Matsucon 2025 - Trying a new thing and succeeding

 Hello everyone!

It's time for my Matsucon 2025 summary! About time since the con was held 9th-10th of August, also known as it's been about three months since then... Oops. But, as you will learn later in this post, I actually had a good reason for postponing this post no, I don't mean the Mericon summary which for some reason is always a bit hard for me to write lol - just keep reading~!

One of this year's Matsucon posters.

As per usual, I and Shiro Samurai (who kindly took the pics for this summary too, thank you!) traveled to Oulu on Friday, also known as the day before the con. Since I was still on my summer vacation we arrived at Oulu in the afternoon instead of the usual evening arrival - which meant we had plenty of time to go to eat and all that. This year's Matsucon weekend didn't start all that well for me though - the moment I stepped out of the train I felt my body acting up (and unfortunately it stayed like that for the whole weekend). No, I wasn't sick or anything, but the symptoms of one of my chronic disorders... Made themselves known, let's put it that way. Luckily I managed to take my pain killers in time and even eat something - which can't always be guaranteed with this one - but when the pain finally subsided I was so tired that I practically slept for the whole evening. Well, luckily Sokos Hotel Arina, our trusty accommodation at Oulu has very comfortable beds so at least I got a good sleep :'D 

Saturday morning came. Our morning routine was basically the same as always; we woke up, went to eat some breakfast and after that it was time to start putting our costumes on. In Shiro Samurai's case that meant Kisuke Urahara from Bleach while I cosplayed an OC. You see, this pirate-ish outfit I wore at Mericon 2024 kind of grew to be an outfit for a bartender lady called Marigold. I will tell more about her in the future - also known as half of her lore is still unwritten and I don't want to tell too much about a work in progress character lol. 
Well, it didn't take us long to get ready and a bit before 11 we took a taxi to the con. The heatwave was still going on strong and neither of us wanted to sweat our faces makeup off before arriving at the con venue. I mean, it wasn't just warm; the air felt somewhat thick, just like before thunderstorms (which, as far as I know, didn't occur in the end).

The con entrance.

The lobby during a surprisingly quiet moment.

When we arrived at the con we fetched our badges and tickets. Shiro Samurai was working as a green room volunteer this year too while I hosted a program about Star Stable Online. What I truly do appreciate is that Matsucon actually gave a free weekend ticket for program hosts too! ❤ Not sure if this is to motivate more people to host panels, workshops etc. but for me it sure worked - that was one of the reasons why I even applied in the first place the bigger one being that I actually like hosting panels because, well, my car definitely makes sure that I don't really have any extra money to go around lol. 

We checked the time and realized that we had approximately 45 minutes before Shiro Samurai's shift would begin so we decided to check the artisans and merchants downstairs. 

The obligatory Miku products. As a VOCALOID fan I highly appreciate seeing these.

The artisan/merchant area view from upstairs.

On the third picture you might spot me in red wig talking to a few people. Well, that was The Surprise Encounter of Matsucon 2025. You see, we had been walking around - and checking the time every two minutes lol - and stopped to discuss "where should we go next". I happened to turn mid-sentence and realized that I was face to face with my colleague Jossu and her (adult) children! :'D Turned out that the children - let's call them M & E - had gotten interested in anime/cosplay conventions during Kemin Mangapäivä this year and now they had decided to make a one-day trip to Matsucon ❤ Jossu actually said that she had hoped to meet me there but hadn't dared to message me since I was still on vacation ;__; I, of course, told her that in the future it would be more than okay to reach out - the more, the merrier!

With the little time we had left before a certain someone would have to go to brew some coffee for caffeine addicts - also known as to work at the green room - we decided to check out the board game room hosted by CRYO ry. We were interested in Maracon, a board game/tabletop game event hosted by them and had some questions about it, such as "Do people cosplay there?", "Do you need to be a member of CRYO to attend it?" etc. The CRYO guys were so nice to talk to; they made us feel welcome right from the start ❤

There were a lot of games to choose from!

Not long after that Shiro Samurai had to go to the green room - his shift was about to start. I, on the other hand, decided to go check out the matsuri themed panel, hosted by minnalabanana. I'm not too familiar with Japanese festivities even though they are presented pretty often in video games and anime series, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't be interested. And, well, I found the panel very interesting; unfortunately I don't have any pictures from it but basically everything mentioned was new information to me. This panel was also very popular, there wasn't a single empty seat!

After the panel I decided to go downstairs since I was waiting for Sallukka and their little brother Joni to arrive at the venue. We had been texting each other basically the whole morning - thanks Snapchat for existing - and I knew that they were in Oulu already so all I had to do was basically sit and wait.

This year's Matsucon was kind of special for Sallukka and I (oh yeah and Matsucon itself turned 10). You see, we had photoshooted their Melina cosplay (Elden Ring) earlier this year - if I remember correctly it was around May since there were no mosquitoes yet lol. Of course our main interest was getting good pictures of said cosplay... But we also had something else in mind too. And this is where the title of this post comes from since neither of us had done this before with anyone: we took part in Matsucon's cosplay photoshoot competition! 

I have had interest in photography for years now and occasionally have photoshooted my friends' costumes, be it cosplay or alternative style. This year there also wasn't any other competition at Matsucon that we could have entered; cosplay catwalk isn't exactly a competition and the only actual cosplay competition was the qualifying round of Tournament of Champions. Which is... Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Not with my costume-making skills lol. 

Also: I'm still not over the fact that our contestant number was 13 this year - exactly the same I had last year when I competed with my Kiki costume xD 

The lobby area where I waited for them to arrive.

I was so happy to see this!! ❤ The rules sure were easy to check out!

