Cosplay year 2016 - the year of major f*ck ups

The title tells it all. This is the summary of the cosplay year 2016.

This was the year when I got absolutely nothing done. Yes, I ordered a shitload of new wigs and lenses + bought new fabrics, even started to make new costumes, but this year turned out to be more hectic and stressful than I could have imagined and cosplaying wasn't my priority number one.

(Btw, picture credits can be found on con summaries.)

But let's see what I actually did in 2016!

Yukicon 3.0 was held in Helsinki in February. I almost decided not to attend it since my physical health wasn't very great at the time but since I had been selected to host a lecture there I had to attend it... And I don't regret it.
Hosting a lecture for the first time was, of course, quite stressful and made me nervous but somehow I managed to stand in front of the audience for half an hour. And that's going to happen in Yukicon 4.0 too - I will be hosting a lecture about StarStable Online with my friend Merezone (who kindly recorded my lecture in this year's Yukicon)!

(The lecture is only in Finnish but basically I just spoke about the psychological and philosophical issues in the game series called Starshine Legacy.)

My costumes in Yukicon were these two:

Josh from Starshine Legacy in Saturday.

Gijinka!Darkrai from Pokémon in Sunday.

 I didn't make almost any effort for these costumes - like I said, my physical condition was shit and on top of that I was working as a helper teacher at the time I still think that all the symptoms I had were caused by stress so I didn't have that much free time either.
Anyway, I enjoyed this year's Yukicon a bit more than last year's, probably because it was held in a different building. When the con took place in Espoo the building there felt always very crowded and small. In Helsinki that problem didn't exist. Despite my constantly nauseous and tired feeling I enjoyed my first con of the year!

I was supposed to compete in Tampere Kuplii 2016 and that would have been my main reason to go there. Sadly I didn't manage to make my costume ready Chikane Himemiya, you're still my greatest enemy and it meant no competing for me. Anyway, I had already told my friends that I would attend it, at least for one day, so I couldn't skip it.
And yes, I attended it only for a one day and that was quite good decision - I didn't feel good at the con. I still don't know why, I just felt restless and tired at the same time for the whole Saturday. I'm not saying that the con itself would've been shitty or anything, I just wasn't feeling up to hanging out etc.

This year Tampere Kuplii was held in Tampere-talo (in the previous years it was held in the Finlayson area) and the change was... At least interesting. Well, I'm positive that things will be easier to organize there from now on.

My "cosplay" in Kuplii was casual!young!Severus Snape. I just didn't want to put on any "real" cosplay. You get what I mean.

I don't have anything else to say about Kuplii. Quite nice con, like it has always been. Hopefully next year I will get to compete there again.

Cosvision. Oh, Cosvision...
I don't think that I'm the only one thinking that the con itself wasn't very good. The location was good but Verkatehdas is simply just too small place to hold a convention if you actually want the convention to be big, For a smaller con the building would have been just fine, but... Ghh. Let's just say that I attended this con just to meet people whom I usually see, like, once in two years. I enjoyed their company but, sadly, I didn't enjoy the con almost at all.

I like the surrounding areas of Verkatehdas though; there were parks etc. in which it was easy to have photoshoots!

My cosplays for the Cosvision weekend were these:

2p!France from Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Ayame Sohma from Fruits Basket.

I didn't make anything myself for my 2p!France cosplay, I just bought everything for it(and actually the jeans belong to my Josh cosplay). I didn't even order a wig since my own hair was quite good for this cosplay at the time.
And Ayame... Well, it's one of my "if I don't have anything else, I'll take this with me" costumes. Nothing else to say about.

So, Cosvision was one of those "hang out with friends" cons to me. Except that this one was more expensive than the other "hanging out" cons I attended this year...

Tracon was held in Tampere-talo in September. It has always been one of those "I have to attend it!!" conventions since I begun cosplaying in Tracon 2012 nostalgia is strong with this one. I actually managed to make a costume for Tracon - sadly I'm not very pleased with it. You see, in the fabric shop I had to choose the fabric by color and not the material...
And I fucked it up at that point.

I also hosted a lecture in Tracon about Hetalia. I never found any kind of video material about it - it would've been nice to see it afterwards and look for things to improve but no can do. Maybe I'll learn with time.
This year, however, I didn't enjoy Tracon that much. I don't even know why; the con was well organized etc., but for some reason something felt very off.

Anyway, the cosplays...

North Italy from Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way from a fanfic My Immortal, written by Tara Gillesbie.

I made Italy specifically for Tracon and, well... It could've been worse but it could've been better. I'm likely to improve the costume, make-up etc. in the future when I find time and energy for it. Right now I don't feel up to it.

I bought a new wig for Ebony (I will link the store later if I find their website again) and improved her make-up. I also decided to wear different shoes this time. I think that I managed to improve her pretty well... Even though this was one of the most uncomfortable costumes I wore this year.

I also attended Kitacon this year; I happened to be in Northern Finland when the con was held. The con itself was one of those small cons where you just hang out with your friends. Sadly I just wasn't in the mood of attending the con and my own mood (a bit tired and a bit anxious) took revenge on me in the shape of anxiety attacks and feeling sick. I just don't like small places with a lot of people... Perhaps I'll get used to it at some point.

I still liked the con itself - if I happen to be in the north the next time the con is held, I will attend it. I can't let one bad experience ruin it for me.

I cosplayed - once again - Ayame Sohma.

Skecon - perhaps my favourite con this year!

At first I wasn't even supposed to attend it but, in the end, I decided to go there - and I haven't regretted my decision at all. The campus area was simply a great place for a convention, people were kind and the most important thing: I had fun.

This was also the first con in which I slept in a dorm can't find a better word for it and not in anyone's apartment/in a hotel room. At first I was a bit afraid to try it because my back and my left leg ache chronically but I found out quite soon that sleeping on a floor doesn't damage them any further.

The cosplays for the Skecon weekend:

Japan from Hetalia: Axis Powers.

...well, you know this snek quite well already.

I also competed with my Ayame costume; I didn't place (to be honest, I didn't even think that I would place) but I had fun - it was quite nice to compete after such a long time! I had actually forgotten how much I love to be on a stage. <3


But yeah, there it is - my cosplay year 2016. Hopefully 2017 will be at least a bit better - I already have some plans for it. I will also finish some other costumes when I have time and when I feel up to it. Hopefully I'll also get more pics of my costumes because I've been a bit lazy with photoshoots once again, oops...

But yeah, see you next time!

-Firith