Day 1
I could see the convention center right there. It was so close. I was almost there. I could see people in cosplay. I was stuck in traffic. How on Earth did I end up with this kind of luck during my first event I have the privilege of covering?
“Just jump out here. I’ll park the car.” My husband says as we get a little closer.
I tuck and roll, almost literally, but I was in the drivers seat so had to switch drivers and adjust seats…. in the middle of downtown Honolulu during rush hour traffic. I immediately bolted for the front doors of the convention center. I felt like Frogger weaving in and out of cars and nearly losing my life to crazy drivers. I’m sure they thought I was jut as crazy for jumping out of my car in the middle of the highway though. If I survived the trek to the building, it would be worth it. I was covering Kawaii Kon 2014.
I survived! Whew! Now were am I going? Oh yeah… I needed to pick up my badge so I could actually do stuff here. But there’s the dealers room. There’s artists alley! Oh my gawd… There’s the rebel camp. Squee! Storm Troopers! Focus Brittany, get your badge. Right. To the registration table. OK cool. Got it. Now what to do first…
If I hadn’t gone online and looked at the schedule, I might have been completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff to do. Day one of any convention is usually rather slow, especially at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon. Not Kawaii Kon. They had something for everyone. My first stop was The Introduction to Doctor Who panel. I got distracted, a lot. I was only going two rooms down from the registration table, but leave it to me to get lost on my way. I ended up on the 4th floor where they had all sorts of other cool workshops going on. None of which I was familiar with. Here’s a secret, I’m not an avid anime person. I have seen a few decent ones but I have always been more interested in the cosplay and artwork rather than the actual anime.
I found the Doctor Who room. They had already started by the time I got there but I still found a seat in the back and sat down. There were fez’s and 3D glasses galore in the audience which told me I was surrounded by fellow Whovians. What I thought would be a boring panel of Doctor Who fat ramblings, turned out to be a series of pretty cool YouTube videos and informative lectures. It was definitely a “beginners” guide to the Who life, but still pretty cool. A must see for any Doctor Who fan, new or old.
I wandered for a while after the panel. I just wanted to look at the cosplay and absorb everything I was seeing and everything offered. One room was doing a panel on Parents who cosplay. That was a very awesome thing to witness. Ever wanted to cosplay but also give your children an experience of a lifetime? This was where you learn the first steps to doing so. One family even dressed their kid up as Nibler from Futurama.
Artists alley was quite the buzz every time I walked by, naturally I was drawn in. Now keep in mind that Oahu is very small. We aren’t a huge island and the population is only 953,000 people, 80% of them live in the city. Even though we don’t boast a huge population, artists were everywhere. I had no idea that there were over 30 anime themed artists in Waikiki alone. Only a fraction were represented but the talent was exceptional. There was everything from custom costume makers to “get yourself drawn as a character” artists. There was a very informative weapons booth where I spent a good 30 minutes just looking and handling the various weapons and getting little demos from the owners. Even if the artists alley was the only thing I saw this year, I would have been happy.
I spent way too much time looking at art and comic books and had about 5 minutes to get to my next adventure. I was going to try speed dating. Yes I know I’m a married woman. My husband even reminded me to take off my wedding ring before I got in line. After everyone verified they were over 18, we went in the room. This was going to be fun. I met at least 40 guys in just under an hour. We were only given a minute with each of the people who came over. They were all very interesting in different and unique ways. This was an ingenious way to meet people that share similar interests and goals in life. There was the guy who “gloved,” I didn’t know what gloving was until I met him. The amount of military in cosplay was a surprising statistic on this demographic. I don’t think the rest of their units knew about this side of them. As I looked around the room during the little breaks we got, I could see romances blossoming all around me. It was pretty cool to see everyone in an environment where they could be themselves and feel absolutely no shame for it and to not be judged by it. It made me wish the whole world was as open and accepting of differences. I truly hope that at least a few people found love that night.
I left Kawaii Kon that night with a new appreciation for people and anime. As I left I could hear the ButiShake party going on in one of the ballrooms and knew that people were having fun. Karaoke was still going strong in another room and the gaming room never calmed down. Day one of my Kawaii Kon adventure was over. Now to prepare for Day 2.
