how to make a fan convention (Metal Gear Solid Con)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- I got to inherit a ticket for Metal Gear Solid Con 2 from Matara Kan as someone who knows absolutely nothing about Metal Gear Solid. This was a smaller all day fan convention so in the interest of still having enough to talk about I decided to do my review as well as give you some best practices for making your own fan conventions in the future. Let's talk volunteers, fundraising, talent time, security, and voice actor table reads.
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To be fair, a lot of us who play Metal Gear Solid question how much we actually know about the franchise.
I'm not even a fan, I just used to watch my older brother play and loved all the Easter eggs and the fact you could sneak around in a box always killed me. I have a fondness for the franchise despite having never touched the controller myself 😂
I second that it isn't a big deal that not much was known going in. I've beaten every game since MGS2, up to as far as MGSV goes in the story, as we know it's incomplete, having played all of them over and over again at some point in their respective title. I could barely tell you what happens and always thought the writing was kinda dumb, even though the presentation did no less than push the boundaries of the hardware of that generation. I've even gotten into the NES Metal Gear, and Hideo Kojima said he hates that one, just have it saved in a save state. I get why some are fans of that. And yet I haven't really been able to get into the story of the Solid entries of the franchise.
I just know Snake has to escape from New York & Los Angeles
I’ve never played Metal Gear Solid games but there were a pair of Zero Punctuation reviews of the games that crack me up giving plot descriptions
ive been into the games since the first 3d one, shortly after it came out, and I only just grokked the totality of the lore like a couple weeks ago
Great notes! I was the DJ at MGSCON this year and the year prior. The staff is definitely trying their best with what resources we have, but I think a lot of the things you've mentioned are exactly the direction we're (hopefully) headed. Signed, the person everyone yells at for being an a hole. 😅
Omg fingers! Loved your set this year!
@@SuperKatieThe2nd Thank you so much! I'll have it up soon. 🫡
As a pretty massive Metal Gear fan, I honestly love that you went to this with absolutely no knowledge of it. I also just have a lot of appreciation for your coverage of smaller and more niche events/conventions. I probably wouldn't have heard about MGS Con otherwise and will definitely look into going in future years :)
And then she could do Toronto Fan Expo. I guess this is for if you can't afford San Diego Comic Con?
I love the way you show up to conventions with no prior knowledge, I know it’s not the same thing but I love showing up to random museums in tiny towns I’ve never heard of and it’s an absolute blast so I assume this is too!
Omg I do this too! I will straight up find the weirdest museums in small towns and have a blast! I love being one of the only people there on a weekday
There's a big uk furry con that could really do with listening to the security advice. The last two years running, thugs from the local area have gotten onto property to throw stones, insult and push people around. But the con's own security are reluctant to stand up and it's other attendees offering to escort people back to their hotels and confronting the gangs.
At Fur-Eh in Edmonton a few years ago, someone got in and dumped antifreeze into the water totes. Furry conventions get so much hate and I have no idea why. Not a furry myself, but every single one I've met has been incredibly friendly and welcoming to all.
@@cuttlepods Holy shit, that’s straight up attempted murder, how are people so full of hate for other humans that they’re willing to intentionally poison several people, potentially killing them? Fucking insane.
have you heard about Electric Con? It's a convention dedicated to the properties of the Electric Entertainment production company like Leverage, The Librarians, The Outpost, The Ark, ect. It's the first ever electriccon but the tickets are selling out so hopefully we get to do it every year. It seems like the kind of thing you would be interested in - it's not every day you get to review the first convention of it's kind in existence
It's the first for the *fandom* but Creation has been around for almost 50 years. They're especially known for Star Trek Vegas and their Supernatural cons.
Oh my god, I totally loved the Librarian movies and the Librarians show! Feels so rare to see fans despite their decent run.
@@ronnoc5278me too!!!
@@ronnoc5278 i'm a pretty dedicated fan, and did you know the librarians is coming back? they have a sequel show called the librarians: the next chapter coming to tnt in 2025, and they already renewed it for season two before the first season has even aired. that's always a good sign!
@@ronnoc5278omgg I didn’t know there were MOVIES this is great, I’ve only watched the show
i wish i could've seen a swell entertainment at dashcon vid back in the day
There may still be one 👁️👁️
There's going to be a Dashcon 2 next year at least LOL (StrangeAeons on youtube talked about it )
Or a Bronycon one
Dashcon 2 hype!
Time to learn about a convention I have never heard about and will never attend! Can’t wait!
