Its rank em week: Anime Conventions (day 3)

Disclaimer: These are merely opinions based on my experiences and my expectations for a con.

Coming in at 3rd from the bottom is EXP con, the only con I have been to multiple times. EXP con is a small-ish con based just south of Jacksonville, FL at the World Golf Village. Also representing as the first anime convention I had ever gone to, EXP con holds a special place in my heart. And despite its rather low ranking, it is once again due to being out-shined by larger, better cons.

Since EXP con was a 'local' con the ease of getting to the con allowed me to forego hotels the first two years I went. But I want to base this on my third year I went. That year, October 2010, I was residing in South Carolina and thus was compelled to grab a hotel room to gain the full experience of the con.

The trip was quite standard. Driving to Jacksonville had become very common for me around that time and this trip was no different. And the hotel was definitely a keeper. Two queen beds, a refrigerator, AND a microwave. Not many other hotels I stayed at gave that.

EXP con 2010 was another lolita day for me, where I was able to sport my Sax Carousel dress and Rocking Horse shoes for the first time. This is probably the best whole picture I could pull up of me.

EXP con, in its third year, had lost some of its luster for me. Overall, the panels for EXP con are not that great. The Vic Minogna panels are pretty cool to go to. And though well organized, I just never seemed to go to any of EXP's main events.  The main reason I went to EXP con was that feeling of Nostalgia I received from seeing many old friends and seeing how much my first con had grown.

Tommee, in her BtSSB dress

The white furry is a girl I used to go school with. 

Local Jacksonville lolita(s) who were sporting Steam Punk. And yes. That is a most bad-ass sniper rifle!

I was pretty sure I knew this girl. She definitely talked to me like we knew each other. 

Jirus Monkey!

 There are actually several people in this picture I know. The girl in the corset who was a smith in WotS. And the the bunny girl and her husband in the back, we used to school together.

Another guy I schooled with. It was pleasantly surprising running into him. 

EXP con 2010 also saw me obtain my first true corset. 

Seen here, I am wearing it fully tightened for the first time since I had obtained it from EXP con 2010. Yes it took nearly 2 years and 2 months to find someone who actually knew how to tie corsets outside of me.

Of course, EXP con is not w/o its faults. The con seems to have quickly reached its max capacity that the convention center can accomodate, as foot traffic can get seriously bad and at some points downright dangerous. There is this one particularly bad section right where the artist alley ends. The traffic flows in from three different directions and it results in a traffic jam that takes minutes to navigate through. And the lolita population is literally non-existent at EXP con.

I missed 2011's exp con due to work schedule conflicts. And in all likelihood, it seems 2010 will have been the final year I go to EXP con. But I feel like if I was ever given another chance to go, I would take the opportunity to once again walk Nostalgia lane.