Florida General: We're Back Again

[Anonymous No.9348081]

So folks, con season is starting up in Florida once again. There have been a few cons so far but those were just stragglers that filled the time in between the end and the beginning of con season. When March hits it's we're going back to the over saturation of cons that Florida is known for. OmniExpo is coming up in it's new venue at the Florida Hotel by the Mall, which I think is a terrible space for it. Omni in general has always been really disorganized though.

Here's some stuff from what I heard.

>The convention space is really small so it's expect it to be really busy.
>Parking at the Mall can be bad as it is so that weekend is just going .
>Every contest had their deadlines pushed back because of lack of applicants. The dance competition apparently only got like 3-4 applications total.

Has anyone actually been inside the Florida Hotel to comment about it?

And to keep the discussion going I ask this. What does you look forward to every con season? Do like meeting up with friends, talking shit about people (I do), staying at the hotel and partying? After seeing how some cons changed their policies last year regarding checkpoints (Mega/Metro), or moving the Artist Alley inside at Metro, what do you think of the direction that cons are even going in? To me it feels like their slowly dying out because of bad management.

Though Metro did add a 3 Day Pass option after the shitstorm that happened last year with those.

[Anonymous No.9348250]

I can't speak for the North or South Florida scene, but Central Florida is in a bit of a death spital as it is. Checkpoints aside, if Metro intends to keep its AA behind a paywall, then they need to find a bigger venue outside of the TCC or expand out into the Marriott Waterfront. It's honestly too big of an event for the TCC, which is kind of a scarry thought. That our con might have outgrown our city. Otherwise the only negativity I've really heard about Metro has come from the Otaku Army boycotting it after a few organizers talked smack behind their back.

The loss of Shadocon marks the two big alt cons that had potential to overtake Meteo, Kaotic and Shado, being lost for one reason or another. Shit, even Lamecon, the microcon hosted at the Tiny Library up in Land o' Lakes, bit the dust this year after the man organizing them moved out of state. Tampa is hurting for Alternatives.

Magoolacon will be a first year gaming convention hosted at the Tampa Convention Center, so that should be an interesting. There are a few other event's hosted around the greater Tampa area, I think one con down south of Riverview, anothet up north, but I haven't looked into them.

I haven't been to any cons in Orlando outside of Mega and HolMat. Megacon is a dead shell of a con, a $100 vendors room and celebrity signing event. HolMat, while very slightly disorganized, was very enjoyable. Props to its gaming room and panels.

Apparently there is a con just outside of Miami-Dade where everyone gets drunk all night and parties all day, taking place in a hotel. I try to avoid going that far south, as I have bad memories of Miami. If anyone can tell me what that con was, and if it's worth it, I might consider going.

[Anonymous No.9348437]

>>9348250
I'm not a big fan of the South Florida scene but I have heard of cons like Anime Iwaii were pretty good. Supercon and Animate are both run by Broder if that's any indication of quality.

Metro needs to figure out something because moving the AA did hurt it a little. But there were a lot of complaints about Staff stealing/taking stuff after hours.

I personally love HolMat and thought it was pretty well organized despite the first year at the Marriot. It was very trial and error which they acknowledged in the streams.

[Anonymous No.9348449]

>>9348437
Supercon is probably the best con in the state behind Megacon desu.

[Anonymous No.9350511]

Megacon is great for business as a vendor or an artists but sucks ass for just about everything else. I'm sad to see it go because it was my home con for a long time. It was the first big con I'd been to and it's the con I've had my best cosplay experience at but it's not even worth going to hall con for.

Omni is a spiraling death ball of awful management, shitty staff, and a half a million dollars of debt by the owner. I don't know why they haven't just cut their losses yet. It's another scandal waiting to happen, if the first years cherry picked costume contest and ass crack of a dealers hall wasn't enough.

I always enjoy Holmat. No complaints there.

[Anonymous No.9350714]

The only problem I have with Holmat is that it cares more about it's cosplay guests than anything. The dealer's hall sucked and the panels times/locations weren't even in their fancy printed guide.

[Anonymous No.9351028]

>>9350714
I was kind of feeling this this year. Leon Chiro was awful, and like a good third of the vendors hall was taken up by a small circle of cosplay guests, the autograph line and then I guess some professional or other con booths on the far wall? Kind of an odd setup, to me. I feel the same with the printed guide, too.

