Kemin mangapäivä 2025 – Hosting an activity room!

 Hello geeks and bookworms!

After years in a deep hiatus Kemi's manga day has returned! It's been a whopping 10 years since I last attended this local event and I think that's roughly when it stopped being held too, give or take a couple years. Kemi's manga day was held on Saturday 8th March, it's a free one-day event in the Kulttuurikeskus building.

Let's get on with this summary!

As a little backstory I want to mention that many many years ago Kemi's manga day was the first ever pop culture event I attended and it's where my cosplay journey started back in 2009. :'D So yeah, I have a certain nostalgic fondness for this humble event – and so when I heard news that Kemi's manga day was about to rise from its grave I got very excited and made sure to inform my willingness to help make it happen, especially because I knew the firesouls behind the effort to bring it back.
For those unaware Kemi's manga day and Kitacon have actually been arranged by a single person all those previous years, more or less, and at some point down the road said person burnt out and that's why both anime events in Kemi suddenly stopped. This is why it's so very important to have other passionate people to pass the torch forward to when your powers eventually fall short!
Anyways, I was early with taking contact and, while my initial position was to be one of the cosplay competition judges, I saw a creeping dilemma approaching the closer to launch we got. That creeping dilemma was called ~not enough programs and activities~. So in a last minute change of mind a few days before the con I asked the main organizers if I could host a drop-in drawing workshop instead of being a cosplay judge; I figured getting activities was more urgent and an art room is easy enough for me to host, despite my numerous struggles. I got a grateful thumbs up and set the plan in motion!

Entrance to the event building. Nostalgic for many of us.

Then came the much awaited return of the king day. My mom was an angel and had promised to drive me to Kemi on the morning and so I didn't have to take public transport or anything. Who wasn't an angel was my neighbors though, because of course they decided to have some karaoke night on Friday night because why the fuck not, complete with humppa and drunken setämies fights. This month has been a ridiculous bullet hell of Murphy's law everywhere for me, I shit you not. Oh well, thank lord my lovely neighbors eventually went to sleep and so I could go to sleep too lol.
My original plan had been to cosplay but due to a combination of bad luck (including aforementioned partying wrecking my chances at a decent night's sleep) and other factors I decided on the morning to just go casual instead. Or well, as casual as my most basic metalhead attire is.

I arrived in Kemi roughly 10:30, with half an hour to spare before the event officially opened its doors to visitors. Immediately upon entering I noticed that some of the artist tables had been placed just next to the entrance, which I personally think is great as it adds a lot of visibility and novelty, as in you can immediately tell that it's not just another normal day at the library. Yes, I'm saying library here because the local library is in the same building and it's the main reason most people enter the building. Also a shoutout to the library for being one of the two organizing bodies and lending personnel to make the manga day flow smoothly!

Immediately upon entering you saw a part of the Artist's Alley.

Here's OwlCraftian's booth, one of the talented young craftmakers. ♥

I went to dump my jacket and scarf in one of the backrooms and then I quickly checked my work station, aka the library's youth room where the drawing workshop was to be held. I scurried around for a few minutes fetching some people to get all the tools I needed for the room (paper, coloring pens etc) and after making sure that everything was ready at 11:00 I spent the next 30 minutes checking the Artist's Alley while I still had some time to do so.
I saw some faces from previous con trips but I also saw a few I've only seen like once and there were one or two booths I think I've never seen before, which was very nice to see! I really like how the organizers have given newcomers and locals a chance to come and sell because Artist's Alley slots are highly sought after and usually events get more applications than there's available slots so yeah, sadly not everyone who wants in gets a place and usually the bigger, already established names get priority. Variety and supporting those with less experience (so that they can get more experience) makes me a happy fellow artist. :)

General view of the main area (immediately after passing the AA).

Before leaving for my work station I snapped all the photos in this summary and yes, because I took the photos early that's why it looks more empty than it actually was during the busiest hours.

Oh, I forgot to mention that aside from the library there's also a permanent comic exhibition (feat. Donald Duck characters) and a museum in the same building. And a cafeteria and a rotating art exhibition hall so yeah, it's not called Kulttuurikeskus (lit. 'culture center') for nothing.

Kemi's children's culture center held a DIY pin workshop in the comic exhibition area.

Once the clock hit 11:30 I made my way through the library and all the way to the drawing room in the far back, past the youth section. When I arrived two kids were already diligently drawing in there, much to my surprise. In this room I was to sit until the cosplay competition started, which was at 14:00 local time.

Drawing workshop, prepared and awaiting attendants~

I'll admit, I was quite nervous at first. I've never hosted any kind of self-suggested activity alone before. I might or might not have co-hosted something at some point, I can't remember. Oh, and I don't count Mericon's photobooth here because it was officially needed and not something that came from my head. I can get panicky in front of people but I figured that watching over kids drawing is less daunting than hosting something for adults, because especially young kids aren't as critical and bothered by neurospicy quirks or social awkwardness as adults can be, generally speaking. Anime events tend to be an exception to this rule, which is a calming thought.
I did start to feel comfortable eventually and I'm very happy about how everyone who visited the workshop was very well-behaved. There were zero behavioral issues throughout the whole day and everyone even knew to keep their voices down despite there being no signs anywhere. #faithinhumanityrestored

