Con Hopping. The Reactor.

Over the weekend I attended an anime convention in the northern suburbs of Chicago. I went to the con to kick off a new series for justpushstart entitled “con hopping.” I will be attending various anime, comic, gaming and any other type of nerd conventions I can get to, and reviewing them here on the site. The lucky convention that gets to be first on the list is a small anime convention in Illinois called “The Reactor.”

Originally known as “Anime Reactor,” The Reactor has been around for a few years now, though it’s been in more locations than anyone can count. It’s always been a fairly small convention, and it’s come to have a bad reputation in the con community. Labeled as a party convention, The Reactor is known for it’s wild, out of control con goers and lack of real events or related content. After a few staff changes and a yearlong hiatus, the Reactor finally came back, at a fresh new hotel no less. So, has The Reactor finally stepped up its game? Well, let’s take a look and find out.

Programming

First, let’s take a look at the programming. There really wasn’t a lot planned this year. There was the usual Cosplay Idol and Fantabulous, two cosplay related programs. There were a few other programs, but most were sporadic and often not all that interesting. The programming mainly revolves around The Meltdown, a Saturday night rave that starts at 11PM and goes well into the early morning hours. However, with the lack of programs, the con heads decided at the last minute to throw an impromptu rave on Friday night as well. It was decent, but unfortunately not many people knew about it and so the attendance was less than stellar.

The Meltdown was ok, though it again lacked the amount of people needed to really be a proper rave. The music was good at times, the DJ seemed to know his stuff, but there were more people standing around than dancing and the energy never truly seemed to fill the room. There were also a few guests, mostly local people in the anime and/or comic industry, but I was unable to attend any events involving them and never once ran into one of them.

Cosplay

There was a fair amount of cosplay, but being a small con not as much as you’d see at something like Anime Central. However I will say, if you are a cosplayer looking to get noticed, then The Reactor is a great con to attend. It’s a very small and intimate con, and doesn’t see the types of crowds as the bigger conventions. This is great for cosplayers because they will stand out more than at a larger convention. I found myself running into the same cosplayers several times, and even ended up getting to know a few. Again, if you’re a cosplayer who wants to be noticed, head to The Reactor, you’ll have much less competition.

Space.

Since it’s a small con, it uses a lot less space. The Wyndham Hotel was a decent enough place, and for the most part, is large enough to contain this con.  However, there were a few problems. For one, the dealer’s room was incredibly small. Granted, there weren’t a lot of tables there, so it wasn’t TOO big of a deal. But the room was a tight squeeze, and between the tables and the people, you could sometimes find yourself having to weave and squeeze just to move around. I guess that isn’t much different from any other exhibit hall.

The other space issue was the gaming room. Again, there weren’t a lot of games available, which was another problem all together but I’ll speak more on that soon, but the layout and space could sometimes be annoying. Luckily, there were never too many people in either of these areas to make these problems a major issue.

Gaming Room.

As I said, the gaming room was small, very small. The layout is pretty simple, a DDR arcade in the left corner, consoles along the back wall, and Rock Band in the right corner. The consoles consisted of two PS2s, one that was used for more underground anime import fighters, and the other for the usual Capcom/SNK/Sammy 2D fighters. The Wii was exclusively for Smash Bros Brawl or Smash Bros Melee (at least I THINK I saw Melee there) and the one PS3 was brought in for Rock Band. There were never so many people in the room that it felt claustrophobic, but there wasn’t as much variety as one might want. Again, I have to give this con the benefit of the doubt since it is small and did take a year off.

Overall impressions.

I’ve never been a fan of The Reactor. I remember back to the days when it was Anime Reactor. It was a loud, obnoxious, and totally out of control con that was more about how drunk con-goers could get and less about the actual content and celebration of anime and manga. It was the frat boy’s convention, and certainly not something you would want to bring anyone under the age of 18 to. That was in the past, and this is now. The Reactor has really cleaned up its act. Obviously you still get drunken con-goers, but unlike past events, this one had a much more manageable and expected amount of drunks, most of who seem to stay in their rooms and have small gatherings of friends. After all, it’d be silly to think that at a nerd con you wouldn’t get SOME drinking.

The Reactor still has a ways to go before fans will fly in from out

of state to attend. It seems to finally be on the right track, what with its attempts to offer more panels and programs, and less emphasis on parties. While I certainly wouldn’t suggest hopping on a plane to attend, I would suggest that anyone in the area looking for a fun little con to go to and meet some new people shou

ld check it out. Hopefully The Reactor can continue on its upward climb, and within a few years time, be in the ranks of its older brothers like Anime Central, Anime Expo, AWA or even Youmacon.