Tracon 2025 – Con hype reignited!

 Hello in the house!

Tracon was held on 5-7 September 2025 in Tampere, Finland. It has quite literally been a decade since I last attended (or well, eleven years, to be precise) but this year the stars lined up just right to make it possible for me to return and see how much it has changed! 

Let's-a go! 

Tracon 2025 info booklet.

I should maybe preface here and say that I didn't stop attending Tracon due to a loss of interest or anything like that, in fact even back in the days when I first started going to cons Tracon, early on, climbed to the top spots – it was always one of my most liked events. The reason it fell out was mainly due to economical and logistical reasons (living in the north means it's at the very least a 5h trip with train) and also a few personal ones later on, like worsening mental health that made me mostly only feel safe at nearby small events.

But over the last year or two, truthfully, I've been feeling like I'm missing out by not going to Tracon. I had heard so much good about it, how it has expanded and become something akin to "Finland's Närcon", a mixture of a summer festival and an anime convention. And if there's another convention that I used to attend and miss attending a lot it is Närcon – and the reason I haven't gone to Närcon for years is because it's crazy expensive for me (I have to travel over 1000 km one way, oof) and cumbersome to get there. It just isn't possible right now and so the next best thing is Tracon and, thanks to the wonderful Sallukka and Dongrieg, I managed to go there!
You see, before Tracon's tickets were released I had asked Sallukka casually that if, by chance, they managed to get one for me as well (it's a tight fight to get tickets, popular Finnish cons have had big issues with scalpers for years...) I would like to join them – if it was possible to make it work. My home internet is ass due to being in a grayzone area so yeah, I have poor chances to get a ticket myself. They did get con tickets for all of us three and so I then booked train tickets for myself (making sure to book the seat next to them for company) and they made some changes to the Airbnb stay and then we were set for departure!
On the Thursday before the con my stepfather drove me to Kemi before his work shift began. The train wasn't leaving until just before 17:00 so I spent the afternoon at Sallukka and Dongrieg's place. Joni came over too, he'd drive us to the train station so that Sallukka wouldn't have to leave the car there over the weekend. Because we had a few hours to kill we went to a second-hand shop (Sallukka was looking for parts for a potential cosplay) and I found some vintage My Little Pony dolls, yay! 

Eventually we left for the train station after a detour to Lidl because last-minute snacks for the trip and yeah, what followed was 5 hours sitting in the train and just lagging away lol. I have no memory of what I did in the train aside from curling up in a fetal position to sleep (the seat next to me stayed empty the whole duration) because I got a massive afternoon crash. Oh, and to escape the motion sickness.

It was almost 22:00 when the train arrived in Tampere. Dongrieg activated his navigation skills and we waddled our way to the Airbnb. Luckily it was quite central and thus close to the train station, just a few minutes of walking. I almost stepped on dog poo. Because it was so late we had some trouble with coming up with a place to eat (the few that were open were on the expensive side lol) but luckily at least McDonald's was open and didn't threaten us with bankruptcy.

Our stay during Tracon... after the obligatory cosplayer explosion. :'D

The rest of what remained of Thursday night we just chilled, watched The Simpsons on TV and I did some skincare and other preparations for tomorrow.

Then came Friday. I woke up around 10-ish something. We had no morning urgency because, if I recall correctly, Tracon opened its doors at 16:00 in the evening so we had plenty of time to get ready. Of course if we wanted to we could have headed out to claim our ticket bands in advance but in the end we decided against it because, based on Sallukka and Dongrieg's experiences last year there wasn't much of a line to get your tickets on-site. Me kelattiin että mitä jos kaikki rynttäävät siihen ennakkohakuun niin siellä on sit jonot ja varsinaisessa conin avauksessa ei enään oo sillee reverse psychology tai jotain. :D So after morning showers and whatnot we headed out to check some stores and grab breakfast; I used the ResQ app to get an inexpensive box of takeaway sushi and almost a kilo of dried cranberries (for 3€) from Punnitse & Säästä to take home because we don't have that kind of luxury store where I live lol. I love ResQ, it's such a great initiative to lessen food waste and save some bucks. :) 
We went back to the Airbnb and I ate the sushis for breakfast/lunch, I was hungry lol. I figured I could just grab something else from ResQ later for dinner.