A big part of why the workshop existed was because there was also a drawing competition held for minors – the theme was "me as an anime character/hero" and to qualify you needed to draw an original character that had three traits that you also have, be it personality or visual features. Inspiration from existing franchises (aka "me in the Naruto universe" etc) was allowed but no actual character art or a colorswap of an existing character etc.
The competition was originally split into three categories divided by age (for fairness) but it just so happened that every single person who submitted a drawing for the competition was in the same age group! We got a healthy amount of submissions and so, when it came time to judge the competing works, we decided to choose one winner and one honorable mention. And when I say we I mean me and the other judges; originally it was supposed to just be me and Ilkka from the library personnel but Firith and Sallukka happened to show up just when we were about to start the judging process. You see, we had two contestants who weren't done by the time the clock struck 14:00 and so me and Ilkka agreed to give them 15 minutes more grace time to finish their artworks – it would have been cruel not to extend the time a little because the poor kids were so stressed when they realized they wouldn't have time to finish by the original deadline. Yes, I was mentioning every now and then how much time was left. I just didn't have the heart to tell them 'no' when they asked for overtime because I had seen them drawing very focused for the better part of an hour and I know how crushing it can be to hand in something you created passionately that isn't complete.
So yeah, because of this additional time before the judging started that's why Firith and Sallukka already ended up finishing the cosplay judges responsibilities and so we were four people trying to decide on who would win. I gotta be perfectly honest here and say that it was genuinely difficult to pick a winner. Every submission was well done when you consider the age of the artists (everyone was between 9-11 years old with a majority being 10) and similar in terms of technical skillsets. I honestly felt bad and genuinely sad that I couldn't give everyone an award because it was that even. :'( Library budgets are tight af, I personally provided some of the prizes and so did a few others. Just know that if you're one of the contestants and you happen to read this now or many years into the future – you all did a great work and should be proud of yourselves. Keep on drawing!

General view next to the library's entrance.

Once the judging was done we tried to find all the contestants and get them back to the room for the reveal of the winner and handing out the prizes. After some roaming we managed to find all six participants (thankfully no one had left yet!) and the lil' ceremony could start.

After the prize-giving was over the event was down on its final hour and I tagged along Firith and Sallukka to the last activity of the day, namely the former's panel upstairs. It was a filler rerun of the same panel first seen at Mericon's debut in 2023. There were a handful of listeners despite how late into the day it was. I don't know how I managed to appear present and proper because it felt like my brain was nearing the questionable state of fried tofu. Yeah, I have quite severe afternoon crashes sometimes when my energy just drops to absolute Mariana Trench levels. Luckily the worst part of this kicked in after Kemi's manga day was already over because I was yawning non-stop for over an hour and it was embarrassing lmao.

Near the library's entrance. Notice the lost & found bookmark hanger!

Because I was watching over the drawing room all day I saw very little of the rest of the event itself. I did not see the cosplay competition and probably missed half of all colorful visitors but I don't mind, I feel like I significantly contributed to make the event get out of the starting line and run a successful run. :') I'm just so happy to see Kemi's manga day returning from the dead and I would be pissed at myself if I hadn't lifted a finger to help it in some way lol. This means that my summary is, perhaps, not as "complete" as it might have otherwise been – but I have no regrets.

I think that's roughly all I had to say about this fuzzily nostalgic yet new experience. It felt so wonderfully déjà vu to enter the building for the first time and see fursuits and cosplayers again after all these years. I mean, this is one of the buildings where Kitacon used to be when I started out; it's hard to describe this weird nostalgy I'm feeling but it feels like I've come full circle – I started here as a bullied, young and cringy weeb (we all were cringe, don't lie lmao) with hardly any friends and now I am one of the adults forming the backbone of safety and community and making sure that the next generation of kids can have the same fundamental experiences I had when growing up. It feels unreal but it's so very real – this is the kind of small magic that everyone can do: giving back to the very same community that helped you. ♥

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this little read!
~ Shiro Samurai (aka KaamosWolf) out.

Gingacon 2024 – Furries and a missing cheese slicer

 Hello peeps and woofers alike~

Last weekend I attended my first Gingacon event and, as the name implies, it is an anime convention especially aimed at fans of the Ginga series and other works by mangaka Yoshihiro Takahashi. Gingacon's target audience was also the furry community and people overall who are into animal-themed fictional works and toys (Pokémon, Digimon, Tamagotchi etc) as well as stories and fan creations.
This year's Gingacon was held on Saturday, 23rd November in Tampere, Finland. The host building was a school commonly called Tredu by the locals.

Let's get this summary started!

 

Gingacon info booklet.

My trip to the con started on Friday but, I admit, I might have been panic-packing on Thursday. As mentioned in previous blog posts I had planned to rewear my shiny Mightyena gijinka and, well, that costume consists of parts from other cosplays, stuff from my wardrobe and from my vintage kimono collection. It's effectively a fancier closet cosplay with some accessories added on top to make it more recognizable, aka a pair of ears and a tail – of which the latter I didn't have during its debut. But yeah, when I was packing my suitcase I might have had a panic moment when I realized that I didn't really remember exactly what brown pants I had used for the costume previously and all the brown costume pants I found didn't fit! So there I am losing my shit over some pants until it dawns on me that "hey, weren't those old corduroy pants I snagged from grandma brown?". *lightbulb moment* So I go digging through my wardrobe like a dwarf digging a hole diggy diggy hole and I found the damn pants and, even better, they fit so comfortably! Pants crisis, averted.

...
Except that wasn't my only crisis. I had a wig crisis too. xD I did find the old wig I had used for this cosplay but when I quickly tried it on I just had one blaring opinion – it looked like shite. It just wasn't flattering on my face at all, way too much fiber and poofiness on top. And the more I thought about it the more I kinda wanted a longer and shaggier wig but, of course, I only own short brown wigs. :)) I have like two bigass plastic containers full of wigs and somehow I never have the wig I need – a cosplayer's eternal curse amirite? Oh well, I ended up borrowing a wig from Firith, who was my con company for the trip too. I will buy a more fitting wig later for the next outing.

