Tag: conventions

Returning to the World I Knew Before

I don’t know if I’ve indicated before, but I have a long history of being a huge nerd.

Or rather, a geek (yes, there is a difference). I wasn’t the techy “build your own computer and digs math” type, which would have classified me as a nerd (by stereotypical standards). No, I have always preferred pop culture and literature, preferring to spend my time playing games and dabbling in a bit of anime. But the biggest highlight of being a geek was going to conventions.

The two biggest conventions I went to were Wondercon, which functions as a mini-Comic Con, situated in Anaheim, and Anime Expo, the largest Anime convention in North America. I went to these conventions every year from when I was thirteen until I went to college, when scheduling began interfering. It got to a point where I kind of got sick of them.

But in college, things changed. For some reason, I had it in my head that I should “grow out” of my geekiness, or at least keep it more private. Perhaps it was because I looked around and saw all the other geeks around me at school made me uncomfortable. They were just too stereo-typically geeky. That’s not to say that some of my high school friends weren’t, but these guys just fit the bill too well.

The disassociation might also have been partially influenced by the fact that I never fit the bit for someone who was geeky. Yeah, I wear glasses and at one point cut my hair short and dressed less-than-pleasantly, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about my face, my figure. I looked more like the kind of person geeks and nerds would wish would be into the same stuff as them. And this isn’t out of an inflation of my own ego. I’ve had enough creepy experiences to know exactly what position I was in. I look more like I belong in a Starbucks.

This was a factor that had always plagued my adolescent years. Especially during the height of gamer gate, where you could get called a fake gamer or fake nerd for just about breathing the “wrong way”. They never judged the people that looked like (stereotypical) geeks and nerds. They judged the people that didn’t.

It didn’t help that my Mom and sister would make fun of me for being a geek. My sister has become more involved in the culture herself in recent years, which has lightened her take on it, but my Mom would always roll her eyes. She still thinks I’m into things that I’m not (i.e: she thinks everything I watch is anime for some reason). She didn’t stop me from being a part of geek culture, but she didn’t much like the fact that I was so into it, either.

So for most of my college years, I kind of kept things under wrap. I stopped investing myself in geek culture for the most part, although I couldn’t help having my closest friends know what I was into. Everything was going fine.

But then, I started to miss the geek world. I started to miss being involved in the newest game, and missed going to conventions. I missed being a geek. I wasn’t going to suddenly stop dressing decent, but I didn’t want to let go of something I actually enjoyed. It was a big part of my life, and it was something cool to do. I got to see artists I follow in person, discover new artists, and find new things that I didn’t know before in geek culture.

So I’ve decided to come back. My Dad says he can get us into Comic Con, and I am planning on going to Anime Expo, so I guess that’s a good start to breaking back in. While I don’t have much time to be “full geek” (I have school and work), I do plan on enjoying the things I once did.

Is Comic-Con Too Big for San Diego?

Every year in July San Diego is able to boast its position as the host of the world’s largest Comic-Con. Tourism skyrockets as thousands of people come from all over the country (and even the world) in order to attend the convention at the San Diego Convention Center near downtown. Every year more people and businesses come, with the former wanting to see what goes on and the later wanting to show off their newest wares. It is really a sight to behold.

There is one big issue with this situation, however. As more and more people and businesses come, the less space at the convention center there is to fit them. In fact, the convention has long outgrown the capacity of the convention center, with booths and events being lined up along the street, as well as filling up the center itself.

Comic-Con is also notoriously packed, with people I’ve spoken to saying that some aisles are almost impossible to go down. As it is such a famous convention, it would only make sense that thousands of people would attend. With the growing lack of space, however, it becomes almost too pack for its own good. Not that that’s going to stop people from coming, but it will make moving around less enjoyable.

San Diego is very aware of this fact. They want to make sure that they can continue to host Comic-Con and keep the economic boost for the city, even making plans to expand the convention center to better fit the convention. Why haven’t they acted on those plans? Well, the answer is simple: the convention would have to move to another city in order for them to expand the convention center.

In order for the convention to run uninterrupted, it would have to temporarily move to another city while the San Diego hall was getting renovated, for who knows how long. The issue here comes from the fact that the new city that gets to host might not want to give it up. Especially with a convention that provides so many benefits to the city, San Diego might not be able to get its own convention back when the construction is all said and done. Especially when the convention goes to cities like Los Angeles of San Francisco.

As a result, San Diego has been pushing it off. But how much longer can they push off expanding? Eventually, they’ll run out of too much practical space, and they can’t just let the convention branch all over downtown San Diego. They’ll eventually just have to expand the hall, and hope that the city Comic-Con goes to is willing to give the convention back.

