Lens review: EOS Ice Gray

 Hello everyone!

Dang, it's been a while since I last did a colored contact lens post. But fret not, I'm back with a circle lens review and today's we're going through the EOS Ice Gray colored contact lenses! These have existed on the market for a considerable amount of time and thus becoming one of the faithful servants which, in turn, makes it kinda weird that I have not reviewed a single lens from this series before, despite drooling over them for literal years. Crazy, innit? :'D

Anyways, let's roll out the review!

 

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm

Water content: 38%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

I bought these in a pinch last summer to use for my Kisuke Urahara cosplay debut from Bleach. It's perhaps not the most color intense lens series on the market but they are undeniably pretty with the crystal-like ice design and fit my needs at the time. Of course I might have had an advantage because my eyes are naturally a grayish blue color and so a lot of color opacity wasn't required from the lenses to make my eyes appear gray enough for the cosplayed character.

One lens in.

It should be noted that the EOS Ice series is one of the extremely few circle lenses that exist in different size variations so yeah, you might want to pay extra attention to the stated diameter and base curve on the site you're shopping from. The ones I'm reviewing here are the smallest version available, aka the 14.0 mm diameter with the 8.6 mm base curve. I know there exists a bigger variant with a 14.8 mm diameter and a 8.8 or 8.9 mm base curve so be sure to pay attention!

 

These lenses are not really big but there is still a very slight size enlargement. I don't feel like I suddenly got like super dolly eyes or anything, it's hardly noticeable and that's what I needed at the moment moe moe uguu Urahara would have been weird af. These lenses have a natural-ish design, it fits their namesake of ice and although it's simple it's far from dull and well, the simplicity actually makes these versatile for a lot of different needs and purposes – I mean I used them for cosplay yeah but these could just as well be used for alt fashion or even as a daily enhancement type of lens, especially if your real eye color is close to your chosen lens color. :)

Lens photos below!

All photos are taken by yours truly during an afternoon. All close-ups are free from color filters etc and that's so that the colors would appear as true to life as possible.

 

Natural room light indoors.

Yellow room light indoors.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing a window. (not sun side)

Unlit corridor, poor natural light in the distance only.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun directly.

I found these lenses overall to be decently comfortable. It should be noted that I have naturally really dry and sensitive eyes so I usually can't wear lenses for prolonged periods of time without eyedrops etc – but I did manage to wear these for half a con day (roughly 4-5 hours) at Nekocon in the middle of summer so yeah, that's already a win for me. I do recall them being thin and generally comfortable to wear (insertion was also easy!) and most of the time I didn't really feel that I had lenses on, which is always a good thing. At some point they would feel a bit dryish but nothing out of the norm for me so I don't feel like the comfort or moisture levels were somehow poorer than on your average circle lens, even though the water content is listed as a lowish 38%. I guess I can say that these are fine and I wouldn't err from buying another set in the future, especially because I do like the design and I honestly feel like my photos don't do these lenses justice (they look a bit dull), they're nicer-looking in real life I promise, especially because when the sun's reflection hits it makes your eyes look sparkly and revitalized and my camera just isn't catching any of that lol.

These lenses are a worthwhile pair to check out, especially if you need smaller diameter lenses that still have some color to them without being overpowering. The EOS Ice Grays are one of those lenses that are clearly more natural than extraordinary but they are still distinguishable with their delicate patterning and it's noticeable that you're wearing lenses (at least to lens-savvy folks lol). I wouldn't recommend them as a top-pick cosplay lens (mainly because the color might not show up from a distance) but depending on the character and your needs they are still a viable choice, especially for more mature/senior anime characters or for western movie characters and such where you want correctly colored eyes without it looking too unnatural or jarring due to excessive vibrancy, patterning or color intensity.

Have a distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 7/10 

A soft, lightish medium gray tone that's natural and not blocky at all. It's very easy on the eyes.

Design: 8/10 

Simple yet beautiful crystalline ice-styled burst design. It transitions smoothly into your real color.