[Anonymous No.9357921]

>>9348250
Otaku Army is barely an organization. LUL

[Anonymous No.9359316]

>>9350511
I dont know about debt but i do know the contest was pretty shitty when it was under Deisha and then she bailed to go to Metro before she had the shit storm there since Cindy made part of her cosplay. Last year went pretty good and 1k is still some nice money into the pocket

[Anonymous No.9359399]

>>9350511
Lol wtf they would need to have that type of money to begun with to spend it and those people dont. If your basing off of year one when this is their 4th year man youre out of touch and just trying to find random problems

[Anonymous No.9359443]

I've never been to a Florida con before, I usually fly out of state to go to bigger ones (like Otakon). How do Florida cons compare?

I really wanted to go to a Florida con for the first time this year but from what I understand I picked a bad year to start going. Judging by the discussion I feel like I should just wait around for HolMat instead of gambling on Metro/Mega being potentially decent.

[Anonymous No.9359447]

>>9348081
Friends and I are going to Florida Anime Experience instead. Not wasting money at Omni ever again. Even the good vendors wont go there so what's the point. Plus i'm excited to see the sailor scouts at FAE... There's also Collectivecon at the end of march in JAX.

[Anonymous No.9359534]

>>9359447
Hi Tom. : )

Anyone with their right mind knows both cons are going to be a disappointment but still amusing enough that they 'fight' each other by being so close in date. Omni doesn't even grab the attendance that it needs (they had to extend their contests because of lack of entries) while FAE is trying to bank on those new/naive to the con scene. The only reason why this con is still afloat is because of Tom's late father's money. Either way, one of these cons will end up dying soon that's for sure.

[Anonymous No.9359541]

>>9359534
??? I'm not tom anon. I'm serious about wanting to go because of the sailor scouts. I have a poster I need filled with the few sigs i'm missing. Plus its close by to us. Can we stop being paranoid the organizers give a shit about these threads?

[Anonymous No.9359746]

>>9359541
Actually as an event organizer I can tell you for a fact that the only reason we look at these threads is to laugh at all the clueless hate and butthurt. It's easy to see who didn't win in a costume contest or get cast for a part they felt they deserved.

The lack of any real facts in this thread has to be the funniest part of all. Please do continue. We're enjoying your insights immensely!

[Anonymous No.9359936]

>>9359746
I don't think it's not a fact that anon wants to go see the Sailor Scouts brah

[Anonymous No.9360307]

Anyshit happening this weekend?

[Anonymous No.9360358]

>>9359936
I don't think they were responding to me >>9359541
I think they were responding to >>9359534 at the end.

I literally only give a crap about those scouts and the AA hall this year for extra SM stuff.

[Anonymous No.9360879]

Thoughts on pensacon? Might go for saterday amd tommorow, but its like a 6 hour drive, so dont want to waste my time.

[Anonymous No.9360907]

>>9360879
Havnt heard of any good guests or artists attending so skipping. And it looks really small.

[Anonymous No.9361400]

>>9350714
>>9351028
I really don't know anyone who gives a shit about our shitty local cosplay guests. It's always the same 4 or 5 people you see at every con who provide little to no content for guests other than standing there selling their prints.

I agree anons. The layout at holmats was wack and it was really difficult to figure out what panels were where at what time. Supercon has an app that was very clean in organizing panels and scheduling what ones you wanted to attend. Wish Holmats had something like that.

[Anonymous No.9361409]

>>9359443
Metro is generally fun, it's not a bad con.

[Anonymous No.9362505]

Anybody go to Time Lord Fest in Tampa or Sci Fi Bartow yesterday?

[Anonymous No.9362552]

Whats next?

[Anonymous No.9362569]

>>9362552
Ignoring super small stuff, the next thing of note is probably Supercon Retro in April.

[Rhythm Bastard No.9362627]

The Ren Faire is in Deerfield Beach until Mid-March.

*SELF PROMOTION AHEAD*
Omni Expo is the first weekend in March, and I'm playing at 9 PM on Saturday Night.
*SELF PROMOTION OVER*

Hero Hype is the weekend after that, but I'm going to PAX East. I didn't go to the video game thing. Anyone check it out?

Supercon Retro's the next BIG thing, and I might go just because I'm not putting up with traffic in Miami.

[Anonymous No.9363266]

>>9362569
Small cons suck because they're not big and big cons suck because they're too big and everything's crowded and expensive. Anons need to make up their minds.