Eventually me and Sallukka started putting on our cosplays; Dongrieg doesn't cosplay yet but is interested. I did my new OC Shou and the whole makeup process was mostly fine except that I couldn't use the larger elf ears that I originally wanted to use because the spirit gum just wouldn't stick enough to hold their weight. I had to use the smaller ears which I thankfully had packed with me, just in case.

Pretty much the only proof photo I have of Shou for now. 

Once we were finally done we walked to the con. I don't remember what the clock was but maybe it was like 30 minutes or 1 hour after Tracon had officially opened its doors? Something like that. We took a shortcut by walking through the train station which was hella convenient because otherwise you'd have to go around (which I believe is what I used to do back in the days lol), which takes longer.

I was so disoriented when we arrived at the con area because we didn't enter through the main entrance but through the park's side entrance, which didn't even exist when I last was at Tracon, as in the whole fenced outdoor area didn't exist. It took me a good many minutes to recognize where we were lol.

Ticket exchange booths outdoors.

One of the first 'wow moments' I had was seeing all the food trucks and market stalls lined up immediately upon entering the fenced area. It felt like I had stepped into some kind of outdoorsy summer food festival except that there were cosplayers everywhere. It was an amazing feeling, I felt like a child eager to explore lol!

Tracon con ticket, wiee~

The outdoors are was large, larger than I initially expected. There were photo opportunity decorations, a live stage, a large green area where you could just sit and picnic with friends under the shade of trees etc. Not to mention all the shops (including a big daily rotating Artist Alley tent!) and the benches were you could sit and enjoy your foods. I even heard that even if you didn't have a Tracon ticket you actually had access to the fenced outdoors area – you just couldn't get indoors. So that's like access to roughly half of the con because some of the activities etc were outdoors and there were plenty of things to see and experience for it to be worth a trip to Tampere even if you didn't manage to land a ticket. I honestly like this approach because it makes the con accessible for those who would otherwise be excluded or unable to attend.

The obligatory metrilaku (lit. 'meter liquorice') seller. :'DD

One of several food trucks. Didn't even have to leave the area if you got hungry!

We didn't immediately head inside but instead briefly browsed a bit and checked out the, err, I guess we can call it the square area? Torilla tavataan eiku. There were some dealers outside selling stuff ranging from glass pottery and blacksmith stuff to more typical independent artist (aka Artist Alley) stuff like earrings and post cards. 
It was a bit cloudy but the weather was quite pleasant, I know that it looks a bit dull on the photos but it was a nice day lol. My camera doesn't really do the vibes justice. xD

"Market square" area. Tampere-talo to the right, aka Tracon building.

Ever wanted to smith your own jewelry from scratch? 

It was pretty insane because in the square area was this smithy booth with an anvil, fireplace and everything, like a straight-up blacksmith workshop – and not just that, you could sign up for a course where the bros running the shop would help you forge your own jewelry from scratch. How cool is that??

These guys looked like they came straight from a Korpiklaani music video. x)

We waddled our way indoors and entered the good old Tampere-talo (or Tampere Hall, in English). I gotta say here that I really like Tampere-talo as a con building still – it's so roomy, well-lit, inviting and yet it somehow feels lowkey luxurious in a way? It felt weirdly nostalgic to be back and yeah, once we stepped inside that's when it hit me how much I've really missed Tracon. The con feeling and hype is something else!

We immediately headed for the Dealer's Hall in the back of the main floor because Dongrieg wanted to make some manga and video game purchases and I needed to find Talking to Myself's jewelry store to grab a sword necklace I had reserved and drooled over post-Mericon. It was nice to see that after all these years the Dealer's Hall was in its familiar place so I managed to navigate myself decently.

The beginning of Dealer's Hall area.

Puolenkuun Pelit was the first dealer we checked out!

