Messages

[Why aren't they paying attention?]

Seems like there is a general consensus that the one-day passes are a bit excessively high, but I imagine that is a somewhat deliberate decision since as others have pointed out, the con center staff checking badges at the access points were generally NOT checking to see if it was a full weekend pass versus a one-day pass. Having the one-day passes priced as high as they are offsets the losses from people cheating the system, while also encouraging people to try and pre-reg when possible. Doing a discounted/shoppers access badge for Mondays sounds like a great idea though- the 'just-wanna-shop' crowd could get in, and a steeply discounted final day would also be a great "first taste of a con" for convention newcomers who haven't gone to a con before but are leery about committing to a full weekend right from the start.

Let's not brush off the possibility of a new and better system simply due to the pass checkers not doing their job. If they're volunteers or the hired security staff, they should be mindful of their responsibilities. Especially if they're a volunteer and they're getting a free pass to the con (which is kinda what we're all debating here.. con-accessibility/cost).

By the logic of your post it seems that the dam that's holding off the one day pass is due to the incompetence of the staff.

Also, your last suggestion of the "discounted/shoppers access badge for Mondays" would run you into the same wall of problems. Unless that pass was only sold in person on Monday, what's to stop people from buying that cheaper pass for Monday and using it for the entire duration of the con? Unless it looked significantly different. And if the passes (full weekend VS single day) could look significantly different (or just different enough where lazy staff pass checkers could tell with little effort what passes they're looking at) then why not just offer a variety of different passes and have all of the single day passes be lower & not just have the Monday pass be at a lower price.

If it is the staff then I really don't see an issue in lowering the one day passes. Why aren't they paying attention? After the pre-registration passes are cut off then what would it matter selling a cheaper 1 day pass? Certainly a con-goer intending to attend all "four" days would not spend more buying all four one day passes (which would end up being far more expensive). Also, I would imagine that they'd be much more revenue selling more lower priced single day con passes rather then a few single day passes at the cost they are now. Maybe there should be a special sticker or shape to the full weekend passes, but honestly I think if the staff aren't checking then Fanime is playing themselves. Maybe we should all just buy one day passes from now on if we miss pre-registration and use them for the full weekend since nobody is paying any mind.

ALSO, I would think that Friday or even an earlier day would be a better day for a shopper pass. If all you want to go to Fanime for is to shop... then you would probably want to get in there earlier before a lot of items you might be after sell out.

[rave]

5. Lying bout the history of pass price increases doesn't do any favors for one's credibility, especially when some of us like to keep our old paperwork and can fact-check all of this stuff.

Post paperwork please. Let's stop messing around and get serious about this matter.

After reading this thread it does seem that a bunch of people are finding the 1 day passes to be unreasonably overpriced. Do the organizers of Fanime read these threads and address the feedback? Maybe if I mention how much I loved the rave this year. :)

ALSO! Has the Henti night getting shut down on Sunday been brought up anywhere yet? What happened with all of that anyway? I have a suggestion for the late night video rooms, where can I post it?

"« Last Edit: Today at 12:35:55 AM by eww »"

I couldn't really tell what was edited by eww. It looks the same to me. It should be common courtesy to leave a footnote indicating what you've altered.

I mean, how would you like if I snuck into a lengthy post of yours and altered your words around? Again, I can't even tell what you did but it kind of bothers me. What did you change?

Honestly, my complaint about the vendors was pretty mild overall, and I feel like your post is seriously escalating things to a level of aggression and pettiness that wasn't in this thread before.


Re: increased police presence, I didn't notice that, but I did notice a lot of sirens this year, possibly more than previous years. Was there an increase in medical emergencies or other issues, or was I just taking more notice, I wonder?

Honestly if someone where to say these things out loud in regards to the homeless people, I feel like what had been written was already petty. I mean I think classism is a word that could be thrown into that conversation if we're omitting politics and economics. Though I wasn't trying to be aggressive & sorry if it came off that way. Definitely did want to nudge people in the direction of maybe not taking these issues so lightly as to think that their 4 day Fanime vacation is more important than an entire homeless community though.

Was genuinely curious about the aggressive marketing. Did not run into/notice any of that, but the con is different for everyone. Sorry to hear about that.

Personally I only noticed 1 medical emergency, this year, thankfully. I believe on Sunday night. Hopefully it was the only one.

What I don't find reasonable? One-day badge prices. A friend of mine was only able to go on Monday and paid almost as much as I did for my weekend badge for a half day of con. Monday in particular, when everyone is packing up and there's little in the way on content, shouldn't cost so much.

