AMA 2013 Panel/Con Experience

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Panel Experiences

.hack – This panel was my first & probably favorite to give for this con.  It had a pretty good attendance, people send to be generally interested, & I received several complements as to the thoroughness of the panel.  This was also a panel that, despite the amount I had to cover, I was able to finish right on time.  So, I definitely look forward to presenting this again!

BlazBlue – Unfortunately, due to leaving my power cord in the other panel room & practically living on borrowed time (fortunately, was able to find it).  I also had to deal with, since I was a late night panel, only have a handful of people attend, but despite these issues, still had a pretty good time.  I need to find a way to have more pictures in the panel as a whole & change around a few info. Bits, but it was fun to present (what I was able to present).

Tales of – Although one of the most structured & ‘clean’ panels I had (as far as the physical presentation), I need to do more to spruce it up.  Like any panel I do, I love having lots of pictures, this panel pretty much streamlined that, if I were to do it again I would definitely add a lot more pictures, maybe even some videos, and have a lot more ways to reference the games & show people what I’m talking about.

Sengoku Era Anime – Pretty good attendance, people seemed to be relatively interested, but I need to spruce it up & add more content, especially since it’s been approved for Otakon 20.

*Deco-den Basics – Unfortunately, couldn’t present because no one showed up.  Hopefully it does better next year & I hope the main panelist didn’t take it too hard, but the time it was set at (9am) was too early.  Otherwise, it could have been an awesome panel.

General Con Experience

This was my first time going to AMA, & I must say, I’m relatively impressed.  They really worked with what space they had & pretty much used all available space for one event or another.  So, go AMA for that one.  The con was smaller than what I thought it was going to be, but it still was really nice for its size.  I was also slightly disappointed that cosplay wasn’t as…prevalent as I would hope.  For instance, compare it to something like Katsucon or Otakon where an overwhelming majority of the con goers are cosplaying, which has nothing to do with the size of the con, just the percentage cosplaying.  I was hoping for more in that area, but I was still interested & liked what I saw.  I feel the programming track was really good, especially comparing it to my previous con Zenkaikon.  Whereas Zenkai was okay to me & could have done a lot more, AMA programming pretty much kept me busy & I had something to do for almost all hours of the day.  Of course, this is purely a personal opinion, someone else might say they hated it & someone else might say it was absolutely perfect, so keep that in mind.

I personally felt the people, for the most part, were relatively polite.  Didn’t really have to deal with people running smack dab into me & not apologizing or anything, & people were generally friendly & it made it easier to socialize.  However, I would say this con isn’t really used to the “trolls” which are Homestuck (Dumbstuck, if you’re particularly mean/evil…like I am).  I have to say, I don’t believe in things like “everyone’s like…” or “no one does…”, but an overwhelming majority of the Homestuck fandom to me is rude, childish, have major entitlement issues (I feel they think, since they are “a really big fandom”, they can act however they want), & are constantly getting in the way with their impromptu circle jer—I mean, photo shoots.  They block hallways, doors, etc. with little to no concern for other con goers, or, you know, that they’re not the only ones there.

Now, to be perfectly fair, I’m hyperbolizing just a tad; granted, they’re like that at every con I’ve been to with no signs of stopping, so…, & I should mention that not all Homestuck fans are like this, but it was fun hearing so many people complain about them so…incessantly. Nothing like watching people begin to hate something you hate as well slowly come to the realization of such strong dislike.  I mean, I even had the chance to hear the insight from one of the guests that, unlike the Bronies (& let me add Hetalia fans here as well) who, upon amassing enough of a fandom got their own con, Homestuck trolls will never do this.  This is namely due to not being of age to do a lot of things to start a con in the first place & also because they just don’t have enough of everything (maturity, organizational skills, etc.) to pull off something like that.  That being said I would also like to add that’s why I believe they have to “troll” every con they go to.  If you think I’m being an evil b*tch (because I’m speaking the truth), there are more than one con stories that involve kicking out Homestuck people, tales of hotels considering banning them (due to getting their makeup everywhere), & the like, so save your b*tching for someone who doesn’t know better.  Unlike the ‘Narutards’, Hetalians, & a few other fan-dumbs, they seemingly aren’t getting any better, which probably is due to their main demographic being mostly tweens (the perfect age group to be annoying as ever), which negatively effects everything else.  Anyway, I spent way too much time on this because my personal worst experience with them has to be Katsucon, where seemingly 1/3 of the cosplayers were them.  I mean, I wouldn’t want to cosplay something a decent chunk of the cosplayers are going to be cosplaying. So their cosplay (non)logic is lost on me.  There’s other stuff, but this has gone on long enough.

