Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be talking about a very small convention I went to once as a vendor with one of my friends. This is more of a cautionary tale than a convention review, unfortunately.
Deceptikon
Deceptikon was a very small, brand new convention in Sacramento that one of my Lolita friends let me know about since I was interested in going to conventions with her and one of my other friends to sell some things I made at their booth. And let me tell you, this was a REALLY small convention. The location was a decent enough size, but there were not many people in attendance outside of vendors, special guests (which my friend also was in addition to being a vendor), artists, and the folks who were running it. Here's what the main attractions were at Deceptikon (based solely off of memory and what I saw)
- Vendor's room
- Artist's alley
- Panels
- Parking lot
- Hallways
- Maybe something outside?
- Photoshoot green screen
My memory of this con's a bit hazy due to it having been four or five years ago now and also due to the fact that I spent most of my time spacing out at my friend's booth and being mistaken for a mannequin by the rare passerby, meandering the halls (with permission since there was extremely low customer traffic), and talking with some of the few people who were there. Among the people I talked to were some of the people behind the convention. As best as I can remember, it was being put on by Team LoveHate and they were pretty enthusiastic about it and were hoping the con would grow over time. Unfortunately, there were a lot of problems with this con despite the lovely people that I met putting it on. First of all, con security was terrible. A good number of people were showing up and not even buying badges for it. And the security people there were were generally unpleasant and grouchy, sitting in corners and growling at you. Not exactly a pleasant experience there. After the convention was even worse though. (Please note, all of the following information is gained second hand from my parents and friends talking and me catching small bits that flew by me.) Apparently the main guy running the con (not any of the people I talked to, fortunately) took all of the money from the convention and ran off with it. My friend who was a special guest there did not get paid for her appearance and panel like what had been agreed upon and also was charged for a second table because she suggested I move to it the second day after the original user had left (they only used the table for one day of the convention). Something else that put me off about the convention was that there was a tattoo station as one of the booths. And people were getting tattoos there. I bring this up because of the fact that tattoos and piercings should
ALWAYS be done by a professional, in a sterile environment. And I'm pretty sure it's a lot more difficult keeping a convention area sterile than in a regular tattoo and piercing shop.
So all in all, despite being very small and uneventful and turning out to be generally a ripoff for everyone involved, I enjoyed DeceptiKon. Obviously I can't recommend it as A) It's not a convention anymore and B) It was literally a deceptive convention. I met some amazing people at that convention and am very happy I attended as a vendor with my friends, but I am sad that it didn't turn out well in the end. Remember folks: Research your conventions and be dubious of conventions that are new (but don't avoid them completely since they might be great).
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