The second HoldfényCon took place in Budapest, Hungary. After the first, homely HoldfényCon in January, the second one was a big, expo-like convention, merging fantasy, sci-fi and anime into a single event.
Because this was a pioneer project, the event’s reception was uncertain. Everyone in the staff tried to give his or her best, which resulted in a colorful event. Contrary to the usual Hungarian anime conventions, there were new programs: guests connected to fantasy, sci-fi, comic and roleplay fandoms. Another positive surprise for the visitors was the figure exhibition, counting almost 300 different figures from small to a lifesize Alien, and a huge Halo statue. There were also non-anime related talks, connected with Star Wars, Star Trek, medieval knights, mask creations and belly dancing. In the loft a photo and art exhibition waited the wandering visitors. Of course there were also the already known competitions, like cosplay, DDR, karaoke, drawing, card games, etc.

The main stage’s programs were a colorful mix of the whole convention: fashion-show, the newest Star Trek movie’s screening, parapara, AMV collections, etc. Of course the cosplay competition also took place here. The usual craftsmanship and performance categories remained, while the third, new EuroCosplay competition was introduced for the second time this year.
Because of the nature of this event, not only anime cosplays were allowed to participate in the competition. There were few participants, so for the craftsmanship category, registering was also possible at the convention. Because of this, the average standard was a bit lower then the usual, nevertheless, there were many nice creations. Another novelty was the original category, for those who wanted to create their own character or an outfit for an existing character.
Interestingly, the Star Wars universe was not present in the competition (but outside of it, now that’s another matter), and only one participant was competing from Star Trek. Hopefully next time we will see more participants from these two legendary fandoms.
The EuroCosplay had 5 participants who demonstrated a great show with costumes of high standard. Aside from comics, games and animes, Avatar’s Neytiri was also present in this contest, who became also one of the con’s favourite character over the day.

To sum it up, this was a great, friendly and colorful convention. The location was convenient, the crowd split up evenly in the big hall. The staff and helpers did their best to make this event as successful and memorable as possible. The Hungarians finally have a mixed, multi-fandom and genre convention where everyone can enjoy themselves. We are looking forward to the next HoldfényCon, which, hopefully, will offer us more interesting new things.

Written by Ms.Tifa, translated by Mantis.

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