Kummacon 2022 – Luck in misfortune

 Hello nerds!

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

Let's go~

Kummacon main entrance (school's courtyard).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, this is my handwriting. :>

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

 

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

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

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

Kummacon info desk. Notice the reindeer plush.

Kummacon mystery game. Solve the disappearance of their mascot.

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

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

Notice the sunbathing seal at the very corner. xD

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

Part of the main area where sponsored shops were.

If you wanted plushies Urumi had you covered...

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

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

Opposite side of sponsor area was for chillaxing.

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

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

I found someone sus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The secrets that lie inside the Green Room...

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

Panic bedding 2.0

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

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

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

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

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

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: Kazzue Twilight Yellow

 Hello beans!

I'm doing another circle lens today for y'all and, although I'm not sure if this lens brand is really Kazzue under a different label (rebranding is a common practice with circle lenses) or not, but aaaaanyways the design is exactly the same so let's roll with that for now. I mean, the website on the label doesn't even lead to anything relevant. So today's review is essentially Kazzue Twilight Yellow, let's-a go!

 

Base curve: 8.6 mm

Diameter: 15 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

I honestly can't even remember where I purchased these as it was a long time ago, but I know it was either LensVillage or HoneyColor. I'm pretty sure I originally bought these just out of curiosity how they'd look, although I was worried that the black center rim would look awful on light eyes.

 

This style of design has been around for a bit and due to its intense color (it's crazy lens levels of pigmentation!) and cartoony style it's been quite popular with cosplayers. At its core it's a really simple design though; there's a solid single color base with thick black rims on both the inner and outer edges along with some evenly spaced darts reaching towards the middle. It's not the most artistic but it works for creating a rather intense effect.

One lens in.

There's some fairly big enlargement going on and, as anyone would have guessed, the yellow color is very bright and unmistakable! It's very much opaque and completely blocks out my real eye color, which is a light grayish blue. These definitely fall more into costuming territory than being something you'd casually wear out to town (unless heading for a wild party) or something... I mean, uhh, some poor old believer might think that you're a spawn of Satan and prompt to hit you with a certain holy book or something.

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during an afternoon with a partly cloudy sky.
There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

 

Natural room light, indoors.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Unlit corridor, weak natural light in the distance.

Facing a window indoors, not sun side. (backyard view)

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under the roof's shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun.

Comfort is not something I can say a lot about this time either. If you've been reading my blog for some time you know what's up but if you are new I'll just say that I had forgotten about a big box of unopened lenses for literal years and, when I found them, they had expired. So I've just been going through those pairs and making reviews – in hopes it helps someone out there. This also means that I don't wear the lenses for longer than absolutely necessary to get the photos taken and that translates to me not being able to give a correct estimate on comfort.

What I can say though, based on my very limited time wearing these lenses, is that they appeared to be thin and essentially invisible to wear, as in I didn't feel that I had lenses on. They seemed generally comfortable. There might have been a tinge of a dryish feel but that could just as well be my eyes having a dry eyes because yes, my eyes are naturally pretty damn dry (I periodically spam eyedrops lul).

 

But anyways, that's mostly it for this quick review. Should you be in the need for bright yellow lenses then I would wholly recommend checking these out (especially as it's one of the few yellow lenses and probably one of the more readily available styles). They aren't natural for shit and might look a litttle weird up close on light eyes (due to the inner circle being pure black, it's a bit jarring) but from a distance they look pretty dang sweet! So yeah, this is a viable cosplay lens for photoshoots and especially if you want your super yellow lenses to show up on more than just portrait style pictures. It's definitely not a bad option in any regard but yeah, just don't give the neighboring grandma a stroke if you decide to don them casual around the garden... :D

Distance photo!

 

Short summary:

Color: 10/10

A super yellow lens, very bright and true color. Great for Halloween, cosplay etc.

Design: 7/10

A big, solid color lens with some bold edges and cartoony darts. It's very costume-y in nature.