On Friday we took the train down to Tampere. I should maybe mention that we had an accommodation catastrophe since Gure, who was supposed to accomodate us during Gingacon, got sick with fever a few days before the con déjà vu and that threw our plans out the window. So in a last-minute panic I'm scrambling to get a new place to stay in while Firith loses all hope of even going. Our train tickets were non-refundable too and we literally knew no one else who lived in Tampere. Another thing is that Gingacon is held in an area outside of Tampere's centrum so there's not really any hotels nearby (and it's not like we could have afforded an emergency hotel stay on such short notice anyway). In my desperation I asked around in the Gingacon work crew Discord group and luckily Nawulf in there suggested this one airbnb that was very close to the con building, which ended up being our saving grace that secured the con trip!

It was late when we arrived to our airbnb stay and we both were a bit nervous because we had never used an airbnb before. Luckily the host was friendly and showed us great hospitality so everything went well! It was one of those airbnb types where you live together with the family in their home, essentially just renting a vacant room for the stay. We were allowed to use the living room to watch some TV; it was nice to wind down a bit before going to bed.
On Saturday morning we packed our stuff and put our costumes on before leaving (luckily there were like three bathrooms so we didn't hog the only bathroom in the house for cosplay prep xD). We were a bit behind schedule but not too bad.

Tampereen Seudun Ammattiopisto, aka Tredu.

I think the clock was around 12:30 local time when we arrived to the con. It looked quite empty from outside and we were momentarily very confused because there were signs on the front doors saying something like "entrance not allowed" and there also weren't any obvious big Gingacon signs anywhere stating that we were in the right place. Luckily we weren't dumbfounded for long because someone from inside noticed us and came outside to welcome us in and told us that they were working on hiding those "no entrance" signs.

View to the right (feat. cloakroom) upon entering.

Immediately upon entering the information desk was in front of our noses. There was a slight queue so we waited for our turn to get our badges. I had applied to be part of the work force and, more exactly, a green room worker. Firith in turn had applied for the cosplay competition and thus also got a badge, albeit an orange contestant badge instead of a blue worker badge. :3

My worker badge (and con ticket) featuring Gingacon's mascot Routa!
(yes, I censored my name for privacy reasons)

As soon as we got our badges we headed to the cloakroom to drop off our luggage and almost immediately after that Firith had to bolt for the cosplay competition's pre-judging phase. I had roughly 20 mins left to explore before my 3h work shift would start.
One thing that I quickly noticed was that Tredu was extremely similar in style to Pohjankartano in Oulu, except smaller. I mean the similarity was tripping me through the whole day lol! If you've read any of my Matsucon summaries you'll probably get what I mean with how these two buildings resemble one another, especially the way the stairs and upper floors are arranged.

General view of the main area, including the stage.

Another general view, Artist's Alley visible in the back.

I didn't really have enough time to do any proper exploration before my shift would start so instead I just kindly waddled over to the green room, which was hidden away in a corridor to the left half of the building, near a vending machine. There were signs pointing me in the right direction so I didn't get lost lol.
One thing I immediately noticed when stepping inside the green room was that it was surprisingly large in size, especially for a smaller con like Gingacon. There were tables full of many different food items including instant noodles, fresh fruits and vegetables to put on bread, snacks, chips and cookies, Pocky sticks, orange soda and juice and porridge and yeah, basically anything that's easy to eat or prepare! There was so much more variation than I expected; hands down probably the most comprehensive green room I've used to date, 10/10 would work again.

One of many green room tables.

I don't know if I misunderstood or misremember or if the information was wonky, but I do remember asking if there was any warm food and was told that Gingacon didn't supply warm food to the workers, unless you count the instant noodles. But then not long after I learned that there was some homemade food in the fridge that was free to use and had seemingly been prepared for the con workers? There were like two or three aluminium packages with some chicken dish inside and I think there was a bowl of salad too or something? I was just perplexed why said homemade food didn't count as a warm meal? Maybe it was just brainfarts on one or both sides but, whatever the case may have been, one thing was clear – there was enough food so you wouldn't have to work on an empty stomach.

This food package gave me a laugh. xD (artist unknown)

My work shift lasted from 13-16 and I spent that time watching over the green room and doing various tasks to keep it functioning like instructing and helping green room users, emptying the trash bags, making more coffee whenever it ran out and so on. Usually Nemi was also there to help me observe the situation so it never really got too hectic or overwhelming. Most times it was actually pretty chill and manageable and thus a pleasant working experience.

One tiny little thing that kept occuring though was that someone would every now and then come and ask where the cheese slicer was because there was a block of cheese but nothing to slice it with. Turns out that Nemi had forgotten to bring the cheese slicer. xD So yeah, those who wanted cheese on their bread had to resort to violating the cheese with a knife for the first hours of the con while the cheese slicer was on its way. Eventually there was a message in the Discord channel that the slicer had arrived, and because Nemi was hosting the Pokémon Go meetup at that time and thus I was the sole person watching over the green room, it meant that I put on my errand boy shoes and ran to pick up the much coveted metallic object from the info desk.

THE MYTHICAL CHEESE SLICER HAS GRACED US.

In hindsight I would perhaps have liked to check out the Pokémon Go meetup but it collided with my working hours so no can do. It was nice though because there was an in-game event running called the Wild Area and Gingacon put lures on the pokéstop just outside during the full duration of the con. I must admit I've kinda fallen off the PoGo wagon, I have no clue about the whole Dynamax thing and so on but it's still fun to play casually every now and then. I just hope that all my mons aren't horribly outdated by now lmao.

