>>104336083VexPo 2025 Review: P2
Away from VexPo branded chaos, the external stands seemingly knew the deal at hand. The Phase booth was a consistent hub of fan interaction and regularly selling merchandise with a delightful Pippa cosplayer keeping tabs on everything. The layout was perfect to keep traffic moving. Brave had two ends of the venue covered, with a very active merch stand besides Phase and depressingly empty at times Globie GIGA booth on the opposite side of the hall. Kawa Entertainment’s booth was messy with minimal branding but action packed. MosoBox had a lot of /here/ names doing M&G for free as did Veizo. I had not heard much of either, but these guys absolutely overdelivered and outdid VexPo at its own game. No tech issues from either. If anyone from those brands are just as /here/ as Kiki, pat yourself on the back. Variance Project and Re:Loop had some solid presence too, but I actively didn’t engage with them. Penny Puffball is cute I guess is my takeaway from them. IZIGENIA had staff roaming around on Saturday but that agency is still too young to judge on said actions. ASTRALINE was just the shite card game, with Merry and Lumi shitposting IRL. I saw other stands with iPads for indie M&G’s, but I didn’t actively partake because I felt it would be disrespectful to go up to them and spout vapid bullshit.
Panels and activities… It’s not that the placements or times didn’t make sense. It’s just the whole damn hall didn’t make sense at all. VexPo hosted M&G’s took place in the dead centre, which also meant you had to deal with line system autism. Thus if you wanted to go to the front or back of the venue, the traffic was gridlock in the middle. The Maid Cafe, which had some very family friendly rules, was sat right next to the 18+ art section. Sure, it had a veil, but it’s still stupid. The "activity stage” was boxed in by the entrance walkway leading to a lot of feedback noise. Poor Amiya just wanted to play retro games… I think what baffles me most is that this is a bigger hall than the year prior. They had plenty of time to overview the scope of the space provided and rather than play Tetris and nearly stack everything in, it was more a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos with everyone fighting for the middle.
Subject of hippos, let’s talk about the attendees just for a second. SO MANY OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS STINK. The “NEC” had several hotels within walking distance. Most of you cunts told me so because it was one of the go to conversation points apparently for the socially inexperienced. That or they hoped I’d ask to fuck. Spraying your outer shirt with Lynx (Axe to Americans reading) does not stop the smell. It just layers it with a new stank. I’ve been to a lot of conventions and I’ve never encountered such heavy musk. Mostly Holo fans too I gotta point out. I went to nearly all of the fan meets and you guys wore sweat stain shirts like it’s something of pride. Calling you out Tako. Fuck two of the hotels I know offer free shampoo and gel AS STANDARD with your room. WASH YO’ PITS, FACE AND WHATEVER ELSE. CHRIST.
Apart from the aroma from some, the fan meets are basically THE selling point to VexPo outside interacting with your oshi. What you thought BUYING THINGS would be the highlight? No. The community effort I witnessed is truly outstanding and shows the pure nature of the vtubing fandom; amplifying only how shit /vt/ is at the best of times.. I saw a Niji fangirl at the Doki meet and not deem her the devil, I saw Phase fans going to grab some of Shondo’s cookies and not demand she apologise to Fishman. I even saw motherfuckers walk past the Globie section and actually give them a glance. Hell, I think I received far more free custom fan merch than what I ended up paying for. Shout outs to the /vrt/ anon and his pins might I add. You know who you are.
“But anon, I am anti-social as fuck” than frankly you’d fucking hate VexPo. Everywhere I went, people spoke and took the time to interact. Stinky or not. I saw a Black dude in a Mint coloured suit. He had flown in from Italy just for the fan gathering and to be with Wisps. I engaged with multiple French girls who came over because Cass from First Stage Production was doing a panel. I bumped into a guy who had flown in from Portugal because he just wanted the chance to get merchandise without huge tax hikes via shipping. One of my personal favourite interactions came from a young lady from Japan, very broken English, who just missed seeing cosplayers as she recently moved to London. If VexPo can take any credit, any pride in what it has done, it’s allowed for so many fandoms to have a place to connect on a deeper, personal level.
