Yama-con 2017: Paranormal and Supernatural - Vendor Review

Yama-Con 2017: Paranormal and Supernatural

(The theme not the TV show)

 

 

I know the question that you've all been asking.

"Did animazeme make it to Yama-con?!" well my fair folks, we sure did.

 

I didn't really get loud about us going to Yama-con before hand because of the topic I wanted to report on this year. Now generally, people get a little up-tight when you mention this so bear with me.

I wanted to observe and report the Vendors/Artists and see if they were doing the following:

1. Following all Yama-con, convention center, and state guidelines for merchants.
2. Keeping the same prices at all times.
3. "Family Friendly" as is the convention.

 

First thing's first, What are the Yama-Con vendor rules? In fact, what are rules at all? Well my good people, rules exist to keep you and I safe. Sometimes they might seem like a buzz-kill but I assure you there is a good reason for most of them. The rules specific to Vendors, AKA Merchants, can be found on Yama-cons website here. I wont go over all of them because as I'm sure you can see, there are a lot of them. I will pick and choose the ones that I find are commonly ignored

 

1. Bootlegs: Oh do I have bad news. Every convention, say it with me, every convention ends up being a hot spot for bootleg merchandise. It isn't even always intentional, sometimes you have vendors who just don't know. Regardless of the reason though, there is always bootleg merchandise afoot, or a-hand, or sometimes a-plushie.
1. How am I so certain of this? Bootleg refers to unlicensed or unauthorized sale of a product without the producers consent. Did you see all of the posters at Yama-con? Did you see those plushies? How about all those books? Posters are usually a big one for bootlegs, because it is so hard to obtain creative license for them; however, just like everything else there are ways around it. Buy 1 (one) poster, get your purchase rights, order 100+ unofficial posters, sell them all under the pretense that they are the same one you bought the rights too. OR, my personal favorite, rip off hard working artists who make stunningly beautiful fan art because what  could the repercussions for that be? a lawsuit? only if some artist from Berlin happens to physically see you selling their art.
   Now did Yama-con have an issue with this? Not really. The merchandise wasn't blatantly obvious. The only issues came about when you asked vendors if you could see their license to sell.
1. Don't let me enthusiasm fool you, bootlegging art and other merchandise is despicable and I will continue to call out merchants I see doing it till the day I stop attending cons.
2. Adult Content: Mmmmm Daddy, check again. It's hard to filter this subject because everyone sees different things as being adult content. Some more reserved people might believe that Sailor Moon has a little too much skin showing and call it 18+ where as others will read Sekaiichi Hatsukoi and think "Could have shown a little more". What I typically judge it by is, "How would I feel showing this to my grandma? And not the crazy one." Usually, artists are in more violation of this than merchants are. BUT WAIT - Yama-con has 2 rules on adult content. The first rule is just a general description of adult content, the second says it may be displayed in a tasteful manner.
1. Is the convention really family friendly if you've got Hentai front and center on some massive art walls that can be seen from almost any point in the vendors room? Don't get me wrong, I like a little fanservice as much as the next guy but I don't need to see all that when I'm shopping for pocky. Since this entire subject is up to discretion I wont linger. Personally, I saw some art pieces and items (I'm looking at you, "Yes, Daddy?" belly shirt!) that I found a little distasteful. Oh and at one point in one of the vendors booths, a cosplayers shirt fell down and she didn't have a hidden modesty panel if you catch my drift. I know that isn't exactly accredited to vendors; however, what happens in the vendors room stays in the vendors room. I guess it just dampened my enjoyment of PG13 stuff.
3. Minor things like merchant conduct, checking of ID's and use of music are also always little issues.
1. Every con has minor violations. Why? Because vendors are people too. They are fans and otaku's just like the rest of us. They want to cut loose and have fun, they sometimes forget that they are there working. It's not that big a deal because generally the area manager nips it in the bud. I heard music that was probably a little too loud, I heard vendors cussing or saying things that I personally would have taken the wrong way, I never saw a single ID checked and I personally asked about some items that should have prompted that. It's normal in the con environment. Personally, I secretly believe we all enjoy that a little bit. We don't want our convention centers to have a little Otaku edition of Walmart, we want to fangirl/fanman with the merchants when we find an item we love, we want to openly discuss why we might hate/love this franchise or that character. We don't want them to force smiles and say "My Pleasure!" after every transaction. It's because we are there for more than just a transaction, we are looking for a connection.

