May 2013 Conventions

Conventions
1

Sorry this is so late, REAL LIFE got me…

http://qcanimezing.com/
May 3-5, 2013
Clarion Hotel Conference Center
Davenport, IA

http://khaotickon.com/
May 3-5, 2013
Sheraton Tampa East Hotel
Tampa, FL

http://davisanimecon.org/
May 4, 2013
University of California Davis, Memorial Union
Davis, CA

http://jadeddragon.ca/wp/2013/03/art-o-con-2013/
May 5, 2013
Holiday Inn Burlington Hotel & Conference Centre
Burlington, ON

http://bam-con.com/
May 10-12, 2013
Crowne Plaza Pittsfield - Berkshires
Pittsfield, MA

http://belleconventions.com/
May 10-12, 2013
Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk
Jacksonville, FL

http://www.louisianime.com/site/
May 10-12, 2013
Hilton Lafayette
Lafayette, LA

http://www.acen.org/ Sentai Filmworks Panel, May 17 @ 5pm CT
May 17-19, 2013
Hyatt Regency O’Hare / Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
Rosemont, IL

http://otafest.com/
May 17-19, 2013
University of Calgary
Calgary, AB

http://www.bigwowcomicfest.com/
May 18-19, 2013
San Jose McEnery Convention Center
San Jose, CA


May 19, 2013
Somerset County 4-H Youth Center
Bridgewater, NJ

http://animazement.org/
May 23-26, 2013
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, NC

http://phoenixcomicon.com/
May 23-26, 2013
Phoenix Convention Center
Phoenix, AZ

http://animeboston.com/ Sentai Filmworks Panel, May 25 @ 1:30pm ET
May 24-26, 2013
Hynes Convention Center
Boston, MA

http://animenorth.com/live/
May 24-26, 2013
Toronto Congress Center
Toronto, ON

http://www.anime-odyssey.org/
May 24-26, 2013
El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel
San Antonio, TX

http://www.floridaanime.com/
May 24-26, 2013
International Palms Resort & Conference Center
Orlando, FL

http://animeoasis.org/
May 24-27, 2013
Grove Hotel / CenturyLink Arena
Boise, ID

http://www.fanime.com/
May 24-27, 2013
San Jose McEnery Convention Center
San Jose, CA


May 25, 2013
Cumberland University, Edward Labry Hall
Lebanon, TN

http://a-kon.com/
May 31 - June 2, 2013
Hilton Anatole Dallas
Dallas, TX


May 31 - June 2, 2013
Von Braun Center
Huntsville, AL

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

2

[quote=“Slowhand” post=140276]http://animazement.org/
May 23-26, 2013
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, NC[/quote]

The culmination of an entire year’s waiting comes to its apex here. I cannot wait! X3
I hope I get to see my favorite Trekkie again this year too. :stuck_out_tongue:

3

[quote=“Iron K. Tager” post=140303]

May 23-26, 2013
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, NC
The culmination of an entire year’s waiting comes to its apex here. I cannot wait! X3
I hope I get to see my favorite Trekkie again this year too. :P[/quote]

I find that odd as I’m pretty disappointed in the Animazement guest list this year, to the point that it is extremely unlikely that I’ll be going, and yet to you it is the pinnacle of cons this year. I just don’t see it.

4

[quote=“celestial_being” post=140317]

May 23-26, 2013
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, NC
The culmination of an entire year’s waiting comes to its apex here. I cannot wait! X3
I hope I get to see my favorite Trekkie again this year too. :PI find that odd as I’m pretty disappointed in the Animazement guest list this year, to the point that it is extremely unlikely that I’ll be going, and yet to you it is the pinnacle of cons this year. I just don’t see it.[/quote]

There is WAY more to conventions than simply guests, and even then I am greatly interested in those this year. I am looking forward to all of the voice actors (which there are a ton going, many Japanese at that), directors and producers; not to mention Sho Asano and Laugh Out Loud (who I enjoyed last year). I do not know how you could be disappointed seeing how 24 guests (most of them interesting) are going, but maybe we inhabit different areas of interest as far as that goes.
As for the other things than guests, Animazement has plenty of them from Cosplay chess to the dealers room and artist’s alley to the plethora of fan panels. I would say go regardless of the guests! Up until this year (which is my third) I have rarely cared what guests are there, and the only reason I care now is because so many people I have an interest in are going this time. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

[quote=“Iron K. Tager” post=140334]

May 23-26, 2013
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, NC
The culmination of an entire year’s waiting comes to its apex here. I cannot wait! X3
I hope I get to see my favorite Trekkie again this year too. :PI find that odd as I’m pretty disappointed in the Animazement guest list this year, to the point that it is extremely unlikely that I’ll be going, and yet to you it is the pinnacle of cons this year. I just don’t see it.
There is WAY more to conventions than simply guests, and even then I am greatly interested in those this year. I am looking forward to all of the voice actors (which there are a ton going, many Japanese at that), directors and producers; not to mention Sho Asano and Laugh Out Loud (who I enjoyed last year). I do not know how you could be disappointed seeing how 24 guests (most of them interesting) are going, but maybe we inhabit different areas of interest as far as that goes.
As for the other things than guests, Animazement has plenty of them from Cosplay chess to the dealers room and artist’s alley to the plethora of fan panels. I would say go regardless of the guests! Up until this year (which is my third) I have rarely cared what guests are there, and the only reason I care now is because so many people I have an interest in are going this time. :P[/quote]

For me, the only reason to go to any con that’s not within “spitting distance” of my current location is the guest list. The other stuff I can find closer to home.

