I attended Holiday Anime Faire 2010 on Saturday, December 4th with my boyfriend. He and I cosplayed Pacman and Clyde (the orange ghost) from Pacman. It was held in Fremont at the Teen Center in Central Park.
When we arrived, we got our badges ($14 for two, I believe), and entered the area to be greeted by Pedobear. It was my first time getting a hug from Pedobear, so I was oddly excited xD It was a little umm... Disturbing, though, to see a Pedobear at Holiday Anime Faire, since HAF is actually geared more toward kids.
We made the obligatory circle around the dealers' and artists' tables (this year they were all mixed up in the same area), and we found my friend Tricia at her Artists' Alley booth. We also ran into possibly the only photographer at the con, who took our photos (wonder where those went..?). We also ran into these two adorable little girls who told us that we were awesome and they loved our costumes.
We then found my friend Natalie, who was with a couple of her friends, and my friend Solemon. Shortly after, the cosplay contest started, so we had to leave them =/. I was a little worried this year, actually, we had competition, including Pedobear and The Gorillaz. The contest itself was pretty short, each contestant/group stated their name, who they were cosplaying, and what series they were from. We were then sorted into groups, home-made and store-bought, for judging. The judging consisted of who the audience liked most and deliberation by the convention head and either representatives of P.M.B.Q. or Animation On Display, I don't know which.
We had been hoping for a win, which last year included a free pass to Fanime, but, true to the Holiday Anime Faire, umm, "spirit" the contest had no "places" (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), so there were... Six winners, I think? Including my boyfriend and I, Pedobear, The Gorillaz, and a little girl dressed as Sailor Moon. Holiday Anime Faire always makes it a point to give a prize to a kid, which is great, but I feel like they should make a separate "Chibi" category if they want to do that. But that's just me, and the con head doesn't like to listen to anyone's opinion but her own.
The cosplay contest prizes were a bag and a Naruto figurine that were given out to everyone who participated, and two DVDs given only to the winners. We were allowed to choose our own DVDs, so I chose two Pokemon DVDs. I may or may not sell most of my winnings later. It seems like most of the cosplay contest prizes that I get are things that I don't want. My last winnings (from AOD) were put up for sale at Kin-Yoobi Con, and I sold a couple of things. Otherwise, it'll just collect dust in my room, and nobody wants that.After the costume contest, we putzed around on the playground just outside of the convention area. Unfortunately a group of girls who shall remain nameless and had a megaphone were acting rather obnoxious in the park. I was extremely disappointed in realizing this, because I've been to gatherings with them before, and I've never had a problem with them. I also learned that one of them has a problem with a friend of mine for seemingly no reason. Which sucks on multiple levels.
Eventually we went back inside and met up with my friends Jerry and Ashley. We hung out for a while and I bought a Christmas Chocobo plushie. I used to buy a Yoshi at every convention that I went to, but there's only one color left that I need, and since I can never find it, I've been buying chibi plushies at cons instead. I can't help it, it's an addiction!
Eventually, two more friend, Andrea and Kailee, showed up and we chilled with them for a while too. The con was closing down though. Dealers and artists were packing up, and staff was telling us to GTFO, so we did.
Overall, the con is really boring, unless you have a bunch of friends going. This was the first year that I actually knew a bunch of people there, so I think it was worth going, I don't get to see my cosplay friends a ton. I may or may not attend next year, depending on money and how interested I am.
(photo credit goes to Ratgirl Productions)