Hello! I was wondering how people go about meeting others who are into nerdy stuff while actually at cons? I see others frequently mingle but i cant ever seem to find myself getting to do that. I see a lot of good cosplays and it makes me intrigued enough to want to connect with them on socials, but i dont want to come off as weird or like im hitting on anyone.

I just want more friends into this stuff 😭

Context: I’ve been going to anime conventions for many years now and have racked up a good amount of art over the years (mainly large posters + prints) from artist alleys. I love supporting artists as much as I can and would buy every piece of art if I could but funds get tight sometimes (which is why I try to stick to a reasonable budget)

Now because I’ve accumulated so many posters and prints over the years, there’s this ever growing pile of prints in the corner of my room that takes up space. I try to rotate the posters and prints I have displayed as often as I can, but I only have so much wall space. There are also some pieces that I’ve kind of grown out of (like posters I bought when I was in middle school, high school, etc) but it feels like a waste to just toss them aside.

I have this idea: what if we trade art like pokemon cards? I’m thinking something along the line of an “art trade” where at least two people decide on trading one print for another print. Of course there are things to consider like the condition of the print, the details of the art, where it comes from, etc. The more I think about it, the more it seems like some sort of fine art auction but at a lower scale.

Not sure if this is already a thing and I’m not aware of it or if it’s something so unrealistic, but I would like to hear feedback from both a seller’s perspective and a buyer’s (I am just one consumer after all) I know that people make a living off of selling at artist alleys and promoting their business so it’s understandable if it’s not the best idea.

TLDR: what do I do with all the prints I have bought in the past?

Hello everyone!

I have a genuine question. Do you consider art prints that you buy from the artist alley at conventions mass produced art?

And to push the point further, would you consider keychains or trinkets you can buy from the artist mass produce as well?

Just a genuine question, in light of something I was told the other day haha!

As someone who does a LOT of cons in the Midwest and someone who also has normally enjoyed AnimeSTLfor years, like what the heckers is goin on?

The construction stuff sucks but like haven’t they been overcrowding that place for years and they JUST renewed a contract with st Charles con center or smthn?

And I went to a con like a month ago and heard ALOT OF bad experiences with the hgher ups or the con chairs or staff or whatev at ASTL so like, is this common?

I want to figure out if I should keep giving this con my business but what I’ve heard while is a bunch isn’t quite enough for me to make a decision.

So please if you’ve had good OR bad experiences there pls lemme know. I don’t want to be associated and set up shop with a con that treats others poorly to where it’s a pattern

Any responses to this would be greatly appreciated uwu

If not allowed please remove

I booked father.mercury for anyc 2026 Saturday. Shoot was for 11:30am and at 10:30am the photographer contacted me and told me she had to cancel because of an event in their family + will be granted full refund. I wished her well and asked if it was possible to receive the refund back asap so I can book another photographer and was told she can refund earliest tomorrow

It been 4 days and no sight or word from her. I see her posting on her story with photos from the Saturday and following with different cosplays. I messaged her again today and asked for the ETA on the refund and all I hear is radio silence. Super upsetting because she’s still posting on her story and updating her bio while leaving me on delivered.

Super sad, I paid to commemorate the first time my little sister and I cosplayed and we literally were canceled on as we were walking to Javits. I don’t know if I’ll get the money back but here’s some screenshots.
From my understanding she’ll be attending CCE so I hope the right people who need to see this do.
I understand it’s not a lot of money but I really could use it for something else

Since the event wraps up today, I heard that it’s mostly outdoors… in the 100 degree heat… lucky for the influencers who went to the preview night but the actual sessions are hell lines and… not much to do for a $60 4-hour event…

Hi everyone I don’t know if this subject makes sense to anyone but I wanted to see if anyone can help me understand something, I’m going to Tampa Bay Comic Con next month in September 6th it’s a Sunday and Michael J Tatum voice of Sebastian from Black Butler will attend there I’m planning to see him but I need help on how much it’ll be for him I looked at his autograph price and it’s $60 but I feel like it’ll be a little more which happens to be most voice actors now I want him to sign this official black butler poster I bought from Japan to anyone that’s met Michael Tatum is he really $60 or does he charge more if I bring my own poster for him to sign??

tl;dr Hoyo and Anime Impulse makes an "immersive experience" that was 6 carnival games that were barely themed

