Masquerade prizing...

[slifertheskydragon]

i'm not complaining since the trophies are really nice and we did participate for the fans and fun but... idk about the other groups (excluding best of show) but random anime/general advertisements from as far back as comic-con 2002 as prizes... was... um... e_e;;

I don't know if it's possible to get Viz Media or Funimation to sponsor the masquerade because they could probably give out some DVDs or something like at Cherry Blossom Festival and advertisements for upcoming/recently released products...

i-it's ok i was just a bit shocked since i've never won anything in fanime masquerade before until this year and it was odd

[Dany]

Feel like I want to step in on this...carefully of course, but since someone has breached the subject...

Let me say with all the emphasis that I can muster that I am NOT unappreciative of the fact that there are goodie bags and trophies. I am grateful that we get that sort of stuff. I am particularly a big fan of the trophy because yes, we have a trophy shelf and I like adding to it when we have earned something in an event.

And there were a few neat things that our prize bag included. I think the piece best received was one of the smallest...a Go Nagai surprise box that immediately went to my husband because he is a big fan. It wasn't huge amounts of stuff, but we didn't get Best in Show, so that's OK :)

(I DO like that BiS got cash this year, that was a big surprise, and I'm sure they appreciated that too!)

That said, I was a bit boggled to see almost 30 postcards, most of which were for things that were out of date/way past/could not be properly appreciated by the recipient because they were old. We are not talking recently past..some were several years previous. Stuff from when Lord of the Rings was coming out. Witchblade from 1998, I believe (I was stunned by that one, and it's one of the few I kept because I like the original comic)...One of them was for registering for a university on it, and had someone's scribbled notes all over it.  That one gave me a moment of definite confusion...did someone mistake the goodie bags for a trash bag on accident?

I know it's not easy to get people to contribute, and that is OK. What I will kindly request is that going forward, if promo material is included with the prizes, that it be stuff we can look forward to, rather than be rescues from freebie tables past.

[airanimechiic]

oh just curious. i didnt stick around to the end of the masquerade, but who were the winners?

[eralston]

Post with the winners

[UsakoMinako]

I'm not going to lie... If you win at fanime, just look forward to the recognition and the trophy. The rest is literally whatever the vendors want to get rid of, which sadly 90% just gets added to the swap meet pile, thrown out or given to the good will. This is my 11th Fanime Masquerade and I have seem some pretty ok prizes in 2009 but I think the higher the prize the better the products. Something should be done if possible about the quality or prizes. Either bigger trophies, better merchandise, or competitive prizes to other conventions. I am grateful they stopped giving out ancient fanime t shirts :)

[kookiekween99]

I am grateful they stopped giving out ancient fanime t shirts :)

I personally would love t-shirts from any year before 2010. But that's me and I'm crazy and I like collecting random Fanime stuff. Other people are probably a different kind of crazy and collect normal things like comic books and action figures.

[DayDreamerNessa]

My group won best master construction and that's the 2nd highest title and we literally got junk too!!!

I'll say this- in our bag of stuff we received an EMPTY box from what looked like it used to contain trading card packs. Now that's literally junk ^^;;; and the other stuff mentioned old OLD postcards and flyers.

It broke my heart because, our costumes had a ridiculous amount of time money blood and tears put into them, and the staff should've just nixed the bags, it's kind of depressing that they were freeloading junk onto it's winners...

[Dany]

And here is the thing...I appreciate that we get ANYTHING, but really, there is a point to where you have to look at something and decide whether it is even worth the bother to give it out.  The postcards and paper stuff..those were not prizes.  That is bag filler and it is insulting to the hard work of the participants to try to pass it off as more than that. Recycle them and print certificates off the recycled stuff you want to give paper...at least that is a souvenir that will be enjoyed far more.

Since it is not ALL that is in the bags I know someone is trying, but that is my only true beef on the matter.

[rynn]

I agree with what everyone else has said. I think the trophies are really wonderful and I hope they are still available in the future, but everything else is not worth giving out. I think all of the groups would have been happier with a simple ink-jet award certificate, than a bag full of trash from 2002. Not to sound ungrateful, but it cheapens the quality of what is otherwise one of the best masquerades in the country.

[Fi-Fi]

I agree with Rynn and Dany, I am pretty sure we ended up giving almost everything from our 2011 prize to the people on our hotel floor.  They enjoyed it, but I would have preferred something like a certificate for all the members of the group and a trophy for the group as a whole. But finding post cards and old Japanese manga magazines... meh, recycle the paper

[UsakoMinako]

Don't get me wrong, I love masq and we're lucky to have any prizes at all, but change can do wonders for your image ^_^