Completely agree with your entire post. Especially this part. I think maybe it's like for single day passes to try to make money off the people who are curious about the con or people who found out they could go late minute. That doesn't seem right. Maybe have one day be a discount day or something?

Though I agree and personally (maybe with some guilt) enjoy the less crowed halls of the upstairs. The people that come in to check out the downstairs con without a pass shouldn't be seen a problem. I think the rooms downstairs or even the karaoke (when it was "free" up to two years ago) is a nice way to introduce people to the con who maybe weren't aware of it. They might want to go next year & every year after that just on given the freedom to check out a screening room.

Is the con getting bigger? It seemed smaller. It'd be interesting to see those stats!

No offense but if you're from San Jose and you 31 years old how is this new to you? You sound like a pretty sheltered human being (and there's nothing wrong with that) but these people are out here every night in that area. They don't have the means to go anywhere else & just because it's Fanime weekend or whatever other con weekend it doesn't give you the right to remove them from where they feel safe sleeping or being. They're not there for the purpose of bothering you. If you don't believe me walk around there tonight and post pictures of that same walk between the hotels. I'm sure you'll find them there every other night too. Maybe you're just not from the downtown area/ don't go out at night regularly?

If seeing the reality of the world brothers you this much on your walk to go get a burrito maybe you should exit the con from the doors next to the Peets Coffee (below the dance) and take an Uber or whatever to drop you off in front of where you need to go.

Really only noticed 3 panhandlers within that walk tbh. The panhandlers I remember were: A man with a kitten sitting on San Carlos in front of Arcadia, a man playing a guitar with a dog who was in front of the Fairmont, and I think on Sunday a different older man was in front of Arcadia. I've seen all of them around downtown before & I didn't notice any of them being rude or anything when I walked by. (In fact, the guitar player with the dog was nice enough to let me pet his dog & he didn't even ask me for money or anything. Wished me a nice day too.) Does anyone have any negative stories to share or where they just bothered by their mere existences?

What good does it do to see these people as "the others" and judge them? Calling the existence of human beings "eyesores" ...

Also, I'm kind of bothered by the fact that you're "speaking" for female teens, especially since you're not one. Like what you're implying, I mean.. It almost sounded insincere and like you threw that comment in to get people to side with your point which really bugs me. Downtown is a college/university area. Teens that are legally allowed to be out that late and other adult women are in that area often at late hours. That being said, I am not going to undermine or try to guess at what it's like for them or anyone to walk through any given street at given time of the day/night. Idk, I just thought that little one line think-piece-statement at the end was really gross.

***

As far as the hotdog venders go. If they bug you that much & they're there without permission (of the con & the city) you could always call the cops. I mean if you want to be that guy. That's a problem you could just fix yourself. Personally, I think that'd be super petty. I noticed a lot of people (including myself) enjoying the hotdogs. They're especially a deal at night when you want to be outside for a while but you're kinda too lazy to walk. If they do have proper licensing, then idk, I guess people will just be able to keep having the option to enjoy hotdogs at Fanime?

Also.. aggressive marketing? To whomever wrote that, c'mon. I literally just heard the words "hotdog" or "hotdog my friend" said in passing to me (almost neutrally so) as I walked by the vendors. What exactly did you experience?

***

I get the con is expensive and we're all trying to have a good of a time as possible but some of you guys are being extra right now. Post-con depression/aggression or something, idk. You're posting on here to get the mods to rally together to do something about the homeless & you're a native? There was a good 50 ft from the front doors to hotdog vendors. Am I nuts!?

[I explained the Miyazaki signature in like the 3rd comment down yet everyone kept harping on it.]

This post has gotten far too negative so I am retiring from actively posting under it unless it's tone changes.

I was simply asking if anyone experienced any problems or had a problem with Fanime 2015 and felt there was something that they thought could be improved. I explained the Miyazaki signature in like the 3rd comment down yet everyone kept harping on it. Out of boredom? Out of anger? To avoid the subject of discussion out of ravenous pride for the Con and a cloud of attendee vanity? I'm not sure. I'd love a quote where I said that I did not enjoy the con. Or a quote from me that goes against me saying what I'm saying now; that I had a way more positive experiences than negative ones, and actually I didn't have any negative experiences really, just some things seemed to dim in excitement into the night where I wanted them to come more alive. Perhaps that's me fully wishing the con was a 2nd Halloween? A second Christmas? In a way isn't it a bit of both with some bonus stuff thrown in?