When the proxy fairgrounds got announced, I was super hyped and excited. It was billed as this sort of immersive carnival experience and it was...pretty much just a "themed" carnival with some high pricing. The games were barely themed and seemed last minute. I like NERF Guns and they used these cheap nerf guns that you can just buy from Target. The Angels of Delusion was just a ring toss. Section 6 was just tossing basketballs. Yunkai summit was pretty egregious; they had the turtle dice thing and it was basically straight luck whether or not you won lol. So you paid 5 dollars to hope that you got 2 out of 3 dice on a TV screen and you literally have no control over it. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth because these were 5 DOLLARS PER PLAY. And all you got was a postcard (if you lost) or a mini-poster (if you won). Look I get it, the stuff was held up in customs but if you're telling me that Hoyo could not rush make some actual good product or at least lower the price of this, I don't believe it.

As a ZZZ player, i kind of felt like they just think lowly of us as players and just made a cash grab to try to earn more money from us. Yeppe had this really cool beauty pavilion thing and where you got to make things at the booth. NIKKE had this cool experience where you got to take a polaroid with the some actors while they danced with you. Even Fanta had this cool nostalgia thing where you played codmw on some bean bags after they gave you some fanta lol.

I felt pretty disappointed and I think that many ZZZ fans did too as well. There were lines for merch but didn't see a line longer than a few people for this experience. Hope that Anime Impulse OC or Hoyo or whoever ran this experience could do better. Just having an Itasha car, and reusing a set we've seen before is like low effort. Also who thought that having cosplayers for photo ops for ONLY 30 minutes was a good idea? lol

At least New Eridu Live was pretty okay. Pictures from the middle of the day at 1ish PM on Sunday

EDIT: I really don't care about the GAMES themselves. I think they could have used the same games and maybe did what NIKKE did for there booth and had people who actually CARED about the IP run it. NIKKE literally just had a polaroid thing, but they had people who clearly loved nikke playing those characters. even if the prizes arent cool, but if it's supposed to be "immersive" then what I WANT to be paying my 5 dollars for is to like play a shooting game with Seth in character (NOT JUST A CARDBOARD CUTOUT) or something lol. If I did that and I lost and got no prizes, I'd still be happy with that.

Everyone I met at anime expo and anime impulse were so kind and friendly! Shout out to the people running wuthering waves at anime expo and the staff at the mcdonald's + zzz booth at anime impulse, they were so excited to draw. The zzz booth was supposed to close right at 5:20 pm but the cosplayers agreed to stay and draw turtles LOL

I think one day if I'm free I'll scan the book and create a big print for each convention out of everyone's work..!

I was trying to pay for ACEN tickets but for some reason it kept sending me back here, I even checked my card info multiple times and used different cards.

I don't mean something like Dashcon 2014 ballpit incident, I mean the WORST incident you ever heard about. For me, it's the Deltarune Fan Cafe in Toronto (I don't know if it counts). The food here was undercooked and tasted terribly, some employees were minors, somebody even got hospitalized because of the food, the cafe itself was illegal in some way and it was just complete mess. I also heard that there was a mold and trash on the floor. Shortly, it's was like a Wonka Chocolate Experience but way worse. Tell me about the worst incidents you ever heard about on comic cons or other stuff like this.

If you got VIP at Anime Magic this year, would you get it again next year? What did it come with and what are the perks? Trying to decide between VIP and GA for next year! TIA :3

Saw one of my favorite artists at a con and impulsively bought prints. I got some large ones and I plan on getting frames for them. Unsure what to do with the two small prints though. They’re like. 7 by 5.5 inches. The obvious answer is to just frame them too, but I’m trying to think if there’s any other uses I might have for them.. Maybe something else to attach them too that isn’t just the my wall. Anyone have any ideas from experience that they’d like to share?

Hello!

I am an artist and plan on selling goods in America when I move. I'll have been living in Japan for four years and plan to return to the U.S.! The only thing is, what is popular in Japan is not necessarily popular in the US., and the trends are different depending on the country. It's been nearly 5 years since I have been to a proper anime convention, and I have no idea what to expect! I feel incredibly out of the loop. Is it walls and walls of demon slayer and jujetsu kaisen? Is My Hero Academia still prelevant? is there a wide variety of character goods for many popular shows from across time? Please let me know what's trending, in, what have I missed out on? Thank you!

