Orobouros.net Convention Reports and Photos

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MAGFest 2025

This report will be a little short because this year I was only able to hit up MAGFest for a day. My previous years' reports will tell you about the convention itself in more detail if you are interested. Since moving to the Gaylord National Harbor, MAGFest has really solidified as a very exciting, reliably, and fun long-weekend adventure. It's mostly the same year to year, but that's a good thing. The main draw is for music and gaming fans to have a big event to indulge in their interests. The game room, well, the "main" game room is huge, with all kinds of video games from today all the way back. It also features tons of novel independent game systems, including quite a few that are on extremely specific hardware, built as one-offs, just for that game. You'll really never see these anywhere else in the world. There's plenty of more traditional gaming, too. Those who want can set up a PC in the upstairs ballrooms, on what may be the biggest LAN you'll ever see in person. Then there's plenty of boardgames in the boardgames room and plenty of options for table-top RPGs. That said, there's a huge focus on modern (5e) Dungeons & Dragons, which cuts both ways. Good luck finding people interested in other, less-well-known RPGs, and good luck getting a spot in one of the Dungeons & Dragons events, since they fill up almost immediately. In fact, that tends to be the case with any event at MAGFest. It's so big and popular, any of the advertised events will probably fill up with those who planned out their whole weekend in advance. Along those same lines, MAGFest is the way most conventions are these days. Compared to the heyday of fan conventions, people are not that sociable and you won't meet many new people unless you've signed up for the same event and assigned to the same table.

On the flip-side, with MAGFest having such a huge focus on gaming, it is much less crowded than Katsucon, which is held in the same location. For cosplayers, who of course tend to lean heavily into the gaming side of costuming, this does make the beautiful atrium and fountain area much more accessible. The early-January dates of MAGFest mean you're not going to get some of the spurious warm days that Katsucon sometimes does. That said, even this year the temperatures were sometimes just hospitable enough for people to venture outside. So this year, I focused a lot on just doing cosplay photography. (Actually, I spent most of my time off site with out-of-town friends there for a day.) My Katsucon reports go into much more detail on the photography side of the locations, so in summary, the lighting and backdrops are great at the Gaylord. There's also a lot more room there compared to Katsucon, so getting photos is a lot easier. I was surprised that for the relatively small amount of time I was there but not eating or gaming, I still got quite a few photos!

During conventions at the National Harbor, I tend to stick close to the action unless there's good reason to venture far away. The MGM Grand is just a bit too far away to be immediately accessible, but the shuttle (free) or uber/lyft (small cost) will get you there quickly. It's a good spot for those who want the upgraded features of that hotel. A few friends stayed there overnight between Friday and Saturday to visit the show, so I went out to lunch with them there. The MGM can be iffy for cosplay photography, but it's certainly possible. More importantly, there's quite a bit of good options there, and many of them fairly priced for being part of a huge tourist attraction. (Nice thing about casinos is that they know they'll make up any losses on amenities with gambling.) Next time I have a chance to spend a whole 5 days at MAGFest -- arrive a day early to really kick things off as soon as it starts -- I'll probably venture back there.

Of course, with just a day trip, I didn't get to see MAGFest at night. In the past it's been an almost different convention. Game in the day, party at night. Some do both, others choose one but not the other. It's a pretty solid party atmosphere, and that draws a lot of people, making all the local accommodations sell out quickly. So in contrast to Katsucon or Otakon, if you really want the full MAGFest experience, you'll want to stay locally for the whole weekend.

121 photos in 4 sub-albums

Anime Expo 2025 Photos are still being edited. More to come soon.

This report will definitely be a bit different. One, the last time I went to Anime Expo was in 2006, so it's been nineteen years since I've been. Two, the main goal of my trip was to hit up two vTuber concerts, Fantastic Reality and Virtual Vacation. Three, with so much to do at Anime Expo and my own focus shifting away from cosplay, the pictures are much more of figures and events. The galleries are split up between cosplay, figures, and others, though overall I took far fewer pictures than I would otherwise expect — around 600 vs 3,500 for such a big, long convention. So much was very different from both the past Anime Expos and current other conventions, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I would absolutely go back, though overall I don't feel I missed out on that much over the last almost two decades.

