On Saturday, March 9, the USS Hornet Sea, Air, and Space Museum hosted the third annual CarrierCon, a convention that celebrates cosplay, tabletop gaming, and both Western and Japanese media. The one-day event painted the gray ship with the vibrant colors of cosplay on multiple decks.
The nonprofit museum is located on the historic USS Hornet aircraft carrier. All proceeds from CarrierCon go to support the museum.
The event featured rows upon rows of artists’ booths—including Brice, whose Two Birds from Alameda is a local favorite—along with colorful cosplayers and a variety of games and food. Panels that took place on the Hangar Deck Stage and the Wardroom included Kumo Goro, World of Warships, Navy & Cosplay, D&D Media, Azur Lane, VFleet, ElfQuest creators Wendy and Richard Pini in Conversation with Brian Fies, Sea Raptor: Scuttlebutt with a World of Warship Streamer, Cosplay Wrestling Federation, Fandom Taboo, and Anime IRL.
“What’s so nice about CarrierCon is that it’s actually a museum-built event,” said Laura Fies, USS Hornet Interim Chief Executive Officer, who was seated at the information desk at the entrance to the ship. “So it’s hosted entirely by the museum. It’s very nice because there’s a lot of us in the staff who are into this culture and it felt very natural to put on this event to give this demographic the chance to see the ship and visit the museum.”
Fies went on to say that CarrierCon is a great opportunity to share the museum with people who otherwise might never have visited. “They’re coming because they love conventions and maybe they will come back because they fell in love with the ship,” she said. “Many of them have done that in the past.”
Fies’ favorite part of the event is seeing everyone in their costumes. “This is a great place to take photos. These guys put so much work into their costumes and we love to give them the opportunity to do that,” she said.
The information booth attendant was dressed as a character featured in the Fallout video game during a scene that takes place in an aircraft carrier in a post-apocalyptic world. “It’s thematic,” she smiled.
Alameda resident Allison Sharp, who came dressed as Coco from Witch Hat Atelier, told the Post, “I actually live walking distance from here and I’m here with another friend from Alameda. It’s really cool to see people come into my backyard for an event like this.”
This was Sharp’s second year at CarrierCon. Last year, she was a volunteer. This year, she wanted to enjoy the day as a guest. “I know a lot of people here really appreciate having a different style of anime convention to go to,” she said. “This is so much better than just a convention center.”
Lollipop Heidi attended the event as a cosplay guest with Dreamscape. She was set up at a booth for attendants to come meet and take pictures with her dressed as Mast from Nikke: Goddesses of Victory.
“I actually got into cosplay because my friend played a trick on me,” the cosplay model said. “They invited me to go to FanimeCon and told me that it was a requirement to come dressed in costume, which obviously is not true. But I didn’t know that. So I put together a costume and got hooked. I’ve been doing cosplay ever since.”
Heidi makes all of her costumes with her mother. She says it’s a bonding experience for them. Crafting the costumes is one of the model’s favorite parts of the art. She also enjoys modeling the carefully put-together looks and honoring the characters she’s portraying.
While the interior of the ship was bustling with panels, booths, and food stations, outside decks overlooking the San Francisco skyline offered the best photo ops. Cosplayers posed in character amid inspiring backdrops—against an old propeller plane on the flight deck or leaning along the 53-foot-high railway overlooking the ocean.
Out on the upper deck, Talajah Oliver dressed as Rosalina from Super Mario Bros. She came to CarrierCon from Hayward and made her costume for the event over Christmas break last year. Lydia Burk and Levi Lind, two more cosplayers enjoying the sun on the flight deck, were dressed as characters from Honkai: Star Rail and had their costumes commissioned.
Anthony Rainey, dressed as Cloud from Final Fantasy, was also outside with friends. He 3D printed Cloud’s larger-than-life sword and recounted step-by-step how he carefully sewed the pieces of his costume together and where he got the various materials. But there was one portion of his costume that didn’t match the character—a small bunch of flowers pinned to his chest. “I wear these for my friend who passed,” he said. “I take her to every con.”
The USS Hornet was the perfect backdrop to CarrierCon, but it was the attendees in costume who stole the show. The ship has an amazing history, but on this day it was the cosplayers who turned it into something magical.
Kelsey Goeres is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Kelsey-Goeres.
