For the past five years, I've always made sure to mark Seattle's annual Sakura-Con anime convention as a high priority event on my calendar. Seeing all the cool and unusual costumes always gives me the motivation to share the experience with the online community. I pretty much spent the entire event scouring the convention center for things to photograph,so I won't bore you with a long recap. Please note that my knowledge of anime is limited, so I'd appreciate any help with captioning a few of the characters I do not recognize. Enjoy the photos!

Anna Williams prepares for battle

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from Naruto

Shy Guy doesn't mind being in front of the camera

Zounds... the mighty Thor doth be a woman

Ash and Pikachu will always be a team

The White Mushroom Heartless wants to see your magic tricks

A Chocobo and Tonberry

Snake-Eyes, sans blades

Taokaka has been unmasked

Master Roshi continues to enjoy his retirement after Dragon Ball GT

The stars of Earthbound

A female Moogle

The Dissidia incarnation of Jecht

Do you have any more Gum, more Gum, more Gum, more Gum?

Kuja sat down for a rest after a long day of evil deeds

The giant orange cat is Chiyo's father from Azumanga Daioh

Fox McCloud takes on another ground mission

Cubone is up to bat

Jack Sparrow was looking for the rum

Rios and Salem show off their bling

Darth Vader's midi-chlorian count is over 9,000

Etna wreaks havoc on our world

A female Victreebel

The Suikoden team of Yam Koo, Tai Ho, Tengaar, and Hix

Yuna needed a quick snack before the summoning ritual

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, and Johnny

TOASTY!

Volt Krueger was on hand to bounce unruly guests

The Ice Climbers were prepared for Seattle's weather

Genocide... CUTTER!

Captain Hook and the Mad Hatter form a deadly alliance

Jill Valentine has befriended a Moogle

Little Mac is the champ

The Warrior of Light poses with a colleague

Lady Gaga and her entourage

They were ready for the Friday rave

Kirlia used Psychic

Some sort of dragon, possibly from How to Train Your Dragon

Not Ghaleon, dear Quark... MAGIC EMPEROR GHALEON!

Ah, so this is where Morrigan went after Dragon Age: Origins

The ronin Miyamoto Usagi

Zero and Sazh... armed and dangerous

A former star of Power Rangers Light Speed Rescue was hocking convention merchandise

Velvet from Odin Sphere

One Piece's Boa Hancock

Catgirls are always a staple at an anime convention

Singer Sheryl Nome and her bodyguard Juri

Momoko campaigns for another appearance in King of Fighters

Auron and the Prince of Persia are expert swordsmen

Gothic Lolita Haruhi Suzumiya and her traveling companion

GET OVER HERE!

I always need a shot of this Halo 3: ODST cosplayer

The Moonkin were some of the mobs at Sakura-Con

Lelouch and CC from Code Geass

The bear known as Bonta-kun

An indie game dealer from Edmonds known as Another Castle

Monster Gaming gave me a great deal on Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers 2 for the NES

Reset Games, a video game shop located in Bellingham

Pink Gorilla's mini arcade was great for shmup fans

Pink Gorilla's booth seemed slightly smaller, but they still drew in a crowd

I thought she was Mystique, but she's actually Cortana

FALCON... PUNCH!

Tobi and a female Naruto

Poison Ivy wanted to experience the rain in Seattle

A Hunter prepares to pounce on Zoey

Ralf ditched Clark, Leona, Whip, and Heidern

Samhain from Ghostbusters?

Pyramid Head had a bunch of killer tattoos

Yang steps out of Yun's shadow, hoping to climb the tier list

This Snowtrooper arrived one season too late

The caller called Rydia

Rose and Dart represent Legend of Dragoon at Sakura-Con

A neat Super Mario Bros. group

Our friend and neighbor, Totoro

Cool Gundam statues at a booth

Crashing through the sky... comes the fearful cry... Cobra... COBRA!

Another of the event's feline females

My cousin informed me that this is Deadmau5... never heard of him

Lightning poses for a photo before facing her destiny

Two Gundam antagonists

A pair of One Piece cosplayers

Minions from Avatar's Fire Nation

Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are on the case

Ryu Hayabusa does his Wolverine impression

South Park's Sexual Harassment Panda

Fang and Lightning go back-to-back

Travis Touchdown felt right at home at the convention

You don't make a monkey out of Vegeta

An attendee almost tripped on Zelda's sword after this photo was taken

I GOTTA BELIEVE!

