Growing from its roots as 3-day anime marathon in 1997 with 200 attendees, this little con has grown in to a massive event with over 7000 attendees. Two years ago, it took up residence in the Raleigh Convention Center after outgrowing its previous hotel convention center home. Accustomed to operating with a tried and true system of running the con in a smaller venue for so long, adaptation to a new venue takes trial and error, and Animazement is still experimenting to make the most of its new home. Some of the events logistics are still under construction, but the Animazement experience overall remains a smooth running operation, with few delays, most problems quickly solved, and an eye towards continuous improvement.

The con still has its distinctive mix of events and attractions, with emphasis on Japanese culture thanks to the heavy involvement of various Japanese groups from the community as well as the Japanese School of Raleigh. The bar of costume quality level seems to rise every year, but one of the things that makes Animazement special is that despite its unique and competitive Craftsmanship and Cosplay competitions, the attendees’ primary goal remains above all to have a great time. The Dealer’s Room has grown, and while having many things found at most other conventions, there was also a great deal of items not common to other cons, including a deep love for old-school. The Artists’ Alley has become massive in size, packing a large ballroom almost to the brim as well as spilling out all along the mezzanine rather than the single string of tables in previous years. The Art Auction also had a noticeable rise in the caliber of work available for bidding.

This con continues to grow. While there were a few snags (Craftsmanship Judging was a frequently vocalized example), staff have already indicated they have learned from these experiences and plan to incorporate the lessons learned into running next year’s con. Animazement has grown in 1K increments multiple times now, and has never experienced a drop in attendees. Animazement 2010 was no different, and once it’s settled into its new home, this con is sure to hit the 10,000 mark in no time.

You can view photos from the con here: http://photos.notinterested.org/v/AZ2010/

–Spookloops

From their website: “Southern California’s Live Action Role Play (LARP) convention Wyrd Con welcomes you to an amazing weekend of Live Action Combat, Theatre Style, and Alternate Reality (ARGs) Games, Costume & Weapon Contests, Special Guests and SG Hosted Events, Interactive Panels, Demos, Workshops, Classes, Tournaments, Vendors and Artists, Tavern Entertainment, Wandering Performers, Cosplay, Live Shows, and more!”

Wyrd Con will be held from June 11 through the 13th in Costa Mesa California.

The address for the con is:
Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa
3050 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 540‑7000

We hope to see you all there!

ALA is a rather small local event that was held this year at the Marriot near the Los Angeles International Airport, it boasted several panels and events.

Saturday was steampunk day in which many of the cosplayers wore steampunk and several steampunk panels and events took place.

You can view a full gallery here: http://photos.notinterested.org/v/ALA2010/

The convention’s premium events included the Murder Mystery and the Maid Cafe. This year’s cafe was titled the Charming Fairy Maid Cafe and featured costumes from the anime Zero no Tsukaima. Ten maids served all sorts of cute cakes and refreshments to hungry guests.

Around the convention halls, many people gathered in exciting costumes from various animes and video games. People of all ages frolicked through the halls, having fun and sometimes attending panels.

This year’s Costume Contest featured some impressive work. Below is a list of winners:
Judge’s Awards: Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicles, Harvest Moon Goddess, Summoner Yuna from FFX, Assassin’s Creed
Roast Beef Sandwich Award: Totoro
Best Group: Inuyasha
3rd Place: Silent Hill Nurse and Alessa
2nd Place: Swatcats
Best in Show: Gunner Yuna from FFX-2

In addition, Not Interested photographers did several private photoshoots, which will be available for viewing soon.

For more photos, please visit our gallery here: http://photos.notinterested.org/v/animesouth2009/

PMX brought many guests, including cosplayers, lolitas, and all sorts of anime fans. We were priveleged to photograph some of the attendees. Our newest photographer Spookloops did a few individual photoshoots, which will be online in the next few days.

Click here for our full gallery:   http://photos.notinterested.org/v/PMX2009/

Here are a few highlights from our photo gallery:

Here are some photos:

You can find a full gallery of the photos taken by Not Interested staff here:http://photos.notinterested.org/v/LBCC2009/.

Daisy makes all of the corsets that she sells by hand, with love and care. Each corset is made to exacting standards using patterns that she herself has created from years of corset making. She has many corsets available for sale in her online shop. She also accepts custom orders for just about any type of corset you could imagine. You can get in touch with her about a custom order by clicking the Contact Us link on the left hand side of her website.

Check it out!

Dragon*Con fan tracks featured panels, concerts, balls, and other related events. Tracks included Alternate History, Sci-Fi, Anime/Manga, Comics and Pop Art, Costuming, Dark Fantasy, Game Programming, MMORPGS, Robotics, Science, Silk Road, Space, Star Gate, Star Trek, Tolkein’s Middle Earth, and Wheel of Time, to name a few of the 35 tracks. There was truly something for everyone.

Chris and I attended several musical performances, including Abney Park, Bella Morte, Cruxshadows, Votaire and Hellblinki, and my personal favorite, Faith and the Muse. There was also the Time Travelers Ball, featuring many wonderful steampunk fashions, the Mad Scientist Ball with 8 foot Tesla coils, and the Pirate Party. We also attended a few panels and spent the rest of our time wandering around and observing all the various costumes.

Our pictures can be seen here: http://photos.notinterested.org/v/DragonCon2009/

–There were many exciting panels featuring celebrities from the industry. There was something for everyone! Chris and I attended the Chuck panel, which I will undoubtedly be writing more about in a separate article.

–The crowds were very large. I had been warned, but I was still quite impressed with the number of attendees. Comic Con certainly is popular!

–One of my favorite things, cosplay, was well represented around the convention.

–The exhibit hall was very impressive. Exhibitors really brought their best products and displays.

–Outside the convention center were other Comic Con related decorations. There was a Heroes carnival, and a local cafe had actually been redecorated to look like Cafe Diem from Eureka, complete with accurate signs and cardboard cutouts of the characters.

–Various editors took photos at the convention, which can be viewed in this gallery: Comic Con 2009

Comic-Con 2009 was a blast, but I must say that the highlight of the con for Daisy and me was the “Chuck” panel. This hilarious panel opened with a clip reel that culminated when Vik Sahay (Lester Patel) and Scott Krinsky (Jeffrey “Jeff” Barnes) stepped on stage and performed Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls” as Jeffster, including Jeff with his keytar.

Check back in a few days for our full report, including photo galleries from the con!