Thank You For Attending Anime & Gaming Con - Photos, Stories & Reactions

Delbur · Post by **Delbur** » 04 May 2025, 19:34

He was too shy to do the masquerade

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 04 May 2025, 19:35

Drat, he could've won a prize.

Delbur · Post by **Delbur** » 04 May 2025, 19:36

I wish he would have

alot of glue gun burns, finger pricks and time went into that. X

NickBaker777 · Post by **NickBaker777** » 04 May 2025, 19:48

Attended yet another AnimeCon at Cardiff University student union yesterday. As always, my daughter and myself had an epic day! But there was one thing that dampened the experience this time...

We have e attended numerous Anime League events at Cardiff University over the years, and I always, ALWAYS, ha e taken my camera along with me. But this year, 2025, I had my camera confiscated on entry. I was very disappointed.

But my biggest concern was the disregard at which it was taken from me. The security guard was fine, he never attempted to take it from me, just asked to accompany him to the information desk for it to be kept.

But at the information desk, the young man working there immediately grabbed it from me before I could get it's protective case from my bag. I then had to demand that he returned it for me to store it in it's case, but he insisted that it would be okay. I then had to say "No, give it back so I can put it in it's case, because if you damage it you will be paying me the £3,000 that it is worth".

After finally allowing me to remove the very expensive lenses and store it in it's case, he then wrote my name on a ticket and asked for no further information. Very poor form of a receipt for an expensive item. Anyone who heard my name could have asked for the camera later that day!

When it was time to leave the event, I went to collect my camera, only to find that it had been securely kept away... on top of stack of papers, next to a PC where somebody was eating and drinking! Like, WOW. That is not how to securely store away people's property!

Not sure why cameras are not allowed anymore? I've never had a problem taking that very same camera into an AnimeCon before. People take photos all the time on their phones, and it's not as if it was a giant camera, with a tripod and lighting system either... And I was disappointed to see a few people with cameras in there after mine was taken from me. But, it was Anime League's loss. I get a significant amount of views on my photos across social media. And I guarantee I have a lot more experience than the kids who were permitted to take photos.

As much as I have enjoyed every event to date, not being allowed to take my camera with me will be a problem in the future, as MCM ComiCon have no issues with me attending with my camera, so I will concentrate on those going forward and give Cardiff AnimeCon a swerve.

It's been a pleasure to date, apart from this last one. But neither myself or my daughter will be attending any future events. The security was unnecessarily tight. The denial of cameras made no sense, as I can't think of a single reason why they are not allowed when other AnimeCon and ComiCon events allow them. The change to the raffle was a bad move. And there needs to be more refreshments on offer. Closing the bar downstairs was a bad move. And finally, some people's costumes were very inappropriate given the ages of many children attending. They have been getting a bit risqué and close to the bone as each event has passed, but this year we saw some guests in costumes that should not have been allowed, imo.

Cheers Anime League, we have enjoyed our time over the years, but that was our last.

PrangaA · Post by **PrangaA** » 04 May 2025, 21:26

Attended event yesterday in Cardiff with my Grandson & his Friend , as it was our first event I purchased VIP tickets, I’m really disappointed with what we received for paying the extra, we queued to get in then had to que to pick up our VIP products, we received a tote bag , lanyard & badge , plus raffle tickets which we didn’t get to stay to see the raffle drawn, the bag, lanyard & personalised badge was ok but having to que again for them really took the shine off paying to be a VIP- if we attend again I definitely will not pay for VIP, total waste of money, spent so much time queuing to receive basically nothing. Despite this my Grandson & Friend had a good time .
VIP not worth the money

Lockadonis · Post by **Lockadonis** » 05 May 2025, 17:40

Disappointed with this years event tbh. The VIP add on for £15 was not value for money, and there was only one vendor that sold Pokémon cards and merch. Food and drink vendors could have been better too. Staff had a go at us for walking through a door that they left open before the main room was open, but how were we supposed to know? We won’t be back to this event.

Games · Post by **Games** » 06 May 2025, 15:18

Fantastic Day! Seen The voice Actor From War Hammer 40,000 Game

I Can't wait to go again to cardiff!

