Cosplay Repair by Eri Kagami
Fanime had a cosplay repair station tucked in the back of the convention center. The cosplay repair station was your standard fare of mirrors, safety pins, hot glue guns, and plenty of chairs and tables to unwind from the crowds. What I liked about cosplay repair is they had dedicated wig styling. When we entered, they had someone combing out the tangles from a wig that needed some care after long term wear. I was able to have assistance in lacing up a corset dress here as well! The cosplay repair section is not too busy and not too crowded making it easy to focus on last minute stitches and quick fixes.
Artist Alley by Eri Kagami
The Artist Alley was held in the newer hall. While it was nicely carpeted and had a lot of natural light coming in, it felt smaller and cramped than it’s original location in the main convention center. While I don’t mind a larger dealers hall, the artist alley was no place for anyone who has issues with crowds and being sardined in with strangers. I had to strategize my time looking at artist alley. I did see some prints, cat related merch, fandom related necklaces (picked up an “oppai” necklace for the lols), various Lolita accessories, etc. I couldn’t dedicate as much time as I liked with this artist alley, but from what I did see and buy, it was a decent selection of local talent.
Hetalia Gathering by Jared the Greek
This was a last minute decision as packing for Fanime tends to change with travel plans and event information. However, this was a fun little gathering to hit up during the day. There was a fair amount of people including several (cis) male cosplayers making my Austria costume not stand out as the only cis male in the bunch. The atmosphere was light and everyone was having a good time. The standard country grouping were used for the first few photos, then it went into requests, and finally it seemed to taper down as people started getting in photos with each other and ignoring anything group related. It was fun doing a gathering again and hopefully I can do more next year.
History of Lupin III by Jared the Greek
This panel was a bit of a surprise for us. A different panel cancelled and we were called in to run a short notice Lupin the 3rd panel. Despite not having all of our resources at hand we quickly stitched together a panel that not only covered the history of the franchise, but also went into all the Japanese events for the 50th anniversary. Even with the panel being a last minute edition we still had an audience of classic anime fans ready to learn more about one of the longest running anime franchises. The panel went well and we were glad to bring back this panel to Fanime.
Cosplay Wrestling Federation by Jared the Greek
This was the big show of the convention. Always a crowd pleaser the Cosplay Wrestling Federation (CWF) is one of those shows that is charged up with energy. The audience gets so loud that everyone on the floor can hear what the crowd is shouting. The show is done like a series of wrestling promos and the audience reacts and the best performers move on to the next round. From there the group gets narrowed down to the top contender and the champion. This time we had a big group consisting of long time favorites like Mr. Satan, Phoenix Wright, and Jotaro Kujo. In addition to that wild cards like Starlord, Coach Connors, and Soldier 76 came to shake things up. It was a great show with some fun surprises and best of all it is up on their Youtube page if you missed the show. However, no matter how good a recording may be, it will never compare to the over the top excitement that comes from a CWF show. If you have the chance to see any of their major shows at a convention you should.
