Swe/Scandi thread

[Anonymous No.10294115]

So.. Is anyone planning on going to Närcon Vinter?

[Anonymous No.10294161]

>scandi
Nice

Know nothing about Swedish cons though.

I went to jpopcon this year, and it was pretty good. May go again, but it's a bit hard to get there, so maybe not.
I loved the great focus on j-fashion, or even on japan in general, which barely exists at norwegian cons.

[Anonymous No.10298427]

>>10294115
I don't know if it's worth going desu, last year kinda sucked, might just wait until NCS

[Anonymous No.10298867]

if I didn't have 0 hours of free time between school and drinking, so I could make a cosplay, yes.

[Anonymous No.10299170]

>>10298867
yet somehow you have time to browse 4chums and make this utterly pointless post

[Anonymous No.10305701]

Yep! Trying to decide what cosplays to make, got too many characters to choose from...

[Anonymous No.10305914]

>>10294115
Ask Pixelninja if she will come. Chanses are she's too fat to fit into her old suits, though.

[Anonymous No.10309311]

>>10294115
Never been, är det bra?
Didn't even know we had anything, not that I've looked around, kinda figured we just like sports and anime stuff had to happen underground where only a select few would know about it and you had to disguise yourself to not get caught by the normie police patrolling for nerds

[Anonymous No.10309322]

>>10294161
What Norwegian cons are happening in 2020 anyway? Haven't paid attention the past few years, but I know that biggest one in Lillestrøm stopped running.

[Anonymous No.10309331]

>>10309311
What sort of hellhole, hockey stick neck of the woods do you live in?

Even beyond cons Sweden has a flourishing nerd community. Just take a look at Sverok as the umbrella organisation for thousands of other associations here to promote games, weebshit and the like.

[Anonymous No.10309346]

>>10309331
Uhh, it's called a small hockey town, I don't even like it but it's all everyone talks about here like it's a religion, so yeah a hellhole

Huh, figured we were all doomed to sit at home and watch sports, drink beer and gossip as that is the average Swede
While us not into any of that had to form an underground network and sneak around like some human trafficking organization, hiding from the surface world

[Anonymous No.10309361]

>>10309346
Anon are you okay? You sound insane

[Anonymous No.10309364]

>>10309361
Soon anon, soon I'll be insane if I have to keep hiding my powerlevel and hear yet another name of a sweaty player not playing perfectly in the lunchroom

[Anonymous No.10309618]

>>10309364
Just stop hiding it, I have, and the only thing that happened was that people stopped trying to talk about sports with me. It's truly amazing.

[Anonymous No.10310221]

>>10309322
There's Torucon in Trondheim and probably Banzaicon in Larvik, they are probably the most major ones, but you also got Kawaiicon in Porsgrunn which is also two days and have a few hundred participants.
Then you got a few really small ones.

Torucon in Trondheim may be the biggest one, but there's nothing really huge to take over for Desucon.

Banzaicon has declined a lot in quality, and Torucon is so expensive because going there requires hotel, so I'm not excited. The small cons can be good too though.

Many Norwegians go to Närcon for their major con experience of the year.

But is the Norwegian cosplay community dying? There isn't much happening that's not cons either.

[Anonymous No.10310245]

I'm gonna try out dokomi in Germany next year for the first time. Any anon here has been there before?

[Anonymous No.10314393]

Me and my best friend has never been to a con and we're looking to go to one this year. Is Närcon summer usually better than Comic con in stockholm?

[Anonymous No.10314441]

>>10314393
Yes. Comic con is an American style "vendors and panels" con at its core. NärCon is a Swedish style convention on absolute steroids with more space, more activities and a fuckton of more visitors. Go to NärCon.

If you and your buddy want to try a smaller and more traditional Swedish convention I suggest taking a look at konvent.se. There's tons of conventions all around Sweden with a more cozy-nerds-hanging-out feel than the hectic festival that is NärCon Summer.

[Anonymous No.10314938]

>>10314441
Thanks alot!

[Anonymous No.10315503]

>>10314441
What separates a "vendors and panels" con from a "swedish style convention"?
I haven't been to many international cons, and never to any Swedish cons

[Anonymous No.10317208]

>tfw Närcon killed Genki

I mean, it was for the best, Genki has been on a steady decline the past 6 years, but man.

