Anyone going to Project A-kon?

I was going to, and thought jeez, with that high af ticket price.
What made me decide not to was the hotel prices, and how far it is from Houston now. I loved it before, one of my favorite cons

Groupon has a deal if you have anyone to go with you. Makes it $69 per weekend pass, but you have to buy at least 2 passes.

does /cgl/ think that the ticket price combined with location change is going to affect attendance a large amount?

>>9484189
idk about other people, but definitely. several of my friends who go every year are deciding not to go. I wasn't going to, but I feel like some of the guests are somewhat interesting. At least, to me. So I think I might go. It's also extremely close to my house? idk

>>9483795
I'm going to be going. I picked up my tickets when they were $60. They just ran a special where they were $70. I travel to this con and Ft Worth is about the same distance as Dallas, plus the adjacent hotels are $100 cheaper a night. I think all the people freaking and whining about the location change really won't make much of a difference from an attendance standpoint and moving to an actual convention center will be much better for the con itself.

im only going because it's like 30 minutes away from my house

>>9484189
For me it's both. I don't want to deal with the growing pains of a new location plus I want to see if the extra money goes towards making things better next year.

It's going to be my first con, yea. I'm traveling 1500 miles to go to it too, I'm extremely excited!

Bought my tickets when they were $70.

>>9491343
Genuinely curious, why are you traveling so far for a-kon? If I wasn't a TX local I would never look at it

>>9491908
NAYRT but A-Kon is huge. The guests suck but most people don't give a shit about that. I know lots of people who travel from out of state to A-Kon.

>>9484189

I think people will think the attendance is down because the amount of space is do spread out that it's going to probably appear that way.

Most of the guests are local VAs so I'm not really excited about that. I am interested in how much programming they keep boasting about though. I generally spend my time at panels or spending money in the AA. If there's more to do then I'll be happy.

>>9483795
I flew to A-Kon last year and since they moved the location, it's wayyyy farther from the airport. Not going since I'm from out of state, but it looks like they have great fashion guests and other guests.

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>>9483795
I'm driving up from San Antonio alone; Willing to split to stay in a room with some people. Also if you're alone I have some online friends that might go.

I like drinking and making new anon friends
Kik: Kamidere1

21/M

>>9492056
Are you serious, anon? I live right next to the airport and it's only about 10 mins further away?
Are you walking and/or a child so that 10 mins seems like a long time?

>>9492017
As a Texas native I always went because it was close. But my out of state friends loved it, said they had a blast.

It's the second largest for a reason. I'm determined to find out what that reason is, honestly.

>>9484189
>>9484411
>>9491324
>>9492041

Probably. But there was good reason why the change happened and why we switched cities. Only reason i know this is because someone who works along side higher ups (directors) over seeing the whole thing told me in a meeting.

Apparently A-kon WAS planned to still be at the Hilton anatole until last year around August-October. For some reason the Hotel suddenly wanted major changes that would dramitically increase the price by adding a shit ton of security, dozens of metal detectors, limiting the size of the attendees in the convention to 1/4 of last years attendees(imagine how much tickets would cost), and just upcharging the shit out of the con in the contract. At this point, having the con at the Hilton is more of a loss than gain. It honestly sounds like the hotel knows it the only place big enough in that city to hold the con and gave a "fuck you, give me money" move.

So they asked Fort Worth and the city happily let them have it here. This include 3 hotels (Sheraton, Marriot, and the Omni) and the whole Fort Worth Convention center as the locations for the activities.
Idk, with that insight, i understand why the price is that way, but still expensive. Only going this year because volunteering helps.

Oh hey guys! There's also a Texas general going on. I didn't even see this thread. The A-Kon schedule just went up on Guidebook.

>>9496819

Hi Akon PR people

>>9483795
I'll be going for the blazblue tournament regardless, although I do think that the ticket prices are ridiculous and I'll be going alone because my friend that normally goes to cons with me refused to pay so much to get in.

>>9496960
PR or not it's pretty true. Friends with a staffer, the Anatole wanted a 20k cap. But a-kon is a con to make money so they had to leave.

>>9496960

Yeah no, the Anatole had some pretty fucked up rules that they wanted to put in place. I'm super excited and hopeful for Akon now that it has serious room to grow.

