Newby cons

bpwmd · Jul 14, 2014

Ok guys I'm getting near to completing some of my costumes. Now I'm looking at cons. I know comicon is hard to get to. Is there a good definitive list of cons on the west coast? And what ones are easy to get into? And any big questions I should be asking.

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loveyuri · Jul 14, 2014

anime expo is pretty good. It just passed tho.

bpwmd · Jul 14, 2014

the costumes i have are going to be boba fett and rios from armyof two

Dessa · Jul 14, 2014

First off, what is it that you're interested in, and what do you want out of a convention? Anime, comics/general media, video games, there's a lot of different cons on the West Coast. Are you looking more to show off your costume, or do you want to attend programming as well?

Secondly, how much are you looking to spend to get there? I see that you're in Alaska, so I'm assuming you'll be flying and that differences in distance between WA, OR, and CA will be relatively negligent. However, hotels are another matter. So that'll make a difference, too.

Third, how crowded are you looking at? Larger cons are going to be stuffed to the max, smaller cons not so much.

Fourth, are you looking to get the most "bang for your buck"? Some cons are 24-hours, some aren't. And the larger the con, the more you're going to be waiting in line for programming, instead of enjoying other programming.

All of this being said, I only personally have experience with some of the local-to-Seattle cons. Sakura-Con (anime) is my home con, and the only one I actually attend. It's fairly big, and can get crowded, but nowhere near as bad as some of the "big" cons. Granted, this was when the convention was much smaller, but I've taken "con virgins" to SC, dressed as characters from "the big anime"* of the time, and they didn't seem to have much problem. Emerald City Comic Con and PAX I don't have personal experience with, only "in the public places of the convention center during the convention" experience, but I don't believe either are 24-hours. They're both also extremely crowded.

*For the record, they were dressed as Roy Mustang and Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist, at the height of the original series' popularity, in a year when we had Roy's VA in attendance.

bpwmd · Jul 14, 2014

omg do you have pics of them? idlove tosee that.
also i dont understand onlyin public places of the con"
im mostly looking to showoffmy outfits, but would love to actually see somebooths (really intogaming, and tech, but also am a "con virgin" so im fairly open
as far as money im not beyond havingto save a bit

bpwmd · Jul 14, 2014

also i really love trek and star wars

charades · Jul 15, 2014

I don't know West Coast cons, however I will say there are generally 2 types of cons. The fan-run cons, and corporate sponsor cons. Fan-run are not-for-profit, and provide a lot of fan programming and genuinely just want you to have fun. Corporate sponsor cons (SDCC, PAX, Wizard World cons) are for profit events. The people running the show are in it to make money and you will feel the cash grab. Both have pros and cons, and it's really up to you which kind you choose.

firesprite · Jul 15, 2014

Highly recommend Emerald City ComiCon. It's a very friendly event and even though it's ginormous now, the staff works hard to produce a quality show every year.

http://emeraldcitycomicon.com/

Ragged Robin · Jul 15, 2014

bpwmd said:
omg do you have pics of them? idlove tosee that.
also i dont understand onlyin public places of the con"
im mostly looking to showoffmy outfits, but would love to actually see somebooths (really intogaming, and tech, but also am a "con virgin" so im fairly open
as far as money im not beyond havingto save a bit

Yep everyone here is spot on, though the main two mentioned ECCC and Sakura Con are already over for 2014 so you'll have to wait until next year around March-April! There are a handful of smaller cons (well except for PAX which is huge but long since sold out) coming up later this year in the Pacific Northwest such as:

Kumoricon (Vancouver, WA, 08/29-09/01, anime) https://www.kumoricon.org/
PAX Prime (sold out! Seattle, WA, 08/29-09/01, gaming) http://prime.paxsite.com/
Rose City Comic Con (Portland, OR, 09/20-09/21, general) http://rosecitycomiccon.com/

For the big ones like Emerald City Comic Con that get sold out, many people (mostly cosplayers) still meet up and hang out just outside of the actual convention area. There are still con-centric festivities and stuff to do just outside that are third party or fan-run but all the giftshop booths/celebrity-guest/panels/events and stuff will obviously be inside where you need a pass.

For 2015 (in addition to the ones listed above which will roll around the same time) check out:

Emerald City Comic Con (Seattle, WA, 03/27-03/29, general) http://emeraldcitycomicon.com/
Sakura Con (Seattle, WA, 04/03-04/05, anime) http://www.sakuracon.org/
Norwescon (Seattle, WA, 04/02-04/05, fantasy/scifi literature) http://www.norwescon.org/
Anglicon (Seattle, WA, 06/12-06/04, Doctor Who/BBC stuff) http://anglicon.com/
Galacticon (Seattle, WA 07/31-08/2, BSG) http://www.galacticon.org/

Dessa · Jul 15, 2014

I would highly recommend against Aki-Con. The con started because the owners were banned from Sakura-Con, and they have yet to have an even remotely "decent" year, with the past several getting worse and worse. Sticking dealers and artist alley (and food!) in a damp, moldy garage, with buckets dripping on people and tables in 2012, and having an alleged rape occur involving one of their staff/guests of honor in 2013. And this isn't even counting the thousands of dollars they're going to have to start paying people once the state realizes that for all but 2013 they were running the event with illegal staffing conditions.

