I know, last year I stated I would be ok if I didn’t go to this con again this year; however, I did.  This convention had some amazing guests and introduced a new pass called the Plus Up.  This new pass provided several benefits but the big one was an exclusive autograph session which guaranteed one autograph from every guest.  I leaped at this opportunity and here’s the results.

Vendors/Artist Ally

Unfortunately this one was a meh in my book.  I don’t have anything bad to say about this section but I don’t have anything particularly exciting to say about it either.  This convention is clearly getting bigger and bigger but they keep the same amount of vendors and artists and many of them are the same booths so I recognized several of them.  The fact is I bought what I wanted from these vendors the first time I saw them, and they didn’t bring anything new to the table.  They were still awesome, but there’s a desperate need for something more. I hope Matsuricon expands on this because I think the time has come for a bigger vendors room.  Keep the same vendors and artists just have more of them.

Guests

This guest list was one of the most exciting lists I’ve seen in awhile.  The main thing I liked was the inclusion of Jamieson Price and Mela Lee, two very hard to find people.  In fact this was the first time Price was a guest of honor at a convention.  Furthermore this convention had Bryce Papenbrook, Cherami Leigh and so many more big names that this became one of my favorite guests lists of all time.  The guests were great and these were individuals with so much charisma that it added so much to the convention.

Panels

Normally I do not go to a lot of panels at conventions because it tends to be time consuming to do a single panel and that can take time away from autograph sessions. This time I attended so many panels, hours and hours of panels.  The Plus Up pass pretty much guaranteed I would get the autographs I needed for my collection so I only went to a couple of additional autograph sessions for a friend of mine.  The panels were amazing and I loved every single one I went to.  I had a great time discussing Megaman Exe at one panel, went to two amazing improv panels, watched all of Confessionals with Cherami Leigh and even had an amazing time at the Charity Auction which featured several guests and seemed like more of a fusion between an auction and a voice actor panel.  I went to play dodge ball at the con and found out, I can’t dodge, at all.  I also tried Capture the Flag and found out I’m decent at it.  At one point I went to four panels in a row and used my pass to skip the lines of each of them. Overall this convention had a lot of great panels and I had an amazing time at all of them.

Staff

This is a section I don’t do with every review; however, at this event the staff was amazing.  This convention still had some hectic lines for normal autograph sessions and you still have to line up about an hour early to get a decent spot; however, the person in charge of the lines made sure to keep things organized.  He micro managed the line to the point that he kept order out of the chaos that otherwise would’ve happened.  At one point a couple of people tried to cut most of the line and when he was notified he confronted them immediately and instructed them to go to the back of the line. He also provided lots of praise when people kept things organized.  Some people got annoyed at his micro managing but the fact was he did exactly what was needed to keep things going smoothly.  For the most part the entire staff was amazing but there was one individual that was pretty terrible at the charity auction and for some reason she felt the need to berate people or ignore them.  Other than this person I applaud the staff.

Plus UP

I decided to add a section for the type of pass I bought.  This pass came with a beautiful autograph book that my fiancé filled with signatures.  The special autograph session started off rough because it 30 minutes late; however, I was still able to get all the signatures I wanted very easily because the convention committed to the guaranteed one autograph per guest.  I went to my first meet and greet and had so much fun conversing with the guests, most of them went.  The line skipping was amazing and overall this was my favorite VIP pass I ever bought.

Overall:

This was the best time I had at a convention all year, and yes that does include Anime Expo.  I had an amazing time with little difficulty and managed to score several autographs, went to so many panels, and got to relax and enjoy myself.  I know I ended my last two reviews of this convention with, “I probably won’t go back next year.”  This time I am already planning to go next year and just hoping there are awesome people on the guest list.  This convention now holds a special place for me as one of my favorite conventions so Matsuricon 2019 here I come.