ConBravo! 2013

This past weekend the Hamilton Convention Centre played host to a gaming and costuming convention called ConBravo! All three floors were utilized and the place was packed all weekend long. Citizens of Hamilton saw one or two unusual sights as they travelled down King Street as costumed attendees took to the streets when going out for food or to their hotel rooms.

ConBravo! was first held in 2010 in Oakville with an attendance of only about 350 and then Burlington the past two years increasing to around 1200 attendees in 2011 and doubling that the next year before making its way to Hamilton this year at the Hamilton Convention Centre with estimated attendance close to 2600. Running from Friday to Sunday it offered fun activities and sights to see for the geek in all of us with particular focus on anime, costuming and gaming. There was a huge dealers room that had a large assortment of artists displaying and selling their work and a variety of jewellery, clothes and other fannish goods for sale. The gaming room was huge and had arcade games, tabletop gaming and computer gaming, plus the Star Trek simulation game Artemis that is growing in popularity. There were also panels, gameshow style amusements, guest talks and autograph sessions, but for me the most fun part of the weekend is seeing all the costumes that people come up with. Some are standard and recognizable, some are more obscure and some are pure imagination.

Here is a link to my photos from the weekend. Please go have a look, but I'll post a few of my favourites here:

 Deadpool Thor.

 Gorgeous Tardis dress.

 Lots of anime fans.

 Steampunk Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, complete with Steampunk Zero dog and a stuffed Oogie Boogie.

 I called these gals the "Sexy Ups" because they gave a decidedly feminine twist to the characters from the Pixar film "Up"!

 The view from my seat at the masquerade. The view in front of me was just as amusing as the costumers on the stage at times.

 Vanellope von Schweetz from "Wreck-It-Ralph". This girl had the perfect face for the costume. Talk about playing to your strengths.

This is the first "fem Loki" I've seen in person and she looked awesome.

Be sure to watch for ConBravo! next year by visting their website at http://conbravo.com
They've announced their dates for next year as July 18 - 20th, 2014.