Connecticon 2012 : Convention Report

ConnectiCon 2012, the biggest anime convention in Connecticut, has one again left us too quickly. I had a great time meeting old friends and new cosplayers. There were a lot of changes this year, the biggest being moving the Artist Alley to the first floor next to the food court. Overall, I would say that I had a good time at the convention interviewing attendees and seeing some great cosplays. The panels I wanted to go to, like the Team Four panels, were always too full and I was always too late.

I asked members of Nerd Caliber to write about their experiences at ConnectiCon since they had more time to check out the convention more extensively. Here are their responses:

“I had a good time at ConnectiCon as per usual, largely due to being involved in the cosplay events (I was in the Death Match and Cosplay Chess). There’s always a great group of fellow participants, and the Cosplay Events staff/tech people are all awesome. I was lucky to avoid a lot of the line issues people seemed to be having, since I was inside the main events for a good portion of the con. The Dealers’ Room wasn’t very impressive this year, but I was able to get some nifty t-shirts.” – Kiera Vallone

“I did fairly well [in the Dealers’ Room], the first hour and the last hour made up for the 9 hours inbetween where traffic rushed past without stopping. I made less than what I made last year. That could be for any number of reasons (different stock, different customers) but the biggest problem was my table was positioned after the dealers room, so people were rushing past on their way out, or not even making down the hallway to my table. Other than that, I had a good time, as much as any other con. Sitting next to Everett and Sue Soars (of Sky Pirates of Valendor) kept things fun.” – Kathryn Redfield

“Is it possible to look more forward to a Convention than the holidays? Yes. And I did for ConnectiCon 2012. So it made the disappointment that much more unbearable when the hospitality of the majority of CTcon staff was less than welcoming. The aggressive and blatantly rude demeanor they used to “keep a tight ship” took the genuine fun out of the convention and resembled that of drill sergeants barking orders to keep their troops in line. This shocking mistreatment of myself and my group was made worse by the inconsistency of convention dress code requirements from the staff. One of whom bordered on harassment. I was threatened to lose my access back into the convention (I had been in costume all day mind you) due to “not being completely covered.” To accurately follow that rule would deny access to any guest in shorts and a tank top which was actually less than what I had on myself. The amount of money, time and effort spent on ConnectiCon was not nearly earned back in the limited amount of space I was allotted to enjoy the event and 2013 will not gain my return to this once beloved convention.” – Jen-Jen

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