I sat in the lobby for a while until I realized that I was actually quite thirsty and needed some water. I made my way to the cafeteria - and spotted Jossu, E and M having a coffee break. I kept them company for a while and told them more about Matsucon and cosplay/convention scene in general. I was in the middle of explaining when I spotted a familiar-looking princess Aurora buying a cup of coffee - in other words, Sallukka and Joni had arrived!

...and it turned out that they had already checked out the Artists' Alley, I had just been too blind to see them or they had arrived at the venue just when I was in the bathroom lol. Sallukka showed us an A5 print of Ismo Laitela and Seppo Taalasmaa as nuns - "Siunausta!" x'D All of us had a good laugh over that, the idea was genius! I tried to spot the print later when I checked out the Artists' Alley myself but didn't see it anywhere, I guess it sold out before I managed to buy one :c 

Eventually E and M decided they wanted to check out the Artists' Alley and the merchants once more and then go see the the guest of honor's show. I waited for Sallukka and Joni finish their coffees so we could discuss what we'd do next - and to the video game room it was.

Even though I didn't really feel up to gaming - like I mentioned, my body tried to make me miserable for the whole weekend - I enjoyed watching the siblings play, it was very fun and entertaining! xD At some point I checked my phone and noticed that Shiro Samurai's shift would soon be over. I decided to head to the green room but I told Sallukka that if we didn't run into each other any earlier I would go watch the cosplay competition. The results of the photoshoot competition would be announced then too so yeah, needless to say that I was getting more and more nervous but I sure af wanted to go to check out all the wonderful pics and costumes. 

I made my way to the green room, waited for Shiro Samurai to finish his shift and then we headed downstairs. We wanted to go check out a program at Iso Kirsikka; there was not much information about what was going to happen but the program names were "Dragon art & Samurai Dance", "Bon odori: Japanese dances" and "J-Pop Idol Performance". The first in order was the one we wanted to attend to - too bad that a few others had had similar thoughts and the room was practically full! D: Shiro Samurai managed to get a seat meanwhile I decided to stay at the cafeteria and watch from there - the door was open so yeah, I didn't exactly miss anything out. Or at least not much.

For more details about the program, check out Shiro Samurai's summary since he had a better view of it - literally. 

When I was sitting at the cafeteria I noticed a familiar face, namely FreakyAngel, approaching me. I had texted her that I would also attend Matsucon but I hadn't bumped into her earlier. She joined me and we chatted quietly while we watched the program - didn't want to disturb it by making any loud noises, not even by accident. Even though we had met just a week earlier at Mericon we still had a lot to talk about!

When the painting part of the program was finished Shiro Samurai joined us too. It didn't take long before it was just us two - FreakyAngel had spotted another acquaintance and went to greet them - and I think that at that point we decided to go outside for a while before checking out the Artists' Alley. Just like last year the AC was basically non-existent... Which, in the middle of the heatwave, felt like being grilled alive.

Outside we bumped into this. Back then we didn't figure it out but I've been thinking about this and wondered if the answer was 'a fishing net' - then again it usually has more eyes than just 21...

After we had stopped melting cooled down we decided to go check the Artists' Alley - we hadn't had the time to go there before and we were already kind of running out of time since Shiro Samurai would have to go back to the green room soon. So, to the Artists' Alley we went! 

A general view of the Artists' Alley.

This year I didn't buy that much stuff; I was running on kind of a low budget at this point and knew that I'd need some money for going out later. You see, my bestie Gure and her girlfriend Selja were at Oulu (they were visiting a friend) and we had decided to meet up later - and as we all know, drinks aren't exactly cheap lol. But I finally bought one print I had already been eyeing at Kummacon, namely a Wriothesley x Neuvillette pairing one. Yeah, still a BL fan lol.

I think that at this point I checked the clock and realized that the cosplay competition would start soon. I had told Sallukka that I would try to reserve seats for us since someone had mentioned me that photoshoot contestants could reserve seats from the front rows. Apparently that was some sort of misinformation - not badly though, the seats just didn't need to be reserved, we could just walk in and take the seats we wanted. This, however, is something I learnt very close to the beginning of the competition and eventually Sallukka and Joni didn't come back to Pohjankartano in time (they had decided to hit the town). 
I told Shiro Samurai I would come to the green room after the competition and then practically ran to get myself a seat. I did get one near the stage - I was actually sitting right behind the ToC judges. I was there a few minutes early and it's a good thing I was: there weren't many empty seats in the audience! I suspect this had a lot to do with ToC qualifying round which was now held for the first time in Matsucon and actually in whole Finland.

The opening act of the competition was so nice - the hosts are very talented singers! ❤

The first part of the competition was the qualifying round. I had no idea what to expect but I had expected to see some acting etc. Guess if I was surprised when I realized that it was a "lavajuoksu" of very talented people? :'D I mean, that's not bad, just not what I expected! All the costumes were so awesome and well-made, the judges must have had a hard time deciding who qualifies. Oh, and speaking of the pre-judging, there were five different categories to judge: needlework, armor, wig & makeup, craftmanship and propmaking. When I said in the beginning that "not with my skills"... Yeah, DEFINITELY not with my skills. At least not yet but likely never, I'm not THAT passionate about competing.
After the qualifying round was the cosplay catwalk which isn't actually a competition at all. The purpose of cosplay catwalk is to give people a chance to show off their costumes without the pressure of a competition. This has become more and more popular (and common) and I think these are great - not everybody wants to compete, at least not without experiencing being on the stage at least once before! 

And after the cosplay catwalk... Was the photoshoot competition.

The photo we competed with. And yes, that's my left hand. I was holding the camera with my right hand.