Opacity: 5/10

They change my light eye color enough to become clearly gray so I'd say there's more color opacity on these than on those tinter/enhancement type of lenses.

Enlargement: 4/10 

It comes across as a meager size boost but it's still slightly bigger than my normal iris.

Comfort: 7/10 

I wore these for roughly 4-5 hours with minimal issues, despite having naturally really dry eyes. They are thin and mostly unnoticeable in terms of comfort, save perhaps for some slight dryness over time, which is to be expected.

Naturalness: 7/10 

These are surprisingly natural, despite their delicate design, but I think it's safe to say that part of that impression is boosted by how well the gray color merges with my real eye color; I don't think that for example the Ice Violets would look as natural on me. :')

Thank you so much for reading, have you tried an EOS Ice series lens yet?

Shiro Samurai out ~

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.

Dota 2 Invoker cosplay WIP part.2

Hello hello!

I was checking through my unpublished drafts and found this progress post buried between the rest of the lot of forget-me-nots and well, last time I touched this draft was in... wait for it... January 2017. Jesus Christ, who ate up all that time? It feels like it wasn't that long ago I swear. ;_;

Nobody probably remembers but in the first part I said I had no deadline for this cosplay but was aiming for a summer 2017 debut? Well, as everyone now can see that totally happened. /sarcasm

Well, I still intend to finish this costume at some point although I have no idea if that group cosplay idea which spurred this creation in the first place still stands, lol. Anyways, I figured I might as well publish what I have made since the last progress post from... umm.. *counts*... almost 8 years ago. Yikes. Honestly I barely remember what I was doing the last time I worked on this project but I'll just publish this post as-it-was and then do a "current sitation" note at the end.

___________

I had previously finished serging the jacket's top and the skirt part (to prevent edges from fraying), which I had planned to later sew together to make things easier for me. The "skirt" consists of three fabric widths and I started out pleating it in big, wide pleats, of which every single one was to be 10 cm. It was quite a task to pleat all that fabric evenly...

Skirt pleating done.

It's sewn together and held up here just to show length.

I then sewed the skirt onto the main body of the jacket, aka the top half. I ended up with a miscalculation, because I got the numbers mixed up, but it was nothing that wasn't easily fixed by taking out the seam ripper and deepening one of the skirt pleats before reattaching it to the body. I also hemmed the edges.

Before sewing together the bottom half of the jacket (the "tails") or attaching the sleeves I wanted to make and sew on all those golden swirly details on them. For this I remembered that mom has this whole roll of some nifty golden fabric that doesn't fray and thus should be perfect for this kind of work.

Soon after I had done the progress I mentioned above I quit the sewing class in the school I was at back then, mainly because the only good teacher quit her job and she was the only one I came to terms with. The other two were not proper teachers and, honestly, most of the time it felt like I knew more about sewing than them, which is a kinda awkward spot to be in as a student. Not to mention but they didn't treat me all that well either so I ended up jumping off the class for more than one reason. So yeah, once the only talented and friendly teacher was gone my progress on Invoker was put on hold. Another problem was that the apartment I had back when I worked on this cosplay was ridiculously small and crammed; I had no space to lay out and cut the golden fabric roll into the shapes I needed. Not having a sewing machine easily available made it really hard to get motivated to continue on the project and yeah, it's been literal years since I last touched Invoker. Don't read that in a dirty way thanks ololol.

The current situation is that I have since then moved to a better apartment (space is still an issue though but for wholly different reasons rip) but some of my belongings and especially my cosplay stuff are still scattered in all kinds of different bags and places and, truth be told, I have no idea where my bits and pieces of Invoker currently lay hidden! I remember having them in a saggy white plastic bag at some point but I can't recall where I've last seen it. Yes, I'm not a terribly organized person. But I know I haven't disposed of any of the cosplay parts and once I find them I'm going to go through them and pick this project up again. I still won't put a deadline but I hope it won't take another 8 years before we see any news on Invoker again, that would be epic fail.

