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Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Conventional Gatherings
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5360 |
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I've always stayed away from bigger conventions since it would involve traveling, which was always a combination of time consuming and expensive. Plus, I still remember Zac mentioning lining up at 9 AM for a noon panel, and still being one of the last to get in due to capacity. I don't want to spend hours of the convention waiting like that.
I've gone to smaller conventions in my state, and even before now, I wondered if they were sustainable. The main one wasn't shrinking in terms of attendance, but it had moved locations to accommodate a growing size, only to go back when that growth didn't continue. More telling was that the guest list, which was always my main reason to go, went from having more prominent names to people who hadn't been in the industry in years, and then to guests who were more industry adjacent. Personally, the panels weren't really what I went for since they rarely added anything I didn't already know, and any industry involvement was repeating announcements made at bigger cons. I don't really have anybody to go with, and don't get amped because a room full of strangers seem excited, so the social aspect never really clicked for me. Once I started taking a look at schedules as realized there were maybe a handful of interesting things spread across three days, I decided it was time to stop going at all. |
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Akamaru_Inu
 Subscriber Posts: 118 Location: Florida |
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I go to a bunch of cons a year for work (artist alley, whee!) but I never, ever want to touch the likes of AX or Anime NYC. They're TOO big.
I've been going to my local convention, Metrocon, for pretty much 20 years now I think, I've only missed one year of attending. The vibes of being around other nerds excited about anime are the best. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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I've been to a few large "national"-level conventions, like AKon, Anime Central, and Otakon. While they're a good experience to have under one's belt, the crowds, wait times, and much higher costs of everything (badges, hotel, food, parking, etc.) make the mid-sized regional cons a better value in my book. Maybe you can take in a few higher-end attractions at a large con that you can't get anywhere else, but you can take in a much higher percentage of what a mid-size con has to offer.
Or on a more practical level, running panels can have material rewards like cash reimbursements (possibly exceeding the price of the badge if you do enough panels, depending on a given con's policies), badge refunds, or discounts/free badges for the next convention. |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 926 |
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Every time I consider the logistics of going to AX, I see the massive swarms of people and feel my knees clench. I'm good.
I'm a regular at a local convention in town, and have even hosted a few panels there. It astonishes me how many people within my vtuber community have never gone to conventions (especially not before our Vtuber was a guest at Twitchcon last year) because it's such a great experience, even if you're nervous around people. It's such a great opportunity to meet people like you who share the same passions. I love hosting panels, too, I'm very excited for the opportunity to host again later this year. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 15210 |
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Since living at or near big cities, we've gone to the big cons (and not just for anime, like car shows). It's no different than walking around the big city itself. But we also go to the small local cons, particularly where some friends run the programming like cons in universities. After all, our first "small" con was Otakon 96 with only a couple thousand people in a Marriott Inn just outside Baltimore.
Besides, where else can ya get shirts like this 
(Yes, that's Jamal Murray's postgame press conference after scoring 53 points in the Denver Nuggets' win over the Dallas Mavericks on 3/25/26) |
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Vanadise
 Posts: 599 |
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Smaller cons are definitely the best. My favorite con for years was consistently AseliaCon, a con with maybe ~200 attendees dedicated to the "Tales of" series. Alas, COVID-19 killed it...
Bigger cons can be fun, too, of course, but the bigger they get, the more obviously they become corporate-sponsored events rather than fan gatherings. AnimeExpo is really the prime example of that; great place to go to if you want to see company announcements as they happen, but way too crowded and expensive if you just want to hang out with other nerds with the same niche interest as you. |
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