I must say: I was nervous as fuck.
Never before had I competed anywhere with my photography skills.
I didn't - and still don't - have a better editing program than the one by Windows. I would like to get a license for Adobe Lightroom at some point; when I studied to become a media assistant I absolutely fell in love with it, it's awesome. But, of course, it costs money.

And when I saw the pics taken by other photographers taking part in the competition... Let's just say that I had my guesses about the top 3. Which, mostly, turned out right. Oh, and if I remember correctly there were 8 photos in total. 
We had decided to not to compete for the theme prize - the theme this year was 'a party' and there's definitely no party hard in our picture lol. The other prizes were placements 1-3 and 'the best storytelling' nomination. 

When all the pictures had been shown to the audience it was time for the award ceremony. To my surprise the photoshoot competition prizes were the first in row - at this point I felt like I was going to throw up. Luckily didn't lol. 
The theme prize went to the group photo I had expected it to go to; it was clearly taken with the theme in mind and I actually liked it a lot! The photographer definitely knew how to work with multiple models at the same time - a skill hard to master - and his editing skills were awesome! 
After this the hosts begun to announce who got the 3rd place; at this moment I realized that 'the best storytelling' nomination - which we had aimed for - would go to somebody else, also known as to the one who'd place 2nd or 1st. My brain went into some sort of an offline mode momentarily so I didn't really hear what the hosts were saying (except for something about the colors lol)... And then the number 13.

Wait. What?
My brain went from offline mode into full error 404 mode: did I hear correctly? Did they really announce our number? Did we actually place? I remember needing a few seconds to take a few breaths before I could go to the stage to get the prize or well, there was some chaos going on and I got the prize after the competition ended. 

Found one stage pic of this very moment. Photographer: mitrrx  

When I got back to my seat my hands were actually shaking so badly I could barely text Sallukka that we actually succeeded - managed to do that anyway but almost dropped my phone to the floor lol. 
It soon turned out that I had guessed the 2nd and 1st places right - and the one who one the 1st place also won the nomination mentioned before. And not just that: she also won the ToC qualifying round, congratulations ArLea for these AND winning the best armor prize in the finals! ❤

After the award ceremony I headed out to look for Sallukka - I wanted to chat with them a bit before heading for the green room. At this point I noticed it was raining cats and dogs outside; I sure hoped it wouldn't rain after 6 pm or a taxi would be needed again. I found Sallukka and Joni from the video game room and chatted with them for a while; they were about to leave soon but before that we decided to split the prize stuff we had gotten, it was only fair to do so. There were stickers, some Japanese candy and a bronze cup. The cup, two of the four candy bags and some stickers stayed with me. 

After the two had left I headed for the green room - my body was screaming for caffeine and pain killers. And bread. I was hungry.
When I went to the green room there was less than 30 minutes left of Shiro Samurai's last shift so I decided to hang out there, after all there weren't other programs to see that day since the con would close soon after that. When he was done with work we discussed about how we'd go back to the hotel; I was voting for the taxi in case it would rain again but I lost. And, well, to be honest the walk was okay, the hotel isn't that far away and it was refreshing to walk after being so many hours indoors. At the nearby park we took some "hey we had costumes on" proof photos.

Ft. the bronze cup and a curious honk.

Oh!
I mentioned earlier that I had a reason to postpone this summary. Well, this has been postponed more than I intended - I've been busy with work - but the reason for the original postponing was that I was waiting for the feedback from the judges! It took a while to get it, after all there were many contestants to give feedback to, but my wait was awarded a few weeks after the con.

The judges liked the atmosphere of the picture; some of them actually said that it took them right back to the world of Elden Ring. They liked the colors a lot and the editing I had done complimented the photo even more. I didn't actually edit the picture that much - we aimed for a "publishing ready" photo when we took the pics so yes, not a lot of editing was needed because we succeeded in that. And, of course, my wonderful model also got a lot of compliments~  

The feedback I got was very positive and there were also a lot of useful tips I'm definitely going to make use of in the future! ❤ I'm not posting all the feedback here since there was a lot of it, but every word of praise and advice was much appreciated and actually made me tear up eventually.

After taking the proof pictures it was time to fetch some ResQ sushi and some bubble tea before heading to the hotel to change out of costume and relax for a while before we'd meet with Gure and Selja. We had agreed to meet at Venn, the hotel bar, but when the others got there I got a phone call in which it was made very clear that there were absolutely no seats left. I asked them to search for a bar within a walking distance and without entrance fee. After a short while I got a notification; Gure had shared her location with me and said location pointed to Bar 1.
After a while we managed to drag ourselves to the bar - and were instantly quite anxious because it was very loud inside. People were already quite drunk even though it wasn't really that late yet and the bartenders were blasting the music so loud I thought my ears would call it quits. Luckily, after five minutes or so I noticed that one bigger group had left the outdoor area and we decided to move there - well, there we had to deal with a couple of smokers for a while, but it was still better than staying inside. We enjoyed a couple of drinks or well, my gin & tonic really couldn't be called an enjoyment in any way since it was way too sweet and then walked back to the hotel; the others wanted to go to another, LGBTQIA+ friendly bar since it was the Oulu Pride weekend, but we were way too tired to do anything else than watch National Geographic and binge a bag of Doritos.

Which wasn't a good idea. Felt way too nauseous after a while.

Sunday morning. Time to get some breakfast and finish packing. 
I was going to host a panel about SSO but that wouldn't take place until 12.30 pm so yeah, I had plenty of time to just hang out.

Except that my body decided to call it quits. I felt awful from the moment I woke up. For a couple of hours I tried to think "this will pass, it will get better during the day" but no; the brainfog and pains never subsided. I was so happy that I hadn't planned on cosplaying during Sunday, I most likely couldn't have done that. 