So did Yama-con follow all convention, building and state rules, guidelines and laws? I would say yes. There wasn't anything blatantly disturbing or crudely illegal. They passed!

 

Did the vendors keep consistent and fair pricing? Depends. The consistency of pricing was pretty good, I didn't see too many vendors actively changing prices or anything like that. The biggest infraction with price changes that I saw was the "friends and family discount" which is when a vendor gives you a cheaper price cause they like you. It's not exactly a bad thing so I don't deduct any points for it. I was very pleased to not see any gauging this year. I have been seeing it a lot at the other conventions that I go too and it would have made me sad to be forced to do some call out posts on my favorite vendors.

Were the prices fair, this is where it really depends. For an example, I saw Harry Potter wizarding wands being sold for $20. I own one of the same wands, I purchased it brand new for $7 on Wish.com. Because I have vendor friends, I happen to know that this is where a lot of them will get their merchandise. Knowing that they were charging $13 over what I would have paid for it elsewhere, can I honestly think that the prices were fair? Different items, like character custom jackets (Yuri on Ice and Free!! Fans, I am referring to your boys jackets) where it has to be different fabric patterns, stitch types, and materials. Hell yeah, I'll pay whatever god-awful price you want. Why? Because it is highly unlikely that I'd be able to make it for cheaper. After you buy all the different materials, do your research, and sew the thing, you have more time and money invested than if you had just bought it. I'm not saying pay $100 for a track suit jacket, but $27-$35, yeah. That's a fair price. T-shirts with custom prints are ENTIRELY different. Do you know how cheap and easy it is to order custom shirts? Last year I bought a Nekoma (Haikyuu!! Represent!) t-shirt for $20. Just a t-shirt with the school name, not a fancy jersey or anything. Yesterday, from a freelance embroider/fabric printer that I know, I paid $22 for an overly custom hoodie that I got my sister for Christmas. He can do t-shirts for $10, or even cheaper if I provide the shirt. So don't get suckered into buying the shirts, they are different from the jackets.

Sorry about the tangent, I hope you learned something though.

Were the prices fair? Not really. They were over priced. BUT, all dealers rooms are over priced. It is part of con culture.

 

Was the convention hall "Family Friendly"?  Again, that lady lost her shirt. That one vendor was selling boob mousepads. Oh God all the Hentai and "Daddy" Merchandise... Yes, it was family friendly. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Even in the family friends animes, the girls jiggle when they breath, there is fanservice everywhere, and it's just a part of the culture. I'm not saying you should have your kid watch Junjou Romantica (unless you are ready to answer a ton of questions), but if your kid watched even the first season of Naruto then he or she is familiar with the over-sexualization of the female body in anime.

 

Overall, the Yama-con "Market Place" was great. They had more unity and standardization among the vendors than I have seen in years past. There was an obvious increase in security (Back the Blue!), and the vendors were civil human beings. I think that this is one of the best merchant rooms I've seen. I hope you enjoyed this post and that you might have learned something! Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments or email me at akiameokami@gmail.com!

 

~Aki Ame Okami

Yama-Con 2016- Villians Debriefing- Technical review

                 Yama-Con 2016
Another amazing con season has come and gone. This year we witnessed everything from amazing upstarts (Shelby-con) to seasoned disasters (AARC) but none quite compare to Yama-con.
Yama-Con in Pigeon Forge, TN is an annual convention held during the first weekend of December and is Johnny Yong Bosch's adopted con child. Every year this con has a theme and this years theme was so fittingly  decided as Villains. If you don't live in the south then you might not know but the week before the con, Gatlinburg and Sevierville which are the two surrounding towns of Pigeon Forge got struck with wild fires. Thousands of structures were burned, residents and vacationers were stranded in the cold and there were casualties. A lot of people were concerned as to whether or not the con would even happen but by one miracle or another the con went on. Now there were some personal predicaments that came about that almost prevented me from going to the con, predicaments such as all my finals were due that weekend. That my friends, is where coffee is your best friend and may sleep forgive you at some point.

So needless to say that there were a lot of scares leading up to Yama-Con but as all things in life go, the harder you work for them the better they turn out to be. That rang true for Yama-Con, I don't know if it is all the personal growth that has occurred to me since the start of the semester or that fact that when I finished my finals I had no life inhibitions but I made sure that I took part in as many events as possible so I could come back and write to you all.
This means that this year, I took part in Iron Cosplay, Karaoke, the Professor(?) Shy Guy concert AND the Cosplay Contest! I know what your thinking, "Aki?! Really?! What happened to the admin who was afraid of talking to vendors?!" well the answer is........

