Most folks got Conned out with the massive number of events last week. But if you are ready for more, they are happening. Expo Comic Cancun is taking place in Cancun, Mexico, which includes a series of events by the Cosplay Deviants (they don’t show up at too many US events). Colossalcon 9 is an Anime, Gaming, and Japanese Culture con held in Sandusky, OH. It is being held at a waterpark resort, and they are giving away a trip to Japan, but not at random; you have to win their Cosplay Masquerade competition to get the prize. A-Kon 21 in Dallas, Tx. is an Anime con with a great concert lineup, and for the competitive they are running a Kabuki Slam! In Huntsville, Al., it is HamaCon 2010, an anime con that includes the Okinawa Festival Drums, and AMV and Cosplay competitions. Finally, Anime Kaigi in Flagstaff, AZ has a complete and aggressive series of events to edutain everyone.
A general Sci-Fi con well worth a visit this weekend is Con Carolinas 2010/ Deep South Con 48, in Charlotte, NC. These two events seem to have merged, at least for this year. Jerry Pournelle and Johnny Ringo are the writer GoH’s, Ed Beard, Jr. is the Artist GoH, and Media guests include Claudia God Sent Me Christian and Richard Hatch. Another good general con, although leaning towards the WriterCon side of life is SoonerCon 2010 (2010: A Bubba Odyssey) in Oklahoma City, OK. This one is particularly well endowed with panels and workshops for artists, authors, and fans. And in Nashville, TN, it is HyperIcon 6, again with lots going on.
DieCon X is a great name for a gaming convention, and this one is held just outside of St. Louis in Collinsville, IL; come ready to play, some of the tournaments have already started and will be going through the weekend.
You would think there was a holiday weekend coming up the way the Cons are stacking up. There are so many good ones I don’t know where to start, and I am sure I will short some of them, but let’s start with the Steampunk cons. The big one of course is World Steam Expo in Dearborn, MI. The musical guests alone are worth the price of admission, plus the panels, events, and everything else going on. Nakamacon is a Steampunk con for Anthropomorphic and Anime fans held in Madison, WI; or maybe a Furry Con for Cartoon Victorian Werewolves. Whatever it is it looks like they have some fun things planned. And ConQuesT 41 in Kansas City, MO, is billing itself as Steampunk & Evil Geniuses, but it also has a great lineup of authors and publishers.
There are a number of general Sci-Fi cons, meaning a little bit of everything but leaning towards the mediacon side of the spectrum. In Atlanta there is TimeGate, in Lansing, MI MediaWest*Con 30, in Santa Clara BayCon, and in Missoula its MisCon. Most of these appear to be fan run gatherings with plenty of activities and guests (including Harry Turtledove in Montana). My personal favorite fan run con this weekend has to be BaltiCon 44 in Baltimore, MD., and this would probably be the major Readercon event for the weekend. Tanya Huff is the author guest of honor, just for starters; check the participants list to get an idea of the scope of this event.
If you want a comicon this weekend, the prime choice looks like the Phoenix Comicon, with guests like Stan Lee, Felicity Day, Levar Burton, Wil Wheaton, and James Marsters, this one could double as a Media Con. Stan Lee will also be at Rock’N Comicon in L.A., California, which really is a monster media event. Another comicon is Florida Battlecon in Orlando, for those who prefer their comic art tattooed directly onto their epidermis while driving hot women around on monster bikes.
The actual media con for this weekend is a true monster: the London MCM Expo. If I start naming everyone who is there and all the things going on I would still be typing as the doors open Friday. So, instead, here is a glimpse of the last one they held…
If you are in Europe this weekend you also have an event in Paris that looks like a lot of fun, la convention Epitanime. This time I can’t tell you what’s going on because my French tutor back in school was actually teaching me Louisiana Cajun, which is about as close to French as German is to English.
English speaking Anime conventions this weekend include Animazement 13 in Raleigh, NC, Anime Oasis in Boise, ID, and Anime North in Toronto, CA. All three events have a hoard of guests and a lot of activities planed throughout the weekend, and they all look great. And Fanime Con takes place in San Jose, CA, right in the heart of Silicone Valley. What makes this event special, besides the location? Flow will be one of the bands playing at the Music Fest, and will probably be playing the theme songs they did for shows like Naruto, Code Geass, Psalms of Planets, Eureka Seven, and Persona. Also playing are LM.C and Halko Momoi. Or how about the US almost-premier of 20th Century Boys 3: Redemption at Viz Theater. Supposedly they have enough back-story at the beginning of this film so you don’t need to have seen the first two to enjoy it, but they are always fun to re-watch. Also playing at Viz that weekend is The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the feature length presentation that comes between the first and second series of the TV program. Seeing either of those on the big screen would be a treat; seeing both would be worth the price of that coast to coast ticket.
