Heartless Aquarius Takes on Sabaku Con 2018

Hey guys! Heartless Aquarius here and I have a new anime convention to tell y’all about. I went to New Mexico for the first time to visit Sabaku Con. It’s another convention by Monkey Paw Entertainment, who also run many Arizona anime conventions such as Saboten Con, Con-Nichwa, and more.

Location

Sabaku Con was held in the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North hotel. The building itself is gorgeous and has a beautiful interior. The hotel was also surrounded by grass and trees which was great for photo shoots. One inconvenience of this hotel was its physical location. Since the hotel was directly next to a freeway, driving around took longer than expected. Also, reaching any external food options required a drive or a very determined walk. Luckily, the hotel and convention collaborated and set up a food booth separate from the hotel’s restaurant. It included snacks, drinks, chicken fingers, and a teriyaki chicken rice bowl all for a reasonable price.

Cost

The badge cost for the convention was standard. It was $50 at the door and could be bought earlier for a discounted rate. Sabaku had a block of rooms at the hotel for $104 a night, which is less than the normal rate. One interesting thing about Sabaku Con is that it had a separate and discounted badge for the gaming area. I thought this was a great alternative to the normal badge because there are many attendees that spend all of their time in the gaming rooms. Since they usually don’t go into the vendor hall or panels, this is a great option and could allow for more gamers to attend the convention. It can be a very affordable convention if you buy your tickets early.

Final Thoughts

Sabaku Con was fun! The guests were friendly and hilarious and the panels were fun to go to. I’m always a fan of smaller conventions. You really get to know people and have a greater opportunity to make new connections. Sabaku Con is just like that. It is a smaller venue and you can feel the good vibes from the attendees while making new friends along the way. While the location was slightly inconvenient to get to, it was worth it!