ConnectiCon 2011

This weekend saw the return of ConnectiCon, the annual convention of comics, video games, anime', role-playing games, and weird products from Japan. While the convention brings in artists who work in the industry, fan contests and tournaments, vendors selling merchandise of every kind, (want some Japanese soda? Check. Samurai swords? Check. "Collectible" figurine? Check.) the main attraction of this event, by far, is the guests themselves who come out in a variety of costume ranging from the funny to the sublime. Vote for your favorite in the poll on the homepage. The winner will be crowned Saturday. (Poll list is in order of appearance in this post).

When their guitar is that big, the goth/anime Spice Girls need only one instrument.

There were a handful of convention goers with "Free Hugs" signs. Overall the event had a very festive and fun vibe.

There were a lot of pair and group costumes. While these three were together, we think it is unlikely that  this is a group costume.  We aren't familiar with the vast majority of costumes we saw, but it's hard to envision these three in a coherent storyline.

There were a lot of masks. It's probably the one weekend a year white people can see a masked person on the streets of Hartford and not go running for the nearest on-ramp.

While we were unfamiliar with most of the costumes, there were many Star Wars costumes. Here we see the iconic "slave Leia" costume. You really can't go wrong with this one.

This kid had to have been born a quarter century after the first Star Wars movie came out. What a cottage industry. It's all about residual income folks.

There was a gaming area where two longtime staples of gaming were present, Magic: The Gathering and Warhammer. We are pretty sure this is the set up for a game of Warhammer.

This seems to be the perfect multi-use functional costume. Seems she could use this for just about any event on the calendar requiring a costume.

Same as above, functional and practical.

Sarah Downey of The Online Privacy Company Abine as the Mozilla Firefox. There is a good chance you are looking at the Firefox through Firefox.

Even a lot of the vendors were in costume. This booth was selling thousands of Japanese animated dvd's.  The popularity of anything Japanese at this event was striking. Sixty-five years after the war, it appears that we have settled on sending them bad music, jeans, and cigarettes, while they send us video games, baseball players, and cartoons.

Now this is a tandem costume. She appeared to literally have been dipped in blue and left to dry overnight.

Another tandem costume. This poor guy was walking around all day with a huge hula-hoop attached to him. Serious dedication.

What would ConnectiCon be without a sword fight?