The Old School Otaku Lounge

Hey all,
After two busy weekends, Emerald City Comicon and Sakuracon are over and done with. I'll list some of my thoughts on both and hopefully I can manage to put up some pictures of my haul. Also, since I attended one right after the other, I cant help but compare the two so there will be some of that too.

Emerald City Comicon was first up. Had a really good time. Tons of people, but everyone was quite friendly and polite and I didn't notice anyone being an annoyance, which admittedly surprised me. Lots of cool stuff to buy and some famous comic creators were there. There were large lines for most of them, but I don't have much interest in the big names other than "I saw him there." Most of the time, I spent in the "artist's alley" area and bought graphic novels from lesser-known folks. I've never even heard of most of what I bought so I don't know how they'll turn out, but I figure I'll put up a little review as I slowly get through them.

Emerald City haul:
Monsters and Dames 2012 (official Emerald City art book)
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (interestingly, art by the same guy who did Manga: The Complete Guide, which I like)
Officer Downe
Cowboy Ninja Viking
Skull Kickers 2
The Last Days of American Crime
Green River Killer - A True Detective Story
(... and a couple other minor things not pictured)
Sakuracon was the next weekend. I went in with some feelings of dread. It seemed more disorganized than Emerald City. Problems from the very start when we walked into the con, we didnt notice any signs or anyone directing us until we got all the way up to the main convention area where we were stopped and asked for badges. I said I wanted to buy one and we were told we had to go back out of the building and a block over to a hotel. Then we had to do some paperwork and finally were able to pay and get our badges and then walk back to the convention center. Seemed really disorganized and unnecessarily complicated. I assume they had their reasons, but they eluded me. The swag-bags ran out right before we got there (about 11:30 AM), which while missing out on free stuff is disappointing, it also meant that we didnt get a map or schedule or any sort of guide to where and when things were happening. A couple times I asked convention staff for directions and they didn't seem to know any more than I did so I had to find it myself (they were also wearing black shirts, which made them difficult to identify).

I guess that con isn't really for me. I wanted to go in and spend some money on some cool crap, but it seemed much more like a hangout for teens. A lot of vendors selling knickknacks and snacks and what not, which I have no need of. There were some vendors selling DVDs and manga but I'm spoiled by ebay and Amazon. I dont want to spend cover price on books or 30 bucks on a DVD when I can go online or to just about any store and get it for a fraction of the price. It would have to be special or rare or something to make it worthwhile. I remarked to my friend that it was like being back in a Suncoast store.
The Sakuracon "artist's alley" was also a drag. I was really looking forward to it, but it was almost all amateurish, effeminate drawings of the latest anime characters or My Little Pony stuff. Don't get me wrong, props to those people for drawing what they like and selling it and most of it was better than what I could do. Still, it just wasn't for me and I certainly didn't see anything I wanted to buy and hang on my wall. I was really hoping to buy from people who were doing their own comics and selling them there, but there was very little of that.
Oh and while I'm complaining about things, what is it with people carrying little stereos around and blasting their own music as they walk around the con? I must have seen a dozen different people doing that at Sakuracon and it was obnoxious each time.

The next day of Sakuracon, however, was awesome. Not because of anything the convention did, but because one vendor had dozens of boxes of manga volumes on sale for 50 cents. My friend and I spent pretty much the entire day there and ended up with about 130 books between us when we left. It seemed like the busiest booth at the con. I also bought "Whisper of the Heart" on DVD from the same booth. DVDs were 3 bucks. I have no idea how they were making a profit selling it like that, but I wasnt about to complain.

Sakuracon haul:
Some of these were whims (because, hey, fifty cents) and after a chapter or two, may end up in the "take to Goodwill" pile.
(Not pictured is Case Closed (aka Detective Conan) DVDs seasons 1 - 5)
So, awesome booth on Sunday aside, I guess maybe Sakuracon just isn't for me. Not so much because it was executed poorly, but because I think I'm just too out of touch with whats popular in anime these days to enjoy it. I also didn't feel like anyone was selling anything I couldn't easily obtain elsewhere. At Emerald City, I went over-budget and wanted to buy more. At Sakuracon, I came in way under budget because I couldn't find anything else I wanted to spend my money on. I will definitely go back to Emerald City Comicon, but Sakuracon, I'm not so sure. If they offered a one day pass for 30 bucks or so, it would make the idea much more appealing to me.

Armblessed wrote:So, awesome booth on Sunday aside, I guess maybe Sakuracon just isn't for me. Not so much because it was executed poorly, but because I think I'm just too out of touch with whats popular in anime these days to enjoy it. I also didn't feel like anyone was selling anything I couldn't easily obtain elsewhere. At Emerald City, I went over-budget and wanted to buy more. At Sakuracon, I came in way under budget because I couldn't find anything else I wanted to spend my money on. I will definitely go back to Emerald City Comicon, but Sakuracon, I'm not so sure. If they offered a one day pass for 30 bucks or so, it would make the idea much more appealing to me.