I did notice that there was a large amount of merchandise sellers and artisans in the designated area and it felt perhaps even bigger than what I remembered? It was nice to see the variety of goods for sale, ranging from manga pockets to steampunk and witchy accessories and home decor! If I hadn't been such a massive dumb-dumb and forgotten my leftover cash from the previous con trip I would have splurged because there was so much I would have liked to buy lol. Instead I had to be very stringent with what I decided to buy, very much so. 

Such a treat to see the Swedish Afternoon Fika here!

One thing I noticed both in the Dealer's Hall and when I later on visited the Artist's Alley upstairs was that there were sellers from outside of Finland, which was so cool to see! I saw Afternoon Fika in the Dealer's Hall area and was so surprised because I knew they were from Sweden because I remember seeing them and buying from there years ago in Närcon! It was such a nice surprise and I loved the opportunity to see how much their store and products had evolved since the last time I saw them. The marine animal and dinosaur plushies are amazing and I seriously wanted to buy one of the shark plushes but, in the end, I couldn't afford it. ;_; 

There even was a shop where a dude sold self-made lightsaber hilts!

When the clock was nearing 17:00 we decided, quite spontaneously, to go check out the "Kosminen musiikkimatka – Connection Interrupted LIVE" music program because there were seat tickets available and live music performances are always nice. But before we headed upstairs to get to the right place I had to drop off my camera bag at the cloakroom because Tracon has this rule in place that states that belongings over a certain size can't be taken into at least the concert rooms, possibly all activity rooms. Luckily it's not really that much of a hassle and I could just pick my camera bag back up after the show is over – the only thing this rule affected is that my photos from the indoor live music shows are all taken with my phone camera but thankfully phone cameras have caught up with SLR cameras the last few years so yeah, there's not a massive dip in quality anymore. :D

Connection Interrupted's "space rig" on stage.

This was honestly so cool! There were these two cosmic space travelers playing something that I'd call electronic, nostalgic club music. I attended it as a spur of the moment thing, drawn in by the promise of something unique and unique it was; I read afterwards that it's a hobby music group and the whole computer rig thingy is self-funded and created, making their passion and soul for the project so tangible. I didn't have any clear expectations when going in but when the two masked guys appeared behind the rig it clicked for me that 'ohhh, this is like a spacecraft simulation music thing with imbedded storytelling elements'. The whole mystery movie ambience and atmosphere thing shifting between dreamlike tranquility and space disasters sucked me in rather quickly and I found my head bobbing to the rhythms in no time! Once I got into the mood I found myself enjoying and appreciating the ride surprisingly much. I liked the songs, the performance and the use of colors, smoke and all of the tiny changes in the rig and other elements that told the story in discreet, observational ways. I also liked how it embraced existential topics without being too dreary and how subtle and refined the whole performance was; I'm not sure if it was intended or not but it almost felt like watching some sort of psychoanalysis of humanity's essence packed into the shape of a mysterious and perilous space journey with nudges towards retro space shooters. One of the best parts was the launch with the countdown in the earlier half, that was so hype with the sound effects making the floor rumble beneath the feet!

Honestly, I would attend this again if I see this group performing somewhere in the future where I happen to be. It's a novel concept that combines the feeling of space mystery with electronic live music and invites the watcher to really think what's beyond the "minimalist surface" (by that I mean that the performance is rather static, it's the same large props and placement for the whole duration). I felt like it was a really intelligent, thought-provoking show that had a lot of hidden layers and could be interpreted in many different ways.

Corridor to/from the Dealer's Hall. There were some artist tables along the sides!

I'm not entirely sure what we did after the space music show, I think we might have briefly returned to the Dealer's Hall and then I think we headed back to our Airbnb stay to drop off our purchases and grab something to eat. I know I grabbed some fried chicken and noodles through ResQ from a different restaurant (Daiwo Sushi) than the morning sushi (Itsudemo).
Once back at our room we just relaxed for a bit and recharged our mental batteries from the overwhelm. Neither me nor Sallukka changed out of costume just yet.

Walking back to the con, this time entering through the main entrance.

It's hard to remember what we did when because truth is that time went by so fast and it felt like I was constantly in a mixed daze of equal parts hype and overwhelm. There was so much I would have wanted to see and panels that were interesting enough to go check out but yeah, I'm one of those people that when there's tons of interesting things to keep tabs on I just kinda have a shutdown and end up not being able to take in and process everything because I'm so overstimulated lol. So I had this little priority list in my head that I will focus on live music performances because yeah, that's like one of Tracon's main pulls that it prides itself on (and Tampere-talo is great as a host building for concerts).