There are more cons this weekend, but that should be enough to get you started; have fun!
Get ready for the Steampunk World’s Fair in Piscataway, NJ. This is the largest Steampunk convention in the world to date, with discussions, debates, workshops, demonstrations, readings, parties, contests, games, and parades to satisfy all of your Steampunk needs. The list of performers alone exceeds anything else I have ever seen listed; this one is a monster!
Demi-Con is a generic Sci-Fi con that has strong readercon roots, baseed in Des Moines, IA, and the motto Everything Is Better With Pirates; whats not to love? LepreCon 36 in Mesa, AZ, is a Relaxacon, meaning a readercon that is comfortable enough with itself to be laid back, even for the pros.
The Anime Central con happens May 14th to the 16th in Rosemont, IL, and if you are serious about your Cosplay you know you can not miss this one. If you win the main Cosplay competition at this event, you are guaranteed a spot on the Yume Cosplay Prize competition! That takes place in October, and will have the winners of all the regional contests battling it out to see which luck Cosplay Couple gets the matching set of all expense paid round trip tickets to Tokyo for a week, to include VIP tickets to the Tokyo Anime Fair.
In Media cons, there is a Twilight Creation event in Vancouver, CA, and for Comic-Cons, the Motor City Comic Con is a bit deceptive. That is because it has a lot of media talent as guests, around 40 of them listed including some noticeably famous names.
And yes, there are many more cons remaining unmentioned for this weekend, but this should give you a tasty place to get started…
This weekend is the first ever DC Comic Con in the Washington, DC, suburbs. It takes place on Sunday, May 2nd, and has some good guests lined up. This one is a small, one day event, no doubt testing the waters to see if they should expand next year.
Tampa, FL. has the Vulcan Events media con, which interestingly enough does not seem to have a single primary Star Trek actor, but it does have a ton of stars of other programs (and a few have been in Trek episodes or movies). In Charlotte, NC, is this weekends Twighlight Con for those looking for a different flavor of media con.
Nashville Anime fans will be holding forth at the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention, which is a much more complex and well rounded event than a first glance would indicate. With a large assortment of tracks, and every one of them full of events and entertainments of all sorts, this is one I need to try to attend next year. I would pay the full price just for the music track concerts, panels, and other events, and wedge in as much other fun as I could squeak in. It looks like staying awake for the full 72 hours would be the only acceptable option for this one.
Other Anime Cons include the No Brand Con in Eau Claire, WI, Chibi Con in Virginia Beach, VA,
There are as always way more cons then I have time to research, but here are a few coming up this weekend. Wizard World is the Anaheim Comic Con taking place this weekend, and includes Stan Lee signing autographs. TMode is a blend of Asian and Western pop culture taking place in Alexandria, VA, with the emphasis on Anime, Gaming, and Cosplay. NashiCon is the third presentation of South Carolina’s original Anime con, and the winner this time around may be Kawaii Kon 2010 in Hawaii, which includes an equal number of guests from both sides of the Pacific.
KamikazeCon 3 in Houston, Tx, will be the massive anime event of the weekend. This is no great surprise considering it is the town that has created a full third of the English dubs for anime DVDs over the last decade. They have a ton of guests and a events for the gathering; wish I could be there.
SenshiCon, Alaska’s Original Anime Con (their tagline) takes place at the UAA Student Union in Anchorage, Alaska. While their web site seems to be in need of some help, they do have a strong voice actor guest list which seems to be primarily from FUNimation. Another anime convention this weekend is MomoCon, which I would love to tell you about. Unfortunately their web site is a blank black screen when I go to it, but perhaps you will have better luck. As near as I can tell from their source code, the Georgia Tech Anime Con is using a script to gracefully degrade to standard HTML if you don’t have Flash installed, and has a script which hides the standard HTML if you do have Flash; in my browser both scripts seem to be active at the same time, hiding both the Flash and the HTML.
LunaCon 2010 in Rye Brook, NY is a general Sci-Fi Con with author GoH Tanya Huff. They look to have pretty much everything going on, including Dancing in the Gears, the 2nd annual LunaCon Steampunk Ball, and a massive number of Events and Programs scheduled for the festivities, as you can tell by the list of participants. Meanwhile, in Chattanooga, Tn, FantaSciCon is happening, and it gets my vote for the best Con T-Shirt I have seen this decade. It also has a good selection of guests and a lot of fun events.
