What's like to be at a big anime convention?

[ultimateX021]

Hello, everybody.

I've been to an anime convention, Reccacon, a long time ago at my college, yet it seemed a little short in events. I've not been to an anime convention with tons of exciting events like AMV viewing, DDR games, possibly dancing, gaming tournaments (maybe), and other big ones. I'm thinking about some conventions like Fanime, for example.

What its like to be at these anime conventions?

[Kalium]

Imagine that you have a group of a hundred and fifty friends. Friends who, on the whole, love to hang out.

Now imagine that they only get to do this a couple times a year.

That's about what a con is like for me, at least...

[Otohiko]

It really depends on who you go with, for one thing, and perhaps also what you go for.

A lot of people around here will tell you that they go to cons for the people [i.e. their friends from far away that are also going], and in that case it really ends up being more like a prolonged party, with the occasional AMV contest or panel, plus dealer room, followed by just a lot of hanging around. That's just the way it usually ends up with AMV editors who go to cons to see other AMV editors they already know.

When I initially started out going to cons, before I edited, I'd mostly go there to check out new anime and then shop for it, so it was sort of like a big 3-day anime movie theater for me, again, with a dealer room. A lot of cons have various neat events, like concerts and whatnot - but again, depends what you're out for.

Generally speaking, larger cons will appeal to all the different sides of anime fandom at the same time, so depending which side you're on, it might end up being a different experience for you. A cosplayer's con is very different from an AMVers con different from a DDR player's con different from an RPer's con different from fanfic...tionist's(?) con different from a J-pop addict's con, since there's events appealing to the above, and many others, specifically. Get a good look at the con events schedule and you should have a pretty good idea of what you're interested in.

Myself, again, I only pretty much go to the cons for people now, and in my estimation little of the con time is spent at the con itself. It's more of an excuse to get together

[trythil]

What its like to be at these anime conventions?

[Otohiko]

You're doing it wrong.

1) pants on != sex

2) I can recognize all the people there. Incriminating

[Brad]

Kinda like that.





Though for a serious answer, I can pretty much echo what Oto had to say. There's a wide variety of con-goers in terms of their motivations for being there. Some people simply enjoy the spectacle. Others like to get involved in the cosplay events. Some people go to check out the industry panels and hear about what new anime is coming out in the US. Some go exclusively for the dealers room. Some people go for the gaming tournaments. Some people like to do a little bit of everything. But as Oto said, many of us simply go purely for the hanging out aspect and the occasional AMV event.

Like, take Otakon this year for example. As for as the convention went, for me, it was kind of boring. And keep in mind this is the 2nd biggest anime con in the US. TONS of stuff going on all the time. Yet personally I couldn't find a single non-AMV related thing that I was even remotely interested in. Even the Dealer's Room was pretty much bleh for me. Nothing interesting. Yet, I can still say that I had a fun time because I was there with friends who I don't get to see all that often. The best times I had were had outside of the convention.

[Minion]

my take is, if you were sober enough to remember what an anime convention was like, you may need to revise your approach.

[NightMistress85]

I've been "conning" since 2002, so I guess I can give you a little insight. I've sort of evolved over the years in terms of my interests. My first con was Katsucon in 2002. It was extremely fun for me, but I had no clue what I was missing until I attended Otakon. Being surrounded by so many people was such a shock for me. My first year was '05 and I had a ball attending the industry panels, amv contest, and masquerade. Then the dealer's room and artist alley were insane. It was awesome because I got to meet amazing artists of works that I really admired online. '06 was a lot of fun because I got involved in the industry a bit, so got to see a few "behind the scenes" things and got a few more freebies while still being able to enjoy the con. '07 was even more fun because I was able to meet up with some friends that I'd known from online and we keep in touch daily. Thanks to that group, I got into cosplaying . Since Otakon just kept getting more and more fun by the year, I had high expectations, especially since it was my first time cosplaying there too. Unfortunately, this year as a whole was lackluster. I wasn't interested in anything in the dealer's room, artist alley was extremely disappointing (I only bought one piece), and the panels weren't appealing. While there was plenty to do, I just wasn't up for most of it. So it was just me and my friends hanging out and goofing around. Something new and great though was that I got to meet several editors from this board. I've loved amv's for years, but I only started editing last year. I didn't imagine I'd grow to love it as much as I do. It was like artist alley for me for my first year in that I got to meet people who have created works that I really admire. This time though, I can dabble in it myself (since I'm far from an artist). Also, booking the Hyatt was awesome since we were so close to the convention center. We're already booked again for next year.

The most fun I have ever had though was at this year's Katsucon in February. It was my very first time cosplaying, so it was doubly special. The masquerade was good (it surprisingly is better than Otakon's IMO), and I got to meet with Johnny Yong Bosch who I have been a fan of since the power ranger days (yeah I'll admit it). He premiered his movie there that won't even be released until this fall. The downside was that I acquired a stalker, but I knew I'd be okay since I had my friends around.

Katsu is considerably smaller than Otakon, but still about 7,000 attend that one so it's plenty of people. I went to the rave one year for katsu and it was nice and airy and lacking otaku funk that I hear you run into at Otakon raves (have never been and don't really desire to go). So really, the size of a con doesn't always correlated to having a better time. It really depends on what you make of it.

Like, take Otakon this year for example. As for as the convention went, for me, it was kind of boring. And keep in mind this is the 2nd biggest anime con in the US. TONS of stuff going on all the time. Yet personally I couldn't find a single non-AMV related thing that I was even remotely interested in. Even the Dealer's Room was pretty much bleh for me. Nothing interesting. Yet, I can still say that I had a fun time because I was there with friends who I don't get to see all that often. The best times I had were had outside of the convention.

This was my fourth Otakon and I have to agree that it was pretty boring in comparison to previous years for me. The only thing that was actually entertaining for me was Iron Editor. I could actually sense the spirit that I just didn't feel for the whole convention. Also, the amv contest was actually the best one since I've been going to Otakon.

[Ileia]

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[ultimateX021]

Wow!!!

A lot of interesting things to here this from others. I laughed at some of the pictures some of ya posted.

Now, to make this more easier for some of you and once again thanks for the information, it sounds like the most awesome thing about it is having your BUDS around. Trust me, I made friends at my anime convention before just haven't been to one for a long time. Miss them ALOT!

Since this is my first time joining a-m-v.org, it would be awesome to get to know a lot of AMV makers around here. This leads to an even better question:

What's it like to hang out at an anime convention with fellow AMV creators and which conventions have the vast majority of them or is most likely to have them? (That's a better question, if you know the answer or not!)