Going to a Convention: What You Should Do

You might be wondering “why would I need an etiquette guide for a convention? What is there I need to know?” Well, you would think that no one needed an etiquette guide in order to attend a public convention, but that is unfortunately not the case. You see, a surprising amount of people don’t seem to understand the most basic rules of walking around a tight space with a large group of people, sometimes on accident, and sometimes just out of disrespect. Based off of witnessing these broken rules, I am here to provide a small guide for you not to do the same.

Shower before you go. This might seem like an obvious one, but I swear you will pass by someone who smells like they haven’t showered in 3 weeks. Especially at Anime Expo. It’s uncanny how many times I’ve walked down an aisle, only to be hit with the distinct stench of someone who just went to the convention without washing themselves (for who knows how long). It’s gross, and no one wants to smell it.

Never crowd in the center of the aisle. I know conventions, particularly big ones, may be a little disorienting, but don’t stop in the middle of the aisle. Find a place that you can collect yourself off to the side so people can pass by. When you stop in the middle, you force people to have to walk around you, often causing a huge line of traffic. Another obvious one, but it still happens all the same.

Don’t block the paths to booths. Some booths are quite popular, with a popular artist or company displaying their wares, attracting many to see. However, often there are always some people who make it impossible to get inside the booth, causing people to have to push their way through just to see. And then the culprit gets mad at those people for trying to push their way through. Be polite, and always try to let someone in the booth if you can.

The last thing big thing I am going to put is respect the cosplayers. There are always cosplayers milling about, going around for people to take pictures of. Be polite and ask first, however. Don’t come up and demand a photo, and especially don’t come up and touch a cosplayer inappropriately. This is an issue I have witnessed first-hand, where someone asked for a picture then grabbed the breast of a cosplayer. That is not okay, not even if they’re scantily dressed. It’s a character design, not an invitation to harass. They are just trying to enjoy their time at the convention just like you, and you should let them.

Lessons Learned from Tanacon: Never Plan a Convention in a Month

People are still buzzing from the disaster known as Tanacon. It happened over the weekend as a contrarian convention to Vidcon, and quickly gained news for being disorganized, too small for the amount of people that came, and basically a big scam. So what happened?

Well, this all began when popular Youtuber Tana Mongeau felt that she had been snubbed too many times by Vidcon, who wouldn’t give a content creator’s pass, even as she starred in Escape the Night, one of Youtube Red’s larger shows. Finally, she had decided she had had enough, and decided to make a convention of her own, meant to be a fun place for her and her fans. The move was bold and inspiring, but there were a series of missteps that ultimately led it to being considered one of the worst conventions ever.

The first misstep? Trying to plan an entire convention in a month. Such a move is utterly impossible. It takes many years in order to start a convention, and none are ever perfect from the start. The fact that she tried to plan a convention in a month with no previous experience and nothing really planned is bold- too bold for a newbie.

But you know, the result of a month’s planning wouldn’t have been so bad had there not been over 5,000 people in attendance. This came as a result of Tana promising the option of free tickets, wanting it to be open to all. Tanacon gave free tickets to those who reserved online in May. For VIP or FFC (featured fucking creators), you have to pay $65 and $70 (plus $12 tax) respectively, which were supposed to allow you to skip the line and get a guaranteed spot for meet-and-greets. However, when it came down to it, there was no different lines for the VIP and the regular, and it seemed more people had bought the VIP passes than the free ones.

People also flew out from all over the country to come, wanting to see the larger Youtubers such as Shane Dawson, Elijah Daniel, and of course, Tana Mongeau herself. What they got instead was waiting over five hours in a line with no shade, no water, and no food, unable to get into a venue that couldn’t fit anywhere near the number. The line was unmoving, leaving people getting sunburnt and even getting the risk of heat stroke. Some people even went so far as to jump the fence blocking the ticketing booth, throwing passes over to the crowd waiting.

For those who could actually get in the convention, they were sorely disappointed. There was only one hall for people to go around, and the many fun events that had been promised were lacking. Plus, there wasn’t enough space for everyone to attend the meet-and-greets, leaving many people who had reserved tickets left out. Plus, half the people who said they would attend actually couldn’t, having conflicting times for panels at Vidcon. To make matters worse, at the end of the day, security kicked people out, as per order of the fire marshal.

