Setting up for Cosplay Contest - AToA

The Cosplay Contest is set to start in about 15 minutes. I'm assuming all the people at the front are signed up for the event.

Update: They had about twenty entries for this event. Not many for groups but that tends to happen at smaller events. I have pictures of most of the people who participated, except for a couple due to batteries in my camera dying.
You might be thinking, why wouldn't you bring extra batteries? I did... but I left them in the car...

Japanese Fashion Show - AToA

This was during the intermission. I came in late and wasn't actually sure what was going on. The two at the front are MCing the event. More to come about what I caught of the fashion show later!

A Taste of Animethon: Schedule posted!

AToA's schedule finally posted!

And so I give you here a list of the rooms, panels and events available:

• A Vendor's room with both dealers and artists 
• Card and Console Gaming Room
• Cosplay Contest
• AMV watching room (comedy and fun)
• Anime Showings
• Synaptic Chaos Theatre 
• The 99 Yen Challenge
• Concepteur De L'amour Fashion Show
• Creating Comics panel
•  AMV Special Effects panel
• The Secrets of Animethon panel

Also here is a list of the anime they are playing, in order of rating they gave it. Click on the name and you'll be directed towards a site that describes what the anime is about:

• Hatsukoi Limited eps 1-2 (PG)
• Samurai 7 eps 1-4 (PG)
• K-On! eps 1-4 (PG)
• Shangri-La! eps 1-4 (PG)
• El Cazador de la Brujas eps 1-4 (PG)
• Kure-nai eps 1-4 (14A)
• Daughter of Twenty Faces eps 1-4 (14A)
• Linebarrels of Iron eps 1-4 (14A)
• Eden of the East eps 1-4 (18A)
• Detroit Metal City eps 1-12 (18A)
• Welcome to the NHK eps 1-4 (18A)

Upcoming Event: A Taste of Animethon

 

The schedule for AToA has not yet been posted. However some events have been found listed by the event and by others who are posting up what they are doing on forums like Anime Alberta.

 So far listed is:

• A Vendor's room with both dealers and artists 
• Cosplay Contest
• AMV watching room
• Anime Showings
• Synaptic Chaos Theatre 
• The 99 Yen Challenge
• Concepteur De L'amour Fashion Show

There's sure to be other panels that will be revealed once the schedule is put up.
AToA will also be doing pre-registration for Animethon and have also announced a Pre-Registration Draw. Basically pre-register at AToA and you get placed into the draw. If you know for sure that you are going I would highly recommend entering this draw as the prizes are well worth it. Check here for more details.

I'll be attending the event and trying to catch as much of it as possible. I'll be using my phone on that day to post up some pictures while the event is in progress of any panels I attend and some of the cosplayers that are walking around.
A fuller post about the event and what went on with photos will be placed up later once I can reach my computer. Hopefully later that night but definitely by sometime the day after.

Mini Conventions: This Year's Trend

A Taste of Animethon (AToA) will be in Edmonton, AB at the downtown Grant MacEwan campus. AToA lists this event as a preview to their larger event in August, Animethon. As such it will only be running on Feb 27th from 10am - 5pm.

This is their first year doing the mini sized convention. There has been speculation circling that they are copying the idea from a con in Calgary known as Otafest, who had their first mini sized con, Otafest Lite just this past November.
This may or may not be true, it can always be hard to tell. Truthfully this might just be something said from those who are a little too intense when it comes to the Edmonton Calgary rivalry, which tends to be more prevalent when it comes to hockey but still surfaces in other areas where the two cities are concerned.

Either way this would seem to be the year for mini sized conventions. Animaritime itself isn't running this year but instead is running as Animinitime in two occurrences in two different locations for one day each.
Even Anime Evolution ran its own mini con, J-Fest, back on Jan 23 2010. And while not a mini con per say Yaoi Fest is hosting a dance event, Yaoi Fest Spring Fling.

Will this trend continue? Will mini cons become the norm? Will all larger conventions start doing a mini con sometime else throughout the year?

Canadian Convention List 2010

To start off this blog I decided a list of Candian Conventions would be the best start. So below you will find the list sorted by Province (each Province is sorted alphabetically) and then by date along with the a website for that convention.

If I'm missing any convention that you know of, let me know and I'll add it onto the list.



