saikoucon

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After The Year that wasn't, the year that shall not be named, the year of the Apocal... you get what we're saying... SaikouCon is back for its true eighth year. How does that song go? Better, harder, faster, stronger. The year off has given the SaikouSquad time to think up new activities, improve existing events, and continue to prioritize safety and health in the post Covid-19 world. SaikouCon is still a big party, but now we're a Post Apocalypse Party and together with you we are going to celebrate life and the human will to overcome adversity, no matter how challenging that adversity is. Celebrate at Saikoucon 2021 with fun, some learning, music, cosplay, and the comradery that can only be found at fan conventions. Let's rebuild the in-person con scene together and make it better than it ever was before!

We are happy to be back, and ready to roll out a better show than 2020 could have ever been. We hope you're excited too! Open now is our annual Cyber Monday BOGO sale on General Admission tickets to the show, we are sorry we're starting at 8 PM on Cyber Monday, but we just got the contract with Mountain Laurel Resort finalized earlier today after a comedy of errors that only 2020 could deliver... the first few times the resort sent our contract they disappeared in the cyber ether, and then for the past few months our email was shut down again as spam. After a lengthy battle to get info@saikoucon.com (our web host hosts the email through Yahoo) reinstated as a legitimate business email and not a spam bot, we were able to get the rental contract with the resort sorted today. To celebrate, and to make up for starting the ticket so late in the day, we are extending the Cyber Monday BOGO into a Cyber Week BOGO, all General Admission SaikouCon 2021 badges will be buy one get free until Friday, December 4, 2020 at 12 AM (the 12 AM going into Saturday, December 5 to be precise)! Remember, the extra ticket will not be seen in your Shopping Cart at check out, PayPal always freaks out when we try to set it up that way for our two annual BOGO sales, but your Registration Confirmation message that you receive 24-72 hours after purchase (the confirmation messages will never be automated, they always come direct from our con chair, only the e-receipt from PayPal itself is automated), will have free free tickets listed. Visit www.saikoucon.com/registration.html for all the info and to pre-registration for SaikouCon 2021!

Now, with us being labeled spam and having our messaging privileges suspended for nearly three months, it is going to take us a few days to get caught up with messages we couldn't access as well as sending out updated Registration Confirmation messages for everyone that bought tickets for 2020 and are getting their tickets rolled over to SaikouCon 2021 and then complimentary tickets to SaikouCon 2022 to make up for having postpone so close to our planned showtime for 2020. Don't worry, your updated messages are coming this week, we're just limiting how many messages with identical subject lines we're sending in a day to about 20 so we don't get flagged as spam again now that registration for 2021 is open. Merchants you will be receiving your updated Registration emails this week as well for your roll over to 2021 and complimentary 2022 merchant registrations. As stated when we were forced to postpone 2020, we do not have dates for 2022 yet, for attendees or merchants, you will receive your 2022 messages once we have our 2022 contract and dates in place following SaikouCon 2021.

All Our Best, The SaikouSquad

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Sorry I didn't get the four month countdown banner posted on social media on the seventh; that was grocery shopping day and it took all day, a lot of panic buying around SaikouHomebase again... Also, we didn't get it posted back on April 3 due to some issues with the dev end of the website and then forgot across our social media profiles, but in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and how almost everyone's income has been affected by the quarantines across the US, we will not be instituting the 20% price jump on Pre-Registration General Admission Badges to attend SaikouCon 2020 that is usually set four months out from our showtime. We know this isn't much of a help in these hard times, we wish it was more, but we still have to pay the venue rental fees and guest star appearance fees and transportation costs to be able to be continue moving the show forward this year, and unfortunately it doesn't look like there will be much, if any, emergency stimulas funding for our side of the entertainment industry in Pennsylvania unless your event produces revenue in the six figure arena.

As always, we hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there and we're all looking forward to seeing everyone at SaikouCon 2020!

