The answer your questions.
MEW con did not exist last year, and I confirmed it would not be happening this year. I decided that the NW, especially the PDX area, benefited from having a convention in that time frame (who doesn't want to celebrate the coming New Year with con family?). So I've taken steps to make that happen.
That said, there are many key differences between the two.
The name was decided without a lot of thought to comparisons (which even with a different sounding name would be drawn due to the time of year). It's a convention to celebrate the passing year, so New just fit.
Differences. Again, I'm addressing these to answer your questions ~ not to say I had an problems with MEW just establishing our difference.
There is no age restriction on Newcon like there was with MEWcon.
Our contests offer cash prizes, which is not something I think MEW did.
We are run by a completely separate staff. This means our ideas and process will be different.
Our basis is a mixture of comic cons, sci-fi cons, and anime conventions. Our goal is to create something unique for all con crowds at the end of the year.
There are probably many other minor differences, but to be more to the point ~ you could say any convention of a type sounds the same but with a different letter (Sak and Kumo for example). You can only really cite two similarities; the time of year and the name.
I would hope that if you enjoyed MEW, you would come try out New and enjoy yourself as much or more. I would also hope if you didn't enjoy MEW, you would come check us out in our first year as we are not the same convention.
It is our goal, weather similar or different to provide a unique, safe, and enjoyable experience for our cultures at the end of the year!
Edit:
I'm not sure what you're looking for in differences. I hope this answered your question. All I can do is update as we add more things to our convention and hope that what we offer is enjoyable and something people would want to do with themselves at that time of year. I personally think it's easy to find ways to compare cons of a genre to each other, but if you look you will see each is run in it's own unique manner.