Oh and speaking of Pokémon, me and Firith decided already on the morning when we put on our cosplays that we would postpone photoshooting my shiny Mightyena outfit. Reason number one was that we wouldn't really have time (bless the diminishing sunlight hours during the winter months in Finland) due to our respective responsibilities and reason number two was that my ears didn't function at all like intended and thus I didn't really feel like having a proper photoshoot before fixing them... again. I didn't have time to test wear them before the con. You see, I've remade them once but despite my efforts to add in steel wire they still didn't stay upright (I really need a different attachment method for support than just safety pins). So my ears were just hanging down the sides of my face and I looked like a sad doggo all day. *sniff* But at least I have a proof photo that I did have the costume on!

Crappy phone quality, I know.

I did have some slight difficulties with the lenses, or more exactly one of them. For some reason the right eye one kept being lowkey scratchy so I took it out and reinserted it like three or four times before it went away. I was starting to worry that the lens was defective (I had not had time to test these before the con either) but luckily that wasn't the case. I intentionally bought super bright manson-styled lenses to look more cartoony and well, shiny Mightyena has super vibrant blue eyes so I wanted to match that for extra accuracy haha. I also added those triangles to aid recognizability a little but I'm honestly not sure if anyone actually knew what I was supposed to be lol. Not like it matters anyway, I still had plenty of fun!

This was by the way the first cosplay on which I had a big floofy tail. I had to constantly remember to lift the tail up and out of the way before I sat down because otherwise it would get in the way due to its rather massive size. xD At least I can say that the tail mostly functioned as it should; the only thing I need to fix for next time is to move the elastic loops even closer to the edges to keep the edges from protruding – something I didn't realize while sewing it as a first-timer. You live and you learn!

Tail awareness every tiem.

While I was working in the green room I got handed this little bag of gifts from the organizers. I was quite taken at first because I have not experienced this kind of appreciation before as a volunteer worker. ;;_;; Apparently every worker got a 'thank you' goodie bag with Gingacon merchandise featuring the mascot character Routa, which was super cute and made me feel seen omg.

Standard issue green room meal. :'D Stupidly delish noodles!

Once my obligations shift was over I immediately headed over to the plush doll meetup on the third floor. This was the one program I had planned already prior that I wanted to attend. I gotta admit though that I'm a lazy congoer when it comes to attending activities like lectures and panels etc, most times I might see something interesting when the activities are revealed online but then when I'm at the con I most often ain't really in the mood during that specific time when something I was moderately interested in is happening. It's like I'm not feeling it, you know? Like the headspace is not right at that moment and then I just can't be arsed because I know I wouldn't stay focused and/or invested enough. Maybe it's a neurodivergence thing or maybe I'm just getting old, who knows lol.
Anyways, this stuffed doll meet was something I really had a drive to check out – one big reason being that it stood out to me. I've honestly never seen such an activity at any con before (which feels weird when I think about it, I mean so many alt people collect plushies) and it seemed like a relaxed low-threshold meetup where you'd maybe hear some fun and engaging stories.

Plushie meetup collection!

One key aspect of this meetup was that it was free-for-all, meaning that you didn't have to reserve a spot in advance, aka it was essentially a drop-in program. You were also encouraged to bring any soft toy with you to the meetup to show it off and tell the others about the story behind it, if you wanted to. This was the part that incited me to attend because oftentimes people have some emotional attachment to plush dolls and I find it interesting to hear this kind of personal stories, even if it's brief. Oh, and did I mention that I love plush dolls in general? I have soooo many from my childhood and also a bunch of newer ones that I've bought as an adult – mostly imported ones from Pokémon Center in Japan and such.
Honestly I really enjoyed the meetup, we all sat in a circle around the room and just one by one we told the others the story behind the particular plush we had brought with us to the meeting. The stories ranged from tragic accidents to unhinged, outright hilarious ones like taking a short-time loan to afford a must-have plushie that was out of budget at the moment.
I hope that this type of meeting will be held in the future too (staple meetup at future Gingacons?), it was a great social experience which helped me feel less childish and stigmatized in my plush collecting hobby.

My childhood fish plushie and boba tea.

I left the meetup a little before it officially ended because Firith had gone earlier to order us some bubble tea and was waiting for me in the main hall. I decided to be silly and sneaked up on Firith because I saw that my target was reading a book and thus not paying attention and then I took my fish plush and lowered it in front of the unsuspecting reader's face while singing a part of a meme variant of the Kalakaveri (lit. 'fish friend') song by K-Citymarket food store. Video below is of the edited variant, I don't know who the original creator is but all credit goes to whoever it is. Y'all can thank me later for the brain rot... or not. :'D Laitetaan vahinko kiertään!

While we were sitting at the table enjoying our bobas a shy person approached us and asked if we wanted to adopt a puppy, as in those adoptable character arts you might find on sites like Furaffinity or DeviantArt. It took me a second to realize what was going on and then this person made it clearer by asking if any of us two likes to draw, to which I raised my hand. So the gist is that this person had designed a bunch of adoptable puppies (essentially a reference art that you would claim ownership of) and I was presented with a lot of random numbers to choose one, kind of like a lottery ticket. It was a cute little encounter that I didn't expect but which gave a heartfelt touch to the overall atmosphere of the con. I wish I would have talked more with this random stranger but they disappeared almost as soon as they came, although they were very polite and charming with the whole "hey I'm socially anxious but want to get to know new people and this is my way of breaking the ice" shtick.

Yes, my phone's low battery makes me uncomfortable too.

