Gamebox 2023 happened a little over a week ago, and it was really great!

This year, the event was more focused on the LAN-part, which meant there were fewer booths and fewer cosplayers, but more people overall. None the less, we had a really great time, and our booth was busy most of the time. Together with the Warcrafters, I hosted a booth that exhibited our cosplay props and we were there to spread the good word of cosplay, which I feel like we did with success.

Up until the moment I left home, I wasn’t sure what cosplay I would wear the first day, friday. Since we arrived early, set up our booth and the event started at 15, it was a bit of a long day and I wasn’t sure if I felt like wearing a big cosplay. I did end up wearing my Sprite Darter, and it was a fun cosplay to wear, even though I’ll probably not make another cosplay with a mask – I really dislike things covering my face, especially when I can’t see proper.

Friday night Elgiganten hosted an afterparty with free beer and wine – a dangerous cocktail. We all went and we had a great time, but we did leave at midnight, since we had to be ready for a full con day Saturday from 10-20. Our hotel was right next to the convention center, which was very convenient, but also had the downside of us still hearing the music from the party after returning. Unknown bed, noise, too much light – I didn’t really sleep that night. So Saturday morning was extra hard for me, but with some coffee and energy drink, I got over the worst exhaustion and into my Druid cosplay.

One thing I have discovered is that wearing cosplay gives me sort of a super power. Normal me handles noise and crowds very badly, but in-cosplay me is much better at it somehow. So I just kept my Astral Druid cosplay on the entire day and it all went well! Saturday was also the big cosplay day, since the craftmanship contest was this day. None of our group entered, but we enjoyed watching the show and there were a lot of talented people in the contest this year.
At the end of Saturday, we were all completely beat and more or less just passed out in our respective rooms.

Sunday was the last day of the event, and we were all pretty exhausted by then. Our booth was very close to the main stage, which was just in the hall with no walls around it, so the noise was really bad. Never the less, I was excited as I had updated my Peach cosplay and wore it again for the first time in quite a while. Since Zibartas didn’t want to join me with his Bowser, our friend Nina borrowed the shell and made her own version of Bowser, and I had a great time cosplaying those two characters together, especially since our booth was next to Nintendo’s booth, so we got to play Super Mario Cart on a big screen (Peach won, of course 😀 )

All in all, a great weekend. I hope next year the focus on cosplay will be even bigger! And I will bring earplugs xD

Below are some photos from the event.