July 29 2023: Connecticon!

I spent last weekend at Connecticon with my sibling and their girlfriend and online friend (I unfortunately couldnt convince anyone else to come). CTcon, as the name suggests, is the local convention for my glorious homestate of Connecticut. I've been going ever since 2014, when I was just an innocent geeky elementary preteen whose mom helped sew a double function halloween costume and cosplay of Aerith from FFVII, complete with accessories fashioned out of tin foil. That convention hall was like a magical alternate nerd dimension to my young sheltered mind, a world outside of the judgemental conservative assholes I was constantly surrounded by in my only two social circles of my church and catholic school. A world where nerd cultures thrived, passionate artists were flourishing and supported, and most importantly, being weird was encouraged. It was so completey foreign to me as I was at that point still strictly forbidden from any online spaces beyond my select educational sites and flash games my mom allowed. It was intoxicating.

From that point on, I went year after year, always asking for tickets as my birthday present until I had my own money to buy them myself, right up until covid hit in 2020. And I'm so happy to be back this year.

For all the other conventions I went to, I either threw together the best low-cost and low-effort cosplay I could, or just went in everyday clothes. This time though, I wanted to fulfill my dreams. This Connecticon weekend was the first time I wore a Lolita coordinate in public. It was such a good experience, with a lot of unexpected ups and downs. I wore an OP from With Puji (Taobao indie brand), and surprisingly, the outdoor July heat and convention hall humidity weren't an issue at all even with the petticoat, the dress was surprisingly breahtable! I wore ordinary flats instead of my one pair of proper Lolita tea party heels for the sake of my poor feet, but alas, the blisters still came. The biggest annoyance with wearing the coord all day was that my veil kept getting caught under the straps of my two ita bags. Overall, it was such an incredible experience to get to wear Lolita in public. I felt more like myself, like I was bearing my true soul with no mask to hide it, but I wasn't scared at all like I thought I would be. I was confident, which is such a rare feeling for me to have. It made me think I need to start doing this more and wear Lolita for any old occasion

Note to self: the next dress I buy needs to match the color scheme of those bags. They didn't clash horribly, but I felt so silly wearing black and red bags with a navy blue and white coord. I saw other Lolitas who matched their ita bags perfectly to their coords and felt so astonished and envious of how put together they looked. But I was never going to leave my bags at home with how many hours I spent customizing and decorating them (and the money I spent actually filling them of course!). You can see these bags, my pride and joy, in full on this page.

But my disappointment in my own poor planning was made worth it when I went to the Ensemble Stars cosplay photoshoot, the first event in my weekend. I was really excited to meet other fans of my obsession that's taken over my life in the past year and a half, but I was really nervous because fans of this specific franchise kind of really scare me. To my relief, everyone there was completely chill, and the cosplays were amazing. I felt a little odd showing up without a cosplay, but the other cosplayers seemed happy enough to have someone there showering them in flattery telling them how much they loved their cosplays. Someone complimented my shoulder bag, and when I turned around to show them I was dual wielding with a backpack too, they actually cheered. That one moment made it all worth it. But then, something unimaginably terrible happened. The meetup dispersed and I realized after everyone was gone that I forgot to ask ANYONE for their socials. All those nice cosplayers are now lost in my memories instead of blossoming into new beautiful friendships. I could cry thinking about it, but instead, take the highlight of the photoshoot: the nuis.

Friday also had my favorite event of any convention: the idol show. For the uninitiated, it's a competition where groups and individual cosplayers do choreographed dances to those idols' songs. It's my favorite first because I love idol anime and getting to see it come to life in such a wonderful way, and second because of how much love, hard work, and passion clearly goes into each routine. The friends in the small crowd hyping them up like they're at a stadium concert, the duos who are clearly a couple, all of the contestants group hugging the winners after voting ends... it makes my heart grow three sizes every time I have the privelage to go to one. Something interesting about this year is that sometime between the last time I went and this year, they added a second category for kpop cosplay dance covers. The competetors in this category were a bit mind-blowing with the amount of technical skill and practice that went into each choreo. Definitely the highlight of the whole weekend for me.

Other highlights of the weekend include:

The artist alley! I didn't buy much this time around since I'm trying to save, but it's so cool to see all the work from these talented artists and discover new creators to follow, even if you have to worm your way through the worst crowds of the entire con just to get a good look and grab a business card.

The arcade hall! The lines here were really long, so I spent all my time at just one cabinet: Project Diva Future Tone. I've never seen a project diva cabinet in person in my whole life. Getting to try playing the game with the original arcade buttons instead of a console controller was incredible. Seeing it almost felt like meeting a celebrity. I was feeling shy and bashful in front of an arcade cabinet.

Cosplay death match!Another must-attend for any Connecticon hopeful. A tournament where two cosplayers face off, and the crowd cheers the loudest for who goes to the next round, losers are killed instantly. SUPER fun. I'm always kind of shy at first but by the end I'll have already lost my voice.

Chibicon! It's a cosplay drag show. What else do I have to say for you to know it was an amazing time?