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Otakuthon 2025 Recap

Another Otakuthon down! This one's kind of my main con, so it's always nice to return. This year, The con was celebrating it's 20th anniversary, and I was celebrating my 15th Otakuthon! (And by extension, 15 years of con-going.) Quick little review of the experience!

I'll start this by saying that I think this was my favourite Otakuthon in the past couple of years. The con has been struggling post-pandemic with record high attendances, record low amounts of space, and middling organization. At this point I was attending out of tradition, but it was a fun experience in spite of the event. To that end, almost everything was vastly improved.

Crowds were handled much more efficiently; whereas last year the main hall was sardines-packed throughout all of Saturday, this time around the crowd crunch only occurred for an hour or so. Thanks to the con organization spreading certain activities like the concerts to their own locations off-site, a lot of traffic was reduced and you could finally stand around and enjoy the costumes. Despite another record heat wave this weekend (the planet's dyin', Cloud) the AC actually held up this time around, making for an actually enjoyable experience. That is to say, we still sweatin', but we're not dying anymore.

On the personal side, I've been focusing a lot on myself for my con experience. Most of my costumes were repeat wears for once. I'd been cycling between two to three new costumes per year, but all I could really focus on this year is how much I love my Sonic costume and how much I wanna keep wearing it... And probably remake it when it falls apart! Breaking away from the "always aim higher, always strive for perfect" loop has been freeing; now I want to be the niche weirdo costumer that you keep recognizing year after year with periodical upgrades.

I brought one new costume! I wore the Shadow Gijinka I've made on Friday. I'm happy to have finally given the project its due diligence after the last Shadow attempt. It's good for crowds, and I got to chat with other Sonic fans without being (lovingly) hounded like when I wear Sonic! I got to immortalize the occasion with a photoshoot I booked last-minute; can't wait to share photos of that. Unfortunately, I'm learning I just can't do wigs or make-up comfortably anymore; make-up makes me feel like trash and compounds my exhaustion, while the wig would just give me intense pressure headaches the minute I'd put it back on. Not to mention wearing full-body denim and a wig was an uncomfortable type of heat... Another preference to add to the list of requirements when I choose a costume to make. I was given a cute little Shadow ribbon to put on my badge for my efforts, which makes it my first ever badge ribbon! Participating in this tradition at long last was so fun; I kinda wanna make my own to give away and trade with next year.

I did most of my shopping on Friday! The alleys on the artist side are narrow as hell and the crowds are awful and, to be transparent, I'm not really a fan of how manufacturer acrylic-heavy the artist side has become in the last few years. I'm trying to be mindful in how I buy fandom items now, so I noted a couple booths I specifically wanted to visit, bee-lined to each of them to grab a couple things, and headed to the next one immediately while quickly looking at the other booths in the same row. Sorry other artists! I got some stickers, prints, a calendar and a little pencil case to store some essentials in. Also got to chat with the fursuit maker who got me started when I bought materials for my first suit, so that was very fun! (Items from golbiey, thecalendork and artfrommars)

I wore Sonic on Saturday again and had a blast! I spent a lot more time loitering around the main hall for photos and to chat with other cosplayers. I still think the con heat is way more manageable with a mascot suit; you don't feel sticky with underarmour, and taking costume breaks feel downright heavenly! I distributed many high-fives and posed for lots of photos, talked costume construction with other awesome people, participated in my first convention-specific furry group photoshoot and attended some fun panels between suiting sessions to rest and have fun. Sonic survived another convention effortlessly, though I now know for a fact the head fan system just isn't functional the way I made it; maybe on a future new Sonic mascot I'll find another system to circulate air better (maybe the ears?), but it's honestly quite bearable with breaks.

I "wore" Wurmple again on Sunday! I put quotation marks because I just put the tail on and carried the head around, really. It's cute but the vision and bug butt getting in the way isn't super convenient and I had lots of panel I wanted to attend. I think I'll retire Wurmple for conventions, but it wasn't frustrating by any means. I just figured I'd have more fun storing it in the bag and just walking around instead. I'll just wear one of my non-fandom partial suits instead in the future if I want a "chill" Sunday costume.

I leave the con feeling physically exhausted, but mentally energized! I'm discovering new interests within the hobby (I kind of really want to host a panel next year, or a group photoshoot, or a small event outside of cons! I wanna get involved in my fandoms) and finding the kind of people I want to connect with, stay away from all the elitism you can find in the cosplay community. I still wanna keep the Sonic Mascot in rotation for cons, but I kind of wanna add a simpler costume in the lineup that hits all my requirements for the more casual days; something without wigs or makeup and a lightweight outfit that doesn't require a lot of prep to get ready. (I saw a fun Mario with a N64 polygonal head; I think he's living the dream and I wanna find something like that to bring over.) I love the idea one good day of going all out and then two days of just hanging out with just a silly mascot head! Maybe make another partial fursuit of one of my OCs, but that's kind of its own project.