Yeah I know, it's not much for an update but now you all at least know that this costume isn't dead and buried. Not yet at least. It's kinda buried though, among unknown stuff. Now, wish me luck in finding the remains of my forgotten wizard...
~ Shiro Samurai says bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!

Preliminary convention plans 2024

 Hello everyone!

It's a new year and that means new plans are being forged about what anime cons I plan to attend. I haven't done this kind of list in ages this is totally not a filler episode but as I've regained interest in going to cons and cosplaying I thought it would be fun and motivating to do this kind of post again. :)

 

I plan to attend the following:

FIN • Kummacon 

FIN • Matsucon

SWE • Nordsken

FIN • Mericon

FIN • Nekocon

The list above isn't in any particular order, I don't even think all cons have officially revealed their dates yet. Out of these Nordsken is the only one that isn't basically guaranteed attendance and is more of a "maybe" case; I wasn't impressed with last year's delivery but I kinda want to see if it will be better or even worse this year, it's that kind of dangerous curiosity you know? xD But yeah, Kummacon and Matsucon are basically set because I've already applied to be a volunteer worker to both. And well, when it comes to Mericon I'm one of the people involved in its existence so you can be sure I'll be there lol.

Of course the list isn't definite and changes might happen if life gets particularly shitty or something unforeseen happens. It is possible that I might spontaneously end up in more events than just those mentioned but yeah, that's the expected list at the time of writing. :) 

What cons are you going to? Feel free to share your plans in the comments!

~ Bye bye

Year of Cosplay 2023

 Hello everyone!

This year has gone by really fast I swear they go faster and faster every year help but unlike the last few years there's been a marked improvement in my con attendance. Yes, I'm slowly rising back from the dead and even got some kind of inspiration back! It feels so good to return to this hobby and get some enjoyment from it that isn't too tarnished by anxiety and other issues. I'm very thankful to all my friends who made this year so wonderful and I'm actually feeling motivated to make new costumes again and get my shit together. I've been to a record amount of conventions this year (and a lot of firsts!) and I'm hoping to keep up the steam into next year because this has honestly felt refreshing. 

Cons attended in 2023:

Kummacon - Oulu, Finland
Sastamalan cosplay-päivä - Sastamala, Finland

Nekocon - Kuopio, Finland

Mericon - Rauma, Finland

Nippori - Pori, Finland
Matsucon - Oulu, Finland

Nordsken - Skellefteå, Sweden 

 

It's hard to pick what was my favorite event this year as there's several strong candidates but I'd maybe put Nekocon at the throne, although tightly followed by both Mericon and Matsucon. Nekocon had a really nice vibe going on, enjoyed great summer weather and the stay at Rauhalahti spa hotel really elevated that experience as a whole to the next level. I might have a slight Mericon bias since I was one of the organizers but it was a roaring success for a small first-time con and it had a distinct atmosphere and heart that I felt was really pleasant and genuine. Matsucon was also a great experience; working the video game room was fun and overall Pohjankartano is such a nice con building and yeah, I might have become addicted to Itsudemo's sushi buffet help.

 
...

...

Guess what? I actually cosplayed at conventions for the first time in ages! It feels wild to realize it but the last time I wore a costume at a con before 2023 was in Kummacon 2019 where I was a random nameless jedi from Star Wars. After that I hadn't wore a single costume out until Nekocon this year, crazy isn't it? It feels weird to think there's been such a long gap but I can't be mad at myself for that either, I've struggled so much with my mental health and I need to be kind and remind myself that it's okay to fall out of hobbies for a while and focus on just surviving. But yeah, I'm slowly healing and this just might be the start of a new cosplay chapter and a return to the glory days... or something.

Here's a little list of what I wore at the cons I attended this year:

Kummacon: I was in alternative fashion gear so no cosplay.
Sastamalan cosplay-päivä: Because it was a spontaneous trip I had no costumes with me.

