TL;DR: I'm going to my regularly scheduled convention during Memorial Day weekend, and I genuinely forgot that planning everything out ahead of time is pretty much mandatory.
I've been procrastinating a bit and didn't buy the pass until a few days ago, but because of that, I have to juggle some things because while I am not personally cosplaying, which I'll get to later in this post as to why, I still need to generally plan out everything I want to do that weekend: when it comes to parties, hanging out with friends, going to panels, all that sort of stuff.
I already know I want autographs from three people, so I need to bring cash and a notebook to get those autographs, but I need to figure out if I want to get them all on the same day or different days. I also need to figure out what panels are worth doing on specific days, what events I want to go to, overall conventions have something for everyone, and there's so much for me that I need to figure out what I want to do so I don't get overwhelmed.
Back to not cosplaying, it's because my plan was to go as this Obito, and I can't get the contacts in time so I don't want to cosplay an incomplete character. There's just a lot for me to do for the next two weeks in terms of scheduling things out with friends and whatnot, that I actually have to time manage at the convention to make sure I get everything I want out of it.
Kids... pfeh!
In my day we used to write shit like this into a diary, and we kept it locked and hidden. Kids (pfeh!) these days just want to shove their whole lives and thoughts in everyones' faces.
Not trying to bust your balls, just some light trolling ;)
It's a fair point though lol I write stuff down on my PC if my schedule gets erratic.
You should see what it's like organizing and setting up a convention. I used to do that as a hobby, and nearly as a job.
What conventions are run by decent people?
The only one I know of that is is Anime Matsuri in Houston, because they tried to MeToo the showrunner. He HAS to be good people, otherwise they'd never treat him like a threat. And Vic Mignogna went there recently.
The big thing is realizing how large businesses have taken over the convention scene. If it says Comic Con it is owned by the same people as PAX and E3.
For the Pacific Northwest I would recommend the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in Tacoma. 400+ arcade games set free to play and lots of people talking about pinball.
The Portland Retro Gaming Expo is awesome. They tend to have 200 arcade games, a large console gaming area, other areas to game in, contests, shows and everything else. Run by locals and a ton of fun to attend.
Speaking of retro gaming, I can verify that the Houston Arcade Expo is run by good people.
I've been there the past two years, and had a great time each year. They never pressured me about masks or shots, either.
I would absolutely go again this October, but I can't due to family obligations.
So to thank them, I'm giving my endorsement here--if you're in the Houston area in October, check them out!
Why does it have to be fucking Portland?
Honest answer? The convention center in Portland has the rights to every convention in Oregon. No other building is allowed to replace or challenge it. This is why some Oregon conventions are held in Vancouver Washington.
Thanks, didn't know that at all and I hate it.
Momocon (the one I'm going to), is one of the only ones that's still run independently, as I looked into this ages ago and the LLC is owned by a man named Christopher Stuckey.
I feel your pain. I mainly do the smaller conventions now.
Forget about conventions, I don't know where you're going and I won't ask you to doxx yourself or anything for obvious reasons. I feel like more and more these days if you ever go even to a mid-size city you have to treat it like a camping trip to the point maybe you need a literal tent in case you get stranded so I do know where you're coming from but it's a matter of keeping organised.
It's like this with the basics and I've bitched about Birmingham after going to one of Count Dankula's live events there. Have you got water? Did you bring a spare battery pack or even two because modern phones are energy vampires and you could fuck yourself big time not having enough charge on hand. Do you understand the parking system if you know how to drive? Because good fucking luck if you're in a diversified area even seeing a member of staff or speaking to anybody that knows decent English which is a problem that's going to get worse. Have you prepared yourself for a high congestion environment? You may be limited in what you can do depending on the time of day it is and what the weather is like because if it's a nice sunny day you'll get swarmed by people and traffic.
The actual venue Count Dankula organised was nice, I should praise that, but it had to be fucking Birmingham, I feel sorry for the owner. Big rant but it's not just you don't worry. There's a million things you have to deal with now and it becomes more of a chore than is necessary. That's nothing to say of the potential security issues you're going to come across.
Not trying to frighten anybody off necessarily from even going to a city where these events usually are, but always have an escape plan.
This is my third time going to this one, which has been in the same place for the past 10 years, so I'm good on that end.
The worst part IMO is how insanely expensive most hotels and motels are, and Airbnb is often times even worse.
Me, a twenty year staffer who's run four departments, exec'ed twice, and now just works the badge counter cuz it's the most fun job.
100% with you here, boss.
I’m going to an event next week, and I’m already feeling overwhelmed at all the stuff I have to do:
At least I’ve already been working on a list of who and what I want to visit.
Lawl. Remember anime expo cucks wearing masks in 110F weather? Surrounded by tens of thousands of smelly people in literally a giant glass box?
I'm dying of heat stroke just thinking about it. Already dying from this little heatwave as is and I'm wearing as little as I can that stops me from fusing with the furniture. Last place on earth I'd wanna be is a con.