After report – ShutoCon 2013

ShutoCon in Lansing, MI is a newer anime convention with a good focus on artists and cosplayers. The AA coordinator (and convention chair) is a long time artist herself and strives to make her con have all the best available for us. She was extremely understanding about feedback and complaints (I had few, and most weren’t under her control but felt should be noted), and definitely has a good thing started.

It was held at the Lansing Center and the connected Radisson Hotel from April 5th-7th, 2013.

The AA space was a very good size – plenty of room for everyone. We got there nice and early for setup and quickly checked in and laid out our table. AA check in was swift and friendly.

FRIDAY

Commission buttons were steady – and some were downright complex over the weekend. Some of Friday’s buttons:

 

 

 

 

 

After AA closed, we went out to dinner. On the way to the car I thought this looked cool:

Dinner tonight – El Azteco. Menu is fairly standard american-mexican fare, but they have an amazing cheese dip and the beef and chile verde burritos have the same dip inside of them! So that is what we get – chips with cheese dip and some burritos. No sides, nothing else, and it is worth the side trip if we’re passing through. You can even ask them for some cold to go so you can heat them up yourself later. No pictures of the food, they aren’t very inspiring to look at. One of those “better to eat” dishes. :)

We came back to the hotel and the pull-out bed we were going to crash on just was not comfortable enough for us for a whole night. After some fitful sleep and realizing only 2 hours had passed, I decided we needed to just drive home to sleep instead. So we quietly gathered our things and slipped out. Getting to our car was an interesting adventure as it was still under the Lansing Center and all the lights were out for the night, and the buildings locked up.

I of course had my camera out, and at 2 am both of us were slap happy enough to be amused by this:

 

It was actually a good thing in the end that we went home, as we found the secret exit of donut awesome while stopping for drinks. There’s a 7-11 that carries Benny’s Donuts (which itself is out of Owosso) that are just amazing. The hour we hit it couldn’t have been long after delivery, and they were sooo soft and tasty. We got home safe and sound and promptly passed out.

SATURDAY

 

 

 

 

 

After the AA closed for the evening, we headed over to Empire Szechuan for dinner. We shared the Garlic Triple Delight, and it was very tasty.

SUNDAY

The last day. I made sure to get our table shot (great for reviewing how your setup has changed) with Chris at the table:

My last commission came by to pick up (buttons are unrelated – he wanted a cool dragon and “Like a Boss”).

 

I don’t think I’ve ever shown just how compact we’ve gotten our setup. Here is the entirety of what you see at our two tables packed away. Yes, we cram all of that into these two rollers, some flip bins (that sit on the rollers), and my backpack. Though less essential stuff is in the backpack usually – snacks, batteries, papers etc. At any rate, the two of us roll away with just these two bins and we’re done!

 

All said – I had a very good time. I even managed to see 2 panels – something I rarely have the energy to do while working AA. I definitely plan to be back next year, and you should too!