What its REALLY Like to work for Cosplayer Nation

Cosplayer Nation is a cosplay documentary that goes around and films cons, throws parties, and is invited as VIP guests at several conventions. There are a lot of bad rumors about the group, that the CEOs continue to say are all lies. I'm here, as the Executive Blogger for them - to expose them now. What they have been doing, is downright wrong. Let's begin with the rumors that have already been known and circulating. 

There are rumors that the CEOs invite underage girls into their rooms and let them drink alcohol. They say that they are lies. I've since been told by several reliable sources, and seen with my own eyes, that these rumors are true. They had at least 5 underage girls drinking in their rooms at NYCC 2011, and 2 at MTAC 2013. That is unacceptable. And they continue to cover up, and slander anyone who says any different - which I'm sure they'll go after me after I post this article and turn in my resignation. 

Yet is that the only uncouth and underhanded thing they do? Unfortunately, it is not. I'm now about to expose the rest of it after I spent weeks gathering information and intel from con chairs, guest relations, and just observing how they work. 

When someone is first offered to "work" for Cosplayer Nation - the CEOs inform the greenhorn that they're about to be starting big things and if they do a bunch of good work, they'll start getting free press badges and later they promise them compensation once the company gets big. Most of, if not all of, these people being offered these benefits - have never done any press work or photography in their lives and they fall for the alluring benefits and the chances to get their work noticed by the community they so dearly enjoy. The truth is, it's a lie - they use people to do most of their work for them, then eventually drop them, and the person never receives anything they were promised. When approached about it by myself after working for them nearly 7 months, i was told "When we get money, you'll get paid" - problem is, they do get money - but they spend it on the two CEOs only. They take advantage of innocents to do their work. And anything the two CEOs actually produce themselves, is actually extremely poor and sub-par. They wouldn't survive without using and manipulating others. 

Secondly, the CEO Josh is known for harassing guests and performing in poor manners. He almost does nothing for Cosplayer Nation except skate by under the name and reap the benefits. He's been known to make girls feel extremely uncomfortable on the level that borderlines sexual harassment. He also has no filter and is incapable of being worked with. Even con chairs and staff have said they cannot work with him and have to go to the other CEO, Uke, to get anything done. So why is someone who does nothing but take, in charge of such a group?

Now comes to the majorly horrible thing I've recently become aware of, and conventions should take note of this. Cosplayer Nation at most events gets comped rooms as guests - which means, their hotel rooms are paid and provided for by the conventions - but they'll charge people to room with them. I was personally charged $90 to room with them at a con I later found out the room was paid for by the convention. That's making a profit off a free hotel room, which I'm pretty sure breaches any rules ever given. It's also disgusting, and really underhanded. If you're provided a comped guest room and you want to let friends room with you, that's cool - but you don't charge people to room in a room you don't have to pay for - unless you're donating the money to the convention. Which I doubt they are. 

In short, do not be lured into working for these people by their lies of greatness and benefits. Do not invite them to your conventions because they make themselves sound like such an asset - all they'll do is take advantage of your free hotel room to charge people for a profit, hold drinking parties where they invite underage girls, and make underlings who'll probably never work for them again do all the work they should be doing. 

I was the Executive Blogger and wrote most of the reviews of conventions for them. They also lured me into running all of Press for them, running the facebook group - and basically doing all their work while all they do is get benefits and travel to cons. I will be taking down all the articles I wrote for them and migrating them to my personal Blog after this goes live. If you are unsure of what to believe - ask yourselves why nobody sticks with working for cosplayer nation for long except for those two CEOs, why so many cons refuse to have them back, and why so many "rumors" haven't just gone away over time.... unless those rumors, and these facts in this article - are in fact, the truth. I would have just left Cosplayer Nation silently, but I know I'm not the first to be taken advantage of and used, I know the cons I was involved with them were not the first to be used by them either, and I wouldn't feel right just leaving and not trying to warn others against being manipulated and used like so many before them.

If you wish to continue to see great convention reviews and articles, follow this blog. 

Proof that I actually worked for them. These were only part of my articles. Notice that mine had the most views out of anything posted. Posting here cause I'm going to delete them before they do something even more offensive with my work that is only for the benefit of cosplayers.