Last thing: if you haven’t really been to an anime con whatsoever, save your b*tching because this is something that I would call a happenstance of con going & if you don’t go, you have no idea what the situation is like, so please, don’t get all up in arms but you’ve never been to a con before.  Also, I don’t believe every Homestucker is like what I listed above, but an overwhelming majority of them are.  I mean, I did write an article stating that I officially don’t like fandoms (here & here), so give me a break…

Moving right along; although I contacted the Cosplay Chess person directly & was told I had a spot reserved for me, missed out on Cosplay Chess.  Regardless, Cosplay Chess was really awesome, I just hate it wasn’t in a bigger room & I wish they had more seating available.  This con also had a pretty awesome Dealer’s Room.  They had a pretty good selection and variety of dealers, I would say my only real complaint would be they didn’t have any solely videogame/import game dealer, but everything else was fine.  This is probably the first con where I saw such ‘cheap’ DVD prices.  Although one can argue that some of the series’ prices were a tad bit too high, compared to Otakon & the last few cons I’ve gone to, their prices were pretty reasonable.

The area of the con was nice too.  There were a lot of food places (they had freakin’ Chipotle >.<)  & they were all pretty close to the con.  My real issue comes in the con presence in the city.  Whereas when Otakon’s in town, everyone can pretty much ‘suck it’ because there’s so many con goers.  Even though the city historically hates that con to be there (different story for the food places), due to safety in numbers it’s hard (& pointless) to pick a fight, then there’s this con.  It seems like the ‘sphere of influence’ for this con literally stops outside the doors of the hotel & you need to expect & be prepared for stares, rude comments, & general d**chebaggery from the ‘lay folk.’  This may not be a big deal to you, but if you’re really sensitive to that kind of negativity or (like me) spent a decent amount of money to get there (only to be treated like trash by the locals), I would have to recommend avoiding this con.  It’s been in the area for a few years, so for locals to be this…unpleasant is frustrating to me.  I can take awkward stares but, b*tch, I don’t need to hear the comments ‘cause I have no problem with going full-on b*tch (matter-of-fact, looking for an excuse to do so) X/  This probably sounds worse than what I mean, but I personally wouldn’t care to attend a con where, when in full cosplay, you have to steel yourself against the super awkward stares & negative comments.

My hotel experience was pretty good too.  Nice & cheap…like they say, you get what you pay for ~.~  I stayed at the Red Roof Inn right across the street, and dear kami-sama that hotel.  Besides crossing the street at some points was literally like playing Frogger (only if you die here, you’re dead for realz), the bathroom was essentially claustrophobic & it just wasn’t that nice.  I was on the ground floor & all but good Lord.  Besides this being my first time staying at a Red Roof Inn, I’m used to staying in the Marriott when it comes to cons or at least decent quality hotels/inns, this was too much for me to handle.  If I were to go to this con again I would shoot for staying at the hotels of the con & deal with shelling out the extra bucks, but never again with Red Roof Inn.

This was the first con I took a plane to & a train back due to driving here being out of the question (I would have to drive here right after work & the con’s out-of-state, not a fun thing to do).  The plane & train ride were both fun & enjoyable, but trying to get decent plane costs was a hassle (due to having to switch from driving to plane ride relatively late).  I kinda feel the con wasn’t worth going through so much for, but I also feel that I would be able to travel here by car next time, which would decrease a lot of the traveling costs.

Also, the con staff was very nice & helpful!  Especially when it comes to getting stuff together in the panel room as a panelist, they were very helpful & polite.  Lastly, made some great friends & met some awesome people that I hope to see again.

Overall, I had a pretty good experience, at least better than Zenkaikon as far as having things to do & the Dealer’s room, but I’m still on the fence if I would go here again.  If I do, I would definitely stay at the con hotel & just deal with paying the extra money.  Ultimately, I would say the con’s a little too small for my tastes, but I still had a great experience overall.