We were to cover the event but were disappointed once again for the turnout for the Japanese guests from the anime industry. Especially Michihiko Suwa's signing...what the hell, for a packed event, why only two dozen people at his autographed signing. Grrr...

So, awesome booth on Sunday aside, I guess maybe Sakuracon just isn't for me. Not so much because it was executed poorly, but because I think I'm just too out of touch with whats popular in anime these days to enjoy it. I also didn't feel like anyone was selling anything I couldn't easily obtain elsewhere.

I'm glad you had that one good booth, anyway. Coming away from a dealer's room with at least *something* that you couldn't get elsewhere or for less money is always a key to feeling like a con was a worthwhile trip, imo.

The last anime-con experience that was a positive experience that way for me was Anime Central some years ago. It had been pretty much a bust the whole time, and then the last day, as I was doing my final spin around the dealer's room before heading home, there was a guy who'd put up a few Fruits Basket items that were the sort of thing only available through Hana to Yume's little "send in the card and we'll have a drawing" thingies. I got an art-print collection that I've never seen for sale anywhere else at *all*, so it was a real thrill.

If you want a con with a *great* artist's alley (assuming this hasn't changed since I was there), Anime North in Toronto is pretty amazing. Big space filled to the brim with all sorts of really *quality* artists. It's the only anime con that I've ever felt really excited to go through the artist's alley.

I've always been impressed with the caliber of artists in the AA at Anime North. There are a lot of really talented people in this town. You ever coming back up to AN, Jen? Anime North is only six weeks away!

^Unfortunately, I don't see myself getting back up to AN any time soon. They seem to always have it on Memorial Day weekend (in the U.S. - not sure if it's a holiday weekend in Canada?), and that's always a crowded weekend for me. My parents always host a big family reunion that weekend (so I'm at least semi-obligated to help mom with prep, etc), there's another (non-anime) convention that weekend that I like attending, plus my birthday's always either on that weekend or right around it. It's kind of a pain.

They do seem to like having it on the US Memorial Day weekend. The weekend before is Victoria Day, which is a holiday up here, maybe the staff likes having the extra day off work to prepare. It does come in handy, actually.

AN is a pretty good show, the attendees are getting younger like at every other show, but they're pretty well behaved, and the convention lets me do some crazy panels so I can't complain. I've been on staff since 2005.

In the words of Happosai, WHATTA HAUL on those manga! I see some I woulda picked up myself. I heard that Half Price Books may have been at Sakuracon, I wonder if that was who was selling them?

I'm actually a local here in Washington, so I've been to both conventions. Emerald City is definitely more artist friendly and more organized.

Sakuracon on the other hand, I've been going for well over 10+ years and it's always got something wrong with it. Speaking from an artist's stand point, don't even get me started on how they treat artists. Though I've only sold there twice, I was pretty much the only person selling anything related to the 80's-90's generation on anime, which made me pretty popular, I actually made profit when I went a few years ago. I did happen to go this year, just as an attendee, but most of it was deco/frilly girl stuff and MLP. No one had anything I was looking for either. I hope to sell there next year.

ryoran wrote:In the words of Happosai, WHATTA HAUL on those manga! I see some I woulda picked up myself. I heard that Half Price Books may have been at Sakuracon, I wonder if that was who was selling them?

You are correct! it was indeed Half Price Books. I had to buy a new bookshelf just to store my silken treasures. I overheard the employees talking about doing similar sales in the future, but there aren't any stores near me in Oregon.

ryoran wrote:Sakuracon on the other hand, I've been going for well over 10+ years and it's always got something wrong with it. Speaking from an artist's stand point, don't even get me started on how they treat artists. Though I've only sold there twice, I was pretty much the only person selling anything related to the 80's-90's generation on anime, which made me pretty popular, I actually made profit when I went a few years ago. I did happen to go this year, just as an attendee, but most of it was deco/frilly girl stuff and MLP. No one had anything I was looking for either. I hope to sell there next year.

I definitely plan on going to Emerald City again and really looking forward to it, but thinking I'll pass on Sakuracon. Its just not worth the drive and the 60 dollar entrance fee. Glad to hear your wares are related to a more appealing generation of anime, though! You'll have to let us know what you'll be selling.

Oh wow, dang. I even attended Friday and Saturday, I must've passed it up. :/ I hope they do that in the future. I'm around at least 3 I visit regularly, a fourth when I'm in the area. But only two of them sell discounted manga, and usually from $3.00 and under. So you can imagine I go there constantly for at least a bi-weekly manga haul. XD;;;

Yeah, I went as an attendee for the first time again in 2-3 years, and I've outgrown it. I'd only go back to Sakuracon as an artist in the alley, if anything. This year I might be sharing a table with my sister, who won first place in the mascot contest this year (her mascot is on the site). But since I'm moving in Feb it might be too soon for me to do Sakuracon. But I definitely plan on going to Emerald City, I haven't been since it changed to a 3-day convention. I'd love to sell there someday too. Usually I just do prints, posters, keychains, and commissions. I know I definitely want to have Ranma 1/2 stuff, I always do. The rest are usually suggestions or anything else I'm into the 3 months before the convention.