Everything You Need To Know About AFNYCC 2018

As I have gone on a small tangent – which I completely scrapped from this blog post – I was stationed eagerly in the virtual queue for an hour and a half this morning. I used my presale link intended to purchase tickets.

I already have one Friday NYCC ticket and thought to buy a Saturday NYCC ticket during the general sale. Then late last night, “Anime Fest” was announced. I read the email, sighed, and went to bed.

This morning I decided to give it a go – scraping my idea for a Saturday ticket and deciding to try out the Anime Festival; hence my current situation as I typed a three-page rant.

Why didn’t they advertise this sooner? Why couldn’t I have purchased the tickets along with my original NYCC tickets back in practically May?

Here are the facts we know so far:

• NYCC Literally forgot that they had New York Anime Festival – which ran from 2007 – 2011.

After it ended, the anime merchandise was regaled to the upper right corner of the convention center – the polar opposite direction of Artist Alley. You had to weed through Chinese vendors with bootleg merchandise (I remember a lady selling a knock-off Nyanko Sensei plushie for $40) and cycle between the cosplay booths, cutesy Japanese character inspired plushies, and the same three booths that sold T-shirts and wall scrolls of the same characters for varying prices.

• Want to plan out who you will see during Anime Fest? Too bad, regular con rules apply. Meaning, you won’t know jack until closer to the con. You are expected to pay upfront and just cross your fingers something cool happens on the day of your choosing.

• Did I mention these events are concurrent? Either choose to attend comic con (like some of us who already purchased tickets) or choose AF. Will there still be events and vendors related to Japanese Culture in the regular convention? Who knows, it’s a mystery.
• Can you purchase a 3-day or 4-day ticket to both events? No. Can you purchase a 3-day or 4-day ticket for NYCC? No. Since the renovations that one year in the Jacob K. Javits Center during the con, NYCC has decided to do away with those money saving options. Then last year, as many of you may remember, the prices were upped for funsies. Still no scheduled guest announcements sooner, however, just pay and wait.
• Wait, so In Asian Spaces, you say that the Anime Festival event is away from the Javits Center? Well, where is that event being held? NYCC has events spaced out to different ventures, it couldn’t be that far – right?

Oh, you sweet summer child.

• But…there will at least be a free shuttle bus for the ticket holders’ right?? Right?? Pier 94 is at least a twenty-minute walk. What if you cosplay a difficult character? You’d have to walk back and forth between both events on the same day!? Clearly, they wouldn’t do that – right?? Oh, you sweet summer child.
• Wait a minute…you said NYAF was unceremoniously bumped off back in 2011 and has almost but dissolved since 2012 – aside from fandom remnants and bones thrown by high profile anime culture guests such as Danny Choo and Naruto Creator Masashi Kishimoto. Anime NYC premiered last year and was a smash hit. Do you think Anime Expo teamed up with New York Comic Con to try to dwindle their sales and carve back out a market they never really catered to in the first place? Hmmmm….

• Well, at least there’s fan verification – right? Surely we’ll all get our tickets in a timely fashion? Wait, what? In Asian Spaces – you say you waited an hour and a half in the virtual queue and had a fabled 75% sold out Saturday Anime Fest ticket only to add it to your cart and have the website tell you it was sold out? And you have receipts?

Amazing!

• Then you found out it was a possible glitch?

• So if I have a NYCC ticket and want to refund it for simply AFNYCC – can I do that? –Good question

So at least as of right now…yes. Subject to change. High probability this information is subject to change.

• Should I attend other smaller anime conventions around NYC such as Liberty City Anime Con, Anime NYC or even AnimeNEXT in Atlantic City, NJ? – Sure, why not? Be liberal with your hard earned spending money and shop around, since con loyalty gets you nowhere once a con gets too big for itself and decides you are expendable – even if you’ve been attending for seven years faithfully. #noanimedlc – too much?

Regardless, this was a disappointing experience that is all too often now becoming synonymous with New York Comic Con. I hope that when fall rolls around, the convention will have been worth all of this trouble. I also hope the con realizes that its competitors will win out because they have heart – something they haven’t had in years.

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