Introduction
    Main
    Summary
Personal Accounts
    Benjamin Eng
    Tomoaki Hirai
    Kitty
    Troy Leong
Guests of Honors
Events
    Black and White Ball
    Ball Room Dancing
    Dealers Hall
    eGaming Room
    FaniMaid Cafe
    Inui Sketch Session
    Masquerade
    Swap Meet
Panels
    Gainax
    Gurren Lagann
    Press
    Sekihiko Inui
    Naruto Xbox 360
Media
    Videos
    Gallery

by Jason Vien

Every year, myriad vendors of anime related goods flock to Fanime Convention in order to pawn their stock of collectibles and other doodads to attendees, but what about the little guys? What about our fellow attendees who want to share their own collections with the rest of us - at a reasonably low price? Oh dear reader, please throw your hands in the air (like you just don’t care) and rejoice with me: “Swap Meet, huzzah!”

The Swap Meet is similar to Fanime Con’s own Dealer’s Hall, just on a smaller scale and for regular attendees who want to sell wares from their private collections. Basically, it is an assemblage of people gathered in a large hall hoping to sell stuff, kind of like a flea market. This year, Swap Meet was held in the E-gaming Hall, a large convention room that plays host to arcade, console, PC, and table top gaming. The powers that be at Fanime Con made an odd decision in making Swap Meet and E-gaming bed fellows this year, arranging the Meet around the outskirts of the room, with the “dealers” setting up shop at the walls. This made browsing, shopping, or just overall traversing around the swap meet a little difficult, seeing as you would have to weave in and out of crowds of gamers and fellow treasure hunters. Because each merchant is relegated to a small section approximately 10 feet by 10 feet with neighboring sellers to their sides and a wall at their backs, things can get crowded, but it wasn’t a big deal. There is a list of rules and regulations for sellers to follow, and you can see them here. A couple examples would be: no bootlegs, and adult oriented material (yaoi, hentai, that kind of stuff) cannot be left in the open for all to see; have to be considerate of the younger attendees. Alright, enough with the particulars, let’s get to the treasure!

Just by looking around, one could find a lot of good stuff...and a lot of junk. Rare finds run the gamut from manga, dvds, and figures to games, cards, plushies, and maybe even some stuff from the Dealer’s Hall. Though I couldn’t look at everything, second hand accounts from a few friends and among them a few members of the dedicated T-ono Staff informed me that they managed to acquire some cool stuff for reasonable prices. If you see something you like, feel free to haggle and barter with the sellers - most of them welcome it in hopes of getting rid of their stuff. A friend of mine managed to walk away with a couple rare FF VII Chocobo plushies after haggling the price down quite a bit. T-ono Webmaster and resident slave driver The-O also managed to snag a couple Fate Stay Night figures at a pretty nifty price. Even I finagled my way into acquiring a 10th Anniversary Virtua Fighter Collector’s Edition video game still sealed for five dollars. Five dollars!

So the next time you’re at Fanime and you feel the urge to splurge, stop by the Swap Meet. Chances are that you may find something that strikes your fancy while still staying within your budget. If you’re a self-pronounced anime fanatic hoping to find that one rare gem, be it a vintage collectible or a hard to find trinket, know that there’s always a fellow fanatic willing to swap with you, at the Swap Meet.

Swap Meet Gallery

Last updated by: Theodore Mak
On: June 18, 2007

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