[Anonymous No.10317634]

>>10294115
Due to some odd turns in life, I’ve ended up moving to Stockholm from the far north while also coming into possession of a pretty nice looking Roman legionary outfit. I have a helmet, tunic, shield, segmentata, belts and swords, the works. More or less a complete reenactment outfit.
Since I have little else to do around here on account of the lack of snow, I was thinking about visiting närcon or a similar event since I’m already in the neighborhood, relatively speaking.
Should I go dressed up as a legionary or would I stick out like a sore thumb amongst all weebs dressed up like animes and stuff?

[Anonymous No.10317637]

>>10317634
tfw stockholmer who recently moved up north

sticking out is good at a con, no? tired of seeing the same characters. you could say you're doing a monty python cosplay

[Anonymous No.10317653]

>>10317637
Best of luck up there, remember to drink lots of Vargtass to stave of the winter depression.

Never been to a con before in my life so I figured it’s best to ask the veterans before I walk among the weebs. I could probably pass it off as Asterix & Obelix cosplay as long as I make a green tunic to go along with it.

[Anonymous No.10319964]

No, the owners are awful and fucking creeps. They have no problem having child porn and porn in general in front of children all ages. Nasty as fuck

[Anonymous No.10321046]

>>10319964
That actually sounds like a good thing though. Sounds like you're just an hysterical normie who hates the true cosplay culture.

[Anonymous No.10325554]

Anyone doing Frostbite in Lahti, Finland this year?

[Anonymous No.10334323]

Anyone gonna watch Cosplay-SM?

[Anonymous No.10334408]

I've never been to a convention before. Unless I've got work, I just might.

[Anonymous No.10334484]

Going to Sweden this summer and will be able to shoot to linkoping for the summer con there. Would it be worth going as someone from the USA? My cosplay is pretty small and easy to carry around with me(touhou), would be nice to do an overseas event.

Tips for an american with basic swedish mannerisms and phrases (this/that, please/thanks, 1-10, etc) ? Not expecting too much from the convention but would like to just say I've done a con in sweden before.

[Anonymous No.10334533]

>>10310221
All the big Norwegian "cosplayers" change career to premium Snapchat girls or onlyfans hoes!

[Anonymous No.10334605]

>>10334533
Really? Which ones?

[Anonymous No.10334607]

>>10334484
I'd say go on the Saturday and catch the Nordic Cosplay Championship (NCC). It's usually a pretty good show. Last year, a Norwegian with a Krogan cosplay competed and won.

[Anonymous No.10340229]

>>10334484
Why Sweden? Finland has the best conventions in all of Nordics and this is an objective opinion.

[Anonymous No.10340255]

So there seems there are plans to make a big, three day convention in Norway this summer. No idea who the organizers are, but I think it's someone experienced with cons.
I'm sceptical, though. The location seems kind of bad, requiring both train and bus and a fair bit of walking to reach unless you drive, and not in a city. It's also a bit expensive, with a full "big con" price tag. And it's a first year convention. I worry that they'll not be able to make people want to risk going.
They haven't really begun advertising though, and nothing has been announced so far, so maybe they have plans that will make it a success. We'll see. Could be enjoyable as a guest even if they lose tons of money I guess. Maybe I should just leave the worrying to the organizers.
Oh, and the name is cringe (unless it turns out there are organizers that can justify it which I doubt)

[Anonymous No.10340330]

>>10294115
Varför ens bry sig om att ha en Sverigetråd om den bara är NÄRCON, NÄRCON NÄRCON hela tiden?

NUÄÄÄÄÄÄHHRRRRRRCOOOAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN

[Anonymous No.10341292]

>>10340330
Considering it's in less than a week, it's not really that odd for people to talk about it.

[Anonymous No.10341317]

I’m moving to Stockholm this winter, and I’d like to try joining the local lolita community since they don’t have one where I currently live. How do I find them? Will I have to create a Facebook profile?

[Anonymous No.10341325]

>>10340255
>3-day convention
>expensive
>no announcements or advertising yet
>in the middle of nowhere, in a country where even cities are almost in the middle of nowhere
Why? Where are they planning to hold this?
I'm completely out of the con-scene after not attending in years, but I've been wanting to try my hand at Artist Alley again. I wish there were some cons close to Oslo though.

[Anonymous No.10341407]

>>10341325
There's Constellation in Asker in May and Kazokucon not far from Lillestrøm in June. Both are small, though, but the former has been getting better after they got new organiser from what I've heard.

I think few cons can afford venues in or near Oslo, and that's why there are more in the districts rather than in the capital. But all of those smaller conventions have seen a massive increase in visitors after Desucon quit and have the potential to grow.

Artstand wise, I've heard Torucon and Banzaicon tend to bring on the most profit, though.