Honestly, it needs to be shut down.

Ragged Robin · Jul 15, 2014

Dessa said:
I would highly recommend against Aki-Con. The con started because the owners were banned from Sakura-Con, and they have yet to have an even remotely "decent" year, with the past several getting worse and worse. Sticking dealers and artist alley (and food!) in a damp, moldy garage, with buckets dripping on people and tables in 2012, and having an alleged rape occur involving one of their staff/guests of honor in 2013. And this isn't even counting the thousands of dollars they're going to have to start paying people once the state realizes that for all but 2013 they were running the event with illegal staffing conditions.

Honestly, it needs to be shut down.

Oh wow thanks for the awareness-boost, never attended AkiCon before and didn't know this was a thing. Upon further research I've edited out of my post (also added Anglicon).

firesprite · Jul 16, 2014

Dessa said:
I would highly recommend against Aki-Con. The con started because the owners were banned from Sakura-Con, and they have yet to have an even remotely "decent" year, with the past several getting worse and worse. Sticking dealers and artist alley (and food!) in a damp, moldy garage, with buckets dripping on people and tables in 2012, and having an alleged rape occur involving one of their staff/guests of honor in 2013. And this isn't even counting the thousands of dollars they're going to have to start paying people once the state realizes that for all but 2013 they were running the event with illegal staffing conditions.

Honestly, it needs to be shut down.

Ragged Robin said:
Oh wow thanks for the awareness-boost, never attended AkiCon before and didn't know this was a thing. Upon further research I've edited out of my post (also added Anglicon).

Yikes! That's good to know about. I've never been to Aki-Con and it never really popped up on my radar (anime isn't a huge thing I'm into), but I definitely appreciate knowing about that!

mistymills · Jul 17, 2014

Not to get off topic, but maybe we need a list of cons to avoid that we can pin or something. Of course, a lot of it is going to be heresay, but I think it might be important. Especially for things like our local big con where it's fine to go as a customer, but don't go as a vendor. Or things like bad staffing conditions or anything remotely illegal happening, etc.

Anyway, I'm in Detroit so I don't have any experience with any cons out that way. However I agree, think about what you want out of a convention and use that as your basis. If you're going to travel a long way and have a larger expense for travel and lodging, you'll likely want to go to a medium-to-large size convention that has more to offer. More value/bang for your buck kinda thing. But that's not always the case, especially for a first convention.

It can be an overwhelming experience for first time convention goers sometimes to go to the larger ones, especially if you're attending in a costume, but if you hook up with a friend there who is more experienced with it, it can be a great experience.

bpwmd · Jul 17, 2014

I think that is on topic enough

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firesprite · Jul 17, 2014

mistymills said:
Not to get off topic, but maybe we need a list of cons to avoid that we can pin or something. Of course, a lot of it is going to be heresay, but I think it might be important. Especially for things like our local big con where it's fine to go as a customer, but don't go as a vendor. Or things like bad staffing conditions or anything remotely illegal happening, etc.

Anyway, I'm in Detroit so I don't have any experience with any cons out that way. However I agree, think about what you want out of a convention and use that as your basis. If you're going to travel a long way and have a larger expense for travel and lodging, you'll likely want to go to a medium-to-large size convention that has more to offer. More value/bang for your buck kinda thing. But that's not always the case, especially for a first convention.

It can be an overwhelming experience for first time convention goers sometimes to go to the larger ones, especially if you're attending in a costume, but if you hook up with a friend there who is more experienced with it, it can be a great experience.

I second this idea. Or maybe a thread with various conventions and pros/cons for each of them so people can weigh whether they want to shell out the cash for them... Maybe 3-4 threads by region? I dunno. I just think it's a good idea Misty had there.

charades · Jul 17, 2014

Dessa said:
I would highly recommend against Aki-Con. The con started because the owners were banned from Sakura-Con, and they have yet to have an even remotely "decent" year, with the past several getting worse and worse. Sticking dealers and artist alley (and food!) in a damp, moldy garage, with buckets dripping on people and tables in 2012, and having an alleged rape occur involving one of their staff/guests of honor in 2013. And this isn't even counting the thousands of dollars they're going to have to start paying people once the state realizes that for all but 2013 they were running the event with illegal staffing conditions.