After that encounter we finally had time to plow through the Artist's Alley and the dealers. There were some familiar artists whom I had bought from already at other cons but there were also some new faces I had not seen before, like some people who sold handmade ceramics! I was a bit let down because I didn't really find anything that really caught my fancy (I like supporting independent artists and buying small items) despite there being quite a nice amount of tables. There were several who had interesting items but I was mostly looking for magnets this time, especially because my keychain collection is growing so large at this point that I don't know where to display all the ones that I own, send help. x) 

View of Artist's Alley.

More Artist's Alley. JeMiChi's table in front.

On the second floor was what was referred to as the "Ginga room". This included the booth of Suomen Hopeanuoli-fanit ry which is the association that organizes Gingacon. There was a lucky wheel and some merchandise for sale, including Ginga fanzines. I also saw during my brief run-through during the day that on the second floor were also different activities like a fur workshop for making ears and tails and opportunities to draw and color in Ginga-themed linearts. But when I did my proper exploration the fur workshop and the drawing room had already closed for the day so yeah, I didn't really get to observe them in action. Seemed like fun concepts though based on that one quick glimpse I did catch.

A part of the Hopeanuoli-fanit merch booth.

Oh, I forgot to say earlier but I did meet Lillepysen briefly, an old friend of mine from many years back. We used to play video games together casually and shared some fandoms. It was nice to see her again and swap some words, albeit a bit in a hurry because we both had stuff we still stuff we needed to do haha. Ah, cons and running into people you know~

I also ran into some completely random people just randomly duking it out with a Beyblade battle near the video game room. It made my closeted little nerd heart take an extra beat because it was so nostalgic and unexpected! I remember when Beyblade first came out – I was obsessed! I had a Gameboy Advance game (which kinda sucked, sadly), duvet covers, stickers and of course some G1 spinning tops. Even begged dad for money so I could buy a Beyblade from the local toy store during a vacation when I was a kid. xD

Surprise encounter: Beyblade battlers.

This impressive Tamagotchi and virtual pet display
was near the Beyblade trio.

It was getting quite late at this point. I had wanted to check out what the retro video game room had to offer but I also knew that I wouldn't really have time to sit down and play because our ride was coming soon to pick us up. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I was honestly happy that the consoles in the room really were the true retro stuff – there was a Super Nintendo, Playstation 2, Playstation 1 and so on. Yes, the good old ones that takes me back to simpler days. I think the newest console I saw might have been a Nintendo Gamecube?
There were surprisingly many gaming consoles too, a lot more than I expected – I didn't count but I'm pretty sure that the total amount was close to 10 or so. Two thumbs up from me, a really solid game room. Whoever arranged this deserves applause, I lowkey regret that I didn't have a bit more time so that I could have played at least a little.

I got so excited when I saw that the Super Nintendo had
both Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars!

We had to leave the con a bit before it officially ended because we were dependant on Gure (mostly recovered) giving us a ride to the train station and thus had to work with more than just our own time schedules too. We had to catch a train to Harjavalta that same night but before the train would depart we had some time to kill so we went to have some pizza in the train station. It was surprisingly good, especially when hungry.

Lordipizza. Yes, the Eurovision winner Lordi.

We boarded the train and it was full of people. We had the random chance encounter to be situated next to a couple in their 50s who clearly looked like metalheads.. and also clearly looked like they had just been in a bar drinking. The lady was in the sleepy phase but the longhaired dude (he kinda looked like Marko Hietala except with more narrow face and features) was super chatty and curious about us. We both had changed out of costumes before leaving the con but we still had makeup on so yeah, I had my casual clothes (I look like a rocker so he probably sensed that we're his people lol) with those Mightyena triangles below my eyes and I guess it caught his curiosity. It was funny because he asked where we had been and I assumed he didn't know what cosplay was so I explained it in simpler terms, like taking the long way around to make sure he gets the gist of it and then this man just looks at me and his eyes widen and he goes "do you mean that cosplay thing?" and I'm like say whaaaat how does this random dude know the word cosplay? XD He then goes off on a tangent about how he fucking loooooves Star Wars (bro literally goes like "I have ADHD I can't stop talking", bless his heart) and how he's always wanted to try to dress up but that he didn't know how to nor where and now he fears that he's too old and it would be improper of him to go to any conventions. I encouraged him to go to any free events first and check it out because age is really not a hindrance and that there's people of all ages who enjoy dressing up (even though you mostly see the young ones in social media and on the streets). He seemed genuinely interested and really inspired and ngl I wish that he gathers the courage to actually go check out a cosplay event in the future. This was hands down the most wholesome random drunk encounter I've ever had. Not to mention that of course we also talked about metal bands and what bands we had seen live and he had like all the same favorite bands that I do, it was absolutely crazy how much we bonded over such a short time. They were going to the 70 000 Tons of Metal cruise too, that's a bucket list thing for me.

This about sums up my Gingacon experience. I didn't mention every little thing because this summary would have gotten so long (hopefully Firith will mention what I didn't so you can read that report for a more complete picture of our trip!) but let's just say that this was an eventful journey with a lot of twists and turns but which turned out well in the end.
Gingacon left a very good first impression on me – I went in with low to no expectations and was positively surprised in almost all fields. It might be a small con with a specific target audience (the prominent Ginga focus might deter people who aren't familiar with the series) but it felt so genuine and passionate through and through. I also want to say that I find it really great from an inclusivity perspective that there are cons like Gingacon and Pörröcon etc that are extra welcoming towards fursuiters and furries because yeah, sadly I have seen that there is negative stigma and attitudes towards the furry community among the broader anime/manga community, especially online. I don't get the impression that such behavior would be common in Finland but yeah, I believe everyone deserves a safe space to express themselves and their interests freely – as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else and abides by the law, of course. We are all just geeks of different flavors doing geeky things that makes us happy.
All in all I'm really happy I attended Gingacon and I would definitely consider a revisit next year, especially if it's in Tampere again. I know Gingacon has existed since 2016 but I've always been either completely unaware or simply forgot of its existence after hearing about it, until now.
And finally, a big thanks to the main organizers for the flexibility and compassion in arranging my work hours to suit my current capabilities, it's always a blessing to come across such thoughtful and understanding people in higher positions. <3

And before I end this post, here's my lil' con loot:

The contents of the 'appreciation bag'!