An outdoors pic to cut the wall of text.

When we got to the con we decided to check out the Japan themed room on the 2nd floor. I had read online that there would be a chance to dress up in a kimono, try out calligraphy etc. so yes, I had been looking forward to it a lot. 

But. First of all: we didn't really have time to try out the calligraphy.

Second: I know I'm not thin by any possible standards and that caused me some anxiety; there's literally no way I could wear a woman's kimono right now because it for sure won't fit. The ladies offered to bring me a man's kimono but at this point I also started feeling kind of bloated and physically awful too so I declined, which was a bummer but couldn't really be helped. And, to be honest, the latter was more of a reason why I turned down the offer.

Well, at least Shiro Samurai got his moment in the spotlight - more of that in his Matsucon summary if you're interested~!

A general view of the Japan themed room.

After our quick visit to the room Shiro Samurai's first shift of the day was about to start and he headed to the green room. I, on the other hand, headed downstairs to wait for Sallukka; they had told me that they would be there in time for my panel, and they were!

My panel wasn't exactly popular; I had, what, three people to attend it? Then again, my panel was about the actual costs of SSO so yeah, probably not that interesting topic, at least not to younger people. However, this was a perfect chance to test out this concept and it worked structurally etc. fine, which means I'll probably host this somewhere else in the future! 

I didn't feel as much like the deer in the headlights as I look. But hey, I'm happy this got photographed too! ❤ Picture: mitrrx

The rest of the day went in "a pain haze" as I like to call it; it's what happens when your body is just ready to call it quits for the day and all you can feel is pain and exhaustion - and, of course, there is brain fog as well and you barely register what is going on around you. I remember hanging out with Shiro Samurai and Sallukka at one point but I think we all went our separate ways after a while (and I think Sallukka and I went to fetch takeaway boba for all of us at some point)? Or at least Sallukka went to check out "Cosplay Thö Musical" (written how Finnish people with rally English would pronounce "the" lol), that much I remember.

Eventually Shiro Samurai and I went to the green room, after all he still had work stuff to do.

The most important part of green room: coffee station.

The coffee maker on the left sums up my condition on Sunday. Weak.

When Shiro Samurai's shift ended it was also time for Matsucon to close its doors - and time for us to grab some leftover food and head to the railway station since we had a train to catch. And that was pretty much the end of our trip to Matsucon. 

And this, my dear readers, is the end of my Matsucon summary. Even though I had some, err, physical limitations during the weekend I sure enjoyed the con a lot! Special thanks to Sallukka for taking this new step with me, literally couldn't have done it without you ❤
Next up - Maracon summary! 👀

Until next time.

-Firith

Matsucon 2024 - Small panic a day keeps the doctor away

Hello everyone~!
After this post I'm finally back on my schedule! As the title says, this is my Matsucon 2024 summary - let's see how it went! 

All photos © Shiro Samurai if not mentioned otherwise.

A Matsucon poster. Not sure if this was the official one..?

Our trip to Matsucon started on 9th of August, the Friday before the con (which was held on 10-11th of August). I left work a bit early so we could catch our bus - yeah, this time we chose a bus instead of the train since the schedule was more fitting for us. 

Our mountain of luggage, including a PS5 and a TV.

Our Onnibus trip went... I can't exactly say well (in short: Shiro Samurai got stuck because of accessory chains and he literally spent an hour trying to break free but eventually managed only after breaking the chains plus the bus almost crashed into a truck) but we got to Oulu in one piece. I had reserved a ride via Menevä Taksi - their mobile app is very easy to use and it's been quite handy in many situations (and no, this wasn't a paid commercial lol) - and it took us to the hotel. Hotel none other than the trusty Sokos Hotel Arina. 

This time our hotel room had the summer night theme. To be honest the tar one has been my favourite by far but this was quite pretty too!

Shiro Samurai decided to get some rest meanwhile I headed out to meet my co-worker Julia and her date - we had agreed to meet at Coffee House in the Valkea Shopping Center. I had also bought some Arnold's donuts via ResQ app (which was created to reduce the food waste) and wanted to fetch them. At first ResQ only operated here in Finland but now when I checked their page they operate in certain towns in Sweden, Estonia and Germany too! The idea of the app is that local restaurants, cafés, grocery stores etc. can sell their products there that would otherwise go to waste - and the price is very affordable! Again, not a paid commercial. Sorry for getting a bit sidetracked here but there is a reason for that: during the weekend we bought almost everything we ate via the app and we'll definitely keep doing this in the future too, so cheap and hey, it's always nice to be able to make decisions that have a positive effect on the planet~!
When I was done I texted Shiro Samurai that I was coming back to the hotel room. It literally took me a few minutes to get back there - and the minute I step into the room I hear cursing and see my traveling buddy squirming in pain on the bed. The reason? He had been deep in thought and hadn't heard my steps - which resulted in a fright recoil when the door handle made noise which in turn resulted in his shoulder dislocating! I'm still not sure how is that even possible but yeah, still sorry about that ^^'

During the evening we went to eat at Itsudemo; we had been looking forward to that sushi buffet after a good experience last year! However... This time didn't go so well. The sushi pieces on the trays seemed dry and like they had been there for a while, they came apart very easily AND there were no refills on certain sushi sorts during the 45 minutes we spent there. Also one of the dessert cakes was still half-frozen. I swear to god our experience last year was much better...