Friday was mostly an exploration and shopping day. I know I entirely missed the "outdoors Artist's Alley" aka the Taidepolku art tent on Friday because of how time flew by. In hindsight it sucks because I only noticed on Saturday that the tent held 20 unique artists per day, meaning 60 artists in the outdoor tent alone! That's insane! But if I want to be realistic I have to factor in that yes, I passed by the tent on Friday and yes, the queue to even get in was equally insane. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people just gave up because they lost motivation upon seeing how long the line was. I remember thinking to myself during the day when we first arrived at the con "oh I'll just go later when there's no line"... pfffrt, as if such a miracle ever happened.

But at least I didn't miss my Friday must-see, namely the "Nörttifolkkia Temmien tahtiin" folk music group outdoors at 21:00. I absolutely adore acoustic shows in general and folk covers etc and folk metal of course. This was on the live stage in the green area and, despite the humidity at this hour of the night messing with the violin strings, it was such a cozy and great show! My favorite was a cover of the Gerudo Valley theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time except with some Finnish lyrics thrown in due to similarities in sounds (Kerava sounds a bit like Gerudo lol).

Temmit folk group on the live stage outdoors.

After this concert was wrapped up at roughly 22:00 we stayed for the "Flamman tulishow" that would begin almost directly after; for those who can't read Finnish it's a fire show by the group Flamma. I've never seen this particular group before but I've seen several fire shows during my life so I kinda know what to expect haha. They were good though, and fire shows are always cool!

Flamma taking the stage.

I had some trouble with the special arrangements because everyone in the audience had to sit on the grass so that those in the back could also see, which is fair, but I happened to be in the very front with Sallukka and super hesitant to sit down because I didn't want to ruin my costume in the moist grass already ruined the haori once #trauma but, even more so, I had real difficulties trying to get down in a crouching position (to keep most of my costume off the ground) because of a really unstable and painful left knee. I had wrapped it for stability already on the morning but it only helps so much with hypermobility and chronic pain issues so yeah, I couldn't focus on the fire show because all I could focus on was the damn throbbing pain in my knee and keeping my balance. I did eventually lose balance and fall over and I was so embarrassed because there was of course someone straight behind me whom I fell over. ;_; I gave up at that point and left my spot to go stand at the far back. I know it was informed prior to the show's start that those with mobility issues etc could sit on the edges of the live stage but I was too hesitant to go there because I'd have to cross the crowd and get in everyone's way. Yeah I'm super anxious to even remotely annoy others by passing through, even if I would need it. And I lowkey was afraid that I'm "too able-bodied" to have a right to use it because only one of my knees is bad.

After the fire show was over we decided to head back to the Airbnb for the night. There would still have been some activities left until almost midnight but we were getting tired and just wanted to wind down at this point. We walked back to our place of stay and I ate the fried chicken dish I had picked up earlier after I was done deleting the makeup from my face; it's so refreshing to shower after a full day sweating in a costume lol. And here I even tried to pick a lighter cosplay so I wouldn't boil to death but of course I forgot that yeah, autumn in the north isn't the same as autumn in the south. xD

The rest of the night I remember doing my dailies on Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves etc on my phone and then playing a bit on my Nintendo Switch. I also don't why we're like this at the late hours but I distinctly remember a serious midnight conversation with Sallukka and Dongrieg where we pondered the deep questions about life and... well, that included the intellectual pinnacle of "pylly synnyttää kakan ja pönttö vie sen kotiin" (translates to "the ass births the shit and the toilet takes it home"). Poop talk is high culture.

On Saturday I woke up roughly around 9:40 and with the power of Lidl's Donkey Kong energy drink I started putting on my cosplay for the day, namely captain Ukitake from Bleach. Or well, I tried to start but instead I had a moment of panic because I couldn't find my wig cap anywhere! After searching hunting high and low for it I finally found it wrapped around the friggin' door handle. I really have no idea why I put it on such a weird place yesterday. :S I had some issues with my foundation being all streaky and shit for some reason (it was perfectly fine yesterday lol) but thankfully the powder hid the worst of it; I have no idea why sometimes the foundation trolls like that. 

