Highlights of KumoriCon 2014

[garfieldelric]

Garfieldelric again! It is time for our annual KumoriCon postmortem thread, the "Highlights of KumoriCon 2014!"
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-Getting to take part in the quiz game The Chase. Me and my team won VERY handily, and given how fast I was going in that game, I wasn't going to keep up! The two trivia 'titans' lost, and VERY hugely, I might add, like Super Bowl XLVIII. It wasn't even close.
-Seeing Karen Strassman and Stephanie Sheh really made me smile. It was great to see two wonderful talents together at this con. Bless them.
-Any of Bressler's panels. What can I say about the guy? Year in and year out, he ALWAYS brings his A-game to this con. Awesome work with Whose Line and the game show panel, man, if you're reading this.
-The stand-up comedy panel. I really did shine with my routine.
-The autism meet up. It was great to see people who are like me, I am an Aspie, as an aside, and was re-diagnosed with such in March. You people are so wonderful, the people who came to said panel.
-To everyone who saw me at this con: I love you all. You all mean a lot to me, and this convention is a wonderful escape for me before fall starts, and it is a nice way to celebrate the start of football season (I say this because the con is held close to the start of the college/NFL season.)
-Lastly, seeing the Sailor Moon and Frozen cosplayers. You are so wonderful.

Now it's your turn! Share your highlights of this bigger, longer and better KumoriCon!

[Sailor-Jeimi]

Outside of the whole cosplaying thin, getting so many signatures was my big one. I got 3 digs in one thing alone. Let alone the other things. Got to chat with chuck huber a little bit where it was like a friendly little hang out chat. He also told me how amazing my garlic jr drawing was that I drew for him to sign. Also Bryce was extremely friendly. That was awesome.

My other one is making friends. I met a bunch if very nice people and it made my weekend to make so many.

[iBubbleTeax3]

Some of my highlights are:

1. Having my best friend try her best to make it for Kumoricon and succeeded. That made my con since I've never went to a con without her before.

2. Having a sleep over with a friend, it was fun talking about cosplaying and watching each other fail at make up.

3. Being literally the only cosplayer of a character in one popular series for an entire day. I felt really awesome since I felt unique to my photoshoot.

4. Making people smile with the keychains that I handed out. No joke, all of them were gone by day 2 LOL.

5. Meeting people at photoshoot and just having fun with them. I'm not a selfies person but I had fun taking them with the other cosplayers who wanted my picture.

[princess_of_zeal]

-Chasing down Links (hopefully not terrifying them too much) as Ravio yelling "Mr. Hero!" over and over again requesting pictures with them was a lot of fun.  So much fun, I'm doing it again 2015.  Thanks to all the Links and the Zelda.


-Having a great show for the DBZ photoshoot was awesome.


-Naurto photoshoot was awesome as always.  (Next year I'll be Haku instead of Temari though.)


-The all ages Who's Line was fun as always.  (Got some humorous pictures too.)


-Seeing all the cosplays was wonderful as always.


-I know there were some bumps with the radio communication with staff but I was happy with using the radios.  It was better than last year's communication.  I feel I was able to help out more because of the radios.


-I enjoyed the live music/festival.


-I was thrilled with how well my boyfriend's Dr. Brief cosplay turned out and how many people recognized him.


-I was happy to get Bryce Papenbrook and Chuck Huber's autograph.  Chuck Huber was so much fun and he seemed to enjoy being at the con.  Bryce Papenbrook was awesome for coming to the after party of con and signing for everyone that missed him during con.


So, everything that has always been awesome, still was, plus all the other cool stuff.  That makes me happy.  I'll add more as I think of stuff.

[Black~Rose]

-Realizing that I took a picture with the doctor cosplayer that sang the song I liked enough on youtube to put in my playlist for con this year.

-meeting and clearing the air with KBLNoodles

-Squeasy cheese mustaches

[reppy]

- The panels! I was really impressed with the variety and quality of panels. I do not typically attend panels. In fact, I probably attended as many panels this year as I did in the past 10 or so years of Kumoricon attendance.