After the disappointment dinner we did some shopping, bought a few more things via ResQ and then went back to the hotel where we just chilled for the rest of the evening. Neither of us had to be at the con the minute the doors opened so yeah, we decided to sleep a bit longer and have breakfast a bit later than we usually do.
On Saturday morning we woke up and quite immediately went to eat some breakfast. I must mention that I really like the detail Sokos Hotel Arina has at its restaurant (where the breakfast is also served); they have a screen that shows how much food waste there was on the previous day's breakfast! I think this is actually quite nice - and sure do hope that it makes people act more responsible. I belong to those who were taught the "take a full plate at the hotel breakfast because it's included in the room price - it really doesn't matter if you can eat it all or not" mantra and well, let's just say that I don't agree with it, at least not anymore.

When we had eaten - and I had taken a shower - it was time to put on our costumes. Funny enough, they were the exact same ones we wore in Nekocon; I cosplayed Kiki (I competed with the costume) and Shiro Samurai wore his Hotaru costume. We had plenty of time to put on our costumes and left the hotel on schedule! 

The entrance to the con - the venue was, once again, Pohjankartano's school.

The program chart/list and the floor plan of the building - super helpful!

 

This year we both worked for the con. Shiro Samurai had volunteered to work in the green room meanwhile I had decided to try out something totally new for me; I had volunteered to work as a program volunteer. A program volunteer, in short, helps out the program hosts and sees that everything goes smoothly - and preferably in schedule. Sounds easy enough but I can say now that it's not for everyone - especially if customer service isn't something you enjoy, don't volunteer as a program volunteer.
However, my first task of the day was to let the cosplay info guys know that I had arrived and was ready to get my costume pre-judged. I was given the schedule and at this point I had about 40 minute of free time so we decided to do a quick stroll around the venue and leave some stuff in the cloakroom. 

It was pretty crowded downstairs.

The merchants were downstairs; this included both the artisans (such as si3art and Jasu Wonder World) and stores (such as Manga Cafe).

 

We noticed quite immediately that something was a bit off; usually the air circulation at Pohjankartano's school has been quite good. However now it felt like we were suffocating and sweating after like, what, 20 minutes? The reason for this was revealed later that day; I don't know if there had been a misunderstanding or something between the school staff and the con staff but seemingly the AC wasn't even on! Well, that explains the bad air quality which only got worse in the upper floors where the Artists' Alley, flea market etc. were located...

Overview of the Artists' Alley.

The arcade room was also upstairs...

...and of course there was also space for the tabletop games!

 During that 40 minutes some of the cosplay volunteers approached us - or, well, Shiro Samurai and asked him to take part in the competition. Unfortunately he didn't have his full costume with him (read: no props) so he had to decline but that made us wonder how many had actually cancelled their participation? I suppose it was quite many since I got the number 13 - and I was the first one to get my costume pre-judged AND to go to the stage! At first I was under the impression that they had decided to pre-judge my costume first since I had a work shift soon after that but well, apparently that wasn't the case.

Proof that I was number 13. Photographer: Olivia.

 

After the pre-judging I think I just hung out with Shiro Samurai in the green room. Since the air quality was horrendous I didn't feel up to checking out the Artists' Alley - especially not by myself - so yeah, I just sat there and drank some coffee before my shift started.
The first shift I had went very smoothly; it was a relaxation workshop and tbh I almost fell asleep myself :'D It sure was a good program to watch over just before the cosplay competition! After that I took the laptop (that belonged to the person in charge of the programs) and speed-waddled to the first floor... Only to find out that I wasn't in any hurry at all since some things had gotten a bit delayed and it affected the cosplay competition's schedule too. Luckily it wasn't anything too bad even though some things, for example checking out the stage, got a bit rushed.
I didn't place this time either but, to be honest, I wasn't exactly waiting for that to happen. I'm still trying to build up the stage confidence I had years ago so yeah, I'm just happy if I manage to get myself on that stage.

After the competition it was time to go to the hotel. Shiro Samurai had went there in advance right after his shift had ended; he had felt uncomfortable because, well, his shoulder still hurt and the air quality wasn't too good in the green room either so yeah, I had booked him a taxi back to the hotel right before the competition started.
We lagged there for a while and checked out the ResQ app - and, well, we also had one plan in mind: fetch some boba tea. Yes, we... Kind of are addicted to it lol and there happened to be a boba/sushi place (namely Sushi Bowl & More Tea Oulu that seemingly doesn't have its own web site) near the hotel so yeah, we totally went there. Especially because there was some sushi on the ResQ app and it happened to be from the said store lol :'D
After the ResQ haul we came back to the hotel, chilled for a while and then decided to get some sleep - we still had another con/work day left.

Sunday morning.
Ugh.
I seriously didn't feel up to even going to the con anymore; I felt tired and laggy and I sure was happy that I had decided not to cosplay on Sunday. Shiro Samurai had planned to cosplay Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4 but eventually that didn't happen either. So yeah, we just had breakfast, packed our stuff, I got guilt tripped by a semi offensive taxi driver and eventually arrived at the con venue. I sprinted to my work station, namely the room called Pieni Kirsikka, and soon minnalabanana (the person in charge of the programs) and some technology volunteers showed up too. You see, my first duty of the day was to watch over the voice acting workshop and that required a video call connection to Japan since its host was Yukari Honma. She is known, for example, as Sato from Vampire Princess Miyu and as Emili from Beyblade and Beyblade G Revolution.
And, because this required a video call connection, it was more than guaranteed that there would be problems... And there were some :') I'm not going into details since they really aren't even that interesting but yeah, let's just say that we were late for about 15 minutes. Luckily not more. And let's just say that I managed to get the programs in that room back on schedule - eventually.

She told how to utilize different chakras in voice acting - it sure was interesting!

