[Final Fantasy Fan Fest ’26] Stand By Me

Final Fantasy Fan Fest is a celebration of the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV. Fan Fest events occur every few years in different cities. Previously, in North America, Fan Fest was held in Las Vegas’ blazing summer heat. Fans were not amused at the Ul’dah immersive experience. In 2026, Fan Fest had its first ever event in Anaheim, CA, just right across from Disneyland. Southern California Warriors of Light celebrated. The nearby, Requiem Cafe, hosted a Final Fantasy XIV collaboration down the street. Even though there is a strong presence of Final Fantasy XIV players in Southern California, Fan Fest brought in attendees from all over North America.

For context, I didn’t have much time preparing for Fan Fest. I wanted to get further along in XIV, but I had to get computer repairs and I had real life things going on. I had a few cosplay ideas for Fan Fest, but time and finances would shoot it down. However, my friend, Lily, gave me the idea of “Disneybounding” (Squarebboundng, maybe?) at Fan Fest. She made a formal / prom version of Alphinaud at a Final Fantasy concert. She suggested I could pull off Yotsuyu. Given that this was a two day event, I had two dresses that can pass for a mid-century interpretation of Yotsuyu.

It was interesting that Fan Fest was held on a Friday and Saturday. I had to be creative with time off from work. I ended up working on Saturday morning so I could have the afternoon off on Friday. Therefore, I can maximize my time at Fan Fest. After all, the ticket was $260. Gotta make the best of it! Fan Fest shared space with a occupational therapist convention called, Inspire. You had educators working with disabled kids on one side of the convention center, and while in the past, we had older folks at conferences look down upon geeky conventions, this crowd was ever so kind to us. They wished us a great conference and hope we just had as much fun as they did at theirs.

I had a friend show me around the convention as soon as closed up my laptop and called it a day from work. She told me about Fan Fest’s culture. Included in our registration, we got a sticker book, an over the shoulder bag, hat, and an assortment of stickers and pins. Sticker trading is almost essential at Fan Fest. Fan Fest attendees were giving out their Warrior of Light stickers. Had I known, I would have commissioned Wilde Fey Writes, who does both the art and sticker print commission. I could have given out stickers of my purple haired cat girl, Mayari Tingeling, named after the Filipino moon goddess and this meme cat.

Of course, with any Final Fantasy event, there’s bound to be a ton of cosplayers!

I was looking forward to the photo ops and interactive events. I tend to like going to these at industry / trade focused events. I wish I had time to do alpaca racing.

I did sit on a few panels. I didn’t see the Evercold announcement, but I did like sitting on the gamer development panel with Yoshi-P (aka Mr. Prime). While most of that panel was a blur, I do recall many cheers for simplifying battle systems and giving us a preview featuring different classes. Makes me want to return to White Mage again.

I was disappointed in the songwriting panel. I was hoping to get more out of it. As someone who is learning how to write lyrics for fiction, I went into this panel with a professional development mindset. However, it was AI-coated inside jokes and some VTuber that may or may not have been a villain from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. I’m just saying, if you’re gonna bring in a Chuuko Nezu, bring on Aluminum Siren, Lead Crow, Tin Nyanko, and the queen, Sailor Galaxia to steal our star seeds. However, if you’re looking for better insight on songwriting, Taylor Swift’s interview with the New York Times is much more well spoken. Given that XIV has so many different songs in different styles, moods, and takes you on an emotional journey, I expected more.

Sunday afternoon was ramping up for The Primals concert. I was already seeing people take up space up front in the main events hall to get a good seat for the high energy musical act performing later in the evening. On Saturday, we had a few fan driven events on site. While content creators and streamers were having lines for meet and greets in front of the convention center, people were creating their events.

Sylver is a known Southern California convention personality to have a karaoke set up. The wait isn’t too long. Basically, he would pull up YouTube with the song you wanted to sing. I tend to prefer this format because it opens up more songs. My bestie ended up singing “Snake Eater” from Metal Gear and I sang “Shout” from Sister Act. Following karaoke, we also had a guerilla idol live event at the convention center. Local kaigai idols were performing songs from Final Fantasy. Wish I had known about this, I would have brought in a selection of JPRG hits and maybe an “Eyes On Me” finale.

I attended both concerts at Fan Fest. Lahee Keiko, the pianist behind XIV‘s tunes, had an hour long concert on Friday night. I loved how the hosts were like, “We’re all going to be nice and polite for a piano concert!” and yet I’ve been to concerts where acoustic piano performers went wild and feral, especially ones at Wembley. This crowd was no different. Fans had emotional responses to Keiko’s music. She even brought in Amanda, who did a Post-Modern Jukebox style cover of the honeybee song.

On Saturday night, the main events hall was ready for The Primals. All available seats were taken. People had their light pens ready to light up the Anaheim Convention Center. I haven’t been on as many raids as my friends have. I also had to be coached on when to freeze during one of the songs. The Primals truly raised the roof of the Anaheim Convention Center. While I’m not familiar with most of the songs, save for the Titan one and the Dancing Green song that was playing in the exhibit hall on loop, it was a great time. We even had a special performance from Jason Charles Miller! Overall, I wanted to look up The Primals on Spotify. It was then I learned that most of their songs on their setlist were yet to be released.

Yes, Fan Fest was one of the most expensive conventions I ever attended, but I have paid less for events that delivered a whole lot less. I felt I was able to make my dollars worth coming here. I love the fan community, everyone was friendly in trading stickers. I only had bookmarks to give away. I do appreciate the awe in hearing from Warriors of Light, “You’re a writer?! That’s so cool!” I only had two bad run ins with “fans,” one in particular was your typical f-boy gatekeeper. However, it was confirmed to me that this individual has been problematic in the community for some time. I don’t really have a massive gaming crew, I can count the amount of people I play XIV with on one hand, but it has always been quality over quantity with me. I like gaming with cool people.

While I did feel some imposter syndrome during the event because I haven’t completed the latest expansion, Dawntrail, Fan Fest has inspired me to keep on playing with both my cat girl monk and alt cat boy ninja. I’ve been in many fandoms, but this has been one of the most welcoming communities. I’m drawn back to the time when a ton of Warriors of Light raided my game to gift me random things, including a few subs on my Twitch channel. I’m reminded that the gaming community can be a wonderful place. I don’t intend to leave XIV soon, even if it’s just with a handful of friends.

And here’s the part where I nudge gaming friends who haven’t started on Final Fantasy XIV to join me as we figure this out together! I’m on both Cactuar and Coeurl.

And if Warriors of Light exist in Washington, let me know. I know I can’t be the only one up there when I call Seattle home.