I'm tired, so very very tired. But that's a sign of a good convention. I went to Shutocon for their first year in Lansing, Michigan this year. As Friday and Saturday convention it was a little weird, I mean I understand the theory behind it, a lot of people don't stick around for Sunday for a convention, but it sucks to have to jump in the car for a 4 hour car ride at 8 at night when the artist/dealers room closes, and head back home. And to explain, I worked a booth in the artist/dealers room, so we took off right after that closed obviously.
Overall though it was a great convention.
Pros:
Great Artist Ally: large selection, spent a lot of money there.
Staff: Well organized, a few hiccups involving our badges and an issue being able to get back in the artist/dealer room due to being issued 2 day badges instead of artist/dealer badges. But the chairwoman signed our badges then it wasn't an issue anymore.
Hotel: OMG the hotel was one of the best I ever stayed at. The Radisson Hotel in Lansing is one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in!! Their staff was amazing, the valet parking was great and cheap, the elevators all worked and were not crowded, and just the staff was just so nice. They were just too amazing.
Cons:
Dealers Room: Kinda lacking. There were some great vendors, but there were only a handful of em. I know the convention was aimed more towards the artists, but I felt some logistical moves could have allowed for both more artists & dealers. Dealers are a big draw for a lot of people, I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get anything off my shopping list this con except a new figurine. No poster dealer, only wall scrolls, I wasn't really expecting to see the Morning Rescue, but no bento boxes either. But there was a great figurine dealer, and a local shop there that specialized in snacks, that I fell in love with, I'll be going over that later in the week actually about new Japanese snacks I have discovered.
Signage: Rooms were not clearly marked, but nothing a better sign couldn't fix.
Otherwise no complaints, for a first year convention the turnout was great, and they did so many things right, its hard to even criticize them for anything.
Unfortunately my major downfalling was that I bought figurines...yes plural...figurines. I usually try to limit myself to 1 figurine a convention. I walked away with 7. But, in my defense, 5 of them were bought "as a set." I was only going to buy 1 Fruits Basket figurine for $20.00 but there was an amazing deal that I could buy all 5 for $35. Pretty hard to pass up. They are numbered figurines, some of them look a little derpy. But Tohru is a little derpy anyway so I let it pass. I was originally going to buy a Shigure figurines but the whole set came with Shigure, Tohru, a bust of Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki.
More information about my swag from Shutocon coming through the week!!