The next program held in that room was a watercolor painting workshop, hosted by Jasu Wonder World. I was given the permission to leave after everything was ready for the workshop. At this point I decided to upstairs to have a bread or something - but it somehow turned into sending Shiro Samurai to fetch more boba tea for us. I mean, we both wanted it, I couldn't exactly leave the con place since I had to check on the workshop every now and then and his shift hadn't even started yet soooo... It was pretty much our only option. Unless we wanted to use Wolt and pay a couple of euros extra for the delivery which wasn't exactly the most optimal option.

Our boba teas! 💓

I think it was also at this point when we heard the sentence that made it to my blog post title (well, in a freely translated form but anyway). We were just chatting and then we heard someone say "Pieni paniikki pitää hengissä" ("A small panic keeps you alive") with literally no context at all :'D I mean whoever said it was quite right though - or at least that was the theme of my day. Being a program volunteer was quite hectic in the end and it also required quick problem-solving skills - luckily I've worked in different industries (for example food industry) before because that experience sure was gold! And no, by this I don't mean there would've been drama or such; it's just that things don't always go 100 % as planned and you need to be able to react quickly to solve any problem that comes in the way, no matter how big or small it is. 

After Jasu Wonder World's workshop was over there were two programs left in that room: a relaxation workshop (basically the same as Saturday) and a book talk about some manga series that could be found in libraries in Oulu. Those were easy enough to watch over - and after them I just put everything back in place in the room, checked out that there were no windows open etc., and my shift was over~! At that point I decided to check out both the Artisans' Alley and the Artists' Alley once more - and tbh I was beyond happy when I spotted some Zydrate vial stickers at the latter! The Zydrate comes in a little glass vial~
For those who are not familiar with the reference: check out the gothic musical Repo! The Genetic Opera starring Sarah Brightman and Paris Hilton, you won't be disappointed.

It was almost as crowded on Sunday than it was on Saturday (this pic was taken on the latter).

As a Miku Hatsune fan this was indeed a joy to see. Too bad I can't attend any of the concerts since they are all abroad...

There were hardly any queues to the cloakroom and the info stand.

After checking out the tables for the last time the con was already nearing its end and we begun to clean up the green room - I didn't have that much else to do so I decided to help there. It takes quite a lot of effort to deconstruct a convention overall so yeah, each pair of hands available was more than welcomed! We couldn't stay until the very end of that though; we had a train to catch. So after an hour or two of cleaning up we had to leave - and that was the official end of our Matsucon 2024 trip.

Matsucon was overall a pleasant experience despite a few hiccups here and there (mainly meaning the problems with the AC). Even though being a program volunteer was a bit hectic I kind of liked working as one - don't know if I'll apply to be one next year though, we will see how much energy I will have then. Probably will volunteer to some position though! Conventions overall have hard time getting volunteers to work for them these days; after all many people are so stressed out and burnt out that they just want to relax and have a good time with less responsibilities during their free time. And nothing wrong with that; I don't work at every convention I attend to since I want to have those "more relaxing" ones too. However, the conventions need volunteers and people in charge so yeah, offering my help when I can.

But yeah, this is the end of my Matsucon 2024 summary - and now I'm finally back on my schedule, yippee!
...also known as prepare for at least dozen circle lens reviews, I have a huge backlog on them... Oops. 

Until next time.

-Firith

Matsucon 2023 - Life purpose: being a filler episode

 With no quality at all.

As always, I'm very late with this summary. Life has been busy, I have been busy and, to be honest, way too mentally exhausted to keep up with the posting schedule I had made for myself. I have already attended THREE CONVENTIONS this year (...and next Matsucon is on the upcoming weekend...) so yeah, going to write those summaries too pretty soon. But let's get into the topic before I sidetrack myself for good.

The official Matsucon poster.

(All pics in this post © Shiro Samurai if not mentioned otherwise.)
 

So Matsucon 2023 was held in Oulu 28th-29th of October. I had arrived at north a bit earlier - I still lived in the south at this point - since hey, it was not economically very clever to travel to the north for one weekend. However, this proved to be a very clever solution otherwise too.
The title of this blog post comes from the very simple fact that I literally was a damn filler episode of my own life - or, well, a filler episode for cosplay contest. You see, I had decided to compete as Alcina Dimitrescu from Resident Evil 8. Since there is no WIP post I guess you can guess what happened: making the patterns turned out to be way too challenging - especially when I would have had to make a damn corset too. Since I'm not too skilled at patterning or sewing I decided "screw that" and sent a message to the con workers if I could change my costume to another. The answer was yes. 

...probably needless to say that I fucked that up too. Don't ask. I guess I was way too stressed at that very moment; I had just moved to another apartment, knew that I would have to start preparing for another moving process, I was finishing my thesis AND on top of everything I was working full-time. I didn't have too many extra hours in my days and, sadly, that resulted in stress which resulted in miscalculations and mistakes. So yeah, I had to send yet another message if I could compete with my Just Be Friends!Luka Megurine.

...
The very same Luka I had made for Nekocon that doesn't even closely resemble any known reference pictures?
Correct.
And why would I make a decision such as that one? The answer: Matsucon had a bit of a struggle finding contestants and I seriously didn't have a heart to tell them I wouldn't come and compete. When I got the "yes" as an answer to my question about changing the character again I decided to take this opportunity to gather some more stage experience and just to have fun.
But that doesn't mean that some blood and tears wouldn't have been shed or well, luckily not literally blood since I was working on a white costume. You see, I decided that I would at least try to fix the length and some other issues with the costume and that... Didn't go nearly as smoothly as I thought it would. Luckily I got everything fixed in time but wouldn't have managed without help. I had made massive mistakes with the costume and... Yeah, let's just say that my brain was already on overdrive so yeah, making any logical solutions was practically impossible. Had I tried to make the changes on my own I highly doubt I would have gotten them done.

