Rhode Island Anime Con: Surprisingly, Not the Worst Con that Happened that Weekend

• Author: Kennedy (Red Bard)

• Editor: Samantha Ferreira

It’d be tough for Rhode Island Anime Con (RIAC) to have worse timing than it did last year. In a decision that was either incredibly bold or incredibly foolish, their inaugural event was held during the same weekend as Otakon—one of the biggest anime conventions in North America, which takes place in the far-but-not-too-far-from-New-England Washington DC. This is all to say that one would think RIAC has learned a thing or two about the importance of good timing in the year since. But if such a lesson really was learned, then I’m not sure how deeply it sank in, as RI Anime Con made another choice that was either incredibly bold or foolish, and placed their 2024 event during the same weekend as Rhode Island Pride, Fan Expo Boston (FEB), and Father’s Day.

Now, in fairness to RIAC, it’s possible that they didn’t know about FEB’s dates until it was too late; Fan Expo Boston had their 2024 dates on their website well before RIAC had theirs, but I also don’t know when RIAC started making arrangements with its venue, the Rhode Island Convention Center. But Father’s Day and Rhode Island Pride are another story. Rhode Island Pride always takes place in Providence on the third Saturday of June, while Father’s Day always takes place the third Sunday in June, making a potential conflict with these celebrations easily avoidable. Whether RIAC’s organizers, Altered Reality Entertainment, didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t have a choice, or didn’t think that it would significantly impact their event, I have no idea.

 When I saw that RIAC and FEB were happening the same weekend this year, I didn’t even have to think about it: obviously, FEB would be the one to be at. I’ve never been to either con before, but I read Samantha Ferreira’s con report of the train wreck that was last year’s event. And, really, it’s hard to imagine how something could be worse than RIAC if it was going to be anything like it was last year. Plus, even now I still can’t help but side-eye them for their preposterous (and fortunately, ultimately unsuccessful) attempt at trademarking the generic term "anime con” in 2022—a move that was at best overtly and indescribably brainless, and demonstrates a remarkable lack of effort on Altered Reality’s part. But in the worst case, this was an extremely scummy and underhanded attempt. Either way, it’s given me a certain level of distrust toward Altered Reality Entertainment that I still hold, and don’t expect will fully go away on its own or any time soon. Besides, if FEB can afford to have names like Mads Mikkelson and Hugh Darcy on its guest list, then surely it can afford to put on a decent event, right? 

…R-right?

A Few Words on Fan Expo Boston

Well, as luck(?) would have it, I wouldn’t have to choose between these neighboring cons. Defying expectations, RIAC invited Ferreira back to once again cover the con this year. Even now, I’m unsure if this was a move made out of confidence, desperation, or maybe just a lack of research/record-keeping. Whatever the case, Ferreira, in turn, kindly invited me to tag along to also do press. Simultaneously, some of my friends were interested in going to FEB for a day. And so, for the first time in all my congoing years, I made plans to do two different cons in the same weekend: Fan Expo Boston on Friday, and RI Anime Con on Saturday.

Friday at Fan Expo Boston 2024. Photo taken by the author.

So with that being said, the long and short of it is that I think FEB 2024 was a terribly run event where poor management decisions were constantly on full display. I’ll refrain from giving a detailed con report in the interest of keeping this more focused on RIAC. Still, I do at least want to take some time to talk about my biggest criticism with the con—a title which wasn’t easily won, seeing as how single-day badge holders couldn’t do much of anything but stand in the hallway until 4 PM, a number of guests (possibly all of them?) didn’t seem to have a set schedule for autograph times, and the website wasn’t always correct about how much autographs would cost. Notably, my friends wanted an autograph from Sarah Natochenny, whose autograph price was listed online at $40–60. But when we got to the front of the line, they were told that because they wanted Pokemon cards signed, it’d be a different price based on the rarity of the card. The cards were promo cards, but their price on TCGPlayer is around five dollars as of time of writing. Nonetheless, they were told it would actually be about $100 per card, of which there were two. None of this was listed on her autograph price guide on the website).

In the dealer’s room, there was a booth called “Cool Zoo,” which advertised live animals—a sloth and a small, hand-sized monkey (probably a marmoset)—that people could play with right then and there. My friends and I thought they were puppets at first glance, but upon further inspection—namely, upon seeing the sloth move on a branch by itself—it dawned on us that they were real. These were real animals that they were really letting people play with in the midst of a crowded exhibition hall. And, as any con-goer will tell, this is arguably the loudest, most hectic room of any given convention.
 
