Katsucon 2018: Mo People, Mo Problems

Another year, another Katsucon ended and here I am at my desktop typing out a review of this year’s convention. Surprisingly this year I opted to go back to my cosplay roots and see the con from a non-press perspective.

When you spend a lot of time working the press circles you tend to come to only know that aspect of conventions and forgo the more intimate experiences that cosplayers enjoy. To have the full and complete experience I even went the route of paying for my own badge and making my own arrangements which proved to be enlightening.

For the uninitiated, Katsucon is held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland. The convention center contains an enclosed multi-story gigantic greenhouse with a mini village, beautiful nooks and interior streams with a lovely fountain and a third floor with a gazebo and all white marble setting. The gazebo floor (an open plaza floor with an actual gazebo in it) is where the large part of the convention meets up or flows through and has become the Mecca equivalent for migrating photographers looking for some classy photos to take.

A lot of the best cosplay(ers) tend to also navigate themselves to that location to get some quality photos. The location itself has so much space to migrate around and plenty spots for friend meets up and the convention itself is nestled in a tourist section of Maryland with quality restaurants, pubs and shopping areas for those looking to stretch their legs and take a good look around.

After a 12+ hour drive to National Harbor, I hopped into the badge line and waited about 45 minutes to get my badge. Before getting in line, I asked a few of the on-duty staffers about using my debit card to pay for my badge and none of them knew if it were a thing or if I needed to hit an ATM. When pressed further, none of them bothered to contact someone like a team lead to get a definite answer for me.

That by itself didn’t seem too big of a deal except throughout the weekend it seemed to be a smaller symptom of a larger issue. That issue being a large amount of disorganization. Panels I popped into were disorganized, with technical malfunctions, delays and inconsistent information being distributed. Some photoshoots were delayed, locations shifted or cancelled out right. I experienced a bit of an overzealous person on the security staff who seemed to think approaching me and rudely screaming at me about the volume of my music would be more prudent than simply asking me to turn the volume down. Being a person who has previously worked in security, I know the quickest way to get someone to do the opposite of what you ask is to approach them in an openly hostile manner. In my walkabout through the convention center I witnessed similar situations of increasingly aggressive staffers bellowing at different people.

The congestion has become worse with the increase in con-goers and many of the hallways were harder to navigate than in previous years. And the staffers didn’t seem to have an understanding on how to direct the traffic or simply did not feel the need to step in and help relieve the congestion. Increasingly throughout the weekend I kept finding people grouping up in the doorways while blocking entrances and staffers stood idly by while allowing the the blockade to continue which in turn forced the foot traffic to redirect to other entrances. It’s difficult to control a convention the size of Katsucon without taking time to analyze the traffic flow and make changes to place of staffers. One can only hope that in the future they will address the issue of foot traffic and tighten up the technical issues they seemed to have with the panels.

I will say that even with it’s bad weather the convention still seems fresh and enjoyable. The atmosphere seemed a lot more positive and people genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the weird weather throughout the weekend. The lines to POSE (the rooftop nightclub) had gone down the check-in corridor and seemed to move at a snail’s pace possibly due to the “badge or Gaylord room key” rule in place. A lot of people migrated to the sports pub on the first floor or simply disappeared into the myriad rooms in the upper level. On the different floors you could hear an assortment of loud music from portable speakers (my own included) that kept the party going into the evening before staffers quieted down the building and corralled people into the lower levels.

I won’t reserve all negative impressions for just the staff — vandals struck the floors yet again this year in a lesser degree. The Gaylord having placed more cameras in it’s halls leads me to believe that they are actively looking to combat the vandalism and assign the damages to the people who caused it. Unlike many people I instead decided to stay at the Marriott with my convention/real life family but even there the hotel presented us with a contract for hotel guests to sign that outlined in large font what was expected of us while also hiring a police officer to remain in the lobby after 10 p.m. to handle any issues.

I’d give this year’s Katsucon an 8/10 as it continues to grow in size and popularity but I also hope that the convention begins to take a real look at it’s size, growth and scope and maybe brings in some outside help to assist with the congestion and other issues. It’s always been a lovely location and a great time for me but if it loses focus then I can see it growing stagnant and with so many conventions to choose from — cosplayers and convention goers may choose to spend their hard-earned dollars at some other place.