On March 18, the Anime Club hosted and put on their 6th annual Fubuki Con, an anime and gaming convention. Everyone is invited to dress up as their favorite character and enjoy the activities. One of the popular events is a Super Smash Bros. tournament, which was new last year but was so successful that they continued it this year. A cosplay contest is also included.
Fubuki Con used to be two days long, but they found that having it for only one day made the convention more successful. With the opening of The Den, food is provided for the convention.
They had a wide array of panels including How to Webcomic, Gunpla 101, Pokemon Scavenger Hunt, Lolita 101, Cosplay Dating Game while various vendors and artists set up shop on campus to sell various wares. There were movie and show screenings including Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Yuri On Ice and RWBY Volume 4.
Celebrity voice actors are featured. This year, the featured guest was Michele Knotz, who is most well known for being the voice actor of Jessie from Pokemon. Other years, they have had celebrity guests such as Beau Billingslea from Naruto, Erica Schroeder from Yu-gi-oh, Jon St. John from Duke Nukem and Kyle Hebert from Attack on Titan.
All of the staff are volunteers in running the convention and a portion of their proceeds are donated to charity. This year, the charity they are donating to is the Ten Lives Club, a nonprofit rescue for cats. Last year, they raised about $400 in proceeds that went to WNYHeros.org, a nonprofit that is dedicated to helping veterans from western New York.
The staff says that Fubuki Con is great for all ages and is encouraged for people who are nervous about going to a convention or it’s their first time at a convention because of the small size. The staff also told a story about a little boy dressed up as Sora from Kingdom Hearts and stayed completely in character the whole time, then went on to win the cosplay contest.
Even Daemen professors are encouraged to participate in Fubuki Con. Finally, at the end of the day there was a rave.
In 2015, the overall turnout of people was 98. In 2016, it was 124 people. This year, their total number of people, not even half way through the day, was over 134 people, making this year one of their most successful years.
The Anime Club at Daemen has been around for 12 years and host activities and events during the semester. They also do fundraisers and bake sales to raise money for the anime convention. A lot of what they do during the year is for the convention. Cosplaying is even encouraged during regular club meetings.
The officers are President Ace Cruz, Vice President Karin Nilsson, Secretary Shomiah Miller, and Treasurer Carolyn Grant. It is the President and Vice President’s first year running the convention and their second year staffing.
Scroll below for more images from the event.