Opacity: 10/10

Damn son, these deliver. It's not even marketed as a crazy lens but the pigmentation is on the same league.

Enlargement: 8/10

They come across as pretty large, especially due to the very prominent black outer rim.

Comfort: 7/10

Appears comfortable, thin and I don't feel them on at all. Didn't really experience any colored corners either.

Naturalness: 0/10

*insert trolololo rhythm here* Nononono no nononooo nono noo~~

Thanks for viewing, more content coming later!

Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: I-Codi Funcle F209

Hello peeps!

It's been a bit quiet over the summer but I was actually away from home, working a summer job! But I'm back now and we'll continue with the same as usual lately, namely circle lens reviews. :) Today I'll feature the I-Codi Funcle F209 crazy lenses, which is like a white and red dragon eye style lens!

Let's go!

 

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

It's been four years since I last did a review on a dragon eye lens so I was quite excited to try one again! Sometimes this style of slit pupil lenses are also called things like 'cat eye' and such but they generally have the same base design with the vertical pupil, except that the actual 'cat eye' variants tend to be with a single color background while the 'dragon eye' versions often feature two different colors, one rugged inner color and one outer for a more monsterous effect.

This is a style of crazy lens that is available by many different contact lens brands for Halloween and costuming purposes, although what colors are available tend to vary per brand. I haven't really seen any other brand than I-Codi doing these white and red ones and that's why I picked these as the color combination is quite interesting!

One lens in.

As is to be expected with any crazy style lenses these are completely opaque and won't let through your real eye color underneath. At least not on light eyes, I think it's safe to say they probably block out dark eyes too!

So what we've got with these is a moderate to small pupil opening, a stark white background with an intense red inner center and of course the signature slit eye vertical pupils that fit for dragons, felines and otherwordly monsters. There is also a slight size enhancement but it's not really noticeable due to the complete lack of any limbal ring, along with the outer color being white.

Please do be aware though that, just as most other lenses that have sfx designs, that these do spin in your eyes – which means that they will move around like a clock and you'll end up with mismatched goat or frog eyes if you don't correct the lenses along the day while wearing them. How much they spin might depend on how much you move your gaze, if you have 'lazy eye' etc. Keeping a pocket mirror with you at events makes it easier to correct the lenses while on the go, especially if you don't have quick access to a bathroom/mirror.

 

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during an afternoon with a clear sky.
There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

 

Natural room light indoors.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo indoors.

Facing a window, backyard view (not sun side).

Unlit corridor, weak natural light in the distance.

Outdoors, back against the sun (facing wall).

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under the roof's shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun directly.

I was trying my damnest to keep the lenses as straight as I could but like no joke, it's near impossible as you can see. xD I've heard already years ago that weighted crazy lenses exist but I have yet to actually find some anywhere and at this point it's starting to feel more and more like just an urban legend lol.

Yes, this is derpy af but proof they spin! #devilgoateyes

Regarding comfort I can't really say so much because these lenses had sadly expired in their packaging by the time I got around to do this review. If you've been reading my blog you know the story but a tl;dr version is that I forgot I had these lenses and when I (re)found them it was a bit too late, so to say. So I'm only taking all necessary review photos quickly, for posterity in case it helps someone out there, and once I got all photos taken I immediately discarded the lenses. Which of course means I didn't spend time testing out their comfort so I can't really say much except for my first impressions which were that the lenses felt thin and basically invisible to wear. 

You might also see some colored corners at the edge of your field of vision (especially in poorer light conditions) but this is rather minor and something you get used to and frankly, it happens with almost all crazy style lenses. If you're a new colored contacts wearer it might cause some light nausea or such but don't be scared, there's nothing wrong with your vision – it's just that when your pupils enlarge they become bigger than the center opening of the lens, aka they go "under" the lens print and that's why you see hazy corners if you move your eyes around in poorer lights.

