First let me say that I can’t believe MechaCon is in its sixth year. The year MechaCon started was a highly momentous year for me, personally, and it just doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.
Anyway, Let’s talk about this year’s convention. It was the first MechaCon I was able to attend since 2007, and the convention seems to have grown by leaps and bounds in the six short years it has been in existence. The biggest difference this year was the new location. MechaCon has outgrown its humble origins in Lafayette, and has moved to the Big Easy, New Orleans. The hotel was much larger, with far more convention space available than the original host hotel. As a result, we were sharing the hotel with a couple of other conventions. There were both positive and negative responses to this, but space sharing is to be expected when you take a big fish from a small pond and put it in a large one with other big fish. I didn’t notice too many clashes between the groups, though I heard of some people from MechaCon reacting negatively toward the other groups. I also heard of some of the other groups saying that our convention looked a lot more fun than theirs. So the reactions were a bit mixed in regards to the required space sharing.
I was only able to attend the convention on Friday and half of the day on Saturday, due to other prior engagements. I wore my JooDee costume on Friday and Mara Jade on Saturday. Friday was extra crazy for my husband and I, as it was our two-year old son’s first trip to MechaCon… and to a hotel with escalators. Man did he love those escalators. I did not get to attend any of the panels that I wanted to see because of the limited time spent at the convention, nor did I get to attend the Cosplay contest. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time.
I got to see some friends I haven’t seen in a long time like JennyBunny, who’s the director of LouisiANIME. I also spent a grand time in the Artist’s Alley, with Fuu and RoRo. I unfortunately did not get a picture with the other A:TLA cosplayers that were attending Friday, but part of that is because I’m too shy sometimes. Also, I couldn’t find the camera, which was in the basket of the stroller the whole time. The dealer’s room was nice, with more space than at the old hotel. The hubby found some awesome leather bracers at one of the dealers, who unfortunately does not have a website or anything. I hope we will stumble across them at one of the future conventions in the area, as I want some of their other items for incorporation into a steampunk costume.
I ended up doing more people watching at this convention than I tend to do. Like I said, between the baby and other commitments, I just wasn’t able to see the panels I had wanted to attend.
MechaCon does, however, seem to be in a state of continued growth, despite the lack of industry backing this year. Between the economic downturn and the continued rise of media pirating, the anime industry is hurting–big time. One of the panels I wanted to attend was on the future of the anime convention, which depends greatly on the future of the anime industry. Without the industry, there would be no convention. And if the industry dies, so will the convention, at least eventually. Media guests are one of the main draws for many people to come to conventions. If the American anime industry dies, then conventions will have to look elsewhere for guests, and last I checked, getting guests from Japan isn’t cheap. If that happens, expect convention prices to skyrocket or convention quality to decline.
Of course, there is a way around this somewhat. MechaCon already has a healthy gaming subtrack, but what about adding additional fan tracks, like science, science fiction, fantasy, costuming (not just cosplay), or other large topics that might be of interest to a wider range of geek. Don’t get me wrong, I love MechaCon and I am so proud that it is doing so well. I just wish it would offer a little bit more.
Hopefully, we’ll hear news about the next MechaCon shortly. Until then, pictures are on the forums at the MechaCon website.
Jaclyn's Misadventures in Costuming 