Con no Baka 2005

Sad to say I didn't hear about Con no Baka until the week of the con.  I didn't find out when until the Friday it opened. I wasn't feeling well ... fighting a cold.  I figure I could keep my distance and maybe shop for a ninja mask to cover my face. I decided to only go Saturday anyway. It would only cost me $45 to take Greyhound to Toronto then transit up to the con. As it was it was after noon when I finally got to the con. Oddly there was only one other person on the bus heading to the con.  I figure since I was late that most of the crowd had already been there. I was going to find out how wrong I was.

Con no Registration

It was about I walk in the doors that notice the lack of the usual cosplayers. Of course, with cold snap, wearing skimpy anime costume would not be plentiful as spring or summer con. I wasn't until I walked way back that I found the single person registration. I paid my $30 and started taking pictures. Well I got a few pictures prior to that. 
 

Con no Dealers Room

Since I was only staying the day, I headed to the Artist Alley which was also home to Dealers Room.  With part of my day already gone, it would take alot to get any 4 komas I started completed.


Dealer Room and Artists Alley

The combination dealer's room and Artist Alley was one saving grace. At least what artists were there weren't hidden in some forgotten corner of the con. It made it as one stop shopping. I did by a book and PVC fig.  The book, Jiro Taniguchi's The Walking Man, is a must for artist for reference of contemporary buildings and homes in Japan. It only took a brief look through for London Public Library to put it on it 'to buy' list for their collection.

Rest of my spending was on art for 4 Koma Project.  One person even labelled me 'that panel guy'. In spite of the new nickname, I manage to get three complete 4 koma strips. In between times waiting for panels to be drawn, I roamed the con, headed out for coffee and donut or took multiple pictures of people.

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Same person
with flash and without flash

My Canon SD300 elph has been a real bane for me. I found that I had to take flash so pictures weren't blurred or double exposure.  Annoying that such a camera doesn't perform well under different lighting conditions.  One explanation that the limitations of such a small lens doesn't help.  Sometimes the results are hardly recognizable.

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Some people were annoyed by having to pose for several shots. Then as you can see, its better than getting no shot at all.
 

Con no Events


Con no Gaming room

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Panel rooms were sparsely attended.

Con no Masquerade

There was no masquerade scheduled for Con no Baka. I doubt it would have made any difference at all. Masquerades have become bloated affair and with using the main room of hotel for Dealers Room that left little space for anything else.  Hotels as hotel weren't made for conventions like Con no Baka nor even Anime North.  They're built for business meetings and weddings and little else.

The main hallway upstairs did become the main focal point with gaming and place to take pictures.

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The setup for the picture taking area was little more than a wrinkled bed sheet with a single light stand right out of Canadian Tire or Princess Auto. It left for white balance hell. Even worse, hard shadows. Still this idea was a step in the right direction for conventions to take.  A second stand with deflectors to soften the light would have helped.

*VIDEO*
Making of a Photo Shoot

After the final panel of the 4 komas were drawn, I was famished.
 

Supper time! It's Supper time!

I had eaten at Sunny Dragon Sushi at Anime North last May and was looking foreward to the return visit.
 

Sunny Dragon
Free samples
Yakitori
Chicken Udon

I had fallen in love with their yakitori (chicken and veggies on a stick) along with green tea and a bowl of Chicken Udon to aid getting rid of my cold. I was served with sample of deep fried potato and rice dish.  I devoured the yakitori easily and digged into the bowl of udon. the chicken was piled on. Even though I haven't had a complete meal all day, I couldn't finish the bowl of udon.

I figure I had deserved something and Sunny Dragon's large screens were unfortunately playing Much music. I would have preferred the Korean equivalent that they played last time I was there.  Who knows, maybe they can get the anime channels from Japan. That would mean the place would be packed during con time and no one would want to leave. (I didn't ask if they could.)

Still this place was largely overlooked by most at Anime North and definitely during Con no Baka. If your looking for a quiet and affordable place to eat, this would be one spot I would hit every time I was in Toronto if it wasn't for it's out of the way location.
 

BAKA?! No Con?!

Imagine my surprise as I returned from this feast to full course of reality.  Con no Baka was no more. Various rumours why circulated. Some of con staff was the hotel closed down the con but as things progressed I felt that this explanation was more to deflect blame from con staff or simply not the FULL story.

Whatever reasons it will leave a black mark on cons in Toronto. I think very much that people who did book rooms at the hotel will think twice of staying there.  Booking an extra day's stay at a place where there was now no con.  Clearly this area of hotels is meant for air traveller who has little choice of where to stay for a stopover. 

I found the place not too big but not right for what was and could have been Con no Baka.  Had droves of people showed up, the faults of the location would have shown more.

As for what was wrong with Con no Baka? I suspect that there will be more versions of that than there were people in attendance.  My first con folded leaving the impression that London couldn't hold a con for decades. Hopefully this isn't a trend that hotels are getting less friendly or tolerant of cons. Cons pay heavy insurance for events like this. They'll be paying even more now. I don't think that anyone involved has figured this out yet.  I do feel sorry for it's con chair. Michigan con was well beyond estimates but then even here in London there were flyers. Obviously those promoting the con had not got the word out early enough. 

Still I felt Con no Baka was as pure of an anime con as you could get. It wasn't the circus that Anime North has become with every imaginable genre and people trying to make Anime North a piece of their own.  It has bloated beyond it's mandate of 'just anime' as it was in the beginning.  Con no Baka tried to get back to those roots. Unfortunately there wasn't a will nor attendance to drive this con past Saturday. Sad.