Kummacon 2024 – I got mad gamer respects from the organizer

 Hello geeks of all flavors!

I'm sorry about the radio silence on this here blog, my life has regrettably been really exhausting lately and I didn't mean to just disappear. The truth is that I'm still struggling with mental health and blogging just hasn't been a priority, not to mention that I haven't had any new content to post as I haven't done anything cosplay-related for several months. I do have tons of ideas of what I want to do but finding the motivation and energy to do the thing is on an entirely different plane of existence lol.

I've had a lot of time blindness and whatnot and I had been living in that bubble of "Kummacon is months away" until Firith woke me up one day (figuratively, not literally) by stating that Kummacon is next weekend. Honest to god, I had completely forgotten! Luckily my original plan hadn't involved cosplaying anyway so I didn't have to rush to finish anything and could just rewire my brain directly into preparation mode. And preparation mode meant packing all the stuff for the con weekend and that included my PS5 and the smallest TV I owned. Yes, we took the train and yes, I sat the whole train trip with a straight face and a fucking TV on my lap and yes, other passengers stared at me weirdly. :'D *sighs and shakes head* What won't a gamer endure to secure the completion of their dailies?~

Oh well, so Kummacon is an annual free-entrance anime and literature focused convention that's held in Oulu, Finland. This year it was held during 18-19 May 2024 and that also means Kummacon got the honors to start my con year, woop woop! And just like the previous years I volunteered to be part of the work force.

Kummacon entrance.

Kummacon was held once again in Oulu's International School and that means it's very much in the heart of Oulu's centrum and thus it's very easy to find and close to everything (train station, bus station, food markets etc) so it's a very convenient location. I do like the building itself, it's decently roomy and well-lit for an event of modest size. Kummacon is extremely visibly pro-LGBTQ+ (I'd say it's the gayest convention in all of Finland ngl) with various queer flags plastered everywhere. The organizers are working very hard to make sure that the event is safe and welcoming for all attendants and that means there's a zero tolerance policy towards any kind of discrimination or otherwise bigoted behavior like racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, bodyshaming etc. I think this is very important because events like this are one of the few public spaces where gender-diverse and questioning teens, youths and adults are free to explore and express themselves as their most authentic selves with minimal risk of harm being done to them. So thank you Kummacon for providing a safe space to those who need it the most in this increasingly hostile world.

Anygays, back on track. So me and Firith headed for Oulu on Friday night by train and our accommodation was the same trusty Sokos Hotels that we stayed at during last year's Matsucon. This time we got the salmon-themed room instead of the tar-themed one. Honestly I preferred the tar theme but that might be a me thing with my general love of anything with tar in it, be it sweets or boats. xD

Comfy hotel corridors provided a vacation feeling!

Before the con I asked to change my volunteer work station from the cafeteria to something more relaxed like the green room. Some might remember that I was a cafeteria worker last year but because my mental health and general tolerance of stressors has taken a nosedive lately I decided to play it safe. I ended up being relocated as a green room worker for the whole weekend and I don't regret swapping stations because this was the right choice for me.

Towards the end of Friday me and Firith were really hungry and so we went to eat at pizzeria Cantina because we were lazy and it was literally on the opposite side of the road seen from our hotel. It was one of these kinda expensive fancy-schmancy pizza places where my economically distressed ass had to settle for a margharita pizza (which I normally never take) because everything else was outside my budget lmao. But honestly I don't regret that choice and this one at least came with mozzarella – I mean look at this circular disc of deliciousness!

 

Ei ollut mikään kusinen klähmäkiekko tämä. #ökypitsa

 

I'm sorry but I have a massive brainfog and don't really remember much of this weekend, just bits and pieces here and there but no coherent memory of what I did during any given time or day, it's all just floating together into this mushy blob of "I know I was at a con and it was fun but I have no idea what I've been doing all weekend". :'D In my defense I had the worst con hungover I've had in years so that probably explains the partial amnesia lol – I was sooo spent when I got home it took me several days to even somewhat recover. What I do know is that I was working for a majority of the con's duration and that means I spent most of my time in, you guessed it, the green room.

On my way through the corrido o' depressio...

... to find the light at the end of the tunnel green room.

 

The green room was located on the basement floor and it was quite hard to find and very... small. You had to enter a door downstairs that was barely held open by a few stones (there were no signs the green was there) and then walk along an unlit corridor until you reached the coffee break room, aka the green room. It's far away from all the happening and con vibes, very isolated and although the work tasks were simple and easy to complete (refilling coffee and tea, running to and fro' between green and the cafeteria upstairs to bring food items over etc) I often felt like I was missing out on the con because sitting there for roughly 6 out of the con's 8 hours a day honestly felt very unbalanced in terms of work versus free time. I know Kummacon was understaffed (just like almost all cons nowadays it feels, it's a struggle to get enough volunteers) and so the organizers were in a pinch to have all the necessary stations running and I know it was hard to make it work because some volunteers ghosted and never showed up. I was the only official green room worker for the whole weekend and that does explain why my work hours weren't optimal and, although my personal con experience suffered due to the isolation and lack of time to explore, I still feel proud that I managed to row my tasks and responsibilities to shore despite my difficulties while also providing all the other workers with a place to relax, refuel, chat and bond with others of the Kummacon work force – olette kaikki ihania!

