August 20, 2016, My family and I found ourselves out and about Houston when we made a stop at a ramen shop for dinner. While eating, I noticed a small group of people enjoying their ramen in cosplay. I love cosplay, so being curious I made my way over and asked why they were dressed up. They told me they just came from the Delta H Con at the Houston Marriott Westchase hotel. This was my first time hearing about the con, I was curious to attend but for whatever reason, we did not go to the con the next day.
Jump to this year, it was time for Delta H Con to return to the Marriott hotel. Friday I was stuck at work hoping to get out early, but that didn’t happen at all. As soon as 5 pm hit, I left work and made my way to the hotel. I drove around a bit and found the spot where the itasha cars were parked, with an empty spot directly across from them, I made that my parking spot. Before joining the con, I grabbed my sandwich and scarfed it down as I watched a few people made their way over to see the cars. Once I was done, I grabbed my camera to snap some photos of the rides before entering the hotel.
After picking up my badge, I made my way to the different rooms to see what activities and panels were going on. To my surprise, one hall had a cosplay chess, where live action role play meets with cosplay combat in this battle of chess. Pretty interesting to watch. I snapped a few photos and stayed to watch a few moves before hitting up the other rooms. As it was the first day of the con, the gaming rooms were pretty light and the anime viewing rooms were empty. I returned to the cosplay chess to watch the battle continue before checking out the other side of the hotel.
I walked around the main lobby of the hotel making my way to the vendor and artist hall to see what all was up for sale. The back corner of the artist hall was the designated area for the LARPing action, which was empty tonight as well. I continued roaming around before deciding to take photos of the cosplayers that were there. With the lower attendance, I decided to head back to my car to grab a light and test out some shots with the flash instead of using the available hotel lighting. Once I was set up and ready to go, I made my way through the hotel stopping whoever I could to grab a photo. This continued for about another hour before calling it a night.
Day 2 started off with a snag, I didn’t have a set time to start but I ended up arriving a lot later than I thought I would. My family decided to come along to check out the con, and they decided to tell me just that morning when it was approaching lunchtime already. My wife started searching for quick and easy Anime costume so she could dress up… so I continued working on some other things while she figured out what she wanted to dress up as and then make the costume. She decided to be some Team Rocket grunts from Pokémon. She headed off to the store with my daughter to pick up a few things to make the shirts and buy a hat. They returned later to make their shirts, and while making their costumes they tried to get my son involved, but he wasn’t interested in cosplaying. Once they were done, they grabbed some Poké Ball we had in the house and I grabbed my camera to finally make our way to the con.
This is where the second snag in our plans happened, heavy rain started coming down while in route and once we were nearby, the streets to get to the hotel started flooding making it too deep to continue on. One car already stalled between the hotel and the shopping center right in front, where we pulled into for a bit to eat while we waited and hoped the rain would come to an end soon. Once we were done eating, the rain had stopped and the waters receded allowing us to drive to the hotel parking lot instead of walking as we had decided if the rain persisted.
Finally here at the con, my son joined me as I walked around the con snapping photos of a few cosplayers before making my way to the Cosplay Contest. The contest was still undergoing preparations when I made my way in so I grabbed a good spot to watch, eagerly waiting for it to begin. The contest began with cosplayers walking across the stage showing off their costumes and props for the entire hall room which was pretty packed. Once that first section of the contest was done, the next segment began with another group of cosplayers going on stage for their performances. This part was great, tons of laughs and ahh’s from the crowd. My wife and daughter made it into the hall room for this portion and my whole family enjoyed it. There were some really great performances, job well done to all those who participated.
Now it was time for the contest judges to make their decisions so they headed out, during this time GalaxyGirl Paida went on stage for some half time entertainment. The crowd was kept entertained while we all waited to see who the winners were. After GalaxyGirl Paida’s performances, the contest judges returned with their final decisions. It was a really good contest, and some of my favorites ended up winning as well. Afterward, I ventured into the gaming rooms to see what was going on and then proceeded to roam around the rest of the hotel snapping more photos of cosplayers until it was time to head back home.
Sunday, the final day of the con, we all returned once more to see what was going on. I mostly focused on getting photos of the cosplayers, but with it being the last day, it was a bit slower in attendance. We walked around again, but this time I spent a bit more time in the vendor hall to see if there was anything I wanted to add to my collection. I ended up getting a few more things for my daughter and held off on getting anything for myself. While walking around, I did see more participation in the LARPing ring which was good to see. After a few hours of walking around, I stopped by one of the panels with the actors to hear some of their stories. I laughed at a few of them but one did up taking me back in memories of AstroWorld. It’s been several years since that Six Flags theme park closed for good in Houston, which is now just an empty lot. After that we headed out, overall it was a great time for my family and I, and another chance for us to see cosplayers and experience more of the Anime culture. Looks like I will be checking this con again next year.
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