Katsucon 2017 Convention Report

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Katsucon 2017 Convention Report

The Katsucon 2017 anime convention was held this past weekend from February 17-19, 2017 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD.  Katsucon was just as good as past years and once again reminds everyone why it's the premier convention for cosplay.  The amount of cosplayers strutting their stuff was staggering and the quality and creativity continues to be mind-blowing.  There's no question in my mind that Katsucon has firmly supplanted Otakon as the must go-to convention in this region, especially when cosplay is concerned.

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MAGFest 2017 Convention Report

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MAGFest 2017 Convention Report

The MAGFest 2017 Music and Gaming Festival was held last weekend from January 5-8, 2017 in National Harbor, MD.  There really isn't a whole lot for me to say about this year's MAGFest because it's simply the same great, fun, laid back place for all things video games and music, except continuously bigger.  If rumored speculations are true about attendance this year nearing the 25,000 mark then that is twice as many attendees than the first MAGFest that I attended back in 2014.  MAGFest has become so popular that pre-registration and hotel reservations were being sold out at record paces.

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Anime USA 2016 Convention Report

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Anime USA 2016 Convention Report

The annual Anime USA convention was held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC this past weekend from October 21-23, 2016.  The perennial small to mid-sized con featured much of the same experience as past years which is not necessarily a bad thing.  New this year were themed fandom meetups where fans of a particular show/game/fandom can meet up for either a cosplay photoshoot or just to hang out and talk to like-minded fans.  AUSA also had to share the hotel with another convention that was running simultaneously over the weekend so some of the event and panel rooms were relocated from their usual locations in order to accommodate the situation.

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Otakon 2016 Con Report - Sayonara to Baltimore Edition

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Otakon 2016 Con Report - Sayonara to Baltimore Edition

The annual Otakon anime convention may have originated from Pennsylvania, but after calling Baltimore its home for the last 18 years it's hard to imagine it taking place anywhere else.  For better or worse, the sights and sounds of Inner Harbor have become synonymous with the convention and with the overall Otakon experience.  But just like everything in life, all good things must come to an end.  Otakon has long since outgrown the physical capacity of the Baltimore Convention Center and the BCC itself is woefully aged and decrepit.  Thus Otakon will be moving to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown DC until at least 2024.  The city of Baltimore has pledged that they will do whatever they can to bring Otakon back to the city, but we'll have to wait and see if anything comes to fruition in the next eight years.

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AnimeNEXT 2016 Convention Report

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AnimeNEXT 2016 Convention Report

The AnimeNEXT anime convention took place at its new home in Atlantic City, NJ this past weekend from June 10-12, 2016.  Previously held in Somerset, NJ, AnimeNEXT feels right at home in the larger space that it occupies in the Atlantic City Convention Center.  The location offers a number of places where con-goers and cosplayers can hang out at and take photos which includes the beach, boardwalk, and hidden parks and locales.  The new location should allow AnimeNEXT to continue to grow and thrive after having outgrown the Garden State Exhibit Center.

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Zenkaikon 2016 Convention Report

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Zenkaikon 2016 Convention Report

The Zenkaikon 2016 anime convention that took place from April 1-3, 2016 in Lancaster, PA went by so quickly this weekend and yet there was a lot of awesome fun that still needs to be digested.  The 10th annual Zenkaikon (aka Zenkaikon X) was just as big and wonderful as previous years.  So big that we broke the escalators several times throughout the weekend.  I spent the majority of my time going from various voice actor panels and main events so I didn't actually get to take very many cosplay photos. I'll just have to rely on the collective Internet to relive some of the awesome cosplay that I saw throughout the weekend.

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MAGFest 2016 Convention Report

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MAGFest 2016 Convention Report

The MAGFest 2016 Gaming and Music Festival took place from Thursday, February 18 through Sunday, February 21, 2016 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor, MD.  There's not a whole lot to talk about here since in general it was just awesome.  A place for video game and video game music nerds to hang out, play games, attend concerts, and meet industry guests.  This year was bigger than ever.

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Katsucon 2016 Convention Report

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Katsucon 2016 Convention Report

Another year, another Katsucon anime convention.  It's back and it's bigger and better than ever.  Except, this year will forever be remembered for the Fire Alarm Evacuation that upended the festivities and leaving people stranded in sub-freezing and windy weather.  It wasn't all bad though and many positive things happened to make this a memorable experience.  If Otakon was able to survive the Fire of 2010, then I'm sure that Katsucon will survive the Freezing Fire of 2016.

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AniMore 2016 Convention Report

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AniMore 2016 Convention Report

The first ever AniMore anime convention was held during the weekend of January 22-24, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland.  AniMore is one of several conventions held by Black Materia Inc. and some had looked to it to fill the anime void that Otakon will leave behind once it moves to DC.  All first time cons have their growing pains, but in the case of AniMore some jerk named Jonas decided to ruin the party by dumping 2-3 feet of snow causing travel complications and preventing many attendees, vendors, and panelists from showing up and have caused people to dub this con as BlizziMore or BlizzardCon.  Still, for the small amount of people that braved the storm and bunker-ed down in their hotel rooms there was still enjoyment and merrymaking to be had.

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Anime USA 2015 Convention Report

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Anime USA 2015 Convention Report

This past Halloween weekend I attended the Anime USA 2015 anime convention held in Washington, DC from October 30 through November 1, 2015.  The long-running convention continues to straddle between small and midsize con status and yet somehow they always seem to manage to invite a stellar roster of English Voice Actors from the industry.  This year was no different as they somehow managed to invite the entire English cast from the show Cowboy Bebop.  This included Steve Blum (Spike Spiegel), Beau Billingslea (Jet Black), Wendee Lee (Faye Valentine), Melissa Fahn (Edward), and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Julia and ADR Director for the show).  In fact, they might as well just call this convention "Bebop Con 2015" instead of AUSA.  Other guests at the con included Colleen Clinkenbeard and Brandon Potter.

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