Best, Mike Meade Con Chair

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Wellness check time friends, industry, attendees, merchants, panelists, volunteer staff, fellow convention runners/staffers. How are you doing today? How is everyone feeling mentally and emotionally? Sound off, the SaikouSquad wants to know and make sure you're all hanging in there through the Covid-19 quarantine. Sorry we've been quiet since posting the 5 month countdown graphic and reassuring everyone that SaikouCon 2020 is still happening (which is still 100% true if you were worried).

Check up out of the way, if you're down for some Attack on Titan this Saturday night, April 4, at 8 PM ET; we're going to set up a Netflix Party screening (sponsored by Funimation and Netflix) to help us all reconnect a little since it's not looking like we'll be seeing each other in person until the early summer. Taking inspiration from our friend DJ Awesomus Prime, who just did one a few days ago, I still have to figure out how to set one up, but the link to join will be posted here on FB, on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr (anyone still on there? I forgot we have one most of the time TBH), and on the con website. Myself and the rest of the con staff hope you're all weathering the quarantine well all the way around (physically, mentally, emotionally, and of course staying virus free). Hang in there, we'll get through this and be stronger for it! - Mike

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*Internal Screaming* Pre-Registration Badges available at www.saikoucon.com/registration.html Grab your badges before the lowest rates of the year go up 20% on April 3, 2020 at 12 PM ET!

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It's 12:01 AM ET on Valentine's Day, you know what that means... it's time for our Valentine's Day VIP Badge BOGO Sale! Head over to www.saikoucon.com/registration.html, and grab two VIP Badges to attend SaikouCon 2020 for the price of one! 24 hours only, starting at 12:01 AM ET on February 14 and ending at 12:01 AM ET on February 15, when you purchase one VIP Badge to attend SaikouCon 2020 (any version: 3 Day, 1 Day, Adult, Teen) you automatically receive a second VIP Badge for FREE!!! Valentine's special applies to VIP Badges ONLY. No coupon codes, no extra steps, you just get an extra badge for every VIP Badge purchased! Buy one get one free, buy two get two free, and so on! It's even better than our Group Rate (details on Group Rates on the bottom of the Registration page). And remember, your extra badge will not show up in your shopping cart, one year we tried to adjust our PayPal shopping cart to show the free badge, and all of our Add to Cart buttons deleted so we do the work on our side. Your Registration Confirmation messages, sent between 12 and 72 hours after your purchase (our con chair writes each one out himself, that part of our system is not automated) will show your free badge(s). Happy Valentine's Day from the SaikouSquad to you!

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Our Merchant Application for 2020 is now closed! It was scheduled to close last night at 12 AM ET, but I came down with the flu a few days ago and was passed out asleep last night with a high fever, so any applications that came in after 12 AM will be added to our jurying que. On January 31, 2020 at 12 PM ET we will be opening up the wait list merchant application, as in years past the wait list will juried only if spaces in our Merchant hall open up, the wait will be juried in order of application receipt beginning with those wait listed from our initial merchant application period; those wait list from now will be re-juried as though they had just applied to the wait list to maintain a fair atmosphere and give all wait list applicants an equal shot at merchanting with SaikouCon in 2020. Jurying will begin tomorrow, January 13, 2020; merchants will all receive their notice of acceptance, wait listing, or denial for 2020 no later than January 20, 2020. And now, I'm going back to sleep to sleep away this flu bug.

Best, Mike Meade Con Chair SaikouCon

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Happy Holidays from the staff of SaikouCon! May your holiday season of 2019 be blessed, joyful, safe, and massively fun no matter what holiday and path you celebrate, if any. And if not, be safe and still have a massive amount of fun to cap off the year!!

Much Love, The Staff of SaikouCon

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Coming in December 2020 we are launching the SaikouCon Holiday Otaku Market! Planning for it began in early 2018 so we were originally aiming for it to be this weekend, but unfortunately that didn't pan out. The Holiday Otaku Market will be a one day event in early December of 2020 in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania; we're aiming for December 5, but that isn't locked in yet. Normally we would wait to announce the event until we have a venue locked down and under contract, which likely won't happen until after the turn of the year but we wanted to start building excitement now, so keep your eyes peeled for the announcement and full information.