The most important differences between Anime Expo and other American anime conventions are the size and corporate support, which go hand in hand. Anime Expo is one of the longest running anime conventions in the United States, the biggest by attendance numbers, and likely one of the best funded by sponsors. As a non-profit, you can look up the financials and see income (not profit) in the tens of millions. These together will explain a lot about how Anime Expo has some of the best programming and worst problems of any anime convention. Companies pump a lot of money into anime expo to get exposure and generate interest, which gets more people to come, which in turn gets more companies to pump money into the expo. Just as a visual aid, I took the geographic footprint of Anime Expo and compared it to (my reasonably guess) at the geographic footprint of Akihabara. Anime Expo actually comes out slightly ahead, though of course the density of Akihabara is an order of magnitude bigger.

The programming at Anime Expo is comparable only to the kinds of events at San Diego Comic Con or the Leipziger Buchmesse. Studios looking to drive up interest in their shows and products come and bring their producers, directors, and voice talent. In the exhibition hall, companies pull out all the stops to bring huge displays, many of them interactive, and tons and tons of merchandise. There's tons of freebies, next to a lot of convention exclusive merchandise. Even with the huge size of the convention halls, lines for each booth end up being capped to a certain size, and will immediately fill up again as soon as more space is available. That said, other than some genuinely limited (e.g. numbered out of, say, 200) merchandise, most booths bring plenty with and will restock during the weekend. So don't be discouraged from heading in and trying your luck. At the same time, you can be pretty sure that popular items will be sold out by Sunday (the last day), so hitting up the exhibit hall early is a good idea if you have a shopping list.

Anime Expo also features an entertainment hall, which in practice isn't that different from the exhibitor's halls. It's the west hall of the convention center, while the exhibitor hall is the south hall. The original idea seems to be to have interactive exhibits with limited merchandise in the entertainment hall, and direct merchandise sellers in the exhibitor hall. But with so much demand for space, both tend to be almost the same. There are also a pair of axillary halls in both the South and West halls, used for artists' alley. Just in terms of shopping and such, you can spend the better part of a day exploring and shopping. All the halls are connected, so going outside is not necessary.

Anime Expo is so big that it takes over several huge city blocks. Though the convention center is fairly well connected, the additional hotels and event spaces require leaving and re-entering the convention areas. Two venues required separate entry: the JD Marriott Ballrooms and the Novo. The main events area had its own convention space sectioned off. The gigantic Peacock Theater and the Anime Expo Live area were a combined controlled access area, though the Anime Expo Live attraction also had part of the convention center parking lot and streets. One very positive thing about Anime Expo is that food, entertainment, and nightlife are all directly part of the convention. While part of the LA Live area is still publicly accessible with plenty of restaurants and bars, Anime Expo takes over large outdoor areas and puts up quite a few food options (mostly food trucks) and some 21+ areas, too, beer included. Plus two different performance stages with bands playing throughout the whole weekend. Though you can expect to pay quite a bit, this really makes Anime Expo the best supported convention (at least that I've been to) for ease of access to food. Many people used the easy-to-access food to get their lunch or dinner to-go while waiting in line.

Speaking of, Anime Expo is going to be a stand-in-line-a-lot convention. This shouldn't be too surprising given the size and popularity of some guests. Some smaller events are accessible by walking in, but for anything taking place in a room with designated queuing areas, you'll want to show up an hour in advance, two hours in advance if you want to be guaranteed a seat. This is especially true for the Novo, where their stricter entrance policy has everybody searched and passing through metal detectors. It's about three or four times slower than any other entrance, so plan accordingly. Additionally, most venues do not clear between events. So most panels will already be at 50% capacity before the people looking to enter for a particular event start to show up. The good side of this is that if you get in early, you can enjoy the prior panel. Or in some cases, might want to see back-to-back panels and be able to queue up only once.

