The Hampton Inn and Conference Center, Colchester, VT
Bakuretsu Con is a small, low-key anime convention held annually near Burlington, Vermont at the Hampton Inn and Conference Center in Colchester. Now in its sixth year, Bakuretsu Con enjoys maintaining its intimate, small-con atmosphere while providing a variety of panels, interactive games, demonstrations, contests, and cosplay activities. For me, my favorite part of Bakuretsu Con is its timing; Bakuretsu is held so long after the regular convention season has wrapped up that it helps fill the wintertime cosplay void and provides a welcome excuse to hang out with friends I might not otherwise see until spring. Also, despite being past-peak, the autumn colors remain out in full force in northern Vermont, providing a lovely backdrop for photoshoots. The Hampton Inn was great as usual; the free breakfast buffets were a welcome sight each morning, and the key-card problem which plagued us last year had been cleared up. Similarly, the convention itself appeared a bit more organized than it had been the year before, though staff were still running around trying to find people to participate in the Anime Dating game the day before the event, and the cosplay coordinators were not always able to locate their judges. Also, the dance did not boast much attendee dancing, much to our dissapointment. However, despite these drawbacks, the con itself was clearly more well-attended than last year, as more events were able to boast larger audiences and benefit from greater attendee participation. Given Bakuretsu Con's out-of-the-way location, it was nice to see that the con had encouraged anime fans to make the rather lengthy trip from the southern New England states to attend.
