JACON 2005 in Review

After 5 successful years of hosting their annual anime convention at the campus of the University of Central Florida, JACON 2005 finally grew into a hotel-based con. This year's event took place at the Sheraton World Resort, an earshot from the Orange County Convention Center where Megacon takes place. This was an important step to allow JACON to continue to grow to meet market demand.

"Organized chaos" was mentioned by both con-goers and coordinators regarding the layout of the event. It wasn't that space was lacking, but everything was spread among several buildings like a complex HALO 2 game map. If you didn't have your con guide, you'd have to resort to asking a fellow con goer where the dealer room or main event hall was. It's a good thing that it didn't rain.

Speaking of the dealer room, there was an ample supply of anime paraphernalia to wreak havoc on one's pocketbook. I managed to make it through in one pass, making the proverbial $5 donation to the Pocky and Ramune fund. It's not just for breakfast anymore. Thanks to the good folks of SciFi Zone for their spin-the-wheel game where we scored some Sailor Moon playing cards and a t-shirt. Nice job on the Princess Tutu costume, Anime Ang!

The same internet that bolstered the anime community providing fan-subbed material, music, and scanned manga, may just be inflicting a death-blow to the dealer room as we know it. "This same Full Metal Alchemist pocket watch was $45 in the dealer room, but I got it for around $11 from eBay," states Natalie, dressed as Edward from FMA. As the cost of being an anime fan continues to escalate, money-savvy fans are becoming more resourceful in acquiring their wares. Still, there's something to be said for touching the product before buying.

Something humorous that caught my eye was the silent "button wars" that took place without any [known] casualties. There seem to be two types of people - those that yearn for physical affection through glomping, and those that prefer others keep their distance. I belong to the second camp, but 8-year-old Ellissa is one who attempts to inflict damage to those receiving one of her death squeezes. Some resourceful entrepreneurs have caught on and started marketing merchandise to both camps. Imagine that.

Though we weren't able to attend the Wasabi Animusical produced by Wasabi Anime, I heard it got a standing ovation - so congrats to all the performers for a great show. Your hard work will likely inspire others to give it their best in future performances.

We go to these events primarily to see the costumes and meet their makers. As the age of anime fans gets younger, so does the age of cosplayers. The youngest cosplayer I met was a mere one-and-a-half-year-old who had recently joined Cosplay Lab wearing his Inuyasha outfit. I enjoy talking with the parents of cosplayers who attend. "Now that they make their own costumes, they've surpassed me," quips one mom whose girls entered the costume contest. Most cosplayers never have the luxury of being trained how to sew or use a sewing machine. Most learn "on the job," watching mom, or trudging out on their own. Some, like Alexa, take pride in making award-winning costumes entirely by hand. As an intern at Epcot, she couldn't bring a sewing machine, so she challenged herself to do a Yu-Gi-Oh costume no one had ever done before. When you have to resort to taking photos of video clips in order to find reference images, that's dedication.

Being a cosplay judge is no easy task either, but this year's JACON judging panel had one thing in common - they are all experienced cosplayers - not to mention that this is the first time (to my knowledge) they're all Cosplay Lab members. Amber, McKayla, and Amanda used their background to pick the best winners. Every person that gets up on stage is a winner for putting effort into making their character come to life, but there are only so many awards to hand out.

Click here to view the costume contest photos

What was disappointing was the fact the entire audience for the costume contest could have fit in the gap between the stage and the front row of chairs. Silly me for leaving my heavy telephoto lens at home, but I didn't expect to be 50 feet from the edge of the stage. "Yeah, that speck in the middle of the photo is in fact a cosplayer," is a likely comment from the average audience member.

Also a bit disappointing were the types of awards given out. I'm not talking about certificates
vs. trophies or medals. I'm referring to "loot." Contest winners at events like Megacon got at least one DVD, if not more. Sponsors like ADV and Pioneer can supply cases of prizes for conventions to give away. I'd like to suggest more cons take advantage of that to reward their winners. The only reason I bring this up is that a non-anime fan asked what types of prizes costumers win for spending so much time and money on their outfits. I feel funny saying, "30 seconds of fame and a plaque."

Those two minor things aside, the cosplay scene at this year's event was great. JACON is still maturing and definitely a convention to continue attending.