While managing around 150,000 attendees is never going to be easy, Anime Expo still makes plenty of avoidable mistakes, largely due to miscommunication. For example, the Persona Music panel at the Nova reached along the whole convention center. Novo and AX staff weren't clear on if the room would be cleared between panels. Some in line were allowed in (out of the heat) only to be sent out — and possibly the back of the line — before the panel they were going to attend started. Others were allowed to stay inside. (The time between panels can be an hour or more.) The Kaiju No. 8 panel had a similar problem. Audience was told to vacate, then told they could stay. So the whole lobby was packed with people going both directions at once. The rest of us were stuck outside much longer than necessary. AX staff then created a new line in parallel to the existing line, meaning most of the people already in line were cut by other attendees — at the behest of staff. The Peacock theater is huge, so it's not too much an issue of getting seats, but it's frustrating to line up orderly only to be cut in front of. At that same panel, once entry began, AX staff was directing attendees towards one door, while a venue staffer, not ten feet away, was directing them to a completely different entrance. With so many attendees, efficiency is really key. And AX doesn't seem to have that nailed down at all. One final bit of irony regarding lines: AX pushed the "stay hydrated" message hard, as they should given the heat and long lines in the sun. But they also would not allow even water to be brought in from outside. Most places had water of some sort available inside, but the mixed messaging is frustrating.

The panels themselves, once you got in, were amazing. The Frieren ~Beyond Journey's End~ panel featured some live music composition demos by composer Evan Call. The Dangers in My Heart panel had two producers and the character designer, who (digitally) drew a sketch of the main characters eating In-n-Out Burgers. The My Dress Up Darling and Call of the Night panels both featured the main character's voice actors, who all were very much in their roles (or perhaps cast because they're naturally like the characters). No photos or video are allowed during these panels to keep the experience unique — and draw people to the convention next year to see for themselves. These are also ultimately commercial panels to drive up interest. It works great, but it's about as impersonal as you can get. There's rarely a live Q&A session or anything of the like. However,some of the panels do feature giveaways or raffles for some unique items. If anything, meet and greets at Anime Expo are not at panels, but at the affiliated booths in the Exhibit Hall.

My main goals for the convention were the two vTuber concerts held that weekend in LA, though not officially affiliated with Anime Expo. First was Fantastic Reality, which featured eight vTubers (Ironmouse, KAF, Mint Fantôme, JKT48v, CottontailVA, Isaa Corva, and Derivakat) each doing a few songs each at the Vermont Hollywood. The venue is standing room only, though the front area was sectioned off for VIP ticket holders. This event was a bit more like an exhibition with the different artists each showing off their particular skills. It started with an EDM DJ vTuber, had plenty of different pop or pop-related songs by most artists, and an orchestral finale by IronMouse. This event did have a live band accompanying the vTubers, which was a nice mix of talents. Saturday was Virtual Vacation, featuring Nimi Nightmare, Dooby3D, Ashton Marten, and Hyuni, and presented by oshiSPARK, the same organizers who put on Fantome Thief's Revenge in Atlanta (during Anime Weekend Atlanta). This was more of a full concert, with each of the performers showing up solo, in pairs, for songs, and for MC segments. Nimi Nightmare and Dooby3D brought new 3D outfits to the show. The MC segments featured a lot of on-stage interaction. It was a great event, starting late to allow those from the Dodgers baseball game (which had a hololive crossover event) to get to the show. It was exceptionally well done.

In summary, Anime Expo has certainly earned the title of "best" anime convention in America. That's not to say it's the best in every way. It certainly has its share of problems, some avoidable (bad communication among staff) and some not so avoidable (high travel, food, and hotel prices). It's also not a very relaxed convention; I saw fewer cosplayers than expected, and they tended to either be there professionally, or wearing comfort-oriented cosplay. (Compare this to Kastucon which is almost a cosplay showcase convention.) You'll get experiences at Anime Expo you won't get elsewhere. But it will probably be draining, and after several days of waiting in the sun for hours, most people will be glad it's done and over with. On the day before the convention started, I overhead a con veteran giving a newbie advice: "don't worry about FOMO, there's no way to you could do everything." Anime Expo requires planning and a schedule and sacrificing some comfort. With 150,000 people there, you can't count on running into anybody without definite plans. It's definitely a much different experience than other conventions. Absolutely worth going to, and I intend to return next year if it's reasonably possible.

Anime Expo will presumably return July 2nd though 5th, 2026, to the Los Angeles Convention Center