A small witch coven consisting of Kiki and Bayonetta

A Robot Unicorn Attack cosplayer

A member of the Love Shockers

Prince Marth admires his complexion

The snooty Excalibur from Soul Eater

Half of the Twins from the Matrix sequels

Zero from Code Geass

I don't know who they are, but they had elegant costumes

Chaos Vincent Valentine and associates

There was a small headcrab outbreak at the con, but no one was hurt

Deadpool pals around with Harley Quinn

Tetrominoes are on the run

Sol BadGuy has taken a prisoner

Ultimecia surveys time and space

Zapp Brannigan wears short shorts

Sookie Stackhouse and Lady take a break from dealing with the supernatural

Kupo!

Peach and Domo Mario

Wild MISSINGNO. appeared!

Barret Wallace reminds 32-bit Cloud that there ain't no gettin' offa this train

Piccolo shows off his moves

Hopefully Tron Bonne didn't have a misadventure at Sakura-Con

Gothic Lolitas

Not sure...

A model showcasing the Soda Pop Miniatures game

The grueling battle ended with the victory of Xianghua

Vanille kept her cheerful disposition

I assumed he was Gary Oldman in the Fifth Element, but Google says I'm wrong

The staff of the Mango Drop Games exhibit

Asobi wa owari da

A Chobits cosplayer in a nice dress

Final Fantasy X's Lulu

A trio from Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Characters from Masamune Shirow's Appleseed

Servbot is ready for hammer time

Kairi from the Kingdom Hearts series

Lili didn't take a limo to the convention and was forced to walk

Naomi Armitage

A Tales of the Abyss collaboration

A clean-shaven Sazh

A follower of the Bushido code

Big Sister doesn't want you playing with me

Poison and Hugo are no longer an item

Vanessa, Seth, and Ramon

One of Umbrella's heavy gunners

Harley and Ivy would get a Suggestive Themes rating from the ESRB

BlazBlue and In the Groove 3 were the main highlights of the arcade

The Rock Band stage is here to stay

The announcer known as Juri from Yu Yu Hakusho

I startled the Witch

A very manly Jirachi

He showed up before Easter Sunday

Sakura and the gang

Digimon still had some representatives at the con

Part of the Sailor Moon S supporting cast

Red and yellow Pikmin

A suit of Power Armor from the Fallout universe

This beautiful Fang cosplayer was one of my favorites

Travis Touchdown and Shinobu had some trouble coming up with a pose

The Chief shows off his guns

I learned a new recipe when I found the Wonder Chef's hiding spot

The Prince's relatives were in town

Artemis was back at the convention center, promoting her series

Link VS Samus, no items, Final Destination!

Two more mystery cosplayers

Tifa Lockhart

Team Capcom shows their unity

Final Fantasy III/VI's Terra and Relm

Rachel Alucard was asking for bad luck

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

L and Misa Amane

The Soul Calibur 4 version of Cassandra

R. Mika wants to be in Super Street Fighter 4

The greatest Power Ranger of all-time

The Vocaloid known as Hatsune Miku

A trio of BlazBlue cosplayers

Oompa Loompa doopity doo

The Prospector hopes to stake a claim in Toy Story 3

Dr. Mrs. The Monarch from the Venture Bros.

Two of the stars from Animal Detectives Kiruminzoo

Who's watching Gotham and Metropolis?

Brock and a diminuitive Onix

Ikaku unleashes his Bankai

Princess Cordelia from Valkyria Chronicles

Two girls ready for the Saturday night rave

Zelda and Midna, who was ordered to wear shoes by the convention staff

A dancing Rogue Tomato

Jenova escaped from the lab

Selphie's nunchucks would have caused trouble at Fanime

Gunner Yuna goes PEWPEWPEW!

Bang Shishigami was featured on local TV

Characters from Bobobobobobobobobobobobo or however the heck you spell it

A Zoid assaulted the convention

Ezio went *SNIKT* when I asked him for a photo

The Dreadnoks Zarana and Zartan didn't need disguises to infiltrate this event

Zidane and Garnet

The Death Metal Records president ordered Johannes Krauser II to tour at the con

The Laurie Juspeczyk Silk Spectre

Ruto's all grown up

Cosplayers potraying Gackt and Mana

This Gundam took quite a bit of effort to assemble and is another favorite of mine

Jareth, Sally, and Maleficent must have used a magic ticket to escape from the movies

Final Fantasy females

Coach leads an attack on the Witch

Lilith must love Reptile's stealth abilities

Death had the time of her life in Seattle

Poor Hsien-Ko...