The highlight of working at the green room was of course hearing the best gossip of the con along with constant access to snacks and refreshments lol. Oh and green room was the coolest place in the con so there was also the perk of not overheating nor suffering from the, at times, dip in air quality upstairs because of how crowded it could get.

I might have been left unsupervised at one point and I might have decided to do something about the fact that most green room users didn't know where the fridge was. This is my level of humor, I have no regrets!

During my free time on Saturday I went to listen to a panel about time-travelling and after that I scurried along to quickly snap some general con photos for posterity. I did have time (when combining Saturday and Sunday free hours) to do my number one important con thing and that's checking out the Artist's Alley and the Artisan's Alley for loot to bring home. There were a lot of familiar faces but also a couple new ones I didn't recognize from before, which is always nice. I ended up buying a few pins from different sellers for my ita bag I finally have one and a Neuvillette Genshin Impact charm because he's my new obsession and I can't help it.

View near the entrance, info desk to the left.

Of course there was the obligatory snacks and sweets shop.

Artist's Alley was located in the room behind the info desk.

The Artist's Alley seemed a bit quiet during the times I visited and especially when compared to the Artisan's Alley upstairs that had constant traffic due to the cafeteria, secondhand shop, anime karaoke etc being on the second floor and thus most congoers spent a lot of time walking past those tables upstairs so yeah, those who were upstairs most surely got a lot more repeated exposure due to the placement. I'm not sure though if the few tables just next to the info desk were artists or artisans but that was, in my eyes, the most optimal location to have a table at because you were literally just next to the entrance and thus highly visible; I even overheard one of those two sellers saying during the middle half of Saturday that they had already sold more than they did last year on both days combined when they were upstairs. :O

View of the main floor while standing on the staircase.

View just next to the staircase upstairs (blocked by the pillar). :D

View of the Artisan's Alley upstairs.

 

Sunday was mostly the same as Saturday except for the sadness that meant checking out of the hotel room and bringing our mountain of luggage to the con for safekeeping. Yes, carrying a TV and a console around got heavy really fast. We ended up storing our belongings in the green room and this is also where one of the main organizers gave me stonks gamer respects because you have to be some level of hardcore to carry your gaming setup 100 km away from home just so you can do your daily streaks in a few live-service games. :') 

Sunday also was slightly different because Firith upgraded to be an unofficial Kummacon green room worker to help me out and so that I didn't have to be so lonely down there all day lol. Otherwise he would probably have been barred from entering the green room as both his panel and his work task as a cosplay competition judge were both slotted on Saturday. 

Once the con was over we made use of our con worker perks (free leftovers including matcha waffles!) and helped clean up the green room before it was time for us to leave. Sadly our train was very delayed due to "personal injury" which, as far as I know, usually is a nicer way to say that someone attempted suicide by jumping in front of the tracks. Of course it could have been something else too but if it was like a stroke or something I think another Finnish word would have been used. :/ It makes one very sad nonetheless, especially because I've heard that spring and autumn is the most common seasons for this to happen and that each train conductor witnesses on average about 4 attempts during their service and yeah, I can't even begin to think how traumatizing that must be for the train crew because often the only thing you can do is to hit the emergency brake and wait for the train to stop a mile later; even though it's not their fault I can imagine the haunting guilt must be incredibly difficult to bear...
In the end our train ended up being roughly two hours late but we got home safe and sound. Firith drove me back home from Kemi and that was the end of our Kummacon journey.

I know this summary is messy, all over the place and kinda brief on details and whatnot but I just want to get it out of the way and I don't think there's a lot of interesting tidbits to bring up because let's be real – a majority of my con time was spent sitting in the green room and waddling up and down the stairs to refill the warm food of the day, it's not a particularly exhilarating read. And no misfortunes happened either like me somersaulting in the stairs with a heavy-ass rice cooker in my arms lolol. Of course a lot of shenanigans, fun and educational conversations happened in the green room etc but what happens in the green room stays in the green room heheh..~

All in all I'm happy I attended Kummacon once again, it's such a chill and safe event and I hope it stays that way too. Sure I can't claim that everything went perfectly this time but overall I felt appreciated and the camaraderie among the workers was great. I also really liked what one of the main organizers told me about the reason why she created Kummacon in the first place and keeps organizing it each year – I don't remember it word for word but she said something along the lines of that she's creating the event for her inner child who didn't have anywhere to go and feel a sense of belonging and safety. Her wish is that today's outlier youth and children won't have to experience that same sadness of feeling excluded and not acceptable enough because of being "too weird", aka simply being yourself. That's such a noble and wholesome cause, to make sure that those after us don't suffer as much as we did.