The real cherry on top, however, would have to be the gift bags, which were supposed to have over a $60 value. What people got instead was a bag, stickers, and a condom (this is a kid friendly event). This left people furious. Now there are a few law suits, as people were basically scammed out of around $80+. It’s also a message of how not to run a convention.

The Gatekeepers of Nerdom: The Small but Obnoxious Minority

It doesn’t take a genius to tell that being nerdy is “cool”. It’s been this way for the last decade, with pop culture trends that were once considered “lame” exploding in popularity, and fandom merch being sold at practically every corner. Conventions are appearing all over the place, and old ones (Comicon, Wondercon, Anime Expo) are growing larger every year. In 2015, more than 150 million people in the United States play video games, with 42 percent of Americans playing video games regularly. The nerd is no longer a joke of a subculture.

But for some reason, the news didn’t seem to have spread to one small group, known as the “Gatekeepers of Nerdom”- a group of nerds who argue that nerds are incredibly oppressed, while at the same time zealously trying to disprove the nerdiness of others, particularly of women. They seem to believe that they’re still stuck in 1980, when nerds were the typical bully subject in films. They also seem to believe that girls won’t date them because they’re nerdy, even though they’re really just not getting dates because they harass every girl who shows signs of nerdiness, trying to disprove them wherever they can.

The Gatekeepers are a small group, but are obnoxiously loud on social media, appearing where no one asked them to. Trying to find the “real” nerds seem to be their righteous mission, making many hate them- making the group in turn see themselves as “greatly oppressed”. Acknowledging the ever-growing diversity of the nerdom in any pop culture media is considered to be “SJW bs” by them.

How do they persist? Well, the Gatekeepers seem to push this continuous cycle where they harass people, get made fun of for it, and imagine they’re oppressed, causing them to continue existing. There is also the issue of the purity complex, where minority groups in fandoms, video games, and other aspects will try and prove that they are the most “pure” of anyone else, who is fake because they aren’t. The purity complex is a toxic form of trying to prove realness, especially in the realm of nerd, where there is no real purity. The nerdom has grown so much that finding a “pure” version of a nerd is utterly impossible.

The fortunate thing is, at least, that no one takes the Gatekeepers seriously. How do you take them seriously, when they are viciously trying to “protect” a subculture like it’s still 1980? And their harassment is kind of hilarious in itself. They appear suddenly in your feed, ask a “trivia question” trying to prove that you’re not a real nerd, and get mad when you either answer it correctly or ignore them. They’re not much of a real foe. It is entertaining to watch someone interact with one of them, though.

D23: the World of Disney Fanaticism

With a convention for just about everything with a fan following, for a long time it seemed odd to me that there was no convention for Disney fans (especially growing up in LA, where it was impossible not to meet at least a few people who didn’t go to Disneyland practically every weekend). Disney fans always fascinated me, because there was always a certain quality that struck as almost cult worship. So it seemed odd that I had never heard of a convention devoted to Disney when so many other pop up conventions existed.

That was, until I was seventeen, when one of my old friends mentioned that she and her family had gone to D23.

“What’s that?” I had asked her. She had initially answered that it was a convention devoted to Disney, but when I looked into it, I found it was so much more than that. You see, in its most general form, is Disney’s “Official Fan Club” founded in 2009, which features articles about movie easter eggs, park history, along with character searches and other such Disney-related topics. There are multiple levels of membership for this club, the General membership being free, and the Gold membership being around $80, and the Gold Family membership being $105.

Gaining a membership seems to get you a series of discounts and offers to exclusive Disney items, including jewelry, clothes, toys, and hotel rooms at Disney resorts. Gold members also get early bird access and special prices to the biannual D23 expo. This convention, which happens in Anaheim (right next to the Disneyland Park), and Tokyo (at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort). What happens at this convention? Think of everything related to Disney ever and smash it into a convention (kind of like Comic-con). They have panels for movies, meetings with Disney legends, and plenty of vendors selling Disney items. Oftentimes as well, there will be “exclusive D23” Disney merch, sold only at the convention, making it practically invaluable to Disney fans (I will admit that I have a D23 Japan exclusive tsum tsum hat, but that was a by luck find on ebay). It’s the place to be if you are a part of the Disney-fever club.

And of course, as with any convention, there are plenty of cosplayers, or someone who dresses up as a fictional character. People get in costume as a character anywhere from Disney itself to Marvel and now Star Wars, as thousands of people want to dive fully into the atmosphere of the D23 expo.

I have never been to a D23 expo (nor do I plan on going to one), so I can’t say in great depth what exactly goes on at one of those conventions. But I could probably guess that its exactly what you would expect when you hear the words “Disney convention”.