Colossalcon [OH]

[Admin Lily]

Website: Colossalcon

[catbat]

Colossalcon | Sandusky, OH | June 5-8, 2014

Hotel: Stayed at a hotel about 10 minutes away. The Kalahari looked quite nice, however (definitely on the pricey side, but to be fair, it IS a resort.)
General area: Surprisingly… rural? It is quite a lot of scattered small-town stores, a few strip malls, a few fields, and then BAM. GIANT KALAHARI RESORT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. BEHOLD IT IN ALL ITS GLORY. There was a Cracker Barrel, though, so all was good in the world.

Table Info: $120 for a table (I think it was 6’?) and 1 badge. 2014’s AA was in a separate room all to itself. This did not seem to dissuade buyers, however. Registration was due by the end of Jauary. After it was juried, you had until mid-February to pay.
Special Rules: n/a
Theme: Anime
Size: Medium-Large (5k+ is the number I am finding.)

Attendees: MOST of them were awesome, friendly, and hilarious. My boyfriend had a great time playing card games and quickly befriending several of the people there and loved the venue. (I had to vicariously enjoy the non-AA parts of the con through him.) Had one debacle with some angry parents who were accusing me of taking their daughter’s money (I didn’t.) It ended up getting sorted out, however.
Staff: I did not see much of the staff, but when I did, it was relating to the previous scenario. The staff were super helpful and polite to all parties involved (if a little exasperated with the instigators) and helped get it sorted out promptly. They were also pretty cool in general.
What Stood Out: Lots of fandoms and non-anime stuff represented. My boyfriend and I saw some AWESOME Achievement Hunter cosplayers and we had a bit of a nerd-fit there. Fanart did quite well, but the few people who bought original art LOVED the original work.
Popular Products: My Attack on Titan Tarot prints did VERY well here, as did my Supernatural prints. I sold out of almost all of my fanart the first day I was there and had to get more prints done at Staples. Thank goodness bigdipper24 is the best beau ever and ran out to pick up my prints.

The other thing that sold surprisingly well were my phone-charms. I have a special set of AoT ones that completely sold out. I imagine most small, trinkety fandom objects would do well. The guy I was sharing a table with was selling fandom badges that were selling like crazy, so… something to note.

Profit: Very good. Best con I’ve attended to date as far as profit goes. Far exceeded table, hotel, and product costs.
Pros: Great venue. Lots of enthusiastic attendees who are willing to buy.
Cons: The AA goes laaaaate (9?) It’s exhausting and there is no time to check out the rest of the con.
Worthwhile? Absolutely. I hope to go next year as well.


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