And yes, the word 'kumma' actually means weird/odd in Finnish and it's something I think the Kummacon crew is intentionally reclaiming to be a positive trait. Embrace the weirdness!

Thanks for reading and see you at the next con,

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Kummacon 2023 – Stop, working time!

Hello geeks!

This year's rendition of Kummacon was held this past weekend in Oulu again, during 20-21.5.2023 and yes, this effectively means that I've attended Kummacon back-to-back with no other con inbetween. :'D That's because last year's Kummacon was held so late and this year's was pushed forward to be on the first half of the year! Anyways, as most people probably know by now Kummacon is a small, low threshold anime and literature convention held annually in Oulu and it's one of the few popular culture events with a free entrance.

Let's dive in!

Kummacon host building, aka Oulu's International School.

Kummacon is one of those cons that change host building almost every iteration and where it ends up comes down to things like budget and such. This is the second time (I think?) that it's held in Oulu's international school – last time was back in 2018. And I gotta say that this is one of my favorite locations because of how well-lit it is and it's very close to the train station and centrum as well, which means it's easy to find and to get to and from.

Kummacon info desk. Very visibly pro-LGBTQ+ vibes.

Already by the end of last year's Kummacon I had signed up for to return as a con worker this year. I figured why not as it gives me something fulfilling to do and well, non-profit free events like these need all the extra hands they can get to be able to go around; no people willing to donate their time equals no con and that is big sad. :'( And I knew from last year that Kummacon struggled with last-minute worker cancellations and I have plenty con worker experience under my belt by now so I didn't need to think twice before applying for round two. Except this year I ended up at the Kumma Kahvila (cafeteria) and not as a general con worker.

Entrance viewed from inside.

As I mentioned above Kummacon has been in the international school before and I felt instantly familiar when I stepped in. I think most of the layout were used similarly to 2018 – the Artist's Alley was split in two halves with one half downstairs and the other half upstairs on the second floor. There were quite a lot of artists and some I had not seen before, which is always nice! Sadly I am quite poor at the moment so the only thing I ended up buying at the whole con was a Diluc (Genshin Impact) keychain from one of the sellers upstairs for myself and two other characters as gifts.

 

Half of Artist's Alley was on the main floor.

And the other half was up the stairs. (sorry no pic)

On Saturday I worked from 13-17 local time at the cafeteria upstairs. We sold some sweet and salty treats like vegan 'härkis' burgers and sandwiches, homebaked buns and peanut butter cookies, coffee, Japanese snacks, homemade 'sima' (a traditional Finnish Easter drink similar to mead) and some few others. 

I gotta admit I was quite nervous at first when I arrived at my work station. I had slept poorly and tried to mask my growing anxiety as good as I could but luckily I was fretting for nothing as it was a pretty chill job and there were never any rushes or massive customer flows. My workmates were also friendly and there were no weird situations that cropped up, except for the obligatory technology hiccups with the card reader refusing to connect with the app and such. But we also took cash so when it did act up there was always a plan B to fall back on. And apparently the card reader hated my phone more than the other phones cuz no one else had it act up as much as I did lol.

Kumma Kahvila looked like this on Sunday.

As I spent the majority of my time at the con behind bars at the cafeteria working I gotta admit that I don't actually have so much to say about the convention itself. I saw some friends briefly but as I was the only one who worked I couldn't join them for some juicy shenanigans and thus I don't have any fun stories to share as, well, nothing out of the ordinary had a chance to happen. So I'm sorry but this summary might come across as a bit more dull than what I usually write. :')

 

Selfie with Firith! Yes I was in alt casual gear.

I did meet the lovely Firith in some Hatsune Miku inspired setup and we shared our sleeping accomodation as he and I have a mutual friend who so happens to have a study apartment in Oulu where we could crash over the weekend. Saved my ass because yeah, as I said I'm poor right now and on sick leave so the money ain't saying clinkety clink right now.

 

One of the staple vendors, Manga Cafe.

Some other geeky merch seller.

 

On Sunday my work shift were from 10-14 and it went by much the same as on Saturday, except a bit calmer still. I have no idea how much leftovers there were as I didn't stay until the closure of the con (I had to leave earlier) but I do assume that whatever were left from the cafeteria were handed out to the Green Room and to con workers to take home. 

Next year I will most likely apply to be a con worker again as I find it quite an important and delightful little side hustle and well, I do appreciate Kummacon staying as a free entrance event and for them to be able to stay that way they need volunteers to make the con happen year after year. :)

The obligatory art wall. Notice the 'poorly drawn Sasuke' meme. xD

 

I found this year's Kummacon experience to be a pleasant one. I did not attend any panels or programs or the like and spent like 90% of my time at the con working but I don't really feel like I missed out on much either as I'm a very lazy goer on any kind of activities and I'm trying to refrain from buying stuff as I feel like I own so much shit by now that I don't even know what to do with it lol. 