 

So what can I say? These lenses are silly fun and as long as you can keep up with the spinning issue then they look pretty damn awesome. The color combo make them look ferocious and great for Halloween parties, live-action roleplaying the bad dragon or just overall costuming – be you a party dude or dudette, an avid cosplayer or a furry.

 

 Distance photos! Sleep-deprived dragon hehe, damn treasure looters.

 

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 

Very bold white and red color, intense effect for a ferocious dragon look!

Design: 9/10 

They're rather simple on an artistic sense but the effect is still striking and delivers what it promises to be with glee.

Opacity: 10/10

Perfectly covering your real eye color, I got no complaints.

Enlargement: 2/10 

There's a very slight enlargement effect but it's almost ignorable.

Comfort: 8/10 

Appears to be very comfortable (par the spinning, which needs frequent repositioning) as I didn't feel like I had lenses on and they were thin and comfy. Colored corners in your vision may occur.

Naturalness: 0/10 

Oh baby we don't do natural with these, it's besides the whole point lmao.

Thanks for reading! 

Hope you enjoyed this review, more should come soon enough!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: I.Fairy Persian Green

 Hello people!

I'm gonna post another circle lens review today and the featured lens will be I.Fairy Persian Green. It's big, it's cute and overall it's a very likable lens I'd say. Keep reading to learn more!

Let's-a go!

 

 

Base curve: 8.6 mm

Diameter: 16.2 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

I'm no stranger to I.Fairy's lenses and it's rare a day when I'd be disappointed by their products; I.Fairy is quite a staple brand in the market by now and if you're looking for big and colorful then that's where I would turn my wagon. :) I.Fairy lenses generally have a thick black rim around the edges too so a lot of their lenses are cutesy in design and suitable for j-fashion enthusiasts and cosplayers.

 

One lens in.

 

The Persian Greens are a light green lens with a thick black ring and and a yellowish inner circle. The color might look pale –when viewed in the glass bottles– and I had my fears that it wouldn't blend well with light-blue eyes (green lenses are so hit and miss!) but surprisingly the coverage is great! As in my eyes look clearly green with these, not muddled or this kind of indistinguishable swamp color lol. 

Oh and yeah, regarding the design it's quite simple but very effective all the same, although I can't help but have my mind immediately think of cucumbers when I look at it! xD I don't think there's a better way to explain the design lmao!

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during an afternoon with a partly cloudy sky.
There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

 

Indoors, natural room light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Unlit corridor, weak natural light in the distance.

Facing window, not sun side.

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while under roof's shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun.

I can't utter many words about comfort. If you've been following my blog for a while you know what's up and because I'm lazy today (sorry!) I'm just gonna refer any new readers to check literally any other of my lens reviews from the past year or so and you'll know what's up. The tl;dr version is that these lenses had expired before I got to do this review and so I can't grade their comfort properly. The very limited time I wore these for the review I can say that they were thin, I barely felt them but there was a very slight itchy feeling at some point? Nevertheless I have naturally dry and sensitive eyes so it might just be a me thing.

And that's about all that I have to say. This is one of the better light green lenses currently on the market in my opinion – with a simple design and great color payoff they work great for many different fashion looks and styles! They're simple enough to not be overwhelming and the green shade is very pleasant and shows up a lot better than I initially thought it would. Oh and one thing more, these lenses can do the 'halo effect' in good light conditions, it's super pretty!

Distance photo!

Short summary:

Color: 7/10

Very likable light green, a soft and pleasant shade.

Design: 9/10

Simple cucumber-like print with a thick black rim. Cute and versatile design.

Opacity: 7/10

Positively surprised how well the green shows up! Blends decently too.

Enlargement: 7/10

Very clearly big but due to the lack of a pronounced black rim it's not as obviously dolly.

Comfort: 6/10

Thin and mostly invisible to wear. Slight itchy feeling. Rough estimation is 3-5 hours on naturally dry eyes.

Naturalness: 4/10

Way too big to be natural-looking but it's not particularly unsettling in any way either.

Thanks for viewing, more contact lens reviews coming later!

Shiro Samurai out.