Metro Con and How you Can Grow Beyond your Founder

Opening Ceremonies 2019

This weekend would had been Metro Con last year, but Metro Con this year would had been held on the 11th to the 14th of July but due COVID-19 the event got cancelled and even if it was a low punch, we understand the circumstances and there is always one in the future that I can always go.

Metro Con for me is my first convention ever, I went to the conventions when I was 32 years old, I went because a former friend who knew I followed certain Youtuber, so she asked me to go with her and I said OK, I was mesmerized by the convention as it was my first event ever but that's a story for another day.

Aggretsuko Cosplayers

I find the story of Metro Con fascinating because there are plenty of activities, great cosplayers, the vendor's hall is a little bit small and the merchandise is not that varied but still you can find cute things and there is not a big artist alley but the soul of the convention are the cosplayers. A lot of the people that go are super creative with their cosplays, and is just fascinating to take photos but also to see what the cosplayers will do every year.

Continuing with the convention cases, this example goes with the San Japan case I exposed not long ago in which the founder got involved in a problem because he got exposed saying racist commentaries about guests followed by an empty excuse on Facebook in which he said he only followed whatever the attendees want.

The aspect on this case is what Metro Con did to linger out of the founder's image after he got arrested for statutory rape on 2009, which several reports indicated that over the years he was in to predatory practices before being arrested and subjected to register as such.

Looking at old articles, one from Anime News Network when the problem happened, the current CEO and Owner Alex Craddock "Roy Harms is our CEO, and a very close friend of mine. I trust him with my life, my dreams, and my 4-year-old child, and so would anyone else that has ever met the man." He continues,

"An arrest does not mean a conviction to or admittance of the crime being charged. In this particular situation there is one thing required for an arrest to be made, and that is a claim."
A problem with that statement, is that people seems to had forgotten about it, but even so Alex kept part of the promise that he made in the public statement 11 years ago and made the event family friendly over the years, and there hasn't been any sights of Roy inside Metro Con but that doesn't mean he still active.

Another problem and Alex statement is that Roy was convicted but not incarcerated, a quick search on the Florida Database he is still there, he got registered and he still subject to visitations from the county, but the problem is that even with visitation Roy was still present outside of Metro Con, such as 2017 in Holiday Matsuri and Omni Expo around 2016, even his Linkdn profile marks him as active on public events as a Trade Show Consultant which is somewhat hypocritical that he has still somewhat of a controlled access to a computer but there is no way to find if he is active on social media, but even a small search around Twiiter pop results about his doings being a sexual predator.

Now, what really happened that people essentially forgot about this scandal? The answer is no, people who are familiar with the development of Metro Con and have been going through the years they still speak about this incident, and people who are newer but get well positioned within the convention scene they also know it, I learned from a friend who has been going there from 12 years and it chilled my spine because is somewhat of an open secret.

But, the operations and how the event is promoted has essentially distanced from the era of Roy Harms, which from the information I had found under the tutelage of Alex has been positive and more fan oriented events had been placed inside the convention, but also they had brought people that are meaningful and varied within the guest spectrum over the years up to the point that as time pass by, there is not too much mentioning of Roy Harms at all that he was ever the person who founded Metro Con.

San Japan - The Dark Side of the Anime Conventions

Proz Twitter

So, let's talk about the side of the conventions and we are going to start with San Japan, recently as this week a Tweet by the convention's founder Dave Henkin, which the tweet itself is self explanatory and what he thinks about POC in the entertainment industry and his behavior is super common within the anime and comic book convention scene, something I learned in the 4 years I been assisting to them but not many people talk about it openly, think about a dirty little secret - comic cons and anime cons, tend to be somewhat of safe heavens but also they tend to be extremely racists, fat shaming places just to name a few -

Let's start checking his Tweet, he compared POC entertainers to sexual predators and assholes divas, what does that say about the policies of San Japan towards guests? POC are not welcome but it gets worse checking on the guest list from 2008 to the present POC representation is minimal, there is a lot of light skinned guests there, and guests that are white passing, but honestly i couldn't find any black individuals at all with the exception of the Hispanic guests who were light skinned in their vast majority and a the Japanese guests that are invited.

This is problematic, because the Tweet of Dave (Proz) is 100% accurate, as the founder of the convention he has secured to place guests that would be pleasing to his eye and it will give credibility to his tweet that San Japan is not welcome to anyone that is dark skinned. Hence he said sexual predators and assholes divas, referring to black men and women. It's disgusting, but an eye opener that behavior like this is finally getting attention.

Now we need to speak about the excuse, you wonder why I do not edit names? Because he left it open to the public, is not even an excuse, is a series of words that show him on how a pathetic excuse of a human he is, how dare he say  "To a tweet that was recently circulating: I am an idiot. I was trying to express frustration with the difficulty of marketing POC guests to large sections of the fandom that request the same milquetoast celebrities that are already at every other show.

I realize I speak from a position of privilege as a white man and vow to be a better ally in the future. I'm sorry."

