Matsucon 2023 Summary!

 Yo!

Matsucon was held last weekend (28.-29.10) in Pohjankartano, Oulu. I haven't fully recovered from that, but I'd like to tell you about my experience while I still remember stuff. :3

Out trip to Oulu started on Friday evening after work. The plan was that I would pick Dongrieg up from his parent's house and we would start driving. This almost went accordingly, except I had to work overtime, so we left a little later than we initially thought. This was fine though, we still had enough time to grab something to eat and chill at the hotel room for a little before bed.

Saturday comes! We woke up around nine. Dongrieg wanted to check out Pelimies and Fantasiapelit before heading to con, so our morning was spent there. We got Junji Ito books, dice sets and Remnant II. :3 I was super nervous the whole day since I would compete for the first time in 10 years and for the very first time ever, I was competing solo! My cosplay for the day was Fire Keeper from Dark Souls 3.

The ticket!

Nervous cosplayer

I think I did pretty well with the costume. My biggest mistakes though, were the hand wraps. Those were a pain in the ass and took such a long time to put on. I should've made gloves that look like wraps. Also the wig... It was all over the place and I was just so embarrassed of how bad it looked! :S The cape was fine, but it would need some support on my dress/tunic so that it stays in place.. Finally the necklace. I ran out of time to make the necklace properly. The original plan I had requires beading, and I just didn't have time order tiny beads and other needed materials. All of these things will be fixed next time I'll wear her. I was planning rewearing her in Desucon Frostbite (if I win the ticket war), but I'm not sure. The mask looks nice, but I can't see properly with it, so there is a chance this will be a "photoshoot only" -cosplay. I can of course move the mask out of my face, but it will rub against my wig, making it tangled and messy.. 

So yeah, I wasn't confident with this costume at all, but there was no turning back at that point. The judging was fine, the judges were very nice and understanding. I'm very bad at explaining anything, but I tried to take my time. The photography session was super nice though. The photographer talked about the game a little, which made me so happy and relieved some of that stress. I would like to mention, so many people thought I was cosplaying from Skyrim! This was a little funny to me. Everytime I corrected and told I was cosplaying from Dark Souls 3, I got all ranges of reactions. From an apology to "OMG I gave up on that game since I kept dying!" :D Amazing really! My biggest support during the whole thing was definitely Firith, whom was also competing as Just be Friends!Luka. ;w; Thanks dude! I couldn't have done this without you! ❤

Friends fries ❤

Took this selfie on Sunday, but I wanted to put this here. ^^

The competiton itself went pretty ok. Once I stepped on that stage, the worst was basically over. I didn't fall down, poop myself or any other horror I had in my little head. I even enjoyed the the little show before the winners were announced (made me want to watch Encanto again). I had so much fun talking to fellow competitors and cheering them on, being sure I wouldn't place... Except I did?! I couldn't believe it, but I got the honorary mention for the best accessory! My foam/worbla work was good! Holy shit! :D I tried to see my partner in the audience, but couldn't see anyone, even the front row since the smoke was super heavy at that point! Someone was super excited to use the smoke machine I suppose. XD I will definitely compete again, maybe in Nekocon? Now enjoy some competition photos taken by Dongrieg!

All competitors

Winners, I was so happy as you can see :D

I said 👀

Prize bag...

..and it's contents. Really good and useful stuff!

After that was over, I basically yeeted some cosplay parts off. Or at least the hand wraps and mask! We had a plan to meet up with Firith and Shiro Samurai (whom was working at the con :D) for coffee. Me and Don still had some time on our hands, so while Don was getting snacks from Manga Café, I went to MION's booth. She was the guest of honor and I missed her concert, since I had judging and had to mentally prepare for competition, but I would see her sing on Sunday. MION was super nice, we had a little chat and I bought a t-shirt and an autographed photo of her. She even asked to take a picture WITH me, with HER phone so that she could put it in HER social media. I of course said yes and took one picture with my phone as well! ;_; She complimented my costume and was just so nice and AAAA! ;___; 

I was super happy once again. Also you can see Don in the background! :3 

MION's assistant took the photo btw.

I shared a picture collab with my photo in it and she reacted to it. I can't. ❤

We headed back to our hotel room, I changed clothes while Don was chilling. Once Shiro Samurai and Firith were ready, we headed towards the hotel they were staying at. From there, got some coffee later went to bar for drinks.

Veggie wrap and a little chocolate treat. I also got pumpkin spice latte, of course.

We had fun and hopefully we get together again in the future! It's always fun to just goof around and share some silly memes (and cosplay ideas). We still had about an hour to go to store and get some alcohol for the rest of the evening. Once we got back to hotel, me and Don ended up eating too much and have a couple more drinks.

Sunday morning! We got somewhat early, we have already packed what we could last night, so the morning was definitely easy. We loaded up my car and drove again to Pohjankartano... Only to drive to Valkea soon after since the café wasn't open and we needed coffee and something to eat asap. Also we forgot to take out some cash. I cosplayed Makima from Chainsaw Man btw.

Tired Makima selfie

läskeilyä lol

After we got some cash and had coffee, we headed back to Pohjankartano. MION would play at 14:00, so we were just hanging out until then, doing some shopping and even meeting up some old friends. We were pretty much the first in line for MION.

I was really looking forward to this! I heard so much good stuff about MION's concert on Saturday and let me tell you she delivered with energy! She was so excited to be in Finland and interacted with the audience so much! Like when she was singing songs from anime, she would ask if someone's cosplaying a character from the series. She also had a dream to sing a Christmas song in Finland, which came true. The song was her original and it was beautiful. She even asked the audience to sing along. I couldn't help but cry a little, I was so excited for the whole weekend and got a little emotional there. I hope to see her concert again some day!

After concert, we did our final shopping and went back home pretty much. Me and Firith did check the karaoke list, but didn't find anything we wanted to sing. We wanted to make it home before it gets too late, since both of us would have work the very next day.

Firith took this photo of me :3

My wig and makeup game wasn't strong this weekend, I gotta start my training arc.

Some loot! Astarion and Peach earrings by Hallanvalo, tentacle earrings by Niramuchu, PSWG-print by norapiirsi and duck earrings from sivellinsiili. Rest of the artists I sadly do not remember. ;_; 

Please let me know so I can credit them!

Sadly I don't remember the artist behind the Sucrose print, the keychain I bought second hand.

Phew! This was a lot. I had so much fun in Matsucon and was left inspired to compete more again! I can't wait for the future and new projects ❤ Thank you again for everyone for hanging out with me, cheering me in the competition and for just making this Matsucon a huge success for me. See you later! :3