Toulouse Game Show 2017

[Corycaly]

Two weeks ago, I went to Toulouse, South West of France to discover one of the biggest French manga/comics/geek convention: the Toulouse Game Show.
This convention took place on the first weekend of December, in the expositions park.
Here is their official website: toulouse-game-show.fr

I went there by train, my hotel was directly in front of the train station, in the center of the city. It was also directly linked to metro/tramway stations that led directly to the convention center. I was surprised by how easy it was to travel and discover the different city areas. It was also secured and very clean, a big change compared to my paris conventions experiences. 

I've  won a VIP ticket at a cosplay tornament, it was the first time I went to that huge festival (60 000 visitors).
The VIP tickets allowed me to enter one hour earlier, there was also a vip area where you could relax and have free drinks and food. It was great to have such a calm place to relax and stock your luggage.

I had the luck to meet James Masters, one of the vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I used to be a fan of the show! He was charming and very gentle. I had the time to exchange some words with him, it's a very good memory.
The vip tickets allowed me to skip waiting lines during the signing sessions.

I also attended two conferences about paranormal and ufo (don't ask me the link between the convention theme and those conferences  )  that were great and very interesting.
Apart from this...I was a bit deceived. A boring atmosphere, no Japanese/manga guests, the bad feeling to be in a supermarket...it was far from the dynamic event I expected.

Let's not talk about the not large enough booth alleys that were so full of people that they were blocked all day long. Maybe another hall could be used to give more place to the festival.   
Did I forget to mention that all the hall doors were opened, letting the cold and the snow enter? I was freezing all the time.

The vip tickets costed 100 euros (I got mine free): were they worth the money? The car parkings place weren't reserved, the food booth didn't have a vip waiting line as announced, the gifts weren't that great...most of the announced advantages didn't work in reality. 
Most of the vip tickets owners were deceived. I understand their anger!
 
Due to a huge train change (national train problem) I didn't spend long on the sunday there (maybe 2hours top).
I put on my Catherina Sforza cosplay and was lucky to do two small photoshoots. ^o ^
The first hours of the second day were calmer than the day before but the same problems were still there: packed alleys, no dynamism...
I couldn't watch the big badass cosplay event because I had to leave extra earlier. T__T

My verdict:
the +: very easy access, gentle staff, a good way to relax and hunt some xmas gifts, the city is very nice and beautiful
the -: SO COLD, boring atmosphere, needs one more hall, the "supermarket atmosphere", the food prices, no manga event/ guests

It's a good festival if you go with friends for only one day, just to relax and laugh. As a VIP ticket owner, the experience wasn't as extraordinary as expected and announced.
I might come back next year...but with a normal ticket!