Previous thread: >>10850236Instead or recapping a 2 year long slow thread, allow me to recap 2 years of Dutch conventions and they're current state:>Animecon lost half their visitors, is slowly falling to irrelevancy and going through severe financial problems (again)>Tomo started to ficus more on the fairs, is now rebranding to Japanfest and already went on a "ruined reputation" speed run>Viencon has grown a lot, learned drugs are bad m'okay, and it wont be long until they can rent out the entire Center Parcs location>Abunai! is somehow still standing tall and winning by not doing anything>Nishicon is a decline, had maybe 50 visitors this year and pulled the plug>Ibaricon came onto the scene but proven itself problematic to work with>Elfia is no longer welcome at Castle De Haar>Castlefest remained comfy to this very day>Heroes Dutch Comic Con and Made In Asia are going stronger than ever>Comic Con Holland came onto the scene and is growing fast despite some backlash>Aniway, a Dutch anime magazine, ended their run after 24 years.>Nintendo is tired of there being 9001 Poké-cons using their IP and took action>Anon still didn't land a qt3.14 Leidse Cosplay GFQuestion of the thread:>If you had unlimited resources, what would you add to your favourite convention and why?Upcoming events:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/e/2PACX-1vT7hi7A3b9rjEl7Yc4XuvM06VjYdApAxwrk8yIrp6nOF1HgUpLCV4inqiLcedxiryU-6F-yBfa2Dx8n/pubhtml?gid=533555927&single=trueLinks and advice:>POSTS MADE IN DUTCH ARE AGAINST SITE-WIDE RULES AND WILL BE DELETED!>If you drive a SNG or ICMm in Train Sim World 5, enabling ATB grants you more points!>Rentry guide to Dutch conventions and such: https://rentry.org/cgldutchthread>Discord: https://discord.gg/QAYNyfY
>>10953770>Animecon lost half their visitors, is slowly falling to irrelevancy and going through severe financial problems (again)Correction, they were not halved. I mixed up total and unique numbers. No numbers have been released yet for the 2025 edition. But what we did get was the chairman explaining on stage that there were far fewer visitors this year and blaming the overlapping date with Comic Con Holland. This was also when the financial problems were shared with a heartfelt plea for donations. But pointing fingers at CCH is easy. Fact is their visitor numbers have been in decline ever since the move to the Broodfabriek.The way I see it, Animecon has lost their identity and is struggling to regain themselves and their audience. During the World Forum days, Animecon (rightfully) established a reputation of being a rock-solid, high quality convention. Expensive, but worth every penny. With Ahoy in 2019, an attempt was made to become a hybrid between the old “Dutch style” and the Comic Con experience was becoming more popular among newer crowds. Risky, but understandable as change is required in order to remain relevant. Unfortunately Ahoy did not meet its targets, Animecon Classic was a “more luxury and more classy” flop and to make matters worse covid happened.The 2022 Broodfabriek edition continued the hybrid path but was stripped of most content as money was tight. But the result was a convention which felt like a TomoCon XL and not the high quality convention Animecon was known for. 2023 was slightly better in terms of content but killed off C4 and in 2024 they truly figured the optimal use of the location. But one thing remained the same, it never got back to feeling like the good old Animecon we grew to love. The hybrid approach is simply not working as regulars are feeling alienated and people used to Comic Cons don’t see why (day)tickets are more expensive compared to DCC or CCH.
>>10953777Animecon needs something to make them unique again to stand out in this highly competitive scene. Viencon has the vacation vibe, Abunai! the cozy location and night programming, Nishicon had an empty building. Animecon’s hybrid approach isn’t working, but becoming yet another soulless fast food convention is something no one wants. Personally I wouldn’t mind seeing them downscale, opt for quality over quantity, in an attempt to regain themselves and become financially stable again. Think Classic, except this time without repeating the same bogus phrase over and over as marketing. But then again, can they afford and justify taking another risk at this point?It’s frustrating really. Nobody wants to see Animecon fall. But without a change in directions I feel like those donations will simply go to waste. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
NEDERDRAAD!Dead on arrival
Which anime cons would you recommend to anons from outside NL?
>>10954374>Which anime cons would you recommend to anons from outside NL?Abunai 8-10 august 2025AnimeCon date TBA.
>>10954374>>10954423There is also viencon. A swimming pool con with lots of visitors outside of the Netherlands.Though it's in a holiday park so you will have to gather enough friends to rent a cottage to visit the con.
>>10953770>>Ibaricon came onto the scene but proven itself problematic to work withWhat happened?
>>10953778It doesn't help that regaining that identity is taking years, as each new edition is a year apart.It would be good to return to World forum, but that's a financial risk that nobody wants to take, I guess. idk what world forum costs, but it would be more than broodfabriek.Otherwise back to Almelo? Theatre is dead tho, so that takes a lot of the charm away. Maybe wtc Rotterdam? I was there for an event the other day and I think it would be a great location.
>>10954455Wtc Leeuwarden would also be a nice place for a con. Large halls, smaller rooms for workshops, hotel at the venue itself.But they would probably lose a lot of visitors if they move up north.