Looking forward to the future! I'm hoping to go to smaller cons 'til then, maybe finally make it to a furry con. Go out a lot to small events! I like this new era of how I interact with my fandom and costume hobbies and I can't wait to see what's on the horizon.

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Bedazzled my neck fan with a bunch of tiny stickers to frame the old sonic stickers last month... It's not a big craft session by any means, but it's nice to just decorate something! I like how sparkly it is in the sunlight.

Sonic stickers by Purizumu

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It's Scratch's turn to get an updated standalone character art!

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Final batch of Artfight attacks! Thank you to everyone for the kind words and revenges! Here's a pair of EXEs to end things on. See you next Art Fight!

Fetti, for Nytrix

Halloween Hack, for Xurkit (@xurkitry)

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Artfight is almost done! Second to last batch of attacks, keeping the rest in draft until tomorrow in case I have a last minute attack to sneak through!

Ghâsh, for cetteSara (@une-fraise-qui-dessine)

Buzz, for Lemonsweetpie

'Maria', for gatioxd (@gatioxd)

Sanity, for Sonarialuv

Kosmo, for Sleepy_Autism (@sleepy-autism)

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TOOOOOOÉ

Thank you so much... I am staring at it with my eyeballs... The animated version on Artfight is INSANE!

Presence...

In which even your cellphones are not safe from the entity Nullref. A wonderful OC from @starakex

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Eighth Artfight Attack batch! So very close to 50 attacks this year! Particularly proud of this batch, starting to feel way more confident with my lineart especially!

Joi, for Raihani_julie (@raihanijulie)

Vines, for Cynayna

Bex, for tastyknives

Phantom Ruby Sonic, for Lamp-P0st (@lampp0start)

Herald, for Zincwolf

Kami, for D0NQU1X0T3_

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Starting this last third of AF by giving my soda pop kitty OC a well deserved rework! Crazy what a couple weeks of practice can do.

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Fixed up some new fans inside Sonic's head, so every costume is ready for the upcoming con!

I always feel a humble little thing in my heart when I see myself half suited up. I've spent so many years with cosplay fretting about looking like a character and getting self-esteem issues from it that seeing the real, regular me peeking from under a mascot just feels right. I can't help but think: that's me, that's me in there, and I made that. It's good for my brain to be able to cut the magic on a dime and just be... Me.

This dang hedgehog has had some of the most positive domino effect on my life overall in the last year, ha! Can't wait to wear this again soon for its 1-year anniversary!

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Seventh Artfight Batch! Oops, all Sonics!

Ashley (Mobian), for Snatz (@snoodlesnatz)

Spike, for I3la-dee (@i3la-dee)

Chroma, for Dreamyfizz

Eggs, for Siobhanatron

Tails.WAV, for JadeTheCat

Scrobbles, for greenhillzone (@landmineblast)

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my bountiful daughter named mint plant

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Sixth batch of Artfight attacks! Lotsa warm colors this time 'round.

Lilie, for Vexed_c0rps3

Genevere, for Soyce (@soyce)

Sneep Snorp, for ImInYourWallss

Zombie Shadow, for Ezra_skullz

R4D1CK4L, for MidasX3 (@midas-x3)

Strawberry, for xicheo

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Fifth Batch of attacks for Artfight! Lots of experimenting with this one, very excited to share these.

ger, for TheFragile

Vessel, for strange-quiet (@commit-vehicular-manslaughter)

Monoko, for ewerot

Hannya, for Tiledmind (@tiledmind)

Plush, for Nightfang

Vel, for za-ick

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Fourth Batch of Artfight Attacks! Particularly proud of these ones.

Confetti, for Lymeskyze

Crux, for SnowPear (@snowpearart)

Casey, for karobotics (@deadpoolsthighs)

Bubu, for joonsbubu (@joonsbubu)

Lorelei, for vhsghostricks (@vhsghostricks)

Sam & The Fuck, for Cuspid64 (@the-sock-has-spoken)

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It's not like ghosts are real anyways, am I right gamers?

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Third batch of 6 attacks! There's a lot of very fun Sonic OCs on Artfight hehehe

Hart, for Potaterchip

Razor, for Mythzi

Xerox, for mal_nourish3d

Aspen, for theworldhasturned

Popeye, for KAZ1ER

Skatez CoolKid & Rollo Blaze, for iitz_skatez

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Second 6-batch of Artfight Attacks! I did a cute little GBA-style sprite for one of them so forgive how goshdang stretched it gets in the photo carousel.

Silkse, for washedzombie

Basilisk, for ToriTui

DMG, for LugiaCaptor

KAPPA, for SPACEKIDGRUNK

HS!Shadow, for arcvirus

Nenetl, for AllZonesPurified