Yorkshire Cosplay Con 2017

 

Just over a week ago, Gen and I attended our first ever full blown convention in the form of Yorkshire Cosplay Con at Sheffield Arena.

I was looking forward to getting my geek on and spending a carefully planned out budget on merch, t-shirts and any other collectibles and ephemera that may catch my eye. Gen looked forward to meeting a certain J. Michael Tatum and working on getting a restraining order.

So if I were to define the quality of the con by how much cash I spent, the YCC 2017 was a roaring success. That carefully planned out budget I mentioned, I may have exceeding it by 60 or 70 %. Now I'm getting automated text messages from the bank about my balance, or lack thereof. The floor of the arena was lined with stalls as you'd expect at a con such as this, all catering for all aspects of geekdom. Several of them tempted me with the prospect of a classic console and I came very close to leaving with an original Nintendo 64, it being the first console I ever owned. I did however, sensibly, walk away to consider the decision as it would have eaten into a considerable chunk of my budget for the weekend, and I had to be realistic about how much use I would get out of it. I was especially glad I didn't jump into that decision when I came across a stall with an awesome number of Pop Vinyl figures, who had all but two of the Magic: The Gathering characters I still needed. Now just need me a Gideon and a Nicol Bolas.

Lego was bought, t-shirts were purchased, we even got ourselves a couple of new cushions for the lounge. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to afford to eat for the rest of the month.

A main stage at one end of the arena played host to a number of acts and forms of entertainment. A personal favourite being the band EZXP who played rocky synthy versions of computer game and other franchise themes. They finished off with medley of pieces from the Star Wars soundtrack which was awesome.

 

We particularly enjoyed the Kaminari UK Taiko Drummers who were fronted by Jared, a long time friend of Gen's. They were so good that after seeing them perform on the Saturday we made sure we caught them again on the Sunday. They were also running a workshop where you could have a go at the drumming yourself, something I really fancied having a go at but realised I didn't have the energy for what looked like a very exhausting activity. (Walking round a con is tiring work people!)

There were some acts that were not quite so great but I'll not go into that, you know, if haven't got anything nice to say etc etc...

These guys were awesome

The charity leg waxing was entertaining, especially seeing Darth Maul pull a waxing strip off Darth Vader's belly.

You've not lived until you've seen the Sith waxing each other

 

Oh yeah, and Gen met/stalked this fella 

Met



Stalked

Being a huge fan of Black Butler Gen was a tad excited to meet J. Michael Tatum, the voice of Sebastian in the English language version of the Anime. There was a modicum of apprehension beforehand due to the principle that we have come to name "Schrodinger's Dickhead." You hear so many stories of fans meeting celebs and them turning out to be not nice people, that you dread that when you meet someone you're a fan of yourself they too turn out to be an arsehole. So until you actually go ahead and meet them they are both simultaneously a nice person and a dickhead. It is only when you go ahead and engage with them do you realise the truth, therefore - Schrodinger's Dickhead. It turns out he was a super nice and really awesome guy who was very friendly and welcoming to the fans, and it certainly didn't appear to be a façade he was putting on for the event. So day one Gen went and got her Japanese edition of Black Butler book 1 signed, and then returned on day two to get an A4 picture signed and have the above photo taken.

We left quite early on the Saturday but hung around later on the Sunday to attend J. Michael Tatum's Q&A panel. This is where my only real criticism of the con comes in. There was an "Interactive Stage" which was where all the panels and workshops were taking place. It consisted of a cordoned off area of the arena, and was far too small for the purpose it had to serve. There was seating for about 40 people, now considering that there were possibly upward of a thousand people attending the convention and Mr Tatum was a main attraction, you can see how space could be a problem. Knowing this we made sure to get there early and were stood waiting to get in 45 minutes before his panel was due to start. However the more savvy amongst the attendees just attended the panel that was on immediately before hand and held on to their seats like their lives depended on it. So cue us with aching legs and bags of merchandise having to stand at the back. However it was worth it, Gen probably enjoyed it more than I did, being a fan of his work and knowing who he was. I was worried that not being someone that watches a lot of Anime (although I'm not sure why being a huge fan of Akira, Perfect Blue and Urotsukidoji) I would struggle with the context and subject. However J. Michael Tatum is a very funny and very entertaining person and knows how to work an audience. Plus I knew enough about Black Butler from Gen that I wasn't too lost so I also enjoyed it, and I do find myself wanting to watch a lot more Anime than I already have.

 

For our first large scale convention Yorkshire Cosplay Con was great. They've already announced next year's event and I think we'll definitely be going.