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[abcbadcat]

The pre-reg line was the worst. Why would I pre-reg when I still have to wait 6+ hours in line just to have a plastic colored badge when every other attendee is still getting a plastic badge and probably had to wait in line less!

The arcade is getting stale. I liked how they finally had a real Beatmania IIDX machine but Time Crisis was broken (on the left side), no DanceManiax and of all places, you would think this con would have Jubeat or an updated version of Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune.

I know there are a lot more thing to be said but I am too tired and exhausted to think

[nemuneko]

I don't understand the whole Homestuck thing, either. Maybe I'm just too old to get it (I'm in my late 20's). There did seem to be a huge amount of them this year, though. That's their business if they want to cosplay as that, though. They are all in their little cliques and I just try to ignore them.

I did have a major problem with people blocking walkways this year, though. Was it just me or were a lot of people just downright rude this year? There was a large group of people just standing in the middle of the hallway (at the entrance to the Marriot and the rooms where the panels were held), blocking foot traffic so no one could get through except a very narrow space. I said "excuse me please!" really loudly to get their attention and they just looked at me like I was an idiot. Someone in a wheelchair was trying to get through too, and they still wouldn't move! I noticed this in several areas. They need staff to tell these people to move out of the way because they obviously wouldn't listen to anyone else. They did this in previous years, but this year I hardly saw any staff members telling people to not block the walkways.

And the stench did seem a lot stronger this year. When we walked into the convention center on our first day (Friday), the B.O. just completely overpowered us and we felt like going home and taking another shower. Yikes.

And, yes, pre-registration was a complete MESS this year (the absolute worst in my 10+ years of attending Fanime), but everyone knows that by now. Fill out their feedback form, although I'm not sure how much good that will do.

[Rhornez]

Despite me always going to the arcade, i felt discouraged to even play games funny thing. i heard the rave had nasty underage girls and old men. does anyone not monitor the raves? I spent more time walking and waiting in line than actually doing things :/

[nemuneko]

It definitely was my worst Fanime, in all my years of attending Fanime since the late 90s. Pre-reg was a total MESS and I've never had to wait hours in line for pre-reg before on a Friday afternoon. This will most likely be my last Fanime because of that.

I think Fanime has just gotten so huge that staff can't keep up anymore and have stopped trying altogether. Organization was never the greatest to begin with in previous years, but this year it's like they just flushed it all down the toilet. It definitely soured my entire experience with the con and we missed out on a lot of panels and other events due to waiting in line for pre-reg for hours. It's hard to enjoy anything there anymore with the huge amount of people that attend + lack of organization in general. I really don't look forward to ever going back.

Also, something REALLY needs to be done about people blocking walkways in the con (including photographers). I remember staff telling people to move along or move to the side when people gathered in the middle of hallways in previous years. This year, I didn't see any of that. In one case, people were blocking an entire area (just standing in their huge group talking) at the entrance to the Marriot area where the panels are held and refused to move. I said "excuse me please!" really loudly to get their attention, but they just stared at me like an idiot and wouldn't move. Someone in a wheelchair was trying to get through and they still wouldn't move! This happened a lot and I'm really getting sick of it. There needs to be some sort of traffic control by staff since there are so many people attending now and a lot of these people are just plain self-centered and rude.

All in all, a very disappointing year for me and my friends. We might go back if construction is finished before Fanime starts next year, but if not and/or if pre-reg is going to be an utter mess again, forget it. I'll save my $60+ for something else.

[Rhornez]

It definitely was my worst Fanime, in all my years of attending Fanime since the late 90s. Pre-reg was a total MESS and I've never had to wait hours in line for pre-reg before on a Friday afternoon. This will most likely be my last Fanime because of that.

I think Fanime has just gotten so huge that staff can't keep up anymore and have stopped trying altogether. Organization was never the greatest to begin with in previous years, but this year it's like they just flushed it all down the toilet. It definitely soured my entire experience with the con and we missed out on a lot of panels and other events due to waiting in line for pre-reg for hours. It's hard to enjoy anything there anymore with the huge amount of people that attend + lack of organization in general. I really don't look forward to ever going back.

