So... hard... core!

It's a perfectly fine tune, but do you really want to kick off a Letter from the Convention Chair with a song whose lyrics include the lines

For a feast for your eyes to see
An explosion of catastrophe?

Apparently, yes, yes you do.

Still, bonus points if ACen's opening ceremonies will also involve mascots with guitars and five rounds of skeletal chick boxing.

While we're at it, check out deleted scenes from Perfect Hair Forever. Oh, wait. No? That's not what it is? It's a Tandokucon promotional video? (Tandokucon: where panelists will be crushed by falling sheetrock and you will like it.) Well, watch it anyway. Gotta at least applaud the effort--I really like the end credits--while realizing it was a glorious diversion of time and effort from things that would actually have made the convention run good.

In an unrelated comment, am I the only one who thinks it's quietly amusing that Tandokucon promoted itself as the first anime con produced by an African-American owned group, but still won't use a mascot of color? Even all the characters in the promo video are white.

The devil is in the details

So Tandokucon has come and gone, to decidedly mixed reviews. The backstory, which deserves to be enshrined for all posterity, is that it was created by a Philadelphia-area mother as an alternative to the cost and hassle of having her daughter travel alone to faraway conventions. (Like, I dunno, New Jersey or Maryland or, um, Pennsylvania.) You do the math. And also--wait, what's that you say, Tandokucon website?

To us, TandokuCon is something more than just a good time.

Well, sure, I can understand that--

It is our way of fighting against a terrible epidemic: the loss of life amongst our young people.

--oh-kay, that's a new one, but--

The tragedy at Virginia Tech is an awful reminder of the callousness some feel towards this matter.

Wow. Alright, let's leave aside how that last sentence has no actual logical connection to anything that precedes or follows it, and move on...

Interesting Fun Facts: Tandokucon's host company, T-Con Expressions, was founded in October 2006. E'lea is now 20 years old. Is now really the time to express your concern with rented convention center space? Honestly? Are you going to wait until she's 24 to set up a polling booth on your street to save her the danger and expense of traveling to the nearest school or senior center to cast a ballot?

Anyway, more about T-Con Expressions:
Staffed by one person, TCON Expressions has recruited several volunteers to administer TandokuCon. The volunteers who comprise the convention staff are passionate about art, anime and the young people of Philadelphia. We are Project Managers, students, PR Professionals, Retail Professionals and Customer Service Professionals.

Inspiring. And possibly suggestive of multiple personality disorder. Customer service professionals, you say? (Best Guest Relations Liaison... ever!) Speaking of professional, how about this helpful Tandokucon website blurb from convention artist Daylen Wright?

"I've been using the alias 'Kizziesama' in honor of one of my personal best characters named Akurin Kizuo (nicknamed "Kizzie" for her last name). She gets the '-sama' suffix because her rank is the Queen of Hell after marrying Lucifer.”

You know, if you're trying to cut the poor girl a break by featuring her on your website, do her a kindness and edit her text for idiocy. It's the least you could do. Y'know, for the children.

In related con core competency news, ran across a Mahou Con flyer this weekend. And they still couldn't spell August. Do you want to give these people your money? I know you do!

Did New Hampshire teach you nothing?

Everyone and their mother wants to run a convention these days--literally, but more about Tandoku Con later--though sadly, not everyone deserves to run a convention.

Exhibit A for the prosecution: MahouCon '08. Is the California anime con circuit hurting for more? No. But too bad, here's MahouCon, a month after AnimeExpo and located in the same county. Perhaps it's merely a case of envy; even though its convention site is still under construction, that hasn't stopped MahouCon from taking out an ad swap on AnimeCons.com and cheerfully pirating AnimeExpo for what pieces of information they do have up and misspelled.

Although the event is scheduled for the Hotel Huntington Beach, it "may" move to the Anaheim Convention Center second floor if the event grows too big. (Not... likely.) Their tentative video room schedule is even titled "Video room if in Anaheim" and is organized by Anaheim Convention Center room numbers. The schedule also refers to a Go Tournament which you will not find referenced anywhere else on the site. You rock, MahouCon!

Best of all, the list of guests consists of--could it be, it is! Chris Hazelton ("he coming") and Amanda Tomasch! I'd suspect something but quite frankly, this effort looks so inept (with at-door prices like $22, $16, and $8--you've never seen registration in your life before, have you?) that I could honestly believe the organizers, whoever they might be, mistook the pair for, well, actual people in the industry.