Nekocon: I made and debuted Kisuke Urahara from Bleach for Nekocon, which was a good idea as it was decently breezy and I didn't die a summer heat death lol.

Mericon: I was dressed in a pirate-inspired fashion outfit to fit the con's nautical theme. I don't count it as a cosplay.

Nippori: Rewore my old kimono version of Gakupo Kamui the Vocaloid.
Matsucon: Saturday I went casual but on Sunday I debuted a remade version of Yuuto, one of my oldest OC's that I created specifically for cosplay when I first started out.

Nordsken: I had loose cosplay plans before the con but ended up going casual and tbh I have no regrets about that choice.

~~~

I don't have so much more to say. This year feels like the start of a good run and I'm hoping to keep the momentum up and make new costumes next year and maybe even up my game and compete! We'll see what happens but I'm entering 2024 with a sliver of good faith and we'll see where it carries me.

And in regards to this here blog it will continue to stay active and I'll post content whenever I have something to share. ^_^ Someone might have noticed too that I've silently deleted my Facebook cosplay page recently but that's no precursor that the blog will face the same fate so don't worry! I just felt like the cosplay page had become excessive because I hardly ever used it and it had absolute crap reach (Facebook's algorithms are depressing). It felt pointless to keep the page because it feels like no one uses Facebook anymore anyway and yeah, I don't like the changes Meta has done recently either so I felt it was high time to nuke it and focus all my content and efforts to my trusty old cosplay blog. So now you know that the blog is where it's at. ;)

Thank you to all readers & Happy New Year 2024!

Nordsken 2023 – This is not the way

 Hello nerds!

This year is almost over but I still managed to cram in one more event into my list. I just got back home from my first Nordsken which was held on 28-29th December in Skellefteå, Sweden. Nordsken started its life as a LAN event and then it slowly incorporated other aspects of nerd culture into its existence as it grew over the years. This year, as far as I know, was the first time Nordsken was a free entrance event and that's partly the reason why I was lulled over to take a look.

Let's move on to the summary!

Nordsken 2023 official poster.

I wouldn't have been able to even attend Nordsken if it wasn't because my friends Sallukka and Dongrieg were going too and I managed to hitch a ride, tysm! ;u; I woke up early af on Thursday morning (4 hours of sleep woo!) and prepared myself for departure. Yes, the con was actually held on a Thursday and Friday and not on a weekend as is customary. I think we left a little bit before 8:00 and the drive down to Skellefteå took roughly 4 hours more or less. Once we arrived at Skellefteå we found a suitable parking spot without too much difficulties thankfully and headed straight into Sara Kulturhus where Nordsken was held this year.
I went casual this time because I didn't feel up to cosplaying and, in hindsight, I'm so relieved I didn't bother because it wouldn't have been worth the effort.

Sara Kulturhus.

The con building is located smack dab in the middle of centrum and it stands out because of how tall it is and how it's all wood and glass, it looks quite modern and inviting. I was a bit perplexed though by how there were no outside signs nor posters at the entrance telling you that Nordsken was held inside.

View directly from the entrance.

One thing I immediately noticed was that there was a library in the same building and it took up a majority of the base floor and the rest belonged to a restaurant to the right side of the entrance. Nordsken's cloakroom was on the base floor behind the main stairs and that's where we headed to drop off our jackets. I had to return a second time to the cloakroom because of that silly and very unconventional new rule in Sweden which states that you're forbidden from carrying any kind of bags in events over a certain size and yeah, I wasn't even allowed to bring my camera bag upstairs. So uh, you had to come prepared and have pockets on your clothes to be able to carry your most vital belongings with you (phone, wallet, glasses etc). My personal opinion is that this enforced rule is ridiculous but I understand it's done by the Swedish police department because of the currently raised terrorism threat level nationally. This is not something unique to Nordsken nor something they had contol over but yeah, it's a rule that complicates things unnecessarily and made for example shopping awkward because you couldn't even bring tote bags or anything to carry your purchases in.

General view of the main area on the upper floor.

General view of the main area, one of the vendors to the left.

Skellefteå map made in lego near the entrance to the main area.