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>>9483795
I've been going every year for almost 5 years
The ticket prices suck eggs but that isn't going to stop me
At least this year I have someone special to go with and not just me and my sibling. Not that it was ever a bad thing

is anyone going to the tea party?

>>9501622
Im going to the teaparty! A lot of my lolita friends going to akon arent tho because of the cost of the regular con tickets, maybe ill see ya there?

bought a ticket in a fit of impulsiveness, so i guess i'm going. as for cosplays.... no idea???

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>>9501625
ooo fun, would be nice to see a fellow gull

>>9496819
The Hilton is also part of the convention.

>>9501622
>>9501625
Count me in, too! Glad I'm not the only gull.

>>9504077
I'm also going. Gonna be my first tea party.

What is up with the Taku Takahashi concert listing on the schedule? If he's a guest he's not listed anywhere this year. I'll be pissed if he is because then I would have actually bothered to buy a ticket when they were $70. Nothing this con can do will justify a $90 weekend pass, that's the same price for an AX badge with a quarter of the content.

>>9501622
>>9503305
>>9504077
Wanna make a line groupchat or something so we can meet eachother at the tp and maybe plan outfits n what not? Most of my comm is going but i dont really connect with them too well...
My line id is juicekaboose btw

>>9504110
Whoops meant to reply to you as well! Its gonna be my first brand teaparty too!

>>9504304
I like all the fucks who keep comparing about AX badge cost. Are you also dropping $500-$1000 to get to LA and stay in a stuffed hotel with 8 other people? Do you know that $90 only gets you through the door in AX but if you want to actually see a panel you have to camp at a line for half a day for any chance to get in? They even charge extra to go the same rave that you'll get into for free to A-Kon.

AX is an anime con pretending to be a fleecing event which you have to pay out the ass to do anything beyond walking around their dealer room, passing out in Artist Alley and walking around the LA convention center. To the uninformed fucks they think its Mecca. It's not and I have gone there.

>>9504526
That sounds good! My ID is nidoqueens.

I'll admit this is my first lolita event after being out of the loop for a few years. I do remember liking the DFW comm and still talk to a few of the members every once in a while.

>>9504618
Except AX takes themselves far more seriously with their content than A-kon ever will. I can't remember the last time A-kon invited a guest that made me think, wow! That really makes my badge price worth it!! Everyone knows A-kon is the same stale bullshit year to year and the amount of people complaining about the price vs value of the con should be enough for them to realize they need to step it up and upgrade to match the rest of the cons in the country. Also last A-kon, I paid for a badge and couldn't even get into 3/4 of the damn panels because surprise, people were camping out. Paying $150+ to get in and see music acts I would only get to see if I booked a flight to Japan? Sure. $90 for a con with American guests only that have shown up for previous years and a laughable local rave lineup with DJs that get so fucked up they blow out the speakers? No thank you.

>>9483795
I used to.

Honestly, I suggest AnimeFest instead.

>>9505026
>Implying you can't go to both

Being poor must be sad.

>>9492017
I used to drive in from Louisiana... but after going to most of the cons from Louisiana, A-kon has gotten progressively shittier over the years. I haven't been back in 5 years. Seriously, 2000 was my first A-kon. Heads don't listen to criticism, they make stupid decisions, things don't run efficiently.

>>9504948
For some reason, Texas cons don't get many decent guests. You might get one notable director here and there, but for good JP industry guests, go to the coasts.

I was wondering what other people's thoughts are on the fast passes. Last year they pissed me off because I hadn't heard anything about them until the second day and even then, most people had no clue what they were, staff included. It just seemed like a more-money tack on at the last second.

This year I feel they were much more up front about what they were and what they're good for. I still know that it means without one, you're not going to get into many popular events. I've been to other cons that thrive on higher level support/sponsor/premium/etc memberships. Because I can afford it, it's a welcome change for me. How does everyone else feel?

https://discord.gg/xhrNxxr
discord for texas gulls with an emphasis on akon since most of the server is going.

>>9505188
I still don't get it. What is it exactly?

The tea party sold out and they added more tickets. About 80 rsvp'd on fb, so I'd say...they added 20 more slots? Get yours now gulls.

>>9505082
Animefest got the creator/mangaka and both directors for Yuri On Ice. I'm pretty sure you've been living under a rock if you don't think those are good guests from Japan.

Swap meet?

