Friday, April 12, 2013

[TekkoX2]/The Review - Quality over Quantity

Throughout this whole past weekend I kept getting the same message from the heads of staff at Tekkoshocon, that quality and substance outweighs the quantity and does it ever show. This isn't just some "corporate line", these folks really truly believe and act on that mantra. It works and I hope that they never change. I wish more conventions would adopt this as well, but only if they truly mean it.

Now, this weekend was anything far from typical for us, at least from the standpoint of most congoers, as myself and the rest of the crew here were running all over the place for interviews, event coverage, concerts and trying to get in just seeing the sights between the chaos. (I literally got to the convention and checked in about 5minutes before my first scheduled interview, which set the pace for the rest of the weekend for me.) That said, you could just tell that while this is a small/medium sized convention, no one there ever thought that for one minute. Everything just seemed larger and grander for some reason, maybe it was the venue or maybe it was just that good a time or somehow the con heads managed to infect everyone with their energy. I'm not sure, but I'm going to go with all of the above as I know that we all had a blast.

Also, I did get a chance to sit down with several of the higher ups as far as staff goes and I'll be doing a "behind the scenes" kind of piece over the weekend as well that has a lot more of an in depth technical/behind the scenes look at the convention as well. So keep an eye out, eh?
  • Recomendation: Go. Start making plans now for next year. Seriously, this show is really something special and should be experienced by everyone. Not only for the laid back and relaxed atmosphere but for the music as well (even if it's just for the music it's totally worth it). The talent they get in from Japan is simply amazing.  
*Disclaimer: Our crew was invited to attend as press for this event and we were given access to many things that typical con goers do not get to due to that. That said, in no way does that sway our opinion of the events, sights and experiences that we had over the weekend. We really did have a great time.

A look towards the DLCC from outside the Westin, where we stayed
This year the con was back in the David Lawrence Convention Center (DLCC) once more after a couple of turbulent years at the Wyndam in downtown Pittsburgh. Gone were the cramped conditions and small venue space from the past two years and not only could you tell that everyone in attendance was happier about this change, but also the convention staff in a lot of ways. The DLCC is a much better, larger and more flexible venue than any hotel could be for the variety of things that Tekko brings to the table and it shows. Not to mention plenty of parking that doesn't try to take a pound of flesh and your first born child in order to pay for it. Close proximity of food and hotels definitely helps as well, a little confusing and bewildering but that's Pittsburgh for ya. As it was put by our friend Alex, who was roped into helping us, "That's what you get when you try to put a square on a triangle".

Beware the blurry pic of huge expanses!
However, a location this large doesn't come without it's challenges or weird layout situations either. For one, the dealers room and registration were on the 2nd floor in the opposite corner of where much of the con events were taking place up on the 3rd floor. If you didn't prepare to walk a lot, you could end up hurting a good bit. Thankfully there were plenty of places to sit along the way, so that's a plus, right? It also made finding registration a bit funky too as you'd go up the escalator from the garage or street level and find yourself in an empty space. Good thing there was a sign...otherwise I'd probably spent Friday morning wandering around in places I shouldn't have been in (long story behind that).

So while this layout was a little odd to deal with at times, I have to say it generally did work out for the most part. It really left a lot of open areas for people to gather without blocking movement and didn't lend itself to any bottle necking when trying to get from one place to another. (I'm looking at you Ohayocon.) Having lots of space for conversations/gathering to take place and for photos without clogging up the main thoroughfares is never a bad thing, ever. So, there was definitely some good to that one as so many cons (including Tekko the past couple of years) have hall crowding issues galore and that just wasn't present at all.

The overall layout of things (sort of in a straight line on the 3rd floor) where the main events and panels were also helped out severely, having access to the roof and balconies of the DLCC didn't hurt either and provided for some amazing locations for cosplay photoshoots to boot. In fact, that's where most of the groups went for their pictures from what we could tell as they were mostly absent from the main hallways, but they weren't hiding by any means as you could see them moving from place to place and they did get stopped quite a few times. The only thing that was a bit weird was that our friends from Sleeping Samurai were waaaay down at one end, far from anything really going on. Though while I guess that provided them with the space they needed to operate, it was still strange to walk past all those empty rooms on the way to them.

Screenshot from my phone
While I'm on the topic of getting around, I should also mention that the use of the Guidebook app for scheduling made getting around much easier as well. (All cons should look into this or at least something similar.) For those not familiar with it, it basically lets you download a guide for all kinds of events and shows maps, important info, schedules and a whole lot more. This really made knowing when and where things were extremely easy, just had to look at my phone to find out when things we wanted to hit were. The ability to create my own schedule, with reminders was actually incredibly useful. This could've cut down on people just wandering about the con looking lost too, but the DLCC is so massive that you could've put twice as many people in there and probably not had any problems. So, there is that too. Regardless, whoever's decision that was on the staff? Major kudos to you!

