The UK is sometimes lacking when it comes to conventions and similar events, so I was surprised to find that a new event was being set up here. VeXpo 2024 is the UK’s first VTuber expo. We made our way to the NEC in Birmingham to check it out.
Full of Talent
The main attraction for VTuber fans was just how many are involved in this event. A huge amount of notable English-speaking VTubers put on events, including big names like Ironmouse from VShojo and indie VTubers like Mint Fantôme. For its first event, VeXpo managed to pull in a lot of support from various VTubers, both agency and indie.
Some were performing in the 6 different concerts, some were on live panels, and some were doing brief meet-and-greets with guests. There were over 70 different VTubers officially taking part in the event in some way or other.
If you want to see some event-exclusive content from one of your favorite VTubers or meet other fans this might be the place to be. Even for the VTubers that weren’t involved, some fans like the Hololive UK Enthusiasts Community organized meetups.
Meet and Greets
Perhaps one of the biggest draws is the chance to speak to one of the various talents. An area and appointment system was set up to do this.
This had enough demand that a lottery system was used. Attendees had to carefully watch the event’s social media pages, hope they didn’t miss the alert, and apply during a short window, which isn’t ideal. If they won the raffle ticket, then there was an additional fee for a 2-minute meeting in most cases. Most of these were about £10-20, but some were free and one was as high as £45.
There were some issues around this, with at least a few attendees in the Discord server for the event saying they hadn’t received an acceptance or decline. Hopefully, it’s a learning point for future events.
Beyond these appointments, there were a few other opportunities to speak to VTubers. A mic and screen were set up in a couple of places and someone was wheeling a tablet around with another VTuber for people to speak to.
Songs and Talks on Stage
Of the 6 concerts, I attended the Idol Karaoke Rally. It was a great experience watching it in a cinema-style experience with the big screen and great sound quality. A lot of the typical Japanese songs for VTubers came up like ones from HoneyWorks and Atarashii Gakko. Everyone was having a lot of fun, and attendees were waving their lightsticks about.
The only major downside of the concerts was the timing. They were more aimed towards people who have come for the entire event and booked accommodation, with the opening concert at 7:30 PM the day before the main expo opens, and others at 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM on the first day. This is not great for day visitors. I also saw some complaints about their premium ticket holders being unable to get their reserved seating and some complaints of connection issues during some of the concerts.
There were a lot of interesting panels on the other stage too. Topics involved ranged from more serious ones like How to Start As An Indie VTuber and about being the CEO of a VTuber agency, to more casual ones like a VTuber quiz.
The presentations were in the gaming area. These weren’t quite as well set up, unfortunately. A projector was used and the image looked dull and washed out. I could barely understand what was being said either due to the sound quality.
What Else to Do?
While VeXpo 2024 managed to pull in a lot of talent, it is quite small. The hall was packed tight with people, but they didn’t have much space.
The maid and butler café had maids of England in attendance, and it looked like there was barely space to move in their area. Still, everyone inside looked happy. There was quite a long wait to get in though. I noticed an Ironmouse cosplayer join the queue, then still saw her waiting about 30 minutes later.
A highlight was seeing a couple of VTuber designs on cars from Baka Itasha UK. They had some great designs and it’s rare to see these in person.
There were a decent amount of booths to buy such as art prints, keychains, standees, and other paraphernalia. There were fewer stalls than many conventions, but it was nice to see that the majority of them were more artist-focused rather than commercial. Still, it’d not be an anime-related convention without at least one stall selling at least three types of figures of Rem from Re:Zero, and VeXpo 2024 didn’t disappoint there.
A gaming area was set up to play with other attendees, but it was really small too. There were 9 screens set up with older titles from the SNES, PlayStation 2, Gamecube, and other consoles. Almost all of them were set up with fighting games. It’s nice to have a little area to sit down and play, but some more variety would’ve been good here.
Final Thoughts
VeXpo 2024 was a good event and had a lot of talent involved. The various panels and concerts made it worth attending, but this VTuber expo was smaller than I expected and did have some teething issues.
In fairness, this is the first VeXpo event, so it makes sense. They did draw quite a crowd, so hopefully, it’ll get bigger in the future. VeXpo feels like it has a lot of potential, but we’ll have to wait until a potential VeXpo 2025 or VeXpo 2026 to see if it achieves it.
Many thanks go to VeXpo for providing a press pass for this event.
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A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.