I know that cons grow bigger every year but I was amazed to see how big QCK had gotten this year. In past years, the convention had taken place in a few of the main halls of the school, the cafeteria, the auditorium, and the gymnasium. They're were several artist and merchandise booths set up throughout the halls and the cafeteria. There was limited and mostly greasy food for sale in the cafeteria. A dance was held in the gym with a pretty cool DJ playing various anime and Disney songs. It was always a fun and low-stress kind of con.
This year, QCK was still very low stress but holy crap did it grow! At first when my friends and I walked in, it looked the same. There were a few booths selling art prints scattered around the hall which we scanned as we made our way to the cafeteria. At first, the cafeteria looked pretty barren. There were a couple booths selling art and merchandise and a few game consoles set up. There was a whole bunch of food though! There was even one booth that was selling fresh lemonade. It looked pretty good although the booths looked kind of sparse. Then we made our way to the gym to check out the dance. Well, weren't we surprised. There were at least 30 different booths packed into the gym selling everything from manga to plushies to handcrafted jewelry! It was amazing and I probably spent like $80 which is waaayyy more than I ever expected to pay at such a small convention. The auditorium events were pretty fun, my favorite had to be the Anime Dating Game which my best friend actually participated in.
As QCK is such a small convention, the cosplay isn't always breathtaking. The cosplay is toned down but it just makes it more fun. You no longer feel unworthy to ask some flawless cosplayer if you can take their picture. I got to meet a bunch of new people and catch up with a lot of my old cosplay friends.
Overall it was a great con! I had so much! My only regret is not taking more pictures! I can't wait until Anime Boston. It's only a few weeks away now!!
-René
