Weekend wish list: Con-petition? | San Diego Reader
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Weekend wish list: Con-petition?
TwitchCon and San Diego Anime Con arrive this weekend, plenty more on the horizon
San Diego is the city of Comic-Con, but Comic-Con is a world unto itself: 135,000 attendees, paying hundreds of dollars for passes that sell out in hours. What started in 1970 as a modest gathering of comic-book and science-fiction enthusiasts is now, famously, a celebration of the popular arts. (Sorry, opera!) Everybody comes: the movies, the stars, the games, the toys, the books, the cosplayers… It can be a bit much. But just as Jupiter has many moons, San Diego’s International Comic-Con seems to have become a center of gravity for other worlds of imagination, ranging all the way from anime to zombies.
This weekend offers a particularly good illustration. At the San Diego Convention Center, some 21,000 visitors are expected for TwitchCon, devoted to the celebrities and culture of livestreaming. A few miles away, San Diego Anime Con offers a Pokémon Jeopardy competition, a seminar on designing an ita bag — a handbag decorated with merchandise celebrating a favorite character — and a panel called “Kentucky Fried Christmas: How Japan Celebrates the Holidays.” Both run November 13–15. A three-day TwitchCon pass costs $259. At Anime Con, it’s $55.
The proliferation has reached the point where two conventions devoted to the same subject can take place on the same weekend. Last November, Reader photographer Jamie Gardner visited both Anime 619 at the Convention Center and San Diego Anime Con at the Handlery Hotel. Both offered artists, vendors, performances, and elaborate costumes. And that was before an entirely new anime convention arrived this September. Anime San Diego debuted at the Convention Center, advertising more than 50 celebrity guests and 400 vendors.
Anime San Diego marketing director Colin Bass told KPBS that he first encountered Comic-Con as a teenager in 2007. His mother suggested making a career of conventions. He didn’t think that was possible. Today, he helps produce them across the Southwest, and his company is planning a horror convention next year. Of course, San Diego already has one of those. Scream Diego, which held its third annual gathering October 17 at the DoubleTree in Mission Valley, offered horror films, panels, macabre merchandise, and a Monster Prom. This year’s theme was zombies. Organizer Dennis-Michael Broussard told KPBS he started it because he was tired of traveling to Los Angeles and Orange County for horror conventions.
Broussard’s Silk Road Productions also produces San Diego Anime Con and Fangaea, which returns to the Handlery Hotel March 20, 2027. Now entering its seventh year, Fangaea brings together steampunk, science fiction, cosplay, comics, and tabletop gaming. Silk Road also organizes other specialized events, including Escondido’s AniPop and the adult-oriented Hentai Matsuri. Even more specialized: San Diego Who Con is an all-volunteer nonprofit convention devoted entirely to Doctor Who, complete with trivia, celebrity guests, a dance party, and an ice cream social. Its tenth edition is scheduled for October 15–17, 2027. And Enchanted Escapes, a local organizer of fantasy balls and immersive events, is expanding into the convention business next May with Enchanted Con, a two-day gathering featuring authors, Dungeons & Dragons, workshops, a fantasy fashion show, and a Saturday night ball.
And for conners who are still into, you know, comics, the big Con has a smaller counterpart, created by some of its original organizers. Mike Towry and fellow veterans Barry Alfonso and Bob Sourk launched San Diego Comic Fest in 2012 to recapture the intimacy of the early conventions. (In Reader coverage that year, Towry recalled chairing the 1972 Comic-Con at the El Cortez Hotel when he was just 17.) The appeal of a smaller convention isn’t necessarily that it offers more to see. It may simply be easier to meet the people who share your enthusiasms. The first Comic Fest limited attendance to 1000, including staff, volunteers, and vendors, At the 2020 Fest, the Reader found legendary comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz discussing his work with fans and vendors displaying Jack Kirby-signed comics, including a copy of Avengers No. 1 valued at around $11,000.
And now that we’ve mentioned money: there’s also the question of cost. This October, Who Con offered free access to its vendor and artist areas, Friday dance party, and Saturday ice cream social. At the other end of the spectrum, Comic-Con is expensive, but offers elaborate free outdoor attractions for people without badges, something the Reader explored in 2018. Smaller conventions generally can’t afford such spectacles, but their admission prices tend to be more approachable. At Anime Con this weekend, single-day tickets cost $20–$25 in advance, or $25–$30 at the door. Children under eight enter free with a paying parent. TwitchCon is more expensive, but independent fans are organizing their own gatherings around it. Comfy Events SD has announced an Umamusume fan meetup Saturday, November 14, from 3–4:15 pm, and a free “Paw-sible Trouble Picnic” Sunday, November 15, from 1–4 pm. Both take place outside the Convention Center, and organizers say the Sunday picnic requires no TwitchCon ticket.
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Weekend wish list: Con-petition?
TwitchCon and San Diego Anime Con arrive this weekend, plenty more on the horizon
Weekend wish list: Con-petition?
