A small talk about conventions and VGC tournaments.

Hey there. Of course I made sure to make a post for this month before November so I thought I'd update you all on what's up first.

Firstly, NYCC went flawlessly well. I was able to bypass the hell of a line on Thursday and properly attend the convention that day and that day only. Apart from my legs once again starting to give in at the end of the day (and believe me I'm going to bring that up in just a moment.), everything went well. During the visit I acquired a few prints, a figure of the main character of an artist I follow online (that I met back in 2016), and a free (signed!) poster featuring Mega Man 11. I would have loved to come back the next day but of course I was already burnt out.

So that makes a grand total of seven conventions attended in total this year. CPAC, EMCon, AnimeNext, EternalCon, CradleCon, LIRGE, and NYCC. The only other major convention I'm planning on going to this year is AnimeNYCC in November, though there are two smaller conventions I'm going to this weekend which are probably going to be so minor that there's no reason for me to mention it here. And then there's DerpyCon. After some thinking it may not be possible for me to attend after all, especially since I need to also get to AnimeNYC which is the next week after. After that, there's no other conventions for me throughout Winter and the first half of Spring until Castle Point Anime Convention 2019 in April next year. From there I'll try to re-attend all the conventions listed above unless I'm forced to drop a con or two because their timeframes happen to land within the same weekend, as was the case with CPAC and EMCon last May.

Now then, enough about conventions, let's talk about fighting game tournaments. A friend of mine took me to a fighting game event in March showcasing games like Street Fighter V and Dragon Ball FighterZ. I had fun exploring the freeplay areas and everyone bringing in their consoles (mostly PS4's) for everyone to gather around and try. Someone even brought in a Dreamcast with Power Stone(!) hooked up. But sadly, no traces of Guilty Gear Xrd REV2.

Yes it was a pleasant experience, but I did have a few thoughts about it in the end. At this particular event (which was in a warehouse) the air was extremely stingy with very poor ventilation and no hope for proper air-conditioning- and combined with the odors of many, many people crowded into the area, the place got really smelly. Yes I could tolerate it, but once you take in the scent it's hard to not notice it and it just sticks with you the whole time (And please, if you have access to a shower, use it.) Not to mention, the gender ratio present in the building was 100% men, with no trace of a single female within the building. I get that fighting games are a hobby tailored towards men, but seeing not even a single female during the event just came off as extremely odd. And plus there were beer bottles left everywhere, filed trash cans, and men using the ladies' room because of the aforementioned 100% male ratio (and I can only imagine how bad the restrooms would smell considering the overall scent of the place and the filed trash cans and what smells those could contain). At least the best thing I can say about these tournament places is that seating os readily available, unlike at conventions where you have to leave the artist's alley and dealer's room, which are the bulk of conventions for me, to find seating.

I'm not hoping for the conditions to improve in the future since no one else that goes there seems to mind, but I do plan on going back someday regardless, maybe with a multiplayer versus game that's not very common to demo in the free play area (I'm gravitating towards bringing Joy Mech Fight on the NES/Famicom if I can get a spare NES I don't mind people potentially getting dirty and an NES flash cart cause my original Famicom cart is too prized to demo in a public setting).

Otherwise, that's all for now.