Hey guys,
I should have posted this weeks ago, but in October I attended Autumn Dream (formerly known as Ani-magic). This was actually the first convention that I have attended and overall I thought that it was a pretty good convention. It was held Saturday, October 18th through Sunday, October 19th. I attended on Sunday, so I wasn’t able to attend the concert or the cosplay contest, but I was able to listen to the voice actor panels and had the ability to look at the fan art that was on display in artist alley. Probably the most interesting part of the convention was the Kyle Hebert discussion. In his panel, he talked about his career, did a Q&A session and had people from the audience read voice actor scripts from Naruto. There were a few good ones and one was able to do a pretty good maniacal laugh. ^_^
The dealer area was pretty extensive for a convention of this size. Their were various booths that displayed a variety of merchandise. Plushies, manga, figures and everything in between, including of course the plastic swords and the 18+ hentai fan books. I managed to pick up a small figure of Nagato from Haruhi and a few posters.
The attendees were really great to meet and to talk to. One happened to complement me on my cosplay outfit, which was nice to hear. It was really fun when everyone got up on stage to dance to the music of Thriller and Rocky Horror Picture Show (being near Halloween and all). Some got really into it and did solo dances.
So in all it was a pretty good convention. Afterwards I learned a lot about what you should and shouldn't do at a convention. Here's a small list of them.
Do
- if cosplaying, have a bag or wear a costume with pockets to hold your stuff
- look at everything in the dealer hall before making a decision on what to buy.
- Bring extra batteries for video and digital cameras
Don't
- take other people's manga (even if it's Yaoi)
- have a swordfight (even if its part of an opening theme song to the series)
- buy swords (all sales are final!)
From a overall standpoint, the staff in my opinion was on the ball as far as timing and properly informed everyone of upcoming activities. The site that the convention was held was very well suited for an event of this magnitude and the dealers were well stocked and had a good variety of things to choose from. Overall I can say that if you are in the Los Angeles area when Autumn Dream comes around, you should definitely check it out. ^_^
On a final note, I actually recorded video of the convention and the Kyle Hebert panel and hope to have it finished and edited soon. When I do I'll post it on this page so everyone can enjoy it.
That's it for now. See you guys later. ^_^