We also ran into another problem - and by we I mean Shiro Samurai and I. You see, we have played World of Warships: Legends for a few years now (he longer than I have) and when the con weekend was approaching, a horrible realization dawned upon us. You see, on that very same weekend a certain event we had been playing for a month on a daily basis - a calendar type of thing - would come to an end, which would mean that we should take a gaming console with us. Well, that actually wasn't the greatest problem - after all a PS4 isn't that hard to transport - but rather the lack of a monitor. At first I thought "we are going to stay at a hotel so it should be fine" until I started doubting my cognitive processes and called the hotel.
Thank greater powers I did. The woman who answered the phone told me that some genius had tried to plug their gaming console to the room's television which had resulted to the television falling down from the wall and breaking into a hundred little pieces. So no, that clearly wasn't an option. 

The next one I asked for help was Sallukka; we knew that Shiro Samurai's small monitor was at their place and I asked them if they could bring the monitor to us. Unfortunately they didn't have time; they had a morning shift on that Friday and after it they and Dongrieg would start driving to Oulu. Understandable; they had made their schedules way before we realized we were being a bit dum dum. This resulted in crossing over this option but not finding a solution.
Since cancelling going to a con would have been a little bit overkill we started to think about our very few options. After some time I told Shiro Samurai to ask on Discord - he was working for the con - if someone could borrow a monitor for the weekend so he could do our dailies whenever he would have some time off from his duties. Luckily the Gaming Gods finally smiled at us and someone called Marko told us he could help us. I never personally met him during the con but I'm more than very thankful to him; otherwise we would have basically thrown a month-long process down the well.

Aaaaand now to the actual con summary.

We took a train to Oulu on Friday evening. We decided to walk to the hotel (and quickly decided that this would be a taxi traveling weekend since holy shit it was cold), namely Sokos Hotel Arina in the middle of the city. Our room was pretty cool; it was tar-themed and very comfortable.

 

Aaand I kind of made it go boom. Oops.

During the evening we didn't do that much; just relaxed, ate way too much at the Itsudemo sushi buffet and watched some television programs before going to sleep.
It took a while to get some sleep this time; usually I fall asleep a few seconds after closing my eyes and sometimes even in the middle of the sentence lol) but this time it took a while; I guess I was a bit nervous about the cosplay contest after all, even though I wasn't really going to take it too seriously. 

The Saturday morning came and we dragged ourselves to get some breakfast. I'm not too sure if either of us really had the appetite but hey, a hotel breakfast is a hotel breakfast, one simply doesn't skip it since there will be no second breakfast. After eating we dragged ourselves back to the room for a short while until Shiro Samurai had to leave for the con and I begun to put on my cosplay. We didn't go there together on Saturday since his working shifts begun quite early and I wasn't too happy about the idea of waiting outside (I wasn't working so no 'early access') for at least half an hour in something that's practically a summer dress. No thank you. 

The con entrance. There would have been some shelter in case snowing happened but still, no thanks to waiting outside in the cold.

 

Lobby of the con venue. It was pretty crowded most of the time.

 

The info desk was also located in the lobby.

 

After an hour or so I had put on my costume and called myself a cab. I can sincerely recommend the company called Menevä Taksi; pretty cheap and I have never gotten fooled by them or anything. It didn't take too long to arrive at the convention place where I quickly fetched my contestant number and then... Eh... I guess I sat down to wait for Sallukka (who was also competing) and Dongrieg to arrive. I briefly met Shiro Samurai too, told him I was feeling surprisingly okay and then just... Continued waiting.

#ipromisewereallywerenotdrunk #noididnothaveachancetocovermytattoos

 

We mostly sat near the cafeteria. I managed to drink one cup of coffee without feeling like I'd get sick. I think it counts as a success.

 Luckily they arrived at the con pretty soon. Sallukka was notably more nervous than I was but that's more than understandable: they were actually serious about competing. Loved your costume btw, it was so cool and I can't wait to photoshoot it! <3
Soon it was time for me to get my costume photographed and judged - which didn't take too long since I told the judges (who were very nice btw) that I was just kind of getting some more stage experience after a long hiatus and wasn't competing "too seriously". Tbh I still don't think I did anything wrong; there weren't too many contestants in the end so I don't think I "stole" anyone else's place and, well, getting more stage experience is always good, especially if you want to keep on competing!

The day went by pretty fast - I think I didn't really do anything before the competition since, well, I didn't really feel like it. I was feeling a bit nauseous panic/anxiety disorder says hello and not that social at all; I think I mainly spoke with Sallukka, Dongrieg and occasionally Shiro Samurai when I happened to see him. Part of my nausea was probably because I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast but had I eaten I surely would have gotten sick.

Had time to check out the merchants though! A photo from above the Merchants' Hall.

Same place, different angle.

 

 

Aaand same place, downstairs.