I don’t know enough about animal/zoo laws to be able to tell you for sure whether or not this is illegal in Massachusetts. Still, it at least feels like it should be. If nothing else, I can confidently state that this is incredibly unethical. A dealer’s room in a fan convention just seems way too overstimulating of a place for monkeys and a sloths. Cool Zoo should be ashamed of themselves, as should whoever gave them the green light to set up in FEB’s dealer’s room.

Friday at Fan Expo Boston 2024. Photo taken by the author.

RI Anime Con: Things Couldn’t Possibly Be Worse… Can They?

 I left FEB mentally bracing myself. After all, if that’s what FEB was like, then it certainly felt like the weekend’s conventions would be running neck-and-neck in a race toward the bottom, huh? 

 This is all to say that I didn’t enter RI Anime Con with the highest of hopes. That pessimism seemed all but confirmed when we entered the con and the venue seemed suspiciously empty for a Saturday (although sadly, Ferreira noted that it looked to her like there were more people present than last year). It was immediately clear that having people choose between RIAC, Pride, Father’s Day, and FEB wasn’t working out in the convention’s favor, at least not while we were there. But while there’s still plenty of room for improvement at RIAC (much like there was still plenty of room left in the venue), as the day went on, I was shocked to see that they had seemingly acted on a number of Ferreira’s criticisms from last year (although while I like to think that they did, and I sincerely think there is a chance of it. Whether they did this at least partially because of Ferreira’s coverage specifically, though, I have no idea).

 Upon entering the Rhode Island Convention Center, or more specifically, upon entering its main hall.  The dealer’s room, artists alley, and autograph booths were all smashed into the same room, which sounds like a lot for one space—and probably would be at a larger con. Still, due to the lack of attendance, it still felt pretty spacious. Moreover, it was immediately obvious where the bulk of the con’s modest attendance had gone: the autograph lines (pictured below). Consistently throughout my and Ferreira’s time at the con, the autograph section was always the most crowded area of the con, by far. This is hardly a shock, given  the star-studded guest list, but at the same time, there wasn’t really all that much else to do at the con.

Saturday at RIAC 2024. Photo taken by the author.

There were a number of cool displays around this giant room that seemingly 90% of the con took place in. There was a giant (maybe life-sized?) Appa from Avatar the Last Airbender, and an anime-themed car display. Elsewhere throughout the room, sprinkled between the merchant booths, one could see things like a giant Jack Skellington, and of course, plenty of fantastic cosplays. Outside of this room, though, there was little else to do. Particularly of note was the panel schedule. While bigger than last year’s, it was still fairly meager and lacked variety. But hey, at least the panels were in their own separate room (with comfy looking seats) this time.

But while RIAC had noticeably improved since last year, the fact remains that Ferreira and I still didn’t feel motivated to stay for terribly long. We visited Tiffany Grant’s booth, we went to a Sailor Moon panel (which Ferreira detailed in her con report), and we went through the vendor’s hall a few times (and I bought some Japanese snacks). But after only a few hours, there wasn’t anything left to keep us—hardcore anime fans who love the convention experience—there, so with mixed feelings, we left. 

RIAC seemed to be making an effort into bettering itself, and if the con continued to do that, then it could be something really exciting in a few more years. Plus, they didn’t have a literal zoo in their dealer’s room, so it was at least a better event than FEB. But at the same time, the con’s shortcomings were apparent. And what’s more, as I would learn after I left the con, there were even more than I previously thought.

Saturday at RIAC 2024. Photo taken by the author.

The Vendor Experience

In a Tiktok made at the con, streamer Zeenigami primarily discussed the money lost from table-ing at the con. The way Zeenigami paints the vibe amongst the artists, it sounds like several of them were similarly struggling, and generally unhappy with the event. This was corroborated in a con vlog by illustrator Coffee Vamp, who referred to RIAC as, “hands-down the worst convention that we’ve done, and as someone who’s been going to conventions since junior high, the worst convention I’ve ever seen in person.”

Knowing how much of this lightly-attended con’s traffic was concentrated in the autograph area, not to mention how easy it is to imagine plenty of other people leaving early due to how little there was to do, I have no doubt that many artists and vendors (especially the ones who traveled to be there) likely struggled to break even—let alone make a profit—at RIAC. Compounding the issue, Zeenigami and Coffee Vamp went on to discuss the con telling artists that they couldn’t sell 3D items, which resulted in some artists abiding by this rule and only bringing printed materials, while others either didn’t know or chose to ignore it to seemingly no repercussions. Coffee Vamp further notes that some circumvented this by paying extra for a vendor table as opposed to an artist table—although in the absence of any enforcement of the rule, this additional purchase would’ve been rendered worthless.

