I’m here at Desucon 2017 in general is one of the biggest and longest-running cosplay conventions in Norway. It’s now Desucon 2017 Which is a fantastic achievement on its own and does the cosplay community a great service. However, size has its own price. However, it is not my place to speculate about the chaotic nightmare of logistics and people management. 
I came to Desucon to take pictures of interesting people and compete in the cosplay competition. Which I have a minor beef with. Which for once has nothing to do with the judge’s decisions on who would go on to the finals. Yet I’m quite sure some people do, however, I did not inquire about that. It is just a well-known fact that people will complain a lot about such things. That being said, there is a lot of fun to be had by signing on as a volunteer. The backbone of any convention.
As usual, Desucon takes place in Lillestrøm during the summer. It’s a very flat region of east Norway with a big building perfectly suited to hold any convention, with easy commuting from all over. Be it by plane, bus, or train. There is also a plethora of stores and high-quality restaurants and an expensive hotel next door. Several noticeable and very geeky stores bring a lot of fantastic merchandise as well. A great number of artists show up as well and most of them take a lot of custom commissions. Replica swords, bead creatures, leather products, body pillows, figurines, cups, candy, and much much more.
I’ve yet to mention the various organizations having stood there as well. Such as the highly questionable Galtvort skolen LARP. It’s a translation of the hog and wart pun, which is the recipe for having serious legal issues. Due to film companies being a dick about reinforcing copyrights. The ever-noisy and quite healthy Kendo participants. EF Education, which enthralls you with the ability to study languages abroad. And many, many more.
My costume idea for this year was a scantly clad Blackwatch Ryes from Overwatch. I figured out that parading around in his skimpy armor would be a lot comfier than wearing a shirt. Plus I could not be arsed to get an olive green hoodie. Not yet at least. The process can be found on my twitch page under the name Zaceron on pretty much anything.
Part one was held in a closed room with some cameras and several people from the crew. Apparently, it was an auditorium with many rows of chairs, filled with an overwhelming amount of participants in colorful costumes. Essentially the idea was for each participant to wait their turn and talk to the three lovely female judges in front. Personally, I was just lucky to get there in time, since they decided to hold it one hour earlier. Without notifying me, since I just arrived by bus when the announcement was made through the speaker system. Due to the ease of dressing up, I did get in on time. Winning is a hard sell and there is always more to tell. However there is one big beef I have and that is the number of people going on to the finale, it went from twenty-something down to five. The real problem I had about this is quite simple. Most of the participants had a sketch in mind, with music, sound, and acting planned out. Now they will never be seen, which is sad and a waste of entertainment potential. Which also undercut a lot of fun. Seeing people do their hardest to perform on stage in a custom costume is a fantastic experience and fun to boot. Also, a lot of the participants could greatly benefit from the self-esteem boost.
However, there was a drop in competition on Saturday, which had a lot of high-quality participants as well as a much more chill, show-your-work atmosphere. I never expected to see a Daedric warrior cosplay. Then again Oni Genji was there as well, with a mimic hiding in a corner, promising free loot. Aside from the big competition, there are a lot of other wholesome activities going on as well. Such as the LAN section, for people who have the balls to drag their expensive PC across the land. Various fandom meet-ups, board games, and much, much more. There is just too much to mention. After all, I came there to compete, meet fantastic people, take a bucket load of images, and fishing for ideas. Which is exactly what I did at Desucon 2017.
Njål Sand is a Norwegian Cosplayer with opinions on video games, and a passionate for creating content on YouTube about living in Norway, and gaming!