>>10954460Yes, Almelo was always a 2 hours-ish car drive for me, Leeuwarden would add at least another hour to that. Going by public transport to WTC Leeuwarden would cost me about 4.5 hours, I am pretty sure that anyone planning on a single day and coming from the Randstad but outside of The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht would think twice and decide not to go,
Do Euro-cons have an issue of language barrier, or is it all fairly international? Like theoretically, it'd be effortless for most Western Euros to attend any con with your robust train networks, but are French attendees going to German cons, and Germans going to Dutch ones, and so on?
>>10954556The biggest issue is the language barrier, but only with things like events or manga only being sold in the country's own language.Most visitors can speak English to some degree and the program is also in English.Most people that visit cons outside of their own country do so because the ones at home are quite lacking or they want something bigger.So for example a Frenchman will be quite satisfied with Japan Expo and have little reason to visit Dokomi, while a Belgian will be traveling all over Europe to visit cons.
>>10954560Is Dokomi the biggest German one?
Anyone who has been to otakat last year? Is it worth it?
>>10954569Not just the biggest in Germany, but the biggest in Europe together with Japan Expo.One had a larger venue space, the other more visitors. I forgot which one was which but they can both the considered the biggest.
>>10954560The average Belgian doesn't even visit cons outside their local area, let alone internationally.English language ability also tends to be somewhat limited in France.
>>10954625That's why Belgian cons are dying.
So, AnimeCon stays in Rijswijk, two weeks earlier than this year. Ghost themed can be interesting, curious on the decorations, but I hope that they refrain from hanging milk bottles from the ceiling.Happy not to have to travel to another corner of the country, but just enjoy and sleeping in my own bed.
>>10954577It's a comfy-con/market. If you live close by I'd say give it a chance. Entry was free last year but will be like 5 euro this year. They really want a small con "for the community by the community" and you feel that, desu. Giving artists a place to sell and everybody an opportunity to give a workshop.Main attraction is the stage with professional lighting and music equipment. The location is a cultural/concert centre after all. On that note, it can get quite crowded. The venue isn't too large.
Another small con. In Meppel this time.Not super "north" but at least there is finally something happening in Drenthe.
Anyone knows why dogs are not allowed at Castlefest anymore?They say it's for animal welfare reasons but I wonder if there have been incidents in the past like a dog pissing against someone's expensive dress.
>>10956423Probably just people not picking up after their dogs in general. Also wouldn't be surprised if it was because of people bringing unsocialized dogs and making people uncomfortable.
so, Abunai is in 2 weekshow are we feeling anons?
>>10957703Had a good time last year, good chance I'll go again. Just hope we don't end up with another heatwave over the weekend because I live on the other end of the country and my car doesn't have AC.
where to find a big tiddy girl at abunai to smash (women scare me)
How's abunai lads
Any abunai afters???
Abunai was pretty gewd. First con for me, so I really had to come loose. But I loved the atmosphere. Now that I know what to expect, I really can't wait to go to a next con
>>10958653i was there :(
Abunai was fucking good, some of the girls were hot how do I get a cosplay gf
>>10958782Chase them around everywhere. When they go to the bathroom, wait for them outside.Suggest to do something romantic like going to the hentai block.Invite them to make a video at your roomMake sure to do all these above things when constaff is nearby.
>When you wanted to go to the gala but after three slow songs it just turned onto a rave instead.
Abunai was a ton of fun, never went to a con before or this board for that matter.Went on saturday and didn't catch a minute of sleep, I don't really remember what happened between 2 and 4 am or so that well. Venue and the people were great.I was the weird tall bald guy in some random orange/red polo I didn't even think to dress for the occasion which I regretted while in the queue already. Definitely going to more events after this.
It's cool and admirable how you have a national/local thread that actually stays afloat and is maintained well while bigger Yuro countries don't. For example there hasn't been a proper mof thread in years, if I don't count my recent Dokomi one.So yeah, kudos to you
A bit late to post this but I went to Castlefest for the first time and it was really fun.The only complaints I had were that from what I could see there was only one water station and it was near the entrance and there wasn't enough workshops/ handmade goods. About a third of the booths were just fantasy and nerd culture stuff they were reselling.Other than that food was good, music was good, and people were generally nice.
>>10959453 Trying to make friends is like an impossible task because fuckers at conventions think they’re better than you. They’ll talk to you but if you try to contact them they’ll just think they’re being hit on and never talk to you again
we should just have a eurothread>>10959625what triggered anonrobo here
>>10959625This is true though, the community in NL is so extremely fake. And when you come close to them, act like they're your friends, you bring up an issue in the community and you get resented for it. It's not my fault a lot of the guys in this community are pedos or sex offenders. People just flat out deny it. It's better to just go to cons and not interact too closely with the people there. Saves you a lot of trouble. The most active members of the community are usually trouble.
Is Abunai or Animecon worth it to go to for multiple days if you're attending alone or is a single day enough for what they have to offer?
>>10960256Both are good for multiple days, but as a first timer you might do a single day, and Saturday should be your first choice.
>>10960256IMO abunai is, animecon isn't. Ever since Animecon left worldforum it's just meh.Also, Viencon was nice. But I wish Centerparcs wasn't a bunch of greedy fucks and forbids guests to bring in their own drinks, even a bottle of water lol.I have heard many people got their wristband cut off because they got caught trying to smuggle hard drugs, now they needed to check my wallet and every fucking pocket to see if I had anything.
>>10960295Hearing stories of people getting spiked at Viencon, I would say the strict security checks were justified. Smuggling coke and spiking drinks. What's wrong with some people?
