Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - It's Anime Convention Hunting Season
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2482 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2309 Location: Online Terminal |
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I think that's more of a when than an if. I think the convention industry is caught in an extended adolescent phase. The generation who grew up with conventions as small, alternative things that didn't need to worry about things like regulations or permits are aging out and the new generation who understands that there needs to be some modicum of professional culture isn't replacing them quick enough. Also, the way of all things that grow is that they eventually become more than what they originally were. Smaller, more targeted conventions can still work, but at some point they're going to become too big to be anything but Everything Conventions. But the real truth is that anyone who wants to make a convention based on the original idea of just connecting and growing a community should be holding events at their local library instead. |
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FishLion
 Posts: 237 |
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I find that sweet spot is really important with public events. My favorite concerts are ones that fit in a local theater, not so small it feels like a crowded bar but not so big you need to elbow past people to even see the performance. Maybe since running cons has gotten so pricey having very regular fan meet ups or minicons could maintain the initmacy with a lot less of the complicated overhead
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Multi-Facets
Posts: 258 |
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This column very much does not inspire optimism. I only ever went to Nan Desu Kan for years since it was all I could afford, and come 2022, I could only afford it after missing it twice. The location is now too effin' far from my town and the room rates are nuts, and it's gotten so big it can only go downhill from there. In my experience, there were cracks showing in 2019.
I've pinned my hopes on a different convention, Colorado AnimeFest, which is partnered with the Japan-America Society of Southern Colorado, it's smaller and closer, and has similar health safety measures, so I can only pray I can become a fixture there without it going under. |
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StarDango
Posts: 102 |
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This is from my own perspective, but it's been getting more and more difficult to get a spot at Artist Alleys for even slightly bigger conventions in the US. And it doesn't help that the system to pick artists can feel sloppy.
Raffle systems, first-come-first serve, or the jury system. Everything is up to chance if you're not lucky enough to (1) be a well known artist with an incredibly large following or (2) know someone on the inside. I know the latter is something con-runners will deny doing, but I've done Artist Alley enough to hear and witness certain artists get preferential treatment. And before anyone judges me for making assumptions- at one con, I was told directly by one Artist that they didn't register for the con. They were friends with someone on staff who asked them if they wanted a last-minute opening over anyone on the actual "last-minute" wait list. Another case is when I noticed the same artists pop up at a big con year after year even though the con had a raffle system for AA. Then I saw and heard that they had a connection with someone on staff, who even ensured that they had a good spot for sales. Now I'm not going to be too resentful of this. Just as trying to be professional when you have thousands of attendees isn't easy, having to pick and manage large group of artists and vendors must be a nightmare. And cons are business first- you want good or famous artists to drive interest. It's just been feeling more and more disheartening when I went from going to 8 cons a year to 2-3 right now. And even more disheartening when you can't expect to know why. The only reason you can come to is that there's just too many people who want to be in AA and they have to make a lot of decisions. And there's more to rant about. Like how it can feel like AA is prioritized the least and often given the worst locations for traffic. Or how con policies explicity demand the original artist be the one doing sales, but at least one artist using a proxy happens all the time and they don't enforce it. Or how, in my opinion, Anime Expo 2024 mishandled their returning artist sign-ups. There's...A lot. |
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juaifan
Posts: 147 |
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As an ancient 30 year old boomer I have not been to an anime convention since the mid 2000s. As the internet became more common and widespread they became a bit less of priority for me since I could meet other anime fans much easier as well as import and buy things from websites rather than relying on dealer halls. I guess everything I usually went to cons for became easier and more widespread on the internet as time went on.
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Akamaru_Inu
 Subscriber Posts: 103 Location: Florida |
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I'm also going to chime in about how competitive it is to get into the Artist Alley right now. I've been selling at cons since about 2017. One con I applied to, Nekocon in Virginia -- with an estimated 6k attendees last year -- said they received OVER EIGHT HUNDRED ARTIST ALLEY APPLICANTS. The amount of people who got into art and wanted to sell at cons after the pandemic is absolutely mind-boggling.