It doesn't take that long to traverse the building and see what the con has to offer and aside from the occasional crowding and the building being packed with people in lines waiting for popular programs to start (like the cosplay competition and cosplay date) then it was easy to navigate and move around in. I did feel some slight annoyance because upstairs there were a few cases when people would randomly sit or just stand next to the stairs for a longer time and clog up the passage, which wasn't that wide to begin with. Maybe there was a lack of chairs to sit on, I'm not sure? I didn't check every corner of the con but I know there were chairs in the same corridor where the Kumma Kirppis (second-hand store) was, although I'll admit I didn't step my foot in there.

Upstairs also had pretty crummy air flow/quality, I felt a bit nauseated several times while working and had to take breaks to go outdoors to get some fresh air; I heard that the windows upstairs couldn't be opened and that was one of the main reasons it was like that – luckily on Sunday someone brought a portable air conditioner to the cafeteria so it was a bit more manageable. Air quality was fine downstairs.

All in all Kummacon is a worthwhile con to visit if you happen to live in the north. It boasts a welcoming and safe atmosphere, a decent amount of activities to keep you entertained and it's just a breath of fun to liven up a dull week. We need to hold on tight to what few cons we have left with free entrance because yeah, I personally believe that low-threshold cons like this are a great way to get new and young hobbyists into the scene – it's a great first step to gauge if it's where you feel a sense of belonging. 

Thanks for reading and stay fresh out there!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Kummacon 2022 – Luck in misfortune

 Hello nerds!

I was away at my first convention for the year this past weekend and well, what started as simple plans to go as visitors to Kummacon with a group of friends ended up being a lot more chaotic than that. :D So I'm gonna tell you all about my Kummacon experience but first some base info about the con itself – Kummacon is a free entrance, small-ish convention held in Oulu that is dedicated to literature and popular culture. This year it was held in Tuira's school (Tuiran koulu) during 29-30.10.2022.

Let's go~

Kummacon main entrance (school's courtyard).

So as I said I had originally planned to go with some friends and we had sleeping accommodations planned over at another friend's place, who had newly moved to Oulu to study. Everything was looking normal but less than a week before the con one of my friends ended up getting covid and had to cancel the trip. Well, I figured I could still go together with the Oulu friend (at this point it was also unsure if Sallukka and her bf would make it) so I kept my plans intact, after all I already had bus tickets that couldn't be refunded...

Well, like a couple days before departure I get the news that said friend in Oulu was down with a case of covid as well and I had to find another place to sleep. Aw shit, here we go again with me old fine luck. So yeah, I ask my aunt (who lives in Oulu) if she could take me over and initially she said yes, although she warned that she had some very slight symptoms of an approaching cold. I tried to stay hopeful although I had a bad feeling about it. Friday morning came, the day of departure, and she sends me a message saying that she's sick and can't take visitors. So there I was with no place to sleep and my bus leaving in 8 hours and I literally knew no one else in Oulu who could help. The panic was real. I was so desperate I figured I'd try the only thing I could think of in that very moment – contact Kummacon itself through their social media channels. Yes I was that desperate and had exhausted all my other options and no, I wasn't willing to sleep in the station or some other spurgu 101 thing like that. 

So I reached out to Kummacon and by the time they saw my message and answered I had 45 minutes left before I would have to leave for the bus station at the latest. I was told I was welcome to sleep in their 'lattiamajoitus' as we say in Finnish (floor accommodation literally, or 'sovsal' as the Swedes say) if I could help with building the con on Friday, said sleeping accommodation was reserved for workers only. I of course agreed to this pseudo worker role, it saved my ass and my con trip. But then I had the horrible realization that I need to bring my own shit to sleep on! And I don't own a sleeping bag or even any kind of yoga mat or the like! And I had less than 15 minutes to come up with something, pack it and leave my humble abode. 

This was my panic solution: a tiny bean bag chair and two wool blankets.

The trip down to Oulu went somewhat okay, I got some motion sickness in the bus (and a shiny Halloween Pumpkaboo fled on Pokemon Go because the bus was moving too fast to catch it) but other than that it was bearable.

Once I arrived in Oulu the clock was 18:00 and I had no idea where to go. I looked up the school on Google Maps but it was very weird cuz it would change the name into something else starting with 'L' when you entered it, making me very unsure of if it was the right location. But Kummacon didn't answer my messages so I just had to trust Google to not be a jerk. I walked for roughly 30 minutes before I got to what Maps told me was the right place – it looked pretty dead. I walked around the building in the dark until I found a glass door type area where I could see people inside, people who clearly looked like con workers. I stood there for at least 10 minutes waiting for someone to notice me (door was locked) but even if someone did then everyone actively ignored me. This was quite anxiety-inducing and somewhat frustrating as I expected someone to at least have the courtesy to finger point me in the right direction as I'm not a local (evident by my big suitcase lol) and the school's layout was quite confusing to me. After a while I gave up and continued wandering around the building; I was quite exhausted by the time I found where you could slink in. I made sure to find one of the organizers and explain my situation and that I'm here now and I was told I could just drop my stuff somewhere and get to work.

