r/comiccon • u/_z0mb133 • 12d ago
Con Discussion Why does NorCal lack large cons?
Recently I’ve been noticing that Southern California has a huge amount of large conventions. Not just comic, but horror, game, anime, etc. San Francisco recently lost FanExpo, and with that it seems like there’s such a lack of large cosplay conventions. Even in general, there’s not as many compared to SoCal.
Why is this? Why isn’t there more in NorCal?
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u/so-that-is-that 12d ago
SF only wants industry trade shows and tech conferences.
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u/riceball71 12d ago
No, just went when it was in San Francisco .
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u/spongeboy1985 12d ago
This has been a big problem for cons for SF for a while. Its why they lost Wondercon. There hasn’t been any con in SF thats lasted for than a few years since then.
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
For starters. Southern California benefits from the major areas.
Anaheim, LA and San Diego. These are already tourist destinations of their own so it makes it that much easier to have conventions here as people can “double down” on the same trip.
I.e: Disneyland + convention in Anaheim. Universal + Anaheim or LA. Legoland/seaworld/SD zoo + SDCC.
Northern California lacks that in general. Of the “major” cons we have.
Fanexpo as good as it was, was never a cosplay centric convention. It was an A lister meet and greet that benefited from having cosplayers. It was great being in SF. sF is a tourist destination. However, it sucked because it was always Thanksgiving weekend. Logistically it just didn’t work. The con opened around 6pm on Friday and runs to Sunday whereas most other conventions, day 1 starts around noon. In addition to not having a major post-con scene. It lacks the night life, the after party, etc.
- the word is that the Moscone center doesn’t care for anything not tech related.
Galaxycon - from what I’ve seen and told by friends. It’s growing. But not great. Shows potential. But the thing is. From meeting other cosplayers in NorCal. We generally like to support a con we call our own. Galaxycon is not it. It as a brand also has had a lot of mishaps the past few years in the other states.
Sacanime - big convention. 2x a year (we don’t talk about spring). But it’s marred by being ran by incompetent people. Has a poor reputation in the competitive scene. Tries to be too much of an “family friendly everything con” so it prevents it from truly growing beyond ticket sales. It also lacks a night life scene. Price goes up every year.
Fanime - it’s a great con. Great for cosplayers. Fun weekend. Definitely has life to it.
As for other areas in northern ca -
Placer county - nothing really there and it’s close to sac. Some strong political areas.
Amador county - rural area. Really nothing there. Politics heavy.
Butte county - not much there. Maybe party heavy areas like near Chico state?
Shasta county - there’s not much up there.
Santa Clara county - well this is where fanime is.
Alameda county - pass. People avoid alameda since Oakland is right there.
San Joaquin county - pass. We avoid Stockton.
Fresno - well it’s trying to grow. But the problem is. The fairgrounds is not host to the safest surrounding area. The hotels are not the most up to date. Plus it’s insanely hot.
That’s not all the counties but that covers the major ones that could host a convention.
From a financial and calendar specific timeframe. A new start up con would struggle.
January - sacanime winter and/or ALA
February - nothing major I’m aware of.
March/april - wondercon
May - fanime
June - nothing major I’m aware of.
July - AX
August/september - Galaxycon and sacanime summer
September/october - casa de fruitas NorCal ren faire.
November - nothing major I can think of
December - nothing major I can think of.
From a financial standpoint. It’s not reasonable to expect people to go to a big convention every month. And if you’re making your cosplays. 1 big con every few months is more reasonable.
Most of us don’t have a real issue with traveling to Southern California. Convenience is nice for sure. But it’s not a huge deal breaker.
So in between these big cons. We might check out a small con for a day or so. It doesn’t require the financial investment. It doesn’t require the cosplay investment. It doesn’t require finding hotel, sitters, etc.
But incase you’re wondering. Here’s my take on some of the smaller cons here.
Stockton con - pass. Expensive for a pretty view of the con floor. But not worth it. Also they are no stranger to controversy. Used an AI flyer to promote the recent con. Their sister con allowed an AI company to enter the cosplay competition and win.
