Colossalcon

(CRAFT FAIR REVIEW)
In 2023, I decided to sell at the Otaku Craft Fair on Thursday from Detroit, where the half tables are first come first served. You only have to pay admission. If you did manage to get a spot, traffic was great. If you're not too far and you're a newer vendor, I recommend giving it a shot. Just get there way early and get a spot in line! Also, The venue being at Kalahari is so cool. We played at the arcade the day before 🙂

I actually was barely fit into the room, but I got a pop up table and chair and did my business!

Colossalcon is one of the more expensive cons to table at in the Midwest, but it is rather profitable if you manage to get in past the jury that seems to prefer grandfathering in most of the artists every year and only accepts a few new ones at most. However, the artist alley is extremely small (maybe 20-30 tables) for the 20k+ attendance, which I suppose feeds into the show's profitability since the spending money goes to so few artists. If you do manage to make it in, though, and you generally do well with older Midwest con attendee crowds (aka you have more older or nostalgic anime fanart to sell), it's definitely worth the money. They're also one of the only cons to give artists a lunch break in the middle of the day, and the staff treat the artists well, so there's that too.

Otherwise, I do recommend doing the Otaku Craft Fair if you're local-ish to the area (within a 2-3 hour drive) and are willing to arrive early in the morning to reserve your spot in line, though you don't actually have to arrive *that* early to be able to get a table even with the high amount of interest. All you need is a Thursday or all-weekend badge to get in, and then you're free to take over a 3 foot half-table space (or a full 6 foot space if you're table-sharing with another artist in your party) and make sales for the rest of the day after the doors open. The sales are actually quite good for a *Thursday* and surpassed almost all my other con days in the past except for a few, but a lot of Colossalcon's attendees are very loyal to the con (and moneyed) so they'll start staying at the Kalahari or a nearby hotel early in the week so that they can start partying and hanging out for as long as possible. That also means that they have plenty of money to spend, of course. And if you're able to, I recommend staying for at least a day or two after the craft fair (or, if you're in main AA, after hours) to enjoy what the con has to offer attendees. The programming, game room, and the resort's own swimming pool facilities are all genuinely great. The staff for this con are very good at what they do and were always very nice and helpful, plus the attendees were some of the nicest and happiest I've ever seen any convention crowd be. Maybe it's the good entertainment and alcohol making people act like that, but the good vibes were infectious and I found myself having fun too even though it's an expensive con to attend for all four days.

I'll definitely warn ahead of time though that Sandusky sucks for finding any kind of decent food unless you're willing to really hunt for it or pay out the wazoo, and you'll need a car to get around (or to get there if you're coming from further away since there's no nearby major airport). Be prepared to eat a lot of fast food while you're there. But if you can put up with all of that, then I think this con is worth giving a try!

Colossalcon definitely deserves some better ratings than it has on here! I was very lucky to get into this con, a rollover from the mess of 2020. The space is LIMITED and I did find the secondary dealers/artist room to be... Very strange. But the flow of people was good, everyone was very sweet and I really can't complain. The general mood of the artists and staff was welcoming, helpful and I really enjoyed the experience. This was definitely my best staff experience by far and I appreciated that they really had people to watch your table and they opened the dealers room early for Artist access which was cool.

On a personal level, I will say both the resort and Sandusky itself is... Meh. It was hard to find food in the area that was good even a little bit and by the end of it I was feeling the pain of living off McDonalds, Five Guys and Chik Fil A. (Do NOT go to the Chipotle... Just trust me!!!) And the vibe of Kalahari feels... Look, I'm gonna say it, it feels kind of racist and fetishizing of Africa. ...Not the con's fault whatsoever, but yeah, it's... Kinda weird. (The attractions seem fun though.)
I was warned about parking but actually I never had a problem finding a spot, though sometimes I had to walk kinda far. No big deal personally though.

Anyway, the jury is tight but I would certainly return (This time booking a place with a working fridge because bringing food is NECESSARY!) and am planning on going on the ColossalCon Cruise in 2023 because it really seemed like everyone had a great time.

But I got ripped off. I had a commission asked for and paid for but I never got it despite giving her my address and cell phone number.

Artist alley judging seems questionable. Some years it's been very unbalanced in what sort of work gets in, and I've known very talented people who've been rejected when they should have gotten in without much competition. The staff are unreliable with timing and information, directing people to their FB page instead of just updating the site which everyone actually checks.
But if you're lucky enough to get in, the venue is great (even if expensive to stay at and it's hard to drive in every day so you kind of have to stay there). It can be really profitable.
Good luck.