I have no idea. I seriously think the college experiences, like being handcuffed to a table and having to figure out how to karate chop my way out of it and roll off - literally, have really helped me to come out of my comfort zone and college in a whole helped me not care about life in the slightest.

So now that the ground work is laid out and you all know just how much of a struggle it was for this con to even happen this year why don't we progress to the review portion of this post!

*~~I waited until after Christmas to begin so that the traditional post con depression and until the after holiday depression would be on its way out~~*

As usual, I am reviewing this convention based off of multiple self set criteria that I find important for every con to have. The items on this list are things such as, friendly atmosphere, fair staff, organized events, clear signage, entertaining events, kind special guests, fair dealers room/artists alley, cleanliness, lively panels, lively social media presence and other things of that nature. (Sounds all official doesn't it ^_^ ).


The hype for Yama-con 2016 has been in the works since the closing ceremonies of last years con. Everyone knew the theme and the cosplayers were set loose with all the creative juices flowing. As always the facebook event group was constantly buzzing out notifications of people talking, updating or just sending warm wishes to those attending. They definitely met my requirements for a lively social media presence.

The process in which we got approved for press passes was swift and problem free on the staffs end. Heiwa and I caused them a little trouble though because we accidentally both applied; however they handled it swiftly, professionally and kindly. I am really thankful for their understanding in the situation. Something that also falls under the category of kind staff would be a unique experience that I don't generally have. I talked to people... Like real people... I got ditched by my group and decided to sit down at a table that some people were already at and by the end of the hour they had adopted me as their own kind. One of them was staff. It was very comforting and I really appreciated them.


The atmosphere was very pleasant. Because of all the problems leading up to the con there was a questionable feeling about the atmosphere. It was either going to be very good or very bad, this time it was very good. They were accepting donations and had their own merchandise booth in the main hall which assisted in providing the kind and caring atmosphere. To provide the fun buzz or excitement there was always something going on, literally. The cosplayers were running around looking fabulous, the panelists were traditionally running late and the staff were always available but never annoyingly present. It was a perfect atmosphere, though a little background music wouldn't have hurt.

Organization and directional units were similar to last year. The signage was phenomenal once again and they added a life size "Cosplay is not consent" sign which is a major plus in my book. As far as the actual organization of the schedule, I think it was well spaced and well planned so that none of the big panels would exactly overlap each other. The only issue I had with the organization or the building itself in relations to the schedule was the photoshoots, I found it hard to locate where the photoshoots were at and ended up skipping them because I couldn't find them.
There were more problems with the organization of the events than anything else that I noticed. As a participant of the events such as the cosplay contest and iron cosplay I have to say that there could be some more guidelines that were explained to the participants. The no rules feeling was nice but rules are an essential part of a successful event. During the iron cosplay event I know that team "Stranger People" broke open glow sticks and splattered them around their interdimensional portal which might have looked cool but, it made a sticky and stinky mess that was hazardous.  For the cosplay contest there weren't really any defined rules so I am amazed that no one got up there and did a strip tease. I know the black butler group was a little suggestive when they were standing in line so it was a concern.
So yes, organizing the events and including some distinct rules would be an improvement but definitely isn't a requirement.

Lets talk vendors room/artist ally! There was such a wide variety of merchandise available this year including everything from Doctor Who to K-pop! There were a lot of repeat vendors but also a few new ones who were welcomed to the vending family. One thing that I watched out for this year was price consistency. One of my favorite rules that little cons use in vendors rooms is the listed prices. Listed prices are when people have to have a sheet, board or something where it is visibly written and available that has all the prices for all the items on it secured to the table at all times. This prevents crowd pricing, which is when the crowd is big the prices are higher and when the crowd is little the prices are cheaper. I noticed a few vendors who used the crowd pricing method. It isn't a con's fault when vendors choose to do this type of thing but it is something the con can fix if they recognize it as a problem.

One thing that almost everyone can agree about being important is cleanliness, not only of the location but also of the attendees because con funk is a real thing. Yama-Con was more or less, con funk free!! It is a huge honor for a con to recognized for being CFF. Now the rest of the building was remarkably clean as well, which was a huge relief because last year Heiwa and I ended up cleaning some of the tables off because the attendees were horribly messy.