Also, something REALLY needs to be done about people blocking walkways in the con (including photographers). I remember staff telling people to move along or move to the side when people gathered in the middle of hallways in previous years. This year, I didn't see any of that. In one case, people were blocking an entire area (just standing in their huge group talking) at the entrance to the Marriot area where the panels are held and refused to move. I said "excuse me please!" really loudly to get their attention, but they just stared at me like an idiot and wouldn't move. Someone in a wheelchair was trying to get through and they still wouldn't move! This happened a lot and I'm really getting sick of it. There needs to be some sort of traffic control by staff since there are so many people attending now and a lot of these people are just plain self-centered and rude.

All in all, a very disappointing year for me and my friends. We might go back if construction is finished before Fanime starts next year, but if not and/or if pre-reg is going to be an utter mess again, forget it. I'll save my $60+ for something else.

I was really tempted to rush and push people i was stopped 4 times because someone decided it was okay to just stand in the middle being an idiot and stop the traffic of people behind me, i need a spear...

[01]

 The masquerade was unorganized this year and my microphone was off.  By the time i performed my soul was asleep.

[Rhornez]

The masquerade was unorganized this year and my microphone was off.  By the time i performed my soul was asleep.

i havent been to the masquerade since 2011 because ric meyers wasnt the host of it in 2012 and 2013. ah crap i am sorry for not being able to perform properly :/

[Yuu- pon]

Im using an iPad so I wont even attempt to quote all the posts I want to respond to. Ill just stick with the key points.

- I dont mind irrelevant cosplayers BEING there either. I mind that the BBC ( or was it nickelodeon?) was not only allowed an official but that they got it it at 1 in the afternoon; a prime time that could have been given to something actually relevant

The Masquerade . I attended it last year for the first time in many years. It became apparent that 95 perc. of the skits are painfully high- pitched MOE songs to played out dances or the same 3 memes over and over. The immature meowing and marco polo- ing gives no respite in between.

It must be frustrating to those who put a lot of work into original and well thought - out skits which will never be seen.

Crowding

" What is the meaning of these tape lines and signs with arrows on the walls? " Why it was obviously because a few staffers just thought it would be really fun to to crawl on thier hands and knees down the length of the con center al for a tape race. The sogns were just to confuse us. Damn those staffers! Always going out of thier way to make our con experience as confusing as possible! ( im sitting at Cocos killing several hours until my train arrives, no, I dont have anything better to do)

All smartassary aside, the lanes created by the staffers are brilliant. Please use them.

Know your laws.

This has been a problem at everyone con Ive attended. During my incredibly frustrating time dealing with the attention skanks and the followed them into the background of our official photoshoot, that stupid Trekky yelled at me" this is a public place!"
No, no, it isnt. It is private property owned by the con  center. That fact alone is what keeps the protesters in the middle of the street.

And to not seem biased, there was an incident at SC in WA where a rover told some girls they couldnt take yaoi photos while in a public park.

I think that informing people of these boundaries and what they mean would solve many unesecery  conflicts.

I know that I mentioned this before, but A lot of the outside crowded was ( and has always been) because scantly clad( if you can even say that) women and thier creeper photographers.
Really. Ask a generic cosplayer to move, and 99 perc. Of the time they do, with no issues. Try to get a cosskank and  photographer to mover, your request will fall on deaf ears. Or they'll just tell you to piss off.

Why dont we have a specified " Creep corner?" Creepy photographers can set up thier and cosskanks can show up there when they want attention. Its like a 24/7 official photoshoot. That should make them feel special.

[AuroraSareii]

Seriously though, I'm wondering what went through the staff's heads when they decided that 5 laptops and approximately 15 people working badge booths to accommodate the thousands of people who were showing up at once was a brilliant idea?

I'm expecting a good number of these topics to show up here, but it was enraging to hear the stories I have other this weekend so every little mention should HOPEFULLY get heard by next year...if not, consider me done with fanime.

