Yukicon 2019 - Weebs and furries everywhere

My exprience at the anime and video game convention Yukicon 9.-10.3.2019

The gathering of the weebs

I don't think I have ever been in a place with so many nerds/geeks before. I had found my people. However I did meet some new types of people there. For example furries. I guess you could say it was a bit of a culture shock but they kept their distence so it was ok.

The convention was held at the side building of the messukeskus in Helsinki. The were shows, competitions, photo shoots, merchandise and art stands and much more.

So hold onto your bodypillow of your favourite anime character and I will tell you my journey in the underwater themed world of Yukicon 2019!

Art and shops

I suprisingly didn't spend all my money at the merchandice and art stands. There were some small shops selling manga, books, video games and merchandice at stands. There was also artist selling their own original art and fan art. I spent a bit of money here and there on stickers and pins from artists. There were very talented artists at the convention. It is really cool to see people being inspired by these forms of entertainment not only in art but in cosplay and generally the whole convention.

If you were feeling peckish you could head over to Café Aisu. Cafe Aisu was a maid cafe that was held next to an another small coffee shop that was in the convention center. Sadly, I didn't get the chance to visit the cafe but I did get the chance to talk to some of the maids. They were nice enough to let me take a picture of them for this portfolio.

The flea market was packed with old copies of manga and anime, clothes, fan memorabilia and merchandice. This is where I spent most of my cash. On that note if you go to these types on conventions remember to take cash with you! The flea market only accepted cash and so did some sellers at the stands.

Cosplay experience

Cosplaying and seeing other peoples cosplay was definitely the highlight of my experience at Yukicon. I cosplayed a character from a video game I have been really into lately. The character is Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jill from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

Since it was first time cosplaying I bought the outfit and the wig. I nicked my mum's brown boots and somehow managed to glue false eyelashes, that were longer than my patience, to my eyelids. However I did do some handicraft for my cosplay. A pair of decorative scissors are a key part of the character. Since the convention didn't allow sharp objects I made them out of foam, silver paint, red beads and some hot glue. They turned out quite well considering they were made pretty much last minute. It was definitely better idea than grabbing the nearest pair of scissors and waving them around.

Cosplaying is all fun and games until an escalator tries to snatch your wig. Let's just day it was a bit awkward being in cosplay in public. It's not every say you see someone in a japanese school uniform with unnaturally long purple braids on the train. I did notice that the closer I got to the convention the more I started to blend in.

I was surprised yet delighted that people actually came to talk to me about my cosplay and the game it is from. It was a really cool way to meet people and you instantly know you have something in common. I have to admit I was caught off guard that some people complimented my cosplay and wanted to take pictures of me. I haven't really been asked that before. I also have to say that I always happy and excited when I saw someone cosplay a character I recognised especially when it was from Danganronpa.

I'm already planning who I want to cosplay next. Well, I have a list of characters and the needed supplies for cosplaying them. I tend to do a lot of planning when I get into something like this.

Here's a bunch of pictures of me being weird in cosplay. (The pictures with quotes were taken by my friend Rulla.)

Shows and events

Yukicon kicked off with the opening show where we were introduced to Yuki-kun and Pyry. They are two friends who ended up going on a underwater adventure. Their story continued during some of the other shows.

At the cosplay competition we saw some of Yukicons best cosplays. There were different categories such as best group cosplay and best cosplay photo. In the middle of the cosplay competition there was a half time show performed by a performing cosplay group called Rintamasuunta.

The AMV-show was a time when I could rest my feet for a moment to watch videos that didn't make it to the final competition. For those who don't know AMV stands for anime music video. Basically an AMV is a video composed of clips from an anime and music edited together for entertainment. It might seem a bit odd but some of them are really well made and thought out.

Sunday

The sunday started with the excitement of the AMV-competition. There were some really cleverly made videos. Yet I somehow felt that some of the videos that were in the AMV-show were better than some of the videos that actually made it to the final competition.

By far my favourite show of the convention was the Cosplay date. The show followed a similar pattern to many dating shows but the competitors were playing the character they were cosplaying. There were two presenters/hosts that brought out a person looking for love to ask questions for the three "bachelors". Then at the end the person chooses which bachelor they like the most based on their answers and it is revealed who the lucky bachelor is.

The cosplayers did a really good job at referring to their characters backgrounds and answering as the characters would. I was at least very entertained with the witty remarks and (not so) sneaky references. I also failed to contain my inner Nagito Komaeda fangirl much to my friends dismay.

Yukicon came to a close at the end show where we were reunited with our friends Yuki-kun and Pyry in the dark blue depths of the ocean. The convention was wrapped up with a brief recap of the events and shows. It was finished off with a talented dance performance.

There were so many things to see during Yukicon so it was impossible to attend everything. So I will link the Yukicon website here. (If it still exists).