New to Kumoricon

[killblazer]

Hey, my name is Jared and this will be my first time coming to Kumoricon. I am planning on cosplaying as Suzaku Kururugi in his Knight of the Round outfit. This will be the 2nd Anime convention I have ever gone to. The first Convention I went to was Sakuracon just earlier this year. At Sakuracon, I entered into the AMV Contest but I have decided not to participate in Kumoricon's. I hear the hotel staff can be rude at times but hopefully that won't ruin the experience for me . I just had a couple of questions to ask everyone.

What do you enjoy doing the most at Kumoricon?

What are the events that I must see or will regret missing if I do?

And, How was your first experience at Kumoricon?

[Ticra]

haha. Welcome to k-con!
This'll be my second kumori-con; my fifth convention overall. (I too, went to sakura-con)
The hotel staff isn't THAT bad, I think we just overwhelmed them last year. The biggest problem was just that they didn't know where to put all of us and it frusterated con-goers and staff alike. Just be nice and understand to them and they will more than likely do the same for you. In my experience, they weren't anywhere near as mean as the angry lady that always runs the escalators at sakura-con. O_O she was scary.

The first thing you have to realize is that K-con is WAY different than sakura-con. The atmosphere is totally different. It's so much smaller and more communal. There is less space, but more time to be spent talking with other con-goers or going to events or hanging out down in the shopping area. Also, I find it WAY fun to walk around portland with my group. If you think people have no idea what's going on in Seattle during sakura-con; you haven't seen anything yet. It's amazing! But always go with a group! It's so much safer.

Points of note. The artist alley and sellers, at least last year, were in a really weird part of the building? their in a parking garage, off to the side of the hotel and it's kind of hard to find. Also, because of fire safety laws, they had to regulate how many people could go in and out of that area (and several other areas) and so there was a line. If you wanna shop, do it early, or plan time to wait.

Kumori-con is much less an event based thing. Like at sakura-con I find our group running around every which way to get to events. Kumori-con has a lot more down time which I prefer, as I like love crowd watching. But I personally enjoy the anime dating game. It's much more Pg than the sakura-con one, and it's wonderfully hilarious. DEFINITELY GO. Most of the other events I attend aren't happening this year becuase guests phil and kaja pholio aren't going to make it this year to the event. Which makes me a little sad, but alright.

My first year at kumoricon was amazing. REally fun, but go into it with an open mind. It's really a lot diffeent from sakuracon. But the fun and the people are all the same. Crazy. ENJOY!

Cheers.

[veraca]

Welcome!

I think it really depends on what you go to conventions for. Are you going for the costumes, the socializing, the purchases, or just to do something?


What do you enjoy doing the most at Kumoricon?
I like people watching while taking a break from walking around or waiting in lines to eat. Relaxing at busy events is important I've learned.

What are the events that I must see or will regret missing if I do?
If you can get a good seat or listen well, try for Cosplay Chess, but the Cosplay Contest really is one of the biggest events I believe. You get to see what people are into and how people try to do costumes to work from the characters and for their body types. Staying in high traffic areas for photo-ops are just as fun!

And, How was your first experience at Kumoricon?
My first experience at Kumori was in 07 and while it was tiny, it was fun for just one day. I really didn't expect the socializing that goes on, so be prepared for lots of people who are generally all pretty friendly.

[killblazer]

Thanks for the replies. As for what I want from a Con, well I don't even really know myself  . I'm going to guess more along the lines of socializing. When I went to Sakura-con, I just went there with the intention of having fun. I was really surprised when just minutes after arriving and going up one of the escalators to find some girl who wanted to hug me. At the time I didn't know about all the hugging at these conventions.

I will make sure I attend the Cosplay Chess event and anime dating game. I did go to the Sakuracon Anime Dating game lol, it was hmmm interesting . And thanks for the heads up about the artists alley. I went to Sakura-con alone and I am doing the same for Kumori-con. Its a pain when you don't have many friends who are interested in anime

[Kallika]

Welcome! I'm also pretty new to K con myself (last year was my first year AND my first con). For my first con experience it was really fun, there were a few problems but nothing too bad. I'm pretty you'll have fun yourself.

Last year I mostly enjoyed hanging out with new people. I didn't go with a group so I was alone (mostly) but other people invited me to hang out with them and it was really fun.

Well, events are mostly a personal preference, but I liked dodge ball and the dances and the concert.

I had soo much fun last year It made me not be able to wait until this year to go again!

I hope you enjoy your time here and make some friends.

[Ticra]

yeah the sakura-con dating game crosses the line a LOT. I don't like their version, but the kumori-con version is just enough to make you blush every now and then, but still be really funny and not to embarressingly gross. There is a big line for it, (its one of the more popular events) so if you wanna make sure its your thing, there are videos on youtube of last year's event.

