Konekocon 2025 - My con hype was seemingly on vacation

Hello guys~ 

Less than two months into this year and I'm already writing a con report? Must be some sort of a record, honestly. 
But yeah, this is my report of Konekocon 2025 which was held on 1st of February at Kuopio, more precisely at Kuopion Taidelukio Lumit. If you wonder why the name of the event sounds familiar it's because Konekocon is actually a "kitten" version of Nekocon (I mean it's quite literally in the name)! 

The entrance to the con building.

(All pictures are - as per usual - taken by Shiro Samurai).

We - meaning Shiro Samurai and I - left for Kuopio on 31st of January, also known as the day before the con. This time we took the train to Kuopio since my car doesn't really like winter that much (also known as I didn't really trust it to take us to our destination and back) and this also affected our choice of an accommodation.

You see, usually we stay at the Rauhalahti Spa when we're in this very specific part of eastern Finland. However, it's located a few kilometers away from the city center and thus it became a part of "not on option" list quite quickly when we started going through our options a couple of months before the con. Why was that an issue this time? Well, we didn't have the car this time and there was no way we would pay 20+ euros per each taxi needed since neither of us is Flintheart Glomgold ^^'
It was at this point when I remembered one thing. Back in the days when my family still traveled all over Finland with me when I attended conventions we used to reserve a room at Sokos Hotel Puijonsarvi when we were at Kuopio. I think we were once in Scandic but I have a feeling it wasn't as good option for some reason. I quickly checked the hotel's website and noticed that the rooms still had an affordable price - and after a few clicks the accommodation for the weekend was secured. Phew!

Eventually we arrived at Kuopio, took a taxi to the hotel and checked in. After that we dumped our stuff to our room and pretty much immediately headed out to scout for a place where we'd eat dinner. It didn't take us too long to find a Nepalese restaurant which was located in a shopping center called Apaja. The food was really delicious and even though the restaurant wasn't exactly cheap I sure would eat there again!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and watched National Geographic for the rest of the evening and I miserably failed in trying to get some con hype. Eventually we went to sleep - I think neither of us slept that well though since it was so damn warm in the room. I need to take medicine these days so I could have a proper sleep and even that didn't really help me sooooo... :)))
Morning came way too quickly and I had zero interest to get up but obviously had to unless I wanted to skip the hotel breakfast. Since neither of us didn't want to do that mistake we zombied our ways downstairs and ate a very yummy breakfast! 
...still a bit salty about not getting a macaron though. When I try to make those at home I always manage to burn them a common skill issue but they also cost a lot at a grocery store so yeah, I was a bit disappointed for not getting one :((

When we had eaten it was time to shower and put on a costume - which, in my case, meant a shiny Jigglypuff gijinka! 
...and guess if putting on the costume went smoothly? Nooooooope. I have literally no idea what had cursed our con morning but clearly something since things were so difficult, especially doing the make-up! D:< Shiro Samurai's eyeliner wings ended up being quite asymmetrical and my face didn't want to co-operate at all. Most of my eye shadows didn't have enough pigment - eventually the one I picked doesn't even show in the pics so that was a good-for-nothing headache -, I kept fucking up my eyeliner and had a blending hell with my blush and almost ended up looking like a fucking clown! -__- I first considered putting on some fake eyelashes for extra cuteness but I probably would have glued them onto my eyeballs so I skipped them. 
Next time I will count the perkeles during the make-up show and publish the result in that con's summary.

Eventually we were ready to leave for the con. We took a taxi since it was quite slippery and it looked like it was going to start raining so yeah, nope. 
It didn't take us long to arrive at Lumit and the first thing we did was exchanging our PDF tickets to wristbands. We had agreed on taking some proof pictures of our costumes after that since there still was some natural light outside. And, as you can probably guess at this point, it didn't go very smoothly. I mean we had fun but it took quite a while to get decent pics since I ended up looking like a damn puffer fish most of the time :'D

Character: Jigglypuff (gijinka)
Source: Pokémon
Cosplayer: yours truly
Photos & edit: Shiro Samurai

"You weren't paying attention? Well, what kind of mustache do you want? >:C"

I don't know how to be cute okay ;__;

After taking pics we went inside since it wasn't exactly warm outside lol.

The cloak room area.

The 1st floor lobby.

To be honest I felt a bit... I don't know. "Disappointed" isn't exactly the word but I to be honest I had expected to see a bit more theme-related decorations etc. Yes, I wanted kittens in my life. I also know that the event had at least 500 attendants but somehow the venue seemed quite empty. There were 1000 tickets for sale but the event never got sold out so yeah, the venue was a bit too spacious for the amount of people there. Usually it's the other way around; I think that this is the first time I've ever seen it be this way.

