With the way the economy is right now I'm surprised I saw as many ppl as I did this year. I wanted to buy a bunch of stuff but I had to do some budgeting while I was looking around.
More so than ever this year, with Fri "Preview" night basically being a no-holds-barred sales fest (minus releases specifically scheduled for Sat). Briefly considered skipping the steep VIP ticket for a more reasonable weekend pass... boy would that have been a mistake! Wisely opted for 1 even before Rich announced his release schedule. But yeah, once PK's lotto ended Sat, I was legit donezo for the weekend. Remainder of the con was the good ol' struggle of fighting off impulse buys Had the same thought as well, and by all accounts the VIP crowd seemed super light this year (prob for the exact reason mentioned above). Also, the large mobs of overseas attendees (typically holding court in the most hyped-up lines) were almost non-existent. Totally understandable when factoring in a certain draconian Zero-Covid policy coupled with the current state of exchange rates. Would be lying if I said that missing element wasn't a welcome breath of fresh air though... On the topic of exchange rates, wanted to express my gratitude to all the JP vendors that attended. More than a few were noticeably absent, but still surprised to see the solid number who made the trip out. Travel & lodging must've been prohibitively expensive, but on the flip side, the $/¥ difference was a clear boon for sales priced in USD. All said, the entire con experience was probably the closest return to "normalcy" one could expect at this juncture... and damned if I didn't desperately NEED that. Huge shoutout to EVERYONE I saw and chatted with (even if just for a moment). Your faces were dearly missed!! Sofubi nerds/freaks/weirdos are the fucking BEST!! I ❤️ y'all BIG TIME!!!
Some thoughts. As a vendor/maker it was my best year yet. Friday was completely awesome, saturday was really slow... but when I added up my saturday sales it wasn't too bad. 9am to 7pm?!? For vendors it's a WTF kinda day. Wake up at 7 to try and be there at 8 divide the 2 add the 40 deep car line to get into the parking lot, minus your friend who forgot their badge, and we are already having fun before we get in the door. Sunday... by the time Sunday rolls around, I am beyond done, with helping out with CB starting wednesday eve. I'm wiped. Sunday was slow too, but at least I'm not on the floor for 10+ hours. My biggest takeaway, which has been tapped into here a bit. Last year makers saw that it was possible again, got excited and so this year loads of makers came back, but international travel is still pretty difficult, travel in general.... I think there were more attendees this year than last, it just didn't match the volume of vendors that came back this year. So, outside of CB, or a few other zones, it was pretty rough for vendors. I felt/feel pretty lucky to have a solid fanbase, and I'm delighted everytime someone picks something up from my table with all the awesome other choices they have. 2 days total would be perfect for this show. Time enough to see all your favorites, explore the rest of the show, swing back to your favorites, sleep on it, and then chill out and buy t shirts, and anything you missed on day one, the second day.
Joe's a beauty. Great amount of detail and love the clear shell. Unfortunately no glow as far as I can tell. Spoiler
I am surprised nobody have posted anything here about this event which is coming up in less than a month, I checked the vendors list and looks pretty solid to me, similar to last year's, it should be a great event, looking forward to this. Who is going?
i am going and pleased that the vendor exodus got my booth closer to fancy sofubi folks so my guys can hopefully be picked up as impulse buy sidekicks i have no expectations this time due to the date being so weird, and its a little refreshing to not even think about breaking even to be hinest. should be a nice chill final socal dcon
Yeah, I wondering how the turn out is going to be due to the fact that many people already making plans for Christmas, many of them won't be able to travel for the same reason. Regardless I expect a nice chill out event as usual.
Marusan will be there with Monster Patrol again but I won't be able to make it. The 2024 show is going to be in Las Vegas, saw it on their Discord.
I'm excited. Flying down early for the CB event as well. I'd love to say hi, but I probably won't because I'm shy.
yep! im excited for vegas, saves me travel costs which i can apply towards another show. i'm hoping they aim at october too to avoid f1, but at least they wont be able to have their dates stolen again, they can just venue hop here easily
A friend guesses there are probably just half of the vendors this year compared to last. And fingers crossed for better dates next year in Vegas, will probably be revealed at the Con, unless it slips out before. Will be interested to see how many of the smaller vendors from CA will make the hike, or if smaller groups of related vendors team up for more specific events, like TAGfest or a multi-day Creature Bazaar Creature vision event.
That’s so weird they are moving it to Vegas. It’s not the UFC. I actually like visiting CA, I have no desire to go to Vegas, no offense to those who live there.
Eh, as long as they dont put it on strip (which isn’t Vegas) I think it’s gold but I am biased- it’s the best tiny city on earth in my opinion
The organizers of DCon also run 3DRetro, which moved to Vegas over the summer. So it was only a matter of time, probably accelerated by the fact they got terrible dates at the Anaheim Conv center this year.
I think they said it will be in November in Vegas for 2024, but didn't give exact dates. The floor plan this year is like half of last year, but most of the toy vendors we care about are still there. I imagine CB will continue with Dcon, as they travel for lots of different cons. I think the main thing will be a lot of smaller vendors, mostly from LA, pulling out. A lot of the more casual attendees, also from LA, probably won't go to Vegas but casual attendees in Vegas will go. For toy collectors it should be business as usual, without much change other than location. I could be wrong on all of this, but just my guesses.
Definitely going this year, it's still worth it for me just for CB, bwana, rampage, PK, etc. Very bummed about the move to Vegas. I fucking hate Vegas. But I get it, I'm sure it's a million times cheaper.
Dates for Vegas next year announced. 11/15/24- 11/17/24. Don't see anything about venue yet. View this post on Instagram
Well, sounds like one fewer trip to plan next year. Vegas…. Blech. Quick in and out for me this year - too close to the holidays, and will have just gotten back from Taiwan. But, excited to see the CB crew, drink some Socal brews and bid farewell to a once great event. I’ll have some toys - new ultraman, yoiko collabs and more. Gamjam FTW going forward!
My in-laws live in Portland, so not a huge reach to make the trip back. Biggest question is if next year we'll want to make the trip with an infant