BishounenCon Brought Love of Boys’ Love to Northeast

There have been many new cons sprouting up this year all over the East Coast but there was none that I was more excited for than BishounenCon. Coming from the same hosts of YaoiCon which is a three day con in California, BishounenCon is a brother convention that was held on March 3-5 in Warwick, RI.

Following along the same guidelines, BishounenCon is an 18+, yaoi+ convention for fans of boys love, yaoi, and LGBT comics and media. It was the first year for the con and though typically I am skeptical of first-year cons, this one was very enjoyable. I had heard last year on social media that it would be arriving and bought my ticket early on.

The convention was in a good location, not too far from New York or Connecticut and still very close to Massachusetts and the other New England states. The subjects of panels was rather wide spread for having such a specific genre. The range of panels included everything from meetups, to how to create a webcomic and even a panel called BDSM 101.

One of the panels I was looking most forward to was Bara 101 but it was unfortunately cancelled. Instead I met with friends in another panel and it was a rather unique experience. I ended up taking part in an event entitled Project Runway: Bishounen Style where contestants were split into two teams and given a few yards of muslin and everyday craft supplies to make a themed costume in two hours. The rush of trying to coordinate everything as well as get it ready, cleaned up and shown was a bit hectic but very much worth it. I haven’t had that much fun at a panel in years.

There was also an excellent and informative makeup and wig styling Q&A by Jack the Ripper Cosplay who was one of the guests at BishounenCon. As for other events, they had yaoi oriented coloring book pages spread throughout the rooms as well as crayons to color your own yaoi scenes which I thought was not only silly but actually quite fun as a way to relax but still feel part of the convention.

Activities abound
BishounenCon did have a swap meet which I always have thought was a good idea at conventions, and many people went to it. Their masquerade was very unique in that it started with ballroom dance lessons. When I arrived to see it there were many people already participating. After the dance lessons were over there were two bars that opened since it was an 18+ convention. One of the most surprising things was that there was also a free chocolate fondue bar.

The Masquerade itself was casual and held in the ballroom with tables to watch and eat your treats — it was truly dessert and a show. I think I would go to more cosplay masquerades if more of them had drinks and chocolate-covered treats to enjoy.

By far one of my favorite parts of BishounenCon was its artist alley. To my joy, many of those who attended will also be at Anime Boston and I was happy to see such variety. There was everything from stickers, prints, buttons, pillows and even printed leggings. Many of the vendors even sold out of merchandise by the time I arrived to the convention on Saturday. The space the artists were in was a ballroom and it was usually pretty crowded.

BishounenCon as a whole was a bit smaller but that was to be expected for a first-year convention. One of the ways I believe they would have gained more attendees was with more publicity for their event since I hardly saw any online let alone at other conventions. While the attendee list wasn’t extravagant it had a very nice vibe to it and made me reminiscent of how I used to feel going to my first convention and how excited I got at everything I saw. I look forward to hopefully having another year of BishounenCon and seeing how this convention grows.