I met Paul Eiding a couple months ago at DFW airport waiting on a delayed flight. Didn’t recognize who he was and just got to talking to him like two regular dudes. Asked what he did, said he did voice work for video games. I asked which ones, MGS was the first one he mentioned and I was immediately like “…you’re Colonel Campbell…” and the next thing I know he’s quoting the “I need scissors! 61!” call. Told him about how I’d played all the games, and how my mom basically had to pry me away from my PS1 during the end credits of MGS to go to school one morning. Ended up telling me I needed to make sure I had a cardboard box after he asked what I do for a living (security inspections). Super cool guy and one of the most interesting random encounters I’ve ever had.
Its nice hearing about a small, first time fan con with some (extremely fixable) growing pains and no major disasters.
Go figure, it's Hideo Kojima's bday today too!
leave it to swell to accidentally do the most Kojima thing by posting on the most meta date possible lol
Amanda next time you're at a video game con in California keep your eyes peeled for Mega64 (They're in your B-Roll of the showfloor!). They've been making video content in San Diego for more than 20 years and you could definitely discuss with them logistics of cons over the years, events, and more!
how do you even find these obscure events? great video!!
eventbrite
from viewers too
The moment Amanda discovers the value of wearing driving gloves. Fashion and your hands aren't two different shades.
I work for a relatively large convention (shout out live programming dept!) We are volunteers, but we are considered staff. We free food (with hotel staff), free rooms, and obviously free attendee badges. That all makes it very worth it. Also we have a very nice staff dinner at the end where we all talk about the crazy stuff that inevitably happens. If you get the chance, i recommend working a con! It can be very fun and good work experience
My face seriously did that "Beyoncé!?" meme expression when you mentioned Matara lol, too bad she wasn't able to attend but I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the video!
I immediately clicked on this video, because I know an artist who went there with their Metal Gear plushies! They sold out really early, I am 99% sure they're the one you mention at 13:56 :D They stream themselves making the plushies on twitch under the name "TheFlail"
❤s Nemetoad!
METAL GEAR MENTIONED ❗
I'm a pretty big metal gear solid fan and I would like to go one day. I saw so many people I follow posting photos, and I just couldn't go because I live in Europe 😭😭
7:30 get a sunblock stick for your purse for your arms and hands!
I remember not too long ago Amy Jo Johnson (The Original Pink Ranger) had left a convention (Collect-A-Con) and refused to return due to there being no proper security.
Honestly, I don't blame her and she did the right thing.
She was not about to potentially risk her life due to the negligence of others.
"Hoping for the best" or "assuming" nothing bad will happen is NOT a strategy for safety.
A convention NEEDS to have adequate security and bag checks. This is non-negotiable.
Just because it is the 1st or 2nd attempt at a convention IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE to lack security.
Especially post-covid, does anyone really think there are "less" crazies out there after the pandemic? Well, I certainly don't. If anything, I think there's more these days.
Like Swell said, it only takes 1 person with bad intentions to cause an incident to happen. Also, it only takes 1 person getting killed to ruin a convention permanently and shut it down for good.
Why even take the risk?
Conventions can be fan-made, that's fine. Conventions can be a labor of love, that's also fine. But you can't cut corners with certain things that are mandatory, especially because if you DON'T have those things in place, it could prevent any further events from being possible.
What do you think security can do? We’re told to detain and notify police. That’s it. No physical contact of ANY kind including gently pushing people away from other people. My job consists of watching people and telling them they can’t do this or that and call the police if my directions are refused. Not allowed to engage in any type of conflict. I’ve seen people get terminated for having “heated” conversations. The “security” shirt and presence is supposed to be a deterrence but in reality we don’t have any more or less power than attendees. That’s the reason why I even like it as a side job, I put headphones in,listen to podcasts and just walk back and forth until someone needs something
those are only a risk in the US
This gives me hope you’d go to an obscure event like rollercon one year
omg id love to see that. I cant imagine all the gear and teams there'd be.
I have to imagine they'd have a lot of the international teams too, seeing Victoria play against DRD in person was probably the best rollerderby I've seen.
My worlds are clashing wdym Matara and Swell know each other.........
I was half expecting her to mention Mint somewhere in there 😅
My conception of the world has truly changed now knowing that they’re friends 🤯
Matara is literally a bridge from Vtuber to fleshtubers at this point. From Bricky and now with Swell.
Whelp I wasn't expecting the connection of Matara and Swell but im here for it!
No deadass it caught me off guard lol
My senior year of HS I was a president of a volunteer club and racked up about 700 hours (not including my other 3 years), which is crazy looking back. I was barely able to volunteer on my own 50 hours each year in college. I think I burned out by being an involved volunteer as a high schooler LOL to be fair though, my school life mostly revolved around this club, which is probably why I performed so well.