My own story isn't nearly as horrible but does kind of show a good example of how unorganized this is. I had planned on going to day zero badge pickup, but I was already getting texts from friends saying "This line is too long, just stay at the hotel or something", "consider yourself lucky right now", etc. So when two of my friends and I went the next morning to pick up our badges, we went up the main escalators and a staff member at the doors asked if we had any questions. All we did was ask about where pre-registration people go since we'd literally just gotten there, and she pointed into the room towards the two lines, telling us to go on the left. I found out about a half hour later this was the last room of a massive 3-4 hour line, and we were just told to go right in (makes me wonder how many people came up, confused and just wanting directions, but were essentially given a free pass of several hours). Another roommate who'd been there 3 hours before me walked into the room just a few minutes later, rather confused and upset how I'd gotten ahead of her.

And it still took almost two hours to get our badges, from a line of booths where I saw 5 people handing pre-registration, 3 handling on-site (after only having 5 laptops in the other room for them to check in), and maybe 9 people passing badges out.

I've gone to Fanime for several years now, and the only problem with registration I've ever had was when a system crash last year (or so we were told) brought the line to a stop for 4 hours. Everything else was smooth and it was awesome, but I think it's gotten far too big to expect this to keep working. Other large conventions are on top of this already, I don't see how this is an issue. AX is supposed to be the counterpart to Fanime and yet it runs so much smoother with almost as many people, most likely more by this point. I don't know....I just know a lot of people who aren't going to bother with the convention next year if this isn't fixed. I'm not spending 60 bucks for a weekend I'm going to miss most events for anyways, just waiting 7 hours in line. All those people wanting to go to Clockwork on friday night? Hahahaha good luck getting your badge in time if you happen to have school that day.



As an added note, I'd like to know what the hell even happened with the masquerade, seems like the staff wasn't quite on it that night with the serious number of sound mix-ups, cut offs, early starts and no script. I felt sorry for the people who'd practiced so hard to go up there, suddenly having everything go wrong in front of everyone.

[AuroraSareii]

Being one of those homestuck cosplayers, sorry for being offended but yeah, rather offended. I was under the impression that a lot of various fandoms are embraced at conventions, but it's homestuck that gets most of the slack simply because there's a lot of us? Believe me, a con to ourselves would be nice, but why take it out on us if there isn't one and we just happen to want to cosplay and find others interested in it? You have your cosplays, we have ours. There are plenty of other things at this convention not related to anime or japanese culture anyways. The league of legends gathering was huge as well, maybe not 500 people but that sure as hell isn't an anime.

As for everything else, chifunii hit the point well on all those. I do have to comment on the artist alley location as well though. South Hall is NOT that far...it's half a block and directly behind the convention center. By the way, it's huge or did you not notice? Artist Alley in previous years was so painfully cramped, it was wonderful to have a huge hall entirely for this, and it was actually really cool in there compared to the warm stuffy air in dealer's hall. Construction isn't supposed to end until next winter, so apparently we're getting one more convention with the construction, but it should be really amazing after.

I didn't have too much trouble with people blocking walkways this year, but I had SERIOUS issues with it over by the dealer's hall entrance, where they taped the silly little roadway isles down. It was a good idea I guess, but horribly followed up on, when large groups of people stopped for pictures dead center of it. Of all the roaming staff I saw, I never saw any there and if I did, they didn't say a word about keeping it moving.

[Yuu- pon]

Your supposed to be offended.

- You ASSUME that it is for every fandom because people are entitled and inconsiderate: they barge theyre way in without caring whether or not they are welcome. It was okay at first but since con staff/ attendees are polite and dont want to single anyone out, other fandoms have taken advantage and do whatever the hell want and force the rest of us to accept it.

-For the record I dont approve of ANY fandom doing the afore mentioned. I had distain for star wars costumes long before homestuck existed.

- Yes, it is because there are 500 of you. Even the most obnoxiously popular ANIME series have capped out at maybe 200 .

