Heartless Aquarius Takes On Daku Con 2017
Heartless Aquarius Takes On Daku Con 2017
Hello everyone! Long time no see! Heartless Aquarius here covering another convention. I got to travel out of the Arizona oven and visit Colorado’s Daku Con. Daku Con is 
a brand new convention and it was fun going to a first year of a convention. I was interested in this convention in particular because it was an 18+ convention, meaning that you could only buy a badge and attend if you were at least 18 years old. The only other geek/anime convention I had ever heard of with an age limit was Yaoi Con, which was the inspiration of this convention according to staff. This does not mean the convention focused on adult content and themes. While this content was more available compared to a normal convention, it felt more like an event where adults could discuss and enjoy any content without worrying about kids overhearing. Personally, it was nice being able to talk to anyone and know they’re an adult since it is hard to guess someone’s age at a normal convention.
Location
Daku Con was located at the Radisson Hotel in Aurora, Colorado. The location was interesting since the conference rooms were on the lower level of the hotel which allowed any 18+ content to only be accessible to the attendees of the convention. This was most likely an important factor to the convention choosing a location. Since the hotel is near some freeways, it is difficult to walk to food. However, due to the hotel’s location, the attendees most likely drove to get there so it wouldn’t be hard to drive to the close The hotel did have a restaurant and a snack booth set up.
From a cosplayer’s perspective, there did not seem to be a lot of areas where photo shoots could take place without leaving the actual location. Overall, the location was fine however there could be some improvements as this convention continues.
Cost
The badges cost at most $35 if you ordered a full event badge online and $45 at the door. With most conventions, the full event badges were cheaper if you bought them ahead of time. Since the location was set at the hotel, parking was free, which is always a plus. If you bought your badge ahead of time for a cheaper price, I believe it would be reasonable for the small convention. The final price of $45 is a bit much especially since it’s a brand new convention.
Staff
While I personally had a good time at the convention, the staff were one of the downsides to the convention. There was a lot of miscommunication and frustration between different staff members which led to uncomfortable situations for the attendees. A possible cause of the miscommunication is the mix of convention experience the staff members had. Some said they had been staff for 10+ years and others had never worked for a convention before Daku Con. For next year, it could be beneficial for the staff to have an orientation and basic training so that all of the members are all on the same page. Since Daku Con is a new convention, I’m sure they will try their hardest to fix these issues for next year.
Final Thoughts
Personally, I had a fun time at this convention. It was fun seeing a whole new cosplay community and seeing a baby anime convention reminds me of when I started going to conventions back in the day. There are so many talented artists and cosplayers in Colorado. While it may seem like I’m being very mean and critical to Daku Con, I just want to see them improve because I see a lot of potential in this convention. Since this is Daku Con’s first year, I’m sure they have learned a lot and will make next year even better. I’ll let you guys know since I do plan on going again next year. If you are in the area for Daku Con 2018, I’d recommend going.
Pros
- Mature crowd
- Close community
- Friendly cosplayers
- Extremely talented Artist Alley
Cons
- Disorganized
- Miscommunication
- Combination of badges and wrist bands
- Lacking in Vendors/Exhibitors
Heartless Aquarius is a cosplayer local to Arizona and has a huge passion for anime and manga! This makes her the perfect person to be dedicated to the sole task of consuming all of the Japanese content we receive and give her thoughts on it! When she isn’t turning pages and watching endless hours of Japanese animation, she is creating elaborate costumes that she features at various conventions and wins awards! Check out more of her information on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
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