Oof YES this is painfully relatable. I did so much volunteering in high school and college, but now I struggle to do much. I think it’s a mix of burnout, having gotten used to volunteering when my life was completely unimpeded by bills and jobs and whatever and not knowing how to do it now, and feeling like if I can’t do those insane amount of hours I’m not doing “enough” and as a result doing so, so little
I think 50 hours is actually really impressive, the fact that you have dedicated what I consider an hour a day and when you consider that 50 days is 13 percent of a year it’s really admirable don’t put yourself down you aren’t a superhuman no one is.
But if you made those 50 hours important and impacted someone, that’s what matters.
I'd like to see Swell go to a card game tournament, just to see what she'd think of it.
"Am i gonna die? Let me know, comment down below" incredible.
A metal detector at a METAL gear solid event sound sounds like it’s going to be working overtime
Not the crossover I expected but I am so here for this
Also huge potential the con will be bigger next year as they are remaking the most beloved game in the franchise, so there will be a new crop of fans coming in.
smashcut to swell being featured in a future death stranding sequel
I just want to add to my understanding part of the reason things kicked off a bit late and the line to get in was so long was more because apparently security showed up late. Idk why that happened but it was very apparent once they did start letting people in because the line moved very quickly.
So you’re blaming me for holding up the line? Who told you it was because security was late? We were there before everyone even started showing up. Ask people staying at the hotel
@@jasoninthehood9726 Huh? I don't know why you're taking that personally, I am not "blaming you", that's what con staff relayed to us when we were waiting in line. I fully grant that may have been an extremely simplistic explanation for what was going on that held up the line.
This could be huge. MGS fans are everywhere.
Some friends and I run a yearly three-day online convention, and we've been tossing around the idea of having a one-day in-person con for the same topic, so this video was really informative. Thank you!
Love hearing your reaction to all sorts of conventions! I really think you'd enjoy TeslaCon, the largest immersion steampunk con in North America. It's in November in Wisconsin.
oh i know the old man yaoi went hard in that artist alley hoo boy
When I saw the title I was going to joke in the comments that I couldn't believe Amanda went to a Metal Gear event. I forgot that Amanda does not mess around
There is no such thing as too much French onion soup. One of the local restaurants here has even figured out how to package it for takeout. 😁
I wouldn't be surprised if Mint Phantome was there if Matara Kan had plans to go.
mint WAS, but i think she got sick.
For hotel cons, they are limited to what the Food and Beverage group can provide. They can not bring in outside food, as usually they have contracts with the Food and Beverage Group that only the F&B group can provide food, through specified areas. So they would need to set something up for other snack stations with the F&B group to have those in other areas. Usually. this just all depends on what their contracts are.
Hearing you roast smaller cons for not having security when I’m at a massive industry giant run con ANYC which has only metal detectors and gave up on bag check this morning and let us all queue in an unventilated loading dock with no fire exit is killing me. We have to bring you on as a consultant for these please
Hideo Kojima reposted
Oh he’s definitely attending next year in a disguise lol
Thanks for the write up. Love that you causally mentioned that you know Matakan. The world is so small and lulzy sometimes.q
I’d love love love for you to review a fountain pen convention!
Yes! Stationery and craft fairs/conventions as well since they're a different vibe to media based events
I didn’t know stationary conventions were a thing. How sweet 😊
Idk how I always forget to tell you about a con I go to all the time. I’ve gone in Virginia Beach but I think it travels to other locations. I call it the rock show but it is technically called Treasures of the Earth Gem and Mineral Convention. It’s ranges from valuable gemstone jewelry, to hippy crystals and Dino fossils. The best part is picking out a geode and people with saws will split it open there. It happens twice a year so if I miss one I usually go to the other. I just moved to Georgia and I hope there’s something similar here.
Gallifrey One!! I think it's next year, maybe February? And it's in LA!
I've been going to ocns since 2001, and started staffing in 2006 when I turned 18, I do have a couple things that are probable answers for some of your questions. The first being that a lot of convention hotels do not allow any food or drink to be sold in the venue that they do not control. It's a non-compete thing. I remember when Sakura Con moved to the WSCC and you couldn't even sell pocky in the dealers room anymore.
I do agree big time on having buffer between panels. I have worked events that have them built into the schedule and some that did not, and it is always easier to handle when you have staff giving warnings. That does mean that you need more staff, but I've only ever worked cons that are non-profit, so all the staff are volunteers.
