Through the years I have had to attend a LOT of conventions. You never really know what you’re getting yourself into when you attend a convention for the first time so I thought I would shed light on some of the more popular Toy/Comic/Art conventions in hopes that it may help you decide which one you would want to check out this year. So polish your badges and get your walking shoes on, cause it’s convention season!!
The first year was shut down by State Troopers due to the amount of people that showed up, but since then the convention has progressively gotten better with the issue of overcrowding. It’s still a newbie in the scene and it will take a while for this convention to grow into its shoes. I really hope that this convention turns into the East Coast version of SDCC one day.
PROs: It’s in NYC! So even after the con you will still have tons of things to do in the city that never sleeps. Quite a few designer toys companies exhibit. Show exclusives are becoming more common.
CONs: Tickets for the entire weekend sell out early. The halls of the convention are extremely overcrowded, but get better every year.
This is the mother of all conventions. It takes place over 4 days (not counting preview night) in downtown San Diego. If you intend on seeing the whole convention, you will need all four days. This convention is MASSIVE and shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to Designer Toys you also have a wide selection of Artists, Video Games, Comics, Movies, and more. SDCC is also famous for their panels and surprise guests. Every year I have been amazed at who you see just walking around the convention floor.
PROs: Largest concentration of designer toys and vinyl. Show Exclusives from nearly every vendor. Signings by amazing artists every hour of every day. The weather is beautiful in San Diego (if you ever get to go outside).
CONs: The pricey 4-Day passes sell out suuuuper early. Hotels in the area take advantage of the convention and hike up their prices. Lines are long for exclusives, for panels, for food, for signings, for everything. Trying to get around the convention floor on Saturday is nearly impossible. You will have to walk a lot and endure horrible indoor lighting for hours on end.
I had the pleasure of attending DragonCon last year. This is not your traditional convention held in a convention center, in fact, this convention takes over 3 hotels in downtown Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. The benefit of that is that people dress up and hang out in the hotels all weekend long. So it’s like one big party. There is nearly no designer toy presence but last year and this coming year they are working hard to start incorporating it more into the convention.
PROs: Amazing Costumes and photos ops galore. Insane events like the “Miss Klingon Beauty Pageant”. It’s chaos all weekend long in the 3 hotels.
CONs: Unless you LARP or a D&D fan, you won’t be interested in 95% of the booths.
Taipei Toy Festival
This is ground zero for Asian toy designers. Every year there has been signings and booths by Artists like BrothersFree, Tim Tsui, Devilrobots, Jason Siu, Eric So, Touma, DEVILROBOTS, Mori Chack, Mad Barbarians, and more. You could walk the whole convention in a few hours, so it may not be worth a trip across the world, but Taipei is an awesome city to experience. Plus if you go to Taipei you can check out Paradise Toys. They are an awesome toy shop in downtown.
PROs: Artists are easily accessible. Hotels are cheap.
CONs: Chances are you don’t live in Taipei and will have to go to great lengths to get there and flights are pricey. The convention is very small.
Singapore Toy Games & Comic Convention
This will be the second year for this new convention put on by Play Imaginative. I didn’t go last year, but I will be hitting up this year as a guest speaker J Last year they had an amazing fan turnout and had amazing events with Mori Chack, Touma, DEVILROBOTS, Tokidoki, and Pete Fowler. It will be another great year I’m sure with scheduled appearances by DEVILROBOTS, Joe Ledbetter, Tokidoki, Uglydolls and yours truly!
PROs: Admission is FREE! Since Play Imaginative is behind this convention you know that the vinyl toy world will be highly represented.
CONs: Singapore probably isn’t your backyard, so flights and hotels will be required.
