Holiday Anime Faire 2011

I attended Holiday Anime Faire on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 with a few friends. The tickets were each good for two people, and my mom ended up buying a ticket for me, she came to the convention much later. Holiday Anime Faire is a very small convention in Fremont, CA. It's pretty much my home con, and so I attend every year, regardless of the quality of the convention. Like I said, it's very small, almost everything is in one room.

As usual, I didn't have my camera on me. My friends and I started the day around 11:30am by looking at all of  the dealers and artists. There weren't many of either, but the dealers all had really, really nice things, so there was a lot to look at. We weren't particularly interested in the art class going on because none of us really draw, and we glanced into the viewing room (which was showing Pokemon) but didn't stop in.

We ended up finding a quiet room off to the side (actually the volunteers' room) to kill time in before the costume contest. The volunteers and staff didn't seem to mind anyone being in there, since there was nothing and no one in the room anyway. Other attendees stopped by and hung out in the room also, just to get a break from the crowd, I guess. Since the convention is held in a small location, there weren't very many places to sit, and even though there weren't very many people, the small space made everything very cramped. It was hard to walk without bumping into people.

We hung out for a while, I pretty much just watched the other few people in the room. I enjoy people watching at conventions, even though I guess some people might find it creepy. I don't just sit there and stare, I just mentally knowledge what they're doing, and if it's interesting, I keep my eyes and ears open for it. Not much more than just staying aware of my surroundings. Anyway, in the volunteer room, two little girls dressed as sushi practiced their presentation for the costume contest. It was really adorable. At some point, two of my friends left, and one stayed behind to keep me company.

Around 1pm, my friend and I left the volunteer room so that I could enter the costume contest. I tried to convince my friend to enter too, as it's a very relaxed costume contest, not very serious, but she didn't seem interested, so I didn't push it. The contest started late, and consisted of all walk-ons, with the exception of the two girls dressed as sushi. They sang a song that they wrote called "Becoming Sushi" to the tune of "Coming Home". It was so, so cute, I think their mom had a lot to do with it though, she was giving them directions from the side of the "stage" area.

Everyone else was instructed to walk on, state their name, character name, and series they're from, and strike a pose. Some people had more to say, others were very brief. The entire contest was over rather quickly, as it usually is. I'm not entirely sure what judging was based on, though I know some of it had to do with audience favorites, as it always does. I'm pretty sure that judging criteria stemmed from when the convention head had no one to help her with the contest and didn't know how to judge. It's pretty much just tradition now.

I was surprised at how well my audience judging went (it's just based on cheers), since I was cosplaying a non-cannon Christmas version of Yoko from Gurren Lagann. It was somewhat of a last-minute decision to cosplay her. I was originally going to be the official Christmas version of Chi from Chobits, since I already had that costume made, it's comfortable, and it's cute, but I really wanted to finish Yoko's rifle and bring it to compete with. (Though the rifle is still not 100% complete, that's a different story.) I didn't cosplay time-skip Yoko like I did for Kin-Yoobi Con because that costume still needs a lot of work, and Holiday Anime Faire is a very kid-friendly convention, so I didn't feel like walking around in a bikini. In addition, it's December. Not quite Bikini season. I didn't do an official Christmas version of Yoko because I couldn't find one. At the convention, my friend told me about one, but when I looked it up later, I really didn't like it anyway (and it was another bikini).

Judging for the contest went pretty slow, almost as long as the contest, which was short for a contest, but long for judging of a short contest. If that even makes sense. I think that since the contest was so short, judging should not have taken as long. I won "Special Recognition for Costume Construction" along with another girl dressed as Bowser from Mario Bros. Because the convention is very kid-friendly, they don't use terms like "first, second, runner-up", etc. You either get a title or you don't, and everyone get s a prize just for entering. I think it's an extremely refreshing change of pace from other conventions where the costume contests are very competitive. I still love the competitive contests, it's just nice to be in a more relaxed one on occasion.

photo by AnimeCraft Entertainment

After the contest, my friend and I went outside with a couple of photographer buddies to take pictures.

We managed to get into this little courtyard that was seemingly blocked off, you had to go out a side door from the convention. To be honest, we weren't sure if we were allowed to be there, it is a public park, but like I said, the area appeared to be completely closed off. No one came to tell us that we weren't allowed to be in there, and we could be seen clearly from both the front of the building and from inside the convention space.

We each had individual photoshoots, and then we had a photoshoot together, even though we we cosplaying from different series. We were both Christmas versions at least, haha. I've been itching to do a photoshoot for a while, so I had a lot of fun.

photo by Ben Lam

Getting the photo on the right was a lot of fun, the photographer was actually standing on the arm of the bench that I was sitting on. During the photoshoot, my mom showed up, and I had to stop the 'shoot to give her her wristband to get into the convention. The photoshoot was finished shortly after, and we found out that we were stuck in the courtyard. The door that we had come through to get there was locked from the outside, which makes sense, they don't want people sneaking into the convention through it. I called my mom, and she let us in.


I hung out with my mom as she shopped around for Christmas presents. Anime conventions are great places to get presents for pretty much anyone, since they have unique things and not all of the merchandise is anime-related. I also bought some nachos, as I do every year at Holiday Anime Faire. They're not particularly good nachos, they're not even spectacularly priced, or anything. Usually, attendees get a voucher for free nachos with their badge purchase, but there's wasn't one this year. Even so, like I said, I always get nachos, so I had to. I was also very hungry. I also bought a Kamina plushie from on of the dealers as they were closing down. I love Kamina so very much, and it was only $14! I'm not sure if that was the original price, or it the price went down at the end of the day (some dealers do that so they don't have to pack up as much stuff).

I was asked for a photo in the Santa sled that the convention has, so I had to stray away from my mom, even though I was really eager to leave. I was tired, and the convention was more or less over. The dealers were all packing up. The Santa sled was fun, but hard to get in and out of with my rifle strapped to my back. Shortly after that, we left. We dropped my friend off at another friend's house, and we went home.

All in all, it was a fun day, pretty relaxed compared to a bigger convention, a nice little outing.