If you’re not into anime, that takes out a big chunk of things to do at this year’s Florida Supercon. But if you’re a girl who doesn’t like anime, there’s even less to do.
The convention took place at the Doubletree Miami Mart Airport Convention Center in Miami on June 18 though 20. Its Web site promoted a “three-day festival dedicated to comic books, anime, animation, video games, fantasy and sci-fi.”
There was the promise of an interesting weekend ahead, but when I arrived I was immediately met by an overwhelming amount of people dressed in spiked wigs, makeup and swords that were three times bigger than their bodies.
Not knowing exactly where to start, I just wandered slowly around the main exhibition room of the convention center. I was left with only a handful of options as I passed booth after booth of anime memorabilia.
Feeling slightly alienated because I seemed like the only girl not in some sort of costume, I just walked around in my jean shorts and plaid shirt in silence.
Overall, the best things that I found were some girly accessories at the Alien Planet booth, top hats and goggles at the Steampunk Funk Bizarre booth, unique monster art by Urbanpop and some sweet zombie movie posters.
There was also an upstairs area, where small conference rooms held lecture sessions that covered everything from the business side of being an artist to ghost hunting 101. But it wasn’t worth being up there unless you wanted to attend a session.
For someone like myself, who attended the convention because of a love for old-school cartoons, superheros and punk rock, the Friday performance of Gainesville’s ska punk band Less Than Jake was the highlight of the event.
Fully embracing their presence at a comic book convention, the band joked around with the audience between songs during their hour-and-a-half set about the costumes people were in and how people whose careers ended decades ago were signing autographs.
FAU band Bell Tower Falls had the chance to be the opening act for Less Than Jake, but only had a 20-minute set because the night was running behind schedule.
It was the band’s first time playing at a comic book convention, and singer Emmanuel Costa, a mechanical engineering sophomore at FAU, says that he probably would have come to the convention even if he wasn’t playing in it. “I like the art,” he said with a shrug. Bassist Joe Martinez, a nursing junior at FIU, admitted, “I’m kind of a nerd. I even play [Dungeons and Dragons].”
Whatever your preference for gaming, there’s a sensory overload of things to see and do at Supercon. But the main attraction, whether you like it or not, is anime. So for future events like this, only plan on going for one of the three days, because you’ll get bored in about two hours.
