I've just returned from OtakuMex, and I'm still beaming at the joy this show was. It's put on by a dedicated group of people who also do shows in Colorado, Texas, and Nevada (and elsewhere?). They're true pros, able to give everyone a great time without the typical con disasters.
I know was able to cater to huge amount of yaoi fans in attendance. In the dealers room I was the '
yaoi booth' bringing all the yaoi anime and manga people can't ever find in stores, I ran both a fun industry and hentai panel, I donated lots of merchandise for prizes and staff swag, I made sure our freebies were in the hands of many fans, I was on stage at events like the 'Match Game,' the Costume Contest, and opening/closing ceremonies to make jokes with the other guests.
At the end of the show I had an impromptu 'Let's Make a Deal' session in the hallway to give out the dozen or so remaining books I had that would have put my suitcase overweight. 'First one to show me something with a crown wins this book.' 'First one to show me a quarter from Colorado wins this book.' It was great fun.
I was treated extremely well by the con director Andi, guest liaison Bear, dealers room director Saffron, as well as by the staff I had to rely on for different things along the way. Like Justin for projector set-up and...I'm ashamed that I'm blanking on the name of the sweet tall lady who MCed some of the events I was part of (especially since I kissed her twice). I'm similarly blanking on the names of several other staff who kept things going so smoothly. This was run as well as many much larger shows (even better than a few of them, actually).
It was a treat to make friends with the other guests, Steve Bennet, Kyle Herbert, Jan Scott-Frasier, and Uncle Yaoi--er, I mean Uncle Yo. I feel I made some great new friends at this show. The attendees were some of the nicest crowd I'd ever seen. All excited, happy, and friendly. I really felt welcome.
OtakuMex was a more intimate setting than an Anime Expo or ACEN. The organizers knew they'd have droves of yaoi fans there. Unlike many shows, that have the one yaoi panel and a smattering of merchandise in the dealers room, OtakuMex made sure that this large segment of fans would not be disappointed. All those people who said to me, 'I just came for the yaoi,' got it. They got their yaoi stuff and yaoi programming.
It's now a fact that most female and gay anime fans are also fans of yaoi. That's a segment that's easily in the top five anime fan segments overall. What I mean is, if you run a survey of what attendees are into (games, general anime, cosplaying, etc.) yaoi would make the top five interests of that list. Yet many shows are founded by people who are not interested in yaoi, and hence do not bother with satisfying those fans. They have blinders on to block out everything except their own interests. They may especially avoid yaoi because it makes them uncomfortable personally. So many fans pay the price for this thinking. Fans who support the show, who travel far to attend, and who scrounge for funds to even be there. All that effort just to be overlooked!
There are show organizers who hide their prejudice against yaoi content by claiming their bias against it is because it's porn. That this is a 'family show.'
I've been to close to 100 conventions now. There are hardly any little kids going to these things. The ones I do see are the offspring of their Otaku parents being dragged along. The vast majority are older teens and adults. They want mature content.
The other side of this is that, yes, there are yaoi dealers who just sell the smut, but that's not us. Most of Yaoi Press' titles are for 16+. It's not porn. We've just done Anime Vegas which did not allow any pornography. We left our adult-only items at home. Our merchandise was scrutinized and allowed.
I know that if I mention this to the convention organizers who won't allow us in it won't matter. It was never about the 'porn,' it was about the fact that it's with gay men. Not their thing. One show in Texas lets all the yuri in you can imagine, but restricts yaoi because, 'Isn't yaoi more pornographic than yuri?' No. It's not. That's why yaoi sells at Borders and yuri doesn't.
I'm mentioning all this because I hope yaoi fans will appreciate shows like OtakuMex that have the intelligence and guts to recognize them. No matter how icky some guys think it is, these attendees matter.
In the end, most everyone was laughing at my jokes and innuendo. The guys who didn't like it were teasing me, and the yaoi-crazed girls, unmercilessly and we loved it. We all hand fun. Any discomfort was erased by the happy, easy-going vibe of a great anime convention.