I don't really remember much what I did on that Friday night once I arrived, I know I helped unpack stuff in the secondhand shop at least and that I moved some chairs around and texted on the doors to the Holmes and Poirot lecture rooms.

Yes, this is my handwriting. :>

Oh and at the end of Friday I upgraded myself from a pseudo unofficial con worker to an official con worker, especially as I was informed that Kummacon had in fact had several cancellations due to people getting sick and that they were a bit understaffed. I figured why not as I have plenty previous con worker experience anyway and now that I was alone and had nowhere else to go (except the con building) that I might as well do my part and be useful while getting green room benefits heheh.

 

I remember I had massive issues falling asleep on the Friday-Saturday night as my panic bedding solution was quite uncomfortable and made my lower back pains worse. I know I slept less than 4 hours that night and I constantly woke up because I was trying to find a position I could sleep in.

Saturday morning came and while I was still morning groggy I was tasked with going outside in the rain and putting up Kummacon posters nearby with painter's tape. Well at least that woke me up. xD 

Back inside I had breakfast in the green room and then I was assigned to 'yleisvänkäri' duty (general con worker, so I did a lot of random stuff) and just patrolled the con area, emptying trash etc and just offering a helping hand wherever needed.

Kummacon info desk. Notice the reindeer plush.

Kummacon mystery game. Solve the disappearance of their mascot.

This year Kummacon had a 'Noir' theme if you wondered about the mystery and detective approach, including the names of the lecture rooms mentioned earlier. 

Near the entrance was this black paper roll on the wall that visitors could draw on, I love it when cons do this as it's such a simple thing to add but it creates a lot of engagement and personality over the course of the weekend and it's fun to go back to it over time and check what has been added. I forgot to draw Buttman on it though, I'm so sorry I've stained the very legacy I promised to upkeep. ;_;

Notice the sunbathing seal at the very corner. xD

I've always liked Kummacon in general, it's a very low-threshold event for first-timers as there's never been an entrance fee to date and it has this comfy, tiny community feeling. It doesn't have all the 'oohs' and 'aahs' that bigger cons do in terms of content and spectacles but Kummacon has the classic con repertoire to keep you at least entertained through most of its duration: anime karaoke, board games room, Artist's Alley, merchandise and Asian sweets to buy, cosplay competition, panels, escape room etc. There wasn't a video games room (which usually is a staple at cons) but other than that I don't really felt like it was missing anything crucial. And I'm low maintentance.

Part of the main area where sponsored shops were.

If you wanted plushies Urumi had you covered...

... and if you wanted sweets there was Manga Cafe.

Sponsor area viewed from opposite direction. Notice Pelimies in the corner.

Opposite side of sponsor area was for chillaxing.

Artist's Alley was located in the corridors and back area.

Tuira's school as a host building wasn't optimal but decent enough to function. The layout of the building is kinda awkward, even for a school. It's very narrow and feels like it's 75% corridors lol. So needless to say there were a lot of situations when certain passages would get really crammed because people would pile up there and block the hallways due to walking into the area from two different directions simultaneously etc – the Artist's Alley was particularly notorious for creating bottlenecks like this as half of the tables were placed along a narrow reverse U-shaped corridor while some were lucky enough to be put in the tiny open area (as seen on my photo above) at the end of the building. At some point the issue was somewhat lessened by putting up signs showing the walking direction, although I lowkey feel like this should have been predicted and prevented already before the con started by putting up big arrow floor signs or markers etc. The papers were very easy to miss, to be honest.

I found someone sus.

There's one thing that really caught me by surprise though and that was the popularity of the second-hand shop, aka 'conikirppis'. For those not aware of how this works it's basically that con attendants can sign up prior to the event to leave items that they want to sell (price marked etc) and those will then be sold in the second-hand shop by some workers who have that as their responsibility. Unsold items will then be returned to the owners along with money gained. But yeah, what I was about to say was that already before it opened its doors on Saturday there was a clear line of people queueing in front of the door. And it kept getting bigger. And bigger. And bigger. And by the time it was time to open I saw that the line of people had grown so big that it ran across almost the whole length of the corridor, all the way to the Artist's Alley. It was crazy. People had to line up and patiently wait for their turn to have a chance of entering the second-hand due to it being located in a small classroom. I kept walking by the area many times due to being a worker and I noticed that the line was there and it felt like it didn't get any smaller for the longest time. There were even some con workers outside the door regulating the entrance to keep it from escalating into overcrowded chaos.

Found this funny. xD In the second-hand shop.

I realized I forgot to take photos of the merchandise hall as it was located in another interconnected building (you had to go outside and enter another building directly to the right and then left, if exiting from the school's courtyard) but yeah, this was where you could find the non-sponsor shops and booths. Some other conventions like Matsucon and Kazecon also had their information stalls here along with some book publishers and the local LGBTQ+ organizations. 

