Katsucon 2014

Katsucon XX was held Feb 14 - 16 at the Gaylord National in National Harbor, Maryland. It was my fourth year of attending Katsucon! I still can't really believe it. I've been con-going for four years now, and I think it's only gotten better as time has gone on.

I spent most of the weekend with Emily and her boyfriend Jason. It was a little bit awkward, especially on Friday it was Valentines Day and I was third-wheeling, but it was still fun nonetheless. Neither of them had been to Katsucon before (and it was Jason's first anime convention), so I acted as a kind of tour guide for them. Luckily, I've finally gotten a good handle of the Gaylord's layout, so we never really got lost.

I also got to meet a lot of sempais this year! I was lucky enough to cross paths with mangosirene, domineau, alexpinku, and stickehbun, and I also got to meet up with staciastarburst, who I started talking to through tumblr. I also got to talk to uberwren, dejavudea, and Alec from DTP. It amazes me that people know and remember my name / face after meeting them!

I spent less money than I have in previous years, but I think I came home with more? I don't have a definite comparison compared to other conventions or previous Katsucons, but I still came home with $90 after buying many posters from AA and a few things from Dealer's. I think one of the favorite things I bought was my Tsukino Usagi / Sailor Moon wig, which was only $40! I've always dreamed of cosplaying Usagi, and I'm finally taking those steps to completing it! I also got tons of cute Pokemon / RotBTD fanart (including a Jack Frost tote bag), and I got a print from the artist of High Tide, an animation short that has made me consider pursuing animation.

I didn't have any big cosplay plans this year. Friday I wore the blue hamster kigurumi I bought at last year's Katsucon. Saturday I wore a combination Jack Frost / Danny Phantom cosplay I made a week before the con, and on Sunday Emily and I cosplayed as Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton.

I think for once I didn't have any sort of problems with the convention at all! The past three years there have been conflicts regarding friends or sharing the Gaylord with another con, but this year there didn't seem to be any major problems! I'm really grateful for that. I was able to buy everything I wanted to, and much more than I actually needed to. I had lots of fun with my friends and I didn't feel any sort of insecurities about my cosplays. I wish I had recorded more video and vlogged more in-depth, but that's something I can improve on in the future, and I still was able to get around an hour's worth of video.