Why does the East Coast treat cosplay related events so much

East and West coast con culture is just incredibly different in a LOT of ways. It's still possible to get free photos on the west coast, meanwhile greenbox newbies are charging 150$ for three photos at Katsu. AB and Ota both focus a lot on getting asses in chairs due to space constraints, so any big draw event gets hyped, but the weather out West is always nice and people can wander around outside doing shoots instead. Lots of factors culturally.

But probably the answer has to do with how incestuous most con staff is. A lot of people work for multiple cons in their own geographic areas, so ideas like 'featured cosplay event' will happen at con A because one person really pushed for it and then it gets spread to con B, C, and D because those staffers also worked at con A, and eventually it becomes a tradition and gets blowm up. Meanwhile nobody on the opposite coast works any of those cons so even if they wanted to start something there's a lack of knowledge for logistics which makes it tough.

AB does a good job with cosplay events, though. Much better than a hundred "ask-a-character" panel cringefest.

Toracon's cosplay chess only works because it's a college club that gets to work on it all year. Outside of a condensed community like that it's hard to pull off something like that and also it took them years to refine the process and is only helped by the fact some graduates are still around. Previous years were awful and gave 10 minutes of stage time to terrible gags. With a regular con taking community volunteers you would have too much turnover and flakes.

Also west coast has a lot of game shows and it's own unique panels like Banzai Arcade. Both coasts have plenty of wtf "ask a ____" panels and even Toracon has that guy who runs a "Miku Hatsune concert" which is just projections from his laptop. Still it has caused headaches for crowd control for the amount of people who think they're getting a hologram concert.

>>8845873
>katsucon masq

Lol nope, try again

>>8845873
You act like any of things Anime Boston does are anything but embarrassments for all parties present.

>>8846139
Kinda this. People rarely give a shit about con themes except maybe a few costume choices

>>8846144
God forbid someone wants to attend the event listed on the schedule without a fifteen-minute skit by the con staff.

SakuraCon's board members want to ax all cosplay related programming so that is a factor.

>>8846325
wha? i didnt hear this, its gonna be my last year for awhile but still buttmad.

>>8846325
Does that mean they just wont accept any cosplay related panels?

>>8846119
The masq always get top billing. We're talking about non masq related events

>>8848082
Still sorely lacking
All anyone wants to do is chess and photoshoots

>>8848287
> All anyone wants to do is chess and photoshoots

This statement confuses me. Are you saying that every other panel and guest signing is empty?

Then again most other cons people just do photoshoots and signings. Chess is low on people's priorities.

>>8846325
For what purpose?

>>8848408
Keeping on the topic of this cgl board, not other weeb things.

>>8846139
I think its cool that they give the main stage to cosplay and main events

>>8848408
Eh, connecticon's death match (which I believe is its version of cosplay chess) used to be a big event for me and it was really interesting when they kept having these zombie cosplayers come back for a few years. Sadly had to stop going when waiting time got a little too long and it'd take me till one in the afternoon to get into my cosplay.

>>8850885
Cosplay Chess is scripted.

Deathmatch the crowd votes until there is one winner. It's hype as hell

>>8846325
Sauce?

>>8845873
One or two cons is not the entire East Coast. Most cosplay-related shit is shit anywhere, doesn't matter which coast.

>>8852983
> Most cosplay-related shit is shit anywhere, doesn't matter which coast.

That's sturgeon's law in general

>>8846139
Cosplot is literally the worst thing at that con, followed by the rest of the con.

>>8846139
>>8853015
Regardless of how you see the quality of the execution I think the OP raises a good point.

East Coast has cons that both draw big guests but still give ample stage time to make big coplsay/fan events as opposed to just shoving them in panel rooms.

Anime Boston does a good job with their cosplot stuff. Meanwhile their Masq. is a total shit show. The entries are usually pretty decent. But they always use crappy ass judges for both performance and craftmenship.

>>8850885
ConnectiCon events in general.
They all have 15 minute skits and have the same people to go on stage over and over again.
I've been going for 5 years and I've seen like 10 or 12 new cosplayers between the 80 costumes that have been in their events.

Anime Boston is a little better as they only have the annoying skits, but still annoying.
I came to see a death match/ dating game/ chess match, not your cutesy larp-time.

>>8855702
CTCon's masquerade this year finally did away with the cosplot, and while the quality of the masq participants was still shit, the new hosts were freaking awesome. It was so nice to not have to sit through some contrived, drawn out BS while waiting for the next skit.

>>8855702
I'd call Death Match bullshit as its just a pure popularity contest (given how the contestants don't even get a chance to do anything but stand there) but at the same time the show has no pretensions on being an epic battle or showcase of skill so I can respect that.

I feel like OP is making east coast conventions sound a lot better than they actually are. AB ocasionally gets a great music guest but for the most part it's a mass of teenagers running around in flavor of the season cosplay and some literally who webcomic guess. It does have some cosplay workshops but I've yet to jump into one of those.

>>8861022
>most part it's a mass of teenagers running around in flavor of the season cosplay and some literally who webcomic guess.

And you're acting like West Coast cons are any different. Sub out webcomic guests with anime dub VAs and you got us. East Coast brings in more Japanese guests

>>8861079
>East Coast brings in more Japanese guests
Just by virtue of proximity this can't be true.

>>8861079
>East Coast brings in more Japanese guests
Not at all, California is much closer to Japan than the other half of the U.S.
Toronto gets artists for TCAF, which makes sense because so many Asians are in Canada. Like what was already said AB gets a good band every couple years and sometimes NYCC has an artist but besides that there are little to no Japanese guests.

>>8861079
>East Coast brings in more Japanese guests
you're wrong

>>8850885
my favorite Deathmatch was when Bill Nye won. the unscripted nature makes the weirdest shit happen.

>>8855965
good to hear, i stopped going because of that tiresomeness