Something new that I did this year was I interviewed a few people and got their opinions on the convention and one of the reoccurring issues I heard was that they didn't like the empty corner in the game room. Everyone thought it was a little depressing or a bit of an eye sore. I don't really have solutions for this because it is am empty space so literally anything can be done with it.
Another issue I saw when asking around was that people thought some of the special guests were a little rude or pricey. There are obviously many reason for both of the claims so I am just going to leave that information there with no personal opinion attached.

That is all there is for a technical aspect that I am going to cover in specific groups. So the over all positives and negatives about this year will be listed below in their respective categories.

Positives

• The community came together to support all the fire victims
• There was no con-funk
• The attendees were lively and entertaining
• The staff was friendly and approachable
• The cosplays were amazing
• Plentiful vendors and gaming stations
• Entertaining and for the most part friendly special guests
• stayed true to being family friendly
• ever present but never over present security
  

Negatives

• Crowd pricing
• No sound equipment in the gaming room
• Some of the guests
• The bald corner in the gaming room
• Limited karaoke list
• Sunday lulled
• The locations of the photo-shoots
• The lack of rules 
• Lack of epic background music
•  The end.

That is all for the technical review, I will be writing up separate posts for dissecting panels, concerts, people, events and other aspects of the convention. I appreciate and adore all that Yama-con has done for me personally and for its community and look forward to attending the "Paranormal" themed convention of next year!

~Aki Ame Okami

Yama-Con: A Pirates Life 4 Me!!!! Sunday 2015

 Guys, its been a month and I still feel like it was yesterday.
So a recap of Sunday..
To be honest I didn't have much planned, I wanted to hit the dealers room and buy all the things! Then I remembered I was poor ^_^ So instead we meandered around the entire convention center. I must say I really loved the outside. With it being right on the river we didn't have to go very far for good photo opportunities so that was a big plus for me. Sunday started out very depressing, it was the last day. Heiwa didn't sleep real good Saturday night so she was a grump delight. I managed to get her in a happy mood by going to the EPIC Slants Foodies panel so we hit the dealers room once more! (We were still poor so not much changed)
This time we ran into the wonderful Chuck Huber!!! (Insert Fan girl here) Heiwa is madly in love with Ash Landers from Black Butler so as soon as Mr. Huber found that out he started talking to her in Ash's voice. You should have seen Heiwa, she fangirled like there was no tomorrow. It was adorable. The kind Mr. Huber signed her press badge and I still can't get that thing away from her! I wanted to take a picture to show you all but I value my life...
After that we got in line for the Charity Auction, we were gonna watch and take pictures since we obviously couldn't buy anything however the people in line ahead of us (3 guys) were getting increasingly awkward and inappropriate so I had no interest in hanging around. I am sorry, I know I should have toughed it out for you guys but I just couldn't handle it and I didn't want to get thrown out. Please forgive me :(

After that Heiwa's mood drastically changed and I was unable to repair it. We sat outside waiting for our ride and I realized that this was it. We were leaving Yama-Con. I was going to have to go home and put my nerd back in the closet for another year. I was stuck on that depressing thought until I saw something that made me smile. A Yama-Con Staff member was walking around picking up trash (which I am thankful for because I was just about to get up and do that because what type of monster would liter at Yama-Con!!! sorry if you are one of those monsters  ) and he didn't look bothered by it one bit. I really respected that. He improved my mood significantly and pulled me out of the temporary sadness.
As my ride was pulling in I saw the most amazing cosplay of Sunday, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. These cosplayers will never know how happy they made me. They posed for this picture and then gave me a rose, which now sits happily on my bedside table.
Thank you Hikaru and Kaoru for saving my Sunday!!!!!
It only occurred to me afterwards that I had asked them to pose in a way that the sun was blinding them... Super sorry :(

 

 

And so to end my recap of Yama-Con 2015 I am going to do an honorary award ceremony!!!

 

Best Staff member: The girl at the counter who approved our medical bag for the rave! (And the guy who picked up the trash, and the one who found my keys and my phone and the guy that changed the schedule and randomly it worked in our favor)

 

Best Band Performance: ........The Slants!

I know that Eyeshine is really good to but something just was on point with The Slants and I really hope they come back next year.

 

Best Cosplay (Singular): Shizuo Heiwajima!!!!

(shocked, aren't you?) 

Best Cosplayers (Plural): Hikaru and Kaoru!!!

(That was actually really hard because I loved the Naruto group walking around that let Heiwa and I take a few group shots with them. I always wanted cool cosplay friends.)

 

Best Karaoke: Alois Trancy and Ciel Phantomhive singing "I won't Say I'm In Love"

 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who helped make my first real con such a wonderful experience. I really hope to get to know some new people next year and that I walk away from the con with a friend.

