Going to be one of my last posts on the site so decided to put a little more effort into this one, best way of doing that? Writing a little more descriptively so bear with the longer post.

Went to Smash! today (yesterday). Public transport was a pain, had track work this weekend.

Ended up working for about an hour to modify my tracksuit for my budget cosplay. Tried to make a Subaru cosplay from Re:Zero on a whim the day before.

While the train ride was empty, the event however was way more packed than last year’s Sunday visit (as expected of opening day). Was greeted by some pretty interesting cosplays (plenty of Overwatch too).

Made a beeline to the merchandise and ran into some old friends. Was crowded and noisy. Surveyed the stock and made a short list of stuff I wanted.

It was the tenth anniversary of Smash! and so Good Smile and Anime at Abbotsford teamed up with a small expo and exclusives. Ended up buying a couple of blank Nendoroid heads to commemorate the occasion.

The artist alley was next (which was even more crowded than the last place) and I checked up on some friends who had a stall open. Paid some lip service and browsed the wares.

Plenty of Rem cosplayers running around. Surprisingly high amount of Emilias too. Not many SAO or AOT cosplayers though. Love Live! took a dip too.

After asking a photo of a Ram and Rem pair, surprisingly got asked for a photo after realising who I was going as (which to their merit was a challenge in itself given how ghetto my getup was).

Finally met up with the people I was supposed after that and ran into people left and right (can’t forget Migz and his brother as ‘chubby Noctis’). As if summoning one called the rest.

Took some photos with some cosplayers (shout out to the awesome Megumin and Kazuma couple with the little Bon Bon Yari by the way) before heading to the gaming section. My homeboy Icyturu playing some Osu!

Checked out the TCG section next, too bad I could not find the cards I needed. Got some more photos after running into another friend.

Met up with others and ran into a guy I hadn’t seen since primary. And like a lad he gets me out of my shell and into my role. Bloody based. To be honest, was embarrassed after the first shoot so put a little more in this one (look up Subaru pose on Know Your Meme).

Pretty much the rest was just wandering around, looking for exclusives (missing out on the King Saber and Snow Miku nendoroids was a bummer; though I would learn that some Gundams were being given out too much to my chagrin) and friends and bouncing between groups (ended up looking at more cosplays and RT merch with Gerry after we lost Yvonne).

After another round of the artist alley with the print enthusiast of the group, we seperated when he needed to get home. Finally settled with Pat’s group and Tigger joined us as we browsed merch (yes I like stuff). After forgetting about the cosplay competition, Jeremy and I tried to figure out what to get while looking at Gundams. Caved and ended up with the half damaged ver. Amatsukaze.

On the way to karaoke, got another photo with a Ram/Rem/Emila group. As I was leaving, got called back by the Rem after an event photographer wanted to make a video of the group. Had some fun as my friends joked about it ending up on the promo video.

Rounded up by reenacting a scene from the series. You know (you probably don’t but bear with it), the one with Subaru being comforted by best girl on the grass. Learned Rem is Aii.chan on Instagram, a bloody legend she was. That whole encounter made my day.

After that highlight, returned to the gang and worked on uni work for a bit as we rested. Ran into Tony and his friend the cosplaying trap, Utaha-senpai. And even saw Stella (who returned to her usual antics).

The rest of the day was pretty subdued with panels and walking. Left with Tigger as the others stayed for the anniversary party.