Oh and yeah, to fit with the mystery theme one could find these funny little "missing person" posters scattered around the con. These gave me a chuckle or two, there were more of them and I'm not sure I even spotted them all as I didn't venture into all the available classrooms to check.

I gotta say I'm happy things turned out the way they did in the end. Sure that the panic mode before departure was absolutely horrible, in every imaginable way, but I had some serious luck in misfortune and I ended up being a valuable asset for the Kummacon crew too – so it worked both ways!

And I gotta admit that I had a lot of fun and that the co-workers were all really pleasant and fun personalities to deal with although I'm in awkward potato mode quite often lulz. 

The Green Room had some really wild discussions going on at times, like I remember walking into some deep talk about condom-flavored ramune that escalated into playful lobbying for a 18+ version of Kummacon that should naturally be called Kuumacon (literally Hotcon). I had to excuse myself at that moment and leave the room before I died. It was hilarious.

The secrets that lie inside the Green Room...

Oh and I gotta say that I slept the Saturday-Sunday night so much better and guess why? I got to upgrade my bedding! There was this other con worker who also slept in-location and after I happened to spill the beans about my uncomfortable last night's sleeping ventures I was told that I could borrow the megasized bean bag chairs that had been in use for visitors to sit on during the day. Well, needless to say I went to the chill corridor and grabbed one and dragged it into my lair!

Panic bedding 2.0

It's not that visible on the photo but the blue one is easily twice the size of my emaciated black one and had so much more stuffing. Obviously I slept like a rejuvenated king considering the original situation, almost. :D

I couldn't stay the full day on Sunday. As I had prebooked my bus tickets already before I had any idea that my original plans would fail it of course meant that I was limited by those times. So on Sunday I left the con building around the 15:00 mark after doing some last minute Artist's Alley gift shopping for friends and relatives. 

My treasure haul for myself. The shirt was a worker bonus.
(gifts for others not pictured)

All in all I had a great time at the con and left with a warm and fuzzy feeling in the chest. I will definitely keep on attending Kummacon as it feels like a safe place to be, it's relaxing, moves at its own pace and the people behind it work hard to keep it free and inviting for everyone. It's not perfect but you can tell that the organizers do it with their hearts; it's a passion project that has endured over the years and for that it deserves a round of applause. I would definitely be interested to go as a worker in the future too.

That's it for this time, thanks for reading!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Kummacon 2021 – First con in two years!

Hello peeps!

Guess what? :D Kummacon was held in Oulu this past weekend on 27-28 November and yes, I was there. It has literally been two years since I last visited an anime convention and everyone knows why – covid happened and fucked shit up on a global scale. All kinds of events and gatherings have been cancelled or strictly regulated since the virus broke out in early 2020 (for northern Europe) and cons were no exception. Things are still not back to normal but Kummacon got the green light to hold their event as they imposed regulations to keep all attendants as safe as possible.

...
But more about that later on, now let's start the summary from the beginning!

Kummacon building, aka Hiukkavaaratalo.

A few days before the con I bunked at my friend Sallukka's place to make the travel to Oulu and Kummacon as smooth and stress-free as possible, especially as I live in Sweden normally and crossing the border is a potential hassle. 

I had toggled between if I should bring a cosplay or not for over a month and the crisis was real until the very last day before I left home. I ultimately ended up going with as little luggage as possible (to give Firith, in turn, more room for his mountain of stuff) and that also meant no costume. I had considered doing a random jedi from Star Wars.

We had decided on driving down to Oulu the Friday before the con weekend and we split our group of four in two. Sallukka and her boyfriend went to an Airbnb while me and Firith raided my aunt. :D The car ride went mostly fine except for the fact that it was slippery as fuck and when we arrived in central Oulu there was a massive rush, for some reason, and the main road (running next to the railway station) was stuck with cars all over the place that couldn't get out and yeah, absolute chaos and road rage ensued...

Friday night we didn't do much. We ate some dinner and I helped my aunt with Metroid Dread on Nintendo Switch. She was stuck in that one water room with E.M.M.I. in Ferenia. Or more like, she wasn't really stuck but more so that it was hard and chase sequences make her somewhat anxious so she hadn't played in a while and, as a result, forgot some of the buttons. I had never played a Metroid game before but she shoved her Switch Lite into my hands and I kept dying cuz the controls are too much for this noob lolol. We ended up teamwork powering through it, her playing and me focusing on the minimap and guiding her through it as well as I could. Later I beat the electric insect boss for her (after dying like thirty times xD) and then the twin soldiers (after dying another fifty times xD). She enjoys the exploration and "figuring things out" aspects a lot more than the fighting (especially hard fights she can struggle with for a long time) so I don't feel like I ruined her game experience in any way cuz she did ask me to beat them if possible.

