The anticipation for the Dealers Room's opening.
The door opens and the crowd rushes in!
I believe this was the last row of vendors in the Dealers Room. Notice how SMALL the vendors section in this room was. I was disappointed in this really. My expectation of having a dedicated large Dealers Room full of shops was not met.
The Autograph Area was in the next row of the Dealers Room. It is good to have a dedicated space for the guests to meet and greet fans. Plus, the tape is a good idea for line control. However, every time I walk through this area, the tables were mostly empty. The only guest I saw consistently there throughout the weekend was the Black Power Ranger. There was one other guest at one table, but I only saw him once. Other than those two guests, the tables were barely in use.
After walking through the Autograph area, I entered the Artist Alley. For some reason, it felt slightly empty and I don't mean by the lack of crowd. Some booths were empty while others looked unprepared or unfinished. This was Day One of the convention, which I'm surprised about. However, gradually the alley looked more complete.
If you walk next door through the Dealers Room side, you find the Food Area. Due to the lack of food nearby, this saved me. It didn't taste too bad either. Yes, all those tables are for us eaters.
In the same area as the food was the Tabletop Gaming Room. Yes, this entire room was dedicated to non-console and computer games. Kind of huge right? When I walked into this area throughout the weekend, I never seen all those tables 100% full, at least not the majority.
Outside the Dealers Room in the lobby, there were stairs leading up to the top floor. It was unusual to encounter the arcade game area while traveling upward.
The outside area between the building that housed the Dealers Room and arcade games and the building that housed the Manga Library and other panels.
The entertainment in the area.
The Manga Library was located on the other side of the convention center, which means you had to go outside and then back inside the center. This was an unusual set up: instead of shelves there were plastic bins and no tables with the chairs. Meh, whatever works.
I came across this TOKYOPOP stand up sign while walking in the hallway leading to the Manga Library. I miss the company.
You are probably wondering what about the console games? Well…they were in another building all together which you had to take a bus to get to. Quite inconvenient, but doable. The video game rooms were small, but I was able to try out Mario Kart 8.
Grab Bags Galore! When you have no idea what to buy, but would like to get something as a souvenir, grab bags might be the way to go. Just remember you may or may not get what you want. I wrote something about grab bags a couple years back, but the experience is more or less relevant. So feel free to
check it out!
Instead of “Free Hugs” you get...a shrung.
© 2015 Linda Thai
Photography by Linda Thai
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