TwitchCon and San Diego Anime Con arrive this weekend, plenty more on the horizon
San Diego is the city of Comic-Con, but Comic-Con is a world unto itself: 135,000 attendees, paying hundreds of dollars for passes that sell out in hours. What started in 1970 as a modest gathering of comic-book and science-fiction enthusiasts is now, famously, a celebration of the popular arts. (Sorry, opera!) Everybody comes: the movies, the stars, the games, the toys, the books, the cosplayers… It can be a bit much. But just as Jupiter has many moons, San Diego’s International Comic-Con seems to have become a center of gravity for other worlds of imagination, ranging all the way from anime to zombies.
This weekend offers a particularly good illustration. At the San Diego Convention Center, some 21,000 visitors are expected for TwitchCon, devoted to the celebrities and culture of livestreaming. A few miles away, San Diego Anime Con offers a Pokémon Jeopardy competition, a seminar on designing an ita bag — a handbag decorated with merchandise celebrating a favorite character — and a panel called “Kentucky Fried Christmas: How Japan Celebrates the Holidays.” Both run November 13–15. A three-day TwitchCon pass costs $259. At Anime Con, it’s $55.
The proliferation has reached the point where two conventions devoted to the same subject can take place on the same weekend. Last November, Reader photographer Jamie Gardner visited both Anime 619 at the Convention Center and San Diego Anime Con at the Handlery Hotel. Both offered artists, vendors, performances, and elaborate costumes. And that was before an entirely new anime convention arrived this September. Anime San Diego debuted at the Convention Center, advertising more than 50 celebrity guests and 400 vendors.
Anime San Diego marketing director Colin Bass told KPBS that he first encountered Comic-Con as a teenager in 2007. His mother suggested making a career of conventions. He didn’t think that was possible. Today, he helps produce them across the Southwest, and his company is planning a horror convention next year. Of course, San Diego already has one of those. Scream Diego, which held its third annual gathering October 17 at the DoubleTree in Mission Valley, offered horror films, panels, macabre merchandise, and a Monster Prom. This year’s theme was zombies. Organizer Dennis-Michael Broussard told KPBS he started it because he was tired of traveling to Los Angeles and Orange County for horror conventions.
Broussard’s Silk Road Productions also produces San Diego Anime Con and Fangaea, which returns to the Handlery Hotel March 20, 2027. Now entering its seventh year, Fangaea brings together steampunk, science fiction, cosplay, comics, and tabletop gaming. Silk Road also organizes other specialized events, including Escondido’s AniPop and the adult-oriented Hentai Matsuri. Even more specialized: San Diego Who Con is an all-volunteer nonprofit convention devoted entirely to Doctor Who, complete with trivia, celebrity guests, a dance party, and an ice cream social. Its tenth edition is scheduled for October 15–17, 2027. And Enchanted Escapes, a local organizer of fantasy balls and immersive events, is expanding into the convention business next May with Enchanted Con, a two-day gathering featuring authors, Dungeons & Dragons, workshops, a fantasy fashion show, and a Saturday night ball.
And for conners who are still into, you know, comics, the big Con has a smaller counterpart, created by some of its original organizers. Mike Towry and fellow veterans Barry Alfonso and Bob Sourk launched San Diego Comic Fest in 2012 to recapture the intimacy of the early conventions. (In Reader coverage that year, Towry recalled chairing the 1972 Comic-Con at the El Cortez Hotel when he was just 17.) The appeal of a smaller convention isn’t necessarily that it offers more to see. It may simply be easier to meet the people who share your enthusiasms. The first Comic Fest limited attendance to 1000, including staff, volunteers, and vendors, At the 2020 Fest, the Reader found legendary comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz discussing his work with fans and vendors displaying Jack Kirby-signed comics, including a copy of Avengers No. 1 valued at around $11,000.
And now that we’ve mentioned money: there’s also the question of cost. This October, Who Con offered free access to its vendor and artist areas, Friday dance party, and Saturday ice cream social. At the other end of the spectrum, Comic-Con is expensive, but offers elaborate free outdoor attractions for people without badges, something the Reader explored in 2018. Smaller conventions generally can’t afford such spectacles, but their admission prices tend to be more approachable. At Anime Con this weekend, single-day tickets cost $20–$25 in advance, or $25–$30 at the door. Children under eight enter free with a paying parent. TwitchCon is more expensive, but independent fans are organizing their own gatherings around it. Comfy Events SD has announced an Umamusume fan meetup Saturday, November 14, from 3–4:15 pm, and a free “Paw-sible Trouble Picnic” Sunday, November 15, from 1–4 pm. Both take place outside the Convention Center, and organizers say the Sunday picnic requires no TwitchCon ticket.
Submit a free classifiedor view all
DWPA baseline normal flow 10822
San Diego Reader Classified ads
November 7, 2026
DWPA price10 control 10822
San Diego Reader Classified ads
November 7, 2026
DWPA security review test 10822
San Diego Reader Classified ads
November 7, 2026
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