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| 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.
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| The lovely girls of the Maid Cafe room. |
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| 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.
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| This photo property of a photographer that I'll be linking to his stuff at the bottom |
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| This was also provided by the photographer I'm crediting at the bottom |
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| Aren't they just perfect? |
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| 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-
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
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