An ex-cosplayer Nation member tried to warn me on one of the reviews on the blog, I was told to shut him up and told he was a liar and slanderer. I'm now certain he's not, and he's just trying to get the truth out, like I am.

I can provide further proof if asked. Thank you.

Written by Warkified Chocobo - formerly of Cosplayer Nation. 

Convention Reviews: Fandomfest 2013

The Mystery Machine was outside waiting when we arrived!

                Fandomfest/Fright Night is a very unique convention located in Louisville, Kentucky each summer. It used to be two separate events, but they decided to combine them together. It's a comic, sci-fi, horror, tattoo convention which even put anime into the mix this year. They have tons of amazing guests, panels, and activities for fans of every fandom. Guess that's why it's called Fandomfest, right? Anyway, let's move straight along to the part of the review you all enjoy.

                The first positive aspect of Fandomfest was the attendees themselves. Everyone is considered family at this event. Most veteran attendees are extremely nice and more than happy to help teach the new attendees the ropes of how a convention such as this works. It doesn't matter if you're in cosplay or not either - everyone is treated equal. In fact, at Fandomfest - cosplaying doesn't usually occur until Saturday - which is the big day. Though since this is a con where a lot of people are there to meet guests rather than make friends - some level of hostility can be seen at certain times - such as in the lines for photo ops and meet and greets - so be prepared for that if you wish to attend next year.

This costume was impressive. Everything is made out of Magic cards. 

                The first disadvantage would be how they handled the registration early Friday. It was a complete disaster in the Galt hotel. There were no dividers to create organized lines and it quickly became a mess. People were just gathering in a giant group blocking hall traffic -others were cutting other people in line. Granted there was some buzz from staff that something happened with the registration line crew's car and they were delayed, so that might be responsible for that.

The crowded and disorganized registration line in the Galt Hotel

                Even though I just discussed that, the registration line quickly got organized by Friday afternoon and ran pretty smoothly after that. People weren't waiting for more than an hour to get in. I give them props on quickly diffusing an issue of that caliber. Only part of confusion that continued was that there were two registration points; one in the hotel, and another in the convention center. Despite it being confusing, I found it to be a smart move. I feel that way because whether you arrived at the convention center or the hotel - you didn't have to walk to another location to get a badge.

The relatively organized registration line in the convention center.

                Another issue I saw was the complete lack of organization that continued over the weekend. Most of the staff were unaware of what they were doing. Lines to meet guests and get autographs were in complete chaos. Talk of waiting in lines for more than 5 hours quickly spread around the con, as well as the fact the chaos of it became so problematic that it resulted in the con breaking Fire Marshall Code and getting in a spot of trouble. This issue only improved slightly over the weekend and not enough to turn this problem into an advantage in the long run. Hopefully the con will improve that next year.

                A really good aspect of Fandomfest is the quantity and variety of guests. They had big names from several industries, most notable names being Stan Lee, William Shatner, Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flannery, Gene Simmons, Jason David Frank, Adam Baldwin, John Barrowman, and more. The variety of guests is indeed one of the things that bring people to this event. Now I need to take this moment to explain that Fandomfest works similar to a Comic Con - You will have to pay extra for photo ops and autographs, so fit that into your budget if you plan to attend.

John Barrowman entertaining his fans in a Q&A panel.

                Now a really bad problem they had this year was that they kept canceling panels, moving them around, and nobody could find anything. They moved around autograph times, photo-ops got pushed back and they even canceled a few guest Q&A sessions.  Now this wouldn't have been such a major issue, if the staff didn't choose to make the actual special guests the scapegoats and blame them. The guests were buzzing about how unfair it was to them, as well as to their fans. They openly defended themselves in panels to all their fans, and drama ensued. A proper convention needs to learn you do not blame the special guests, treat them poorly, and certainly not blame them for the con's mistakes. There is a very important reason for this - they will talk, they will tell fellow friends of theirs in the industry, and that convention will have a hard time finding guests willing to attend the following year.

                Now a major plus side to Fandomfest are the dealer halls. They have 3 different dealer halls filled to the brim with rare, unique, and exceptional content. From old movies, cartoons, comics, to rare figurines, plushes, and autographed posters -there was always something unique to buy. Pricing is pretty decent as well. This reviewer in fact found several items to buy including something she'd searched years for.  

One of the smaller vendor halls.

