Connecticon 2011

Connecticut Convention Center; Hartford, CT
July 8-10th
Website

This was another one of those conventions where I was surprised at the last moment that I could go (literally, I found out 2 days before the con I could make it). I've heard of the con before but never really experienced it until now. The con itself is one of those big mix cons, it's not just anime, but video-games, sci-fi and everything else. They do a pretty good job of mixing everything, and there was a ton of different people. If I had to compare the size it reminds me of Ohayocon.

This was one of the few times I actually got the chance to really check out the panels, and I'm glad I got to. About all the panels I went to were really great. One of the more different panels I went to was the Parkour panel (which a lot of Assassin Creed cosplayers showed up to, no surprise there). While not really fitting too much into the whole con, it was an interesting panel to go to, to hear about what Parkour was really about.

Out of the main events, I saw the Dating Game, Masquerade and the Death Match (also a very small bit of the chess game). What I want to start off with, and what I didn't know, is that a lot of these have these main skits that the people running them do. I don't think the idea is bad, but they ran WAY too long. The best example is the Masquerade. It was supposed to end at 10:00pm so the Geek Comedy could begin. We left by 11:00pm and they were still doing their skits. The Dating Game was run the same way, everything was pre-decided and was just made to be a skit. Which is fine, if that's what they want to do. But something like this shouldn't be done for the Masquerade. The Masq is for the people who entered, who made costumes and skits for it. It really shouldn't be overrun by the people running it. The skits ran on FAR too long. I think if they need to do something like that, they need to make sure they run far shorter, they'd be far more enjoyable.

But moving on, I caught the end of most of the skits, and they looked pretty good. They placed the winning AMVs at the end and ALL of them were amazing. My favorite was "Captain Jack Sparrow" one...I wish I could find it online just to post. The Death Match was amazing. The MC was great and I loved to be able to cheer for the characters I wanted to win. I sadly didn't get to see the end of that, but I think the events where the audience can participate are the best.

The dealers room was pretty fantastic. Lots of space and a lot of really good booths. There was one in particular though that was selling nothing but knock off figures. The prices were super tempting, extremely low, but every single figure there was a knock off. I know some people don't really care either way, I'm particular about the figures I buy. If I'm buying a figure I want it to be authentic. But my favorite booth Anime Seikai was there. If you're going to buy a figure Anime Seikai is the best place to do it. They have a ton of figures, all authentic and range in pretty decent prices. I love seeing their booth at cons because they always have new figures. (Okay I think I've pumped up Anime Seikai enough). Another great thing was the Artist Alley set up. The room was pretty big and there was a lot of different types of artists there.

I really loved the layout of the whole convention. There was a lot of space, and it was pretty easy to get from one place to another. I think it worked out well because the amount of people there. I have a feeling once the convention gets larger this will be more difficult to fit everyone, that's pretty normal for any con. But the size and the center was perfect. I had a really good time overall, I would definitely come back to this con.

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And of course the rest of the photos are here. Enjoy!