Best 2 Days Ever!

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 06 May 2025, 15:26

To be fair I've attended AL events last year, the year before, and 2022, and the general organisation had rather a lot in common with a piss up in a Brewery IMO.

Games · Post by **Games** » 06 May 2025, 15:27

sleepycat · Post by **sleepycat** » 08 May 2025, 20:21

I went to the Cardiff one on the Sunday. I went on my own this time as my friend couldn't attend this time around. I paid for the early bird and enjoyed the bingo and browsing the artists alley which I was glad to see some new artists at. I really enjoyed some of the performances too.

I have to say though, I was hoping to see the masquerade but to be perfectly honest, I left early because I got kind of bored. When I first started attending this con back when it was in the hotel, there was a lot of panels such as 'cosplay on a budget' or 'make up for beginners' etc etc there was just more in the way of workshops and panels of that nature. I just found that side of it to be lacking during the afternoon. Unless you wanted to watch the live performances and shop at the dealers hall (which I'd been through already), it didn't feel like there was much to do between 2-5pm.

Overall though I enjoyed the time I was there for and I like seeing the local cosplay scene come together!

Games · Post by **Games** » 08 May 2025, 20:35

AfroJohn · Post by **AfroJohn** » 18 May 2025, 13:24

I attended Manchester Anime con a few weeks ago which was my 6th con. I look forward to this event every year and over the years these cons have been a mixed bag, some better than others but generally I think they have been slowly getting worse each year. This year was an exception though, it was horrendous to put it bluntly. Firstly the price has gone up which is fine, generally this is the case with most things but you at least expect to get value for money which was not the case this year.

Firstly, the venue was way too overcrowded. I understand Anime and Gaming are gradually increasing in popularity year after year but there has to be a limit on tickets sold. I don't know if there was one but too many tickets were sold. It was uncomfortable and difficult to move around the vendors and hard to interact with sellers. Which leads me to my next point, the quality of vendors was terrible. Figurines tend to cost more at these events which is fine, they are independent sellers after all but I really do think they were excessively expensive this year. Most figures were in some cases double the price that you can find in high street shops/online which I think is unacceptable. I usually buy a figure or two each year but I just couldn't justify being basically robbed this time.
It says in your booklet to report any signs of vendors selling fake goods which I doubt ever happens (or if it does then you clearly don't do enough to stop it). Every year there are counterfeit clothes/accessories but I've come to find that this is normal. However, this year it was just outright blatant from some stalls. It was easy to spot fake figures from Aliexpress/Temu being sold for like 500% of their value and one vendor even claimed he "bought it on a visit to Japan". Some vendors were just outright scalpers selling current Pokemon trading card boxes for enormous amounts, again just basically robbing people. Scalpers are not part of the anime/gaming community, they are leachers and it's very disappointing to see them at an event like this.

One of the things I look forward to each year are the gaming tournaments which are usually well organised and fun to take part in. This year was not fun or well organised. It was absolutely appalling. Usually there is a seating area set up and a big screen with the competitors sat at the front and everyone else can sit behind and watch. This year it was unbelievably amateur. It just played on one of the TVs in the gaming area and if you wanted to watch, good luck and hope you are stood directly behind the people playing otherwise there's no chance. Everyone crowding around and no where to sit. I took part in 3 tournaments throughout the 2 days and every single one ran late with no explanation or anything! I just had to keep coming back to check if it was ready to start! One of the tournaments was 1 hour and 30 minutes late!! This is ridiculous. Also because of this shambles, people obviously lost interest which meant that nearly every round there were no shows making the whole experience even worse. My friend also no showed one of the tournaments because we were just fed up of waiting around.

We watched one of the guest Q&As on the Saturday and to my surprise (not) this was also a shambles. The stage area was way too noisy and it was difficult to hear/interact with the guests on stage. Kayli Mills was impossible to hear because either her mic wasn't working/turned too low and she wasn't holding it close enough to her mouth which none of these things were rectified by staff! There seemed to be no structure to the Q&A, just asking people in the audience to ask random questions. Also, half way through there seemed to be a power cut and all microphones/screens suddenly turned off which made me and my friend just get up and leave.

