Alcon 2009

Well after just getting back from Alcon and having un-packed everything from the car I am pooped! I thought I'd give a diary post review of what our weekend involved and what it was like. Its quite long but I hope I covered everything and don't sound too negative!

On friday morning I packed 5 dresses, 7 changes of clothes, 8 pairs of shoes, 3 suits, 11 belts (I know!) 3 pairs of gloves and a basket full of accessories as well as a packed lunch and some pot noodles. (essential for saving the pennies for merchandise - priorities people!) Due to the late arrival we missed a couple of things on friday. In the evening atmosphere was a bit slow, I got the impression that it was a private party and we didn't know anyone there - which of course we didn't. Despite this we had a good evening and I made friends with a fabulous man called Matthew who had on the most impressive velvet platform boots : D



On saturday I was raring to go, we went to the anime breakfast club at 10am and watched a wonderful anime called "the girl who time travelled". After that we had fun in the video games room and David came 2nd in the Mario kart Wii contest : ) They also had this awesome Rock Band drum kit with 4 cymbals and a hi-hat : D The DDR tournament had a bit of a delay but we eventually got going although disappointingly Alex got cut out in the first round!

Later in the day was the masquerade. There was a couple of great costumes but most, unfortunately, left a little be desired. I admire the effort put into costumes as a cos-player and costume lover myself, maybe I'm getting cynical or maybe I'm just getting too old for this but it did seem like a bit of a lame convention >_> I did have a good time, found some new things, I totally glomped Bowser and was very excited by the portal girl, kudos to you my friend!

Saturday evening had a better atmosphere but I felt quite "old" as Dave and I sat out from the dancing although he did have a burst of Michael Jackson-esque popping which was appreciated by everyone ; ) I also loved the group dance (despite the "d**k" being a pain as he was all weekend) and would love to learn it myself! Otaku or what ; )



On Sunday breakfast club was cancelled and we found out too late we were supposed to check out at 9.30am but we got it sorted pretty quickly and didn't loose our deposit. Once again not very well organised was the rockband competition, actually it was guitar hero and we won anyway so who cares : D The other things I wanted to do clashed with this so I missed out : ( We didn't go to the cosplay cafe as £3 is a lot of money for a cup of tea and some cake!! We did enjoy the AMV chillout though, for a couple of hours we sat reading our new mangas (Alex with his new Magic cards) and David had a nap ; ) The band that played, Machina Shogunate, we were really good too.

The over all feel was that we spent too much time hanging around waiting for things to happen. Also some of the big things clashed and you had to prioritise between them. It was a nice weekend but I would have been happier with a more professional/not so immature atmosphere and more to do. A convention should be like a music festival, always lots to do and lots to see and never a dull moment. Unfortunately this didn't quite work at Alcon, although the organisers say it was their best year. Well I think I will stick with the bigger more experienced cons next year : )