I am so excited to share this Sabo Con journey with you all!
If you don’t know what Sabo Con is, it is an Anime convention in Phoenix Arizona! I heard about it from a fellow twitch streamer Yogiibutt! She raided me on Twitch, bringing her community over to support me when her stream was over, that’s how we met!! She’s absolutely amazing and has such great energy! When I found out she was going to this convention only 4 hours away from me, I just had to book the trip!!
With it being an anime convention I was a little nervous that I did not know much about Anime, but that didn’t stop me from being excited about the experience over all! This was also going to be my first convention that I wore a cosplay too! So many emotions running through my mind, excited anxious and nervous! The excitement took over though and I just could not wait! I was debating for weeks what cosplay to wear, should I do my typical cosplays or should I do anime?? If that was the case then I needed to start watching Anime shows so I knew about the characters I was cosplaying as! I always make sure I really know and understand the character before cosplaying them so I can really embody the character when dressing like them!
I knew forsure I wanted to do Poison Ivy because she’s my absolute FAVORITE!! I just love that cosplay so much and the fact that she already has red hair is even better! Even though Posion Ivy isn’t anime I knew I was forsure going to wear her one of the days! I started looking at other anime characters with red hair that I could potentially start watching and cosplay for the show to fall into the anime umbrella. There were a few different options and the one I ended up choosing was Asuka Langley from Neon Genesis Evangelion! Her cosplay was soo cute, I ordered it instantly and found the show on Netflix! I started watching the show and prayed that the cosplay would get here in time! It was a super cute leotard bodysuit with the thigh high stockings, but it was projected to arrive the DAY I WAS LEAVING!! So just as a back-up I ordered the full body pilot suit of hers on amazon just to have it here sooner in case the other one didn’t arrive before I left!
Since the convention was 3 days long I needed a 3rd cosplay and of course I had to take it back to where I started in terms of cosplays and I did Misty from Pokemon! She is the very very first cosplay I started with and one of the first cosplays I did for Tiktok which helped me get noticed more and build my following!! I ordered a few new pieces to really update my cosplay and make It more realistic! For Misty she does have orange/red hair so I just kept my natural hair and put it in a high side ponytail with my bangs out! I absolutely love this cosplay and there is some nostalgia for me with it being my first cosplay ever!!
The time had come to pack up and head out to Arizona! We decided to drive since it was only a 4-5 hour drive which isn’t too bad, and we LOVE road trips!! The drive itself was mostly desert, and the temperature was up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit, IT WAS INSANE!! The craziest part about the drive from California to Arizona was that as soon as you cross the boarder and get into Arizona there are CACTUS EVERYWHERE!!! It is the most bizarre thing ever, there are no cactus anywhere to be found in Cali but just a few feet into Arizona and they’re allllll over the place!!
The convention started Friday and went all the way until Monday. So we had all intentions of going Friday once we got in, however, we did get stuck in traffic so once we got there and settled into the hotel it was already 7pm! Once we realized that the convention closed at 8pm we decided there was no sense in going that late so we went out to grab some food instead! The food was absolutely delicious and the vibe of the restaurant was awesome! We considered walking around the city a bit but it was sooo dang hot we decided going back to the hotel to rest was the best option!
We got a great night sleep and woke up the next day and found a gym to go too to get a workout in, since I was on prep during the trip I really made it a point to still stay on track and not stray from my normal daily routine! We got a great workout in and hit a PR! After the workout we went out and grabbed breakfast at a cute little corner café! It was absolutely amazing! I had overnight oats that were soaked in Coconut Milk and they were just TO DIE FOR!! I also had a side of fruit and Canadian bacon, YUMMM! After that I grabbed another iced coffee and went back to the hotel to get ready for the convention!!
Since it was my first day at the convention and I didn’t really know what to expect I went with my Misty cosplay! It was comfy and simple and not too over the top! AND still considered Anime to some degree! It was the perfect day one outfit for me! We got to the hotel where the convention was being held and had to wait in line for our tickets and bag check, the line was insanely long but went relatively fast. Once we got upstairs we realized there was 2 layers of the convention floor. One floor was meeting rooms with activities and panels where actors, voice actors and artist were doing Q&As, and then the very top floor was the actual convention with vendors!
I was so excited because I was getting ready to meet my girl Yogiibutt for the first time! As soon as we walked into the convention her booth was one of the first right when we walked in! I ran up and gave her a hugeeeee hug! It was so awesome finally meeting her after popping into eachother’s streams for the last few months! She had a whole gang of people with her, her mods some of her local photographers and another fellow streamer, Sunnie! It was so awesome meeting everyone and they were all so nice and welcoming right off the bat!!
I won’t lie the convention as whole was slightly small as the whole vendor section was only 1 large meeting room in the whole hotel. There was atleast 100 vendors in there though with A TON of amazing things! From t-shirts, art work, collectables and A TON MORE it was so awesome to see it all and see the different artist and their variation of portraying the characters and just paintings in general! There was a variety of art from pg drawings to XXX drawing the details and time and overall talent these artist had was just absolutely incredible!
After hanging out with everyone and getting to know everyone more we all got super close in just the few hours we were there. The girls (Yogii and Sunnie) had talked about wanting to do a photoshoot at their hotel so I suggested we do a photoshoot with the 3 of us! I had brought a few PSD outfits and the aesthetic in our hotel was super cool and perfect for photos! We left the convention a little early to grab some food and then planned on meeting up with the girls later that night!
After the girls had wrapped up at the convention and a few photoshoots in their cosplay we met back up with them for our photoshoot! It was soooo much fun and the girls and I got along SO WELL! The photos turned out absolutely amazing!!
Day One was an absolute success but since we got so much footage we had to break it up into two parts! Keep an eye out for part two (day 2) of Sabo Con dropping very soon!!!