I realized I never wrote an Otakon report! Not that I don’t want to, more so that I’ve really just been procrastinating it. But I do want to take my blogging more seriously and update more, so I’ll try my best.

Before I begin, I’ll talk about what even allowed me to go to Otakon. Going to Otakon has been a dream since I started cosplaying. Afterall, it is one of the biggest cosplay events on the East Coast. But Otakon is in Maryland, while that isn’t TOO far from where I live, you know how Asian parents are. Or maybe you don’t. But I knew my dad wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of me going to another state for a convention. (He isn’t too keen about me cosplaying in general.)

But the biggest factor financial-wise for me, in terms of going to a convention, is how much transportation, hotel, and partially badge will cost me. The badge is only a partial concern because the prices aren’t TOO outrageous, compared to how much transportation or hotel COULD cost. Although, if transportation isn’t an issue, then hotel and badge become more of an issue.

Anyhow. what made Otakon possible? I was a judge in the Hall Costume Contest, which meant, well besides that I was judging(?!?!!), free badge. Yayy that was one thing taken care of. The hotel, my friend’s friend was letting us stay in the hotel for free, another thing taken care of. Transportation.. Probably cost me the most. I carpooled with my friend Euphoria and we split the costs. Splitting it between the two of us wasn’t too bad, but still. Money is money. Now onto the con report!

Thursday
Euphoria and I left her house in the afternoon and we drove to Baltimore. The drive wasn’t too bad. By the time we arrived to Baltimore, it was around 5 o’clock so there was rush hour. Unbeknownst to us, driving in Baltimore was like driving in the city. Not only is it crazy, but there were a ton of one way streets. It wasn’t too bad, but it threw me off guard. Not to mention I’ve never driven in the city because of that very reason. (My parents are afraid I’ll get into an accident or something.) Luckily no such thing happened! But we were driving around for an hour before finding our hotel. We were able to check in our things and head to the convention center to get our badges, and judge’s meeting. After our meeting, we met up with Joseph Chi and did a photoshoot. I was wearing Euphie’s Princess Garnet from Final Fantasy IX, and she was wearing my Yuna from Final Fantasy X. After we finished, it was 11 pm, so we headed back and went to sleep.

Friday
Friday we were still wearing each other’s costume. Judging was fantastic. It is definitely a rewarding experience. I’ve only been cosplaying for little over a year, so seeing elaborate costumes puts me in awe. I met BalthierFlare 8D After judging, we went to the dealer’s room and wandered around. We met Ejen from CosplayInAmerica, and Yaya Han. I was so nervous to approach her at first haha. She really is a sweetheart. I hope to see her again in the future. Anyways, enough fangirling. We didn’t stay out too long and went back to the room afterwards.

Saturday
Saturday, Euphie was wearing her Princess Garnet and I was wearing my Yuna. Still had an excellent time judging. Except that we were an hour behind in our schedule, which really threw us off. Normally we had a break on the top of every hour, but today we didn’t get that chance. It was unfortunate because normally each person gets 5 minutes to talk about their costume and get it judge. And we had to rush a bit and cut it down to 3 minutes, or at least try to, because being an hour behind would cut into the rehearsal for the cosplay “fashion show” at the Masquerade. So if you felt that you were rushed, we’re sorry! But it was good seeing some familiar faces from my friends who entered the hall cos contest. Afterwards, I met up with my friend, Touelle, and we hung out for a bit. Then Euphie and I had to rush backstage to the Masquerade because we had to present our Judge’s Award. Got scolded at a bit for being super late xD But we presented our awards and helped hand out the other awards. Afterwards I hung out with Touelle a bit again before she had to leave, met up with Euphie, and then went back to our room.

Sunday
So I didn’t sleep all night on Sunday. Because, I was sewing a cape for my friend. I just had to lengthen it, so it wasn’t that hard, just took time xD I was hanging out with a friend while I was working so it wasn’t too bad. Then I wore Euphie’s Rikku from Final Fantasy X-2 costume. We had the Q&A for Judging, which was basically for the people who entered the contest, if they wanted to hear critique

s of what they did and such. Afterwards, we just roamed the Artist Alley and the Dealer’s room, saw some more friends and talked for a bit, then ate some food with

TheBigTog. I was so tired, I kept dozing off waiting for the food to arrive xD Then afterwards, we went home. We got to Euphie’s hourse around midnight and I slept over.

Overall I had a wonderful experience! When people complain about the Otakon weather, they are not kidding. It was 90 something degrees and it didn’t help that most of the costumes I wore were pretty warm.