I've been to the Tokyo Game Show. The cosplay aspect of it sucked. They had all the cosplayers cordoned off in one tiny area, there were only about 15 of them, and they were all terrible. One of the 15 was an old guy dressed like Cammy.

This was the 2006 TGS if anyone is curious. I never bothered going any other years because it was pretty boring.

I've been to a mexican convention and it was interesting. The one specific con I want to was very similar to NYAF where it was a big dealers room with a separate stage area and judging was in front of a panel with everyone seated at and saw the entire judging process. Now, I didn't know that some of the costumers competed in costumes made by other people until the event was over, so that was different. Also, the audience during the masq were really rowdy and screamed out a lot of nonsense which I thought was hilarious, it ups the level of competition if you are confident enough to deal with that. They also offered a nice cash prize, which more conventions should do. I didn't have any difficulty communicating because I know Spanish, but there were dialect differences where one word I said could mean something different in Mexican. Overall though, it was a really good experience and I'd like to go back just to compete.

the Hong Kong conventions are a blast we have 2 major cons one in the summer (ACG)that is mainly based on manga/anime and toys and another in the winter (AGS) that's all games,

We also have 4 doujin conventions and a few smaller uni based cons that focus purely on cosplay, I have had a blast at all of them i don't think i have every really had a bad experience yet and i have made new friends at each event

>>5001040
Tell me more? My boyfriend's family invited me to go to Hong Kong with them for a few weeks next summer, one of the cousins is getting married. Boyfriend and I both cosplay and I'd love to go to a con while we're there. Is there much "lol white people fail at cosplay because they don't look like anime characters" sentiment?

Personally I'm not interested in MCM. It's basically a trade fair that managed to attract cosplayers.

In comparison Japan Expo in Paris is simply awesome. Great line-up of guests of honor and attracts over 180,000 visitors.

MCM is not a con, if you want a UK con then go to the summer one of that year, be it Aya or Ame. Expos are a world of difference, often not in a good way either.

>>5001428
>>5001468
Ah, thanks for the advice.
I've visited some other trade fairs (mainly book fairs with a comic/manga section) a lot of cosplayers go to and while it's technically not a con it's still awesome and one of my fav events. Thought MCM might be similar.

Japan expo(Beginning of July, Paris) is pretty cool if you want a really big convention where you can buy a lot of really expensive goods. The artist Alley is nice though. If you want a smaller convention more centered on cosplays, try Epitanime (still in Paris). Avoid Paris Manga, it's mostly just crowded with what you call weeaboos, most cosplayers seem to believe it at least. MCM London expo was fairly nice, but as said before still nothing like the big cons you have in France. That's all I know of European conventions.

>>5001616
Is it okay to visit Japan Expo and... not know French? I mean English is no prob, but I can't speak a word French.
I know JE is the biggest con in Europe and therefore somewhat 'multicultural', but would that still be a prob?

>>5002040
I'd recommend learning some French still. Most French people learn English at school but it might not be the best and you may struggle to be understood. Or find someone who is fluent and willing to help out. (Though there are people in the artist alley from other country, I remember two Polish girl who only spoke English as an example.)

I'd like to put in a word for another (largely) Francophone convention, Polymanga in Lausanne. It's pretty big at 16,500 visitors.

>>5001544
Would that be the Leipzig bookfair?

>>5001616
I haven't been to Paris Manga but it does bill itself as a scifi con too so I doubt it's exclusively weaboo.

This is relevant to my interests.

What are the biggest cons in the world outside the US? Does anyone know? Which ones do people travel from all over the world to attend?

>>5002130
Not anon you're talking to, but even though the "comic" part attracts some visitors, the vast majority of people going are annoying weeaboos.
On top of that they never get any interesting guests since Japan doesn't want to deal with them anymore (due to replicas of figures, use of official images without autorisation...)
So basically, avoid PM like plague.

For french cons I'd say Japan Expo is a must, but Epitanime is also great for cosplay, even though there's not much visitors and booths!

>>5002130
Paris Manga is known as the best place to find a creeper too. You may find nice people there like everywhere but it's really that one convention where people go in hope to see someone dress "slutty".

>>5002130
>Would that be the Leipzig bookfair?
yup yup

>>5002154
Biggest would be Comiket in Japan and, I suspect, Japan Expo in France. Foreigners tend to be a small fraction at almost all cons. Even where many show up it's usually from neighbouring countries. It's one thing to travel inside the EU where it's cheap and hassle-free due to the Schengen zone, it's another thing to actually get people to come from all over the world.

