Today I got up and took over an hour making sure I fully externalised what a pile of anime trash I am. I decided to go with a space princess theme that turned into my idea of what Queen Serenity would look like if she were on Earth in this time. In case y'all haven't guessed the reason for all this dress up, it's because today was the day I would be going to Supanova! I haven't been to an anime convention in so long. Over a year now, I think. It was well overdue and I was so excited.
(wow such a photogenic hashbrown)
At around 10am my partner and I got in the car and drove up past Perth and all the way to the Claremont Showgrounds. The traffic near Claremont station was crazy; it literally took us half an hour to get into a roundabout so we could get into the stations parking lot. After we managed to get in, we waited at the station to get the train to the showgrounds.. but.. well, I'm stupid. We waited 12 minutes for the train in the cold breeze, but finally it came. We got on, waited, and.. it completely skipped the showgrounds. It was so weird, because it usually stops there when there's an event on. But we kind of brushed it off and just got off at the next stop and decided to walk back, it was maybe a 7 minute walk between each station, not a big deal. However, as we approached the showgrounds, it looked very empty. Usually the convention is in one of the buildings, so the absence of crowds isn't that unusual, but there's usually a lot of noise and always at least a few people walking along the grass to get to the convention. But it was completely dead.
And then I remembered.
Last year Supanova moved to the Perth Convention Centre. The only problem was, I had skipped it last year, and every year before that, it was at the showgrounds. I double checked the facebook page and unfortunately my horrible thoughts were right.. we were in the completely wrong place. We had driven all that extra way and gone through that crazy traffic for nothing. I felt so horrible and stupid. Luckily my partner is very forgiving and didn't get (noticeably) mad at me.
So we walked back to Claremont station, found the car, and off we were again. Maps took us on a crazy route but eventually we ended up in a parking lot just outside the Convention Centre. By the time we figured out how to operate the crazy place (very unorganised, 0/10 would not recommend Wilson Parking) it was just past 1pm. We were both so tired and confused, but we were there. The day could finally begin.
Thankfully, after all the stress we had endured getting there, there was no line for entry. We had already paid for our tickets online, so we could walk straight up to the desks to get our passes and once everything was done, our attitudes turned around; it was time to check everything out and indulge in all the anime garbage.
(cons summed up: casual objectification of women next to kids toys)
We went into the big underground room which had at least a hundred different huge stalls in it, riddled with colourful explosions of plushies, posters, clothes, cosplayers, everything you associate with anime and just general nerdy-ness, you could find it here.
The cosplayers were really on their game as well. Like, so many of the people cosplaying actually looked like their characters. I literally would have believed I saw Matt Smith and Johnny Depp that day because the likeliness was amazing. I didn't get a chance to snap any hella professional pictures of the cosplayers this year, mainly because of the crowds; there were so many people, getting a good picture of somebody would take a very long time and I know how annoying it can be when you're trying to enjoy a con in cosplay and get asked for pictures every five seconds that end up taking way too long because people keep walking past. But I did manage to get a few snaps with people that I really couldn't ignore.
(there are a few other photos but these turned out the best)
All the stalls were so good as well, I didn't know where to look first, and it took at least two hours to feel like I had made any impact. The convention has really grown and improved since the first time I went, I'm really glad I decided to go this year. I've mentioned that money has been tight lately due to the fact that I work at an ice cream store and it's currently winter time; so I gave myself a budget of sixty dollars. Although I wanted to buy almost everything I saw, I think I did quite well and I managed to suppress most of my shopping urges by taking pictures of the stalls to look at later.
Once my partner and I got through what we thought had to be at least half of the stalls, we sat down to have some lunch and calm down a bit. Being introverts in a crowded convention like this was tiering for the both of us. I think it was a bit worse for him though. Out of the two of us, I'm the one with the worse anxiety issues, but I think because I'm a bit more into this culture than he is, he took a bigger hit from it today than I did. Anyway, I didn't mind sitting down for a bit. There was a lot to take in and my feet were very sore.
(cookie mirror that I really regret not buying)
After we got up again and continued making our way through all the things to buy, it seemed like everyone I knew was at the convention at the same time. It reached a point where I couldn't stop to look at something without seeing someone I knew. I feel like it annoyed my partner a bit, having to stop all the time, but it made me happy to realise that I have so many people who want to say hi to me~
I don't know how I noticed him, seeing as he was dressed in normal clothes, but I saw Dani's boyfriend walk past and said hi to him. I saw a few people earlier that said Dani hadn't been responding to their messages all day, and she hadn't been responding to mine either so I figured maybe she wasn't coming anymore - she lives two hours away from the convention so I couldn't blame her for bailing last minute. But I was happy to see her a couple of stalls away and went over and said hi. Turns out the poor thing had woken up sick this morning and thought she wouldn't be able to come, but eventually picked herself up, determined to get some new kawaii things for her room - I can promise you, she's even a bigger hoarder than I am. (her room is my #goals I swear)
Because she lives far away and we don't get to see each other very often, we stuck together for a quite a bit. We shopped around together and she showed me some cute stalls that I had no idea how I managed to not see. This is the kind of friend you need in your life. Not just that, but she also took a photo with me in the TARDIS when my partner didn't want to. It sucks that he doesn't like photos when I happen to be a massive cam-whore. But I guess it's also handy because I always have someone with me willing to take photos.
(worlds most kawaii tardis)
Myself, Dani and our two partners looked at everything else together and finished things off at the PAniC booth which is basically where you get all the food you see in your regular anime series. But soon after that we lost each other in the crowd again, which wasn't that much of a big deal because you know, we have phones and stuff.
After my partner and I felt like we had seen everything, we did one more lap of the convention just to pick up some things that we had aimed to get when we got there. For him, it was a Thor hammer and for me it was another Alpacasso plush for the little family I'm growing at home. I didn't end up getting a real brand one because although quite a few stalls had them, they didn't have any of the accessories I like. However, when I saw this cute little white one, I fell in love and I don't care if he's not like the rest of my alpaca family, he can be adopted.
(the differences in our tastes are amazing)
After we got those two things, we figured it was time to head home. I love the feeling of being at a convention and kind of wanted to stay, but I was also tired and sore and we had already done everything there was to do, so we left. We got trapped in the stupid parking lot again and maps pulled a fast one on us when we were trying to get out of the city, telling us to stay on one particular road and then quick omg your exit is on the other side of the fucking road and if you miss it then you're going to be in the city for another twenty minutes because the road you're on is huge windy one with no more exists go go GO.
Once we were out of the city, it was smooth sailing and we went back to my house to have dinner with my family - which was delicious because I realised that all I had eaten that day was two hashbrowns and a couple of chips I stole from my partners lunch. Then we went through the customary ritual of showing my parents what we had bought and lying about how much we paid for them to avoid a lecture.
(came home with a few kawaii things - but best of all was my photo with sailor moon)
Anyway, despite all the difficulties, it was a really nice day and I'm really glad I made the last minute decision to go, because I got to see lots of people I haven't seen in ages and get some new cute things and I got to look pretty damn cute if I do say so myself.
I feel very sorry to my partner though, because all our difficulties would have been avoided if we had just caught the train, but we decided to drive because the showgrounds are a really long trip by public transport but it wouldn't have been because if I had just double checked we would have seen it was in Perth and the train would have been the more logical way to go. Anyway, that just goes to show you that even when you think you know something, the one time you don't check will be the time you pay for it.
But yeah, all negativity aside, we both really did enjoy ourselves. I was convinced I've kind of grown out of anime culture, but after today, I think I'm going to make an effort to appear at cons more often ♡