I didn't find any part of the weekend fun or relaxing. Even small things like the anime screenings, this should be a chilled experience but it was far from that. The anime screenings was placed right next to an exit and it was just constantly busy with people. Anime was played on a small TV and could hardly be heard and to top it off, there was watermarks on the screen indicating the streams were illegally downloaded from pirate websites. Again, AMV chillout in the Bred shed should have been a cool experience but guess what... there was no sign of any AMVs!! We waited for an hour and they just skipped to the next scheduled thing. Also there wasn't even a proper screen in the bred shed, it looked like a bed sheet poorly draped so the projection was distorted.

Lastly to top off a frustrating and disappointing weekend you organised it on the same day as the Manchester Marathon of which the finish line was directly across the road from the convention!!! This affected public transport and it was absolutely chaos on Sunday afternoon.

Overall I would give 2025 Manchester Anime and Gaming con 3/10.

Rich-Allen1976 · Post by **Rich-Allen1976** » 18 May 2025, 14:17

I've attended better organised events, even the one in Hull about 5 and half years ago (differemt con company but my point still stands)

Only problem in Hull was that I didn't rate the venue, like to be honest I don't rate the Mercure in Sheffield as a comic con venue.

Post by **LikkleMel** » 21 May 2025, 22:08

NickBaker777 wrote: ↑
04 May 2025, 19:48
Attended yet another AnimeCon at Cardiff University student union yesterday. As always, my daughter and myself had an epic day! But there was one thing that dampened the experience this time...

We have e attended numerous Anime League events at Cardiff University over the years, and I always, ALWAYS, ha e taken my camera along with me. But this year, 2025, I had my camera confiscated on entry. I was very disappointed.

But my biggest concern was the disregard at which it was taken from me. The security guard was fine, he never attempted to take it from me, just asked to accompany him to the information desk for it to be kept.

But at the information desk, the young man working there immediately grabbed it from me before I could get it's protective case from my bag. I then had to demand that he returned it for me to store it in it's case, but he insisted that it would be okay. I then had to say "No, give it back so I can put it in it's case, because if you damage it you will be paying me the £3,000 that it is worth".

After finally allowing me to remove the very expensive lenses and store it in it's case, he then wrote my name on a ticket and asked for no further information. Very poor form of a receipt for an expensive item. Anyone who heard my name could have asked for the camera later that day!

When it was time to leave the event, I went to collect my camera, only to find that it had been securely kept away... on top of stack of papers, next to a PC where somebody was eating and drinking! Like, WOW. That is not how to securely store away people's property!

Not sure why cameras are not allowed anymore? I've never had a problem taking that very same camera into an AnimeCon before. People take photos all the time on their phones, and it's not as if it was a giant camera, with a tripod and lighting system either... And I was disappointed to see a few people with cameras in there after mine was taken from me. But, it was Anime League's loss. I get a significant amount of views on my photos across social media. And I guarantee I have a lot more experience than the kids who were permitted to take photos.

As much as I have enjoyed every event to date, not being allowed to take my camera with me will be a problem in the future, as MCM ComiCon have no issues with me attending with my camera, so I will concentrate on those going forward and give Cardiff AnimeCon a swerve.

It's been a pleasure to date, apart from this last one. But neither myself or my daughter will be attending any future events. The security was unnecessarily tight. The denial of cameras made no sense, as I can't think of a single reason why they are not allowed when other AnimeCon and ComiCon events allow them. The change to the raffle was a bad move. And there needs to be more refreshments on offer. Closing the bar downstairs was a bad move. And finally, some people's costumes were very inappropriate given the ages of many children attending. They have been getting a bit risqué and close to the bone as each event has passed, but this year we saw some guests in costumes that should not have been allowed, imo.

Cheers Anime League, we have enjoyed our time over the years, but that was our last.

Hi there! Was this the venue security? I can look into this for you (personally I wasn't at the event as I was ill), but I can ask people who were there as we do allow cameras. The security for Cardiff is the venue's not our own, so I can speak to them about this and figure out what went on for you.