[Anonymous No.10341424]

>>10341325
A couple of years ago (?) there was also someone in the scandi thread who wanted to come back and join Artist Alley after having been gone for a long time, are you that person? I think I was in the thread begging people to go to Banzaicon.

>>10341325
They are planning to hold it at Oslofjord Kongressenter, you have to take the train to Stokke then the bus and then walk for a while, if what I've read is right.

Think they just want to make something new to take over for Desucon.

>>10341407
I didn't go to Kazokucon last year, but my disappointment from the first to the second year was that they didn't seem to have ambitions to grow. Don't get me wrong, it's a great con for its size, but it seemed they were happy with what they accomplished their first year and replicated that rather than trying to make something bigger and better.
Worth going to if you live nearby.

Haven't been to Constellation in a long time after a disappointing first experience, but can believe it has gotten better.
One of the bigger flaws that time I went there was the small locals, I wish they'd address that before they focus on bringing expensive foreign guests, but may not be that easy.
Also wish they kept googling in mind. When they decided to rename the con, they could have come up with a name that'd be possible to look up in google and Youtube.
I have a feeling I'll be going there this year though.

Wish Yugicon were still around, they had a lot to do with panels about stuff you can't find at other cons, and many choices between different things to do at any moment.

[Anonymous No.10341435]

>>10341424
Constellation expanded the venue last year with and extra room for artstands, and if they draw enough visitors, perhaps they'll be able to expand more. I agree about the name, though.

As for Kazokucon, I think they have the right idea in focusing on doing what they do until they have enough visitor growth to be able to expand without suffering for it.

I was hoping to go to Yugicon, cause it seemed pretty nice, but then they kind of disappeared? I heard something about them having trouble with getting a suitable venue, and I guess not doing a con at all is preferable to doing it at a shitty venue.

Then there's the trainwreck which was Arthecon 3. I heard the whole original organiser team withdrew and some incompetent idiot tried to take over and do it, which would make sense, cause it was just embarrassing. I feel bad for the people who started it, cause Arthecon 1 and 2 were great.

[Anonymous No.10341453]

>>10341407
>Asker and Fjerdingby
You know, why not. I don't mind them being smaller, I'm so out of the game I want something uncomplicated anyway, and I live in Oslo so I just want something so close traveling isn't a hassle.

>>10341424
I think I've mentioned once a few months ago in these threads that I wanted to try out AA again in Norway, maybe it was me? I did an AA in Desucon as a teenager like a decade ago when it was still "small", and it was a fun experience.
Nowadays I have no idea what con culture in Norway has grown into, but I'm a much better artist and has done a lot of zine work in the recent years, so I have a lot of suitable print designs, leftover merch extras and some experience with manufacturing. I've been thinking about opening an online shop but I would love to sell stuff locally and to fellow fans face to face.

[Anonymous No.10341775]

What are the Swedish lolita comms like? The Stockholm comm etc.?

[Anonymous No.10342025]

>>10341435
Oh, good to hear that they were able to expand their venue, I just kind of assumed they were stuck with the same size with no room to expand.
For Kazokucon, it's not that I'm asking for a bigger venue or more days, but they didn't increase the number of side activities or add more program/an additional guest either.
Maybe they don't have the staff to do it.
Had completely forgotten that Arthecon existed.

I've heard the same thing, there were some issues with where they'd been and they couldn't find any replacement.

But Yugicon's program is completely insane for a con with well below 100 visitors, that's what I love the most about it. You go there and actually get the feeling that you have to skip something you want because there's so much to do, and while it can be annoying, it also feels great because it means the con has lots to do. Aside from Yugicon it's been a long time since last I got that feeling.
Yugicon has some flaws in the concept itself that prevents it from growing to the greatest size, like no Artist's Alley because it makes people feel bad that they wasted their money, but if the concept appeals to you, it's crazy.
Here's the program they had last.

>>10341453
It was probably someone else then, there was someone in a scandi thread interestet in getting back into Norwegian conventions and AA so thought it could've been you

[Anonymous No.10342061]

>>10342025
That's really cool! I hope they manage to do another Yugicon. I'll definitely go if they do.

I suspect Kazokucon might have suffered from the growing pains of having young and relatively inexperienced organisers, who are growing more experienced as they go. I hope they keep it going anyway and continue learning and getting better at it.

Arthecon 3 was nothing like the two former conventions. It was like a poorly organised student club had stolen the name, threw together a couple of panels and called it a convention. One of the program posts was two reenactment dudes hitting each other's shields for 40 minutes on a tiny platform stage. It was so cringey.

