So, it’s entirely possible that this is only hitting me harder here than it would anywhere else due to my experience the last time I was in this specific hotel.  But even with that disclaimer, I’m still on record as missing the “glorified anime night” vibe of my first few Animazemets and disliking the increasingly store-like vibe of more and more cons these days.  The point is, even though Ret-Con was mainly focused on literature and “the concept of fandom in general” and other stuff that really does nothing for me, the atmosphere in the halls was still something I haven’t encountered in a long time, and that was pretty dang refreshing.

…of course, this was ALSO the first con outside of Animazement for a while that I got into for free thanks to being on a panel.  We can’t ignore how much easier it is to have a good attitude about a weekend that DIDN’T cost me real money or whatever to attend (just my own time and energy, which is of absolutely no value to me)