One can see this absurd rule in the check-out page for purchasing an artist booth at the con:

 “NOTE: **MUST BE A DRAWING,PAINTING AND OR SKETCHING ARTIST TO APPLY FOR THIS SPACE**...**NO SELLING OF PINS, MUGS, PILLOWS, BAGS, OR OTHER ITEMS IS ALLOWED IN COMIC ARTISTS ALLEY.”

This is a ridiculous rule which is hard to see a point to. 3D items like enamel pins, buttons, charms, bags, and acrylic standees are very popular in artist alleys at literally every other (anime) con ever. There’s no fathomable reason to not allow artists to sell them at RIAC, and it’s hard to imagine how a rule like this could’ve made it to the finish line.

Saturday at RIAC 2024. Photo taken by the author.

Unfortunately, this would hardly be the first time that I’ve heard of a superfluous, nonsensical rule from RIAC. Last year, the press was forbidden from talking to any of the guests (“a first in this reporter’s twenty-one years of covering conventions as a member of the media.” Ferreira would say about this in her con report). We were never given direct confirmation of this no longer being a rule this year, but we did chat with Tiffany Grant at her booth for a bit this year, so one would presume that means this counterproductive rule no longer is. But as though to make up for that, this year they “required” that press outlets have at least a combined 50,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 

I put “required” in quotes, because there aren’t any anime-focused writing/journalism outlets that can meet this frankly absurd criteria outside of Anime News Network and Crunchyroll. How RIAC landed on 50k being a good benchmark, especially for a smaller con, I have no idea. Nonetheless, Ferreira and I were able to do press at the event without Anime Herald’s (sub-50k) follower count even being mentioned to us—let alone becoming an issue.

Conclusion

Overall, RIAC still has a long road ahead of them if they want to become a better con. As it currently stands, it lacks in things to do, and there’s been an alarming number of questionable organizational decisions that’ve been very much to the deficit of not only the con itself, but also the attendees, artists, vendors, and more. But I honestly didn’t expect the con to have much, if any, marked improvement since last year—let alone being a better con than its neighbor FEB was—and that’s worth acknowledging. 

RI Anime Con has ways to go, but they do seem to be taking at least some steps in the right direction. I would say their biggest issues now (in no particular order) are:

• Securing a better weekend for the event

• Having a set of more rules that are more fairly written and consistently enforced

• Having more to do at the con, itself

Money doesn’t always necessarily solve all of a con’s problems (though it can often at least greatly soften them), but if this con can afford to have such a big and starry guest list, it would probably go a long way if they diverted more of their resources into addressing these matters in a way that’s meaningful.

To be clear: these problems aren’t necessarily exclusive to RIAC. In fact, FEB similarly seemed to rely heavily on its guest list, rather than programming, to get it through the weekend. And even outside of these two cons, there are still other cons with huge guest lists, but little, if any, programming (Anime 405 was the same way as well. I left after only two hours—probably the least amount of time I’ve ever spent at a con in all my years of con-going). 

While I hope this isn’t the case, I can’t help but worry that we’re seeing the early emergence of a trend of bland cons that feel disconnected from the greater anime fan culture, and by extension of that, either unknowing or uncaring of what (anime) fans actually want in a con. Hence, why these cons are often little more than—as Anime Boston co-founder Patrick Delahanty once called in a conversation with me about Anime 405—petting zoos (which isn’t just a metaphor in the case of FEB). 

If I had to guess, though, I’d say that if we really are seeing the genesis of this trend, then it was likely born from a combination of an overall increased interest in anime/fandom by the general public (and by extension, conventions) and a misconception that running (anime) conventions is at least usually a profitable job/side hustle. 

To be clear, though: it’s usually not. 

Even as I type this, a number of larger, pre-established cons are still having trouble bouncing back after the height of the pandemic—financially, organizationally, both, or otherwise. 

Saturday at RIAC 2024. Photo taken by the author.

But to finally get back on topic, I don’t know what the future holds for RIAC. That said, I do know that I’ll be really curious to hear (perhaps see, who knows) how its 2025 event goes and how much or little goodwill will be extended to them after an event that, while better than last year’s, still fell short of the mark. As of the time of writing, RIAC 2025 is currently scheduled for June 7–8, 2025, which doesn’t have any immediately apparent major conflicts. It’s neither the same weekend as Rhode Island Pride and Father’s Day, nor does it seem to be competing with any other major/nearby conventions at an early glance. But as for whether that’s foreshadowing for their first truly great event, or a fake-out that’s actually an ill omen of what’s to come, we’ll just have to wait and see.