Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Venturing out into the sunlight? Planning on meeting up with other cel addicts? Post convention or gathering info here.
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PandemoniumonParade
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Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by PandemoniumonParade »

Hiya guys, so I have to schedule a trip to Washington around the beginning of April and thought I'd check out the Seattle con scene since I've heard they're usually big enough to sport an impressive dealer's room and guest list without the insane crowds the big boy cons like AX tend to gather (though that can loads of fun in small doses). Guess I wanted to see if anyone of my fellow Betas have any plans to make it out to either con and if anyone has any recommendations on which is better if you've been there before. I can only plan to stay in Washington for a week so I have to make a choice between the two and it's turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.

It's been ages since I've been to an anime convention and it would great to actually pick up some new cels at Sakura Con's dealer's room but I also hear ECCC has a guest list that's out of this world as far as American Animation goes this year. I know that Tara Strong, Kevin Conroy, Bruce Timm, John DiMaggio, Billy West and Jhonen Vasquez are just a few of the guests they have.

So it's a choice between getting new cels or having some of the ones I already own autographed by voice actors and directors... yargh what's an acetate junkie to do? Anyways any advice or tips you could throw my way would be awesome as I'm currently locked in a mental deadlock with myself.

http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/ vs. http://www.sakuracon.org/

Thanks for listening to me rant! :D
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benten
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by benten »

I stopped by for a day at last year's Sakura-Con. I only remember two cel dealers being present, Anime Link and Anime Asylum. With respect to Anime Link, I remember almost everything they had at the show was available on their website. Anime Asylum had a reasonable amount of cels that were not on their website. Still, most of the cels that I was interested in (Ranma, etc.) I had already seen on their website.

At last year's Comic-Con, the cel dealers present were: Anime Ed, Anime Link (generally the same inventory as I saw at Sakura-Con), Van Eaton Galleries (US cartoon cels & drawings), and a couple of other dealers that were selling a mixture of US and some Japanese cels. Van Eaton & the other two had a large inventory that was not available via any website.

It may be that, for the larger anime conventions, some cel dealers are showing up with stuff not available on the web. But it seems to me that most of what is made available at the smaller anime venues is already available on the web.

It's nice to view the cels in person, but I would recommend making the choice of convention based on what appealed to me about the convention. I think you're going to find few cels at Sakura-Con that you won't be able to see over the net.
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ReiTheJelly
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by ReiTheJelly »

I went Sakura Con for the first time last year. I presented two panels and flew all the way from Michigan to attend. I was...not very impressed.

Yes, the lines for guests were short, but the convention did not live up to all the hype I'd heard. The dealer's room is large, but much of what is being sold can be had elsewhere for a cheaper price. All things considered, I saw very few truly rare or hard-to-find items in the dealer's room, which is rare for a convention of that size. Most of it was just cheap, mass-produced merchandise for a 300% mark-up. *shrugs*

Speaking as a volunteer panelist (who ran 3 hours worth of panels), I could not believe how awful Sakura Con was to me. Even the tiniest conventions try to compensate you in some manner for donating your time; usually a discounted or free badge. Sakura Con = nothing. A bunch of panelists complained, so they sent us an e-mail stating that 'if you run a panel next year, too, then we'll give you something.' O_o Yeah...I'm not spending $600-$800 on a plane ticket (+ hotel + food + transportation) to go all the way back to Seattle for some mystery grab bag of junk.
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PandemoniumonParade
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by PandemoniumonParade »

Wow Rei, I'm truly sorry to hear they treated you so lousy. I read about your panels here on the forum and they sounded really interesting, you deserved better for how much time and effort you put into those lectures. And you know I've heard horror stories from other people about how badly the staff are treated at Sakura Con, but I've never heard they completely stiff you. Someone should flog the director as it's basic Con 101 that staff is ALWAYS supposed to be compensated with a free badge or at least a highly discounted one. For them to not give anything for all your work is total hax!

And Benten, I really appreciate you bringing the cel thing to my attention. It's been a few years since I've hit the anime convention scene (I've kinda switched to comic conventions instead) so I wasn't sure how the massive online shops did things these days.

Thank you both for giving me some really honest feedback, after hearing what you guys had to say I think I'll end up going to ECCC since their guest list looks way better anyways.
Again, thanks for the input guys, it really helped.
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by cutiebunny »

Yeah, if I were you, avoid SakuraCon. I went in 2011 and I absolutely hated the experience.

The main reason I go to cons are for sketches, and I'm more than willing to go through whatever gauntlet the conventions set up to get them. Sakura Con had odd rules about lining up. You weren't supposed to line up until 1 hour prior to the panel, but then there were always a group of people (me being one of them) that would create an 'unofficial' line. Then you'd have a staffer go up to you and tell you that you couldn't line up. And we'd all protest that we needed to line up inside the big auditorium because we'd be a fire hazard if we lined up outside the doors. Then the staff would decide to let us line up, or they'd announce that we could on a different side of the room and everyone would dash to the front. It was similar to my experience at AX in 2010.

I agree with Rei about the sales at SakuraCon - I didn't buy anything in the exhibit hall. I got the feeling that attendees in that area were 'desperate' for anything anime, and they'd pay $$$ to get it.

Ultimately, it depends on how much you love the guests. If there's anyone at SakuraCon that you would love to meet, go there. It's a lot easier to stomach clueless/rude staffers, frantic fanboys, con funk, and all the other downsides to the con experience if you're doing something you enjoy. But it sounds like there's a lot of people you'd like to see at EmeraldCon...so, if I were you, I'd go there.
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by PandemoniumonParade »

Sorry for the late reply, but thanks Cutiebunny. I think I'll take everyone's good advice and steer clear of Sakura Con. And while I'm really glad people were so honest with me so I didn't waste a trip and wind up disappointed I'm still pretty bummed about hearing how lame the dealer's room there is. I had fairly high hopes for it considering what I've heard from other people, though none of those guys were cel collectors so I'm glad I got some honest feedback from people here in Beta community so I could make a more informed decision.

Thanks again.

~Fish
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by blueheaven »

I'm going to Emerald City Con, just because it looks like a fun time. I did notice some animation dealers there. Don't know how much anime they'll have. I just want to meet Summer Glau :love2
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Re: Sakura Con vs Emerald City Comic Con?

Post by PandemoniumonParade »

Heck yeah, Blueheaven the guest list is awesomesauce this year so I'm pretty pumped about seeing Summer too.

Nice to know another cel collector is going, and hey if you happen to see a Miss Martian or Doctor Girlfriend hanging out with a Wayne and Garth please feel free to say howdy. I always think it's great to meet people who share the same love for collecting in person, I wish more folks were into it sometimes.

Anyways, hope you have fun this weekend! :D
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