Walking towards another day of fun~

Just like on the day before me, Sallukka and Dongrieg entered Tracon through the side entrance, it's just more conveniently placed for us considering the direction we arrived from. We had barely gotten inside the fenced area when a No-Face cosplayer from Spirited Away approached us on the road pictured above and exclaimed "all Bleach cosplayers get free candy!" while handing us some mint candies. It was sudden and adorable and I immediately felt appreciated. ;_;

Ukitake and Unohana (Sallukka) vibing feat. Minazuki-rausku. <3

Pretty sure we went straight for the Dealer's Hall again and just generally hanged around until it was time for the AMV competition to start at 15:30. I've got to admit my ignorance here and say that I've largely lived under a rock because up until now I barely knew what an Anime Music Video really was – like I had this vague idea that it was like a compilation of different anime clips with random upbeat music thrown in but apparently it's a much more intricate art form than that. I went in with no idea what sort of quality to expect but I was blown away but the talent! It was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be and some of the videos had amazing storytelling and the clips were synced so well with the rhythm and emotions of the chosen songs. I almost got inspired to try to create something myself.. until I remembered how shite I am at video editing. x'D

More Dealer's Hall glory!

There was honestly so much cool and nerdy stuff for sale...

... including obligatory Pokémon plush dolls. I have that Magikarp btw.

During the duration of the AMV competition I noticed I felt a weird headache. I thought at first that it's probably just your average wig headache and tried readjusting the wig, which eased the worst of it. I went on with my day not thinking too much about it. 
Oh and yeah, I forgot my phone inside my camera bag (that I, once again, had to leave at the cloakroom before entering the AMV competition) so that's why I don't have any photos of the competition. Sorry!

Throughout the day there were a handful of encounters with other Bleach cosplayers and fans – a few wanted photos and some passed us by complimenting our costumes. I always feel so awkward with social interactions but I also enjoy those little moments of fandom joy. ;^;

An overview and map of all the floors.

I would have liked to watch the "Viikinkimiekkailun taistelunäytös" which was a viking swordfighting display but I completely forgot about it during the day! I did catch the "Yagyu shinkage ryu miekkailunäytös" though, which showcased the aforementioned school's teachings of swordsmanship. As someone who used to practice kendo back in the days I could spot some slight similarities but it was nevertheless interesting to watch and chat about. The people holding the display were polite and friendly and you could get some hands-on experience if you wanted to. :) 

Yagyu Shinkage-ryu is more than just a Combat Style in Rise of the Ronin.

The weather was similar to what we got on Friday so yeah, I was toasting in my shinigami robes lol. I tried to stay outdoors as much as possible because it was breezier than indoors. The main floor and the second floor were alright (especially if you had a folding fan) but the third floor was sauna levels of unbearably hot. I'm pretty sure I went to the third floor already on the first day but it was so packed with people and suffocatingly warm that it was really uncomfortable to try to browse the Artist's Alley that was located up there. I remember mostly just skimming through the tables even though some of the sellers were only there for one day; I'm pretty sure I missed some artists on Friday but no can do. On Saturday I tried to go up there on like two or three separate occasions to make sure I didn't miss anyone. It always felt like you were on a timer once you got up there because the air quality and heat was almost unbearable if you were in a heavier or layered costume!

Third floor's Artist Alley.

I loved the variety of items for sale and there were several artists I had never seen previously, including some from far abroad. Yes, further than Sweden. :D This is one of those times when I once again lamented over forgetting my extra cash at home. *sniff* I was particularly stoked to see a first-timer who had some amazing Digimon prints and acrylic stands for sale – if I see him again somewhere I'm taking WereGarurumon home lol.

Roleplaying area (I think?) was on the second floor.