>>9361409
Metro is an overpriced waste of time.

[Anonymous No.9363270]

So, from a vendor's perspective here, next cons we know of:

FAE
CollectiveCon
MaloogaCon (Video Game Tournament + Cosplay)
SuperconRetro
CEO Dreamland (Smash Tournament)

[Anonymous No.9363686]

>>9359534
Yo for real both cons are shit and Im waiting to see which one tanks first

[Anonymous No.9363688]

>>9359746
The only people who come in here to defend their shitty show when cast members leave is Metro so hello Alex/Nick. Your show is the shittiest so far and waste of time

[Anonymous No.9363700]

>>9363688
always related to this thread topic.

[Anonymous No.9365257]

Metro and Mega are pretty fun in my opinion

I am iffy about the Supercon events though because of the price and the fact that they let people who they know cheat enter the costume contest

[Anonymous No.9365963]

>>9363700
Metrocon parties are all about Fireball and fucking! Nick's wife Shannon will be happy to get you fucked up drunk! Best part about being Chess Match!

[Anonymous No.9365989]

>>9363700
>>9365963
Why are we acting like prudes about this? Who cares about their personal lives, like holy shit, they drink, we get it anon. Keep this shit to lolcow unless you have actual issues with the con's management.

[Anonymous No.9366017]

>>9365989
Ain't no prude here anon. I've never had so much fun getting shitfaced! And they buy the booze! Best parties ever!

[Anonymous No.9368500]

>>9365257
>they let people who they know cheat enter the costume contest

How so?

[Anonymous No.9368509]

>>9368500
Not the anon who posted that, but I know they do allow people who obviously didn't make their costume enter the contest, despite the rules saying the costume must be made yourself. Although usually these people don't win anything, so I don't think it's a big deal.

BUT, I think the anon is referring to some rumors that have gone around. Like certain winners commissioning their costumes. Or certain winners having personal ties to a judge. I don't know if these are true, but it's something I've heard.

[Anonymous No.9369117]

Anyone going to freecon next week? Thinking about going since I live in Tally.

[Anonymous No.9369190]

>>9368500
Also 501st pretty much has full jurisdiction on who enters the contest or not. Idk if it was different last year but I know in the past, you literally had to go to their booth to sign up. Needless to stay there was a massive difference between the competitors and you could tell who they handpicked to win.

[Anonymous No.9370094]

>>9369190
Literally what are you talking about. You can sign up online before the con. They accept every entrant until they hit capacity. The 501st has no jurisdiction on who enters, nor do they have any jurisdiction on who wins.

[Anonymous No.9370213]

>>9370094
Not that anon but could be different now. Last time I went, I asked at their general info where you sign up for the cosplay contest and they directed me to 501st table who said they didnt have any more forms for the day.

[Anonymous No.9370346]

>>9369190
I fucking miss the anime contest at Mega because they actually had pre-judging and the people who ran it never had any of this pick your friends bs

[Anonymous No.9370382]

>>9370346
I know the feels anon. Although towards the end the contest kinda went down hill since a huge influx of cosplays began to be videogame themed rather than anime

Its so unfortunate because a really well made beautiful anime related costume has no chance over cape shit or large builds

[Anonymous No.9370383]

>>9370382
in just the general contest I mean

[Anonymous No.9370395]

>>9370346
I haven't competed at Mega in years but was considering this year. But I haven't been keeping up. How is it different? No more anime sushi contest? They combined it with the non-Japanese contest and there's no more pre-judging?

[Anonymous No.9370407]

>>9370395
that is correct

[Anonymous No.9370417]

>>9370094
Other anon >>9369190 is correct. A simple search on mega's website shows it. Not a shocker that they rig it..just unfortunate.

[Anonymous No.9370513]

>>9370213
>>9370417
I was talking about the Supercon costume contest. If the anon I replied to wasn't talking about Supercon then he/she should have clarified that, because the anon that he/she originally replied to was talking about Supercon's costume contest, not Megacon's.

[Anonymous No.9370519]

>>9370513
Look at >>9365257 again if you need clarification.