- To me a lot of homestuck cosplay just seems lazy and uncreative. Black  T- shirt, jeans and horns. It makes me think that some people are only doing because its popular and they dont to put in any effort. I have a few good ones, but I think there is some extra responsibility on those enormous groups to do a little better. I felt the same way when. I cosplayed Bleached.

[AuroraSareii]

So explain how we're supposed to coordinate so there aren't 500 of us. If your response is actually going to be "just stop doing what you're enjoying", you're kind of just as bad. I'm still amazed that people hate us for this. It's not like we can automatically know how many there will be, and just NOT cosplay something we enjoy? I've already dropped homestuck as a cosplay because of this and because no matter what I can do, people will hate what I do ENTIRELY because it's homestuck. I'm sorry we have a horrible reputation but we also get horrible responses for things not all of us are responsible for. And yeah, it's simple cosplay. No it's not as well thought out, although some are amazing. But it gives people a chance to cosplay something they enjoy for less cost and not as much talent if they don't have it?

[Yuu- pon]

Yes, my response is stop doing what your doing. You cannot just do whatever you want everywhere all the time. The world does  not revolve around you.

[AuroraSareii]

Likewise, considering I've done nothing but defend myself and others against you lol

[Yuu- pon]

When you come to the table with a willingness' to discuss possible solutions and compromise I might listen . All your doing is playing the victim against the big bad....minority?

[nemuneko]

I believe construction will be finished this fall, according to the official San Jose website (http://www.sanjose.org/content/san-jose-convention-center-expansion-and-renovation-opening-fall-2013). MercuryNews.com also had an article about it. Some people are saying next year, but this is incorrect from what I've read. Just wanted to throw that out there for people who are concerned about that.

Construction or not, I'm unsure if I will be returning to Fanime after the mess it was this year.

[AuroraSareii]

Hahaha what the hell? 500 to 20,000 and you're calling yourself the minority? Solutions and compromises to what now? What are you, 14? Sorry you hate everything you're not interested in and sorry you want all of us to bend to your will, but whoops everyone likes their own stuff so it's gonna happen.

"You cannot just do whatever you want everywhere all the time" and such.

Best just to stick to your own and let others have theirs, as I really dont care what you cosplay and if it was something I didn't like, I wouldn't care either way. Wouldn't call you out on it or anything.

But awesome, thanks nemuneko, I hadn't heard an exact date so that's cool to hear it'll be open earlier than I was told.

[Yuu- pon]

I am not the one who resorted to insults. I wasted my time trying be civil and you ignored itall and decided that I wanted you "just  stop doing what your doing"

I am cosplaying as an anime character at an anime convention. I am not going to sci- fi con, nor comic con and forcing them to accept me. I am well within my boundaries.

[AuroraSareii]

Hahaha alright, whatever you'd like. I personally consider "entitled, inconsiderate, self-centered" as insults but ok.

Everyone take note that everyone must be an anime cosplayer for fanime! No more video games, no more comic books, no more movies, no more webcomics or american cartoons. There goes roughly a third of the gatherings, and approximately a quarter of dealer's hall

Can I also mention that fanime is by fans, for fans, and has been for all fandoms for I don't even care to count how many years? It's easy to get into, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, maybe we actually enjoy anime too, and most people aren't extremely "self centered and care only for their anime" and actually are nice to talk to. Seems like you're the odd one out here so, I'm sorry for existing since it seems to hinder your own interests and amusement.

[Zabi]

There were a lot of people being turned down for not having the proper heels or if the dress just above the knee. My friend got in with her dress just fine, but then when we just stood at the door to the outside she got kick out for "having too short of a dress." We saw another girl in the ball which did not even belong in such a setting, it was more appropriate for a rave than Ball. And then my other friend was let in with her heels, but left because her boyfriend forgot to change his shoes. When they returned she was denied for being a quarter too high. They really need to revise the dress code to the ball. And what was up with the stormtrooper inside the ball? If he was more suited up then yes, but he did not even change into formal wear. It was very ridiculous! Both my friends spent money for their dresses which cost around $60 - $70 just to go to the ball. They seriously need to train the people better and have to revise their policies/dress code for the Ball.