It's my birthday soon (too old, don't ask) and I've been thinking about finally going with a friend to one of the big international sci-fi conventions.
The obvious choice is of course San Diego Comic Con, but from looking around the web it seems like it would be incredibly difficult to score tickets (er, badges?) to all or most of the convention for a first time participant.
There's also the New York Comic Con which appears to be just as big if not bigger and supposedly easier to get tickets to, but appears to be less loved among fans than SDCC.
So, does any of you have experience with cons? Which con would you recommend for a first timer? Are there any more cons worth considering (either in the U.S. or Europe)? At this point any feedback would be appreciated.
the only con i've ever gone to is supernova here a couple of times and it's been fucking trash. there was actually some cool stalls selling shit like retro games in their boxes with manuals, but the prices were fucked. one of the cosplay stalls was selling fake guns but real holographic sights to put on the fake guns. there was a chick dressed as poison ivy and her tits were out and that was cool.
but apart from that it was z list celebrities you could "meet" by paying $50 and standing in a line so they can sign a shirt for you, or you can pay to see the z list celebrities talk on a panel. and it was humid as fuck in a stinky warehouse with lots of stinky people.
don't have any advice regarding european or american cons but the ones in australia suck from my experience, best of luck to you in your travels.
SDCC is fucking impossible to get into unless you're very lucky. I was going for 5 years solid in which every successive year i was able to buy passes in the attendee presales. once you're out, it's very hard to get back in. I've already been trying for 3 years to get back in.
IMO however, SDCC is really overrated, especially considering the sheer amount of people you have to contend with. some years the crowds are better (probably not actually better but I had better luck), but in general as a first time con experience it's very overwhelming. Conversely, I haven't heard much people complaining about crowds at NYCC. If you like looking at cool cosplay and outfits, I'd recommend Dragon*Con or ACEN. Emerald City Comic Con and Wondercon are also decent choices and are relatively smaller
PAX east is always a blast, ive heard great things about MAGFEST too but im biased because all my favorite internet personalities haunt it yearly
I went to Blizzcon and holy shit it was crowded, and rightfully so.
Make sure you are constantly drinking water so you don't get dehydrated, and if you don't want to spend an arm and a leg or go out to eat, bring some food/snacks.
Also make sure to set aside some money for merchandise. I typically am pretty stingy with what I get but the last few cons I've gone to I spend at least a hundred on some merch.
You don't want to go to a Comicon. They're overcrowded, tough to get hotel rooms for, tough to see the things you actually want to see, heavily corporatized and advertised, and wildly expensive.
You're better off going to a PAX convention or something similar.
Thanks for all the tips.
While I would love to go to a gamer con like PAX my friend is absolutely a non-gamer and mostly hopes to attend panels with people from shows and movies she likes.
as someone who has been going to SDCC for nearly 10 years on professional passes
you have to be a special kind of person to go and not hate yourself
Florida's Megacon (Orlando) and Metrocon (Tampa) are pretty easy to get into if you pre-order tickets online. They're both smaller cons, but are pretty fun in their own right.
Metrocon is the smaller of the two and is mostly an anime/video game venue, but is compact and fun, good for first timers looking to just have a good time and is one of my favorites to cosplay for. They frequently have panels starring famous voice actors like Crispin Freeman (Ed from Full Metal Alchemist), Richard Epcar (Batou from Ghost in the Shell), Scott McNeil (whole ton of stuff) and Elizabeth McGlynn (Major Kusanagi, also Ghost in the Shell) as well as smaller, fan run panels. I mean, Megacon does the same, but Metro's feel more personal.
Megacon is much bigger and caters better to comic/sci-fi fans; they even had Stan Lee and William Shatner there! (Behind exclusive, paid entry of course) Still has anime and game stuff, but more balanced. You'd probably get the most out of going for two-day passes or something like that; you'll be able to basically tour the entire floor one and grab any merch you want the second. After the second day, you kind of run out of things to do lol. Also, bring your own food - con food is stupidly overpriced. Except Dippin' Dots; those are worth it.
[QUOTE=LordCrypto;52749643]as someone who has been going to SDCC for nearly 10 years on professional passes
you have to be a special kind of person to go and not hate yourself[/QUOTE]
What I keep hearing from anyone that goes to them year after year is to not go to the big ones and do the smaller ones like the smaller PAXes.
[QUOTE=ScumBunny;52749463]Thanks for all the tips.
While I would love to go to a gamer con like PAX my friend is absolutely a non-gamer and mostly hopes to attend panels with people from shows and movies she likes.[/QUOTE]
You might be able to get into one panel if you wait in line for 10hrs. You're basically going to spend the entire con waiting in line for most of a day to attend a 45min panel. Its really not worth it.
I was lucky enough to attend SDCC and LA Anime Expo this year. The latter was a lot more enjoyable, albeit with a ton of entry-line confusion and full panels. At least the halls in LA expo were wider and there was lots of food variety w/o having to go outside.
Audio conventions are so much more relaxed, rooms upon rooms of speakers and music. Old balding white men around every corner sipping brandy, bragging about the number of delayed mortgage payments-- in order to afford cable lifts and magic rocks that ascend their audio dick-waving to the next level.
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