Any people in the missouri area??? :3

I'm not sure lolz but I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest here being 17 so all my plans depend on my father but so far he has agreed to allow me to go to the anime getaway and the Japanese festival, but the ones in KC or farther out I wouldn't be aloud to go to. My father is over protective and hates when I become friends with older people or anyone I didn't meet in person first. It's understandable but can be a pain sometimes. And I'm going with my friend to the animegetaway and festival but If you guys do go let me know and we can find a place to meet up there (but fair warning I tend to get mistaken for a 13 year old since I'm really short and have a child like face:/ in real life I guess I could be considered similar to a Loli but not at the same time.) Any way I'm glad you found a new store and I believe you are right about the festival and the animegetaway.

Thanks! : ) Yeah, I agree. Motaku isn't established in terms of location. Last year the convention was literally about 7 minutes away from where I live. It's only 7 minutes if you were to drive of course. They held the convention at a Holiday Inn Coco Keys. I should have went but I wasn't sure if it was worth going. Then again, I couldn't afford cosplay during that time. This year I can which is why I am going to Motaku. I just wonder why they had to switch locations? Motaku is now holding their convention at a hotel called, “Ramada”. @ KitsuneKouta I can at least guarantee that I will be there at Motaku. I've purchased my full weekend badge and I have a hotel room reserved for myself. @ missy_mcgardian That's understandable. Pretty much every father is over protective of their daughter. I won't be able to go to the anime getaway and the Japanese festival since Motaku is pricey enough. Mainly just the price for the hotel and my cosplays. I really need to look into the anime getaway and Japanese festival though.

I'm so glad! ^^ Missouri otaku are real!! We should definitely make a forum and get to organizing something for sure. I think it will be great for all of us t o have meet ups at cons. I'm usually alone when I go. I'm moving out next Friday with my Mother! I'm seventeen too!! Well, eighteen in July! So I'll be there soon! I haven't researched what con's are going on around me yet. I'm totally game though to meet up!!!

That just means you've got a good dad. I was staying with very overprotective and old fashioned grandparents all through high school and undergrad, so I kind of see where you're coming from. I'm sure it's only with the best of intentions, though it can be quite restrictive. In my experience going with a group for social activities can potentially alleviate this a little, though it's best not to push your luck unless you've got a group of good friends out there in St Louis to go with. Even then, none of us have been to Naka-Kon or Motaku so at least one of us ought to scope it out first before you should even consider it for economic reasons. Then you just need to help us determine if the events out there in St Louis are worthwhile :) Hopefully we can get a few more MO/KS fans to chime in. I don't care for small groups unless I know the people pretty well. Then again that's what this site is for ;) As far as being friends with older people, online friendships are often fragile anyways, and even when they aren't ephemeral they are often easily broken. It's the tradeoff one makes for safe and easy friendships. At least until you meet them face to face. Regardless, I'm sure there's plenty more anime fans in the area younger and older than any of us. They just haven't found this site or this thread is all :S Maybe I can look up some of my old high school acquaintances on Facebook or something and get a couple to come along if they're still into anime. I don't remember most of their names but I'll see what I can do. A couple that I did remember appear to have fallen off the face of the earth last I checked >.> If a couple more people will go, I may attend Motaku as well. Naka-kon should be a sure deal, since I can literally walk there. Lisa, is the hotel reservation required for Motaku? Or do you just need the badge? It's only about 30 mins from me, so I'd drive it if that would save a few bucks (assuming there's parking). As for moving, it's probably either to save money or because they place they used last time was already reserved. Some of my family's acquaintances have non-anime events out in St Louis and have to rent space each time. They end up changing spaces sometimes for those reasons. If Motaku were larger and brought in enough revenue I imagine we'd see them move to the convention center across the street from me. It's huge and awesome, but probably pretty expensive. It does contain a hotel as well, though that seems to be it's secondary purpose. Taylor, you said you were moving to Joplin right? As in down in southern MO near the KS/OK state line? I don't have a clue what's down there either so you'll have to let us know what you find. Assuming I'm thinking of the right Joplin. I also like the idea of organizing things, since if we've got a plan it may be easier to get some of the more shy people lurking around from MO/KS to join in. I for one would hate to show up and no one be around >.>

I could literally walk to Kansas, and Oklahoma. I'm right there next to the borders ^^ Agreed!

@KitsuneKouta The hotel reservation isn't a requirement. It's just more convenient for me to get a hotel room because I can't drive. I just didn't want my dad to have to keep taking me back and forth from the hotel to the house. However, the badge is required if you want to participate at the convention. I would advise getting it pre-registred at their site. You'll need to print off the ticket which they'll send to you by email AND make sure you bring an ID. Then you get your badge from them when you wait in line on Friday. Otherwise you'll have to pay for your badge at the door. By the way, I want to say something towards your carpooling idea from your last post. I won't be able to participate in the driving part but I would be willing to pay you gas money if you were the one taking us to these events. Does that sound fair? I just think that those who can't drive should try to chip in. : ) @TaylorHime Yes! Indeed! We are real! Taylor, what day is your birthday on in July? : ) We could have a get together and celebrate your birthday haha! I think you should check out this upcoming convention in August. http://motaku.org/ There's also Naka Kon but that's not going to be till next year. I have no idea about the conventions in your area though. Sorry. ><

Thanks for the info Lisa. Do you remember what the badge costs off hand? Also, does anyone have a good feel for how much cash one ought to keep on hand for conventions? I don't know what the pricing is like as I'm still a noob. As for carpooling, payment for gas is more than fine. I have several real life acquaintances that don't even do that much >.> We'll just have to keep in mind that I've only got room for 4 including myself. I drive a mustang, so the back seat only fits two small to medium people comfortably. As long as no one is more than 6' tall or has super long legs, I don't think it'll be an issue. If we get the group to grow a bit larger, we might find somebody with a big awesome suburban or minivan to fit more people. Or split costs on renting one. Doesn't seem like anything to worry about yet though. The discussion also got me thinking of something. Conventions aren't necessarily the only time things can/should be arranged. Some of the conventions are pretty far apart, so the time in between can filled with smaller meetups from time to time if anyone wants. I went to a table top gaming meetup not too long ago (they play Dungeons and Dragons or something), but even though I'm not into table top gaming everyone still had a lot of fun doing other activities and hanging out. It can also be pretty cheap compared to a convention, so that's something to consider. It may work better with more people, but as long as it's fun I'm not counting.

Illinois isn't too far out for St Louis at least. Probably a little closer than I am actually. A lot of us seem to be near the borders so that opens things up to neighboring states distance wise. And for conventions a few times a year I don't see travel, within reason, as too big of an issue (at least for me). For the Kansas City area, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and possibly even Oklahoma are reasonable, as long as people aren't too deep into some of those states. For St Louis it looks like it's kind of limited to Missouri and Illinois because of how the two are situated, but those on the borders of Kansas, Iowa, and Kentucky are about as far as I am and could potentially make the trip. I'd hate for people to think that they can't join in just because they're on the other side of a border :)

The 17th of July! The big eighteen! We could totally do something maybe not the day of it, but defiantly a couple days later! Have anything in mind! I could drive to Illinois for conventions, it's not that far!