I love going to ConnectiCon every year. I like the other conventions that happen here in Connecticut, but this one holds a special place for me. Maybe because it was my first one but going on for over 10 years means I’m not seeing as many of the growing pains as Brass City or ComiCONN. I acknowledged as much with Hartford Comic Con, which had its first year. ConnectiCon, however, is a convention that just keeps growing. The arcade and screenings were in a different hotel this year and I never made it out there. I never made the ConnectiCrawl events with geek musicians and comedians. Additionally, you have the unconnected Riverfest event on Saturday with music and an awesome fireworks display. For “my people” there’s probably no better event in the state and I would us up against most of the other conventions, partly because as a “multi-genre” convention as the tagline says they focus on all of us creative geeks and fans whether your into games, anime, or what have you.
However, nothing is ever perfect and none of us are ever satisfied. So while there were a lot of great things about this year’s ConnectiCon there are still a few things that I’d like to see. Mostly, however, the convention party is still awesome!
I understand why the Spotlight Theater (no connection) didn’t do the showing this year, although they joined some local restaurants in offering convention-goers a discount and broke out some of our kind of movies (like the Star Wars films, although I don’t know if they were the “Special Edition” or not) so a good plus to them. The press junket was held in a room with much better lighting, which is good for those of us filming the event. The only panel I as press had to wait for was the Voice Actor Roundtable on Sunday, which sadly didn’t have Jim Cummings this year but was still informative and fun.
As usual I loved the various costumes that came out. While I’m not a cosplayer myself I have stated that I could be called a fan of those that are because somewhere along the line someone worked hard on these, whether they bought it from somewhere, just bought the patterns, or assembled and sewed everything themselves from scratch right down to the bunny ears. It shows creativity, imagination, and love trying to turn 2-D designs into 3-D objects and outfits in the real world and I applaud that.
This is the second photo I got of the two.
The panels were very good, or at least the ones I attended. There was one, the Super Sentai panel, that was a little too relaxed, more like a bunch of people hanging out. It won’t make BW Panelling but it was still neat to attend. The guests were very kind to the people asking questions in the panel and I look forward to bringing them, after censoring and audio balance. (I think Noah Hathaway, Boxey from the original Battlestar Galactica and Atreu from The NeverEnding Story is going to make the former the most work for me, but otherwise he was interesting.) It was good to see all of the celebrities and I got to chat with Uncle Yo again.
As you saw in the day 1 video the selling area and Online Media/Artists Alley section were moved to the larger room and the gaming area in the smaller room. I think this was a good idea as there was a lot more room to walk around in the selling/guest room and the gaming area (for card and board games) didn’t seem to be adversely affected by the switch. I didn’t get to see the arcade at the Hilton but they had an area on the mid-floor where the Japanese rhythm games were and while I wouldn’t have put them so close to the escalators I had no problem getting from one to the other.
There are a few flies in the ointment to address, however. There were some reports of muggings between the Marriott/Convention Center and the Hilton late at night. While I agree the Center shouldn’t be doing security between the two a warning after it happened might have been a good idea but I don’t know what else they can really do. Still I can see where that ruined things for the fans that were mugged. Still, its something to think about next convention since people will be spending time at the arcade and screening until very late. I don’t know what they can do but it should be looked into.
I was able to snap this before she ran off.
There was also a report that a few male cosplayers were told by not just the security but a top official at the Convention Center to put a shirt on despite how that would screw up the cosplay. There are times I don’t think security really wants to be working this event, like they don’t like all these kids running around in funny costumes or something and they don’t always make us feel welcome. I think they need a course in understanding cosplay so things like that doesn’t happen again and while they seem to do a good job otherwise keeping things in line and they’re not there to be our friend I know there are convention attendees who aren’t always happy with their treatment. This is the only issue I have with Center staff outside of the prices in the cafe. (Speaking of food prices I went to get some fried dough at Riverfest and it was $6.00. Six bucks! I can buy a whole package of frozen fried dough for that price. I usually only pay a buck or two at events like that and it was better than what I got there. It’s unconnected to ConnectiCon and the center but remind me next year not to bother.)
Finally, what happened to the US comic creators? Actually I should blame this one on the conventioners rather than the staff. I don’t think I saw anyone go up to them once. (They were all people I had covered at other conventions so I focused on other people but I’ll see them again at Brass City and ComiCONN coming up.) That’s a real shame because they make great stories as well and I was hoping to see more American productions getting their due alongside the Japanese stuff. Sadly, we’ll have to find another way to do that, since I hate seeing the two divided. A good story is where you find it, I say.
Really, that’s the only problems I had. The convention was, as always, fun to cover or just hang out in and I think most everyone had a good time. I will gladly attend next year and you will see more of the coolness from this year’s ConnectiCon…as soon as I finish the coolness from LAST year’s and hopefully I won’t have another distracting autumn and winter like the last one so I can bring it to you. Although I still need to find some income real soon so if that means a job I’m going to be busy. I’ll do what I can, though. You have to see these panels, press junkets, and new online media I came across this year.
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