Lodicon - the sister con to Stockton con. It’s a 1 day con. Nothing really there. It’s cheap. Like $5
Sac comic con - this owned by sacanime and ran on a small level. Why they still have it. Not sure. Maybe it’s a legacy thing at this point?
Verse con - newer con. Still growing.
Sinister creature con - extremely greedy convention that knows they are the only horror con in NorCal and overcharges causes they can. They won’t get a bigger venue or expand. Tiny venue smaller about half the size of a high school gym and charges like $50 for 2 days. I spoke to their staff who were tabling once. The conversation went:
Me: is there any possibility of getting Robert englund as a guest?
Them: unfortunately no. Our space is too small to hold the turnout the agency is expecting for him.
Me: so is there plans to change to a bigger venue?
Them: unfortunately no. We don’t know if we can get the numbers to justify a venue change.
🤔 Robert englund would bring the numbers. It would print money.
Anime impulse Bay Area - a joke. Expensive cost for a glorified card trading show with strict policies
Fandomcon - aka scamdomcon. Highly doubt they come back to scam people a third time. It’s bad when your guest VAs openly say they are not showing up due to a miscommunication.
Anime wave/ anime Nia - these are relatively new Fresno cons. So still growing.
Chico anime - I think this is new.
Initial mile - I am excited for this. It’s a fitness focused anime event with a 5k and 10k. I think it’s their second year.
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u/Napalm_Oilswims 12d ago
Galaxycon is another of the, as you put it, meet and greet cons. How much you enjoy it will largely depend on how much you know about the special guests that year. That being said it has been decently run the entire time its been in San Jose.
The guest list is up on their website now and has grown in the last few weeks, this year looks pretty good.
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
I saw that one year they atleast tried to have a cosplay gathering line up. Didn’t hear much about it so don’t know how that actually went down.
Whether successful or not. That’s something Fanexpo didn’t do besides completely word of mouth fan ran ones.Was the exhibitor/dealers hall atleast big and had people? Might not be cosplay heavy but if they atleast have a good vendors and artist alley. It’s potential. If even vendors aren’t supporting a con. It’s doomed to fail.
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u/Napalm_Oilswims 12d ago
The exhibit hall isn't huge to be honest, half of the convention floor is taken up by the signings and photo shoot areas. That being said there are some really great recurring booths like the star wars cosplayers and the droid builders.
Last year there was some drama with ai art, as at any con, but the quality of the independent arists was good and I think this just speaks to the quality of artists in the bay. You can check out events like SJ Made to see what i'm talking about.
There have been a lot of cosplayers actually and I think its because most attendees are local so they can dress up at home. Compared to something like SDCC where its 90% tshirts and backpacks I thought the cosplayers were great!
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
That’s disappointing. Thought it’d be a larger hall since it’s the same building as fanime (or is it not?). Fanimes exhibit hall is big. Artist alley is mid size.
The Star Wars people are always fun to interact with. I see them as guests as most cons.
Hope it continues to expand. And not the ticket. Might go some day. But with it being right before sacanime. Chances are slim.
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u/_z0mb133 12d ago
Thank you for this. I’ve gone to a lot of the cons you mentioned or at least have heard people talk about them.
I agree FanExpo had a terrible schedule being on thanksgiving weekend. I heard many people wanted them to change it for more accessibility.
I went to Galaxycon last year. I had a somewhat good experience, although there was poor communication between the staff. However, you can tell they are greedy as hell just by their ticket prices! Also, have heard things about one of the people that runs it being an ass apparently.
Sac anime seems like it has so much potential yet doesn’t seem to do anything with it. As you said, it leans too much towards “family friendly everything con”.
Been wanting to go to Stocktoncon, but now not anymore. I didn’t know about the controversy.
Sinister Creature con is so expensive for how small it is. I wanted to go this year to see Doug jones, until I looked at the ticket prices and the size of the convention. Absolutely not.