Of course when you're wandering around and having fun you're bound to get hungry – or at least snackish. This time we didn't head back to our apartment to grab something to eat (or well, Sallukka and Dongrieg did go back briefly but only to drop off their purchases) but instead tried out some of the food truck offers. You could get warm food like hamburgers and stuff but we tried out those cute round little pancakes and it was delicious! I did carry with me some candy-flavored dates but those I inhaled already during the AMV competition so yeah, I was hungry again by now. :'D

Mini pancakes with white chocolate and blueberries!

Despite my knee being a jerk and being all wibbly-wobbly I had a great time on Saturday. I remember when I was outside waiting for Sallukka and Dongrieg at some point (I mean, you look away for even one minute and you lose your company in the whirlpool of people lol) there was this person standing next to one of the junctions leading to the live stage and they said something that implied that they had been waiting for me to come within range so that they could get a photo; they had a capillary fracture or something like that on their feet and couldn't walk much. They were so sweet and ecstatic about seeing someone cosplaying Ukitake, I just hope they weren't in too much pain to be able to enjoy the con. ;_; 

Live stage area. This was were Temmit and Flamma were on Friday.

Saturday went by really fast and soon enough it was time for the "Sekakuoro Unreality: Legendojen arvoiset" choir concert, one of our group's must-sees. I absolutely adore choirs overall and might have some extra affinity for the artform because when my mom was a young girl she used to sing in a choir that traveled all the way to Iceland once. I've always loved singing myself but I'm ridiculously shy and only sing alone or else I die lol.

I had never seen Unreality perform before so I was quite excited for this one! It started at 20:00 and lasted for one hour. I wouldn't have minded if it had been even longer because it really stirred something in me and it was really ethereal. I did record one of the songs, Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold, but they also played immortal geek classics like the Dovahkiin song! 
My recording quality doesn't do the performance justice at all but I uploaded it below, for anyone who wants to hear it. 

Once this concert was over the time was 21:00 and we were ready to call it a day. Together we all waddled back downstairs to retrieve our stuff from the cloakroom and while I was grabbing my stuff I felt someone tapping softly on my shoulder. I turn around and there's this person in casual clothes just next to me who says how much they love my cosplay and we ended up talking a bit about Ukitake and Bleach in general and I kinda got the feeling that they probably would have otherwise wanted a photo but were polite because yeah, they could see I was getting ready to leave the con. I asked if they wanted a hug instead and their eyes lit up and I gave them this big proper hug and then they apologized because they started crying oh my god. ;;__;; I said there's no need to apologize for happy tears.
I don't know what it is but it feels like whenever I cosplay Ukitake that's when I get these wholesome and tender moments – it feels like for a lot of Bleach fans he's just one character in the roster but there's a small group of people who are really big fans and these devoted fans are the ones I seem to attract. :') One of the reasons I love cosplaying Ukitake aside from how special this cosplay is to me is because I tend to get these tender and memorable social interactions that stay with me! 
The only thing I wish I would have noticed during this encounter was that I had forgotten to take my glasses off after the Unreality concert. I was completely unaware of the fact I still had them on and only noticed after they left. Oops. I was tired. :'D

Back at the Airbnb we spent the rest of the night watching dumb Youtube clips like Sinkkulaiva (yes it's trashy lmao) episodes with commentary by Juufin and then youtuber Franssi playing Mörköpeli, aka The Groke Game, a Moomin fangame that got taken down. It was a lot of fun!

I had intrusive thoughts. My intrusive thoughts won.

Oh, remember that wig headache I mentioned? It wasn't a wig headache, it was the wig cap that had cut into my skin so deep there was this raised red wound. :DD Yes it hurt, could barely even touch it for several days lmao. #cosplayilmantuskaaonteeskentelyä

Sunday came. It was time to pack all belongings and leave the room. The morning could have gone better because my phone's GPS was a lil' shit and didn't work properly when I tried to make my way to the closest foodstore to recycle our cans and bottles, ended up going in the wrong direction at first. Always lovely when you're short on time. :)) Oh well, still made it back on time and off we went. 
Neither Sallukka nor Dongrieg were too keen on carrying all our luggage to the con and frankly, I wasn't too excited by it either. Thank lord the train station had these luggage storage locker things you could rent for a set amount of hours that was hella convenient. Need to remember that for next time because it saves you from the after-con hassle of retrieving your luggage from the big cloakroom outdoors when literally everyone else needs to do the same thing too lol.

