The Moment Of Truth - Fanime Vs. AX

[heeroyuy135]

This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...

[Kaura117]

This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...

In what way? It's highly unlikely we'll beat them in terms of attendance, even given the last few year's worth of crippled AX management.

[videogirlc]

I think both conventions have their good points and bad points. This will be my third AX, and this last Fanime was my 7th one.  I love AX monster hall and the concerts. But I don't like the crowds. While fanime has less crowds, but less things for me to do. But my friends make fanime awesome for me.

[Shinsengumi]

I haven't gone to AX, but I heard that when it comes to people that goes yeah is alot compare to fanime. But to reg is about takes a long time about 5 or 6 hours long I don't know that's what I heard. As for the con itself I heard good and bad stuff about it.

[heeroyuy135]

This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...

In what way? It's highly unlikely we'll beat them in terms of attendance, even given the last few year's worth of crippled AX management.

In terms of overall impression. People weren't impressed with AX '07, which means a lot rode on Fanime '08 to deliver, which it did. Now we'll see if AX '08 can answer back.

[G.I.R]

This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...

In what way? It's highly unlikely we'll beat them in terms of attendance, even given the last few year's worth of crippled AX management.

More attendees doesn't necessarily mean better show. 

I haven't gone to AX, but I heard that when it comes to people that goes yeah is alot compare to fanime. But to reg is about takes a long time about 5 or 6 hours long I don't know that's what I heard. As for the con itself I heard good and bad stuff about it.

Five to Six hours to register is a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of one.  But since I can only go on Sunday, I'm really finding it hard to decide if it's worth going or not just for the above reasons, and since the last two AX's really kinda blew (although I do want to see the Exhibit hall) maybe I'll just save my money for SDCC where i most likely will have fun.

[Nyxyin]

It's not a competition.  Many people go to both.  Many others go to one or the other only because of proximity to the convention.  A lot of people would be upset if either con went away.

[Shinsengumi]

Well we'll find out how it is this weekend.

[Super No 1]

For me, it's not about size or location.  It's more important to me if the event is organized and the staff is helpful as far as providing me with the necessary things to do my job.  Everybody's needs are different.

Example:  PMX.  It's a small con with good programming.  It's organized and the staff has always been very helpful and supportive.

This was the first year I covered Fanime as press and it was a good experience.

AX??  No comment.  Fill in the blanks.

[heeroyuy135]

I'm already starting to hear some of the complaining...one of their featured panels, the Fansubbing one, was Industry-only meaning all regular attendees were locked out.

[ThatBlueDinosaurGuy]

I wanna go to AX next year. But saving up for that, next year's Fanime, and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo is not gonna be an easy task.

[FanFicGuru]

AX did a lot of Industry/Press only panels. But it makes sense because it is really Industry and Press heavy. They don't want fans busting in on their announcements making a ruckus over new licenses etc.

Registration seemed to go way smoother this year, and overall the vibe I"m getting is an improvement over last year, which is good. A lot of good news came out this weekend as well, Funimation picking up around 50 titles that were previously abandoned by Geneon and ADV, Gurren Lagaan Dub Cast as well as Ouran release date and dub cast were all announced this weekend.

AX is still way bigger than fanime. And, if you're industry or press members, definitely better than Fanime. I was at Fanime for ANN and really, there wasn't much to report on. At AX, the News Editor was telling me that they sent a bunch of their guys over there to cover everything...and of course there were announcements almost every other hour.

Fanime and AX are two different conventions with different focuses and priorities. It doesn't make one necessarily better than the other.

[Lisu]

too bad fanime lost this year...not to worry, I still love it more.

In all seriousness, AX was great.

Registration went so fast that we had too much time to spare on the first day.
Lines were a breeze and getting into events was never a bother.
Concerts were amazing, the dealers had plenty of goodies and artist alley was nice.
Oh, and great cosplays...shouldn't forget about that one.