A picture of the larger vendor hall. 

Look at this rare pin! 

                I just boasted about the vendor halls, but I also need to set aside a small portion here to warn people who attended. I'm sure the convention was not aware of this, so try to go light on them if you end up being a victim of this problem. One dealer was selling fake autographed photos for hundreds of dollars. The con apparently didn't take the time to make sure it was an authentic seller. When questioned by an attendee, the girl called her fake autographs "art" and told them that if they didn't like it, they didn't have to buy it. The problem was that vendor was promoting them as real autographs. So, sorry to say - if you bought an autographed photo for a lot of money - you might need to check its authenticity out now.

                Another plus side was all the activities. So many independent horror movies were being played for the first time at Fandomfest as well as big favorites. They also had fandom related panels, contests, screenings all over the event to entertain guests. In the upstairs Conservatory bar area at night, they played numerous films on a big screen. It was exceptionally nice to sit, chat, and gather at a bar while watching Ghostbusters 2. They also had maid cafe panels, parties, and other exciting night life for the older crowd. Note here that when the sun goes down, the con becomes 18+.

People enjoying a screening of Ghostbusters 2 on Friday night by the bar.

                Another issue was the schedule. It was confusing, complicated, and lacked a map to direct you where you needed to go especially with so many of them being canceled or relocated without notice. Due to this, it actually made one of my favorite things about this convention from last year become almost worthless this year. The hotel has interactive boards throughout the hotel which they streamed the schedule and locations on. Yet, once things changed around there was no update on the board to inform people.

                Another major benefit for Fandomfest was their attendance growth. Attendance numbers not only doubled this year, but they actually ran out of badges and reached max capacity this year. Although I don't have the official numbers yet, so don't quote me on this, the word going around was that there were over 28,000 people this year. That's some insane convention growth, especially for a small city like Louisville.

                Unfortunately, that amount of attendance growth turned out to be a problem because the staff was not prepared for the amount of growth this year. It caused several issues including them not knowing how to flow traffic properly. Halls would get too crowded, autograph lines were a mess and caused over 5 hour waits. The staff buckled under the pressure and many of them gave up trying to keep things organized which caused utter chaos. Several attendees ended up complaining - as far as to the point that they posted bold complaints and tagged the convention in it afterwards. I'm sure it's because they hope the con will improve, as I also am hoping for by writing this review.

People leaving less than flattering remarks concerning Fandomfest this year.

Without further ado, lets rack up the points and add a few categories: NEW CATEGORY ADDED: GUEST TREATMENT - which details how the guests were treated by the staff.

Convention Staff and Security: 2/10

Cosplay Variety Range:  10/10

Convention Activity Level: 10/10

Convention Panels: 6/10

Registration Line: 4/10

Attendance Growth: 10/10

Convention Uniqueness: 8/10

Convention Layout: 2/10

Convention Guests: 10/10

Convention friendly level: 5/5

Guest Treatment Level: 1/5

Issues and problems: -10 points

Total Points: 56/100 Points
Overall Rating: 56%
Convention Grade: F

Review written by Warkified Chocobo of NerConEct.

Convention Reviews: Natsucon

Almost empty halls during what should have been the busiest part of Friday. 

                Natsucon is the summer convention held in St. Louis, Missouri. It was always known as the "meh" convention - but this year it became a complete disaster. I wish I could write a long review on this event, but unfortunately - there was so little there and even less stuff to do, that if I made this review long, it would be nothing but extensive bulge and I'd rather keep things direct.

                To start off on a good note, one good thing about this event is that it's a place to gather to see local nerd friends. At this point, it's the only reason many people go - to see friends they haven't seen since the last event. Luckily this helped this year because the actual convention was so bad, the only way to have fun was to hang out with friends.

Friends spending time hanging out together in the halls. 

                Yet there were so many less people this year. Security tightened to a point that it was considered offensive. Attendees weren't allowed in through the main doors unless they had a badge - if you did not have a badge, you were forced to enter a specific entrance where you couldn't go through the halls until buying a badge. Many people found this offensive and intimidating. They also warned other friends not to come to the convention because of it, so much that Saturday  there were less people there than there were Friday.

