Hey there Panda crew here. Today we are going to discuss the Anime Convention Anime Frontier in 2023. Video review will be up on our Youtube soon. For those who like to read here is the written review for now. these ( just noting) are just our opinions...the opinions of 3 people who wanted to share their honest thoughts on this conventions. We are not giving these reviews to talk trash or to be in any part of drama we are just discussing the good and the bad that we personally experienced and as always we love to here your experiences as well.
So here we go lets start with the badge process... we all 3 liked the way they handled the badges. Personally i think ( misty d panda ) it went better than expected because not only do they mail them but they can also be scanned on a QR code and you can pick them up in person. Of course with every convention tickets are cheaper online but the closer you get to the actual convention the higher the price becomes and if purchased onsite it will be anywhere from 5 to 15 dollars more depending. So suggestion try to buy online way in advance.
It was at the Water Gardens and Convention Center in Fort Worth Texas and i have to say i loooooooove this place for a convention so location for me was a high high high plus!! Parking as usual though was shite lol.
OK OK So FRIDAY day 1. Badge pick up was smooth sailing and there were plenty of convention maps to look at and were pretty descriptive on where things were. The only problem is if you didn't look online the schedule is no where to be found ( at least we didn't see them but they may have been somewhere if we missed it . We do apologize). The bad thing about that is the internet and phone signal is so bad there it was hard to do much of anything on our phones unless we went to certain places and stood awkwardly sometimes ( maybe that was our phone services shitty signal but from everyone we talked to they agreed the phone signal was shit ). We walked around for a bit and checked everything out and saw some vendors we really liked but over all all the vendors were very nice and helpful. Pretty much the same vendors i see at all the conventions however i did like the giant Gundam area they had there .That was unique and cool to check out. The set up in the dealers/vendors room was pretty simple not too crowded and nicely spaced. It was rather slow on friday but to be honest most fridays are like that at any conventions. Friday Night was the Rave ( i was suppose to guest but car problems happened ) so i cant say how it was but it was Club Kaiju. People told me it was fun so there is that.
Saturday moving on. Saturday was quite a bit busier and i've already told you about the vendors hall so you already know that story. However there were so many panels happening this day so there was always something to do or go see or participate in. This was the day they let the ambassadors meet up and everything however it was not clear on where the meet up was only what time it was so i was unable to attend the meet up because i had no idea where to go. They also did the cosplay contest and don't forget it was the Cow party after party night i also didn't attend that but i know plenty who did and they said it was fantastic!!!
Sunday pretty slow with attendees and to be honest from seeing everyone's stories and things...most were probably sleeping in after partying all night lmao. Same vendors but some were having sale which is also a usual at most conventions. It ended early like all conventions do on Sunday. Cosplays were great to see as well.
OK so some features that they had that were cool pros and cons
We see now a lot of conventions are having photosets ( thought i know fan expo and walker stalker conventions and a few others have been doing this for yeeeeears. As long as i have been going to them which is over 15 years. They just went from simple backdrops to getting more and more extravagant ) These photosets they had at the conventions were beautiful by Candiiland_by_abicandi. They brought 6 sets ( I believe) and all were lovely and neat looking however, the only problem was if you were over 5 and a half feet ( pretty much) you cant stand up in most of them you have to sit down. Dale and Michael were taller than a few of the sets ( both 6'0 and 6'1 ) however if they sat down it was ok. I will say that people were not kind to those sets though. They were not being too careful so they were moved around and getting beaten up so i felt bad for them.
They also had food at both ends of the dealers room however not much selection but what they did have i heard was good ( expensive as shit but good) I had some awesome coffee and they had the Root Beer stand there which i believe was called Pecos Bills or something like that . I love that place!!! The problem is that they didn't really advertise for anything that is inside there anywhere ( again if they did we just didn't see it)
They had quite a few guests there that were not announced on their pages so before going i wasn't sure of who all had booths there and who i could go see .
The ambassador program they have is very smart. I mean who doesn't want free advertising for both parties with 2 badges for each ambassador. You don't get any special perks other than being announced on their page and 2 badges though. They tell you that for every ticket you sale is what decides who gets to have a booth their. That is fine i suppose however they said they would tell you after November 4th but i saw people announcing that they were guests and had a booth in October. ( so i am not sure how much of that is true unless maybe they purchased a booth but i'm not too sure on that). I also had about 20 people tell me that the code i was giving out wasn't working for them to get their discount so they had to try others until one of them worked. I had Dale try to buy his ticket online through my code and sure enough my code wasn't working . We tried several times at different times to make sure it was not a glitch or not working just that day. They tell you you can attend a meet up at a certain time but they didn't say where ( i should have asked but i didn't get the email about the meet up until the day before the meet up and so i forgot to ask ) I had one person say they were able to use my code. So that was good for sure so sometimes it worked and most of the time it didn't. So hopefully that is fixed next year. however that creates unfair advantages to others who are trying to get a booth there and really selling it. Since you are contracted to make a post about the convention advertising about it at least once a week from acceptance to December 1st or they take your badges away basically. So honestly i feel the Ambassador program isnt really worth the advertising for them if it is a broken system like that. It would need to have all the bugs worked out with codes and links, inform their ambassadors a bit more on the meet ups and stuff , and if you are going to tell people they get a booth depending on what you sell then make it to where they have until at least closer to the end of November and make sure their codes work ( which i did write them and let them know mine wasn't working.
So in concept the Ambassador program is a neat idea and good for both of the parties involved. However i feel it would be a better and a more fair program if they informed people a bit more timely and if they made sure that all their links are working at all times. It is awesome to get 2 free passes and promotion on their page ( Instagram ). I have been working conventions, a cosplay coordinator media manager and media marketing for over 10 years now so i know how cross promotion works and it is always a good idea. Just things have to pan out right contractually for both parties for it to be worth it.
Ok Now for the ratings
Overall i would give it a 7/10
location 8/10 Better if Parking wasn't shite
Vendors and food 6/10 ( if there was something more unique it would be higher same stuff though awesome still same stuff )
Communication 5/10
staff 7/10 ( they were at least very friendly though i never met the person in charge of the Ambassador program so that was a bummer )
Badge pick up 10/10 we had no issues at all