Last weekend while a ton of people were at SDCC, I attended a local Portland convention, WasabiCon PDX. Last year was my first time at this show, and I had a really nice time with friends and we enjoyed the convention together, so I was excited to attend again this year. I had heard about some issues before the convention was held, it was supposed to be three days (since it was very successful last year), but unfortunately they weren’t able to do that. But, they were going to have a bigger venue and it was said that artists had to pay a higher fee for their tables because of this (it was supposed to be for the bigger space and three days). There was discourse surrounding this with artists who were having to shoulder this burden, which we will come back to in this article.
I was slightly worried about the sparse and random schedule for both days, but still happy to know how many local PNW artists would be in attendance that were favorites of mine. Last year the main draw that anyone could see of the convention was the artist alley, which took up all of the vendor hall (with normal merch vendors there as well). There were also the meetups. Both days seemed completely random, with no real person in charge of the meetups. But, once at the con it was strange to say the least: it was difficult to find locations to where everything could be. I’m referring to the artist alley, the Cosplay Guild, Idol Fest, which I didn’t even know was happening at this con… There was barely, if any signage for these events and it was not something I saw in the schedule.
I’ve talked with many attendees and artists who were at WasabiCon PDX this year and none of the responses were good. As I was quite bluntly told, ”This was just a ‘nothing’ con”, which is sadly very harsh. There have also been multiple videos/reels picking up traction online from multiple people who were at the con, especially the artists that were in the basement of the con. @n2operation, who was vending at WasabiCon PDX and was in this basement artist alley, has made many videos and posts since the convention has passed about their and other artists’ experience the past weekend. This basement/underground parking garage was crowded – which is understandable because artist alley is always the most popular at conventions – and hot and stuffy with lingering fumes, dispersed only with small blower fans that were on the ground and you only felt them when you stood in front of them, even then only on your feet.
There was one small tiny little sign directing you to the artist alley, you could take a small elevator that took forever to get to you and was basically prehistoric in how slow it moved between two floors once on it, or you could look past the sign to a darken steep ramp that led a sharp curve to the dark, hot, fume filled basement. The only area in this basement it was slightly cool, temperature wise, were the end caps where the Japanese video game area were located.
I have never in all my years as a convention goer or a correspondent reporting on conventions have I seen the fallout after a con so bad. It truly felt like the convention was quickly put together in a month and that there was extremely poor communication with the vendors/artists and other people trying to set up things at the convention. There have been many outcries for the convention to acknowledge the poor planning and situations made for attendees and artists (especially them above all else), because people have been testing positive for covid and have been suffering from heat exhaustion too. Getting sick from a convention is nothing new, everyone always pick up a con bug and covid is also another side effect of that as well (though better ventilation might have helped). Because, surprise! There were also mice in the artist’s dungeon that also ended up in people’s bags. But the overcrowded area, the heat, and no proper air ventilation, the rodents have all led to multiple complaints.
The convention itself has been deleting negative comments on their social media and now have issued a statement about some of the bad stuff that took place, now asking to have artists email them directly about how the convention went for them. Reaching out for feedback from artists is a step in the right direction but, so far, the organizers are placing most of the blame, if not all, on the hotel, saying that they were promised a different set up for artists alley and it should have been air conditioned, brighter and just straight out looking better then it did. (WasabiCon PDX have shared photos of what they were basically promised beforehand).
It is so sad to see a local convention do so well previously, bringing the local community together, and have just a flat out amazing year of running their convention, to then come up with…well, this. There are many saying that they won’t be going back next year, and are upset by the convention not taking any responsibility at all so far. I know I’m disappointed because I really did enjoy this convention to the full extent last year and have made some of the best friends there (which I’m still friends with and have done many fun things with outside of con, and with conventions since then).
I personally ended up going only one day to Wasabi PDX the past weekend and I’d say after spending three hours at the convention – with the majority spent in an upper floor talking with friends – we left for food and had a blast outside of con exploring around it (we found boba and Kinokuniya). After the side quest, we did go back to the convention to do another few laps in the vendor hall, artist alley, and with friends on the upper floors. That was the best part of con, just spending time with my friends and taking photos, but it was so sad to see our friends and favorite artists suffering in the basement, melting away. What a wasted opportunity.
We reached out to Tom Croom with WasabiCon PDX for a response to hear from the convention before publishing which you can read below in it’s entirety.
“Hi Ali and the Convention Collective! We appreciate you taking the time to come and check out WasabiCon PDX 2024. Fandom and pop culture conventions are driven by the enthusiasm of attendees. However, not every experience can be perfect. I noticed that you cited a “sparse and random schedule” at our event which is disheartening. At any given time, there were entertainment options in Main Events, Chibi Events, Panels, Gunpla Workshops, Japanime’s Tabletop Gaming, the Japanese Arcade, the Otaku Activities stage, the Cosplay Corner, the NW MOCA activation, and more. I would have hoped you would have found time to check these out in the three hours you spent at the convention. Regarding the challenges with Artist Alley, we are aware and – as we shared publicly and directly with all the artists – we are in discussions with the Hilton to further explore the issues and find out not just went wrong, but how we can work with them to address this correctly. However, these things take time and the conversation is still ongoing. While I might not agree with much of your analysis, I still appreciate you and your team taking the time to come check out the convention.
Were you at WasabiCon? What were your thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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