* WordPress Cucked my content in Early March 2019. Returning to former glory soon–Dodson
Con + Alt + Delete is the finale of the year for many convention goers. This was my 3rd convention ever, yet it felt like my 100th. AnimeCon runs a successful model that builds familiarity and relationships for returning attendees, while celebrating the new and the old. This familiarity allows you to truly indulge in the panels, cosplay meet-ups, gaming tournaments, etc. With endless reasons to love this convention, here are 5 of my top reasons.
(*in no particular order)
Page Mage Library
Traveling libraries are a staple of AnimeCon conventions and The Page Mage is keeping the tradition going. The library is often a refuge from the dissonance of the outside world, a study room for imagination, the catacombs of the facts. Bringing libraries to conventions allow fans to touch the source material, like archeologist finding dinosaur bones, excavating worlds of meaning in some of the smallest details. The Page Mage not only travels to different conventions, but for the most eager fans of manga and comics you can browse their library online at anytime.
Smash Ultimate
We all know that the latest edition of Super Smash Bros is out, but we may of not known that I Play Games would host a Smash Ultimate tournament. I Play Games organized a tournament as well as facilitating the Free For All session. Those moments, along with casuals, gave any Smash fan reason to go to a convention around this time of the year. Smash Ultimate came out December 7th and by the 14th over 60 gamers came to C+A+D with the intentions to win.
Anime Midwest Connection
Being my 3rd convention in my 1st year of con-going, the community of friends I have built makes this fill less like a field trip and more like a vacation. Press duty often is going to events and attending panels, but the privilege of having people you know well allow you to ask questions that would be uncomfortable asking a stranger. Familiar faces included cosplayers who posed with the kids from the Anime Midwest Field Trip, my cousin’s veteran con-goer squad, Kevin Fair and the I Play Games staff, as well as the AnimeCon staff that helped me with my press pass (*THANK YOU RYAN KOPF). Being familiar, while also being accessible off the Blue Line, allowed me to stay later and experience the more mature events in the late evening.
Volunteer Staff
AnimeCon creates one of the most unique volunteer opportunites. My volunteer experience ranged from court ordered community service, raising funds for human traficking victims, and teaching kids how to read. The thought that one could of got my volunteering started off at a nerd convention of this sort makes me wish that I could turn back the hands of time. Whenever I felt lost, confused, or just so happen to be going up an elevator the people rocking the volunteer shirts were like angels who kept things in order.
Conventions are all about community. The Hyatt Regency Theater, C+A+D, and cosplay were the most popular hashtags on my instagram feed; thousands of people flooded social media undergoing the same experiences. This is becoming a trend I am noticing on my social media; the more you network at conventions and talk about nerd culture on social media, the more likely you will start to be aggregated into the same feeds. Whenever I would commute back to Englewood I would see different cosplayers on the C+A+D hashtag posing in spots that I could locate with nautical coordinates. Each convention builds a stronger community online and offline.
Conclusion
AnimeCon hosts awesome conventions. Awesome people attend AnimeCon conventions. Go to AnimeCon conventions. Meet awesome people. Have an awesome convention.
