Anyone ever feel...

Not Sir Phobos · Post by **Not Sir Phobos** » Mon May 22, 2006 7:57 am

It's like watching your small town grow up. Then one day a starbucks moves in and you realize the innocense can never be recaptured.

True story, it happened in my small town that I love so much.

Okuni · Post by **Okuni** » Mon May 22, 2006 2:45 pm

Not Sir Phobos wrote:It's like watching your small town grow up. Then one day a starbucks moves in and you realize the innocense can never be recaptured.

True story, it happened in my small town that I love so much.

Wow. That's scary, but I know the feeling.
My town used to be just a quick stop off the highway. Now we have about seven (or eight?) hotels, homes selling for half a million dollars and a coffee shop (not Starbucks, though) every half mile.

As for cons, I haven't been to one (yet!) but it was probably inevitable. With the popularity of anime growing, riots becoming more common and the post-9/11 fears, I'm sure the con planners feel the need to herd and direct any con attendees.

heh...imagine:
"Oh my gosh!! ALL the dealers have run out of pocky and the crowd is having a sugar fit! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Mon May 22, 2006 2:47 pm

I didn't mean to scare you, Okuni.

monkeyboy · Post by **monkeyboy** » Mon May 22, 2006 7:58 pm

Someday I'll go, but until then I just think of it like in the anime/manga "Genshiken". I guess that is what the events all hope to become.

Long lines of pain for brief moments of joy.

Filled with Otaku!

frozentime · Post by **frozentime** » Mon May 22, 2006 8:14 pm

I didn't attend AX back in the beginning, so I don't have a frame of reference. For me, the spectacle is part of that event. Now, on the east coast it's a different story. I was there for the first couple of years of these cons and there was definitely more of a friendly feel, and much less hassle. The funny thing is that we still had decent sized guests back then. You could walk up to them and talk, or have them draw for you because there were only 40-60 other people in the room. I can't say that the costuming was anywhere on the same level, but I'm not sure how I feel about the tradeoffs overall. Unfortunately even the smaller cons now don't have the same "feel" so I guess those days are just gone.

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:51 pm

It depends on what your reasons for attending the convention are. You can still have a lot of fun if you go with friends or to meet up with people. My reasons for attending Anime Expo 1998-2002 are no longer valid so there's no reason for me to go any more.

I would go to AX now only to meet up with people that I knew online.

I didn't attend AX back when they were small, but even when I attended in 1998-1999 the atmosphere was a lot different from when I went in 2001-2002. I think one of the reasons the atmosphere changed was because finding other anime fans became so much more easier later on. When I first attended in 1998 there were only three anime fans where I worked out of around 300 people (now it would be about 20 out of 300). Attending AX was great because I got to meet others of "my kind". I met and talked to people and it all felt very special and unique. It was great to meet other anime fans and people who shared my interest. The people I met were ALL very polite. Anime fans didn't take each other for granted like they do now.

As anime fandom increased the number of rude fans increased. Heckling at cosplay events became common and the number of stuckup fans increased.

Yeah...I really enjoyed attending AX my first two times (it felt like attending a school camping trip), but those days will never come back. Instead...in its place, I'll just enjoy the friendship of individual people I know online (production artwork collectors, anime fans and ren'ai game players). They make a great substitute for what once was in Days of Yore. I'll take that instead of sitting three and a half hours in line to register any day.

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:52 pm

Take everything I say with a grain of salt.