Overall, one of the best con experiences I've ever had.

[Tsubasa]

I'm gonna have to agree that AX this year was pretty good.  Much for the same reasons why Lisu liked it.  Except registration, which I can't comment on, because I had someone pick up my badge for me. XD;

Gonna say I enjoyed Fanime more though.  It's the familiar comfort of the SJCC and larger number of familiar faces that win it for me.  Stripping Fanime of those two advantages and placing both cons on the same level, I realistically probably would have enjoyed AX more.  Blame the dealers hall, enjoyable concerts (musical guests I actually want to see for that matter), and the surprise appearance of Circus.

[Hirotona]

I still liked Fanime more, even though I had an overall very awesome time at AX. It would probably be better then Fanime really only if the hotels were alot closer by and the general location was more like San Jose. This time I actually went to the dealer's room mutiple times and enjoyed spending time there. The AA there was good even if some of the selling pratices I saw were... ehh not so ethical to put it lightly : / Fanime clearly won in the gaming room department, we had more console gaming and an actual choice on what we wanted to play instead of being stuck with about five games.

Two excellent con experinces in a row! I can't wait till the next one.

[Shinsengumi]

I hoping to check out AX soon.

[Jerry]

Darn, I just found out that David Hayter (MGS voice actor) was at AX this year.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168559

I should have gone to AX :P

[Charis]

This year was my first Fanime and my second AX, and overall, I found myself enjoying Fanime more, of the two.  A good part of that may have been the weather, for me -- I despise warm, especially when I'm wearing layers and layers, and AX was pretty daggone hot.  It felt like they didn't have the A/C quite high enough indoors, and outside was pretty gross, lacking the sea breezes from last year.  Also, it was pretty crowded, but that's kind of inevitable with AX.

To me, the big problems with AX were:
- the lack of good photoshoot locations.  For me, a bit part of con is cosplay, and it seemed like the only viable locations were either sunny (yuck), out of the way, both of those, or indoors and crowded.  We did wind up finding a nice little set of benches and trees for a shoot on the very last day, but otherwise, meh.  (I don't know if this contributed to my having less fun at the shoots in general, but I found Fanime's more enjoyable on a whole.  Less bleacher-shots.)
- location.  I expect part of it is the contruction, but it felt like you had to hoof a good distance to get to non-con-centre food and the like, or go back to your hotel -- or maybe it was just the weather making everything seem longer.
- panels.  This comes back to the industry-versus-fan thing, I think, but there weren't really any panels I was honestly interested in.  (In my defence, I don't play MegaTen or the like, but my group enjoyed that one thoroughly; I left so someone who actually knew the stuff and cared could have my seat.)  One of my friends also noted that everything shuts down crazy early as far as panels, which seemed odd.

On the good side, the Dealer's Room was much less fail than last year, the Artist's Alley was awesome, and the smoothies inside the con centre weren't too ridiculously overpriced.  :3  The shuttle service, despite all the misgivings, seemed to work out extremely well.  And frankly, I had enough fun with the people I was hanging out with that I'm going back next year, even if it's just for a day -- but AX is less than two hours from me, so I can do that.

Of course, I'll be back at Fanime next year too, despite the five-hour drive, so take that as you will. :D

[Super No 1]

I agree that the shuttle system worked very well.  On Saturday, I went to hang out with my friends, but not attend the con.  I didn't have a convention membership badge, but was able to board the shuttle bus and have dinner with my friends at their hotel.   :P

[Mr Anime]

This was the first I have ever attended Fanime and had a really good time.  :) I'll definately be back next year. And I went to AX for the 9th time this year and had a REALLY good time. I think what I enjoyed most was the main events which held at the Nokia Theater. My favorite event was the Shoko Nakagawa (Shokota) concert. It was freaking AWESOME!!!  :D Guess if I had to pick which one was better, I'd pick AX. But only by a small margin.