[Anonymous No.10342542]

>>10315503
Allow me to casually reply to this 44 days later. I'm happy that /cgl/ is such a slow board.

The Swedish convention scene largely stems from the Swedish Voluntary Association culture. A classic tale goes that an "anime club" association which has activities on a regular I basis in their city decides to make a convention as a special event. The members and board of the association then take on the role of con-organisers and staff. They are usually rather young when this starts and their experience will grow literally as they age and try to pull off a con every one or two years.

In order to make the con happen the association needs money they most likely don't have, so they apply for funding through various means. It can be through the culture budget of their region, or national organisations such as Sverok and Studiefrämjandet. The result of applying for these funds immediately set some rules for the convention, the most noticeable is NO ALCOHOL OR DRUGS. To this day it's against the rules to be drunk at NärCon, an association which turned into an actual company along its growth. It is also encouraged to make the convention kid friendly.

When it comes to venues it is way more common for Swedish conventions to rent schools or various culture houses. The American idea of having a convention at a hotel is quite foreign here. So now that you have a venue, what do you fill it with? If your convention is planned to have less than 500 visitors it's not that attractive to vendors. The vendors you do attract will want their number to be low, since it has to be proportionate to the amount of visitors. So you get a couple of vendors, fill a few tables for a small artist alley... What next?

Cont.

[Anonymous No.10342545]

>>10342542
This is the best part of Swedish conventions. It's all about ACTIVITY! There's usually a room staffed with in-house members of the association to just host games and fun for the visitors. There might also be a selection of board games, plus paper and pen supplies for arts and craft.

But let's say your venue has more rooms, and you'd like to fill those with more activities. That's when you contact OTHER VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. It's cultural custom for other associations to guest at other conventions, and bring some kind of activity for the visitors to enjoy. Board game associations bring their shit, larp associations do as well, roleplaying associations can host small sessions of their thing and so on and so forth. If this association has a convention of their own they're free to advertise it. One classic trick is for the guesting association to host a competition in their activity and give the winner a ticket to their convention as a prize. If the guesting association is a general anime-association they usually find their niche activity to bring to the table. AFISH which hosts Skövde Fesk Marknad (it's a con, I promise) brings a fanfiction activity where the participant gets random characters to write about. KodachiKai which hosts KodachiCon in Lund go with their sub-association MoonCat Karaoke so that people can sing their favourite weebshit and the like.

This practice of voluntary associations organising cons with other voluntary associations, funded by the various organisations above them is what makes Swedish Conventions special to me. Then again, I am Swedish, so there might be similarities to this even in America which I am not aware about. But this "activity" style convention is drastically different from "vendors and panels" known in America. I forgot to mention panels, mostly because I'm not that into them myself, but we have those too.

Is it similar in the rest of Scandinavia?

[Anonymous No.10345842]

>>10342025
>It was probably someone else then, there was someone in a scandi thread interestet in getting back into Norwegian conventions and AA so thought it could've been you
I just dug through the archives to see what’s been said about Norwegian cons, and holy shit that was indeed me almost two years ago. Time sure flies by fast, and I never did check out those cons back then. But I’ve decided to try having artstands on Constellation and Kazokucon this year, and if it’s a success I’ll probably check out Banzaicon too. Torucon is too far away, but Banzaicon looks pretty good and sounds like it’s worth one and a half hours drive.

[Anonymous No.10351275]

>>10342545
>>10342542
I've never been responsible for organzing cons in Norway, but it's probably similar. No drugs is the norm, and may cons get support or at the very least cheap venues by being organizations.

[Anonymous No.10351289]

I'm never going to another Närcon, I got molested by fat chicks acting """"cute"""""" yandere last time and it was as disgusting as it was cringy.
I knew, from them being around me for a while, that they "always go to every Närcon!" as well, so I'll never attend another.

[Anonymous No.10351509]

>>10305914
I remember when she as at some expo in that suit and crouched down and everyone could see her thong. Good times.

[Anonymous No.10355508]

So now Kawaiicon has been postponed until August, but only because the venue forced them to. It puts the cosplay community in a bad light when we're always pushing for the most risky things possible. Constellations said they'd still hold it, but I hope they cancel without being forced to by the government or the venue, in line with advice from the people who know this stuff. It's embarrassing when the community does nothing to limit the spread and almost works against it.

[Anonymous No.10355517]

>>10355508
Norway is embarrassingly behind when they've just been sitting ducks watching this entire shit unfold in Italy and locally.
>Yeah everything is under control right now, we know local spread will happen soon but we're waiting for it
>Oh shit local untrackable spread did happen, we're going to cancel everything now even if we should have done so a week ago
Dunno what the situation is in the rest of Scandinavia, but this is what we get for being from the cold, mountainous north and still going skiing in Italy.

