BoroughCon is a new con in Queens, New York that took place during Memorial Day weekend (May 26-29). I was only able to attend on Saturday and Sunday, but it was well worth the two days I spent there and I would have loved to attend for all four days!
It was pretty easy to travel to this con: I took the subway, transferred a bit, and then took a bus that was really close to the con location. This makes sense, since the con took place on the campus for St. John’s University. The convenient campus location also meant easy access to restaurants in walking distance. You could also eat food at the con, and they had grills outside serving easy food like hot dogs, burgers, soda, and more.
When I first arrived at the con, it was a bit confusing to find where the Press badges were, but the con staff members I spoke to were all so friendly and nice! They ended up giving me a Panelist badge since there were no Press badges available at the time of pick-up. The staff members I interacted with were all courteous, and I even exchanged numbers with a press liaison so we could contact each other more easily for press-related matters. I could tell that the staff members were passionate about the con, and they also thoughtfully listened to my interview requests.
On Saturday, I was so excited for my first interviews! I had the amazing opportunity to interview Dante Basco, a voice actor I admire greatly, as well as the charismatic Prince Fahad Al Saud, who was also the Featured Guest at BoroughCon. You can listen to all my interviews right here in Scarlet Rhapsody!
In addition to the interviews, there were other exciting moments at BoroughCon… For example, one of my friends is an alum of St. John’s, and he mentioned that there’s a baseball diamond on campus! When I consulted the campus map, I could see that there was, indeed, a baseball diamond. And it was close to where the con was, too! I made a trip there both days of the con, and with no regrets. (I am not even ashamed anymore to say I am complete Daiya no Ace trash, and that’s where my obsession with the Diamond comes from.)
Other fun memories from Saturday include browsing the vendor hall, which included many talented artists. And, Nesquik was there promoting a new product along with a life-size Nesquik bunny! I hung out at the Nesquik booth a bit and even drew a silly picture to win a pair of bunny ears. The questions Nesquik asked me: Who’s your favorite anime character? What’s your favorite hobby? My answers: Sawamura Eijun! And dancing! (I originally said “Cosplay” as my fave hobby, but the Nesquik guy warned me that I would make the challenge extremely difficult for myself.) Then, he told me to draw Eijun and the Nesquik bunny dancing together. There were many similar pictures that were drawn at that booth by other people, of all ages and of all skill levels. It was definitely a fun challenge!
The Chalk Twins also had a Art Wall truck set up outside, and many attendees drew things on it as well as wrote things on it. I contributed a little bit on both days I was at the con! Another cool thing I checked out outside was a cool Chinese building on campus: sometimes, performances took place there, and other times, people were doing photoshoots there. I watched some K-pop dance covers on Saturday outside that building, and I watched J-pop dance covers there on Sunday. I was really happy to see so many great dancers perform!
On Saturday night, after dinner in town, I also peeked into the video game room for a bit and even played one game of Street Fighter (for the first time ever, and I failed epically, but it was fun!). There were tons of different games set up, and I could tell that different genres were represented even though I don’t know much about video games.
Sunday was a shorter day, but still so full of fun! In the morning, I got to interview Sean Astin. I had planned questions about things from Lord of the Rings to Rudy, but I ended up talking about Lord of the Rings the entire time (which is totally fine by me). Another interview I got to do was with Okami Yoshino; I caught her before her panel, and interviewed her then. Her panel was listed as a Cosplay Makeup one, but was actually a Cosplay Photography one.
When I visited the baseball diamond on Sunday, there was a baseball game going on! It was cool to watch the game a bit. Most of the bleachers were empty, so I was able to snag some photos. It was pretty nice weather out too; it wasn’t too cold. Although once evening rolled around, I wished I had brought a jacket in addition to my sweatshirt. I felt the brisk air even with my hood up when I was watching the J-Pop performance outside by the end of the day.
On Sunday, I also attended the voice acting panel in the afternoon, and it was a fun time. All of the panelists had so much charisma! They interacted with each other like they were all old buddies, and I am sure some of them are. The audience was fun too (and some guests were audience members as well).
All in all, BoroughCon 2017 was a success, and I’d love to check out this con again. Fun programming, impressive guests, nice staff, and lots of fandoms represented made this a worthwhile con.
Written by Li Mei | IG: @pearlpeony | Tumblr: @xiaorawr | Twitter: @treizemacarons