After last year’s final-con-of-the-year for me, I neglected to write any reports at all. I’ve been pretty satisfied with occasionally updating them on twitter, but they’re mostly most brief snapshots of the moment. And so, I shall now begin my hopefully brief run-down of the events I participated.
Anime Impulse 2017
From January 14-15, 2017 at the Fairplex County Fairgrounds, Pomona, CA.
Anyway, we set up my display on day 0, so the following day was stress-free. I was located in booth #9327.
The event ran a lot shorter hour-wise than the prior year, and while it overlapped with the bigger annual Asian-American Expo, that didn’t fully translate to a better performance. It was pretty slow for one, and I believe I occupied myself with other things. I was sadly discouraged to make any watercolor drawings then, too. The new prints I introduced in this event are the konosuba duo and Ar tonelico (one being a collaboration).
Titan-Con 2017
From April 29, 2017 at CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA.
First time revealing my face! Sad glare all around the photo, though.
This was held at the university I attended. This was the second year running, and due to the underwhelming performance of my previous event, I largely focused on selling on what I already had in hand. Needless to say, I performed very well.
I was very pleased as this was encouraging to me to still have some hope in tabling. I even made a new friend too, which was nice.
Ronin Expo 2017
From June 10, 2017 at Little Tokyo District, Los Angeles, CA.
I tabled together with Lemishie at table E05! Much like the past two years, I did not hold high hopes for performing well, and much like in past years, I broke even, haha.
The newest things I’ve produced are two more Atelier series’ bookmarks and some FFXIV and Nier: Automata buttons. I also tried plastic bagging my prints for ease of setup down the line, but it’s hit and miss. As you could observe, the display was cobbled together at the last moment, since we arrived at the venue fairly late. Even though it was outdoors, my worries were unwarranted too. Moreover, noise levels were a lot more considerate this time around.
Anime Expo 2017
From July 1 to 4, 2017 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA.
I tabled together with Alroetsue, my friend visiting from Canada!
For once, I got most of my things done in advance, and it was such a nice feeling. I spent some days prior helping Alroetsue finish her prints and producing them all. I also made the leap to try selling charms, and it worked out quite well. I would likely continue with that in the future.
I did a bit better performance-wise, but with us combined, it was pretty lackluster. I am continuing next year on the account that AX is the largest west coast anime convention.
Ronin Expo Fall Gathering
From November 11, 2017 at Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA.
On a whim, Lemishie and I attended this free (for attendees) single day event. Performance overall left something to be desired, but it was not a wasted day. We had the permission to run a mini swap meet too, and we were able to sell some of our things, haha. I also finally got to debut a lolita coord I sat on for too long.
I also won an attendee badge for next year’s event, so that was very nice! It was a small and fairly informal event, but I do like how genuine the folks running the con are.
And this completes my roundup of the conventions I attended this year! I have a few that I plan to attend next year, so I am hoping for another series of experiences to add down the line.