Not fun. Way too many people. Probably double from last year, which was too many. And the vendor floor was ridiculously huge. Also, celebrities now charge like $60 for an autograph. Back when I regularly went to cons, it was free. I didn’t even walk by their booths. Why even bother? I mean it would have been cool to walk up to Felicia Day and say I’m a big MST3K fan and loved her playing Kinga Forrester, but I’m not going to do it for $60.
They had other stupidly expensive things too. Like they had a DeLorean done like the one from Back to the Future. If you wanted to take a phone picture with it- as in stand in front of it and have a picture of you taken with a phone- it cost $10.
I only went because my daughter wanted to see all the cosplayers and had a cosplay costume to wear herself and even she found it way too exhausting. We didn’t even stay for the cosplay contest, which she was initially looking forward to.
Pop Con is next month in the same location. I don’t think we’ll be going.
Aside from the less unpleasant but still unpleasant experience at the same con last year, it’s been a good 15 years now since I’ve been to one, but I’ve done a lot of cons in my life. I’ve been a guest and a vendor and a performer and a guest at various times (no, I’m not famous, it’s more complicated than that). I’ve been to DragonCon. I’ve been to NASFiC, the official U.S. national convention. This was just not fun. And if this is what cons are like now, forget it. Honestly, the only part I really enjoyed was, because I know nothing about anime and not a gamer, asking my exasperated daughter what half the cosplayers were.
Not fun. Way too many people. Probably double from last year, which was too many. And the vendor floor was ridiculously huge. Also, celebrities now charge like $60 for an autograph. Back when I regularly went to cons, it was free. I didn’t even walk by their booths. Why even bother? I mean it would have been cool to walk up to Felicia Day and say I’m a big MST3K fan and loved her playing Kinga Forrester, but I’m not going to do it for $60.
They had other stupidly expensive things too. Like they had a DeLorean done like the one from Back to the Future. If you wanted to take a phone picture with it- as in stand in front of it and have a picture of you taken with a phone- it cost $10.
I only went because my daughter wanted to see all the cosplayers and had a cosplay costume to wear herself and even she found it way too exhausting. We didn’t even stay for the cosplay contest, which she was initially looking forward to.
Pop Con is next month in the same location. I don’t think we’ll be going.
Aside from the less unpleasant but still unpleasant experience at the same con last year, it’s been a good 15 years now since I’ve been to one, but I’ve done a lot of cons in my life. I’ve been a guest and a vendor and a performer and a guest at various times (no, I’m not famous, it’s more complicated than that). I’ve been to DragonCon. I’ve been to NASFiC, the official U.S. national convention. This was just not fun. And if this is what cons are like now, forget it. Honestly, the only part I really enjoyed was, because I know nothing about anime and not a gamer, asking my exasperated daughter what half the cosplayers were.