Wow that sounded so desperate O.o

 

 

Signing off about Yama-Con 2015 for the last time.

~Aki Ame Okami                                                                             

Yama-Con 2015: A Pirates Life For Me!!!! (Friday)

                     My adventures started on Friday.

Early Friday morning I jumped out of bed, terrified and excited, not knowing what the weekend would hold. I am writing this to tell you what has happened and how it has changed me as a person. For the better :P

For starters I would just like to say that this was my first time cosplaying and I was terrified and unsure as to how it would turn out. This is what I went as on Friday. (It is my version of the Yama-Con mascot Yami (Fox pirate this year))

So sadly we got to Yama-Con late because our dear Heiwa had to go to her college class... I despise college -_-
We missed opening ceremonies but that was alright. I had gone through and made a color coded schedule for us so that no matter what happened we would know where everyone was.
After opening ceremonies we went to the Pokemon photo shoot.

 Now let me tell ya, I scheduled an hour for photo shoots. They took about five minutes... Because of this unplanned free time (I was so glad that we ended up having frequent down time.) I spent more time in the Merchants Room than when planned.

                        Oh Bassy O.O And a Ciel dressed as a cow!!!!! I almost started fangirling in the Merchants room XD

 We almost lost all our money on the first day, And by lost I mean spent.

It was a real struggle.... They had Ouran HighSchool Host Club posters that I wanted to get so badly... The only problem is I wanted to keep my money and I didn't want to explain why I had a poster of twins cuddling on my wall....

The other thing I really wanted was a bag, a sling bag, messenger bag, it didn't matter to me. I just wanted a cool bag that showed my love for anime. Sadly I have big plans for Christmas and couldn't afford anything. However I found something that was far better than any bag. (keep reading)

SHIZUO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did fangirl this time :P This cosplayer made my Friday.  Look at that stop sign! The craftsmanship! I didn't get a picture of it but shortly after we took the picture an Izaya ran up to him... The fact that I missed that photo-op will haunt me. Shizuo... <3

We also found this one in the Merchants Room. Kirito!!!!!! The sword was wonderfully made, I actually wish we had gotten a better picture of it. I felt really embarrassed asking for a picture  because for some reason my voiced squeaked. I guess I was aww struck :P A Shizuo, Izaya and a Kirito... Why wouldn't I be?

 We got to see this awesome guy with his awesome booth and its something we are looking into going to, I have never been fond of big cities so Atlanta is a little intimidating to me.

After the dealers room we went to the Iron Cosplay: Davy Back Boat Race
This event was really cool. It appears to be a Yama-Con original event (The iron cosplay part, I think :P ).
The took 3 teams of 4 and gave them random items, Some items that I recognized included tin foil, duct tape, wrapping paper, cardboard and I am sure that there were other items that I just didnt see. The winners got dealers room bucks (The lucky cosplayers...) and the not winners got donuts!!!! Sadly the only picture I got is of the announcer (Who also cosplayed) then I got caught up in the competition and forgot about the camera :P oopsie.

 

 After that we had another photo shoot, Noragami, which sadly we must have been in the wrong spot because we never saw them so we left to get dinner. We ate at Bellacino's as always :) It was delicious and filling. I did get funny looks though, my guess is they didnt recognize my cosplay. We ended up skipping the rave that evening cause of a "No bags" rule and we needed to keep ours with us. Since we skipped we did get to see some of the Con staff in action, I must say that I was very impressed with them. They kept to their rules and they were always around if you needed something and they were always so kind to us, even if we were hopelessly lost :P
A big thanks to the Con staff!!!! (Also please bring The Slants back next year! )
 
 
Any who, On to the Cosplay Highlights!!!
There were so many good cosplayers I think I will be putting together a seperate post about them :)
 
                      


                         They had their Black Butler cosplays on point!
There will be a seperate post about all the cosplayers so my favorites of the day will be featured here..... (Drum roll!!!!)  

  The Black Butler group!!!!!

 Shizuo takes second place.... Sorry about this photo, meant to ask but then we got mobbed by a group moving through the halls and then he was gone...

 To top off the post I am going to show you some of our glamour shots!!! These were taken on Saturday evening but I am just dying to post them :)
Heiwa as Hinata Hyuuga

 And me as Kiba Inuzuka.

I really enjoyed my Friday and it gave me a lot of confidence going into Saturday. It proved to me that this fandom is truly and accepting and loving family.

~Aki Ame Okami