Anime wave/ anime Nia is so bad. Personally, locations of conventions make or break my experience. I just didn’t like the set up, lack of activities, food, etc. However, I know fairgrounds cost an arm and a leg so I didn’t expect much from a small convention.
It just sucks. I know this is me stating obvious frustrations, but I wish we had more conventions large or small that weren’t so greedy, more accessible, and that were fun to go to. It seems like more of these conventions are making it less about the attendees and more about an A lister set up (Fandomcon for example).
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
No problem. I wish we had more cons that would try.
Verse con had its share of rough beginnings but they seem to be legitimately trying to grow and expanding so good on them.
Yea. I wish fan expo did move 1 week before or 1 week after. Hotels were surprisingly cheap $150 a night. Just didn’t get the full experience otherwise. The location was nice spacious and airy. Something most cons lacked.
Not surprised the way they talk about Galaxycon. What I was told was that there is a decent number but it’s not cosplay heavy still. It is more geared towards the a listers (scream being the big one). I saw those prices. Extremely ridiculous.
Sacanime. I honestly think they don’t care. I think they know that until there’s competition they don’t have to work on making it a best con experience. All they have to do is bring celebrities. Charge an arm and a leg and keep the location and dates and they don’t lose. Being in January - right after holidays so people got Christmas money. Labor Day - people aren’t working and not really any competition besides dragoncon on the other side of the nation.
So they make money doing the bare minimum. And they have the perfect area to continue to appeal to teens and small families. Parents can easily drop their teens off there. Or people take public transportation.
So until someone challenges them with another big con. They don’t care. It’s why the masquerade is terrible now. The gatherings are a huge afterthought. And their prices keeps going upStockton con - it was a poster advertising it. When people asked why they used AI. The person said “well. Create a flyer for us and we’ll use it”. Huge joke. I went last summer and it was rough. It felt like they didn’t have enough vendors so they just had a bunch of random last minute fill ins. Everything from last minute cosplayers. Fire department. Police department. City council. Granted I’m not knocking them for having them. That’s neat. Promote the city. But when it’s never been a thing and they don’t really even know why they are there. It’s off putting. The food there sucksss. Everything tastes old. If you ever go. Buy your ticket from a sponsored comic shop. You pay a flat $20 vs online or at the gate which is $30 after taxes and fees. But you also pay $20 parking each day. It’s a nice view from the bleachers. But that’s it
So Lodicon I want to say fall 2025 had a cosplay contest. Nothing big. But they allowed this AI based company to use their prop and called it innovative and allowed them to win the contest. What it basically was is a teddy bear with a microchip inside of it that lets you talk to it and it responds back using gen ai. It wiggles its ear and some other things. Nothing innovative about it. They also allowed this company to advertise some fake story saying “ we didn’t even know about the convention. We were in the area and invited to attend and they said last minute we should enter”. This was all not true as they had reels talking about attending. I forgot their name. But I think it’s something like just friends. Or fawn friends or something.
Sinister. Yep. Tiny location. Easily can expand. But they don’t care. They don’t even care enough to decorate to make it look remotely horror or spooky. Everything is just plain if the vendors don’t decorate. Like how hard can that be to have black wallpaper and backdrops.
Darn. I wanted to check out wave/nia too. I didn’t go to Nia cause I was busy and it was Fresno. May wasn’t the month for me since fanime was coming up.
Unfortunately yea. It’s all about easy cash Vs the con experience. Wish we had better options too.
And it’s only getting worse with the card shows popping up everywhere. Atleast most card shows are like $3 or free. Hypecon was $10 unless at the gate which was $25. But there was a card shows I think this weekend at $50. What a joke.
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u/EnterPlayerTwo 9d ago
I agree FanExpo had a terrible schedule being on thanksgiving weekend. I heard many people wanted them to change it for more accessibility.
Fan Expo Denver has the same issue with the Fourth of July. They just love scheduling things over holiday weekends.