[Anonymous No.9370528]

>>9370513
I'm >>9369190 anon sorry didnt read fully.
Supercon contest is run pretty shady as well. I pretty much see the same people at any super event constantly placing

[Anonymous No.9370582]

>>9370513
hi there I'm the anon from >>9365257
In regards to the contest at supercon, I found out that a cosplayer has been going to cons telling people that they made their costume and has been competing in the contests when, as it turns out they actually bought it, which isn't really fair to the other contestants who actually put some time and effort into making their costumes. I ended up reporting it to the supercon staff seeing as how they seem to frequent and compete at the broder cons, but the staff did not want to consider my report at first because I wanted to stay anonymous, and after a few emails they seemed to look into it, but then I found out that they ended up letting that cosplayer compete at the next event

[Anonymous No.9370598]

>>9370582
Its really not surprising.
A lot of dbag cosplayers enter at his cons and the staff knows how much of a joke the contests are. Flip through any brodercon contest album from the past 5 years and you'll see the same winners/ costume types

I know one girl won something with her costume at one of broder's events and entered the same costume at another and placed which is total bs

[TemjinTBW No.9370808]

Any time I competed at super the judges seemed to know their shit. Kiki Kannon especially who they have had time and time again as a judge/guest.

They even tired to make a database of who was winner with what costume at shows all over the state to try and get a handle on people repeat showing costumes or entering in stuff they didn't make.

Long story short folks, keeping track of that stuff in a state that has two shows every weekend is not an easy task, its next to impossible actually.

If someone shows up in an outfit, has progress photos and with some basic questions seems to know what they are talking about in relation to the costumes construction.... well idk what you expect out of these people that have to judge sometimes 50+ people in a span of a few hours, clairvoyance perhaps?

[Anonymous No.9370814]

>>9370598
That's pretty messed up that they let people do that, and like I said it's not really fair to the other contestants
And in regards to what you said about that one girl, that's pretty much the situation with that cosplayer I was talking about. They are sitting there competing and winning craftsmanship based awards and are telling everyone that they made their costume when they actually bought it.

[Anonymous No.9370830]

>>9370808
Dude no offense but it's difficult to take your opinion into consideration as you've won at supercon events. Don't get me wrong your builds are cool but you can't tell me your opinion is unbiased.
Mostly the same people win at every brodercon. That's just how it is.

[Anonymous No.9370834]

>>9370808
I am not too familiar with what goes on in prejudging, and am not blaming the judges at all, nor do I expect them to log every cosplayer in the state, however when I sent the email to the staff at Super, I also sent the evidence to support my claim, so I guess I thought they would look into it a bit more or actually do something about it.

[TemjinTBW No.9370836]

>>9370830
Who are the people who keep winning over and over then? Who isn't walking away with a prize that ought to be getting one instead in your opinion?

[Anonymous No.9370863]

>>9370528
It's cool, honest mistake.

>>9370582
>>9370814
I believe you about a cosplayer lying about making their costume. While I'm not personally aware of any people who lied about making their costume having won, it wouldn't surprise me. I definitely can remember contests who entered the contest even though they didn't make their costume.

Honestly, I think most the time the judges know when someone didn't make their costume, but they just let them compete anyways and don't reward them. If someone who lied is winning awards, like you said, then it becomes an issue.

>>9370830
Do you have evidence of this? Not trying to say you're wrong or anything, but I'm curious because I personally haven't noticed the same people winning over and over. I have noticed a few people competing with the same costume at multiple Broder events, but that's allowed to an extent, per the rules on their website.

And I don't think Temjin is biased lol. I've won awards at Broder cons too, it's not that serious. It doesn't make me want to defend them or anything. I'm just looking for, and pointing out, the facts. Just like Temjin did in his post.

[Anonymous No.9372092]

>>9348250
Metro is not outgrowing it's space. There's plenty of unused space in that convention center and they could shrink the dealers/artists area significantly. Metro should have switched to pay to enter years ago. Most attendees didn't get a badge and just showed up to hang out, and you could see that clearly with how many kids were hanging outside of badge-check areas versus how many were inside panel rooms or the artist alley.

Were you ever in the dealer's hall at Metro? It was mostly dead. AA was even more dead. I believe Metro is on a decline. Years of self-absorbed chess matches and no interesting programming or panels have finally caught up to them. I hope Metro bounces back.

[Anonymous No.9372114]

>>9359534
>>9359746
Tom if you're reading this: Please stop putting on shows. Please stop going to AX and talking to con organizers as if you know your shit. FAE has consistently been garbage for years and Invadercon needs to stay dead. Wasabicon last year was an absolute borefest, and your choice of venue was short-sighted what with the major parking issues.