Saturday morning me and Firith woke up.. err, somewhat early? *insert groggy eyes emoji here*
The plan was to shoot his Luka Megurine (Vocaloid) cosplay somewhere in Oulu and while he was changing into cosplay me and my aunt brainstormed photoshoot locations nearby. We decided on Nallikari beach first and then just take it from there. Eventually Firith was done cursing his eyelash glue and so we set off with my aunt driving us around town. It's convenient because she's an experienced photographer (although I took the cosplay pics, my aunt mostly did her own thing and occasionally couched us) so she pointed out the good spots when we looked for nice backgrounds, haha. We had a dastardly good time freezing our fingers off and got some pretty sweet photos I'd say.

Once we got back to the apartment Firith yeeted his costume and changed back into casual gear to warm up. Wearing a summer dress in winter isn't the brightest thing to do but every Finnish cosplayer out there knows the motto "cosplay without pain is pretending"... :)

Sallukka eventually called and, after scouring through the nearby video game stores to find our two missing links, we were all gathered and could start our drive to Kummacon. This time the road was not as slippery (the brakes actually worked) but the con building was located a 7 or so kilometers away from central Oulu. I don't remember who of us actually said it but while we were driving closer we all must have been thinking the same thing, until someone exclaimed "minne vitun takapajuun me jouduttiin?" (lit. "what fucking backwater place did we end up in?"). :'D It looked like nowhere and apparently nowhere in Oulu is called Hiukkavaara lol.

One of the two entrances. Sign says "prepare to show covid certificate".

It was like -17 degrees outside and as soon as I exited the orange car I quickly noped my way inside the building. At Kummacon's entrance there were workers checking that everyone who entered the building had a valid EU covid certificate to show. Wearing a face mask was not mandatory but strongly recommended and thankfully a big majority did wear masks at all times. In some rooms masks were mandatory (karaoke room and some others) as well.

Another thing that stood out in Kummacon was this most peculiar rule about no shoes. Wadd de fugg?? :-DD It was not a rule set by Kummacon but rather imposed by Hiukkavaaratalo itself (I think?) which is a school and multipurpose building. So you either walked with just your socks on or you emblazoned your feet in those sexy blue shoe covers. Or you had separate indoor shoes but honestly, who bothers with such nonsense? I was #teamsocks and well, at least I get to air out my feet lol.

These gnomes were judging your shoed feet...

This is the first time the con was held in Hiukkavaaratalo and, when I stop to think about it, Kummacon is probably the con that has changed host buildings the most: Valve, Pohjankartano, Oulu International School, Kastellin monitoimitalo and now Hiukkavaaratalo. Yikes that's a lot!

But anygays, if you passed through the main entrance you were immediately met by the info table. There was always someone scanning the QR code on your covid certificate as well here. No vaccination = no entrance.
Personally I think this is very good as it allows a small public event to be organized while still making visitors feel as safe as possible from risk of infection. The call that an official EU covid certificate would be needed to enter came very late though; it was informed on Kummacon's social media channels only a week before the event. I learned that Kummacon itself had no control over how late they got this information from the higher-ups, but despite some panic (due to Sweden being slower than Finland to take the covid certificate into use) things turned out smoothly for me in the end and I could visit the con.

Entrance information table.

One thing that I noticed upon entering the building was the absence of cosplayers. There were a few from Genshin Impact and a handful of others that I didn't recognize but most visitors seemed to be in casual gear or alternative fashion. That or I didn't realize that it was a cosplay. ^^" But then again, small cons in the north usually don't have a lot of people in cosplay in general (totally guilty of this myself, I don't feel like it's worth the effort to dress up) as there's more of "chill with friends" vibes dominating the mood.

View from the entrance towards the main area.

Urumi's shop near the stairs in main area.

Asian snacks are a hot commodity.

Bard & Jester store, they're cool af.

I must admit that there were more visitors than I initially expected. It's possible that there was an influx of eager congoers as there hasn't been a physical anime convention in ages (as far as I know) and on top of Kummacon actually happening it's also free entrance. Kummacon has never had an entrance fee and I think it's great as it makes the con a low-threshold event to attend for anyone even remotely curious (like parents of an interested child) or new to the scene. 

Someone selling retro stuff near the entrance. Always a delight!

The first thing I did once I dumped my winter shoes at the entrance was to go find the cloakroom that was surprisingly far away from the entrance. I crammed my jacket into a shelf (no free hangars/hooks) and then I waited near the entrance for Firith to come inside (he stayed behind outside for a smoke). Oh and yeah, the cloakroom functioned in a self-service way, it wasn't behind a desk or with designated con workers like big cons usually have. Having no one watching of course means an increased risk of shit going missing but I didn't really feel concerned of theft at all.

Random chill circle I guess? To the top right are the toilets.

Oh and yeah, Hiukkavaaratalo is a two-floor building as visible on one of the photos above. Most of the con was located on the ground floor but the Artist's Alley and the secondhand shop were both on the upper floor. There might have been something else on the top floor as well but I don't think there was? I should maybe have taken one of those con leaflets because yeah, I did walk through the building but I am not sure if I've missed anything. Like was there even a video game room as I did not come across one?

Stairs leading up to the top floor.