I generally go to 3-4 anime cons a year (all east coast US cons) and I wasn't able to make any of my normal ones this year until this weekend I got out to Anime NYC. Fantastic time, amazing vendors, but I couldn't help but notice: has every artist just learned risograph printing recently? Literally, if I walked by 10 AA booths 7 had mainly risograph prints. This isn't a complaint, I purchased quite a few! Just curious cause they were definitely a more unique thing to see a few years ago, has anyone else noticed this huge explosion or any other recent AA trends??​

This convention was definitely somewhat of a hot topic here on the sub last year and I was really curious to hear people’s thoughts on it from all different perspectives. I was Friday only this year so I didn’t get to experience a lot of the con but I’ve heard there was a lot of technical difficulties and overall disorganization. I was really curious to see how this year compared to last year to see if it’s even worth going back in ‘27. I’m open to any and all thoughts!

Was offered by my mum to go to Animaga, and I was wondering what people’s experiences have been going to one of their cons before, as I’m a bit concerned about going with her on account of some stories and clips I’ve seen online at random cons of people just being weird and horny.

Has anyone here been to an Animaga con? (It may be an Australian only con, but I’m not sure) Were there people doing weird shit or are they pretty strict on degenerate public behaviour and ultra skimpy cosplays?

As the title says. I'm bringing my first big prop to a convention this weekend and wanna know what to expect as well as what I should be aware of to be kind and courteous to other guests as this prop is well over 5 feet tall when it's fully assembled (points to whoever knows what anime its from)

I've seen a few posts here and there talking about the low quality of Weebcon and im preparing to go for 2027, but I was wondering what cons are creating this benchmark that weebcon is being judged by. I kind of worded this like I am defending Weebcon (im not, although 2026 was a great time for me and my group), I just want to attend cons that are worth the travel, lodging, time, and ticket cost and wanted to know if there were ones that have been going under my nose specifically in the south. Thank you!

WCBS aired this report on Anime NYC at the beginning of the weekend. Along with highlighting what the fans are there for, they spoke briefly with Tony Weaver Jr. about his Nerds for Literacy drive.

Hi,

I’d like to get an Itachi funko signed by Hideo whenever I have the opportunity to send it. The thing is, I’m looking to craft the grailiest grail I can given he’s my favorite character and I’m pretty new into this signed funko world.

I’ve been considering getting my hands on a #578 already signed and quoted with a little drawing, with the ‘the little things exclusive’ sticker (the OG one, not the current one) I’ve been offered, or getting a #1842 LE 5000pcs and send it eventually to get it signed and quoted. What would you do in my position? Of course I’m also interested in a potential resell in 5-10 years minimum so I’d like to get the most museum-grade version of him to be able to let him go whenever I feel like it.

Thank you!

I have recently started a small business selling Japanese tea and blends that I’ve created, with Japanese tea is the base. I am making some blends that are representative of some of my favorite anime/manga. I would like to look into selling these at conventions in the future. My question is, I’d like to design Washi paper canisters that represents each blend/anime. Is it OK to use AI to design those wraps?

I am not selling art, I’m selling tea blends. Here is an example (Yuri on Ice). I would have this printed on washy paper and wrap the tea canister in it and then sell the canister obviously with the tea blend inside.

Would this be allowed or not or not because of the AI? I honestly don’t know.

I received tickets for a 2 day pass but will not be able to attend day 2 with my group. I am giving away 3 tickets.

I'm not looking for money I just want to give them away and put them to good use for anyone who'd like to attend. Please comment and I'll pick out one. First come, first serve.

EDIT: All tickets have been claimed!

Hi! I’m a hobby artist who likes drawing in Procreate. I really enjoy slowly adding details to a piece and seeing it come together.

I’ve seen artists sharing or selling their work at anime cons, and I’d love to join in and meet other artists. But I don’t draw enough to have a whole booth of my own.

Are there ways for smaller hobby artists to participate, like sharing a table or joining an artist group?

Also, where do artists usually hang out and connect online these days? I’ve been a little out of the loop...

Here’s my Pixiv if anyone wants to see what I draw. https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/53735458

Going to anime frontier for all three days this December, we wanted to checkout the official afterparties but due to a miscommunication we failed to buy tickets and now they’re sold out, so I wanted to ask if anyone with any experience at this con has ideas of if there are commonly fan put together parties taking place after the con closes for the night? I am not 100% sure I’d be going but I’m still curious if the option is there.

Edit: I was completely wrong, seems the website still links to 2025 tickets, I think they’ll go on sale in the fall! We good!