California Conventions Blog: Matthew's Kumoricon 2021 Report: Part 4

Given the events that were on the tail end of Day One going into Day Two, the last thing I wanted to do was go back out early morning and find something to eat again, resorting to the coffee cake and cinnamon rolls that we bought at Safeway the day before.

For today the cosplay of choice was Junpei from Persona 3. The problem that I had was that I switched hats before making the Day Zero drive and thought that I was going to have access to my car via self-parking but in fact also the day before the car was now in valet. So I had to wait quite awhile as the makeshift valet crew were grabbing my car for purposes of getting two items out - my hat and ribbon that we bought for Nate for his Ken cosplay. I felt guilty for what I made said makeshift valet do, so I tipped more than usual although I should of gotten some tips back for every time someone mistakenly identifying me as valet.

The corner of NE MLK Jr Blvd and NE Holliday St on the morning of Day Two

Around this time my favorable opinion about the Portland weather went literally sideways as the wind chills and sometimes sheets of rain fell as I tried to wait outside before waiting inside watching early morning college football games. I was liking the brisk cool temperatures to the point where a jacket was unnecessary but at this moment I needed to hunker down and let this part of the storm pass.

The blog crew checking into peace bonding

If yesterday was any indication of how long I would wear said cosplay, it helps that I can take off the blazer and be in my dress shirt during times of relaxation or interviews. That didn't help me with battling fatigue going into the noontime and soon a stretch of a panel and interviews would be arriving, so like yesterday I went back up to the room, ate a ramen lunch, and took another nap. Oh, and actual coffee from Portland Coffee Roasters helped as well, a deviation from our original plan of slamming down mix after mix of G FUEL as a source of energy.

I did however did take care of some networking, talking to the Console Gaming staff about the Smash Guest of Honor event that some members of the blog were interested as well as introducing myself to a couple of booths at Kumorimarket.

Attendees waiting for the ACME Q&A panel

I wanted to finish out my ACME weekend by attending their 18+ Q&A but that was during Meirlin (pronounced Meyerlin) and TeddyLoid, so I chose the second best thing and went to their "all ages" Q+A.

The band on stage, but not on the main stage

The first half of the panel was a recap of last night as well as some questions from the staff that mirrored questions from yesterday's interview. Then the attendees had their chance to ask questions.

I kept checking my watch since the panel ran past 2pm and I had an interview with Ciarán Strange within the half hour but the room that I was in and the interview room was in close proximity I was able to get all of the panel and walk the short distance to check in. This is where I got the news from Kevin from the Press staff (that I should of known 20 minutes ago but spotty cell phone reception) that our #1 requested interview of TeddyLoid backed out and both of us could hear each other's anguish and disappointment. Regardless, we pressed on and interviewed Strange which started a stretch run of multiple interviews across two and a half hours.

After the last interview we have a huge gap in free time before the Saturday Dance Party and we thought we were going to spend the majority of our time over at Apizza Scholls and Quarterworld but like Sizzle Pie due to the pandemic Apizza Scholls was take out only and closed at 8pm. So we did the majority of the time over at Quarterworld, about an hour, before taking the pizza back up to the room to run back the night before and heading down to the dance party.

An Attack From Mars pinball machine

A reminder that we either have an extra hour to party or an extra hour to sleep

Down in the Main Events Hall, Meirlin took the stage first and early on set the tone for the rest of the night.

After her hour-long set was finished, it didn't take long for the headliner of the DJ Guest of Honor to make his way to the stage in TeddyLoid and play one of the best DJ sets I've probably seen ever.