                As far as panels and things to do - the event was severely lacking. Everyone was complaining that the event was boring. They were the exact same panels and guests as they had the past two years - eventually that becomes repetitive and attendees don't want to go to the same stuff every year. Even the game room, which was usually the main thing to do was lacking this year according to attendees. Most people ended up just hanging in their hotel rooms or outside of the convention center.

Pic 1 of the Dealer Room. As you can see, it's almost void of attendees.

Second pic of the dealer room. 

                This convention has really gone downhill. I wouldn't recommend anyone to travel to attend this event - because it's basically just like a really boring house party - as several attendees described it. Everyone was buzzing about how terrible the convention was. Even locals who attend just to see friends like usual were saying they won't return.

Peak time in the game room. 

Registration line Friday night. 

                Another problem I can say is that St. Louis has 5 nerd conventions - and they're all held at this same locations and there is no diversity - It's like attending the same convention 5 times. And the cons don't really change - it's like they found a system they were comfortable with, and just repeat it over and over which is a bad way to run conventions. A good convention keeps some things the same each year, while adding news things and growing to be better each year. The cons here stay the same, there's nothing new to experience which is not a smart move. I'm hoping that these cons start to realize their errors and learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately, as far as Natsucon goes - I don't think it will recover from their problems this year.

                So let's rack up the points now and give this convention its rating. Small conventions are rated a bit differently than large conventions so some categories have changed. Guests' rating has been removed because small events have more limited funds and it would be unfair to judge them on the amount and variety of guests that big conventions should be rated on because they have more funds to spread. Con Space Utilization has been added because smaller events usually have smaller locations, less space, and are new to organizing a convention floor and thus they should be rated on how they handled that hurdle. Without further ado...here's the rating:

Convention Staff and Security: 4/10

Cosplay Variety Range:  5/10

Convention Activity Level: 2/10

 Convention Panels Level: 3/10

Registration Line: 8/10

Attendance Growth: 4/10

Convention Uniqueness: 2/10

Convention Layout: 4/10

Convention friendly level: 9/10

Convention Space Utilization: 6/10

Other Issues and problems worthy of point deduction: -5

Total Points: 42/100 Points
Overall Rating: 42%
Convention Grade: F

Convention review written by Abra Gauthier aka Warkified Chocobo.

Anime Convention Review: Anime Blues Con 2013

The Lobby of Anime Blues Con on Sunday.

                Anime Blues Con is the largest anime convention in Memphis, TN. It has grown very quickly. They're only on their 3rd year and they are already almost 3,000 attendees strong. Now, since this was my 2nd year here - I will not only provide pros/cons, but I will also discuss their improvements from the previous year because they improved exponentially. They accomplished this despite the issues they already knew they would face this year.

                The major issue faced this year was due to them being unprepared for the amount of growth last year. Due to that, they booked the same venue for two years. Unfortunately they outgrew the location last year, yet had to remain there another year. That caused an issue with limited space for panels and events. They will be relocating next year to a convention center. Since these issues were already expected, I will avoid judging them too harshly on lack of certain activities and focus more on the quality of what they did have.

                The first benefit of Anime Blues Con this year was their staff. They were under a lot of pressure due to crowding, yet they handled themselves in a friendly and professional manner when interacting with attendees. Staff made sure to socialize as well as assist the congoers, which made all the attendees feel comfortable. They felt more like friends and seemed to really give off the positive impression that they enjoyed their job.

The lovely girls of the Maid Cafe room.

The staff assisting the Registration line which ran smoothly.

                Even though I just boasted about their staff, the first issue I witnessed at ABC this year also had to do with their staff. They did indeed do a great job running the convention and handling convention goers, but they apparently alienated and fought between themselves. Although that's expected at any convention, it became a slight problem. The few that were being ignored or alienated chose to discuss their situation with anyone who would listen. The halls began to buzz about the drama and attendees either chose sides or complained about how unprofessional the behavior was. I will deduct 2 points from the final score due to this.

                Another plus about Anime Blues Con 2013 was how they handled the crowd control despite the space situation. They made a room with nothing in it just for people to hang out that worked perfectly to limit major crowding in the halls. They managed to control lines as well. Registration even went smoothly. I seriously don't know how they pulled it off, but they did. Bravo, Anime Blues Con, bravo.

                A major disadvantage this year that had several attendees talking was the limited amount of panels and activities. Unfortunately, they had no choice this year because of space, but several attendees who were looking forward to several new things quickly became bored and complained about it. This will most likely be repaired next year with the new location.