As soon as we got upstairs we were overwhelmed by how horrendously overcrowded it was! It was difficult to even move or check anything out because people were crammed everywhere and bumping into you constantly and it was just way too much to handle. I felt really anxious because I kept losing track of my friends even when I looked away for just a few seconds and it could take many minutes to find them again in the constant barrage of people. I literally wondered if it's even legal to have so many people inside the building at the same time, I mean imagine if for example the fire alarm went off and they'd have to evacuate – it would create chaos and massive bottlenecks and people would get trampled over in the panicked frenzy. Surely every public building has an allowed max capacity in place for safety reasons? I mean for real, there were several instances on Thursday when I couldn't even move at all because the main hall was too fucking full and it was honestly an awful first impression of Nordsken and just made me want to leave and not look back. I seriously wonder why there wasn't any limits put in place on how many people were allowed into the upper floor at any one time...

In the upper floor immediately after the stairs there was also a little cafeteria and tables where you could build lego together with others or play oversized versions of games like four-in-a-row and such. It was pretty cool because Nordsken offered quite many ways for visitors to socialize while also being entertained simultaneously.

General view of the back half of the main area.

Lego build display at the back half of the main area.

The main hall was split to one half being mostly vendors (think Dealer's Hall) and the other half being for association booths and workshops, exhibitions and some activities like the ice hockey games on the photo above. Some of the association booths were clearly aimed for the younger audience, for example one let you paint your own t-shirt and another one was a workshop for badges and a third one let children color in papers with printed lineart of popular characters on it. There were also some aimed for younger adults and late teens like one booth that looked like some kind of animation sfx studying opportunity? I personally got the feeling that the whole event felt more like a "look at this local culture thing X we offer" exposure exhibition rather than a typical geek convention. Especially because it felt very strongly marketed for kids and adolescents over the adult population, which honestly felt a bit weird because I bet a majority of the visitors were adults. One clear example of this is that there was a cosplay competition for kids but none for adults like what in the actual fudge is dis?? Yeah I know I'm starting to sound like a grumpy old man here but it was honestly pretty mindboggling how it felt like adults were lowkey sidelined in favor of children. Like I understand you want to involve kids into creative culture and get them involved in local clubs and shit and that's wonderful, really, but please show the same energy for the grown-up nerds too.

 

Pokémon themed photo booth.

Swedish Garrison (501st Legion) Star Wars booth.

Star Wars themed photo booth.

My favorite thing at the con was the 501st Legion's get-to-know-us-and-what-we-do booth and display near the entrance on the main area. For those not in the know the 501st Legion is a global fan-based organization consisting of screen-accurate Star Wars costumers and they generally make volunteer appearances in promotional and charity events. The Swedish Garrison is the name of the local unit based in Sweden and they focus on charity work like showing up in costumes to children's hospitals and donating money to good causes. It's honestly both awesome and wholesome. There were different characters present on both days and you could pose with them for pictures together and ask about the group, how to join if interested and such. The costumes are really amazing up close!

There was also this Star Wars themed photo booth just next to the 501st Legion's display where anyone could borrow a jedi robe and a light saber (free of charge) and take photos together and there were cool props like tie fighters in the background too!

General view of the corridor passageway on the upper floor.

 

The main area on the upper floor hosted essentially the whole event including all the vendors, photo booths and association tables. If you walked past this one corridor pictured above you found some LARP association booths at the end of it and this one dark room (it was a cinema saloon) filled with retro video games and a few arcade pinball machines. The gaming room had surprisingly good air circulation and by that I mean it didn't smell like sweaty nerd cave deluxe the moment you stepped in lol.

 

Nerd warning! :D

Arcade pinball machines.

