March 2014 Conventions

Conventions
1

http://www.sukoshicon.com/athens_news.html
March 1, 2014
Holiday Inn Athens-University Area
Athens, GA

http://www.etsu.edu/students/sorc/organizations/etsucon/
March 1-2, 2014
East Tennessee State University, Culp Center
Johnson City, TN

http://quinni-con.com/
March 1-2, 2014
Quinnipiac University York Hill Campus
Hamden, CT

http://www.wonderlandanime.com/
March 1-2, 2014
Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre
Winnipeg, MB

http://www.sac-con.com/
March 2, 2014
Scottish Rite Center
Sacramento, CA


March 8, 2014
Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre
Burnaby, BC


March 8, 2014
Harry Ainlay Composite High School
Edmonton, AB


March 8, 2014
Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School
Red Deer, AB

http://www.rit.edu/clubs/toracon/
March 8-9, 2014
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY

https://naka-kon.com/
March 14-15, 2014
Overland Park Convention Center
Overland Park, KS


March 14-16, 2014
George R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, TX

http://arkansasanimefestival.com/a2fwp/
March 14-16, 2014
Holiday Inn Springdale/Fayetteville Area
Springdale, AR

http://triadanimecon.com/
March 14-16, 2014
Winston-Salem Marriott
Winston-Salem, NC

http://springfestny.com/
March 15-16, 2014
Polytechnic Institute of NYU
Brooklyn, NY

http://animeboston.com/
March 21-23, 2014
Hynes Convention Center
Boston, MA

http://con-nichiwa.com/
March 21-23, 2014
Tucson Convention Center
Tucson, AZ

http://kitsunekon.com/blog/
March 21-23, 2014
Radisson Paper Valley Hotel
Appleton, WI

http://megaconvention.com/
March 21-23, 2014
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, FL

http://www.vericon.org/
March 21-23, 2014
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

http://animarathon.com/
March 22, 2014
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH

http://www.mizuumicon.org/
March 22, 2014
Our Lady of the Lake University
San Antonio, TX


March 22, 2014
Greenbrier Library
Chesapeake, VA

http://animepunch.org/armageddicon/
March 28-30, 2014
Holiday Inn Worthington
Columbus, OH

http://sophia.smith.edu/conbust/
March 28-30, 2014
Smith College (Seelye Hall)
Northampton, MA

http://www.evillecon.com/
March 28-30, 2014
Clarion Inn
Evansville, IN

http://www.asahicon.org/
March 29, 2014
Antioch High School
Antioch, CA


March 29-30, 2014
Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA

http://midoricon.com/2.5/
March 29-30, 2014
Shawnee Lodge & Conference Center
West Portsmouth, OH

https://miraicon.squarespace.com/
March 29-30, 2014
William Paterson University
Wayne, NJ

http://www.animecons.com/events/

2

LOL @ Megacon as they have 8 “anime” guests listed but only one-Vic Mignogna-is really an anime guest.

I’m not sure why Vericon is even listed as it ain’t an anime con. Must be the boston-biased AnimeCons website giving a plug for a fellow MA event.

Doesn’t look like all that much is happening this month. AnimeBoston has become the con that strikes down all other cons, not to the extent that is Otakon (whose last-minute date switch really ravaged last summer’s con schedule) but it is definitely putting a damper on the other cons. Which is a shame as, despite what anime legend Greg Ayres says, AnimeBoston blows.

Early April con (Tekkoshocon) has Karbowski, so that’s something different.

3

Shak and I are going to Naka-Kon! >< Shak says he’ll try and find his school boy uniform from Japan to wear. >.>

4

So, how was it?

And where are the pictures?

5

[quote=“LadyOfWicca” post=163643]

So, how was it?

And where are the pictures?[/quote]

We… didn’t really take any. Heh heh…

6

Megacon was a real different experience today.

Moving back into two bays of the newer Orange County Convention Center building, for the first time in 5 years I believe, this was our 7th time at the con.

Serious traffic issues, the last 3 miles to the OCCC took us about a hour to travel, for those familiar with Orlando this is International Drive south of the Universal attractions. Normally a very busy street, it is engineered to handle a lot of cars, but not anything like what hit it today.

Once parked, in a open field area that I have never seen used before today, we worked our way to the main building and joined the ticket line. The line ran from the first of the two con bays up a bank of 4 escalators, thru the glass 2nd floor foyer out the main doors down the 3 wide stairs and along the side of the convention center almost half way to the north side bays. That’s a looooonnng line folks.

It didn’t take as long to get thru ticketing as I was afraid of, having roughly 20 ticket booths manned with an experienced crew of volunteers made all the difference in the world.

We took time to fuel ourselves in the food court, which took up the back half of bay 1, before working our way slowly to bay 2 - the Exhibitor’s Hall. There we found many of the familiar vendors with a surprisingly good variety of merchandise. I acquired a couple of Gojira T-Shirts that I had been hoping to find as well as a set of the 5 Hetalia POD volumes for my manga shelf. Much time was spent with my two oldest sons buying cosplay goods, MLP materials and Pacific Rim items.

The last unusual thing was shortly before we left for the day, on more than one occasion one or the other of our group was “caught” in a crowd. It’s a odd feeling when you can’t work your way to the table you want to look at and are stuck in a group of people going by. Literally you could not work you way to either side and stopping was not in the cards as there was enough pressure on your back that you could see yourself being pushed forward or possibly pushed down. This has never happened at the Megacon in the 7 years we’ve been there.

We were happy to take our stash and head home this evening. We may go back for the Sunday show, hopefully the crush won’t be as heavy.

Mark Gosdin

7

Sounds as though you got a bit of the “Otakon Experience” down in FL. I hate it when cons become simulators for the Tokyo Subway @ rush hour experience.

I’ve noticed that the “turning point” for when a con gets to that point where it is “too big” is when they turn the escalators off.

8

[quote=“celestial_being” post=164238]Sounds as though you got a bit of the “Otakon Experience” down in FL. I hate it when cons become simulators for the Tokyo Subway @ rush hour experience.

I’ve noticed that the “turning point” for when a con gets to that point where it is “too big” is when they turn the escalators off.[/quote]

Yes, it was that sort of thing. There were a total of 8 escalators being used by the con, 4 for each bay, 4 inbound - down & 4 outbound - up. Two of the down escalators died mid-afternoon. There was a PA announcement when they stopped working. It appeared to be genuine as there were OCCC people working on them to get them going again. There’s a lot of escalators at OCCC.

Mark Gosdin

9

Sunday’s edition of Megacon in Orlando was more normal with crowds that did not fill the Exhibitor’s hall to the point human tidal movement.

I picked up some free swag for the new Godzilla movie, posters, buttons & a dog tag / bottle opener. Also bought a figure set with the new “opponent” monster, it doesn’t give a name for this creature but it looks to me to have been inspired by the 1959 movie Angry Red Planet’s “Rat Bat Spider” monster with a dose of “Cloverfield” thrown in. Hopefully this will lead to some good old fashioned monster throw down fighting.

Now where am I going to put this Kuroneko tumbler?

Mark Gosdin