EXP Con 2010 Review & Pictorial

Depending on who you are, the best way for me to describe EXP Con is that it doesn’t offer much, while at the same time having a lot to appreciate. First off, I must applaud the people of EXP Con for promoting this convention very well. From Facebook to message boards to passing flyers at various cons, I have never seen a convention promoted so well. The payoff this year (while not much) saw a slight increase in attendance compared to the previous year. I have no doubt EXP Con will rank along MetroCon as one of the fastest growing and most popular anime cons of Florida.
Now for the convention itself, first there is the location. The city of St. Augustine is beautiful and the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village Hotel; Convention Center is devoid of any traffic or parking problems. The only other major con to have such a worry free surrounding I could think of would be Anime South. The hotel itself is also pretty sweet if you got a room before they filled up with the rate of roughly $100/day.
To top it off, if you reserved a room early you got a free EXP Con pass for each night you stayed. There is also a pool outside but who cares about that when a con is going on?
The convention center itself however is a bit lacking. The best way to describe it is a long semi-wide hallway with a glass wall about 15-18ft tall. Unfortunately this isn’t the most desired place for pictures so I apologize for a lot of my inside pictures looking washed out. Getting quality shots at the outside area is not quite AWA or MetroCon level. Also instead of a room dedicated to artist alley, the artist tables were stretched across the walls of the hallway opposite of each other (meaning anyone with a pass or not can check them out). Now that you get an idea of what the place looks like you can imagine it the place can get a bit cramped when there is nearly 4,000 in attendance.
Speaking of photos, there were several great photographers in attendance including myself. There was the nature boy Mabaroshii of RisingSun.net, the great one Morataya, BellaVoce, SimpleBeauty, Nikolai, TifaRose, and a few others I don’t know by name. However this will ring in my first ring of constructive criticism. Their official photographer(s) whom I am not too familiar with held a photoshoot panel that was held inside a panel room as opposed to outside. Now here is where that idea falls on its face; neither of the ones held had any proper lighting (lamps, light umbrellas, reflectors etc..) and the photographers were using direct flash on the subject. On top of that there was no backdrop either. As a cosplayer, I have to say getting a chance of having your picture taken is a flattering gesture, however speaking as a photographer I can only wish their official photographer would be more prepared in order to achieve the best results from your own panel. Therefore I’d recommend anyone who is interested in holding an event like this inside should take a page from A Fans View in how to prepare.
There was also the ball which I’ll only speak briefly on giving this was EXP’s first attempt at having one. The playlist while at times were alright left something to be desired and suffered from too many repeats. I felt there wasn’t very much video game or anime music used when there are several arranged albums perfect for the occasion. There was also a spot reserved for photos, but this also suffered from the same problems as given in the last paragraph. My main problem is that the ball event was ill advertised, however this came in fault of the webmaster/program writer. The official website lists it on its schedule, but does not mention the price of admission ($10) or its dress code (another example of website problems, the website didn’t list the address of the hotel and I had to google to find the location).
However considering this is a ball, the proper dress code and additional admission is to be expected. Then came the problem once I got past the door, I was told I was required to wear a masquerade mask and was forced to buy one for $1. While forced to swallow the extra $1 which of course isn’t a big deal, I didn’t see the point when it’s not like they forced anyone to keep them on or ran anything that required them. However I was a little annoyed when during the last hour someone told me they just walked in and out to without being stopped or paying.
Speaking of security, it ranged from lax to not so lax. I didn’t have too many problems, but I overheard some complaints. One thing I noticed upon arriving was one of the smaller hallways was completely blocked off by security unlike last year. However I was told that this was done because at times they were low on volunteers. It seemed a bit jarring when not only were there people guarding the hallway, but also people past them guarding the panel rooms. In one of the events I went to there was security ushering traffic and directing them to where they should sit. The security guards dressed as Prinnies were cute and a lot more lax yet fair. The game room… well there wasn’t much to say. A big plus is that it’s held in a huge room without the weird con smell. A slight improvement from last year but they removed the couch that was in the middle of the room. The selection was your typical fighting games, first person shooters, and rock band. No DDR, pump it up, 2d shooters, or anything too niche.. except a mostly abandoned Beatmania IIDX tv running. Tournaments were ran which from what I saw went well. I don’t believe I saw a TCG room (not that I’m into that kind of thing).
Speaking of improvements, the rave/dance on Saturday night was leaps and bounds ahead of last years. A better DJ, better music, and an overall better set up. Saturday Night Lawls which people complained a lot about last year didn’t return and during one of the events we were given footage of an attempted comedy panel that was unintentionally funny with directors commentary. The panels from what I saw were pretty fun to mediocre. At times it felt like the con was sort of stringed together at the last minute. I had a lot of fun at the gameshow panel though, but it was unfortunately troubled with many technical difficulties. Hopefully they’ll fix it next year since it was probably one of the better panels and always found ways to get the audience involved. Now onto EXPCon’s attempted selling point: the guests. The guests in particularly Mega64 were some of the most entertaining people you could invite and really carried the con. One of my favorite moments was during a panel, some of them started doing shadow puppets on the projector. It was really nice seeing big names in what felt like a smaller atmosphere. Not only seeing them at their panels and events, but actually walking around and talking to attendees.
The cosplay there was alright. There didn’t seem to be an overwhelming trend so it was good to see some diversity. However there wasn’t too much that was instantly eye catching or ridiculous. No Kefka or eight foot Ifrit like in the previous years. Though what I saw was pretty good. The costume contest while not overly competitive and was fairly judged. As for the overall atmosphere, it was surprisingly pretty nice. On top of just seeing the guests walk around talking to attendees, the atmosphere was really friendly. It was also nice running into people I’ve met at other cons.
Now hopefully I haven’t made the con sound like a complete bust, because to be honest this was actually the most fun I had at a convention all year. So perhaps the best way to put it is this:
If you are looking for a smaller (despite crowded) yet friendly atmosphere, and know people or photographers going then you’d probably have a blast. However if you’re looking for a competitive cosplay contest, huge attendance, top knotch panels… well EXP won’t offer much in that area. Though the con is still young with its third outing so there is room for improvements. Considering the attendance and what it does have to offer, it’s accomplished quite a bit in such a short time.

Pictures and Review by Kenneth Davis