#1: It was a much smaller convention than I had been expecting, and there were not that many cosplayers in attendance. More specifically, there was a distinct lack of Zelgadis cosplayers, a fact which disappointed my friend and fellow con-goer, the Queen of Swords, who had been hoping to get a live-action snapshot of ol' Stony-Face to post on her "Zelgadis on the Couch" fanfic website. No such luck, though.

#2: The Art Auction. Although it was extremely well run and contained a fair number of decent artworks, (including a few of my own), it did not feature an art competition. There was no judging and no prizes being awarded to any of the artworks. Not that I expected any of my pieces to win anything if there had been, but I do find that a well-run art contest can add just the right touch of drama to any convention-type event and it would have been fun if such a contest had existed at this one. As for the art auction itself, most of the pieces received only a lukewarm response from the con-goers who had gathered to bid on them. Now I'm well-aware that anime art auctions on the whole aren't meant to be real big moneymakers, but sheesh, I've seen people willing to pay more for kindergarden-style DragonballZ they found on ebay than they were willing to pay for even the nicest pieces being offered at this art auction. I suppose with a bigger and older con crowd said pieces might have done better. (I'm pretty sure mine would have. As it was, I only sold two of my artworks, and those at only their minimum bid prices. Barely enough to cover the cost of even one night in my hotel room. *Sigh*. Ennuiiiiii........)

#3: The Hotel. The Dallas Hotel Intercontinental was a beautiful hotel. It's rates were reasonable, and it seemed a much nicer hotel than the Crown Plaza Ravinia where AWA6 took place. The only problem with it was that it had an open ballroom on the first floor, closed off from the rest of the hotel by only a latticework wall. Many of the events and activities of the con, (the artist's alley and autograph-signing tables, in particular) took place on a mezzanine located directly above the ballroom, which as the weekend wore on, played host to a seemingly endless series of wedding receptions, banquets, and dances, all of which seemed to feature extremely noisy music. Thanks, but if I had wanted to submit myself to a marathon session of cacophonious torture, I'd have chained myself to the karaoke machine...

#1: It was well run. At least it was in comparison to AWA6, where many of the staffers seemed to be locked into perpetual "I don't know the answer, I only work here." mode.

#2: The Special Guests. It featured the band boa (whom I hope will forgive me for omitting the pointy thing over the "o" in their name, as my computer is umlaut-challenged). Largo from Megatokyo.com and sexy as hell voice actors Scott McNeil and Kirby Morrow (*nosebleed*).

#3: The Convention Rabble. The demographic make-up of this convention consisted largely of local teen-agers, but despite that, I found them to be much more mature and much less prone to petty, pointless acts of squeezy-cheese-related vandalism than the crowd at AWA6 had apparently been. All in all, a nice, well-behaved bunch.

#4: The Dealer's Room. I haven't been to that many anime conventions (as of this writing, only two), so I'm not sure how this dealer's room would rate in overall comparison to all others. However, I do know that the AnimeFEST staff had enough discerning and foresight to invite the folks at Comictones.com to come over and set up a booth, a fact which I shall be eternally grateful to them for, even if my bank account is still cursing the day their mothers gave birth to them.