Some guests, like Kyle Hebert, are more awesome than their list of works suggest as they generally go the extra mile to engage the fans/be engaged by the fans. Other guests, most guests, are only about the autographs and the token “Meet the Guest” panel (which are hit & miss, quality wise). I’ve already met the bulk of the guests there,be they J or North American, and the ones that I haven’t aren’t in enough that I really want to get signed, sorry to say, and they’re not known for significant fan engagement to otherwise “seal the deal”. I’ve found that several are even going to be at other cons to which I’m slated to go. I am animazed that a con could book 24 guests and not manage to make their guest list compelling to me. With my level of fandom that should have been statistically impossible.

If I were closer to the con, as I used to be (and might be again this year, but it’s doubtful) I’d certainly go but I’m not seeing anything that’d inspire me to make a special trip to the con.

6

For me, having already met many of the guests at Animazement, both the J and North American guest lists for the concurrent AnimeBoston are far superior. This is probably the only time in my life that I’ll ever say that AnimeBoston is superior to any other con and it pains me greatly to do so now.

I’d be going to Animazement if they’d had Matranga or Nabeshin on their guest list, as does AB, for example. Currently the only North American guest there whom I haven’t met at least once in the past few years is Kara Edwards and I have seen more J-guests there than I haven’t, by a fair margin.

7

[quote=“celestial_being” post=140338]
If I were closer to the con, as I used to be (and might be again this year, but it’s doubtful) I’d certainly go but I’m not seeing anything that’d inspire me to make a special trip to the con.[/quote]

Well, if you do end up coming closer I think you should drop by or “just happen to find your way” to the convention this year. :wink: It is always nice to meet people you already know for a second time! :stuck_out_tongue:

8

I’ll be going to ACen this year. It will be my second year in a row, but only my second time going to an anime convention. I had a blast last year, so I am beyond excited for this one. I already have my weekend badge and the hotel room reserved. May 17th can’t come fast enough!

9

I haven’t done ACen; I can’t say that I’m in a hurry to ever go back to Chicago but I’ve heard good things about the con. Their guest list is looking a tad thin this year but I see that they’ve got Clarine Harp. IMO more cons should.

10

Yeah, compared to last year when they had Travis Willingham, Vic Mignogna, all of the Panty and Stocking cast (except Monica Rial), this year is looking not as impressive as far as guests. But honestly I had the most fun taking pics of the cosplayers and wasting $500 on the sales floor, lol.

11

The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational (TAKII) 15 ~GlamazASIANS~
May 25th & 26th, 2013
Philadelphia, PA @ The Rotunda
http://takii.pdnmz.com

12

I don’t know what it is but I used to be able to drop 100s of dollars at dealers’ rooms but then they stopped selling what I was really interested in. Too many that I find don’t sell any anime goods at all, only weapons of dubious quality and kitschy things as closely related to anime as I am to you. Last June I found a dealers’ room that was full of old Death Note stuff and I pretty much bought the place out myself but that was an exception. Also, when there’s a Sentai booth at a con I buy a few $100 worth of stuff but Sentai goes to so few cons that it hardly signifies. They should get on that.

Nowadays when a con books voice actor guests I can’t count on the dealers’ room having anything related to the guest for him to sign.

On guests, given ACen’s fame I have to say that I expected, well, greater things. I’m sure it’ll be fun though, for those who are lucky enough to be going.

13

Added Sentai Panel info to Anime Central.

14

ACen had plenty of that last year. Not only did Funimation have several panels, including the premier of the Panty and Stocking dub, followed by a Q&A with the voice actors, but they also had a booth set up on the sales floor with lots of stuff to buy. Plus tons, and I do mean tons of other vendors selling manga, DVDs, Blu-Rays, collectible figures, shirts, body pillows, lots of stuff. I ended up spending $500 that year and I could have easily spent more. Some of the vendors were selling the same stuff, but that can happen with the amount of vendors there. The sales floor had to have been the size of a football field, if not bigger, it was insane, lol. Oh, and it seems this year Funimation will be premiering the dub for Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail, so I am pretty excited for that one!

15

I hope that it has all of that again this year for you. Hopefully the Sentai panels will be fun.

Sadly I’ll probably have to wait until Otakon to go to another one. It’s the only “big” con that I regularly do these days, the smaller cons are where it’s at IMO.

BTW, if Sentai is going to Chicago for ACen does that mean that they will not be going to Boston for AnimeBoston the next week?

16

I was told they will ‘probably’ have a panel at AB.

17

[quote=“Slowhand” post=140873]

I was told they will ‘probably’ have a panel at AB.[/quote]

Cool. I wonder how much they can have to talk about in such rapid succession.

Are there plans yet for any more future Sentai panels? I wish Sentai would spread the word themsleves that they’re going to be at a con as conventions as a whole aren’t known for spreading the word about their industry guests :frowning:

18
19

Added Sentai Panel time to Anime Boston.