Two panels stick out in particular: the "Cultural References and Symbology in Anime" and "Ghost Stories from Japan" panels. The panel host was knowledgeable and was excellent at speaking in front of audiences. I actually happened to catch him on Monday morning, walking towards the Hilton, when I approached him.

Me: "Hi! I really liked your Symbology in Anime panel!"
Him: "Oh, thank you! I am actually on my way to do another panel."
Me: "Really? What is it called?"
Him: "Ghost Stories from Japan."
Me: !
Me: "I'm about to go to the vendor's hall . . what time is the panel?"
Him: "10 o'clock."
Me: *looks at his cell phone* "9:45... Looks like the vendor's hall can wait!"

That panel was eating up everything he said. I don't know if I've ever seen a panel that was that attentive to a speaker that wasn't a celebrity.

It would be amazing if he was able to do panels again next year. A lot of what I see in anime and manga doesn't always make sense from my Western perspective, and his panels helped clear the air on many things.

He was also running the information panel on Buddhism in the smaller vendor room that was outside of the Red Lion Hotel. He had a bald head with a beard and glasses. If you talked to him and thought he was interesting, but didn't get to see his panels, then sadly you really missed out!

- I thought the vendors' room was great. It was split up between two rooms, and that gave us a lot more variety. One of my only complaints about the vendors' room is usually that there is not much variety; i.e., all of the booths have products for the same few anime titles with only a little bit to separate themselves from the other booths.

I typically only spent $25-35 at conventions because nothing seems interesting enough, and I easily exceeded $100 this year.

[EveofAbyss]

- Watching my wife get serenaded by an unnervingly realistic Eddie Gluskin cosplayer (with mutilated bride-to-be in tow).

- Playing my first game of Cards Against Humanity with my roomies, with all of us nearly peeing ourselves by the time the game was over.

- Seeing Starlord groove through the park for a good 10 minutes.

- Discussing Russian history and the silliness of the White Russian cocktail with Demitry, a server at Gray's.

- Late-night Mario Kart: Double Dash while friendos make squeeze-cheese goatees and portraits on a Tiger & Bunny blu-ray.

- Witnessing the park erupt into a triumphal entry of 'PRINCESS KENNY! Ohmygah, it's Purinshessu Kiinii!' as my wife walked around in her Princess Kenny cosplay.

- Photo shoots with Michael Groah, Jason DeSomer, and Collaborative Exposure.

- Really, the whole atmosphere of this Kumoricon was a highlight. This was the best Kumori I've experienced in years. For me, there was a constant air of fun and positive excitement, and this was largely in part due to the people I was able to meet and spend time with. Such a beautiful weekend.

[Chromophobic]

-Guest of Honor Reception (talking with Chuck Huber was awesome. Same with Raj.)
-Meeting awesome new friends!!!
-Playing Cards Against Humanity
-Cosplaying the Blu Spy from TF2 and being disguised as Bressler at his Whose Line 18+ Panel... >w>

[BlackjackGabbiani]

-The autism meet up. It was great to see people who are like me, I am an Aspie, as an aside, and was re-diagnosed with such in March. You people are so wonderful, the people who came to said panel.

Thank you! I'm glad it had such a good turnout and such vibrant conversation! I hope friendships happened because of it! I was really glad when I came to get it set up and there was already an active line.

[Chibiorochimaru]

-Getting my boots cleaned by DeadPool while cosplaying Kefka
-Having an in character argument with the Joker about who stole whose style (also as Kefka)
-Seeing a very wonderful Spy and Sniper (tf2) in prom dresses (srsly that made my evening on day 3)

[Hillopurkki]

Probably having a fun time at the cosplay competition (Didn't win, but I had a blast!!).
And upgrading from a pawn to a queen at cosplay chess. (ALL HAIL QUEEN SNUFKIN!!)
And giving a cosplayer a pie I bought because I figured a game of 'pass the pie' would be fun!