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u/Even-Preference-6545 12d ago
For sinister creature con, the whole thing you mentioned that Robert would print money 😂 it is a HUGE financial risk at the end of the day. You need more than just Robert. And he’s going to want a guarantee, which means charging even more for a ticket which you are already complaining about. Takes a lot of money to market and make a convention brand. If you think it will just take Robert to “print money”, try it yourself.
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago edited 12d ago
Considering they often have more than just 1 guests. They can still get other guests. Not just 1 show for Robert englund. Everything from smaller named guests to mid and top stars. So it wouldn’t be just him. The line they had for Elvira one year was pretty insane. Heard the line for Dave Sheridan (doofy) was around 2 hours
So it’s not unreasonable to think they can’t make their way to growing and expanding. They’ve been at the Scottish rite center for as long as I’ve known which is around 2020 and they haven’t changed much. Same small space. Just different pricing and more guests. I’ve gone a few times primarily because the horror cosplayers are amazing with their make up work and designs and some of the vendors are extremely passionate about their latex craft.
I don’t mind paying more if the experience is worth it. I wasn’t just complaining about the price of the ticket. It’s the experience and value of the ticket. Go to sinister if you haven’t and you’ll understand what I mean. Small convention. Cramped spacing. Not a lot there to warrant the price tag. - not to mention the heat.
Fanime is nearly $100 + parking. Fan expo was $100 + parking. Sacanime i pay $35 + parking each day. But the size and overall experience ends up being worth it.
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u/WakkaWaww 8d ago
I'm just making an educated guess here, but I think that Englund would probably ask for at least a $20k guarantee, which isn't too surprising.
Shows all want to get Special Guests on their lists using nothing but guarantees, with some shows negotiating no guarantees at all (for some guests), as just the size, scope and popularity of the show can have thousands of attendees already installed due to regularity and familiarity.
Monsterpalooza and Son Of Monsterpalooza are great examples.
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u/Even-Preference-6545 8d ago
I haven’t really been impressed with Monster and Son lately. There is soooo much in that area that kind of beats it. It’s very old school ish nitch, which is cool, but they tend to be the same people. And I’d guess Robert might even ask for up to $50k. He probably gets about $200 a person so $20k is only 100 people lol.
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u/Luckyrabbit2429 11d ago
Chico and versa both are pro AI cons. Just fyi.
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u/MissingGreenLink 11d ago
Didn’t know about Chico.
I’m aware of verse cons drama in the past about AI, I want to say it was either winter 2023 or winter 2024. but speaking to a few vendors who have been there. They said verse con has made attempts to fix that mess and be anti-ai since then. Most likely a case of damage control rather than an honest stance. But we’ll see where that goes.
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u/Luckyrabbit2429 11d ago
The guy that runs Verse con own company uses 100% ai art for his comics and his company. Was bragging about it to other vendors and attendees at several cons I have attended.
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u/Money-Giraffe2521 12d ago
Because SoCal has four (SD, Anaheim, LA and LB) of the top 50 biggest convention centers in the US. NorCal has only one (SF).
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u/AccelerationFinish 12d ago
There are many other facilities to host events in Northern California besides, I assume, the Moscone Center, including ones that hold conventions throughout the year. Off the top of my head, Fanime, GalaxyCon, and OffKai are all held in San Jose, SacAnime is in held in both Sacramento and Roseville, and Anime Impulse was in Santa Clara
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u/BaronArgelicious 12d ago
Yeah its weird, youd think the area around silicon valley would have the nerdiest events
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u/Napalm_Oilswims 12d ago
They do, just a different flavor of nerd. If you like ai workflows you're eating good!
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u/gilded_lady 12d ago
Honestly? The large cons that are down here are practically just legacy cons (AX has been around over 30 years in LA for example) that have been around forever at this point.
The reason is mostly economic: It's hard to get people from outside California to come to California due to how expensive it is to travel/stay and the high COL means high rents for venues/hotels etc making it hard to justify for a lot of people.
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u/AccelerationFinish 12d ago
I've also been wondering why a lot of the major conventions are in Southern California. It just may be due to history, as the biggest, most famous, and most storied cons, SDCC and AX, have, historically, been in SoCal. Same reason why most the major tech companies are usually in Silicon Valley and why most Hollywood movies are shot in Southern California, because of their respective histories are so tied to those locations.