Personally, I just had a problem with the lulls toward the end of the evenings. It felt like it got very quiet, except for the game of trivia or whatever it is on the 2nd floor and the karaoke room which were thankfully non-stop. Was it me or did a lot of people not enjoy the selection of anime played this year? A lot of the rooms were noticeably empty, and I'm not talking about 2am and onward, while wondering around at various times I noticed rooms that were filled with only 5 or so people. I wonder if some kind of vote system could be put into effect, like those facebook quiz questions. My favorite room was the random room, that room next to the karaoke room, it was a lot of fun, it was always full, they changed the schedule of videos or clips often and kept it really fresh, there was kind of a moment where they played like 6 hours of 20 second clips, little sketch bits with overdub audio, really hilarious stuff but it would've been nice to have a break or something. To be honest that might just be because I was in there for 4 hours because it was the funnest room.

I think maybe that's what I'm trying to say, it would be nice if the other rooms felt like that, like watching television with a room full of people who are enjoying what you're watching, like being in a packed theater the opening night of a popular new release, everything kind of seems to come alive.

Also more things like that couple playing the violins would be great. That was really special and random, was that unplanned? If it was, it'd be cool to get more things like that scattered around the halls for next year. If it was planned, then kudos to whoever booked that. Like even another event station or something in the hall above those outside steps, like the hall behind all that glass on the 2nd floor. But maybe that's a bit of that magic that the attendees bring to the con, the ones with the overly great costumes, that come in groups, that perform skits, or have huge cosplay costumes that seem to land like a meteorite. I'm not saying there wasn't a lot of that this year, there was an abundance, maybe I'm just wondering if the organizers could try to create vehicles for these things to come in on, plant magnets for more things like that to gravitate toward.

I wonder if other cons have similar flows to this one? I like that this one doesn't seem to really have a schedule, well for somethings yes, but like you could come in for the most part at any time and it feels the same as coming in at another time. I really like that about this con. Though maybe some kiosks or some of the meetings would be cool to be made available in the later hours. Was this me just missing these things, or yeah were there no meetings in the hotel rooms at night? Is this because of the restrictions of the hotel?

That's all I gotta say. Thanks for reading if you did. I'm not trying to attack Fanime (I feel like that's obvious but I'll blatantly state it anyway) I'd just like to see if any of what I'm saying resonates with anyone else. Maybe someone has some feedback for how next year others as well as myself can avoid these lulls? If they'd like to complain about things they feel could be fine tuned. And yeah, if this thread isn't appreciated then report it to the mods and have them take it down. I have no issue with that.

These stories make me so sad. Especially since Fanime has that vibe of being such a zero anxiety & welcoming place for everyone.

I'm not sure if this advise would help but hopefully it might. Though I should note that it's sad that this needs to be said because photographers are trying to take advantage of people who are giving them permission to photograph them a certain way and instead are trying to get a photograph for themselves that's out of context from what was agreed upon.

If you're letting yourself be photographed by someone with a DSLR (or any other digital camera) who you're kind of getting a weird vibe from, I'd suggest saying to them that you agree to take the picture as long as you can approve of it after it's been taken. If they disagree to this then they're probably up to something strange.

Also if maybe you feel an area of your costume might be exposed or whatever in a way you feel you don't want it to be, I'd try maybe posing in a way where that area is more covered up or possible incorporating a prop if you have one to try to cover up this area.

Lastly, I'd suggest asking to take a picture of the photographer beforehand, maybe bring it up in an unsuspecting way like saying you like their outfit or if they're casually clothed um, saying you like to take portraits too, or yeah just be upfront and say you've had some weird encounters. I mean this is hit or miss since a lot of people (whether behind a camera or not) don't like getting their picture taken but if it'll make you feel safer I would definitely suggest doing this. Then if they are up to something weird you could report them to the supervisors and hopefully have a better chance of getting them caught.

I hope this does NOT sound like I'm saying the model needs to "step up" to feel like she's not being sexualized, I really do. I'm not saying that, but yeah there are weirdos out there and maybe if you're not sure of saying "no, I don't want my picture taken" and want to give them the benefit of the doubt then I hope this will help to not put a negative dent into your future weekends at upcoming Cons.

All this being said I'm really glad that for the most part I've seen a lot of positive bonding and great memories being had by photographers and their subjects. Either professional ones with pro gear, walker-bys noticing an exciting costume that they want to snap with their iPhone, and lots of other experiences too. Even street-photography picture taking at the con seems to be in a positive direction.

Don't be afraid to reach out or say something. I'd say odds are 10 out of 10 that other people will help defend/stand with you against creeps. Sorry again for the fact that you had to go through these horrible experiences. Hopefully you won't have any at the next con.

Bump for high quality audio.