The Holiday Otaku Market will feature merchants (of course!) fulfilling your Otaku gift needs for the holiday season, photos with Santa Claus and if we can pull it off photos with Hoteiosho too, admission for attendees will be one non-perishable food item per person; all the food will be given to a public food pantry in the Lehigh Valley area. Merchant applications for the Holiday Otaku Market will open on August 21, 2020 at 12 PM ET and close on October 9, 2020 at 6 PM ET, acceptance of application to vend at SaikouCon 2020 is not automatic acceptance into the Holiday Otaku Market, jurying for each event will stand completely on its own.

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Who else is ready for our first Guest announcement for SaikouCon 2020?!? We thought so!! Welcome to the SaikouCon Family, Guest of Honor Aaron Roberts!! This is Aaron's first time appearing at SaikouCon, we hope you are as stoked for this announcement as we are! Aaron provides the English dub voices for some of the biggest anime titles of the last decade including Uta in Tokyo Ghoul, Klaus Lunettes in Black Clover, Benimaru Shinmon in Fire Force, Khai in Dragon Ball Super, Kamui Woods in My Hero Academia, Zack Walker in Astra Lost in Space, Grimsby Keane in Black Butler, Samuel in Fairy Tail, Howard Link in D. Gray-man, and Hit in the Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 video game. Please welcome Aaron to SaikouCon, we're sure he'll be a great addition to the SaikouFam!

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Our annual cyber Monday General Admission Badge BOGO Sale is on at www.saikoucon.com/registration.html! You have until 12:01 AM on December 3, 2019 to double your badges for the price of one! For every General Admission Badge, one day or three day, you purchase, you get one free! Just remember, the PayPal Shopping Cart we use to process Pre-Registration Badge purchases will not show the second badge, all registration file adjustments are done on our side, your Registration Confirmation email, received within 12-72 hours following pre-registration purchase (registration confirmation messages are not automated, each one is sent personally by the convention chair), will show your additional free badges. Badges may be purchased on our Registration page. As always, thank you for being part of SaikouCon, without you there wouldn't be a show. Don't fret, those of you wanting VIP badges for SaikouCon 2020, you'll be getting your chance at BOGO craziness on Valentine's Day...

Congratulations go out to Eddie G. from Glassboro, NJ! Eddie was chosen by blind drawing as the winner of our 2019 Mangagiving Giveaway! Also stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for a big announcement for next year that we have been working on for a while now and we think you're going to dig it.

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SaikouCon 2020 Panel Submissions are now open! Panel Submissions will be open from 12 PM ET on November 4, 2019 until May 1, 2020 at 12 AM ET; we are giving a longer submission period for this year's show after the high amount of no show panelists that gave no warning they would not be able to attend the convention and present their panels, to make sure we have an ample amount of panel submissions again this year too, please review the changes made to our panel submission process on the new Panels page, www.saikoucon.com/panels.html, that will remain up all year long instead of how we used just place Panel submission info on the Events page and only through the Panel Submission period. Selected panelists will receive free badges, up to four per panelist group, to not only present their panels at SaikouCon 2020, but also enjoy all three days of the convention. Panelist Badges confer the same unlimited access to SaikouCon 2020 panels, events, activities, concerts, the Merchant Hall etc. that regular 3 Day General Admission Badges give non-presenter attendees.

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Our Merchant application for SaikouCon 2020 is now open! Head to the Merchant page here on SaikouCon.com for all the information, please review all the rules and regulations for vending at SaikouCon if you are a first time applicant, and returning Merchants please review some of the changes beginning for 2020 forward. Thank you all in advance for your continued support and interest in being part of the SaikouCon Family! Merchant Application period will run from today, October 1, 2019 until January 11, 2020; good luck to all that apply!