>>9507611
J-Fashion Swap is Friday 8-9:30 PM
General Swap is Sunday 8AM-2PM
Doll A-Kon Swap is Thursday 2:45-3:45 and Sunday 12pm-1
Ita bag Show and Swap is Sayurday 10-11AM

Get the damn Guidebook app

>>9507618
Correction: is anyone GOING to swap meet.
>get the damn guidebook app
Why would I do that when I can predict the entire three day lineup?

>>9507622
Which meet? There are 4 different ones.
>Why would I so that when I can predict the entire three day lineup?

It's four days now (con starts at noon Thursday), and there are 4 different buildings for panels and events. I don't think you can predict shit, anon. You don't even know how long the convention is. Stop embarrassing yourself.

>>9507624
Are people on /cgl/ this lonely that they get this easily offended?

>>9507622
I'm going to all of them. Which one are you going to and what are you bringing? I don't want to make you witness the doll haul if you're not even into that.

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Anybody know if a good party is happening? My friends are only possibly coming a couple of nights.

>admin on the facebook page said it costs 3 mil to run this event

Bullshit. They must mean over 50% of that is going into their salaries.

>>9491324
>plus I want to see if the extra money goes towards making things better next year.

Akon has been making bank every year on ticket prices for the last decade. If they were going to improve something, they would have already did so. The only reason they were forced to move cause the hotel did not allow them to do anymore cons at their place. They've been running this convention as lazily as possible for years. But as a vet, no one listens to people like me so I've given up on akon.

Anyone go to the tea party? How was it?

>>9508320
It hasn't happened yet?

>>9508320
It's next weekend.

>>9508310
It is what it is. A-Kon has been going on for almost 30 years now. It's not going to suddenly improve this year or next year or even ten years from now. A-Kon is (unfortunately) aware that they're essentially too big to fail. Everyone knows about A-Kon. My normie friends know about A-Kon. Hell, I've even seen some of them at A-Kon. The con knows it doesn't have to be good. It just has to be there and it will make money. I know a lot of DFW people will just go to A-Kon and Anime Fest. A-Kon for the fact that it's huge, brings people from out of state, and is essentially the South's party con. Anime Fest because it's a damn good convention.

>>9508334
>spending $90 to party

I know clubs that charge less.

>>9508334
A-Kon is a con for all people. It tries to be an anime con but it isn't. It doesn't want to be associated as a party con but it is. Anime Fest is an anime con but it doesn't have the party con reputation nor does it appeal to norms so it stays in A-Kon shadow. Weebs love Anime Fest but they only bring their weeb friends. A-Kon brings all their friends to the con.

>>9484189
Late as all fuck, but I've been going since 2007 without missing and fuck this place.

>>9504948
I can't agree with you more, and all of these anons that want to throw it in your face when you can't justify going to the convention anymore are just salty. Like, A-kon hasn't been anything special, and it hasn't changed, for the past few years. It's gotten too crowded in the first place, and you often can't even get to the things you want to go to without lining up three hours in advance and just wasting a ton of time.

>>9508337
But where else can you find underage traps. Not at clubs.

Pretty much the worst convention that I've gone to, and I went to the first year of Yulecon. Too much space with not enough going on, panels were shit up until 7 p.m. most days, volunteers were jabronis about dumb shit, no impressive cosplays, artist alley stuffed in the back of the dealer's room and booths crammed together to the point that it was daunting to look at all the shit they were trying to sell, popcorn was just as salty as I was.

>>9515717
>too much space
At this point it's better than too little. I'd rather walk a little bit and get some fresh air than do the shoulder-to-shoulder shuffle and get some weeb's BO on me every day.

The panel scheduling is a very valid complaint though. As per usual there weren't many good-looking panels (though Vitamin H did a good job as usual), and with all the good ones ending up at 11 pm... that's an issue for people commuting, like me. If I get to the con at 9 am to see the things I want to see I don't want to end up leaving the con at 1 am because that's the only way I could see good programming. I've seen some cons force all the 18+ programming to late times but that obviously wasn't the case because several 18+ panels were in the afternoon.

>>9515963
I mean, I can see where you're coming from with the spacing thing, it was nice to be able to have some of it outdoors. I guess what I'm saying is that this was the first year volunteering, and some of the hotels weren't even hosting anything relevant. I was panel support for the Hilton, and one of my panels had literally three people in it. It seemed like if they were more selective with their panels that they wouldn't even need some of the side hotels. As well, there were kon patrol goons making sure that people didn't go through less walked through paths, like behind the escalators, which seemed dumb because they were funneling us by the staircases where people weer gawking at awful weebs singing weeb anthems. On top of that, I had several panels that I was overseeing have two programs assigned to the room at the same time, only to find that they hadn't updated the guidebook to let con-goers know that they were wasting their time going to that one room. It was a mess.

