KCON pt 1: The Con

Finally after nearly two weeks after KCON occurred, it’s time to hit the con hard and slam on it with every adjective I got. I’ll divide this into two parts because the con and concert seemed  like two separate entities. Held in Irvine, CA at the Verizon Amphitheater hosted by Mnet.  The con...I got three words.....

IT WAS CROWDED!!!!

It was streamed live online.

 Now that I got that out of my system. I could not believe the lines at the con, everything was packed, lines were everywhere and it was difficult to get anything or go see anything. I’ll start with the line to go inside. That was the only organized line. Surprisingly enough the range of the age of the attendees were high school students. I felt old with all those little teens there. A couple of things I found funny was, one that they had pre-order merchandise so it was suppose to be and quick grab and go to get your stuff that you ordered but the ones that bought at the con got their stuff faster than the pre-orders. At one point they ran out of stuff. Another thing that was funny was that there were a lot of stands selling alcohol. Okay I understand that Koreans are a drinking culture but c’mon we got little fifteen year olds running around. 

I really had wished that they spread the con over a course of couple of days. Few reasons, it was crowded, lines were horrendous, and then the autographing sessions. THAT was a disaster. We were all told that we could line up thirty minutes early and get a signature. What a lie. Smart of them to do this but a lie. So the truth was that there was vouchers that got passed out to the first hundred people. And the worse part was that they ended up being handed out randomly. Randomly!? Seriously? Okay I gave up after hearing that and was thinking those poor staff members are going to be attacked by those fangirls. Oh yes there were some injuries. I felt sorry for them. But that’s what happen when you have raging fans wanting a glimpse of their fave idols. Smart business move for telling us that we could all get a autograph, leading to many people attending and then people who bought merchandise for them to sign from the con. I’m sure they made a lot of money.

Sorry ...B.A.P fangirls are ravenous.

Someone is missing from 4minute.

Panel wise there was a lot of informative things to participate in. One intersting panel was the speed dating (18+ had to be don’t want anyone being accused of pedophila you know.). It ended up being a huge dance floor. Aimee Lee Lucas, who is an amazing choreographer that frequently works with YG Entertainment, (I’m jealous I’m sure she’s touched Taeyang’s abs.) held a panel with several other choreographers. Other people that held panels was the bloggers from Eat Your Kimchi. (By the way I have no desire to become that famous with this blog. I’m happy with the small followings I may have.) Those panels were actually more organized than the artist signings. 

Food....food....FOOD!!! Never forget food. A con is not a con if you’re not walking around starving thinking of forking out that twelve dollar for just the main course with a small side not even a drink. I got another problem with the model of getting food. Sure there were food stands you could get food, but everyone was excited about the food trucks, especially Seoul Sausage, winner of Food Truck Wars on the Food Network, so I’m sure they wanted to rush to grab a bite. The good was that they had a system were the food trucks could depend on being paid i.e food passes. They costed base line twelve dollars plus tax. That was just a meal no drink. The bad part about it you couldn’t just try one truck at a time if you wanted without spending over maybe sixty dollars. And it was set meal. No picking and choosing of food. -.- Well at least I ate I’m happy.

Booths..amazing booths. Fan clubs arriving and setting up shop selling their wares. I have to admit that was actually the best part of the con. I always love little trinkets and stuff to buy. There were BB cream for ten bucks! $10! I do like the cream it does work only downside is that my face is oily so by the end of the day my face is shiny and it wipes off easily. Other than that there were booths selling makeup and cds. A booth was actually selling stuff at $20, even $10 if you could beat them in rock paper scissors. I broke many girls hearts that day at the booth.

Here’s the story: So I came back to that booth to find out that you needed a number on the business card to play and pick and choose a cd. An opportunity appeared when one of the cards that was not called was lying on the table unclaimed until by me. I saw the remake of the GD&TOP cd with the heart instead of the bunny peace sign. At first I thought I didn’t have the cd so instead of the 2ne1 cd I knew I didn’t have I picked that one, resulting in all the girls groaning and sighing in disbelief. Inside of was smirking and had a tiny evil satisfaction. (Bad me, but hey we got to fight for our k-pop goods.) I did what I was taught when I younger how to see what hand signal I needed to beat the other person to the surprise of the staff. (It’s a Korean thing and I am certainly not Korean.). After beating them in rock-paper-scissors I walked off with a cd that usually cost at least maybe $25 for $10. 

All in all since it was the first K-pop con of its kind I would expect many blunders as mentioned above. Hopefully next year they will make over a course of a few days and solve the artist autographing. They did send an apology stating that the sheer number of people attending would not allow massive signings. And then they weren’t used to events like this where they actually interact with fans before a concert. (Seriously? They have fan clubs and they hold planned events just like this.) Plus they were under time constraints for sound check and tight schedules back in Korea. (Alright I give them that.) They did promise next year will be better. For sure and be sure to train the staff well, I heard several complaints from people that the staff had no idea of anything around. @_@ Take a hint from Anime Expo, they did have a booth there could’ve worked with their team for advice. Maybe next time. 

So next up the concert!