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this report! Remember to follow the blog if you like my content and aren't already a reader!
See you again soon! ~ Shiro Samurai

Gingacon 2024 cosplay plans!

 Hello woofers!

I've decided to cram in one more con trip into this year and that's going to be Gingacon in Tampere, Finland. This is an event especially aimed at fans of the 80s anime and manga series Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, also known as Silver Fang abroad and, for the Finnish public, Hopeanuoli (lit. 'silver arrow').
I've never been to Gingacon before myself but I'm always interested in checking out new experiences! While I might not be their primary target demographic as I only watched the original anime (uncut version) as an adult, and thus didn't grow up with it like most other fans my age, which means the series has no nostalgic value for me. I can nonetheless appreciate it for the phenomenon and pioneer status it has in Finland with shaping the anime culture and interest back in the days, not to mention the profound impact on the furry (aka 'turri') community. I'll admit I own a couple Ginga plushies hehe.

Gingacon will be held on 23rd November and I will be traveling with Firith. Our friend Gure will provide sleeping accommodation, which made the decision to attend a lot easier because traveling to Tampere from Kemi is not exactly cheap lol. *sadge*
I have also applied to volunteer a few hours to take care of the green room so yeah, I will be a part of the work force. This also means that I had to consider my cosplay choice carefully because I don't want to wear something that would be in the way – but still I'd want something that, at least somewhat, fits the canine theme.

(recolor by ExoticPoke)

Character: Mightyena (shiny)
Series: Pokémon

I started thinking and realized that I could rewear my old shiny Mightyena gijinka outfit from 2018 if I just reworked the ears because yeah, I've never been happy with them. It's basically a closet cosplay from things I already own but I plan to add a tail as a new addition! I've worn this costume once before at Okamicon ages ago, but basically no photos exist of it to this day. Rewearing Mightyena at Gingacon is a chance to bring the doggo back out again with some slight alterations to make it better. I don't know if there will be an opportunity for a photoshoot but at least I shouldn't be freezing my butt off since I will have layers to keep me warm; we're essentially in the winter months now so let's be smart this time with costume choices. Ennakoi, tiedät kyllä miksi~

That's it for this time, I will have a WIP post coming up before the con summary so if you're interested in the making of ears and a fluffy tail then stay tuned!
~ Shiro Samurai

Matsucon 2024 – I got so scared I dislocated my arm!

 Hello geeks!

Matsucon came and went and I thought it's high time I post a report about my happenings and feelings about the con! This year Matsucon was held on 10-11th August in Pohjankartano's school, Oulu, Finland, like usual. Matsucon has been held in the same location for years so yeah, why change something that works? I went there as a con worker and despite one, err, unfortunate accident, I managed to do what I was supposed to do – namely take care of the green room.

But hey, let's get this summary started!

I couldn't find the official Matsucon poster anywhere
so have the Iltabileet ('afterparty') poster instead.

So just like on the past few cons my travel companion was Firith, once again. But, unlike our usual means of traveling by car or train, this time we had to use the bus to get to Oulu. It was both for economic reasons and also because the train's time tables didn't suit us this time. We left Kemi on Friday because we had booked the hotel for two nights, it's convenient.

I don't really remember when exactly we left for the bus station but it was during the afternoon something. We had booked Onnibus because it's affordable. When the bus arrived we were concerned we would have to pay extra because we had so much luggage but luckily the driver didn't charge us anything because I said I could keep my electronics bag in my lap. In theory this was a good and sound idea, I mean I'd make sure my PS5 and my TV were safe as no one would be throwing suitcases on top of them or handling them roughly in the hold – yet, in practice, this was an absolutely ass decision because my TV is quite heavy (even for being as small as it is) so my legs kept going numb and I had really little space in front of me so I could hear the TV's leg creaking (at least it's one of those adjustable ones that you can tilt slightly but still, nerve-wrecking) whenever the bus turned and it was so much worrying lol. The thing is that just before the trip I had bought a cheap oldish monitor from a thrift store, because it was light to carry, but lo' and behold it didn't work when I tested it and so I had to resort to my trusty TV once again in a pinch. I'm quite mad at the store because I feel like electronics should by default always be tried because no one wants to buy anything that doesn't work, especially if your return policy is literally within the next day or no refunds – or at least that's what the cashier told me at the time of purchase. I have not been back there yet because I have so much anxiety over the whole thing; I absolutely dread confronting people about literally anything face to face, even if I have full rights to do so as I paid for a faulty product. I mean, when I worked at a second-hand store a few years back we had a rule that all electronics had to be tested before they reached the customer and I'm sorry but that should be the norm. It's not too much to ask.

Carrying a fucking TV on my lap in the bus was an experience and a half.