Also, our annual Halloween Horror Manga Giveaway is now open as well! Go to our Events page and enter to win a randomly selected horror manga tankoben volume! Plus as a bonus, we're sending the winner a spooky anime DVD this year! Good luck to everyone that enters the giveaway, the entry period will run from today, October 1 until October 30 at 6 PM ET, winner will be announced on Halloween with prize package sent out shortly thereafter.

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Visit www.saikoucon.com for the looooooooooooong update on the up front info for SaikouCon 2020!

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Here we are, just over a week since SaikouCon 2019 has concluded. What a year... new venue, new town, more guest star cancellations than we could shake a stick at... what a year. In all honesty, it was shaping up to be our last year, with all the problems with guest stars cancelling their appearances, us being forced to cancel a few, flight cancellations delaying one guest until she decided just to go home. I was determined not to hold another SaikouCon as things kept hurting the show, but we made it to showtime and together (attendees, merchants, guest stars that followed through, panelists, volunteer staff, staff, and the Mountain Laurel Resort's staff) put together a great show, maybe the best we've had so far. I can't tell you how that bolstered myself and the con staff to keep this show going, SaikouCon always endures and I forgot that for a little while this year; I'm sorry that I did. SaikouCon will be back in 2020 and beyond. SaikouCon isn't about or for the guest stars, it's about and for you; guest stars come and go, but all of you are here year in and year out. For that continual support in the face of all the adversity the con has faced, the yearly moving from one venue to another when past venues are either outgrown immediately, close down, or end up completely sub par for the needs of the show... you're all there waiting for the next year what ever it may bring. I thank you all for that, as I do every year, thank you... thank you... thank YOU! On the Events page of the con website, www.saikoucon.com/events.html, you'll find a feedback form, it will be open until Monday, August 19, 2019 at 6 PM ET. Let us know your thoughts on this past year, on the new venue (we have been invited back for 2020 already, but we want to hear from you before we finalize our decision to return to the Mountain Laurel Resort). We'll also have an announcement about a new side event for SaikouCon soon, we had hoped to launch it within 2019, but that wasn't in the cards for this year when all was said and done, so it will be coming in 2020 as well; keep an eye out! And finally, congratulations to Brenda B. from Catawissa, PA! Brenda was drawn from a blind drawing as the winner of our Summertime Manga Giveaway! Brenda has won two randomly selected manga tankoben volumes, Brenda your prizes will be in the mail to you before this week is out, congratulations again! Our next monthly giveaway will be in September as we are taking the remainder of the month of August off except for post show staff meetings, reviewing your feedback forms, and speaking with the Mountain Laurel Resort as well as a few other venues that have fielded offers to us; though we are heavily favoring a return to the Mountain Laurel Resort.

Best, Mike Meade Con Chair SaikouCon

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Visit www.saikoucon.com/registration.html for all the details and rates on our At Door Registrations.

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So, instead of another reminder that pre-registration is closing for 2019 tonight at midnight, how about we tell you about the posters that DreamWorks Animation is sending us to give out? Yes? Yes! DreamWorks Animation is sending us two, that's right two different posters to give out to our Pre-Registrered attendees! One from 3Below: Tales from Arcadia and one from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power!!!! Pre-registered attendees get their choice of of either at badge pick up, while supplies last, so get to badge pick up early! Don't miss out on this great gift from DreamWorks Animation and don't forget to check out both series now streaming on Netflix! Pre-Register at www.saikoucon.com/registration.html before midnight Eastern time tonight!

Sorry we're making this announcement on the day pre-reg closes, but it was just confirmed late last night that SaikouCon was on the list of conventions that DreamWorks Animation would be working with this year. We hope you're all as excited as we are to be working with DreamWorks Animation again this year!

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Midnight tomorrow, July 20, pre-registration (advance tickets) for 2019 closes. Pre-Registration will not be extended this time, so make sure to hit up www.saikoucon.com/registration.html before it closes down for the year and all that will be left are at door tickets.