It's too bad you don't have a group, I perfering con-going as a big crew, but don't be afraid to socialize! as you learned last year we con people don't have many scruples in that department.

[Kimiski]

Yo!!!
I've seen you adding to the evil ranks of men in the female vs male thread! lol. j/k

Hopefully this Kcon will be a lot better then last year, after every Kumoricon attendee almost revolted against the hotel staff. xD
Things you must not miss at Kumoricon are (in my opinion) the cosplay contest, AMV contest and the first dance when all the anime music is played. Especially after hours when the minors leave, then people get crazy! The Anime Hunters panel as well is really funny, and anything with former bakazoku members. I like going to all the main events, the panels and just walking around looking in on different things tyo do and just go cosplay sight seeing. I've never been to any other con, but I hear people who have been to both Kcon and Sakura Con say Kumoricon is a lot more friendly and homey feeling. I don't think saying much about my first experience will say how Kumoricon is today, since my first time was in 2004 back when Kumoricon was still starting out. A lot less people then, lol.

[killblazer]

Yo!!!
I've seen you adding to the evil ranks of men in the female vs male thread! lol. j/k

Hopefully this Kcon will be a lot better then last year, after every Kumoricon attendee almost revolted against the hotel staff. xD
Things you must not miss at Kumoricon are (in my opinion) the cosplay contest, AMV contest and the first dance when all the anime music is played. Especially after hours when the minors leave, then people get crazy! The Anime Hunters panel as well is really funny, and anything with former bakazoku members. I like going to all the main events, the panels and just walking around looking in on different things tyo do and just go cosplay sight seeing. I've never been to any other con, but I hear people who have been to both Kcon and Sakura Con say Kumoricon is a lot more friendly and homey feeling. I don't think saying much about my first experience will say how Kumoricon is today, since my first time was in 2004 back when Kumoricon was still starting out. A lot less people then, lol.

Thanks for the info ill make sure I attend those panels. As for the Male vs Female thread , I feel like I am the only guy posting!! lol

[Washougal_Otaku]

Greetings, killblazer!

My name is Washougal_Otaku, (duh, Aaron!  ), and I've been staffing since 2006.  For me, it's hard to say what I enjoy doing most at KCon, because it's just a huge blast!  I'd recommend the AMV show, the cosplay contest show, and the comedy stand-up show (which will be new this year).  There's also a wide variety of panels to attend where you can learn various things, such as cosplay techniques, Japanese history, and playing various games.

My first KCon experience, I was staffing as a guest liaison; my guests were Tiffany Grant (my favorite voice actress) and Piano Squall.  It was a rewarding experience getting to know both of them.

[killblazer]

Stand up comedy show, that sounds really entertaining I'll make sure I attend it, thanks.

[Develynia]

This will be my second time attending Kumoricon and my second con in general so I'm still pretty new to it myself. I hope you have a great time and maybe we'll bump into each other.

I'm in it to have fun, socialize, check out the artists and cosplay myself. I'll be there as Grell Sutcliff. See you there!

[killblazer]

This will be my second time attending Kumoricon and my second con in general so I'm still pretty new to it myself. I hope you have a great time and maybe we'll bump into each other.

I'm in it to have fun, socialize, check out the artists and cosplay myself. I'll be there as Grell Sutcliff. See you there!

Hopefully we both have fun , I will be going as suzaku kururugi and I can imagine myself just lingering around when there are no big events happening just socializing or viewing other peoples cosplay.

[Kimiski]

Owwww a new event! *is excited* 

A great tip for new con goers... always look over the events schedule, what you wanna go to, and what rooms they are in before the convention! Also always show up early to the large events and make sure you get tickets to guarantee yourself a spot in the ticketed events. The schedule should say which ones are ticketed, those are usually like Cosplay and AMV.

[killblazer]

Tickets huh, that is something I didn't know. Do they have the tickets because their is a limit to the amount of people that can be in the room? Anyways, where might I get a ticket for an event such as the AMV contest?

[Kimiski]

Tickets huh, that is something I didn't know. Do they have the tickets because their is a limit to the amount of people that can be in the room? Anyways, where might I get a ticket for an event such as the AMV contest?

Yeah cause the room can only sit so many people
They usually hand them out at the info desk, and then when the info desk closes you go to the yojimbo office.
They have signs and maps to find all those.

And I don't know how they're doing it this year but to get in 18+ events last year you needed state Id, Kcon badge and you had to go to the yojimbo office to get your hand stamped.

[Wuntvor]

I just wanted to mention this because I felt bad for them last year.  GO TO THE GOH PANELS!  KCon pays these people to come and provides them room and board.  It sucks when only 20 people actually go into the room to see them.  I felt so bad for Cynthia Martinez last year when almost nobody showed up.  There were probably 100 people just outside the door "socializing" on the second floor.