None of us cosplayed on Sunday, not worth the hassle. Ja ehkä oli vähän conidarran alkua. Sunday was like a half day for us because the train up north would leave around 16:00 – there's not a lot of train options on Sundays and this was the most sensible one to take. Of course we missed a lot of programs that would have been interesting to see but such is the burden of living far away. 

Tracon had something for everyone, including rhythm games.

Drum session anyone? No chance of getting bored this weekend. :D

At 12:30 the "Akateeminen puhallinorkesteri ja laulusolistit: Historiaa ja hittejä – Tracon 20v juhlakonsertti" started, the academic brass band ceremonial concert celebrating Tracon's 20th anniversary. Yes, this was a big anniversary year for Tracon and I think perhaps that's why there was so much programs and activities? I mean, it would make sense at least.

They played to a full audience I'm pretty sure.

I had high expectations for this one. I got the impression it was the crown jewel of the concerts in regards to the anniversary at least and yeah, it looked like the hall was full so it sure was anticipated. But still I ended up a little disappointed; it was not bad by any means but I know part of my personal disappointment comes from the fact there wasn't a single song I had heard prior lol. Yeah I know, that's on me for being out of the loop and not having watched a lot of anime. The only song I even remotely knew, at least by name, was Hare Hare Yukai and I never cared for it nor understood why it was so hyped back in the days but, then again, I never watched the anime it originated from either. How blasphemous and uncivilized, I know. :) Of course I know what Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. game series are that they also played songs from but it was from the newer entries and I've only played the older entries lmao rip because my gaming backlog is immense. :-DD 
Some of the vocalists were decent but others left a bit to be desired imho, especially after the wow-factor of the Unreality concert that had such a strong and convincing presence. 

After the brass orchester we had roughly 2 hours left of time to stroll around and wrap up any loose ends of things we wanted to do.

Second floor view.

There was a maid café on the second floor.

I know I went to check the third floor's Artist Alley for once last time, now that it was a bit less of a death trap since I wasn't overheating in costume lol. I noticed there were several tables that had "sold out" notes in place were items used to be earlier so yeah, selling at Tracon is probably quite lucrative! Very happy for all the artists who got great sales! And Tracon really motivated me to start working on my own stuff too.

Youkai art exhibition at the outdoor area.

For the last hour or so I tried my luck to get into the Taidepolku art tent outside, aka "the outdoors Artist's Alley". I did manage to get inside yesterday during a low activity moment but the one thing I would have wanted to buy, a Sephiroth print, was sold out. The artist said it had been really popular.

Outdoors area. Not sure what direction this is lolol.

When I reached the junction leading to the Taidepolku tent I noticed this massive line of people. I stood around the general area for a while and I spotted a Sheena Fujibayashi cosplayer from one of my childhood games, Tales of Symphonia. We ended up talking for a good while and bonding over the game and well, games in general. It was a great talk!

Eventually I went to stand in line, not sure if I even was in the right place, until this person in front of me asked me if I'm waiting to get inside Taidepolku. I of course said yes and then I was handed this big sign that said "end of the line" and I was bewildered for half a second until it clicked and I then gave it forward to the people who came to stand behind me lol. 

You can't even see half of the queue on this photo. #jonocon

So I stand there in line, waiting more or less patiently once I realized the train is leaving in one hour and the line isn't really moving fast enough lol. I learn that Sallukka and Dongrieg had tried to go check out the tent earlier but immediately gave up when they saw how eternal the line was. Can't blame them though – normally I would have given up too. The only reason I was stubborn to get in was because I saw, when passing next to the exit opening, that the table visible from that entrance had a really beautiful Neuvillette print that I needed in my life!

60 unique artists in Taidepolku alone, meaning 20 per day!

I swear the line got bigger and bigger the closer you got because at first, when you were far away, you couldn't see the full length and all the twists and turns lol. I'm not sure how many years it took off my life but eventually I got in. The security worker who let people in cut off the line just in front of me (there was this group of friends in front and she asked if they were the same group) and I was begging like "can I please get in, my train is leaving in less than one hour" lmao – every minute counted at this point. Good thing she was understanding and let me in because I was stressed at this point. 