Honestly, it needs to be shut down.

I heard about that. Someone on coscom made a thread after the 2012 con to complain and let everyone know. Sounds horrible.

firesprite said:
I second this idea. Or maybe a thread with various conventions and pros/cons for each of them so people can weigh whether they want to shell out the cash for them... Maybe 3-4 threads by region? I dunno. I just think it's a good idea Misty had there.

Something like a general con review thread would be good. I've been working on a local con for the last 3 years and I know it's not the most organized con (anything fan-run will be a bit chaotic) and we do cram a lot of activities into the weekend, so I've heard both good and bad reviews about us in the last few years. Any kind of constructive criticism (not just straight bitching and complaining) could be useful if anyone on the boards works on the committee for their local cons.

bpwmd · Jul 21, 2014

Question for everyone. I recently saw a pic that said so and so were "cosplaying near eachother". When cosplaying does one typically roam around or kinda stake out an intersection.

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Yrien · Jul 21, 2014

For me, it depends on a few factors - how crowded the con floor is, how big my group is, any large props that make maneuvering difficult, and how popular the costumes are.

For example, at the last con I went to, I cosplayed as the Sniper from Team Fortress 2 on Saturday with another friend as the Pyro, and my husband as the Heavy. It was the busiest day, and we met up with another group of friends who were also in TF2 costumes (and picked up strangers!) - at one point, our group was 12 people, some of whom had very large guns. At that point, it just made more sense to find a corner and let people come to us for pictures - we ended up staying in the same spot for a couple of hours, posing for photos. When we broke up for lunch, it wasn't too hard to maneuver 2-3 people through the crowd, though we still got stopped for photos a lot.

Generally, I figure if you're going to be blocking traffic for long periods of time (large group, large costume/prop), it's best to try to find someplace out of the way. Judge it based on how things are going - if it's super busy and your costume is popular enough that you're standing in the aisle for photos for more than a few moments at a time, be courteous and get out of peoples' way if you can. If it's not too busy and there's still room for people to pass by when you stop for photos, by all means keep roaming.

Oh and also be aware that it's completely okay to (politely) so no if someone asks for a photo and you can't (on your way somewhere), or don't want to (hungry, tired, any reason!).

firesprite · Jul 21, 2014

bpwmd said:
Question for everyone. I recently saw a pic that said so and so were "cosplaying near eachother". When cosplaying does one typically roam around or kinda stake out an intersection.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yrien said:
For me, it depends on a few factors - how crowded the con floor is, how big my group is, any large props that make maneuvering difficult, and how popular the costumes are.

For example, at the last con I went to, I cosplayed as the Sniper from Team Fortress 2 on Saturday with another friend as the Pyro, and my husband as the Heavy. It was the busiest day, and we met up with another group of friends who were also in TF2 costumes (and picked up strangers!) - at one point, our group was 12 people, some of whom had very large guns. At that point, it just made more sense to find a corner and let people come to us for pictures - we ended up staying in the same spot for a couple of hours, posing for photos. When we broke up for lunch, it wasn't too hard to maneuver 2-3 people through the crowd, though we still got stopped for photos a lot.

Generally, I figure if you're going to be blocking traffic for long periods of time (large group, large costume/prop), it's best to try to find someplace out of the way. Judge it based on how things are going - if it's super busy and your costume is popular enough that you're standing in the aisle for photos for more than a few moments at a time, be courteous and get out of peoples' way if you can. If it's not too busy and there's still room for people to pass by when you stop for photos, by all means keep roaming.

Oh and also be aware that it's completely okay to (politely) so no if someone asks for a photo and you can't (on your way somewhere), or don't want to (hungry, tired, any reason!).

Many conventions will have areas marked off for people with costumes to use for photo ops with backdrops and sometimes props as well. Most of the time, cosplayers will wander the floor (after all, they paid to get in, they want to see the con as well as show off their costume) but I've seen instances like this gundam who couldn't move around in their costume who hang out in the designated costume area for a while, then de-costume to explore:

Yrien · Jul 21, 2014

firesprite said:
Many conventions will have areas marked off for people with costumes to use for photo ops with backdrops and sometimes props as well. Most of the time, cosplayers will wander the floor (after all, they paid to get in, they want to see the con as well as show off their costume) but I've seen instances like this gundam who couldn't move around in their costume who hang out in the designated costume area for a while, then de-costume to explore:

View attachment 351734

Ooh, really? None of the cons I've gone to (all two of them, lol!) have had areas like that. That's really cool! And yeah, there was a Diablo demon at Ottawa ComicCon who had basically the same problem - he stayed pretty much in one place once he was in costume because he couldn't move through the aisles.

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