Mechacon 9

I’ve had the honor of going to Mechacon every year it has been in New Orleans and even prior. Mechacon fits in the “small” convention range nabbing anywhere from 2000 – 3500 people a year. I myself am a huge fan of small conventions. One of the big reasons is ever known “Smokers Circle”. The area where it becomes easiest to meet and greet your fellow con goers. At larger cons, there are so many areas to smoke and so many people on their own “thing” I rarely talk to many people and even harder to find the same person again. Both small cons provide the alley way to meet additional people. Yes this is one of the biggest selling points for me, that aside.

I rarely am interested in panels honestly. This generally comes from my experiences with long lines and waiting times at large cons. Mecha provides a nice size to be able to hear a few of the known VA’s in the world in a smaller range (this is a plus). I dodged all but one or two panels this year in favor of “taking in the atmosphere”. Now keep in mind if you have heard the same “title” of a panel, you generally will get the same recycled information. This does a pretty good job of me dodging panels as well.

So meet and greet time. I am a relatively shy person, even among “my own kind”. The good news is we were able to meet a few of NOLA Anime’s roomies for the con (Josh and Catherine) and crash with them for some down time. Most of us dawned our cosplay and went out to get pictures taken and meet and greet. I enjoyed getting to meet to fellow fans whom I never really spoke to much, but had heard of prior. I also owe a big thanks to Catherine and Iria for aiding me with my makeup.

That is more a case of knowing people though. One of the downsides for me at Mecha is my lack of “knowing people” already at the cons. I was never really in anime circles in high school forward, in addition I got into anime in the late 90’s where a lot of fans united during the Toonami eras of Dragonball or the later Bleach airings. As a result most of the attendees at Mecha a good bit younger than me. I have no personal problem with any of the circles that exist, but have a hard time approaching them. This is why the smoker circle proves helpful to me.

Aside from the people, I enjoyed a lot of the cosplay. Without going into my personal feelings into cosplay, I love seeing all the different characters at cons and which show has gained the most fandom. Ice and HP will spend half the time walking around gathering what photos they find interesting. I try not to “compare” cons for cosplay, but rather enjoy everyone who in essence has become part of the con itself by acting, dressing, or creating their favorite characters.

The dealers room and artist alley are never shabby for Mecha. Although rarely do I find something I really want (cause I already buy it), they do a good job of covering the popular anime and its products. Even though I don’t play Weib, I did get a gold signature card which made my day. In addition I find most of the vendors at Mechacon very friendly and easy to talk to. Those are the vendors I will generally try to purchase something from (if your reading vendors…). I believe these two rooms are big reason a lot of fans come to Mechacon and they did a great job this year in my mind of supplying the needs of the anime fans in New Orleans who have only one store to turn to right now.

As stated before, I am not a huge fan of most of the programming mainly due to hearing or going to the panels once before.  Something I think some people do not realize is the difficulty for obtaining guests at the southern cons. I would like to point out (like it or not) that convincing people to come down (and take a weekend out of their busy lives) is a tough sell for a state like Louisiana that does not offer much for them. I always recommend being appreciate of the panelist, guests, DJ’s, and volunteers who do make this happen regardless of your feelings of others. Being able to get some of the guests they get is actually impressive feat even if you do not feel it to be so for the smaller con size.

All in all I enjoy myself every year. I look forward to being able to cosplay and walk around seeing others who enjoy the same things I do. I know what to expect at Mechacon and never disappointed by its overall outcome. I would love for one of the local cons to grow to a larger size (8k+), but for now that is a far away dream (that is generally when you start to get some of the bigger names a big easier). For now FIGHTO Mechacon and I look forward to next year.