bad that other people I know weren't allowed in. I hope that the communication in terms of where and when registration is and if there is a cap will be more easily available next year.
There's also the minor gripe that the masq awards were too early on Sunday (10am!) We missed it because we were getting out Sunday costumes on and checking out of our hotel. 11 is better for cosplayers! Or noon! LOL

And that's about it for G-Anime. I'm not sure if I will be able to go back next year since I don't know if I will be able to take the time off, but if I can, I'll definitely go back <3


... but wait, there's more!
When I traveled to Ottawa/Gatineau for the convention, I left a day early to spend some time with my aunt, uncle, and cousin who live in the area. It was really nice to get to see them since we usually only get together on holidays, and it's been over a decade since I have been to their house. We had a lovely dinner at Stoneface Dolly's in Ottawa before going to see Batboy: The Musical at The Gladstone. I'm not going to give a full review of the show; it was OK. I thought some parts were well-done and enjoyable and got that cult-hit, b-movie, tabloid-headline feel just right, but many other parts fell flat. There was some consolation hearing not only my family, but many other audience members express their bafflement over the show as we left, and it made for interesting ride-home discussions.

Moving on
In terms of site updates, all my recent video projects have been added to my Videos page, and (as noted above) my Fluttershy costume has been moved to its own gallery page. Expect more updates with new photos ov several of my costumes over the next few weeks.