My small team host not really convention but more like a small meetup with some program event and your insight are helpful. Like you said the 1st thing our team always does before we announce our meetups is to make sure that we have secured the venue and that we have seen it. Though our venues are pretty small like cafe with an event area.
Your insight are still helpful to me in helping us organize it.
Thanks for this swell video Swell!
such a weird and cool collide of Matara and Swell, big W
One reason you may not see food options from fan events is they can't afford the outrageous fees to giveaway or sell food to general attendees. Many venues calculate part of their profit based on an estimate on food/alcohol sales they anticipate from attendees at their shops/restaurants/bars. Anything the show provides eats into the venue's profit margin.
Speaking of 'fan coventions'...
...
...
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SWELL-CON!
SWELL-CON!!
SWELL-CON!!!
Seriously, though,...it needs to happen. Keep up the good work, and...
...stay tuned.
METAL GEAR !!!!?!?!?!? HERE?
IMPOSSIBLE
0:28 0:36 oaisdjaoi IT WAS YOU?!?! 😭 i remember tara mentioned in a twt space (or maybe it was podcast ep) that she gave her MGS Con pass to someone else since she was sick and it was amanda all along oaisdjaosi my creator worlds colliding omg XD gotta love whenever Swell gets roped into 2D vtuber shenanigans!!
but fr thanks for reviewing the event so that mother roach could live vicariously through your video swell o7 thanks to tara for providing this content in the first place as well! 🥺🤍
One day you should go to a miniature painters/table top gaming convention. Reapercon is a really tiny one that’s pretty fun
queen giving out all this advice for free x
Frozen Gead Guy days is a wild event/festival in Colorado what I would die to see a Swell review of
You saying that an event should feed their volunteers is wild that you have to say that, but we just locally had Blue Ridge Rock Fest, and they lost volunteers in DROVES because they ran out of food for their volunteers, refused to get more food for the volunteers while also over working and having the volunteers doing things should have been hired hands in the first place. They also had no communication for them. It was so bad, a few bands were giving up their food to feed the volunteers. It’s crazy to me. Feeding them should be the bare minimum you do!!
I love content like this and I would love to know more about this. I used to go to cons a LOT when I was younger and have wanted to get involved in running a con or run my own, but have no idea how people get into that kind of industry.
Waiting for Amanda to put on a con con. For people who just love running cons.
The hotel didn’t want outside vendors selling food
Very common
Its a hundred degrees? Lets have some French onion soup!
Deep in my soul i'm hoping Amanda will go to Dashcon 2
I’m a casual metal gear fan, so this was a cool video to see. Definitely considering checking it out if I’m in the area next time it happens
Really great notes, nice to get perspective from someone with so much experience but from outside the MGS fan space - I think you raise some good points and to their credit I think they seem to realize/be receptive to input on how to make the event better. Spot on about food availability in the con, if someone hadn't given me a Calorie Mate earlier in the day I think I would have needed to leave for food, and with the compact schedule there was always something I wanted to be doing during the event. I think the Mega64 panel was probably my favorite and one that flowed well but also demonstrated some technical difficulties/shortcomings they were having with the venue (small screens to show video and poor internet connection), and the cosplay contest/DJ sets at the end of the night were super fun, definitely a highlight of the day for me. I'm really optimistic about what they can improve on and pull off next year, all things considered, and on the balance it left a really good impression of grassroots fan conventions.
Has someone else mentioned the high pitched whining noise throughout the video yet? I hate commenting about things like this because it feels very whiny and complain-y, but it comes in and out throughout the video. I thought it was my tinnitus at first but then it stopped when I paused the video.
I do always enjoy watching your videos, keep it up!
matara giving u her ticket made my mouth drop. WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE!!!
The best hotel cons have hospitality rooms with snacks and drinks
Metal Gear!?
I sadly found out about this con too late this year, would love to go next year!
I’m a HUGE MGS fan and I had no idea there even was a con for it lol that’s crazy! I have very fond memories of those games, especially the third one (snake eater), as my wife gave it to me as a birthday present when it came out, and how I finally got the hint that she liked me lol
I've got to say my favourite obscure con might be Ghostcon in the uk (a fan con for the metal band Ghost). It's a day con that had an okay first year and I'm looking forward to a hopefully better second edition this year. It's biggest selling point is that it's run by a cover band and the main room runs as an all day metal/rock cover band festival culminating in a full hour and a half set of ghost songs.
