Review: Con*Quest Adventure Journal

Conventions are one big pile of nerd overstimulation. While it does wear me down sometimes, it's mostly wonderful. You can get autographs, see cosplay, attend panels, flail over the cool items vendors sell, meet new friends - you get the picture. I often come home from conventions with dozens (if not hundreds) of photos, piles of business cards for artists and vendors, and recordings of panels. I sort through it all eventually, but what if I had a cool, convention geared scrapbook to store it all? That would be neat. And guess what? Such a product exists! Behold, the Con*Quest Adventure Journal:

Isn't it pretty? The canvas, high quality journal comes filled with pages for you to keep memories of all the fun you have at conventions. Do you collect autographs? There's a page for that. Want to write down important quotes from a panel? Yep, there's a section for that. You can have artists sketch in the book, and you can store all the business cards you nab.

The binder comes with a Sharpie and a holder for it (love that litte touch), sleeve protectors - perfect for keeping your photo-op pics in good shape, business card holders, and a nice plastic pocket with a zipper - ideal for artwork and postcard-sized flyers. The designs of the printed pages for autographs or cosplay notes have bright and fun designs, and I'm simply floored by the attention to detail throughout the journal. Just look:

It's not pictured, but there are even a couple of pages to make notes about the city the convention is in. You can keep track of the best and worst places you ate and cool stuff to check out outside the convention center. So thoughtful!

The only part of this journal I'm on the fence about is the size. It's tricky because it needs to be big in order to be a three ring binder, and you need all the space to collect your autographs and loot. I totally understand that. However, I don't know if it would fit in my normal convention bag. My guess is they've considered that and hence the awesome tote bag you can get to go with the journal. It's the perfect size and has a long enough strap that you can wear it across your body comfortably (I tested it!). Maybe they'll eventually offer smaller sizes.

Intrigued? You can buy a Con*Quest Adventure Journal of your own at Etsy for $40. It comes with a free tote bag.

Note: The Con*Quest Adventure Journal was provided for review purposes. This did not affect my opinion of the product or my review.