[princess_of_zeal]

- Witnessing the park erupt into a triumphal entry of 'PRINCESS KENNY! Ohmygah, it's Purinshessu Kiinii!' as my wife walked around in her Princess Kenny cosplay.

I was one of the many that was excited.    I have 2 pictures of her in this gallery:  https://plus.google.com/photos/109302261682098900094/albums/6053640541584539649?authkey=COHwmq3_zfvtSA


And here on facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10154508041325357&type=1


Unless there was more than one.

[Citael]

People being terrified by our Guro Lolita c: It was great! Civilians reacted well to it c': My friend accidentally hit a man arm with hers and I guess he didn't really look when she apologized so he simply said, "No problem," but his wife did...And well, she just softly whispered, "They have dead faces." It was pretty funny! And remember the sudden rain on day 2? Well, we were in the farmers market and we helped out a hat saleswoman out to put up plastic covers to protect her hats. She was super grateful and it was that sorta feel good feeling. She let us stay in her booth when it rained and thanked us repeatedly c: I also really loved being Tamaki during the Ouran panel. It was so much fun, sitting in a corner, yelling 'Haruhiiiiiii!', frequently being calmed down by Kyoya...And I got a rose from another Kyoya who called me daddy in Starbucks. Day. Made.

[Pumpkinziggy]

Karaoke had the off vocal version of Parallel Hearts, so I got to sing it, and my month or two of practice didn't go to waste (Yes, I practice for open mike at anime.)

Karen Strassman and Stephanie Sheh were both very nice and pleasant when they signed my drawings, and it was a joy meeting both of them!

It was also my first convention knowing about the wonder that is Pandora Hearts, and the Pandora Hearts panel and photoshoot were super fun. I recognized all of the cosplays except the main character almost immediately! xD Usually I have a hard time keeping track of characters.

[meb9000]

-Bryce Pappenbrook making an appearance at the Sword art online public photoshoot! Such an awesome guy, he let all the Kirito cosplayers pose with him!

-Chris Sabat's Dragonball panel was a barrel of laughs, and his contributions to the Attack on Titan panel were priceless as well. (Magic Plot Potions..that is all)

-Bryce Pappenbrook having great conversations and treating every autograph signee to a good time when they finally got through the autograph line. He is just an overall great guy

-Being able to participate in both Cosplay chess games was particularly fun for me as well (I was Booker Dewitt in the Late night game, and Miles Edgeworth w/Phoenix Wright in the main game). OBJECTION!

[wildlavender]

Going to Chuck Hubers panels! We went to a few different panels with different voice actors, but he really made the con awesome!

Getting into the finals again for the Kumoricon Idol, there was so many talented contestants this year! I was honored to compete with them!

First year in cosplay chess, I was in the late night one and it was so much fun! I was Kululu ^w^
Getting to capture Medusa in the cosplay chess match, a scientist and another scientist teaming up, what shenanigans!


Can't wait for next year!

[JaegerDarkness]

My Highlights;

-- COSPLAYING AS EREN JÄGER
-- The Bryce Papenbrook Q & A panel
-- The Attack on Titan Voice Actors panel
-- Ask on Titan (I was the Mikuo Hatsune, that wanted to be kicked by Levi. THE FACT THAT MY REQUEST WAS DENIED, REALLY PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-- The Attack on Titan photo shoot (once I found it.)
-- The Sword Art Online Voice Actors panel
-- The Pro Bending Finals (it was intense.)
-- Late Night Cosplay Chess & Daytime Cosplay Chess (All my shouting & cheering kind of wrecked my voice.)
-- COSPLAYING AS EREN JÄGER

[marissaofunderground]

My Highlights:

- The Disney Magical PJ Adventure panel where we all got to sing along to Disney songs and have a good time.
- Free ice cream after the Marvel/DC Photoshoot!
- The Ginger Ten cosplayer returns this year! I love that guy, he not only looks quite a bit like David Tennant but does his voice wonderfully and is in character the entire time!
- Meeting a couple of great people there and even a new friend
- THE BALL. And dancing with this one guy who, while he wasn't cosplaying Tony but some fancy version of a Homestuck character, he played the part of Tony the talking Clock to my Sketchbook/Notepad. :3
- Day 4 had this one cosplayer who was the best Weeping Angel I had ever seen. Not to mention terrifying. I'll have fun sending the pictures I took of her to my friends and watch them scream. 
- Speaking of screaming, there was even some cosplays of Five Nights at Freddy's, despite being relatively recent. There was this one group of four cosplaying together as the killer animatronics, and they looked great.
- Four days means more time for more things, and I was happy to see the pony panel return this year, even if I didn't stay for long. (It was right after the ball and I was tired, so I left after a while).
- The ladies who make and sell ears in the artist's alley returned this year, with cat ears, horns, antlers, pony ears, and unicorn horns! Got a pair of the latter two for my next cosplay for Everfree NW! (gonna be Vinyl Scratch).

[veraca]

All of the great feedback for my Writer's Block panel, and the wonderful attendee's for my Shakespeare panel!

The amazing cosplays everyone was wearing~

The all ages Whose Line, Cards Against Kumori Con +18, and Where Fanfiction Goes To Die were amazing panels~

I really enjoyed Bryce's reactions and sounds panel on day 4- it was easily my favorite 'new' panel I attended this year.

The size of the glomp circle being pretty small/medium and seemed to be well managed from what I saw this year. I didn't see nearly the same amount of trash in the park this year, too.

[dark4ever]

- Playing Werewolf with a bunch of cosplayers while waiting to get in line for closing ceremonies (Bambi the Butcher was a highlight of that one)
- The Adam West Batman that came (literally) swooping up to my girlfriend and I when we were Harley and Ivy and having a great dialogue with him (which ended in him dropping the voice and going "Oh my god, you're a turret!" to my sister)
- Talking to the staffer while in live for @midnight. He was really nice and gave me some nice insight into how cons run
- Actually lasting in a corset for long periods of time. Hey, I looked hot and it felt cool
- Having a girl say I was cosplaying from her favorite video game when I was dressed as the Warden from Dragon Age
- The picture I got as the wtnv intern with three Kevins

[KingOfAutumn]

People being terrified by our Guro Lolita c: It was great! Civilians reacted well to it c': My friend accidentally hit a man arm with hers and I guess he didn't really look when she apologized so he simply said, "No problem," but his wife did...And well, she just softly whispered, "They have dead faces." It was pretty funny! And remember the sudden rain on day 2? Well, we were in the farmers market and we helped out a hat saleswoman out to put up plastic covers to protect her hats. She was super grateful and it was that sorta feel good feeling. She let us stay in her booth when it rained and thanked us repeatedly c: I also really loved being Tamaki during the Ouran panel. It was so much fun, sitting in a corner, yelling 'Haruhiiiiiii!', frequently being calmed down by Kyoya...And I got a rose from another Kyoya who called me daddy in Starbucks. Day. Made.

I second that. Also the fact that I actually purchased things at con this year and I'm so happy.
Guro Lolita was by far the best day, espcially 'cause we got those "exceptional cosplay" ribbons. I was pleasantly surprised. (Scaring people was the most fun I must say).

[Chromophobic]

This entire con was amazing! Best year so far, in my opinion. I made new friends, went to a lot of panels this year, and had a lot of fun.
But one of my greatest highlights for Kumoricon 2014 is this:





I've always enjoyed Bresslers panels, and I decided to wear my TF2 Spy cosplay this year to his Whose Line +18. With that, I made a Bressler Disguise mask. Got some awesome reactions, and it sure made my Kumoricon experience quite memorable. ^^

[Washougal_Otaku]

Honestly, the only TRULY memorable moment for me was improving as Granny Smith during the My Little Pony panel.  (Though it sounds like there were some great moments elsewhere that I could've been at).