HolMat 2021: We Went To The Christmas Con! And I Have PEEKTURES

Note: Today's post has some PG-13 content in the form of a few risque cosplay photos & some NSFW candy, ha. Enjoy/avoid as you see fit.

It's been 4 years since John and I've been to Holiday Matsuri, aka the Christmas con. Every year we hope to go, but then December happens, we get behind, and poor HolMat gets cut from the schedule.

BUT NOT THIS YEAR.

This year I was determined, dangit, so we crammed a few hours into our over-stuffed schedule and actually made it to Holiday Matsuri last weekend for the first time since 2017. WOOT WOOT! We were only able to stay a few hours, but ohhh, what a few hours. This little holiday con has grown up, y'all. I was so overwhelmed (in a good way) that I couldn't start taking photos for a good 30 minutes; I just staggered around taking it all in.

(Catbus by Allison Chase)

HolMat takes place in an enormous hotel/convention center here in Orlando, and Saturday was slam-packed. Nearly everyone dresses up at this con, which is amazing, and most regulars tend to stay all weekend at the hotel, too, so it has a distinct Dragon Con vibe to it - if Dragon Con was a lot younger and into anime.

Here's that same Hocus Pocus group with flash:

If you're a geek who loves Christmas then this is your con, even if you're not into anime. Most cosplayers add some holiday flair, ranging everywhere from adding a Santa hat to fully re-imagining their character in Christmas colors and fabrics.

It's amazing.

Not only has the con grown in numbers (and WOW has it), the vibe feels older, too. The HolMat regulars are growing up, and there are far more 18+ events now. I think Saturday night had an 18+ cosplay contest, which would explain a few of the costumes you'll see in a bit, haha.

My own outfit for the day:

We brought a couple friends along, who were kind enough to tag along while I chased costumes. (If you know me IRL, then you know going anywhere with me is mostly spent watching me take photos.)

I tried to focus on mostly Christmas mash-ups, since those are my favorite, but really I chased anything that caught my eye:

A STUNNING gender-swapped original Pennywise. Love how the colors glow under flash.


Don't get used to me knowing character names, though. Most of these are a festive mystery to me, so feel free to tell me character names in the comments.

That red stone is suspended in the middle of her staff with clear line, a really neat effect. Also note the Christmas ornaments hanging from her shoulder pauldrons.

[Edited to add: Character is Sally Whitemane from World of Warcraft. Thx, commenters!]

I get the feeling cosplayers also gravitate towards characters who already wear holiday colors for this con:

The Phaaaaaaantom of the Opera is there... besides your Christmas tree.

This entire costume was jaw-dropping. I'm using mostly close-ups this post, but I'll have some full-body shots over in my Flickr at the end.

Beetlejuice and Lydia make a surprisingly festive pair:

I like the extra shreds of iridescent fabric on BJ, and Lydia's little Santa hat.

Even better: she was dragging her giant sword behind her while she walked through the crowd.

AND, that's a bunch of mistletoe hanging from the edge of the helmet:

Ha!

I promise I didn't take both phone & flash photos of everyone, I just find it interesting to compare the two.

I'm also mixing in some of my Story photos, so you won't get too bored with the black-out portraits.

This pair is practically perfect in every way.

I think this next one must be a cosplay celeb, because right after my photo he was surrounded by shrieking fans:

[ETA: Character is Zagreus from the game Hades.]

Cinderella!

(SailorMoonTurtle)

This shot came out so well, I barely had to edit it. I love how she looks like she's standing in a spotlight.

(strayosama & devioushime)

LOOK AT THESE WINGS! Wow wow wow. And it was so sweet when I asked for a photo, how they stopped and held hands for me in that classic prom pose.

Another awesome pair of wings here, if you watch my Stories then you saw these in action:


She's laughing because of all the noise I'm making, bahaha. When I asked for a photo the wings were folded down, and I had no idea they were motorized and could do THIS. So I'm shrieking behind the camera.

I've described myself as a "professional fangirl" before, and days like this, it fits. It's also the best "job" in the world. I could almost be an extrovert if it involved telling people they're amazing all day. Almost.

I complimented Harley on her double Santa hats, and she confided she'd just cut the one in half:

Super cute with the two pony tails, right?

We were about to get on the escalator going up, so let's just say I caused a notable traffic disturbance.

BUT I GOT THE SHOT

This reminds me of The Book of Life, but I don't think that's the right source material. Anyone know?