You Dave use your privilege as a national white American, or a Karen-excuse to justify why you are such an asshole, but is even worse the people who defend you and agreeing you were "anxious" you are a racist, for not admitting your own fault and tried to blame to the con attendees, and I can assure you, is not difficult to market African-American cosplayers and entertainers but you don't have the balls to admit that you don't want them on your convention.

I am going to assume you tried to say Dream Convention, as the "convention who specialize in POC" but you couldn't even remember the name or at least Google it proper and refer to them with their name, which your actions are taking echo within the convention scene because it does mimic a lot of Metro Con around 2013 but that will be the topic on another entry.

I honestly hope if there is any Youtuber and Voice Actors who read this, any artist who booked with them who boycott San Japan, if the board of directors don't remove a racist person that as the helm of the convention because it's problematic making his behavior and pathethic excuse the new normal, because within how the social weather is going we need to implement measures to punish any racist individual and don't accept any excuse without repercussions. 

Caleb Hyles is Kawaii

Property of Gus Calvo (Metro Con 2018)

I've probably been following Caleb's career for a long time, I can honestly even remember the first time I heard him while I was looking for Full Metal Alchemist covers and I ended up becoming a full fledged fan with his rendition of Defying Gravity.

Albeit his biggest assets besides his incredible voice are his charisma and that his authentic, what you see on-screen within his music videos or his streaming's at his Twitch account is him, an incredible genuine guy who can make anyone feel welcome.

Last year on 2017 I had the chance to see him for the first time along with Jonathan Young at Metro Con, I missed the concert but I made it on time to check their Disney Sing-A-Long, it was fun, and it was also my first time going to a con, I couldn't honestly believe they were there.

They sounded as they were in the music videos, people in the sing-a-long room where going euphoric, they were excited to interact with their idols and be in the same stage as them but they were happy to see them live; a year later, I had the chance not only to be back on Metro Con  but to see the concert of 2017 and it was awesome, the fans were happy singing along and repertoire was incredible.

Myself and my friend Kim who was the one who introduced me to the world of the cons we sat down outside the auditorium, I was happy just to have a chance to see them in person, when my friend saw they were leaving the auditorium surrounded by fans she was excited too as it was myself who passed their music to them, she knowing I am a fan of Caleb Hyles said to me you should go before you lose your chance, I only replied "there is always a next year, but I am happy just by the chance to see him and Jon live"

After the fans were asking for photos and autographs, an improvised session happened just in front of us and they were there near room 23, they ask if it was OK for me and my friend if they could the session there, they even ask the Metro staff and they didn't objected. My friend again ask if if I was going to say hello but the nerves collided and I was there watching but being happy.

A year later, or summer 2018 I went back to Metro Con, after seeing that he and Jon were invited I bought the ticket as soon as possible and as always when it reached July me and my friend we went again, we even made a tradition to go as many cons even for one day but Metro Con has become the it event for events, cosplayers and music.

The first day I was excited, we saw each other and we spend a good chunk of the day listening to music and going to a few panels. Yes, on the comic cons you have people outside any events playing music on the hallways of the con, again at a certain time around 3PM on Thursday we saw them, Caleb's wife was there too and RichaadEB who got invited was along with Thunderesque, I panic one more time and it was something that never happened to me before as I am usually not a nervous person but there was a group of people I deeply admire in real life.

On Saturday after shopping some items and I didn't wanted to hang out on them I took them to the car, on the way I inbox Caleb as I wanted to say hello before the concert started, in the mean time I was also getting messages from a friend who was also going and they were going to the concert and they were waiting for Caleb also, he was going to let them in, when I was heading to the second floor in between the communication, I got another message from Caleb that he was heading to Kelsan but he was also on the second floor.

I never imagined meeting someone I admire as much under those exact circumstances, chasing each other and chasing another person. I saw him by mere casualty before taking the electric stairs for the first floor, out of nowhere I let my voice create the most loudest but bass tone I could generate and in between the noise he heard me, there was this big smile in both of our faces and there was an honest hug as if we knew each other in real life as long as memories could take us.

After we met with the other person, Caleb took us inside before the concert started and we sat the sound check and met with RichaadEB and Jonathan Young, neither myself or Kelsan we couldn't believe it, we were there before everything started and it was an unforgettable experience, the sound it was incredible and the show was extremely entertaining and funny

The last day I had the chance to get a few merchandise items getting signed, in between those items those items there is one of the CD's with covers, the cover itself is extremely kawaii and it follows that style of Japanese form of animation that the characters are bishonen in which the characteristics are made to be as cute as possible.

The album is a series of covers to Anohana, Naruto, Yuri on Ice and One Punch Man, which make the album have a great feel good vibes, in which you can enjoy on a quiet afternoon.

Much of the songs can be found also on Caleb's channel for free, the only exception but I am not even sure is the Unravel - piano version as I never heard that one before on his channel.

The essence of the album is just pure and wonderful, it's enjoyable as it has happy tunes around, it really uplift the spirits of anyone; but, also it's a reflection on how music that is aimed for nerds can reach to anyone; in 20 years I wouldn't imagined people singing along to anime intro's and lesser gathering to celebrate nerd culture. Kawaii is a testament on how one person can gather so many people through music, make them feel they are friends for a long time but also to let anyone find friends within his community of #peaceloveandmetal.