 

My number one thing that I do when I get to cons nowadays is to go straight for the Artist's Alley. Maybe I'm getting old but I'm not as interested in typical anime merch anymore (I have way too much and can't be arsed to sell off what I don't need/want lol) and I'd rather buy actually useful stuff like magnets to put on my fridge, jewelry and such from independent artists and support them.
Most of the artists were familiar from previous cons but there were a few new faces too, I think? I bought a magnet to give as a small thank-you present for my aunt for letting us stay at her place over the weekend.

Artist's Alley view when entering the top floor.

More artist booths.

On the top floor the Artist's Alley was located on the right side of the split while the secondhand was located on the left side. I did do a quick trip to the secondhand side but there wasn't anything interesting there. It did look a bit like people want to get rid of their Harry Potter merchandise though now that it has come to everyone's attention that the author is a really gross TERF and yeah, tons of fans want to distance themselves from her work and understandably so.

 

I do like Hiukkavaaratalo as a con location for a small-sized event. Sure it's quite far from city (which means that unless you have your own car it might be ass to get here) but it felt cozy, clean, well lit and rather easy to navigate in as there's not a lot of corridors or narrow spaces and rooms. It felt populated but not crowded; I never felt like there were too many people in the same spot and keeping reasonable corona distances wasn't too hard either.

 

View of the ground floor from above.

It appeared like most people came here to socialize and have a jolly good time. I had not planned to participate in any scheduled activities myself, I mostly just came to check out how a covid-safe con could be implemented and to hang with my friends. And I'm perfectly content with there not being tons of things to see and do.
One thing I did pay attention to was that there were plenty of chairs and tables scattered around; I always saw free chairs somewhere so if you needed to sit down and rest your legs you always had that option and weren't forced to sit on the floor. I remember all those years ago in big cons when you just want to sit down before your lower back or legs descend to hell but you can't as every fucking chair and bench are taken. U_U

A group of people playing a card game together.

 

It's nice to see that con folks are respectful and thoughtful of others in these trying times – I did not experience anyone standing so close that they were breathing down my neck or anything of the sort; the only places where it could get a bit crammed was near shops and the cloakroom. There were no "free hugs" signs either which was to be expected as physical contact among strangers should be kept to a minimum.

I do feel like Kummacon took the whole corona thing seriously; there were hand sanitizer stations and signs spread around the con (mostly taped to the pillars) reminding visitors to use hand sanitizers and to keep the face mask on. I did not personally see anyone trying to sneak or forcibly get past the entrance  check either and overall there appeared to be no drama or proof of bad organizing. When I think about it Kummacon has always been surprisingly polished and well organized in fact, especially for being a free con.

 

 

I did not stay very long on Saturday. I mostly just checked through all the stores, did a raid on Pokémon Go, vibed in my oversized (and borrowed) Sabaton hoodie for a while and then we were off. I would probably have hung around longer normally but I didn't really feel a need to make myself any more susceptible for infection, even though the risks were minimized. It's just that you can never be sure that you're 100% safe and this little nugget of worry sits at the back of my head.

But before we left for the night I browsed the table of Veli-Matti Ural, a local comic artist and the con's guest of honor more or less. He was selling comics portraying war times (one of the comics accurately portrays the adventures of a soldier who he is related to) and I ended up striking a chat with him. Really passionate guy, I purchased a book from him that I will give as a present to a family member. I got it signed too! In hindsight I'm very happy that I bought the book on Saturday as Veli-Matti wasn't there on Sunday at all, one less Christmas present to panic about. xD

Water drinking station.

We returned for a quick visit on Sunday, mainly to grab some more stuff from Artist's Alley that wasn't available yesterday. I picked up my acrylic cutesy octopus magnet (it had sold out yesterday but the artist made more for Sunday after I asked for one) and Sallukka picked up something else.
There was some talk that Firith wanted to go to the karaoke room to sing with Sallukka but it fell through cuz awkward potato mode I guess. Me and Firith did another raid on Pokémon Go (no shiny Miltanks boo :<), I bought some discounted ramune and then we left Kummacon for Kemi.

Couldn't pass up on 1 € ramune!

All in all Kummacon was a worthwhile trip and it paves the way for future cons to be organized safely despite covid still raging, showing that it can be done. I enjoyed my time, albeit short. It was so nice to feel the "con feeling" again and be surrounded by colorful people who likes the same things your nerdy butt also likes. I feel a little bit more alive now, more hopeful for con season 2022 definitely! It also feels a bit funny to realize it but the last con I visited before le pandemic happened was actually Kummacon in 2019. xD
I'm quite fond of this lil' northern con and I hope there will be many more; it's a casual, leisurely small event where everything seems to function and where the fruits of labor are visible in the overall quality and accessibility. Free entrance and constant swaps of host buildings in this case doesn't mean that it's an unpolished mess, it means that they take what opportunities they get and make it work.

Showing off the con loot. :D (the book will be a present)

Hoping to visit more cons next year, thanks for reading!

~ Shiro Samurai out.