The gaming lair was pretty awesome because it consisted of a generous array of the retro gaming consoles of yesteryear. There were a lot of NES, Super Nintendos and other oldies. I think the newest console I saw in there was a Nintendo Gamecube or Nintendo Wii? Which are both considered old by today's standards. Fuck I aged like 20 years just by writing that. It would have been nice to stay and play a bit but as you can see on the photo it was crammed in there too so yeah, no chance unless you were willing to wait for an unknown time. 

One of the few LARP booths.

At the end of the corridor were a few LARP booths to educate and lure over visitors into this hobby. One table was medieval themed and had some outfits on display and the other was this friendly woman dressed as a witch who offered you mysterious elixirs in return for a high five. It was clearly meant to invoke a casual imaginary session where you got a little brightly colored drink mixed for you that gave some kind of supernatural quirks. I got a kraken slime drink blend that was supposed to make me hot but mean. xD

Because of the crowding issue it was really hard and uncomfortable to try to browse any of the shops in the main area and thus I didn't end up buying anything. I gotta say though that based on what I heard from Sallukka and Dongrieg it sounded like this iteration of Nordsken was notably poorer in the vendor department, apparently there were a lot fewer sellers this year and several other interesting booths and activities were completely missing. I can't really compare because I didn't visit Nordsken last year myself but it sure sounds like this year was a disappointment for many with previous Nordsken experience. I gotta admit that we didn't stay very long on Thursday and that's because there were simply too many people for its own good and we were overall quite disappointed.
One of the bigger issues was the clearly false information on the website about there being an Artist's Alley but in reality it was just a few artworks on display in that corridor I mentioned earlier. I mean it was literally called Artist's Alley on the site but there were no sellers, just an unmanned tiny art display and that was so fucking disappointing like holy shit. I mean for real, dunno if it was intentional or not but it seemed like whoever was in charge of the website didn't know what Artist's Alley means in con speech – it's not a literal artist's alley but artists selling their self-made artsy stuff! If what you have is an art display then, for the love of god, just call it exactly that –an art display or art exhibition or whatever– instead of baiting people with misleading connotations.

Super Mario Wonder demo booths.

We left Nordsken early on Thursday, after having spent between one or two hours in there. We just were really let down and yeah, going out to visit Café på Bit in town and then going out for dinner was a lot more appealing to us at this point. I've never visited said café before but it was honestly super cool – it's like a mix of a video game store and a cafeteria that also has a lounging area where visitors can pay a fee to play retro consoles, VR or arcade machines and there's also tables for board games and card games. Yes, you can play for hours or even book the whole evening if you want. Basically it's nerd heaven and a must visit if you're in Skellefteå!

Café på Bit entrance view. <3

Honestly I loved that place, it was so cozy and unapologetically geeky and I want one to pop up in my home town now lol. You guys and gals and thems who live in Skellefteå need to make sure that this business stays afloat, you have no idea how lucky you are to have such an unique experience in town! If it dies I'm gonna legit cry fr.

After our nerd stop we went back to Nordsken for some unknown reason and this time we entered through one of the other staircases which, weirdly enough, wasn't even guarded by any of the crew members. None of us bothered to drop off our jackets or stuff because we were just going for a quick shopping run and well, I was a criminal because I had my camera bag on yet I wasn't stopped or told to remove it. I saw several crew workers on the upper floor but no one seemed to care and I also saw numerous other visitors with bags and carrying cases in the upper floor (where bags were forbidden) so yeah, it seemed like they stopped giving a fuck at some point or not enough workers to guard all possible entrances to the upper floor. Either way I couldn't help but notice the inconsistency.

Maginarium's vendor table.

Café på Bit's vendor table.

Legend's vendor table.

Retrobokklubben's vendor table.

After our quick sneak attack to grab some D&D dices we then exited the con to check out an electronics store for more video games and after that we all concluded that we were hungry and so it was time to do like the Turtles do and stuff our faces full with pizza. At this point we had also kidnapped a Swede from Nordsken and so our otherwise Finnish gang was one nerd stronger now; he was really funny though and I totally understand why he's a friend of Sallukka and Dongrieg.