>>5002192
I guess only a Japan Expo veteran could say a con that attracts 7000-8000 per year is small. Lots of European countries would love to have a con that big. BTW Epitanime will be arranged for the 20th time next year. Might be interesting to see how they'll celebrate that.

>>5001216

There has been some real wow what the hell are you doing cosplay moments like 2 fat girls with tin foil Naruto headbands and some thrown together costume laughing about how many people will take pics of them i have had nothing but praise for my cosplaying since i have been doing it

You know what makes cons cool? Hard to find products, cool guests and conferences?

Well, Mexican cons I've gone (La Mole and TNT) don't have any of that, most of the booths and sellers have the same stuff and the biggest appeal of the cons are cosplay contests... which are universally know to be sold out or just plain crappy.

Not only that, instead of making a great event once every year they make 4 crappy ones throughout the year.

Wierdest con I've ever been?

Avalancha RC in Venezuela, yes... you read right Venezuela and it wuz fun!

People are really nice there and the con had fun things to do, interesting shows and guests, it seems latin voice actors are all the rage there.

Cosplayers go from horrible to great, since they have some wierd things like Yamato cup and Latin American cosplay contest, some go the extra mile on their outfits.

Just one problem, things are expensive like hell there, due to there shitty-ass exchange rate.

I go to Seoul Comic World here in South Korea. I've been going for over a year now. SCW98, SCW99, SCW100, SCW101, SCW102, SCW103, SCW104, and SCW105 is next month.

>Frequency/Location/Etc.
Comic World is held practically every month. It exists in Seoul and Busan. The event is 2 days, opening at 10:00-10:30AM each day and closing around 6PM. In Seoul, the event is held at two locations, depending on which convention centre they book. Indoors, if where the "artist alley" type of thing is. Outside is where most cosplayers and photogs hang out. About 1,000-2,000 people attend during the weekends for the con on average I've been told. IDK for sure though. Language isn't really a problem because you don't really have to talk to anyone and almost everyone here speaks even basic English.

>Pricing
Everything is cheap. You don't have to pay to go to the con, but if you want to go inside to watch the contests or check out what people are selling, you need to pay 4,000W to get your hand stamped. Even the merch they sell outside and inside is cheap. I got a Madoka shirt for 7,000W and it's really nice. You can even buy airsoft guns and swords outside for under $10-$15.

>Cosplay
The cosplay here is kinda meh. Most cosplays are store bought, so you see the same thing over and over and over again. Lots of terrible cosplays here too. The wigs make most of them really bad. IDK why Koreans can't figure out how to hide their own hair under a wig. lol Lots of traps.

>Events
The cons her in Korea very rarely have guests or the events US cons have. There is a cosplay contest, art contest, talent show, and a few misc events on stage every now and again. There have only been two special guests out of any of the times Ive gone. One was a naver comic artist and the other did something with DRRR!.

Have a fab, korean, male Gakupo. lol

The variations of milk packaging are interesting.
I mean, you could expect different words, different candies and things but
milk packaging

Lucca Comics&Games in Italy is the biggest con in Europe after Japan Expo. I guess what makes it 'different' is that panels and booths are spread throughout the town, so you get to enjoy the medieval architecture and beautiful scenery as you attend the con: depending on your costume, Lucca can be perfect for taking pictures in cosplay. But other than that... eh, guests at Italian cons are kinda meh if you're a weeb because cons over here aren't specifically anime related: there's a lot of focus on European/American comics as well, though the guys in charge are finally starting to notice that most attendees like manga and things will probably be different in a few years (and the con scene has already changed a lot since I first got into it).

Speaking of which, Comicon (in Naples) is currently held in two separate places (medieval castle+convention center with huge outdoor space) at the same time to give manga fans/cosplayers more space; it's really improved a lot over the years and the same goes for the cosplay competition, that nowadays is used to select representatives for different contests. Years ago Go Nagai was one of the guests and judges for the masquerade.

Last but not least, there's Romics, famous for being the con where WCS representatives are selected. The cosplay level goes from good to really good/amazing (with the occasional why would you wear that costume) but so far I think Romics cosplayers are the best. The events/panels are also pretty fun and the people are really friendly.

If you stop by any of these cities during con season, definitely give these cons (especially the last two) a try; they're also much cheaper than American cons from what I've seen, however, be prepared because what >>5002093 said about English in France also applies to Italy.

I've been to a german con called Dokomi this year. It was quite nice. I liked the location and their host club. apparently there was also a cosplay ball, but it was sold out so I couldn't attend.

