#hanacon

Travel Blog HanaCon 2026 - Saturday

Welcome to the next Convention Travel Blog. This time I only attended for a day and saying this upfront: my mental health was deep down in the basement the days prior to the Con and if it wasn't for my friends telling me to do and to attend the contest I applied for AND the outlook to meet the dear LisalebtRosa again I had decided to ditch it.

That's also why I took quite long to write this entry compared to my usual speed, I have 1 week of a backlog to get through and I decided to at least start this blog and see how long I can work on it before I feel the urge to tackle the backlog again.

Day started at home as the HanaCon is only a 1 hour drive away, so pretty much local. Make up started out quite well, but then my wig decided to be a pita and was not to be tamed for 20 minutes. So I was pretty much done with the world before I even went to the con.

Eventually I survived the drive, found a parking spot in the greens and went to the con.

Queueing up to get my entrance bracelet I had some very annoying mid-teens in front of me who used their weapons to aim onto people... seriously why are you at Cons, please be an asshole somewhere else.

I went onto a stroll through the artist alley to spot some nice things and then went into the vendor's hall to just see which sellers are there.

I was recognized as Qifrey and showered with compliments countless times, i think let alone 7 times in 8 minutes after the con opened, this was ... a new one for me.

This time they had the fashion isle located in the vendor area and some artists were there as well. I did run around quite a bit but as the pre-judging was upon me I got more and more anxious.

For now I was alone on top of that, no friends to hold my hands (literally). So I went outside and actually ... did some PMR. I don't brag about that much but I am actually a certified teacher for PMR and can do it on myself everywhere I just... rarely remember that it is a thing that could help me.

So while I waited for the prejudging I got into some nice conversations about Witch Hat Atelier and how detailed and amazing the worldbuilding of the series is.

The pre-judging was .. well ... I got told a few minutes before I went in that we have to talk english if possible because one of the judges only spoke english. Usually no problem but with the overall mixed week and my mental health ... let's say I had the feeling never in my life i spoke english this awful and was so speechless about what is good about my costume at the same time.

But I somewhat survived and only had to get to the actual competition (well, catwalk) before it all was over.

As Lisa got to the con we met up and took a stroll through everything again, like the artist alley, the vendor hall AND I found a Lenalee! Day was saved. DGM always makes everything better.

We didn't check out the Bring & Buy yet as the queue was just WAY to long. I did buy a few things during this stroll (pic at the end).

Then the contest followed. I have to say everything was a bit chaotic. First of all we weren't 20 attendees but over 30, 2 didn't show up but still. There were 5 categories in which you were able to get placed (well only 1st place each) which were:

Best in character

Best in Sewing

Best in Crafting

Best Make up/Wig

Audience Favorite

For the crafts you had to enter the pre-judging. I still have no idea who did win in the end as it was announced on the convention sunday, I just know I wasn't ranked. And I have no idea how they judged upon "Best in Character" as some people had entered OCs and ...? Yeah no idea.

I went on stage that was important.

After the contest I met friends again and a super adorable Oru who even did a magic trick. I love such ideas, please keep it coming like that.

Aside that I finally come to eat a few things out of my snack box, have a Taiyaki and take another stroll through the artists. Even checked the Bring & Buy. I have to say I didn't even look further into some of the vendors as it got late so fast ..

Biggest shout out goes to Lisa to be so incredible supportive during the whole day and be a nerd about everything.

Little highlight at the end of the day was me having Souffle Pancakes for the first time ever. If you want to have an insight on more food at the Con Lisa has a YouTube Channel and will post a Vlog about the HanaCon soon.

And as promised here is my little HanaCon haul! Mainly Witch Hat Stuff, a Sir Pendelton and then a Shiba-Bun-Pin.

Travel Blog - HanaCon - 11/05/2024

It has been some time since my last travel blog entry. I can tell this one is shorter as I didn't stay at the con for long (just about 4,5 hours), but still I want to show you some impressions from the small convention.

Small head's up before the Dokomi I just got this silly vid from HanaCon. We were asked which character could take over the series.

Some wonderful times catching the maids at @pixelpopmaidcafe at previous conventions or at the Panda Tea that was down the street from previous conventions.

@hanaconanime is for today, and i won't be able to make it up to that area. If you are going to be in that area, though, you definitely want to stop by the maid cafe there and pay Pixel Pop a visit.