The bus ride was a bit bumpy for other reasons as well. You see, I was wearing pants that had metal chain accessories on my left side and I didn't think much of it when I sat down on the seat.. until I then heard this kind of metallic clinking sounds and realized, to my horror, that my chains had gotten stuck on that heater thingy or whatever that metallic box running across the sides of the bus were! So yeah, I spent almost the whole one hour bus trip trying to forcibly yank myself free from my prison. My hands were all red and sore from the tugging and pulling and I was panicking so much but just had to mask it (nobody wants to have a meltdown in a full bus). I really didn't want to have to break the chains but because it was just one of the three rows that was stuck I was pretty much forced to, if I wanted to keep the other two. Needless to say I had to break a chain link with brute force and I'm saddened by it because yeah, those chains were a gift and I liked using them a lot...

Sokos Hotel Arina room, 'Summer Night' theme.

After that literal strugglebus experience we arrived in Oulu's bus station. Firith called us a taxi because no way in hell were we walking through centrum with that mountain of luggage! It boggles my mind why every con trip always comes with so much baggage, I mean for real, you're literally gone for a weekend and you have like half your apartment with you wtf? xD But anygays, once we got our hotel room we dropped off our stuff and just recovered for a bit before Firith went out alone to meet up with some acquaintances who happened to be in Oulu too (not for Matsucon) while I stayed behind and relaxed. While Firith was gone I was just lying in bed and scrolling through my sketch book, lost in thought. At some point Firith messaged me that he'd be back soon and although I had seen the message just prior I must have been so deeply inside my own mindspace because I didn't hear his approaching footsteps in the corridor at all and, when he opened the door, I got so scared by the sound from the door handle slamming down that I literally dislocated my own fucking arm from the sheer fright recoil! Not even a joke bro, it really happened. The first thing Firith sees is me squirming in pain and cursing perkele between my breaths lol, it hurt like a motherfucker because I had to push the dislocated arm back in place with my other arm or the pain would get more severe for every second and I literally can't move my arm unless I fix it. Yeah I know, this is one of those things that maybe would warrant a 112 call but this has happened to me more than once before (thanks to hypermobility and accidents) and I've always just dealt with it myself because of it being such an automatic reaction. So yeah, my arm was super painful and unstable for the rest of the day but we still headed out to eat at Itsudemo's sushi buffet. It was a bit of a disappointment this year when compared to last year, especially because we had been looking forward to it for so long. :< Sushis were dry-looking on the tray and several came apart when I moved them to my plate, which is kinda a bad thing if the rice doesn't hold together, not to mention that there was next to no refills of empty trays so a lot of the options were unavailable for the whole approximately 45 minutes that we were there. Luckily I managed to snag a few pieces of my favorites immediately when we came but yeah, I would have wanted seconds ngl so it was quite a bummer.

We went back to the hotel room and Firith rescued us some donuts from Arnold's. Honestly, ResQ is such a good app – it lessens food waste from restaurants, cafeterias, hotels etc and you can save food and get great discounts. What's available changes every day because it depends on what's left over so there's always a surprise factor on what you'll find!

I don't think we did anything else noteworthy, just chilled for a while and then we went to bed.

Saturday morning was groggy as usual. I'll just accept the fact that I'll never be a morning person lol. But anyways, we went to the hotel breakfast almost immediately after waking up and I broke my tradition by not indulging my mouth with karelian pastries this time – what a foul act of self-betrayal!
After the breakfast refreshment episode it was time to put our costumes on; I rewore Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo while Firith was Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service and yes I know, exactly the same costumes as on Nekocon lolol. We weren't in an explosive hurry to get dressed because even though we both were con workers neither of us had the first morning shifts in our respective jobs so yeah, we didn't die from a stress-fueled heat death of the universe.

Matsucon entrance view.

Photoshoot competition desk near the entrance.

I can't recall what exactly the clock was by the time we arrived but Firith had signed up to be part of the cosplay competition so he had to go through some pre-judging stuff almost immediately by the time we arrived. At some point while we were walking near the cloakroom some recruiters came to ask me if I would like to enter the cosplay competition in my Hotaru cosplay because they needed more contestants (I got the impression that a lot of the originally applied contestants had ghosted due to number 13, Firith's number, being the first to enter the stage) but I kindly declined because I didn't even have my sword with me nor the proper cosplay shoes; I had intentionally left them behind to make the traveling easier. Not to mention I have extreme stage fright and anxiety and I wasn't mentally prepared to compete at all. Still, I find it weirdly flattering that I got asked lol.

Cafeteria view, except it was closed this year.

I had specifically asked for most of my work hours to be slotted into Sunday so that I could explore more freely on Saturday, another reason was because Hotaru is maybe not the most convenient costume to brew coffee etc in due to the long white kimono sleeves. x) An even bigger inconvenience was that of my recently dislocated arm, which had never really stopped being sus and hurting, and which I tried to ignore as much as I could. Yet at some point, during the first half of my shift, I figured there was a first aid room in the con (and it exists for a reason) so I had nothing to lose if I went and asked there if they could help me somehow. I was concerned I would hurt myself accidentally because even the slightest wrong or thoughtless movement made my arm wobbly and like it would luxate. I gotta say though that the people at the first aid station were extremely kind and really went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable – they even sent someone immediately to the pharmacy to fetch kinesiology tape because they didn't have any in stock. ;_;

Me with my sling in the green room while waiting to get taped.

