Been there, done that. Waiting for a real convention to come!
I’ve never been so disappointed in my life. I was so excited regarding this convention, I thought that it will be something considering the amount of publicity it was done for it but it wasn’t.
I bought my tickets in December and they weren’t even tickets for the first day, they were tickets for the second day of the event. Go figure, I was first from 400 people to buy them and they couldn’t send me tickets for the first day, yet when the first day of the convention came you could find tickets for sale in from of the building. At first I didn’t thought that it will matter that much but it did.
On the second day all the merchandise, the good one I mean, was sold out. The remaining merchandise was either deteriorated, poor quality or just expensive. I mean, the pictures they put on the official site were far from reality. I could’ve found better plushies in a second hand shop.
The so called Japan Wing was a major let down!
I was expecting to buy some manga’s, maybe a plushie. Something nice, like the last year when I went home with a Chopper plushie and a notebook with Totoro.
Instead all that I bought were 2 posters (from One Piece, one of them was ripped but for 5 Ron a piece it didn’t matter) a bookmark (One Piece again), which was fan made and a t-shirt with Mo&Foca from Robotzi, which was probably the best thing there. And just to clarify things, the t-shirt was for Johnny.
Now, I know most people will criticize me for focusing only on the material side and they will probably say that this convention was for fans to meet and have fun, even to meet celebrities and such.
I know that. I know many people go there to hang out and just enjoy their fandom, but I’m more of the loner type when it comes to fandoms. I like to enjoy a thing but not necessarily share my thoughts and hang out with other people.
There was also an incident that made me laugh: when I was looking for a poster to buy so I wouln’t leave empty handed, I heard a girl saying to her brother “If you see a poster with Luffy just grab it!“. I was like “Really now, I’m going to have to fight with a 12 year old for a poster“.
There were and nice things, the artists that sold their sketches, the kids running around in costumes, the red carpet at the entry, the food and the hope that on the next convention people will actually bring more merchandise!!!
I’m now waiting for Otaku festival in May.
