Spent last weekend at Alcon 2009, one of the growing number of anime conventions in the UK. Alcon has been running for three years now, with Alcon 2008 being the first anime convention that I went to. Was great to return this year and meet up with people both familiar and new.

There were a lot of good cosplays about - highlights for me were Taiga Aisaka, Emperor Lelouch, Vocaloid cosplay group and Mio from K-ON!. Was also in cosplay myself as genderbent Mio and school uniform Lelouch. Pleased at the great response I got, including for the tail I was wearing the rest of the time - the tail got danced with more than I did ^^;

As well as being there to enjoy the convention I also volunteered to help out as a gopher. Spent most of my time on the Artists Alley, where we held a number of guest panels including workshops with Sonia Leong and Akemi Solloway, the Iron Artist competition and an area in which artists can sit and draw in peace. I also co-hosted the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) tournament with Adam Clark, a fellow DDR addict and friend. Although as hosts we didn't take part in the competition itself, we had a versus match on Candy on Heavy - I was happier with the result than Adam was! ^^

There was plenty of events going on and it was difficult prioritising what to go to, made harder by gophering - managed to get to the UKOtaku new media panel and the Gundam model making panels. Essential visits were also made to the dealers room and bring & buy - spent a little bit more than planned but especially pleased with the Muv-Luv alternative figure and collectors edition Alien 9 boxset that I picked up.

After a great convention I'm looking forward to next year's upsized Alcon with anticipation. It's proposed to run at a much higher capacity, which will be a challenge for the Alcon team - if they can crack the planning and organisation in advance, then the hard work of the staff I saw this year will pay off again in 2010. One of the most important aspects to Alcon is it's sense of community, and how this will change with an influx of attendees is hard to predict - I hope they'll enjoy it as much as I have!