#con reviews

[fuckyeahizzyhands]

[blacknerdproblems]

Small Press Expo 2017: The Struggle and Triumph for Participants of Color

I’ll admit it: even as a passionate comic reviewer and enthusiast, it was Twitter that really got me excited about ...

I’ll admit it: even as a passionate comic reviewer and enthusiast, it was Twitter that really got me excited about Small Press Expo this year. It wasn’t the size that initially caused wariness or even the location; I’ve been going to conventions of this sort since middle school and many of my firsts were small-scale and not in a populous area, so I was used to a more intimate setting and schedule. Instead, it was that every time I saw a promotion, there were white or white-passing faces attached to it which is typically a red flag for POC in these sorts of spaces.

The closer it got to the weekend, though, the more the creators of color on my timeline began to list their SPX tables in their twitter names and the more I began to relax my guard, especially as the #DrawingWhileBlack hashtag by SPX attendee Annabelle Hayford began to take off. Was this a mistake? Well, as a first-time POC and more specifically Black participant, here’s why my experience left me both wanting to return but also knowing that some serious intentional work needs to be done to before folks like me can feel totally welcome.

It’s no coincidence that Sunday, the day I did all of my purchasing, was also the day I talked most with other POC in the space. I’m certainly not blaming creators of color; after all, they were there to hustle for their art and capitalism is still a thing. But real allyship means recognizing these needs and taking up some of the labor of organizing knowing that Black and Brown folk are already expending so much energy just trying to survive a society built on our oppression. As Skimlines suggests, at the very least a POC directory.

Read on here. [x]

[ministryofsillysuits]

@rynil and Drekonah were interviewed by Con Reviews at Anime Blues Con. You can see them starting at 1:45:17. Rehthea is also seen in the video at 1:55:10.

Photo by Rehthea Video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/157614520

https://www.instagram.com/ministryofsillysuitscosplay/ https://www.facebook.com/ministryofsillysuits

[squeemcsquee]

PeoriaCon 2024

This year, PeoriaCon had a venue change. They took over one of the expo halls at the Peoria Civic Center. And I think that was probably the right idea. It wasn't quite the wall of sound of prior years and it gives a lot more space for walking around and shopping. You're still somewhat limited on food if you want to stay at the Civic Center all day, however.

We went on Sunday - this was Baby's First Convention for our newborn, and Sunday meant (theoretically) fewer people, less time away from home, etc. @lechevaliermalfet and I are first-time parents, so we're still adapting to taking the baby out in public for things that aren't doctor appointments.

I thought I'd gotten a photo of the schedule of events for the day, but it seems I was mistaken. So I downloaded it from Facebook - but we didn't actually attend any panels.

We spent a lot of PeoriaCon wandering around, talking to friends. @someoldmemory was on hand with her wife, our friend Josh and his wife were there, Cody was there, and others. There were also vendors that we were familiar with and stopped to chat with.

We did enter a giveaway for an incredible amount of stuff, but sadly, none of us won.

Entry was free, so even though most of the prizes in the hoard weren't of interest to me specifically, can you blame me for trying for it? Look at all of that loot! I could have gifted so much to friends or traded in for store credit or sold...

Anyway, moving on...

The Ghostbusters were on hand, as was a Batmobile that had been lovingly created by a dedicated fan. Spook Hollow were on hand with their booth and photo op setup, so @someoldmemory took a photo with her wife.

There was tabletop gaming and video gaming. We paid to enter a different drawing for some kickass dice towers, but again, failed to win. But the proceeds from the sweepstakes went to charity, so that's ok. There was also a lot of nice fanmade merchandise for sale.

You gotta have at least one sword vendor at a con - I really feel like that's an unwritten rule at events now.

The Civic Center has always had overpriced snack bars, but now one of them is run by Avanti's, which is a local fast casual Italian restaurant chain. So we were able to grab a tasty lunch from them as the day was starting to draw to a close. It's a good thing we grabbed it when we did, because they closed the booth shortly after we got our food. We saw the crowd around the youth cosplay contest, but not the contest itself.

Overall, it was a good day - an inexpensive outing where we got to have adult interactions and conversation that revolved around more than just dirty diapers and bottles. Oh, and our daughter slept through all of it until lunchtime, at which point, she had a bottle and grumped for a few minutes.

After lunch, the con was starting to shut down. We ate about 1 and went back in about 2 and the con was due to close at 3, so that made sense.

So our final hour was largely spent doing what we'd done already. And playing a little bit of Pokemon Go.

I look forward to next year.

[ksapphire8989]

Con Review Livestream

Hey guys, Kitty here. Its Monday which means "Con Review" livestream. @ 7:30pm on my youtube channel, I will be doing a thorough Review on the recent con I did this weekend. 3rd Annual MVPL Comic Expo Its going to be fun. I will talking about my personal experiences of the con itself, the good, bad, and the unusual. Also what I hope for in the future. Looking forward to seeing you guys there. <3

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTM-QjKKzjWqUUFjs-eLGiA?view_as=subscriber

(c)KSapphire8989

[ksapphire8989]

Con Reviews and Birthday wishes pt. 2 livestream

Hey guys, Kitty here. Today @ 4pm Con reviews and Birthday wishes pt. 2. I will be updating you guys on all the cons I will be vending and attending for the remainder of the year. Also I promised you guys a pt.2 for the birthday wishes as well as a thank you for all who attended my art-a-thon weeks. ^^ So a lot in this stream. See you then.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTM-QjKKzjWqUUFjs-eLGiA?view_as=subscriber

[cinemasentries]

Fandemic Tour Sacramento 2018 Review: A Solid Debut                            Despite some last-minute cancellations, there was still plenty of fun to be had here.