Canadian Convention List 2010

Alberta

Noob Con - Grande Prairie, AB, Feb 20th   <-----If anyone knows of a site for this that would be helpful. I've searched facebook and google but otherwise I'm not sure if this event has one.

A Taste of Animethon - Edmonton, AB, Feb 27th

         

Japanese Animation Festival (JAF) - Camrose, AB, - March 6 - 7th
        
Soba Bowl - Edmonton, AB - March 13
         
Cal Con Gaming Convention - Calgary, AB, March 26th - 28th

Yaoi Fest Spring Fling - Calgary, AB, March 27

Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show - Edmonton, AB, March 28
        
Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo (CCEE) - Calgary, AB, April 24- 25th

Harufest - Edmonton, AB, May 1st

Pop Culture Fair - Edmonton, AB, May 2

Otafest - Calgary, AB, May 21 - 23rd

VulCON GalaxyFest - Vulcan, AB June 11 - 13th

Yaoi Fest Flirt - Calgary, AB - June 25th 

Yaoi Fest - Calgary, AB - June 26 - 27th

Animethon - Edmonton, AB, August 6 - 8th

East Meets West (A Bellerose MiniCon) - Edmonton, AB, August 28th


Con-Version - Calgary, AB, October 15 - 17

Bellerose - St. Albert, AB, October 16th 


Red & White Calgary Toy & Comic Expo  - Calgary, AB, October 17th

Pure Speculation - Edmonton, AB, October 22 - 24th

Myth-a-Con - Calgary, AB, Nov 5 - 7th

Nishikaze - Lethbridge, AB, September - canceled refer to this post for further details

British Columbia

J-Fest - New Westminster, BC, Jan 23

GottaCon - Victoria, BC, Feb 5-7

Tsukino Con - Victoria, BC, Feb 19 - 21st (used to be Kei-con)

Trumpeter Salute - Burnaby, BC, March 12 - 14th

Victoria Steam Exposition - Victoria, BC, May 22 - 23rd

Vancouver ComiCon  - Vancouver, BC, July 4th

Anime Evolution - Vancouver, BC, Aug 13 - 15th

FanFairFest - Vancouver, BC, September 4 - 5th (Canceled refer to this post for more details)

VCON - Vancouver, BC, October 1- 3rd

Manitoba

Keycon - Winnipeg, MB, May 22 - 24th

Ai-Kon - Winnipeg, MB, July 16 - 18th

Central Canada Comic Con - Winnipeg, MB - October 29th - 31st

New Brunswick

Animinitime - Moncton, NB, July 17

NewFoundLand

(none)

Nova Scotia

Animinitime - Halifax, NS, April 25

Hal-Con - Halifax, NS, October 29 - 31st

Ontario

Con-G - Guelph, ON,  Feb 20 - 21

Toronto ComiCon - Toronto, ON, Feb 28th

Toronto AnimeCon - Toronto, ON, March 20 - 21st

Ad Astra - Toronto, ON, April 9th - 11th

Anime North - Toronto, May 28 - 30th

Toronto ComiCon - Toronto, ON, June 5 - 6th

Con Bravo! - Oakville, ON , July 3 - 4

Polaris - Toronto, ON, July 16 - 18th

TFCon - Toronto, July 17 - 18th

Northern Anime Festival - Oshawa, ON, July 24 - 25

Kita-Kon - Thunder Bay, ON, July 31 - August 1

FanExpo Canada - Toronto, ON, Aug 27 - 29

Naru2U - Ottawa, ON - November 12 - 14th

Dot-Con - Toronto, ON - November 13th - 14th

Suzaku Festival - Ottawa, ON - cancelled for this year

Prince Edward Island

(none)

Quebec

G-Anime - Gatineau, QB, Feb 6 - 7th

Montreal Comic Con - Montreal, QB, May 9th

Daikon - Montreal, QB, July 3rd

Otakuthon - Montreal, QB, August 13 - 15th

Montreal Comic Con - Montreal, QB, September 11 - 12th

Cape & Kimono - St.Roch, QB, October 9 - 10

Con*Cept - Montreal, QB, October 1 - 3rd

Saskatchewan
 
Anime Blitz - Saskatoon, SK, May 16

Nerdfest - Saskatoon, SK (date yet unknown, early post on their blog indicates possibly July)


 

Yukon/Nunavut/NorthWest Territories

(none)