Anyone attend these consistently, sporadically or wanted to but never been? Essentially ones that center on a theme, have festivities and usually have attendees that dress up. An old co-worker introduced me to a larger comic convention 8 years ago. I wasn't sure what to expect, even after collecting for a number of years, but ended up at every one since. I found some other themes from Ren faires to steampunk to zombies to Celtic fests after that. Only started to dress up last year and eventually started a group that caters to it. I've found it gives an instant foot in the door for conversations, keeps me in shape, ha, and feels like another experience apart from the day to day grind.

What are your experiences with anything similar where you're at? I was at a smaller sized comic con last week and will be at a bigger horror themed convention in Orlando this weekend for the 10th time.

I'd love to go to the Horrorhound or any horror conventions, but theyre just too far away for me.

Is that one affiliated with the magazine? That sucks, man. Know the feeling. Festival of Fear is quite the distance from me, ha. In the worst case, horror movie nights are fun with a group. If you get a chance though, check one out. I'd imagine you'd meet some diehards and probably go home with a few stories.

Yeah, there's actually one coming to St.louis(con-tamination), so its really tempting. It almost seems ironic that we have two of the biggest haunted houses/theme parks in the country, Darkness and Creepyworld. Its the kind where they work on it year round.

Some friends of mine from Connecticut are coming down to PA for Steampunk Unlimited and they asked me to come along. It'll be my first type of any convention really so I'm looking forward to it. Hoping between now and then Steam Powered Giraffe will somehow get added to the musical bill as I find them pretty entertaining and wouldn't mind seeing them play.

That looks neat, man. Seems like a lot to keep you busy. You or your friends gonna break out an outfit? One of my favorite events last year was a Steampunk ball in Tampa hosted by Gen of Genitorturers. Some people were complaining about how the music wasn't always Steampunk inspired, but there was still a share of mini shows and contests that made it pretty entertaining. Some woman was doing gymnastics in and out of a ring over the crowd. Another had a metal bra and was using a saw to shoot out sparks. Neat stuff and well put together. I'll see if I can upload some pics later.

That's awesome. I haven't heard of those. But if I'm ever in your next of the woods, wouldn't mind checking 'em out!

My friend, one of my brothers and I have started going to anime conventions over the last couple of years. Generally the people there are really friendly, and it's always cool to see all of the cosplayers in action. Generally I just take pictures while they're the ones in costume (usually as Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler), as I haven't been able to afford a costume for myself, but I suppose it might be fun to try. The ones we've attended thus far are Naka Kon, Kawa Kon and Tokyo in Tulsa. Maybe a few more, I can't really remember off of the top of my head.

Usually the voice actor panels are the most entertaining, or the ones done by the professionals in general. There are usually fan panels, too, which can be enjoyable, but are usually kind of silly. The people involved seem to have a good time, at least! Also, Samurai Dan & Jillian.

The people I'll be with will be dressing up for sure but as for me I'm just gonna go and take it all in. I'll probably wear my Bathory shirt or something.

I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this year after not going since I was a little kid. I was expecting it to be mildly cool but also sort of disappointing, but it turned out to be way better than I expected. I suppose not all of them are as cool as ours, but I was thinking it'd be like a state fair type deal with a renaissance theme (i.e. temporary tents/pavilions). However, the festival grounds are a permanent medieval English-style village nestled in some woods, so the setting was really cool. Lots of cool European folk music, loads of good food that was much less expensive than I thought it would be, good beer and mead with decent pricing. Mainly there are millions of vendors selling everything from hand-carved wooden beer mugs to swords. The crowd were all a bunch of nerds, which was cool because I'm also a nerd so it was nice to geek out about that kind of stuff with people who also appreciated it. The events were also neat, like the archery and jousting demonstrations.

If I was rich, I'd probably buy a season pass and go hang out there every weekend.

http://www.g-fan.com/html/gfest_xx/gfest_xx.php

This is the only one ya'll need to know about...many of the Chicago death metal dudes (like Cianide) are all really into Kaiju films, so you get to have your Godzilla fix and your hanging out with old man metal dudes fix. Win for everyone.

That's awesome you have a consistent group. I haven't had a chance to go to an anime centered con yet, but I hear they are different though. I've seen the fans at other cons and they seem to fully embrace escapism and have a different type of creativity. Sometimes I get lost, ha. Panels are my favorite parts, too. Sometimes I step into ones where I've never heard of the person. Just because they always have a story to tell about how they got to where they're at. James Arnold Taylor rattled off something like a 100 voice impersonations during a Star Wars con panel last year. Neat to see.

The outfits always impress me with the amount of time and effort. Here are some photos from last year at that Steampunk ball. I just went simple (first photo, before event.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mystifierm ... 799618649/

That's great you have a growing passion for them, man. I did the same thing! Ha. Went on a school field trip as a kid and then decided to go to one last year in Tavares, FL. It was in an open field in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Had a blast. The performers walked around in character after shows, so in some ways it immersed you in this festive world in another time period. Like a rated R Disney World, hehe. I've noticed people always seemed to get trashed at these and you run into people who think you're their best friends. The season ended here due to the heat, but I would, too. The Tampa one runs eight weeks straight, with a different theme each one. I went to three of those and will do it again next year no doubt. Apparently I suck badly at axe and knife throwing, but was surprisingly accurate with the bow. No idea.

That's different. I'd probably check it out. Is that a typo when they say the largest with only 1000 people? I'm sure I've walked by a share of metal heads at the horror one in Orlando. The only two bigger dudes I've recognized were Killjoy a few years ago attending as a fan. Didn't get a chance to say anything. This last weekend I saw Mike Browning again. He was leaving but took the time to say a few words. Easy going guy.

It's the largest that happens every year.

I haven't been in a few years, sadly...due to work and travel. But one of my favorite memories is when I was a senior in high school and I met this dude named Bob wearing a Sinister shirt. He was really drunk and smoking in the hotel and getting told by one of the fest organizers to cut it out or they would get in trouble. They had stumbled into the all-night projector room and I was watching "Gamera vs Barugon" at like 11 PM. Bob yelled at the guy and gave me a bunch of beer, turned out he was a vendor and he gave me a bunch of shit and introduced me to some cool dudes.

Hung out with that guy for the rest of the weekend and he had a lot of cool fucking stories. Gonna try to go this year, sometimes there are too many kids there, unfortunately...dudes who grew up with this shit tend to bring their little ones around.

I like it dude, if I did anything it would probably be fairly simple too. I'm thinking one of the guys I'm going with is probably gonna be Roland Deschain as that's what he's done for a couple other cons.

Yeah, there's actually one coming to St.louis(con-tamination), so its really tempting. It almost seems ironic that we have two of the biggest haunted houses/theme parks in the country, Darkness and Creepyworld. Its the kind where they work on it year round.[/quote]

That's awesome. I haven't heard of those. But if I'm ever in your next of the woods, wouldn't mind checking 'em out![/quote]

Kinda funny how Darkness doesnt look anything like a haunted house. Its in an old factory a few blocks from Busch Stadium with a huge banner of a demon face. Creepyworld was sort of in the middle of nowhere. When I went, we damn near just stumbled upon it. It says its "10 in 1", but there were a few things that were maybe the size of an average house.