[Anonymous No.10364258]

>>10355508
Yeah Constellation has postponed it too, just like everyone else

[Anonymous No.10370191]

>>10364258
Do you work for Constellations?
I have a feeling you said this before they announced it, but I'm too lazy to check
And there was someone spreading rumours about Unicon a few years ago, so...

Anyway, it was naive of me to assume they could just postpone whithout being forced to. I've seen many types of events are forced to keep going until someone else forces them to stop to avoid bankruptcy, and that could obviously very likely be the case for Constellation too.

[Anonymous No.10370238]

>>10370191
>Do you work for Constellations?
No, I'm the anon who wanted to finally do artstands again.
I got information in advance because guess what, I did manage to reserve tables at both Constellation and Kazokucon. I guess 2020 just wasn't meant to be.

[Anonymous No.10380007]

>>10370238
That's too bad.
Hopefully they'll let you get priority next time they make a con

[Anonymous No.10380451]

>>10340229
Desucon

[Anonymous No.10386270]

I guess Närcon summer 2020 is pretty much postponed idefinitely until further notice right? They haven't made specific announcements, but got a big feeling it will happen.

[Anonymous No.10386334]

>>10386270
I'm with you in that feeling. I have lost all hope ever since Medeltidsveckan cancelled. Sure, they pull 40 k to tiny Visby, but 10 k and above in Linköping doesn't seem plausible if the former cancels...
>No childish summer con of candy apples
>No adult medieval week of lukewarm apple wine
>Why even live?

[Anonymous No.10389151]

And every Finnish con is cancelled.

[Anonymous No.10389667]

>>10386270
I was thinking to finally take my first trip to Närcon this year, but at this point I haven't even bothered looking into it, don't feel like buying tickets right now anyway.
Hopefully things will be better than next year, but I have a feeling people will be desperate to get to a con so there may be a lack of tickets everywhere, assuming the situation has gotten better.

[Anonymous No.10389694]

>>10389151
Perkele!

[Anonymous No.10390045]

>>10386334
>Medeltidsveckan cancelled
NÄÄÄIIIJJJJJ!

[Anonymous No.10393904]

>>10389151
We still have Kishicon

[Anonymous No.10394004]

>>10386334
I found out about medeltidsveckan this week so thankfully I'm not exactly surprised it ain't happening, but it's a shame

>>10389151
I'm really hoping that Sotahuuto doesn't get cancelled completely (though I'm very skeptical of it happening considering size and conditions there), and that Tracon will have something fun as their replacement event thingy

this summer sucks though, I can't even go to work yet because of this shit

[Anonymous No.10398986]

https://2018.aicon.fi/blog/2020/05/23/aiconin-toiminta-paattyy
Apparently rip Aicon, they only organised an event in 2016 and 2018 but decided to call it quits. Seems to not even be related to corona, people just moved on.

This makes me wonder what the situation with cons in general is in Finland? Last I kept an eye on things SCT was throwing together shitty cons left and right, did they just stop or what happened?

[Anonymous No.10404295]

Went to Närcon last summer with some of my internet friends and we had an absolute blast.

Unfortunately Närcon summer is cancelled, but we've talked about going to Närcon vinter instead. I should really cosplay this time.

[Anonymous No.10404302]

>>10398986
Well, Aicon were just bigger Hellocon. It's nice to see they know their capacity to do things as Hellocon is still going.

And I think SCT got bankruptcy.

[Anonymous No.10404550]

>>10404302
Was Aicon related to Hellocon directly? I thought they had at least somewhat different organisers. desu I don't really like this new model of Hellocon events as much, it was kind of boring last year, and I'd have preferred to go to a con-type event over this "buy shit and have tea party" model, but it's good that there are bigger lolita events in Finland still so can't really complain.

Good to know also, I hope it's true that they went bankrupt since iirc the company leaders were complete shitheads

[Anonymous No.10412052]

Bump

[Anonymous No.10419168]

>>10393904
Anyone knows if kishicon is still happening?

[Anonymous No.10428099]

>>10305914
>too fat for their cosplay
never saw that stop people at any Närcon I attended
which I fucken wish it had

[Anonymous No.10432125]

Is there a collected list somewhere of the Scandinavian cons with dates and locations? I'm making plans to go to northern Europe, but I just can only find cons I already know exist, not anything new and exciting