                Last year organization and convention layout were a major problem. It was hard to find things, booths were scattered in no particular order, the game room was pitiful, dealer room was dreadful, and an entire room was wasted on registration for a convention that wasn't large enough yet to need one. After the convention I had a discussion with the con chair and offered some critique and suggestions for improvement. He took it quite well and actually used a few of my suggestions. This year - layout and organization improved drastically and became a benefit.

                The room used for registration last year was changed into the game room. Last year the game room was so small people avoided it like the plague. The game room being larger made it a complete success this year.

                Last year the dealer room was also an issue. There were only a few vendors and things were basically just scattered about the floor in piles. It looked boring and there wasn't much diversity either. This year that greatly improved. The variety as well as quantity of vendors increased. From the doctor who booth, the comic booth, and the poster booth to the Little Kuriboh booth and figurine booth - the vender hall was always full of people. They completely turned that around for the better this year.

                The next problem for ABC this year was the green room. Green rooms are meant to be a relaxation place for guests, staff, and press and are expected to be stocked with food. This year it was dismal - there was almost no food. The staff running it would offer to cook you something if you arrived - but the problem with that is that guests, staff, etc. don't usually have a lot of time to wait on food. That's why green rooms are usually with stocked with pre-made food. The con should make note to fix that problem next year.

                An additional benefit of ABC this year was the variety of cosplay. There were so many amazing costumes and they were from several different shows - the con for once, wasn't over-run by an overwhelming amount of costumes from the top popular shows. The costumes that made my weekend were the Inspector Gadget group and Megara from Hercules.

This photo property of a photographer that I'll be linking to his stuff at the bottom

This was also provided by the photographer I'm crediting at the bottom

Aren't they just perfect?

Megara being her sassy self! Her wig was AMAZING.

                Another Issue came up after the convention. People quickly took to the forums to discuss opinions, and one made quite a stir. Apparently some panelists were comped badges, but others were not. This caused quite some bad PR issues that are still in the process of being resolved.

                Something that impressed me at ABC this year was the two raves Saturday night. One rave was for all ages like usual, but there was a second one known as the PJ Party that was for 21+ guests with complimentary drinks. As an older congoer, the normal raves are usually too active and crazy for me to handle - this adult one was just my style. It was an excellent addition to the Adult Track.

                A final good thing about this year was the attendees themselves. They were quite the friendly bunch. Always willing to talk with anyone, whether in costume or out of costume. You really felt like you were part of a large family at Anime Blues Con.

                At this point, I've run out of pros/cons to discuss and it's time to determine whether this convention is one worth traveling to like with all small conventions I review. Even though I said it was the largest in Memphis, it's still fewer than 5,000 attendees qualifying it as a small convention. If you're a local to Memphis, you should definitely attend Anime Blues Con. If you're within a 4-5 hour drive, it's still worth it. If you have to fly to attend this, for the first time ever I'm going to say - it's still worth it. Despite being a small con it has everything people like about conventions and is constantly active around the clock. It would not be a waste of money to attend.

                So let's rack up the points now and give this convention its rating. Small conventions are rated a bit differently than large conventions so some categories have changed. Guests' rating has been removed because small events have more limited funds and it would be unfair to judge them on the amount and variety of guests that big conventions should be rated on because they have more funds to spread. Con Space Utilization has been added because smaller events usually have smaller locations, less space, and are new to organizing a convention floor and thus they should be rated on how they handled that hurdle. Without further ado...here's the rating:

Convention Staff and Security: 9.5/10

Cosplay Variety Range:  10/10

Convention Activity Level: 10/10

 Convention Panels Level: 9/10

Registration Line: 10/10

Attendance Growth: 9/10

Convention Uniqueness: 9/10

Convention Layout: 7/10

Convention friendly level: 10/10

Convention Space Utilization: 10/10

Other Issues and problems worthy of point deduction: -2

Total Points: 91.5/100 Points
Overall Rating: 91.5%
Convention Grade: A-

Congratulations Anime Blues Con for being the first convention I've attended to score an A!

Review written and conducted by: Abra Gauthier (Warkified Chocobo) of NerConEct

Some photos supplied by the awesome photographer EuphoriaCosplayStudios