Taidepolku (lit. "art path") tent inside view.

There was this artist inside who had this nice-looking Sephiroth acrylic charm (I haven't seen a Sephiroth one before at cons I've been to) that I wanted but they were one of the few who didn't take credit cards. And this is when I wanted to kick myself for forgetting those extra euro bills at home. By the time I managed to jumble together an alternative way to pay, and returned to that table, I was told that they literally just sold the very last one right in front of my nose! My typical luck at play. xD So instead of Sephiroth I got a Neuvillette charm, which also happened to be the last one lol. I have several different Neuvillette charms already from other artists but he's my number one favorite Genshin character so I'm collecting them all lmao. I did of course buy the print too (it was a different table) that I saw from the exit earlier. 

I've always wanted to try boffer fighting. Maybe next time!

After my Taidepolku trip I met up with Sallukka and Dongrieg and then we left Tracon behind. Before going to the train station I grabbed some takeaway sushi from a Chinese restaurant called Zhuang Yuan Lou; for some reason I can't seem to find it on Google Maps (it is on ResQ though) but it was located inside the shopping mall at Tullikatu 6 near Tampere-talo. I wouldn't care to mention this otherwise but holy hell the sushi was overly delicious so yeah, I'm making like a mental note to myself to remember this place for next year! I haven't had such good sushi in years – it was absolute heaven in my mouth and, in hindsight, I wish I would have bought the second box that was available too. I really wasn't expecting anything special because the place was rather small and somewhat hidden on the bottom floor of this mall and yeah, the place looked so average in all ways but damn, what a gem.

Surprise sushi bliss in the train. 

The train trip back home went fine, except that I dropped my Zhongli pin on the platform while waiting for the train to arrive. I heard it fall though so I retrieved it. I've dropped and lost so many pins during my teenage years so you gotta stay vigilant now as an adult. xD

Phew. I think my Tracon summary is done with all that. This took me several days to write because it's so massive. Good thing I had been smart in advance and made some notes throughout the con days so that I even remembered anything at this point! I tend to forget and mix things up am I old? and these little notes really helped me write this summary lol. 
Surprisingly my con hangover isn't as bad as I expected it to be (I've had worse hangovers from Kummacon and Matsucon, no shade!) – perhaps the con hype and post-excitement helped combat the scales, hehe. I'm so fired up after Tracon, I had so much fun and I've missed this feeling of unbridled geeky joy. I loved seeing all the various costumes and especially the quirky rare ones you don't expect to see like someone cosplaying Mr Lordi himself (yes, the Finnish monster band), the Bananas in Pyjamas, Skibidi Toilet, Blåhaj, a whole group of only Nurse Joys from Pokémon and many more that enriched the experience!

Bonus photo!

These two goofballs were like the highlight of my con!

I saw these two wizard Merlin (Disney's The Sword in the Stone) cosplayers on Saturday and I completely lost it when I recognized them. XD I've never seen anyone cosplay Merlin in real life before and these versions make it a thousand times better and I told it to these two who then proceeded to tell me that that's exactly their cosplay goals – namely to cosplay fun and rare characters that very few have done before. They were so hilarious and with such amazingly boisterous personalities that the laughs were contagious. xD Without lying every subsequent time when we came across each other throughout the day we'd crack up immediately. It was beyond beautiful.
Sadly they didn't have any social media accounts or anything so I can't tag them here but, like, wherever you are please keep on doing what you do!

I absolutely adored this new Tracon experience. Tracon has grown so much; I had an amazing time and, although it was impossible to experience and see everything I was interested in, I left with a feeling of giddy excitement and nerdy fulfillment that I haven't felt from cons in a long time. I know I just have to go next year too, this crushed all my expectations! I don't have the words to describe everything I'm feeling right now but I know I feel so alive and ready to get creative to make next year even more fun!

Thanks for reading!~
A really big and special thank you goes out to both Sallukka and Dongrieg for making this experience possible. ♥ Love you!

~ Shiro Samurai ~