I also don't know how she's holding all that up, she must have neck muscles for days.

[ETA: Oh hey, I was close! This is La Noche, the sister of La Muerte, who was designed for a hypothetical sequel to Book of Life.]

This gal was so sweet and funny. I'm guessing she's Dionysus, the god of wine?

(BeeBunsCosplay)

Her Instagram is full of NSFW sexy Waluigi from Mario, the most cursed cosplay I think I've ever seen, ha. Also I didn't notice 'til John said something that her boob is out in this photo. :D

I think this may be a festive take on the eye of Sauron?

The tights really tie the whole look together.

Edalyn from the animated show The Owl House:

Her wig is SO GOOD - and that carved staff! Heart eyes.

Princess Peach in a royal red:

And another impressive headpiece:

Although this one has them all beat for size:

Look how close that is to the ceiling. Do you think he measured last year? (Yes, he was actually walking around with it on! )

[ETA: This is Gon from Hunter x Hunter in his “power up” mode. Thx, commenters!]

Tink in a sparkly silver instead of her usual green:

One of my favorite shots of the day:

The colors!

This Bebop's bat was so heavy she had to kick it up over her shoulder. She's also VERY tall:

The pig snout mask is so. cool.

I asked her to look down for a better angle - since I'm short - and without moving her arms she did this cool little head bop so her shades dropped down:

That's when I realized she's Bebop from Ninja Turtles. Those shades are iconic, right?

Happily we stumbled across a Critical Role meetup, and there were sooooo many good cosplays, omigoodness. It was overwhelming! I'll just show you a couple, though:

Caleb and Nott - even Frumpkin the cat on his shoulder gets a Santa hat.

I love a good fandom in-joke, and there's a new one among Critters that one of the Campaign 3 characters is so old his pockets are probably full of Werther's Original candies. So there were a few cosplayers at this meetup giving out Werther's, and it made me cackle when I got one.

One more camera vs flash shot - on the off chance any of you find this as fascinating as I do:

You can appreciate the face paint and details so much better with flash.

Here's one I bet you'll all recognize:

"Sisters!!" I yelled, and even with the masks you could tell they were all smiles. (They're from the movie White Christmas.) After I took this one said to the other, "People actually know who we are here!" and it made me happy.


Lots of cosplayers were giving out treats this year: one lady dressed as Cookie Monster had two giant tins of individually wrapped cookies she was distributing, and then this Christmas Blues Link had a sack full of multi-colored candy canes:


He had the neck of the bag tied so you couldn't see in, and when I pulled out a green one he and his friend said, "Green for courage! Yayyy!" Which was so dang sweet, I can't even tell you. I've gotta be twice his age, but that moment I felt like a little kid again.

Then on the opposite end of the sweetness spectrum, there's this, my favorite interaction of the day:

So our group LIT UP at the sight of these two, yelling and laughing, and you could tell they were living for it. They were hamming it up, dancing around, and then:

Those censor dots are for real, there was a (mercifully) fake looking ding-a-ling in box #1... with a Christmas bow on it.

::ded::

(If you're lost, this is from this SNL skit.)

I was laughing so hard I even took the "treat" from box #2:

Narrator: "She did NOT eat it."

Whew, we need a moment to recover after that. Fortunately we have Emma in her newly be-sparkled Raven cosplay to help us collect ourselves:

OoooOOOOooh.

And finally, I'll leave you with a hilariously re-imagined holiday Black Widow:

Complete with candy cane batons!

Santa should hire her, I bet the naughty kids would straighten RIGHT up.

You can see the rest of my HolMat photos in my Flickr gallery here. Cosplayers, as always, feel free to download & re-post my photos of you! And please comment with your social media so I can tag you.

K, that's it for me, gang, I hope you had fun! I also hope you're maintaining a sense of sanity and balance this week, and getting lots of rest. My own schedule is finally slowing down, so I'm looking forward to finally having a few days with no place to be and much less to do, ahhhh.

*****

Random side note: if you're looking for a good Christmas movie for the family this week, the new original on Netflix, "A Boy Called Christmas" is whimsical and wonderful.



You're going to love Maggie Smith in it especially, but it's a great cast all round and a super charming Santa origin story. (Netflix is really delivering on those; "Klaus" from 2019 is *also* an incredible Santa origin story. Watch that, too, if you haven't yet!)

*****



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