Citizens of Ivalice

Ganondorf has conquered the Light World

The person in the Alphonse costume used stilts to stand that tall

Honda's ASIMO robot

Wonka's Japanese brand of gum turns you in to sushi

A pair of Princess Tutu cosplayers

BlackRose was shopping for new equipment

Kanzeon from the Saiyuki anime

Lenne and Rikku shop for new Dress Spheres

Another lady in rave gear

The Bananas in Pajamas weren't coming down the stairs or chasing teddy bears

Hello Kitty needed bodyguards to fend off the crazy otaku

The Xenomorph was just another victim for this Yautja hunter

Ballin'... Sony's got all the games

A duo of Hazama cosplayers

Hatsune Miku and her sword-wielding buddy Black Rock Shooter

Rebel 1... ACTION!

An elegant winged cosplayer

Arrrrrr dee arrr arrr

Snow White hasn't learned her lesson

The lovely Fang changed to Zelphie from Magna Carta 2

Robo made took his annual trip back in time

V-13 and Noel

A Splicer faces off with a Big Sister

Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicles

Another Jenova specimen

Artemis and her coworker

Go go Power Rangers... doo dee doo doo dee doo!

A succubus escaped from her warlock master

Hwoarang and Anna partner up for Tekken Tag Tournament

This Little Sister's weapon was loaded with crimson juice

Chris Redfield ain't got time to bleed

Velvet is on the right, but I'm unsure about the left

The best Black Widow I've seen so far at any convention

Iron Tager goes in for a grab

Yuan, Martel, and Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia

She had a cute outfit

He's ready to cleave that no good Leon Kennedy in two

More Princess Tutu characters

Zombie versions of Alice and the Red Queen

Full Moon o Sagashite's Meroko and another Juri from Yu Yu Hakusho

A dark knight, but I'm not sure where he's from

A female assassin was sneaking around the exhibit hall

Mr. Satan waves to his fans

The cast of Valkyrie Profile takes an interlude away from Valhalla

King is ready to throw down

Yuffie Kisaragi

They've gotta get to the edge of soul... to carry on!

A cool character from the Bleach fillers

I don't like Starcraft, but I still find this Kerrigan to be very impressive

Golbat swooped down after seeing all the PokeWalkers at the con

A quartet of Final Fantasy XIII cosplayers

Adult Midna

Mr. Prototype himself, Alex Mercer

More Lolita fashion

Who doesn't want to buy raffle tickets from a hot dog?

A mystery woman with a whip

Scyther shows off his appendages

Guy takes the fight from Metro City to Seattle

The Cheshire Cat considers Sakura-Con to be his Wonderland

Chun-Li performs a powerful kick

This Mario-themed group was handing out Easter eggs

A Companion Cube keeps the console freeplay room company

Could she be Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere?

Rainbow Brite was glad to see her fans from the 80s

Shaun crossed the pond to search for anime

A Nero with a cool gauntlet

I can't figure out who they were

Yatta, dude!

No convention post is complete without at least one Silent Hill nurse

Leon's being hella gangster with Ada

This vault dweller was enraged by the first creatures he met from the outside world... anime fans

Another one that I'm not so sure about

Part of a Tekken photoshoot

AETHER!

Excellent Odin Sphere costumes

Ranma 1/2's famous father and son/daughter

Lum shows off her stripes

A nice couple handing out free candy for Easter

A large Team Fortress 2 gathering

*Hums the Fox X-Men theme song*

Anna and Lili pose for the camera

Sagat/Piccolo/Tager is always kind enough to pose for photos

A Moogle hitches a ride on a Chocobo

Another Zero from Code Geass

A cool Yoshi hoodie

This ain't your mama's pope

The perfect way to advertise

Suiseki was asked to move due to people taking her photo and blocking the walkway

These guys performed Ready Steady Go for an audience

A Fire Mage from Disgaea tags along with Electabuzz

Zafina shifts stances

"I have a horsey. Neigh, neigh, neigh."

KOS-MOS helped Hard Gay find his true sexual orientation

Another Fang cosplayer

One more that needs identification

The succubus from Castlevania: Syphony of the Night continues to steal the souls of men

A skeletal warrior

Hermione and Draco Malfoy take a break from their studies at Hogwarts

Sheryl Nome tips her hat to her fans

Shiki from Black Cat

I'll be back...