Colossalcon, a major Ohio anime and culture convention, is once again awarding one lucky cosplayer with a weeklong trip to Tokyo, Japan! (Admittedly, as current affairs stand that prize is more daunting than a delight – fingers crossed)

Farpoint is a fantastic convention, with everything you want in a weekend trip to Baltimore. I’ll definitely be attending every February, and I hope to see you there next year too. You won’t be sorry.

I have to admit I have been meaning to attend Reni’s Maid and Cosplay Cafe since I first stumbled upon Reni Mimura at Zenkaikon over a year ago, and found out she regularly threw these events at the Village in New York. Since my birthday was coming up and I was looking for something fun to do, I decided to make the trip up from Philadelphia on the Bolt bus and celebrate it with my favorite Japanese idol living in New York and see what her take on the Japanese maid cafe phenomenon would be.

Last year attendees at the Creation Entertainment Official STAR TREK Convention garnered the world’s record by having 543 costumed Trekkers show up. Notification just received from Guinness.

You may be able to snatch up some discounted costumes and props. There’s some stigma that costumes should be hand made but getting a pre-made “off-the-rack” costume is a totally valid option. Here are some good ones.