So I attended Uppcon XII, the last Uppcon in history. I had a lot of fun, met some friends and just had general con fun and a blast. I took quite a lot of photos of cosplayers but I didn't attend any panels or anything.. again, I'm lazy and prefer to just walk around and look at all the cosplays, enjoy the atmosphere and occasionally strike a quick conversation with someone.
I cosplayed Gin Ichimaru from
Bleach on Friday, Toshizo Hijikata from
Hakuouki on Sunday and Hajime Saitou from
Hakuouki on Sunday. I was happy to see that some people did recognize me as
Hakuouki characters, even though it seemed it isn't as known in Sweden as it is in Finland. Oh, and what made me kinda happy was on Saturday when I was cosplaying Hijikata and wandering around the merchandise tent two Japanese men were standing in front of me, when I was walking towards that scene thingy, away from the buying stands and I noticed them both watching me with a smile and then they said something in Japanese to each other, one of the words being 'shinsengumi'. Then one of them gestured to me like "hey, shinsengumi, come here" and of course I did. They took my picture. :'D And bowed to me, I just smiled although now later I wish I had bowed back. I think they didn't know I cosplayed from
Hakuouki, probably they just thought it was cool that I was dressing up as something from their own history. xD Whatever, it really made me warm inside haha ~
The weather was perfect on Friday but Saturday was rainy and Sunday even more so.. but when the con ended the rain stopped... oh, speaking of the con end; I got teary-eyed after the "avslutning" (conclusion, final speech thingy) and I noticed several people crying too.. I saw someone with face paint coming out of the building who you could obviously tell had cried a lot because the make-up had these tear strokes. I didn't really cry at first but then I noticed some of the people who arrange Uppcon were hugging con-goers as some kind of 'thank you for coming and farewell' thing and that made me feel my eyes watering. I hugged some of them.
After the final speech thingy several random people gathered huge hug groups of people and I took part in at least 3.. couldn't resist.
 |
| Sad group hugging |
Also someone went around with a video camera and asked random people close to her about the feelings after the final Uppcon had ended.. she asked me and I said something that I tried not to cry because I didn't want my make-up to run (had planned a photoshoot after the con), I should have added that I would most likely be crying later because I'm like that.. at first I'm just stunned and emotionless and then a few minutes later it hits me like BAM it is over.
Now just let's see if I can find that video on Youtube..I also hugged this one guy who was cosplaying some more casual version (I think it might have been canon) of Kenpachi from
Bleach because he was the one who was crying the most and it really made my heart break to see him so sad.. because I've known him since my first (or was it second?) Uppcon and if I have to associate one person with Uppcon it's him. He is just amazing, such a fire soul and he's the 'pepp' (con hype) incarnated. :'( He was crying so much and everyone kept hugging and coming up to him. I wasn't cosplaying
Bleach when I hugged him so I asked if he remembered me (I was Saitou) and mentioned that I was Ukitake last year and he said that of course he did and praised my swords, then I said he was the one person I remember the most from my overall Uppcon experience and that made him break up in tears.. again. ;_; Awww.
And I was crying a bit after that and people started to hug each other and a person came very close to me, gave me a tiny bit of chocolate something and a hug. Thank you. ;A;
Also one of the Uppcon staff (I think?) was walking outside with a cardboard box that contained cute hats that he was giving for free, I got a black and white one with ears and a cute skull on, yay.
Oh well, despite the weather being semi-crap and the very very sad ending Uppcon XII was amazing.. but I can't help but ask myself why it had to come to an end already.. Uppcon X was my first con and first con I cosplayed to.. Uppcon opened my eyes for going to conventions, cosplaying and gave me lots of new friends.. so I just want to say
THANK YOU UPPCON FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. <3