Soon it was time to go to check out the stage. I have actually been there once before; I competed with my Teutonic Knight!Prussia in Matsucon 2017 so I kind of knew what to expect. Except for the fake smoke; it was hard to see where we were supposed to walk to and pose, especially when only the stage lights were on! Also I heard afterwards that the amount of the fake smoke caused some people respiratory problems and nausea so yeah, maybe tone it down a bit for 2024? ^^'

After checking out the stage we went to hang out at the backstage room and derped with other contestants. They all were so nice and easy to talk to!
At this point I would like to say a huge thank you to the cosplay contest organizers: you all were wonderful. The contest was very well planned, it was on schedule and the "cosplay mamas" were all very nice and supportive. Thank you! <3

Pretty soon it was THE TIME - also known as the time to go to the stage. I think that despite my costume being kind of a mess I managed pretty well; sewing, wig styling etc. aren't actually my strong points but being on stage and performing? Count me in! I actually had a lot of fun during those 10-15 seconds I spent on stage even though I knew I wasn't being "the best version of myself" as a cosplayer. But, probably because of that exact thing, I managed to relax and actually focus better on my stage performance. So yeah, I could say I got what I wanted.
Sallukka's turn was soon after me and after their turn they came to sit next to me. I remember them saying something along the lines "Well, now it's over so I can sit here and enjoy the rest of the competition" - well, we DID enjoy watching the other contestants' costumes etc. However, the best thing was yet to happen: Sallukka actually won one of the theme prizes (I think it was for the best accessory?)!! <3 My friend, I know you are reading this so take this to heart: I'm so proud of you - not only because of winning the prize but also for beating the stage fear and actually going up there <3

After the competition I went to the dressing room, took off my cosplay, did a quick check around the con building and then moved outside to wait for Shiro Samurai. We had made plans to meet up with Sallukka and Dongrieg for a coffee (they had already left the con for Saturday) so after Shiro Samurai's shifts were over for Saturday we called a cab, went to the hotel and called Sallukka that we were ready. Soon the pair arrived at the hotel and we went to grab some coffee and some delicious pastries.

This was _delicious_. Coffee House ftw.

 

And, after that, we decided to check a nearby bar where we had the random encounter of the weekend :'D I was chatting with Sallukka and then noticed that a middle-aged (or so I assume since I didn't see that well, it was pretty dark in the bar) woman was coming closer to us. Soon she had reached our table and given Shiro Samurai nothing short of a heart attack since she just casually leaned over his shoulder and he didn't notice her until she, well, was there and just stared at us for a few seconds. I was going through all the possible scenarios in my head but it turned out to be the best one: she smiled at us and said "I don't know you, I have never seen you here before, but I love you all" and then she just left and joined her own company again. It was pretty wholesome to be honest.

Apparently there was a paparazzi among us too :'D And yes, that beanie is actually the same one I made for my Alex Cloudmill cosplay back in 2015!

   

After the bar Sallukka and Dongrieg decided to go to their hotel and we went to ours after I had munched a notable amount of nuggets at Hesburger. We didn't do too much during the evening since we were pretty tired; however we watched a few movies/short movies. The first one was called The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic - a drama movie about a blind person who unfortunately trusts wrong people when he tries to travel to meet his loved one. At times the movie was a bit unsettling but I'd say it was kind of an indie masterpiece - I truly liked it.
The next one we watched - or, well, I think I paid more attention to the TV - was called Tuulikki. The short movie seemingly tells about a problematic teenager who is being difficult and sometimes even scary - however it couldn't have been farther from the truth...
The final one was a comedy called The Planet Far Away (Kaukainen planeetta) which was a black-and-white silent short movie. It was both sad and funny at the same time.
After the last movie we went to sleep pretty soon since, like I said, both of us were tired.

Sunday morning came. We went to get some breakfast and after that we just lazied around for a while before we started putting on our costumes. Shiro Samurai cosplayed one of his OCs and I put on a gothic-inspired alternative fashion outfit. And almost lost my mind with the false eyelashes since I managed to glue them... Well, pretty much everywhere else but the place I was supposed to glue them at :I
After finally being ready we called a cab and went to the con. I stayed outside, took a few selfies and then the doors opened to the con goers.

There were a few programs I attended on Sunday: the lolita fashion show hosted by Cloudberry lady, a lecture about lolita fashion and a haiku workshop. I don't usually spend that much time in different programs but well, I found these all very interesting - especially the lecture about lolita fashion since it was very detailed and told about the history of the said style well. I didn't really know that much before attending the lecture so it sure was worth it!
I didn't do much else during Sunday tbh, at least I don't remember I would have. Sallukka took a pic of my outfit (see below) and I took a "cosplay proof" pic of Shiro Samurai but after that... Eh... I don't think I did anything except for aimlessly wandering around for a while?

This is what I looked like on Sunday. And yes, it was cold.
Dress: Gothicana by EMP
Ouija necklace: bunicorn_design
Lenses: Luna and Sol Glowing Blue

 

When the con was nearing its end me and Shiro Samurai checked the Artists' Alley to see if there was still something we wanted to buy. I remember there indeed was _something_ buuuut since it's literally been almost a year I have no idea which products I bought then and which ones earlier.

Part of the Artists' Alley.

The flea market (or, well, part of it)!

 

And of course there was also a chance to play board games!

And soon after that Matsucon 2023 was over! I exited the doors, waited for Shiro Samurai to be able to leave the place and eventually left for the hotel with him. By taxi. I still wasn't fine with the idea of walking around in my outfit when it was literally snowing.
We stayed a night after the con at the hotel since I had planned to leave for the south on Monday (it was more clever considering my working shifts; there's no way I could sit a whole night in a train and then happily be at work on the morning, uh uh, it's a no no) - which I did. And still have no regrets about this decision since it made our Sunday evening less stressful and we were actually able to relax after the con and eat in a budget-friendly place aka Burger King instead of having to rush to the train.

I guess that's all... For now.
Like I said, I'm again very late with a few of my summaries, I still have circle lens reviews to write etc. so yeah, I should really get more active with blogging. Planning to buy a laptop soon so it might make it a bit easier to write no matter where I am (I only have a PC so yeah, can't exactly just take it with me wherever I go).

See you again soon!
Until next time.

-Firith