Now that my art was finally set up I was finally free to go explore and look around the convention. But we decided in the end to just wait a couple of more minutes so that they would allow us to buy some artwork right after the opening time. My friend really wanted to buy a Mimikyu yarn doll which look absolutely amazing (he didn’t waste his time bidding, he just bought it out right which I really believe was the right decision). Aside from that he and my brother went ahead and placed some bids on other artwork.

Meanwhile, now that attendees were allowed in the room, I took the chance to observe people. I wanted to know if my artwork would attract people first of all, and then see how long they lingered around looking at my work. People definitely went to go to look at my artwork (but really they went around looking around the room, so no big deal), so how about lingering? It was never the same, some did stay a bit longer but others just gave it a quick glance. Actually throughout the day I came back to see if there was any changes to the movement of people and of course if there were people who bid or just outright bought my artwork. But more on that later.

Once I did decide I looked enough, like usual we really didn’t have a plan of what we wanted to do this year, so we just walked around looking around. While doing this though I had to be mindful of the time because in a little over an hour I had to head out for a bit so that I could take care of another obligation at the house.

In any case, we went about walking first to the Artists Alley where we consider a must go every year. This year there was definitely more variety in the type of art and artists. Usually we see a lot of familiar faces and artwork, but this time there was artist I never saw before. Some were definitely starting out this year. This definitely made me hopeful for when my chance to appear in the Artist Alley would become a reality. Saying that, sadly there was only two artists that caught my attention this year. There were some artists that I had bought art from before, but this year they weren’t really offering anything new.

After looking around a bit, we decided to go to the bank to get some money. Before that I decided to go look at my artwork really fast before heading out. Once outside of the hotel, that served as an opportunity for me to go take care of that obligation I was talking about. Boring huh… Fast forward a little I made it back a little over an hour and learned that right next to the hotel about a block away there was a festival called “A taste of Colorado”. My brother and friend had bought tickets for food while I was gone, so they decided to go get something to eat there (they were starving, as was I, and had to wait for me to get back… sorry guys). As soon as we arrived we were greeted by security who were checking everyone’s bags. When it was my turn I opened all my bag pack compartments and as I was given the ok to enter. But then I was suddenly grabbed by the security guard looked directly in the eyes and was told “Don’t take out your marijuana out here you hear me, keep it packed in”. This annoyed me since I don’t smoke anything or even drink. Anyway, how was the thing? It was ok, I guess.. The food was really overpriced. I got one Korean taco for about 8$… What the heck. And wanna know the sad part, that was the only food I had all day by this point  (it was already 5 pm…).

After that most enjoyable experience, we went back to the convention. My friend wanted to check out the Dealers Room. But before that, I wanted to check if there was any activity for my artwork. That’s when I noticed that as soon as people saw the prices they just hurried off… Well, that was a great sight to behold… As I observed, I acted as a normal attendee and walked behind the moving line that went around the room looking at the artwork. Once I got to my section I looked at all the tags and noticed that they were all empty. That sure felt, awful. But as I looked closer, one of the pieces on the bottom did have a bid! So people were willing to give my artwork a try. The piece was the Samus Aran artwork.

This one:

That calmed me down a bit, but I knew it could still be the only one I sold during the weekend. That’s when I decided that coming to check throughout the convention would just be a waste of my time and that it would only sour my experience. So I decided to just let things be and come back when I had to pick up my artwork on Sunday.

My friend and brother had already headed up the stairs to the dealers room so I went ahead and tried to find them. There was a line so I had to wait a bit, but luckily it moved rather quickly. As I got in a message was being played that announced that the dealers room was going to close in 5 minutes. I found my brother and friend and they were surprised I was even allowed to enter. It seems that they were just scouting the merchandise in order to decide what they would get on Sunday. Among the items were some Evangelion art books that my brother really wanted and some JoJo figures, specifically two Dio figures.

As we left the room my friend was looking at the schedule and noticed that a burlesque show would start in about an hour. We’ve never been to one before. And truthfully I never really had an interest in ever going to one. But this was included with the entrance and we were curious to know if it would be anime based. So we all said, what the heck let’s go.

It wasn’t a surprise when we found out that there was already a long line forming outside of the main  events hall. There was still an hour of waiting to go, so we decided to play cards in the meantime. Eventually though the line started moving and letting people into the hall. At first we sat somewhere in the first section of chairs. But just a couple of minutes of sitting down in these ok seats, we heard some very magical words (well aren’t I exaggerating?), people could actually go ahead and sit on the floor right in front of the stage. We just had to sit 8 feet away from the stage. My friend and brother were unsure but I tried convincing them. Eventually it got to the point where it was the usual, if you go I go. That’s when I decided to just stand up and start heading in that direction, they of course followed). If I’m going to watch this I might as well go all out, no? I really don’t plan on going to another burlesque show since that kind of stuff doesn’t interest me so I might as well make the most of this experience.

So we find a place that was in front of the runway but sort of at an angle which we thought would make things a bit easier to see. But right before the show started we noticed something, there was two guys sitting exactly in front of us and right next to the stage. They were the photographers for the event and they were completely blocking our view. My brother more than anyone was really annoyed. And it became even worse once it started, just as we feared, the photographer on our end really was blocking most of our view. I had to look to the side just to get a glimpse. What made things worse was that people had already filled the spaces all around the stage so we were pretty much stuck there as the first performance went on.