This pizzeria was our chosen target.

After we ate and returned our voluntarily abducted Swede to the streets we headed for our airbnb stay. It was a nice apartment near the campus area and we spent the rest of the night watching Scooby-Doo and playing card games together. It was cozy and fun and we had a good time!

On Friday morning we had to leave the accommodation at 11:00 and then we headed back to Nordsken to give it a second chance. We were not too hyped considering yesterday's unenjoyable experience but we wanted to check the vendors a bit better and so we returned to Sara Kulturhus. I was in my mind already dreading another instance of being stuffed like sardines in a can but when we passed through the entrance it looked like there were less people around. We dropped off our jackets and headed up and I think we all collectively gasped in relief when we saw that there was an agreeable amount of people upstairs. One could actually see what was in front now! It wasn't crammed to hell and back! A miracle had happened!
No but really, this significantly improved my experience and I think the other two agree as well. Otherwise Friday had pretty much the same activities as Thursday except for the addition of a cross between a visitors' thrift store and a pseudo Artist's Alley appearing in the corridor. Maybe it appeared already later on Thursday but when we were around it wasn't there at least. It was just a few tables but because there were so few vendors to begin with anything extra was very much welcome in my opinion.

I'm such a nerd but I had to have a photo with the 501st!
(sorry phone quality, didn't have my camera on Friday)

Because Friday wasn't so crammed me and Sallukka actually managed to snag a 10 minute demo session at the Nintendo Switch promotional booth to play some Super Mario Wonder together. Neither of us had played it before and it was genuinely fun and now I want to buy the game even more!
We didn't stay very long on Friday either although this time we utilized the cafeteria in the building and my two dice goblin friends bought some more dices lol. After we were satisfied we went for some sushi nearby and then we went for some desserts at Café på Bit in town again and after that it was time to steer the car back up north and leave Skellefteå behind.

I can't stress it enough how much better the whole experience got once you actually could move around freely and didn't constantly have people walking into you from all possible directions. Now I even got that con feeling to rear its head a little although the low amount of vendors was still a big mood bummer because yeah, I didn't find any loot to buy and it feels weird to return from a con empty-handed.
Of course I still feel like Nordsken has a lot of improvements to make for next year but Friday elevated my score from massive disappointment to okay-ish. I was told all the awesome stuff Nordsken had at 2022 so of course I was disappointed when a lot of the hyped up things were completely absent but I'm happy with some of the stuff we got like obviously the 501st Legion, the Super Mario Wonder demos and the gaming room with a delicious selection of oldies. For a free event it was a decent experience I guess (especially if you are new to this kind of stuff) but for veteran congoers it felt off as several key activities were missing and there were some other issues too like poor information and lack of signs. I kinda got the impression that Nordsken blew its budget on a few things and then had to cut a lot of corners elsewhere, if that makes sense? I can only imagine the excellency of the 2022 edition and I do hope that what we got now was a test-run on a new formula and that they learn from their mistakes and return to the glory they had because apparently Nordsken 2022 had all the good things 2023 had plus much more. I also feel like Sara Kulturhus might not have been a very good host building – it has a good central location and it looks pretty with decent air circulation but that's about it, the layout is awkward and made the event feel incoherent and scattered and the lack of signing made it worse. But most of all it felt like the building was way too small for the event. I also have this gnawing feeling in my butt that I probably missed some activities simply because I didn't know where they were; I didn't even see a map anywhere.

I'm sorry if this comes across as overly negative (and trust me when I say that it feels bad to be a critic) but yeah, the event just didn't live up to my expectations after having looked forward to it for so long. I'm not gonna give up on Nordsken though, I do wish and hope for it to improve and am willing to return for a second take. We need all the geek events we can get in the north so anything that scratches that itch will be on my radar even though I'm cautiously optimistic for now.

Thanks for reading, stay nerdy out there!
Shiro Samurai out~