Its held in an alternative nightclub with house lights up from 1pm - 10pm with the option to stck around for a rock night after
I have a french onion deficit :'(
Reallll
Your criticism is always so constructive. You could write a book on how to give proper constructive criticism
I won't be able to do it this year, but the last couple years I've been going to Travellercon. A small hotel con for the RPG Traveller. It is fit all in one room and since it is an RPG based con, instead of panels, it is mostly games being run by other attendees (though by a schedule). They have one big room divided by free standing dividers, basically just plastic tubing with sheets hung up. The back of the room is divide in half, one side for the few "panel" type stuff they do and the other side where the few sellers set up. They have a guy selling the various rules books and old stuff for the game, a group who sells new things for the game, a couple of people selling scifi books that fit the same sort of genre as the game, and a guy selling 3d prints of stuff like space ships. It is a pretty chill con and I'm sad that I won't be able to make it this year. I think? I'll have to check, maybe I can manage it. Up until this year they used kickstarter to fund the con, but this year they're doing something different.
METAL GEAR!!!!
Honestly so happy for you that you're able to use all this knowledge to earn extra money as a consultant!
5:58 🤣😜🤣😜 don’t lie they’ll catch you out with obscure questions 😂😂😂
The best snake cosplayer was seen by no-one, a lot of people saw a cardboard box though.
Hey! Hope you're doing well! It would be awesome if you went to the dashcon revival next year!
I've been to a lot of small cons and also have been on staff with a bunch of them and all of this is REALLY good advice.
Have you ever been to dragoncon? I've been going for years, but I do tend to stick into my little area of interest, and would be interested in seeing the con from a different POV
Being a fan of Matara too, this was very cool watch because her friend Mint did go and she's a die hard fan of MGS and you are completely neutral. hearing both perspectives was great!
If MGS con ever came down under, hell yeah I'd go, seems like a fun day out!
omg was not expecting to see a swell video on mgscon!! excited to hear what you have to say cause im hoping to go next year
Also another to I want to add, or agree about hosting a convention is to constantly check on whether or not the location isn't going to be under construction. I agree with Amanda about checking the location before creating the tickets. I don't mean unplanned like a storm. I mean planned as I have experienced this beforehand. My story is more of a meetup than a convention in this case. So have a site manager. Or go there yourself at least twice.
I'm hoping to not sound bitter but this is just a reason why I said the tip as before. I had been invited to a small meetup and a room was booked earlier for the group. It was a gathering for a college subject or something school related. I cannot recall the reason at this moment. But then the day approached for us to enter the meeting room, I received either an email or a text saying that they had to relocate to another room. And so it was me and a large group of heated people in a smaller space with limited working air-condition unit. And then worse is that more people were still coming into the meetup late and then air-conditioning air was being released out of this small room from time to time. As it was the first set of minutes before the starting of the meetup. And then it was people who came in and out of the hot sun to come and just take seats. And it took time before the air-conditioned unit even cooled down before everyone settled down.
5:00 My dad was watching your video and sent the timestamp to me. My dad photo (video?) bombed two videos in one move, amazing.
Have you ever been to Otacon in DC? It an 'asian pop culture' con thats been around since 1994. In 2025 it's in August.
There's Metal Gear conventions? How do I not know about this?!
Great video! Thanks for sharing
This looked like fun, has the same vibes as mid 00s NoBrandCon here in Wisconsin.
If you really wanna make sure your convention is a success, get Mega64 in there, they were present at MGS-Con, and it worked.
Next year Labor Day weekend. If you want a convention where you also learn stuff, try camp Hollywood. It's in LA
Pretty sure tickets go on sale at the end of this weekend
Noted Amanda knows MataraKan. When i saw the title of the video this sounded like something Mint would be apart of so this confirms they did know about it.
I have a suggestion for a video, etong space capsule houses. I keep seeing the reels on instagram and I've never seen such an interesting story of drama, alumulu and drywetseperationbathroom. I think you're the perfect person to do a video about it.
Wow i never thought they would make one just for me
I liked the watch that you wore in this video
To address the most important quesrion, no there is no such thing as too much French Onion Soup. Now is there such a thing as spending to much money on the FOS, yes, yes you can.
Go to a paintball event they're pretty cool. The only sport where beginners and pros compete in the same event
“It’s my job” girlie good job manifesting fun stuff for yourself. The rest of us are out here working criminally soul sucking jobs.
Wait there's such thing as too much french onion soup?
have you heard of the uncanny xperience? its an x-men convention happening the end of this september in minneapolis!
Gamescom next year? 😳👉👈
I worked for multiple fan cons as head of vendors and artist, VIP Handler, and '#2 guy...and yeahhhh