Santa Rosa Toy Con 2013

Santa Rosa Toy Con was the first convention of any interest held local to me, so I was really hoping it would go well. I had some concerns about it, some of which proved to be unfounded, and in the end, I was pleasantly surprised.

Editorial: Matthew's Rebuttal to Lionel Lum's FanimeCon 2013 Review

NOTE: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the California Conventions Blog.

 As the reports for FanimeCon 2013 come to a close and we turn our efforts to Anime Expo in a couple of weeks, we also start looking towards FanimeCon 2014 and their 20th anniversary in an expanded San Jose Convention Center. The number one concern going out of this convention is the state of registration, and we all conclude that something needs to be done to fix the aging and lengthy registration process.

Enter Lionel Lum, a 15 year veteran of the cosplay and convention community. His credits include running Usagichan Company Search and Rescue, a website that as a kid used to go to check on his coverage of anime conventions of the early 2000s, and building that Evangelion cockpit setup that was featured at FanimeCon 2013. He posted his review about a week ago which has stirred up a hornet's nest in the elephant in the room.

Ray Reports: Fanime 2013

I attend many conventions these days, but Fanime will always have a special place in my heart. It’s the first convention I ever attended, and it being only 15 minutes from my house, it’s more or less my “home” convention. It’s also an opportunity to meet friends, old and new, that I typically don’t get to see at any other time of year (i.e. due to distance, not caring about cons besides Fanime), although AX will hopefully change the “any other time of year” part soon. Even though I had a strong feeling Fanime this year was going to suck, I still went anyway, because to me, a year where I don’t attend Fanime is like a Tetris game with a missing piece.

 

In addition to the photos I have posted here, all photos I took during the convention can be found on my Flickr here. 

Nate's Report: FanimeCon 2013

It has been five years since I started attending Fanimecon and my experiences has been mixed. From 2009 till 2011, I've always enjoyed Fanimecon in its entirety. But ever since (well last year), Fanime started to go on the decline for me. There were a lot of things to consider when coming into Fanimecon this year like the construction of expanding the convention center. Sadly, that's still there. The guests of honor? Last year's wasn't as appealing. This time, it was so-so. Events? Panels? I didn't really go to much last year to be honest. Even with these setbacks giving me a hard time with Fanimecon last year, how will that affect Fanime this year? I enter the con this year with excitement and curiosity hoping this year's con would be like back in the days.

Fanime 2013 Pictures from Rukazu

FanimeCon 2013 Review

It's that time again, dear readers.
Yes, that's right. Another con review.

Let's get started, shall we?

Fanime 2013 Review by Rukazu

Fanime 2013 Review

By Rukazu

Hey everyone! Rukazu here and finally back with a review for Fanime 2013!  So without further ado, let’s jump straight into it!

Fanime 2013: Robbie's Report (Days 3-4)

Day 3 of Fanime started off with the Rumiko Takahashi series gathering, which I co-hosted. We decided to hold it at 10 in the morning, which unfortunately clashed with the Avatar/Legend of Korra gathering. It also meant that many of the attendees were still sleeping, tired, or hungover, so next year we'll set it for a somewhat later time. That aside, the gathering still got a very nice turnout; we had a fair amount of Ranma 1/2 cosplayers there (including myself as Ryoga), and an equally fair amount of InuYasha cosplayers. Hopefully we'll get more cosplayers from more Rumiko Takahashi series in future years, but this was off to a good start.

Fanime 2013: Robbie's Report (Days 0-2)

Oh, Fanime. This was quite the con, but I say that in both good and bad ways.There's much to say and less space to say it in, so let's get started.

Big Wow! ComicFest 2013

This was an ambitious year for Big Wow! ComicFest. Right off the bat, it was reaching out to several new industry and fan guests in order to draw a crowd and create the best con possible. This includes, to everyone's delight, the legendary Stan Lee himself, making it a con that is not to be missed.

I had originally intended to attend for both days, but an outside situation required me to go for Sunday only. That said, the day I was there was filled with hanging out with friends, meeting great guests, and generally having a good time.

Big Wow is held in the San Jose Convention Center, where Fanime will be in a few short days from now. While the center is still undergoing renovations, the rooms Big Wow used were not affected, so the only difficulties came from the hallways. This was also at the same time as a Bitcoin expo was underway, but none of the guests from one bothered those from the other in any way; in fact, it's likely that many from one also had a passing interest in the other.