I woke up in the morning to make it in time for morning tea. I ended up cosplaying as Azusa in her maid variation from Idolm@ster. The Nerd Fit morning tea was held in the Curriers room. I have been to a handful of hotel cons, and this has to be one of the classiest rooms I have seen. It feels very much like an old time Victorian parlor. Jazzy music was playing to suit the classy environment. Nerdfit also brought actual tea leaves to brew. Unfortunately, there was no strainer, so I remember having a clump of earl grey leaves at the bottom of my cup. Otherwise, it was a nice way to start off the morning.

Pokemon Battle!

As my tea was cooling down, I decided to stick around for the next event in Curriers. It seemed there was supposed to be a Mega Man tournament, but it ended up being a Pokemon Stadium tournament for Nintendo 64. While I did not stay for the whole thing, it was really interesting to watch. I haven’t seen game play of Pokemon Stadium in years. It was nice to see the 3D battles against various critters. The audience was very light – not a lot of people showed up for it, but it was really amusing hearing commentary from the audience.

Dealers Hall and Artist Alley

The dealers hall was held in the expo center adjacent to the hotel and parking structure. It was a very small space, but it was roomy enough to walk around and check out various vendors. There were more artists than dealers. I was quite surprised to find a few interesting finds in the dealers hall – the Sailor Moon ADV box set ($300 a season! Wow!), Digi Charat trading cards, and Idolm@ster keychain blind boxes.

The Artist Alley had a ton of interesting things to look at. I met an artist from Chaotic Kiss who’s style is very much 90s shoujo – big eyes, colorful hair, and very girly. I just had to get a portrait commission from her. I also found Gotta Sew Them All, an accessories team that sells Pokemon ears and tails. I could not resist the Mew ears and tail. Being that Mew is my favorite Pokemon, I decided to grab the set. Finally, I found Pop Cult Anime, a vendor that had iron on cutie marks from My Little Pony. For a small artist alley, there were plenty of cool things to check out. If you were really into My Little Pony, there were a lot of things. However, my favorite piece from the artist alley (and I regret not getting it) was a print of the Inner Sailor Senshi as DC heroines.

There were a couple of daytime events worth noting. I briefly checked out the Japanese Home Cooking panel. As someone who used to live in a very diverse region of the country (Asian supermarkets flowing aplenty), it was interesting to hear people ask where to get a rice cooker. At the end of the panel, handouts were given out on how to locate and make simple Japanese dishes. The same panelist also gave a demonstration on how to make onigiri (rice balls) later in the day. There was also a small Lolita swap meet in the Curriers room that followed a Lolita 101 panel hosted by Rambler Rori. I managed to pick up a pair of socks. It was nice talking to other New England Lolitas.

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