Almost having given up, I noticed that there was a space just enough for two people to sit right in front of the stage. It was almost as if it was there just for us. I told my brother about it and again it went to the “if you go I go”. So I just slid my cellphone to let people know I was moving over there and slid over, my brother followed (of course we did this as nothing was going on so as to not bother anyone).

These were great seats, right in front of the stage where we could see everything and were not obstructed. My brother decided to take video while I took photos (no flash, since flash is not allowed). As we thought, the show was indeed anime based (except for the first one which was Velma from Scooby Doo). Lets see, it was Velma, Articuno, Speed Racer, Espeon, Him (from Powerpuff Girls), Harley Quinn, and I’m not even kidding best for last Eevee (I may have forgotten one or two more acts, if so I apologize). In between some of the acts they also had contests where members of the audience could participate. They had contests such as filling and popping balloons by thrusting into one another, a strip tease show ( no worries, it was prop clothing on top of their own personal clothing) and musical chairs ( version I didn’t quite understand, the participants had to sit still while the burlesque members sat on them trying to disqualify one another).

On top of that they also had members of the burlesque show going around the audience getting tips. The funniest moments were probably when Speed Racer was asking for money. When he was in front of us my brother decided to tip him. As he was handing him the money Speed Racer offered the jar, but my brother went further in. Speed Racer thought my brother was aiming for the bandanna around his neck, but no my brother had a goal! He was aiming for his underwear, and when Speed Racer noticed this he presented. I couldn’t stop laughing. Just a couple of minutes later Speed Racer was crawling in front of my friend and actually pass right over him as he was heading to a girl right beside him. The look on my friends face was priceless.

That’s what I liked most about the show, more than anything it was just a lot of fun and laughter more than anything. I was worried since there was an 18+ age limit for entrance. But aside from them taking off clothes all the way to either lingerie or swimsuits it wasn’t too lewd.

Now I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t add some pictures so here are some tasteful one’s (sorry I didn’t take pictures of all performances).

The host was Espeon, while Eevee acted as co-host and was also in charge of picking up the props and clothes after every performance.

This was one of the three contests where members of the audience were allowed to go up in stage. And on the left you can see the guy who was blocking our view at the beginning of the show.

Espeon also got to perform.

Eevee having to clean after every performance.

People being picked for the next contest.

And now the best performance! Did I mention Eevee was my favorite?

Ahem!.. I will leave that for now.

But before I go, here are the best cosplayers of day one:

Does anyone know from what series she is cosplaying?

And this one?

Some Evangelion love. I really loved their cosplay.

No but seriously did I mention how much I loved it?

So kind of funny story with this one… for those not involved anyway. I wanted to take a picture of this pair (Psycho Pass right?), but they were in the middle of a conversation. So I panicked a little and just stood there like an idiot. Keep in mind that this was a circle of friends talking together and then all of a sudden some weirdo just joins in and stands there not saying anything. Once I saw an opening I asked if I could take a picture of them, but I am pretty sure they gave me a look of what is wrong with this guy (I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine it, and I wouldn’t blame them). I took their picture and was just amazed at how great their cosplay was. Especially Tsunemori Akane. So… as I went back to my friend and brother they quickly started asking and telling me what the heck I was thinking and doing. They recounted just how weird and creepy it was as they saw me approach them and just stand there… I was so embarrased, but what could I do? I really wanted that picture, but I also didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. After this experience though I tried my best to think more tactfully about how to approach cosplayers. If you guys ever see this, I truly apologize!

Alright, now this one also has a rather creepy story. And to be fair it was all my fault. We had called it a day (thanks to me wanting to go home and eat something). But just as we were leaving the hotel I saw this amazing Satsuki Kiryūin cosplayer. I just couldn’t give up this opportunity. So I went up to her and asked if she would allow me to take a picture. She said yes and to my surprise even changed her shoes to the ones that corresponded to the cosplay. I was really touched she was willing to go that far just so that I could take a picture.

Just as I was leaving though some really creepy old guy looked at me and started saying something like “How nice, How nice” and kept repeating that over and over again in a really creepy and truthfully disgusting voice. As soon as I saw he was heading towards her I told my friends to wait a bit till I made sure this guy wouldn’t try anything weird on her. He started talking to her about who knows what, the cosplayer seemed to be answering some questions as politely as possible. After a couple of minutes the guy finally stepped away and came back to our street where he originally came from. He looked at me with this weird grin that really irritated me. But as soon as I knew he wouldn’t bother her, we decided to head home. If you ever see this, I’m truly sorry you had to go through that. If I hadn’t approached you and asked for a picture I’m sure that guy wouldn’t have gotten the idea it was ok to get close to you. Truth is I’ve seen guys act as though they work for some modeling agency and look sketchy as heck. So if that was his shtick I really hope you didn’t fall for it, there are some really despicable people out there.

Well, that will be all for today. Man was this a long post. Sorry about that. But this does conclude the first day.

Hasta la próxima,

-Nube