Also, just have to say the the one elevator that was right outside of Main Events was killer...we started calling it the "rock star entrance" because you were let out all MIB style right into the thick of things and made it easy to get in and out of the convention center without having to walk a mile. What can I say? Sometimes we're easily amused and oh yeah, elevators and escalators? Never too packed or busy...getting around was generally a snap and without any issue either which was definitely great compared to other venues.

Despite the smaller attendance, the one thing that we saw which could've been improved on was the fact that some of the panel rooms filled up too quickly and/or were just too small. Seems weird, given the size of the place, but it did happen a couple of times. Now, this is always a tricky thing to deal with on a lot of levels for every convention out there. Sometimes you just never know what panels are going to be really popular and which aren't, and while the panel rooms were decently sized there were a few that could've done with a larger space. I kept thinking back to the one that we had during a previous con and going "Yeah, they could use a few that are just massive due to the draw they'll likely have". I mean a panel titled "OMG. WTF Did I Just Watch?!" That's going to get a ton of people...just from the name alone. Might not be a bad idea to have another large room for panels that are known to be popular or could draw in larger crowds than around 100 or so.

The aforementioned "Rock Star Elevator" with most of us!
So yeah, there's the only negative stuff really, weird layout and smallish panel rooms, and even then it's not all that negative when you really look at it. Sure, we all heard the "Holy crap that's really far away" comment from time to time or "Wow, that panel filled up really quickly, that sucks!", but overall everyone was just relaxing and having a great time. I don't remember seeing anyone that looked really distressed or visibly angry about much of anything. A few tired souls, but hey...it's a con, that's going to happen!

There were a few other head scratching moments too. Like why a ton of chairs in the main events room during the concerts on Saturday night and also during the "dance" after them? It did become known to us a bit later that it was something in regards to labor at the convention center or something along those lines that half of them had to be there for some reason. It didn't seem to effect anything in a major way either. So, again, even the weird stuff, like the chair situation, turned out to be a plus for many people as we saw quite a few people doing a little recharge on them throughout the night on Saturday.

Too tough to call...
Anyway, onto the dealers room/artist alley...compared to some other conventions it did seem to be a (You hear that out there potential sellers of figures, t-shirts and other things?) bit light in the dealer end of things. I'm not sure exactly why that is but I have a good feeling that they were being very selective, even if a few places seemed slightly out of places compared to others. That or dealers just don't know what they're missing out on...which could be the case as well.

Regardless of this, there was still a great variety of items to be had, covering nearly everything you can think of and no one was really high on prices. Not sure if this is a trend or what, but it seems most are being a lot more realistic about things lately. Something that we appreciate and I'm sure many other congoers do as well. One of the more interesting things was seeing all the musical guests with booths as well, which led to some pretty interesting and spontaneous moments throughout the convention. It also allowed for a lot more interaction with them as well, while sometimes chaotic it was a nice thing to see and they really got into things with fans in a great way. Chii Sakurabi mentioned that she loved seeing all the costumes pass by her booth as well!

The artist alley was definitely packed full of amazing artists, many whom we hadn't yet had the pleasure of running into before at all. Some of the prints were definitely on another level and it seemed like everyone there was on top of their game for the event. It wasn't an overwhelming number of artists, but they certainly did pack them into the front area of the room and most seemed to be having a great time with eachother due to the closer quarters. (The Sgt Frog cosplaying artists were hysterical).

A few things we picked up in Artists Alley
As always, we of course bought a few things, how could we refuse? I mean some of the stuff just had to be purchased and there was a lot more that we wanted to grab, but maybe at the next con we see them at!

Of course, we've forgotten pretty much everyone that we bought from, but that's not atypical for us either! Most of our purchases (and time spent in the area) were made on Friday/Friday night, mostly due to the insane amount of things that we had scheduled on Saturday, but we did pop into both areas on Saturday and Sunday as well. No one seemed to be low on stock and if anything, some artists even made more during the over night hours!

While we wandered the expanses of the DLCC, between panels, events and concerts over the weekend, we noticed something pretty interesting. The cosplay throughout the weekend was as varied and amazing as any of the larger cons in the area (Colossal, Ohayocon, Otakon). Maybe even more so. Some of the stuff that we saw ranged from the "Holy crap, how did they do that?!" to "That's just too good, why didn't we think of that?!". Nothing overshadowed or drowned out the variety either, there was always something new to see around every corner. Well, except for the Homestuck fans, but even they were pretty non-existent as compared to the literal plague that they were during Ohayocon. Even Bronies were fairly low key in comparison to everything else going on. Maybe it was the size of the place that they didn't overrun it or just that they weren't there in force, I'm not sure.