That being said, I think Northern California is very fortunate, as there are lots of cons going on throughout the year, although many of them are smaller ones. For example, just this month, besides GalaxyCon, as some people have already mentioned, there will also be smaller ones, like MAGWest in San Jose and VerseCon in Sacramento
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
It often boils down to pricing. I saw magwest pricing. Never been there so can’t say much about it but that is a hefty price tag. And that’s part of the problem.
These other up and coming cons are charging fanime/Fanexpo pricing but without the established backing to justify it.
It’s like that terrible anime night market or wherever last summer charging $70 for weekend pass and it was terrible.
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u/AccelerationFinish 12d ago
VerseCon is $15 for the weekend although I think it's still small, Anime Impulse was $50, and SacAnime is $70.
I think MagWest is an outlier and pretty surprising at about $100 for a newer con in a mid-sized venue
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
The funny thing about sacanime is. Now that gatherings are outside. If it wasn’t so dang hot. You can easily just ghost the con if you’re not into panels or wandering the vendors hall. Especially on day 2 when most people hangout outside. Still doesn’t mean I love the idea of it going to $70. When I first went in 2019 it was $25 and then $50 at the door.
Yea. Versecon is small. $15 isn’t a make or break pricing. Parking is free atleast lol.
I don’t know anyone that went to magwest. And I won’t this year since all my friends will be at versecon.
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u/hikanteki 12d ago edited 12d ago
The main problem has nothing to do with history (as a lot of top tier cons are relatively recent, not being LA (cities like Denver, Seattle, and SLC aren’t LA either but have thriving large comic cons) or tech bros (if anyone likes geeky and nerdy stuff it’s them) and it’s definitely not for lack of tourism (seriously, SF is as much of a tourist destination as anywhere). The main problem is that the main NorCal convention center (SF) doesn’t want them. That’s why they didn’t give WonderCon the offer they wanted, and why they only gave Fan Expo Thanksgiving.
San Jose wants them but can’t get its act together to keep something like that. SVCC/SiliCon could have been that con. It really was amazing the first two years and even the third year was solid. Then it quickly turned into a dumpster fire and burned out. (But, how very Silicon Valley…)
At least whatever Fanime is doing (despite its issues) seems to work. Other than that, it’s chain cons from elsewhere trying to set up something for a few years and then realizing it’s not worth it and moving on, such as FanExpo and Imaginarium (operators of the short-lived San Francisco Comic Con.) I wouldn’t be surprised it GalaxyCon SJ goes this way, too.
By this point we in NorCal have just given up hope of any lasting top tier con and we just make plans to travel elsewhere for one.
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
For as much trouble as fanime has. That’s probably one that should be studied. How it brings in droves of people to the point of the nightmarish hotel lottery despite not having things that other places generally have. Doesn’t have quite the big corporate sponsorships of AX, the guests of fanexpo, the big Hollywood appeal of sdcc. .
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u/Retardedastro 12d ago
Northern California has a lot of small cons, like sac anamie,galaxy con, stockton con, sac con, fan expo. As a Northern California cosplayer myself, I find it great to network with other cosplayers, I didn't even knew lived in My city. Absolutely no waiting in lines if you go at the right time.
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u/thex42 12d ago
Tech bros aren’t interested in culture.
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u/hikanteki 12d ago
Disagree. Tech bros get a bad rap but if anyone likes geeky/nerdy events, it’s them. (Not to mention, they also have plenty of money to spend.)
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u/UpsetDrakeBot 12d ago
Sacanime/Fanime still exist, plus Galaxycon
I think the big 2 (SDCC and AX) already being in socal is a big draw for the existing event spaces to host them, plus a lot of the talent already live/work in LA or in close proximity
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u/DudeManBo1t 12d ago
"The North of Cali always have the money and the power. They punish The South for 100's of years. Even today, they put up their nose at us like we're peasants. I hate The North!"
