This is a follow-up to the last blog post. Photos can be found HERE

Anime North 2009 was great. More attendees, more vendors, and more volunteers were in attendance over the course of the weekend. I'll break it down into my focus interests for the weekend.

Vendor Fair - It was much easier to find everything I was looking for over the course of this weekend. Part of this I attribute to improvements in the vendor fair, and some of it is because events outside the vendor zone drew more people away from the shopping crowd. Anime North is more than just a glorified shopping mall and I am glad people are catching on to this concept.

Avatar - After experiencing the ongoing hate against Avatar from fellow anime fans it was amazing to see more Avatar fans coming out to major events - including a special screening from Nickelodeon of a feature enhanced Avatar DVD set. My 'Avatar Weekend' ended on a low note after attending a panel on the Avatar movie that was hijacked by other people angry that the actors were not 'racially correct'. On the plus side, leaving early left more time at Ikea that afternoon.

Cosplay - Cosplay turnout was exceptional this year, and I was able to find plenty of my favourite characters. Highlights this year include more Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyoshi Warriors, and non-Anime cosplay. Photos will be in my Picasa albums under the heading Anime North 2009.

Anime Hell - a critical view of Anime, Anime culture, and all other things that are weird. Basically the cost of admission to the con is almost completely worth it just for this event. It was packed from front to back and that was after the room was expanded to more than twice its original size.

Rave No. I didn't attend the rave, it attended me - while taking a nap outside the TCC a swarm of ravers migrated through causing all kinds of hilarity. Hilarity is fine, but I just wanted a break before heading back to overnight viewing. Thanks ravers!

There are potentially hundred of other smaller stories to be told about Rick-rolling, Nintendo DS events, the sentence game. discovering Tora Dora, Free Burger Day at Harveys, Alie and her reaction to con-stench, paddles. and much more...

Chek out the photos - and do a barrel roll.