The first thing we checked out was the Artists' Alley/Merchandise Hall which was located in the gym hall - also known as the same room where the gaming consoles were located in Nekocon. There was plenty of space to move around and personally I think this was one of the best Artists' Alley experiences I've ever had! 

Omg so much space!

I didn't buy that much stuff this time though; just a few humorous stickers I decorated my calendar with (can't remember the artist, sorry!)  and a pair of black spider earrings made by bunicorn_design, also known as Momo. I've known them approximately for 10 years but since we don't live close to each other we don't meet that often. It was so nice to chat with them and their assistant (who recognized me before I recognized her, oops)! 💓

After checking out the Artists' Alley we decided to check out the flea market... Which, to be honest, turned out to be quite interesting experience and not in a good way. I don't really mind that the tables were pretty empty - I mean, that's something that can't be affected since it's dependent on whether people want to sell their stuff there or not. But could someone teach people about pricing policy? I mean... At least I'm not ready to pay 20-30 euros for an item that is about to break into pieces even from a very gentle touch. 

Of course it's more than okay to sell stuff you have made yourself - just check its condition first and let that define the value. Something that comes apart just by looking at it is definitely not worth 20 euros or more.

After shaking our heads in disbelief for a few minutes we decided to check the second floor of the building. There we found some non-stop activities, such as gaming room and a karaoke room. There was also 'silent room' - a place where one can hang out in total silence. They have become more and more common in conventions and I think that they are seriously a wonderful thing; if someone gets overwhelmed or anxious or just wants some peace during a hectic con day they can just go there and charge their social batteries. 

Karaoke going on.

The gaming room.

The stairs leading to the first floor and the stage.

I have a small complaint about the karaoke though. I mean, it was mostly very well hosted (and the microphones' volume was really low so the singer's voice couldn't be heard - perfect for people who want to sing but are anxious about their voice) but the queuing system was basically non-existent. I would have wanted to sing at least something - would have even fit the character! - but when I realized that getting a singing turn was a speed competition I gave up and just sat there for a while, watching others sing. 

I seriously do hope that this gets fixed in the future. A clear queuing system is always the best in these kind of programs; at least I don't really find it fun to run for the mic to get a turn. 

After a while we decided to go to the main lobby. The program we intended to check out - Snowflake Harmony, a Miku Hatsune dance show - was about to start anyway so yeah, we left the karaoke room and almost immediately walked to Black Box, also known as the room where the dance show was hosted. 

Emi as Miku Hatsune.

I really didn't know what to expect from the show; I mean, the host was a minor and this was her first time performing solo. But I must say that she did very well; the lip sync was basically perfect, her dancing skills were good (and the choreographies were at least mostly the correct ones!) and she even interacted fluently with the audience in between the dances - and stayed in character all the time! Performing is a skill that can always be developed further but I must say that she's off to a great start on that path.

And it took me a week to get World Is Mine out of my head.

This kind of made me want to start dancing again tbh. When I was younger I used to dance but had to quit the hobby many years ago - and I have missed it ever since. I have never been talented in most sports but dancing was something I actually enjoyed... Well, maybe in the future since I actually have some cosplay plans related to dancing!

...though I must really polish my skills before that. They're very rusty lol.

After Snowflake Harmony we considered watching the cosplay catwalk which was the last program of the day but eventually gave up on that idea since we were quite tired and just wanted to get something to eat lol. 

At the hotel we took off our costumes and relaxed for a while before walking to a nearby (very cheap but very good) pizzeria to eat.

#tired

Some drinks and snacks for the evening!

We stayed at the hotel for two nights which means that in Sunday morning it was time to eat some hotel breakfast, pack our bags and check out of the hotel - and that basically was the end of our Konekocon weekend.

I must say that I'm not very likely to attend Konekocon again. 

By this I don't mean that it would have been all bad or anything; it did have its moments, there was a lot of entertainment and Lumit is a good building for hosting a convention since there is a lot of space and it's very near to the city center. So yeah, not all bad and definitely worth checking out if you live at or near Kuopio!

But is this con really worth traveling from the north, paying for the train tickets, accommodation etc.? To that I must sadly answer no. Konekocon was a nice experience but it kind of... Lacked something. I don't know if it's the lack of people, the problems with the current time of the year or what, but I just somehow didn't get the con hype I usually do (eventually). I also didn't feel like I would've belonged to the target audience of the con; I mean, I felt like I was 10-15 years older than most of the other con visitors! D: 

So yes, this was very likely my first and last Konekocon. I will still attend the summer version since I've always enjoyed it, but this... Wasn't really my cup of tea.

The next convention of the year is right behind the corner - and guess who is at the organizing end again? :D So yes, expect to see another con summary (and a bunch of circle lens reviews) in the near future~!

Until next time.

-Firith