It was kinda wild because apparently my condition did some rounds among the workers because at some point one of the organizers came up to the green room and told me they heard that a worker had an arm issue and came to check the situation and I was internally like "lawd I'm making a scene oh noes" but I appreciate the concern, I really do.
After some waiting the first aid crew came to pick me up and I got my arm and shoulder embellished with some hot pink tape. Very character accurate. It helped to stabilize the arm, slightly lessen that constant dull pain and it increased my trust in using said arm for tasks. Luckily working at the green room is quite relaxed and so I could function the rest of my work shift without accidents; I just had to be a bit more mindful of my movements than your average person.
My shift lasted from 13-16 and once I was free I informed Firith that I really really needed to leave for the hotel asap, that I needed to get my costume off because I was overheating, in pain and also uncomfortable from the poor air quality and circulation indoors. He was busy with the cosplay competition prep but still managed to call me a ride through the Menevä Taxi app, thank you. ;_;

The elevator was for worker use only. It was a godsend for me because
the impact from walking down stairs was enough to hurt my arm.

Once I got back to the hotel I yeeted myself out of my costume and then I just casually died for a while. Well, not literally but I just idled around trying to reanimate myself back into a solid human shape. Eventually Firith also came back and we might have gone on a ResQ shopping spree because Ravintola Puistola just on the opposite side of the street had some delicious bakeries up on the app just before closing time. I also got a yummy rescue sushi mix takeaway box from Sushi Bowl & More Tea that we went to pick up, along with some boba tea to fuel our boba cravings. Not gonna lie, winter melon flavor was godtier deluxe.

Rescued sushi and bubble tea~

The wind did blow us to the nearby foodstore where we might have bought some alcoholic beverages for the night, just to have a good time and unwind. I bought some cherry cocktail that I had never seen before, it was from Spain and in a glass bottle with a metallic twist cap, it was surprisingly good!

Sunday morning is always Sunday morning, filled with an impending sense of doom because you know you have to check out from the hotel and carry all your shit back to the con's cloakroom for storage over the day. My original plan was to cosplay Leon from Resident Evil 4, I even had the costume with me and everything, but we ended up with some miscalculations with time management and by the time we were done with breakfast, showering etc there simply wasn't enough time to put on a costume before we had to leave the room.

We arrived at the con about one hour before it officially opened its doors. Firith had to almost immediately bolt to his work shift so I stayed behind and tried to get our belongings stored somewhere safely. The cloakroom worker wasn't there yet so I had to go ask one of the organizers to help me out. I really did not want to drag all of that stuff all the way up to the green room on the top floor so yeah, the cloakroom was a lot more attractive choice since it was on the main floor.

Dealer's Hall and artisan's tables main floor view.

More artisan's tables.

Upstairs view of the main area.

My workshift didn't start until 14:00 so I had plenty of time to kill and I used this time to go through the sellers, artisan tables and the Artist's Alley on the second floor. I had planned to go listen to the watercolor panel held by Jasu Wonder World but when the time came I realized I wasn't in an attentive nor focused mood and I passed on it to charge my batteries before my work started. It's hard to control the flows and crashes of a neurospicy brain.

One half of Artist's Alley, second floor.

At some point slightly before my shift started Firith asked me if I wanted a second bubble tea while we still had the chance. You see, Kemi and Tornio has no place to get boba as far as we know so yeah, if we don't satisfy our boba addictions when we can we have to wait a painfully long time until we can get more boba, usually it means withdrawal symptoms until our next trip to either Oulu or Kuopio (because those are boba-certified for now).
So.. uh, I might have been tasked with walking across centrum to grab us our drugs. I might have done so very willingly, even with the looming threat of getting splashed by rain.

Never stop the madness.

It took me roughly 15 minutes to get to the boba shop and about the same to get back. It would be even quicker if the traffic lights in Oulu weren't permanently set to troll mode – I mean, first they stay red for like forever when there's not a single car in sight and the moment they turn green is when the cars show up. And just to mess with pedestrians even more they only stay green for like 15 seconds or such so I guess good luck if your walking speed doesn't rival Aladdin's flying carpet or something.

Proof my daily intake was more than just boba.

I don't really remember much of my Sunday work shift, it lasted from 14-19 so yeah, basically once it started I was in the green room until the con closed it doors along with one hour for the down-rigging. One thing I do remember is that when I had been at work for about one hour one of my coworkers (whom I had talked with quite a bit the day before when I was cosplaying) exclaimed something like "so where's this [my name] dude?" and I just replied that I've been sitting here all this time and it was kinda funny because it turned out that said coworker hadn't even recognized that I'm the same person because I wasn't in cosplay. xD Oh and yeah, my arm was still hurting but I managed.

Once the con closed I helped with emptying the green room as best as I could. Just like with Kummacon there was a bunch of leftover food, so the workers could grab what they wanted to reduce waste, which is a very nice gesture and bonus if you ask me. Once we had taken down most of the decorations and such I went downstairs to grab our belongings from the cloakroom. It was funny because I met the same organizer there, whom I had asked for help in the morning, and I was told that I was the first person to put in items in the cloakroom on the morning and the last one to take items out after the con. xD

The video game room. Here I worked last year. :3

I feel like I'm running out of things to say, lol. This year's Matsucon seemed to have a bit more hiccups than previous years – one of them being that I learned that Pohjankartano's maintenance or whatnot crew (aka not Matsucon itself) had, for some unknown reason, turned off the air circulation for the Matsucon weekend, probably an error or misunderstanding of some sort but yeah, this explains why the air quality was abnormally poor during the con. I remember several times on Saturday when I walked through the Artist's Alley I was almost knocked out by a suffocating wall of moist con funk combined with deteriorating oxygen levels, it was stifling and I felt sorry for all the artists who had to sit there the whole day. :'( But anyways, Matsucon is a worthwhile experience and it was fun this year too. As long as we have these firesouls bringing us annual cons in the northern half of the country I'm more than willing to show up and show my support in some way or another, be it as a visitor or volunteer~

Thanks for reading!
Shiro Samurai out.