This past summer I was able to attend two tiny cons within a reasonable driving distance. Chibi G-anime was held in Gatineau and Coticon was held in Cornwall. Despite the smallness of the cons, they were both very cute and boasted some pretty good cosplays.
Chibi G-Anime was held on July 26 2014. The day started out with my boyfriend and I driving from Montreal to Gatineau. Along the way he showed me a landscaping display put on by his municipality: it was a hobbit house! I was dressed as Sheeta so I ended up having a mini photo shoot with the display before heading to the con. We got there around 11 am and signed in. The first half hour we spent wandering the hotel and getting to know the layout of the mini con. I was quite displeased with the location, mostly because the hotel was weirdly shaped and caused a lot of awkward angles. I didn't let the location ruin my day though. There was a little courtyard with a beautiful ivy covered brick wall and lovely tall hedges which was the perfect place for a Laputa themed photo shoot.
We attended a few panels, one of which was all about Magi. I went in thinking that the panel was going to be an analysis of the anime (the anime does bring up a lot of interesting and sensitive topics) but it ended up being an open discussion between the panelists and the audience. I learned a few interesting things but my boyfriend who never read/saw Magi was bored. We attended two other panels both hosted by Messy Mia, a Gatineau-Ottawa based cosplayer I met at Otakuthon 2013. Her first panel was hosted in French and the topic was cosplay 101. It was well presented and I was surprised that I understood everything without too much effort! Her second panel was all about Clamp and unfortunately because it was at the end of the day there was no one in the panel except for us and her friends. Again, my boyfriend wasn't really into it but I enjoyed the panel (I love Clamp)!
Coticon was held in Cornwall, a short 45 minute drive from Montreal. It was the smallest con I have ever been to! The whole convention was held in a few rooms and a hallway. There were five or six booths, a cafeteria area, a panel room, a video game room and a screening area. Even though it was super tiny (less than 200 people) it was pretty cozy. The location was excellent for photo shoots and had lots of outside space. They definitely have room to expand! We were also able to mingle more with con goers as there were very few of us and we kept bumping into each other.
I was dressed as Sheeta for this con as well and I was quite surprised to see a couple other Studio Ghibli cosplayers! We had our own mini photo shoot together :) I even managed to convince some of them to enter in the masquerade last minute! I of course was told I should enter by the con organizer so I did. I ended up being the only person in my class and thus won by default. I also won Best in Show which resulted me in winning two pairs of tickets to Quinte Mini Con 2014 and Frostcon 2015.
After the con ended a bunch of us went out to eat dinner together. We had a really nice time hanging out together and got to know new people in the con circuit. I look forward to the next post con hangout I might get to be part of!
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