On September 26th, 2015, Kraken Con held their biannual event this time in Alameda, CA. This was far from your normal hotel or convention center event as this anime con was held on the USS Hornet which is known to be one of the most haunted places on Earth due to the fact that it has gone through many wars like World War II. It was interesting to see how they could fit a convention and all the convention things onto a warship.

What this con provided that others did not was to take a tour through this ghost ship. I think being able to tour the venue was the biggest selling point. There was so much history on board. There were tours for the engine room, ghost tours, and the ability to walk to pretty much anywhere you wanted. There was a flight simulator and all kinds of neat things.

Because this convention was on a ship, there wasn’t much things to do in terms of actual conventions. The panels were lackluster. The activities were not there. There wasn’t much space to do anything. There wasn’t even space for vendors to sell stuff. The vendors weren’t selling too many things as the previous iterations. Even the tabletop gaming was being held outdoors where it was pretty windy. You try playing cards outside and not having them fly all over the place. Autograph signings and panels were outdoors too. I felt that most of the focus was more on where the event was being held than the actual event.
I feel that this was a one time thing. It was cool to have it for a day on a historical landmark, but I think it’s time for it to go back to where it really belongs. It needs to go back to being a multi day event in a convention center. Hey, at least I can say I’ve been on a vessel used for war.

Written by: Timtastic