>>9515997
but that $90 premium price!

>>9515997

Hilton had all the steampunk events. There's your problem.

>>9515717
I've only heard horrible reports of A-Kon. No artists made money, everyone was miserable, etc. I came in to check how CGL fared. I'm so glad I skipped this year.

>>9516655
Artists didn't make money because they were all charging $20 for their 11x17 prints. Maybe be more reasonable on your pricing and you'd make the money.

>>9517337
$15-20 is pretty standard, no?

>>9517438
I think last year prints were around $10-15 each

>>9517337
>>9517438
It's very standard. I don't know why Anon is crying. Guess they're a broke bitch.

It was tough to see all the different things each artist had with how narrow and crowded the aisles were. I know I had to go through the AA about four times over two days just to be sure I had actually seen every part of each booth. People kept stopping to chat with the Artists or take pictures of cosplays and there was only about 6-8 feet (if that) of aisle so it really wasnt a great traffic source.

Also, the autograph tables were right past the AA so if someone had a longer line they wrapped it around to block the main back aisle of traffic between the autograph tables and AA.

They stuck the lesser cosplay guests (Byndo Gehk, Alison Tabitha, Ani-Mia, and maybe one or two more?) at the back of the AA so they were blocking the ends of the aisles by chatting with the very few visitors/fans I saw at their tables. Yaya Han had her booth to the side in the Dealers area which was a much better location for chats and questions.

Cosplay wise I only saw a few good ones, mostly Final Fantasy and Overwatch characters.

Also, the gaming room closed at about 3 on Sunday which was a pretty stupid time.

>>9517438
$15-20 is the standard and has been for several years now. It's not like artists just raised all their prices suddenly.

The only people upset at an artist selling superior art for $5 are those selling their horrible styles or frankly poor art for $15-20. Sorry that you can't be better or pull the stick out of your ass and sell for what your art is worth! :)

>>9517587
I agree. I'm pretty sure the good artists weren't complaining.

>>9517438
>>9517456
>>9517522
I'm willing to pay 15-20 dollars on good shit that has technical skill put into it and doesn't entirely rely on "personality" as a crutch. I don't know how half of those people got in considering most of it was art made with the line tool that you'd see children uploading to DA and the rest was ugly and/or over-exaggerated tumblr art. Sick of seeing these saccharine, gushy pieces of characters crying.

At least I met my favorite artist, she was nice and her stuff wasn't overpriced. Feels good.

>>9517587
To be quite honest with you family, very little that was there was even worth the materials they were printed on.

I feel like if voice actors and cosplay guests are going to be in AA, they should be in their own section. I know Vic had a booth that I never saw him at and there were a few cosplayers that I hardly even saw at their booth.

Sales were overall pretty bad, but IME they were the worst on Saturday, which should have had the best sales. It was just so crowded. I was in a row pretty close to the entrance of the autograph section so occasionally there would be large amounts of people just streaming through, not allowing anyone who actually wanted to buy things to stop and look.

>>9517475
Lesser cosplay guests? Kamui was stuck back there with them and I'd argue that while she's not Yaya or JNig, she's still pretty damn well known.

>>9518790
Wasnt aware Kamui was back there as I never saw her all weekend, I meant the ones I stated in my post clearly.

Point still stands that like >>9518442 said, VA and cosplay guests should be put off in their own section vs. mixed in to rows of the AA

>>9518886
To be fair, she was only at the con Friday and Saturday, and only at her booth on Friday since she judged the contest all day Saturday.

>>9508357
>A-Kon tries to be an anime con but it isn't
When I went last year, there was more to do if you were a doller or someone from FetLife than an actual weeb. Granted, I made a killing at the swap meet, but the fact that a swap meet was the highlight of my con trip speaks volumes about the con, at least to me.

That and anime viewing rooms were removed last year. I don't know if they put them back in this year because I couldn't go this year, but it was definitely strange not being able to watch anime at an anime convention.

>>9518921
They had a video room, it was just out of the way by the arena.