>>5002283
Has anyone here been to Comiket? I'm going to Japan for the winter and I'm wondering if it's worth considering.

>>5004463

They probably do the same thing as Tokyo Game Show and make you stay in one specific place if you're in costume. Also you'll have to change at the con, they probably won't let you in with your costume on. You'll be the only foreigner there in costume for sure.

IDK, to me it's not fun. The Japanese idea of cosplay is "stand in one spot for 5 hours for people to take your picture." Back in the days when people still cosplayed at Harajuku, you wouldn't see them anywhere except along one specific bridge, off to the side away from traffic. They were just there to pose.

>>5004492
Oh, I didn't necessarily mean cosplaying, I was just wondering what the con's like. If I were to cosplay it'd be a simple thing like a school uniform or something. From what I've heard it's mostly doujins being sold?

Hitting up a Euro con would be the best. I hear europeans like to party.

Any party cons in Spain? :p

>>5004492
Nope, cosplayers are free to move about at almost all Japanese events. There are however rules about where you can take photos. Really, didn't you figure out the area cosplayers congregate at is the designated photography zone?

I live in Denmark and have attended a few Euro cons,

Denmark:

Genki is a convention held in English (oh self promotion) that started in 2009, but has grown to a cozy 1,200 2 years later. It's pretty chill and they will be releasing their information for next year in a few days time.

A specfic thing is that Genki is open 24/7 in both game room and night time events for hardcore fans.

www.genki.dk

Germany:

Connichi is a convnetion I visited last weekend, it's pretty much a standard convnetion where you go to meet new people, see awesome cosplays and just relax. There is a good dealer hall and there are good bars around, XallO & Ava Lounge are good places to eat and drink, and the city of Kassel is wonderful!

www.Connichi.de

Holland:

Animecon was their biggest con only surpassed by Abunaicon and is pretty chill. They are both dutch based conventions and you pretty much go their based on the programming on their site.

Sweden:

My favorite convnetion country, because everyone is so nice.

Närcon is one of my favorite conventions that I have never been too. I would mention it because they have been growing to 2,500 guests in 10 years which is pretty awesome. They have good reviews and I will be visiting them next year in June. I wouldn't list it unless I wasn't absolutely sure that it was pretty awesome.

www.narcon.se

ConFusion started in Göteborg last year and hit 1,000 guests instantly. Very relaxing convnetion with a lot of focus on meeting new people and fans. Good music presence and happy people.

www.confusion.nu

Out of all of these I like Genki since it feels like a place where you can get around and meet some wonderful people.

Has anyone ever attended a convention in China?
I may try to go to one next time I take a trip there, but fuck, I'm not really sure what to expect.
ㅎㅅㅎ

>>5002040
>>5002093
My friends went to Japan Expo this year without knowing French and speaking pretty poor English, yet they did just fine for themselves and even one some prize in one of the contests.

Personally, I'd like to go to SDCC next year, but since it's so hard to buy tickets for it even in the States, I'm not sure how much of a chance me and my friends have.

Their masquerades are boring as fuck.
A huge group goes out. They pose. They fight. They die. They pose again. Another group comes on...

Also, most people buy their costumes.

Madrid cons? HA.
Small, cheap-ass shit, made to make people buy their stuff while they entertain a bunch of them with stupid contest, the cosplay contests are always won by the same 4-5 cosplayers, the cosplays you see are Vocashit, Kuroshit, Hetalia, Naruto, FF, KH and PSG ( like Izusa told me once, it's like deviantart in real life ). A videogames side, with 2-3 Play-Stations and a DDR, the Artist Alley reduced to 3-4 tables, all the goddamn shops in Spain with their stands, the karaoke, the stage...and that's all. Panels? Held in the same space with all the noise. Cosplay contest? Same. Every single thing in the same hall.

Ok, they're damn cheap. It goes from 4 to 8 euros a day, but come on, they feed crap on us. They even encourage more people to cosplay Hetalia ( they have an activity for the next con I know of which consists in searching for Finland dressed up as Santa Claus, because he'll give presents to every Hetalia cosplayer ).

Partying? Yeah. People take their stuff and go downtown, like every other weekend. There's no difference between a con party and a normal weekend.

So um...pretty much this. There's a flickr where you can see pics of the main events here, Madrid events are Japan Weekend, Expomanga and Expocomic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramenparadosfotos/sets/

I wouldn't encourage you to come. I've yet to see the Barcelona con which everyone says it's wonderful.