jpopexpress.com - Saboten-con Memorial Day Weekend, Phoenix AZ

Saboten-con Memorial Day Weekend, Phoenix AZ

Filed Under (COLUMNS, Events, J-Rock, Pop Roxx) by Hentai Tenshi on Thursday, June 5, 2008

Saboten-con at first glance was not very impressive. The Crowne Plaza Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona was rather small, and when you first walked in, the convention was but a few tables down a hallway. Determined to not let this deter me (I am used to larger cons such as Anime Expo and even Yaoi-con is larger!), I picked up my ‘Exhibitor’ pass and with Chibi in tow, headed down the hallway.

The main hallway functioned also as the artist alley, and the ballrooms with the panels lined between the tables on the left. We arrived too late Sunday evening to attend any panels, so we wandered about and looked at the art, cosplay and found our way to the dealer’s room. The dealer’s room was tiny, for lack of a better word, but the selection was not. They sported everything from Ramune and manga to Fetish Falls, a local shop selling cosplay and Jrock inspired accessories.

Chibi and a heartless? As there always seems to be at cons, there was a set of guys sitting in a corner with a computer, but these guys were selling Ramune. We were lucky enough to have showed up when they only had two left. I had the pleasure of trying Pineapple Ramune for the first time! It was well worth the $2 we paid for it, but as Ramune always is, it was gone entirely too fast. We wandered around a bit, talked to a few cosplayers and then found our way outside.

Saboten-con is held in a hotel convention center, so not only were there con-goers, but also families on vacation. It’s always interesting to see the looks on people’s faces when a six-foot Moogle walks by! Most of the cosplays were the same as the last few cons I have attended. Naruto and Bleach dominated, a few Fullmetal Alchemist and the rest were pretty much video game characters and Lolita’s of various styles.

What caught my attention most about this convention, were how many local artists and businesses were involved. Everything from Indies artists like Steam Crow Press and the traditional and digital art of Ryan Comstock, pros like Armand Villavert, Jr. to the wonderment of the Yoyo Masters Julius and Kyler Yazzie of AllYoYo.com.

Chibi and I went out for dinner then returned to play around outside, play fighting as a group of teens gave commentary as we waited for the late night events to start. We attended the DDR dance Sunday night, and took a lot of video of people doing lightshows, dancing and partying and just plain having fun. I met other parents who take their children to cons and we talked a lot, exchanged information and hung out while the kids played and danced around. That, in my opinion was the best part of the con. Making friends and watching people have fun and having fun yourself is what cons are all about. Somewhere along the line it seems to have become ‘who has the best costume’ or ‘who got the best swag’, but in the end, it boils down to fun. Pure and simple.

From what I was told, Saboten-con was put together in a mere four months, in replacement of AniZona. Given that information, the con became more impressive in my eyes. The dedication and determination of the con staff to put something together that fast, with as much as Saboten-con had to offer, Chibi and Ryuuk is truly impressive. It had everything the larger cons offer: Game room, Masquerade, Cosplay contests, dealer’s room, Jrock Fashion show (I’m disappointed I missed this most of all!), impressive guests, enough panels to keep anyone busy for three days and even a Maid and Lolita tea party.

All in all, though I was not impressed at first by the con, after making new friends, meeting old friends from Phoenix’s Matsuri Festival last February and chasing down every Jrock cosplayer I could find (more on this next week!), I left the con feeling satisfied that it had been a good weekend.

Saboten-con is still in its infant stages, but I don’t expect it to stay that way for long! Small cons have their charm, and they grow faster than anyone expects them to. I think I’ll take the weekend off work next Memorial Day and spend my time chasing down more Jrock cosplayers at Saboten-con! If this year was any indication of what next year will offer, then it will be an adventure not to be missed! It most definitely holds potential!

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