just agreeing

my 2 cents
i wouldn't classify my self as an animeniac much less anthing else but for me your top three hit it on the head location, dealers room (nice to pick through cels in person vs online and guests)
indy

What? You mean no one goes for that awesome rave that every con seems to insist on having?

I'm torn between attending a con because I'd really like to meet people on this website but I'd have to pay ~$50 and actually attend the con. I was even joking a few days ago about going to Anime Expo to sit in the lobby of the convention center to a) bs with friends from this site for an hour or so and then b) rent a car and drive up the coast for a real vacation.

Guests would be a lot more interesting if they filtered out all the "where do you get your inspiration" questions that creative people detest. Oh yeah, that and if the little emperors that run a certain large California con just let the guests answer questions and hang out (if they want). A few years ago, Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun, Gungrave) had to SNEAK OFF and sign autographs and kept telling us that he was afraid that he'd "get in trouble" just for talking to convention goers without his handler. Ridiculous.

Stuff in the dealer room is cheaper online. Almost always. Unless you just like spending lots of money. It's pretty fun to do, sometimes. Seeing cels in person is a big plus, though.