Here is why Tom's shows are shit:
-He always picks a cheaper, run down, or under-construction hotel for the venue
-Won't put on a rave, but puts on an electronic dance party for kids, meaning a younger crowd attends
-Yet he gets guests and panels that tend towards the older, adult crowd, such as Evangelion guests
-Because of the largely younger crowd, cosplay is poor (In before someone posts Temjin, he went for the ticket to AX)
-No party scene has developed, only pre-teens that sit in hallways
-The dealers room is shit and Tom ignores bootlegs
-AA is a little better because at least it's not the same people year after year
-Again, because of the younger crowd, no panel scene has developed. The panels are either put on by organizations he's roped in, or are ass.
-Tom treats everyone around him like shit when he's running the con because he has an ego larger than the state of Florida.
-This means people that have put on cool panels or tracks at FAE won't go back

Bonus fact: His wife is 20 years younger than him and he boasts loudly about it to everyone.

[Anonymous No.9373247]

>>9348081
I'm confused, is this the Omni thread or the Metro/Mega thread?

[Anonymous No.9373249]

Who's going to omni? Never been before but am kinda curious as I havent heard much about it,

[Rhythm Bastard No.9373282]

>>9373249
I'm going to be at Omni, playing a concert at 9 PM on Saturday.

[Anonymous No.9373348]

>>9373247
>9373247

This is a general Florida thread. The OP only put Omni Expo as pic since it's the next con happening in FL.

[Anonymous No.9374619]

How come nobody has posted this yet?

[Anonymous No.9374729]

>>9374619
Because only 5 people (of which you are probably one) seem to think that Roy Harms is some kind of a dangerous threat to society for 3 days of the year. No fucks given here, anon, no fucks at all.

[Anonymous No.9374759]

>>9374729
>welcome to Trump's america

[Anonymous No.9374976]

>>9374619
That's a hefty claim, Anon. Why not provide proof of it?

[Anonymous No.9374978]

>>9374759
Aren't blacks supposed to work in Trumps america?

[Anonymous No.9375071]

>>9374619
I did a quick Google & found citations of his arrest but didn't see anything about a full conviction or sentencing.

>>9374729
>No fucks given here, anon, no fucks at all.

actually...

[Anonymous No.9375092]

I can only afford to travel to one big con this year
Which one should i pick?

[Anonymous No.9375148]

>>9374619
Because people like you give fuck only during the show to be internet white knights but don't care the rest of the year. Like dude the day before the con you care?
No one cares about Harms anymore

[Anonymous No.9375166]

Speaking of creeps, has anyone seen the shitstorm going on between Greg rice and Travis Photography? Apparently a lot of girls have been harassed by Travis and Greg has been going on a photographer witch hunt

[Anonymous No.9375184]

>>9375166

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/134/481/687/

[Anonymous No.9375189]

>>9372114

Former Crommie staff memger.

- You are only aloud to run a single panel at his cons, so no one runs good ones.
- We are supposed to watch record and copy good panel ideas so his people can run them later.

Good things about Croom:

- He pays his staff members even when the event doesn't make money.

[Anonymous No.9375227]

>>9375184
holy shit, has travis himself said anything about this?

[Anonymous No.9375237]

>>9375166
The irony is Greg trying to witch hunt when he was caught stealing photos from modelmayhem and saying it was him. He takes zero criticism and always bad mouths photographers who charge since he "never changes and you get all the photos I take" guy takes 500 photos but like 2 are good. He's as shitty at Travis is

[Anonymous No.9375250]

>>9375237
I honestly believe this started because he was always commenting on some underage cosplayers' status asking constantly if they could shoot with him, and then someone told him to stop because it looked bad. He flipped and said he'd never laid a hand on anyone, and then started exposing other photographers to prove how good he is. I don't think he's sexually harassed anyone, but he is a terrible photographer and stealing photos is shitty

[Anonymous No.9375274]

>>9375237

I've seen the multitude of screen caps of travis conversations with pretty girls hes harassed and touchd when they said no. lucky me, no fat chicks is a policy of his.

[Anonymous No.9375297]

>>9360879
It's really expensive to vend at so most of the artists and vendors skip it.

[Anonymous No.9375460]

AND THE FLORIDA DRAMA BEGINS

[Anonymous No.9375597]

>>9374619
Roy is seriously 49???? Is that DOB correct? No fucking way?

[Anonymous No.9375685]

>>9375092
None.
Save money for cool leg.