No jk, but really, thanks for posting this little slice of Fanime, I love it when things materialize this heavily on the internet. I tried to watch a few but they were so hard to hear I kind of gave up.

I did like Dan's video though, his voice carried over the church of reverb pretty well and I liked most of his set. Then the video after went kind of back to this undecipherable noise so I gave up.

Will definitely check back to watch the rest. Please update this post if you get any of the audio on the videos fixed or comment if you know any tips to get them to sound bearable. Thanks again for sharing.

No, it's a pretty serious request. I've read the replies and appreciate them. Maybe if I post enough the word will reach Japan, Idk, it could happen. I'd definitely be there in a heartbeat if he came, omg, yeah I think I'd be first in line for the meet and greet or whatever went down. And being first in line to a thing like that would probably take some effort.

As far as the whole trolling thing goes, I don't really post it to like hi-jack other people's posts and never mean the cause's presence on this forum in any negative way. Also in this case it was more of "signature" if you will, they're pretty common in forums, I just haven't figured out how to that on this forum.

Would love to hear your biggest problem with Fanime 2015. Peace!

[>:( DO NOT ATTEND FANIME 2016 IF HAYAO MIYAZAKI IS NOT AN ANNOUNCED GUEST. >:(]

I have many, would love to hear what other people's were.

What would've made it more fun?

This post is intended to let me people vent, complain, and hopefully have their comments be heard by the staff. Please, no extreme negativity unless absolutely necessary.

Thank you.

>:( DO NOT ATTEND FANIME 2016 IF HAYAO MIYAZAKI IS NOT AN ANNOUNCED GUEST. >:(

Four questions.

1.) Are you going to this years con?

2.) Why are you leaving?

3.) How old are you?

4.) How much did you get paid for your involvement in the con overall. And be honest.

[why is Hayao Miyazaki not at this years con]

Karaoke runs from 2PM to 2AM this year. I feel like it ended later in previous years?

I feel like it did too! That's not even later than closing time. I love watching people who've obviously finished hitting the downtown bars come back to the con and belt out a few numbers completely dunk. Is there a mod who's an organizer who try to change this?

Thank you all for your replies, if anyone wants to comment on here about how much they wish the karaoke was 24/7 they totally should. Also, please share more epic stories!

At last years con I walked out of the bathroom and saw this couple HEAVILY making out, the guy was right on top of the girl with his shirt off, 2nd base, grinding, and everything, people formed for the hentai line around and they didn't even notice. I think I saw them like that about 10 more time that weekend... in the main lobby, outside on the steps, in front of a different bathroom, probably horny from all the ecstasy and whatever else they were on. It was really wild.

Why does that downstairs room with all of the ropes (like the use in movie theater concession lines) never get any use? Is it just used for people to get their passes on the 1st day?

Also why is Hayao Miyazaki not at this years con? I personally am outraged and disgusted they did not think to book him. He's a pretty big deal.

You two should do it even if nobody else shows up. Play WORLD ORDER from a cellphone speaker and see if anything happens. If nothing happens repeat the dance until Monday and report back here how many joined in.

Has anyone ever showed up as this guy? I think that would be a riot.

[Hayao Miyazaki]

Moving this comment to the other thread, feel it'll be better spent there.

Post it on every thread, maybe they'll start paying attention!

Hayao Miyazaki for guest of honor in 2016 or we all protest the next con!!!

Is the con 24 hours? I've visited at like 3am and there is still people walking around inside, and a bunch of people are outside still too. Is the dance 24hrs? Are hotel parties a common thing? How crazy does the con get? Tell me 1st hand experiences of the craziest thing you've ever seen. I think I've noticed that every year it seems to get less and less sleep, which I really like.

Mod edit: Its called a dance

I'm hoping to find a Totoro plush the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. Japanese markers. Strange small toys. Stickers. Candy. Hopefully a nice mug. If anyone has any cameras or film I'll be checking that out for sure too. I've never actually browsed the Dealer Room too thoroughly at any of the previous cons.

[Hayao Miyazaki]

Hayao Miyazaki for Fanime guest of honor in 2016!!!

If they do not book him I vote we all protest the event. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I would also like a live performance by Yellow Magic Orchestra or I will also protest the event.

Enough with this tomfoolery! It seems all anyone cares about is the disgusting cells housing Henti films at the end of the hall. I might consider walking around with a petition collecting signatures for all of these demands. My goal is to collect 500 signatures at least and make 2016's con the best one yet. We should all be trying to help achieve a higher standard. Personally I've been trying to email the head organizers for months now, all my efforts have gone ignored.