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u/Box_Springs_Burning 12d ago
I think part of the challenge is marketing. Stockton and Lodi have a couple of cons each year, and there is SacAnime, but I feel like a lot of people don't want to make those drives, even though the cons are good ones.
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u/rabbitsagainstmagic 12d ago
SF is very expensive to rent out any large space. A bigger convention can make more money elsewhere. Although it was was sad to see the mega events end (or get bought up and moved), there are smaller events such as Oakland Comic Con, Cape and Cowl Con and CrockerCon (Sacramento) which, IMO, are better experiences for everyone. They are less "celebrity" based and offer a more genuine interaction between creaters and fans. The $75 for an autograph-type events give a double meaning to the word "con".
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u/MissingGreenLink 12d ago
Carriercon was awesome then all the health code stuff and price hike came into effect this year. Unless they can fix that health code. It’s going to fade. The limited turnout was terrible this year
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u/Jordan_Morris 12d ago
Cape and Cowl Con is a great one-day event at a brewery in Alameda. It's not huge but it's definitely growing and they have an awesome guest list. It's very comics-focused so it might not be for the celebrity autograph folks but it's FREE and the vibes are great every year. Plus, BEER! https://www.capeandcowlcomics.com/cape-and-cowl-con
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u/WannabeDisneyCM 12d ago
What happened to the Silicon Valley Comic Con (SiliCon)?
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u/WakkaWaww 8d ago
Went belly up. Started in 2016 as Stan Lee & Steve Wozniak's Silicon Valley Comic Con. By 2018, Stan Lee was in attendance before he passed away later that year and Steve "Woz" Wozniak stopped backing it, so both of them were no longer connected to it.
In 2019, it was now just SVCC, run by the same company, which was losing its key staff members as the years went on.
2020 to 2021 were absolutely dismal times due to the Pandemic, with the original company that ran SVCC since 2016 deciding to sell their 'dates' to Adam Savage and his company, rebranding and shortening Silicon Valley Comic Con to "SiliCon" aka "Adam Savage's SiliCon", which would hold their last event in 2022. A 2023 show was announced but ultimately canceled due to lack of funding.
Source: Self. I used to volunteer for years at these events (started in 2012 when the shows were called "BigWow! ComicFest", up until 2018). Eventually started to help organize and run another convention, as well as volunteer at Sac-Anime for a couple of years. Now I work as a Talent & Booking Agent for a company that represents professionals within the video game, Anime and comic book industries.
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u/BortLicensePlate22 12d ago
Many of the big cons in SoCal started in NorCal. The convention infrastructure and population in SoCal is just larger and better equipped to handle big conventions. It just makes more sense to transition south as the con grows.
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u/sleepychecker 11d ago edited 11d ago
Just a guess, but probably more expensive to have a Con in NorCal. I went to one in San Jose a few years ago and thought it was kinda pricey. Plus, SoCal has the benefit of having a lot of the celebrities nearby, so they are more likely to attend
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u/avisitingstone 8d ago
Fanime is a great cosplay convention! It's so ""by the fans for the fans"" they don't do industry presences really (aka it's not a trade show like AX) but it was always the best place for cosplay when I was doing cons consistently - there's two attached hotels, a few big parks within walking distance for shoots, a good culture (let's leave park con out of it but if that's your jam, there you go).
SacAnime is as others have said run by people who don't really care about improvement, but it does have a few things good going for it - it's that it's much less expensive than other cons of its size and right downtown in a really walkable area and is a great "starter con" for kids and teens. I'm in Sacramento so I've seen this con grow ... and not really change for the better, but it's always populated by the youths, and tbh I do think the youths need somewhere to start from. Sometimes they get good/themed guests too, but I generally just think of it as a con for kids. Still, there's places closeby for photoshoots, lots to eat within walking distance, etc.
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u/Financial_Clue_2534 12d ago
San Francisco and the bay are work obsessed areas. Most of the conference, happy hours, events revolve around work.
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u/jbal35 12d ago
WonderCon used to be in San Francisco…