Convention Review: Ryu-Con 2014
On July 18, 2014 – July 20, 2014 I had the opportunity to attend Ryu-Con 2014 at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. It took up the entire 1st floor of the convention center. I did not find out until after the convention had ended that it was the second year Ryu-Con opened its doors. After realizing this – it made sense – the convention itself screamed amateur. Apparently it was better than its previous year. Some flaws of the convention were:
Lack of organization: I had pre ordered tickets, and when it was time to open the doors, they had misplaced the preregistration list, so for 30 minutes I was waiting while they were looking for the list and at the same time people who were buying tickets at the door were getting in before the pre registration line – which was disappointing.
Not enough space for the Gaming room: It is obvious that when there is a convention and you have an opening gaming room along with tournaments, that putting many people in a not-so-big room is not a good idea. I had felt slightly uncomfortable due to the small room, along with the fact that the room started to smell. I felt that they should have put the gaming room where the room for the over-sized games were; as this room was barely used at all (not much of an attraction in my opinion). Also I was most disappointed that the DDR tournament was cancelled, since the one pad they had did not work – my advice would be to see if they could rent an actual DDR arcade machine from a game center.
Panels were boring and disorganized: I attended the panel about dragons, but the person was unprepared, didn’t bring the materials that they needed so it just become an open discussion about dragons. Another example would be the Fairy Tail panel, for one, there were only a total for about 4 people in that panel so again it just became an open discussion. I also heard while in one of the panels that one of the organizers said they did not care if anyone attended another panel that was going on. I feel if you are organizing a convention then all of your panels should matter. I attended the Kpop quiz panel, it was alright except that the people in charge liked the same music so it was kind if redundant and the fact that the prizes were just their old used manga and plush doll. The coloring contest/panel was ok, but again the prizes were their old manga, etc.
There were flaws to the convention; but there were also some worthy highlights that must be praised.
First the vendors and artists that come to sell there merchandise or creations – there were 2 separate rooms separating vendors from the artists. I felt that they should have keep them together in one room; but then again I guess they were utilizing as much space as they could; to keep from overcrowding in one area. I was intrigued that on the last day one of the venders had a discount on all items as it was the last day of the convention. There was another vendor – board games – in which I sought out an item, but the box was partially damaged so I had asked if the price could be lowered from $25 to $18. They had agreed, which I thought was awesome! (Note to convention goers: if you see that an item in which looks partially damaged don’t be afraid to ask for a lower price, you just might get it.)
Second, one of the guests was Taiko drumming presented by the Chinhamaya Culture center. Along with a special performance on the 19th, they also hosted multiple panels explaining the origins of taiko drumming, its meanings as well as a workshop teaching the audience the movements involved in taiko. I had a chance to attend a few of the panels as well as the performances. I felt that this was the best highlight of the convention itself. The Chinhamaya Culture Center also had a booth set up selling various items that came from Japan, in order to raise money to go back to Japan – as the founders of Chinhamaya started taiko in Japan and wish to send its students there to learn more. In one of their performances they had showed that taiko can be incorporated in modern day music by using PSY’s “Gangnam Style”. Hopefully Ryu-Con will ask Chinhamaya to come back again next year.
Third – the panel about acupuncture was interesting; at first I didn’t want to go, but then attended anyway since there was nothing else to do. I must say I was glad I did; I learned about acupuncture and its benefits, the only sad part was there were only 4 people that attended.
Overall for the price I paid ($60 for 2 tickets) it was alright, but it definitely could have been better. Hopefully there will be better panels, prizes and over all experience. They were only in its second year, so I might give them another chance and hope they learn from the flaws they had.
Ryu-Con Group can be found on Facebook and are currently working on their next event – “Festival of dragons”; a free event to attend on October 19, 2014.