Even Dazzle Vision got into the spirit of things
Sure you found both groups around, but it wasn't overpowering. The attendees really seemed to value the variety and keep it up as best that they can. So while you're bound to get some large groups, this year just seemed like everyone was off on their own path. Definitely nice to see and a welcome change from some of the larger cons that can (and do) get swamped by massive groups doing the same cosplay. Sure it's nice at times, but sometimes it's just too much.

Again, this small to mid-sized attendance doesn't just effect the cosplay, attendees or staff, even the guests seemed to like the more laid back nature of the whole thing. There wasn't that sense of the "crush of people" vying for the attention of guests, it was more free flowing and relaxed.

At one point we were on the escalator with Tommy Yune and had a completely random conversation. Our time with Chris Cason, even though it was scheduled, was even more bizarre and Dazzle Vision even got into the swing of things with cosplaying themselves. Though, I think it really hit home during our talk with Tony Oliver while talking about Tekko, and cons in general. He stated that he actually really enjoyed the smaller conventions and it not only allowed him to catch up with other guests, but also have time for more interaction with the fans. It wasn't so much of a "do what I have to do and then get out" kind of event. (Stay tuned for more from our interview with Tony in a couple days!)

Dazzle Vision @TekkoX2
Speaking of the concerts, as mentioned earlier, we did cover the Dazzle Vision show with pics and video pretty extensively in an earlier post, but it has to be said that Jim, Jeannie, Brian and the rest of Team Tekko, really do take this part of the event to heart. The logo doesn't say "A Japanese Pop-Culture Con with a Music Addiction" for no reason after all.

They do their best every year to bring in the most talented and unique artists that they can which fit the show. While in the past it was mostly "garage" type bands, things really took off when Existrance played in 2012. Sure, every year they've been getting more and more offers from bands but also endorsements from previous invitees telling others that they have to play this event. So much so that they have a fairly solid process in figuring out which bands to invite over and which not to. (admittedly when talking with Jim Gogal, this takes places in his basement with his huge stereo. We can get behind that.) Though, it's not always perfect as CANTOY was a band that they overlooked last year, due to only being sent PV's and not full songs. That was quickly rectified with their addition and US debut this year along with Dazzle Vision's return to the US.

Sadly we weren't able to cover the CANTOY show, but everyone we talked to said that it was amazing and that they really put on a great performance. Maybe next year we wont' have any issues with recharging, etc so that we can get in both shows as I'm positive that whoever they bring in will be able to rock the place.

Initial P: "I'm my own Opening Act, Headliner and Closing Act!"
While we're on the subject of music; Tekko's DJ for the night, Initial P, while only at a self proclaimed "70%" was rockin the place during the "dance" on Saturday night! (We got a chance to talk with Initial P about music, fandoms, cons and all sorts of things on Sunday, so keep an eye out for that article soon!)

Between the videos running on the sides of the stage to the massive conga lines and shuffling happening all over in random locations, the room was alive, infectious and didn't want to shut down. No one seemed to want things to end Saturday night. I think they would've (and probably did) kept partying well onto dawn if the convention center and schedule had allowed it to happen.We didn't want to leave early ourselves, but alas we had to drive home so that we could get some sleep before finishing things up on Sunday.

It speaks a lot to Initial P as an artist and lover of music that he was able to go on for as long as he did, though it is a bit weird that he was the only DJ scheduled. Top that off with the short concert that he DJ'd for Cristina Vee the next day and you've got to give credit where it's due. Typically at most "dances"/"parties"/whatever (just don't use the "R" word), there's more than one act as one hour time slots are the norm. Either way, he was able to knock it out of the park and somehow explode with energy throughout the whole thing (and he didn't even throw up on stage once, we're proud of ya man!).

A sea of bodies rockin out to Initial P
All in all, Tekko X-2 was an incredible event and while there are a few things that we saw which could be improved upon, they weren't deal breakers at all. You really can get a sense from the top down that everyone involved really cares about not just the event, but the community it fosters and that just oozes out to infect everyone else. Not only staff, but attendees and guests alike all seem to latch onto the idea that smaller is better and the quality of the show outweighs everything else. This was best put by Jim Gogal, during our interview with him "I don't care if it's only a 2,000 or 3,000 show. As long as the quality is there, that's all that matters." Definitely a refreshing, heartfelt and honest take on things. One that I think that no only myself, but our whole team is on board with. Not only did the staff win us over with this idea, but event as well.

We'll definitely be back next year and hope that things only continue to get better and even if Tekko does grow to be huge, we hope that they never, ever forget that quality is always better than quantity! 

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