Kawaii is one big celebration to the conventions where people can gather and be their authentic selves; Kawaii is a celebration to friendship.

A Year in Cosplay and Comic Cons Part Two

The Salvatorian Way

Etiquette is everything at the conventions or in other words "Cosplay is not Consent" that describes the major set of rules whenever you are participant in any con, but there are other implicit rules that you can learn with the experience.

As I mentioned in the last entry there is a lot to learn whenever you go to the cons, the first day can be extremely overwhelming as there is a sensory overload on everything, there is music as many guests like to play on the hallways if they don't interrupt certain panels, there are dance gatherings, cosplayers posing for photos (which this will be discussed later) hosts looking to attract people to their panels, etc... there is a lot to do all day long.

Planning ahead is the key, but also there has to be a moment of your day that you can dedicate to take photos of the cosplayers, is fun to see how much detail they invested but also how much they bring the essence of the character to life. Not long ago I overheard a friend of mine saying Sometimes studios should hire cosplayers, because they can recreate costumes better and they bring the characters to life better. In essence that became part of my motto when taking photos.

There is one social component that you have to know "conventions attract a lot of people, they are a safe heaven for many introverts (including myself), people within the spectrum, LGBT+, people with social anxiety and other psychological issues, I do not know how to say it properly but the most eloquent way I can express is "Conventions are places that have a demographic that pay to go to socialize, because they know they will feel safe, is a zone with no judgments and even if you see cosplayers that project certain aura with their costumes, please respect their personal spaces".

Whenever you are taking photos remember to say please and ask politely, if the cosplayer refuses keep walking because they deserve time for their privacy, it's easy to understand. Also remember there will be younger cosplayers that are accompanied by their parents or guardians, and always ask permission, because they as human beings also deserve their privacy to be respected as they want to enjoy the experience too.

Jada.

I can't seriously offer any trick of getting a good casual, candid photography I used to master that skill a long time ago when I had to act as my crew when I was working in the media, but for every good photo there are at least a 100 bad ones. Whenever you are walking on the aisles of the convention as we mention before be polite to the cosplayers, say hello, ask how the initiate into cosplay, how they create or from what vendors they find their supplies? There are plenty of way to start a conversations and make friends with similar interests.

Vendor hall can be interesting, because usually at least on the Florida circuit it will contain the artist section and the autograph lane, it will be all together, sometimes it can get too crowded but you can find the best cosplayers roaming there, but be patient and let them do their business as they are there like you, to have fun.

Now that we are talking about photos and etiquette, I do follow a series of rules to navigate to any public event but I modified them whenever I am in the conventions, whenever I am looking for a photo I always try to look for any person who gets my attention (I do not go for people with no little to no clothing, is just one of my rules) but what gets my attention? A cosplayer who is having fun but also that captures the essence of the character.

On the last time I went to Metro Con there was an event of Boku No Hero, several cosplayers went as the characters but I only found one almost at a last moment on Saturday that got my attention, a young woman dressed as Inko Midoriya, between all the Deku's and the League of Villains, there was someone who got my attention because she captured the essence of the character. We have to think, conventions on a larger or medium scale they bring around 10 k people and that's on the busiest day that is Saturday, so trying to find Inko became an almost impossible feat.

After trying to find her for a few hours, I gave up and I decided to go to the autograph lane to try to get one or two before going to another panel, to my surprise Inko was walking near the line of the autographs and I knew I had to take the chance, I approached her and ask her as I ask everyone in the most polite way if I could get a photo, because I never saw anyone dressed as Inko less with the props she had which was a board saying Proud of My Son which also displayed several photos of Deku.

Going forward in time, a couple of days later thanks to the Facebook group and good social media skills between the participants, the photos of Inko where published and they were one of the most heartwarming photos I ever saw; she brought the character to life, she looked proud of the Deku's that where in the photo ops, I do not know how to describe it but it was one of those moments framed in time on why gatherings as comic cons are important, because they are spaces of self expression.

Another cosplayer who goes by The Salvatorian Way made a cosplay related to the Sponge Bob episode where he and Patrick sell chocolate to Mary and her mother; it was one of those cosplays as he said made with a tight budget but checking on social media it was a hit, nobody around the area has done something like that and it was extremely and creepy when he was asking for chocolate with Mary's Mother voice around the convention center.

Kurosaki as Deku

One of my biggest inspirations in the cosplayer circuit has been for over a year a woman named Kurosaki Cosplays, she and her troupe represent the kindness on how veterans receive newcomers as myself, besides my friend Kimmy who was the one who introduced me to the conventions, Kuro is one of those friends that through her account shows a detail on tutorials, convention life and photo ops.

Probably the first memory I have of Kurosaki is on how she made everyone feel welcome, and this is one of the photos I have that reflect the happiness.

Probably my main goal by going to the conventions became to celebrate the cosplayers, the freedom of every day life they represent but also the ability they have to unite people with their creations. In a year I had gathered for my personal use around 8,000 photos of the conventions I been, probably by next year that number will double.