I end up going to about 3-5 anime cons per year, and watching the attendance and venues change is fascinating. We have a local Orlando one that finally outgrew their fancy hotel and are moving to the Orange County Convention Center (google says their annual attendance is around 20k people), which hosts Megacon ever spring... which had about 190k people attend this year. I'm only ever in the vendor room at Megacon but the one year I went for fun, which was back in 2016, the hallways were packed. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2670 |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18454 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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On various points:
There isn't any other anime-focused con anywhere near AX territory. Its attendance is triple that of all other top-tier anime cons (which seem to be managing unique attendance in the mid-30k range these days). Concerning the badge price for AX this year: a four-day badge for Gen Con, the country's largest gaming convention (it broke 70k attendance in 2023), runs $143 this year, so $165 for AX doesn't surprise me. While that kind of pricing gets some resistance from me, I ultimately tolerate it because I value the big-con experience. I get much the same feel - the same sense of energy and passion - from immersing myself in a large interest-focused con as I do from attending a major sporting event. Anyway, both anime cons I have attended so far this year (top-10 contender Anime Central and local con Anime Crossroads) have looked stable and well-organized, so I don't have quite the sense of gloom as some others seem to about the con scene; plenty of people are still coming to hang out, get their pictures taken/take pictures, attend events and panels, etc. Maybe the meet-up aspect isn't quite as strong as it used to be, but that was never part of the scene for me anyway. At least at these two cons, Artists Alleys certainly aren't getting squeezed by corporate interests; the one Acen had this year was in a separate hall and probably as big as the entire dealer's area in a mid-sized con. But I'm not involved in that scene, so I can only contribute general impressions, not numerical details |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2269 |
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I'm actually going to Otakon this year for the first time after a loooong hiatus away from cons for what must be a decade. Last one I went to must've been Megacon in Orlando. I find these days what I want is more to tour artist alleys, check out a handful of cool how-to panels, and ooh-and-ahh over neat cosplay. But my anime consumption these days is fairly insular, so I mostly go alone or with a friend, and I'm very conscious about taking business cards from any storefronts that catch my eye but seem out of stock or overwhelmed by crowds.
That said, I've moved to a much more metropolitan area, which means things like farmer's markets and local art festivals are much more of A Thing than they were where I lived for the last 10 years, so my perspective on cons is probably very secluded. |
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invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2482 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I was also at ACen, and across the two halls of artist alley, I’d argue it was as about big as ACen’s own dealer’s area. I’m kind of counting on ACen and Otakon to hold it together. They’re big enough to get once-in-a-lifetime guests, but not overwhelmingly corporate and nowhere near AX big (ugh, one AX was enough. Never again). I would include AWA in this list, but let’s see how the move downtown goes; I’m pretty worried. |
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Joe Mello
Posts: 2309 Location: Online Terminal |
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I think another thing people don't think about when comparing badge prices is the ticket is usually the most expensive thing a person is going to buy at a sporting event. At a convention, there's hotel, travel and merchandise costs that are all going to outpace the cost of a badge, so I've always argued if you're worried about badge prices being too high, you probably shouldn't be going in the first place.
I'd argue at minimum the scene's effect has been diluted with other interests, including: -Older adults using cons to meet up with their friends (instead of taking other forms of group vacation) -Parents using conventions in lieu of theme park -Cosplayers and other parties using conventions to build clout -People who simply want to observe the spectacle -"Spring Breakers" |
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rfletcher
 Posts: 30 |
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My first Anime Expo was 2011 (where the main draw was the Mikunopolis concert), and my last was 2019. COVID put an end to it for me, but if I'm being honest with myself, I'm not sure how much longer I would have lasted even without a plague.
And there's the rub, at least with my later AX experiences. I would have loved to have been in the room for similar great moments as well, but even as a paying customer, I couldn't. If you wanted to see a big event, you needed to camp out at the beginning of the day (or earlier!) and wait for the =one= thing that you wanted, and that would pretty much be your convention experience. No time in the dealers' hall, no time people-watching, no time enjoying the sights and sounds, no time checking out the artists alley or the industry booths: just waiting to see if you can MAYBE get into that One Big Panel. I keep seeing the announcements of all the wonderful talents who will be coming to this year's AX, and my reaction now is indifference, because I'd probably never get to see any of them even if I went. Is that an experience I want to pay for anymore? And I'm a relatively lucky one: I'm reasonable driving distance from Los Angeles! I can't =imagine= the pain of paying for a badge PLUS airfare PLUS a hotel at convention rates... just to sit in line all day. I hope some of the smaller cons survive. It's dreadful to think that this will become the only game in town. |
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StarDango
Posts: 102 |
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I agree with your sentiments. It's why I only attend big conventions as an artist because I feel more accomplished compared to actually attending a con as a patron. The only thing I want to do as an attendent nowadays is get merch. I advocate for trying to support smaller conventions and anime events in your local areas when they pop up. While I don't make as much money at their AAs, smaller conventions tend to invite kinder crowds. And at the ones I've attended in my state, the staff actually talked with us artists directly. The unfortunate part about smaller cons is that they don't have enough content to justify going for a whole 3-day weekend. One solution would be to reduce the number of days, but admitedly I am more likely to want to go to a con's AA when it's 3-4 days rather than 1-2. And likely others feel the same way. I'm trying to move out of that bias (thank you Anime Impulse), especially since I can't afford to be picky nowadays. |
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AdditionalRamen
Posts: 38 |
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I am grateful that Anime Boston seems to be in a good spot (as far as I can tell) - they consistently get about 25-30k attendees, enough to rent a nice convention space for a long weekend every year and have great guests (we had Queen Bee this year!). I think I read that their contract with their current convention space is ending within the next couple of years and that they planned to relocate to an even larger site after that. I wonder if that will happen or if they'll renew their contract with Hynes if interest flags, as this article seems to indicate it could.
Am I correct that this column is only about American conventions? I am curious if the situation is the same overseas, like in Central/Latin America where by some measures anime is bigger than in the US. |
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