Con feedback (Feedback will not effectively reach staff if you do not use form)

[keitoghostie]

I'm a mod for a Bay Area Homestuck group and I can tell you that even if there were a Homestuck convention that occurred in the same month as Fanime it probably wouldn't make a huge impact because people in general like to represent media they enjoy and find like-minded people and Fanime allows for a lot of people with similar interests to be in one place at one time. There are frequent Homestuck meetups that take place but the scale of things is very different compared to Fanime.
I've considered starting some sort of Homestuck convention in the area to provide a similar experience (of being at a large convention) but at the moment I don't have the resources to do so.

That said, I definitely understand how the prevalence of events and cosplays dedicated to western media detract from the vibe of Fanime. I'm not going to shit talk any particular fandom, but there are definitely ones that bother me as well.
I personally know that Homestuck can be obnoxious for a number of attendees so I try to balance what I present - be it cosplay or events.

I feel like the increasing number of fandom-centric panels (not just Homestuck but also Superwholock, Hetalia, etc.) divide con attendees into sections, causing things to be more segregated and people to get more defensive.
I'm really proud of the anime mad libs panels my friend and I have put on since 2012 because they bring things back to a feel of a more united general anime fan collective, which is something I really like about Fanime!
I make a point to cosplay from anime more often than that of Homestuck for this reason as well, and probably spent about 15% of my convention time in Homestuck cosplay this year.

What I'm saying is I completely understand what the issue is, but even as a respected authority in the Homestuck fandom there's not much I can really do aside from what I'm currently doing.

[Zabi]

I am sorry, but registration needs to have a better system than the one that was in place. In order to go faster, you need more booths for pre-reg and reg. Everything should be computerized with bar codes or keep it the same (which was okay-ish) for pre-reg, and for at-con reg they should hand out the reg papers while in line so they only have to hand it once up there. They should also print out the badge at the booth; making us wait in another line just for the badge is very ridiculous. I have never attended a con that ever did that and I now know why; you slow down the line that way. Also, the con bags should come with the lanyard/attachments for the badge already in them, thus speeding up the process. Just hand the bags as everyone is leaving the registration area. Like come on, waiting in line for 4-6 hours in line and missing almost a whole day at con  is very ridiculous. I needed to go cancel my room and move my stuff to a different hotel room, I was getting very frustrated waiting in that line-ception.

I believed this con was a very disorganized and I may never go back. This was my first time going to a con outside of Los Angeles and my impression of Fanime has turned from awesome to god awful. I was expecting it to be similar to Anime Expo, but it was not (just because both are very large anime cons). I am sorry to say but the staff needs to be trained better and the con seriously need to be organized better. The only saving point to this con was the Dance (which was okay) and the cosplayers. And I may not return next year due to this awful experience with the convention itself. In my opinion it was not really worth the 6 hour drive up.

[Firefury Amahira]

I'm probably going to sound like the odd one out here, but I really enjoyed Fanime this year. Yeah, there were problems, but I think there are always going to be problems at an event this size, and the construction only compounded it.

-Can't offer much relevant commentary on reg lines- all three years I've attended I've been a panelist, so I've yet to really deal too much with the regular line. They could probably find a better and more efficient way to DO it though; little things to improve overall efficiency such as taking payments online, pre-printing badges and sorting them by last name for more rapid pickup, and so on.

-Definitely needed more staff patrolling along the traffic lanes in the convention center to keep people from blocking it up though, ESPECIALLY down near the dealer's hall and in the Marriot hallway. It seemed like random photo-takers and such were a bigger problem in those areas this year than last year. Not sure about increased rudeness from any particular cosplayers or photographers, but I wasn't out in the gathering area much.

-Seemed a bad move scheduling the Poke-scandalous panel back-to-back with LittleKuriboh's panel; both were traffic-blockingly huge and I think staff was just overwhelmed trying to manage exiting the crowd from one and keeping the line in that hallway in something vaguely resembling order. When a line gets that massive, it would probably be easier to send the excess to some sort of waiting position out of that hallway. Maybe once the construction is finished in the convention center, managing line overflow for panels could perhaps extend to the bottom floor of the convention center or something. Trying to keep the entirety of a line that huge in that hallway just is not working out, resulting in blocked hallways. Another possible solution is setting the panel rooms (especially the big room) with one door as the entrance and another the exit. That floor is set up in a loop, making it a one-way traffic flow might help ease congestion when one of the really enormous panels is lining up.

-Artist Alley being offsite was really annoying, though I get that can be blamed on the construction. Still, I can't help but think maybe the swap meet could have been in the tent since that only ran two nights, and Artist Alley could have maybe been fit into the room where the meet was- it was rather starkly empty the rest of the time. The amount of space in the tent was a nice change of pace though, and I don't know if all those tables would have fit in the indoor exhibit hall.

A lot of the crowding problems this year I suspect will be alleviated when the construction is finished- with so much of the outdoor gathering space blocked off, you had the same huge crowd trying to compete for that much smaller available space. So of course the assholes in the crowd are going to be more apparent in closer quarters.

[Firefury Amahira]

RE: Homestuck (and other non-anime) cosplayers

Fandom should be fun. Cosplay is part of fandom. It should be fun. You don't find Homestuck cosplay to be fun? Nobody is making you cosplay it, or take pictures of it. They paid for a badge just like you did, and presumably they are spending money in the dealer's hall and artist alley, just like you did; and they are participating in the convention, just like you did.

Honestly, I have zero interest in Homestuck myself, but it sure as hell isn't my place to say "You can't dress up at a convention the way you want." (Provided, of course, that said costume isn't violating any public decency laws or convention guidelines.) And frankly, I would think very poorly of Fanime's management if they tried to enforce an anime-only cosplay policy. There is a TON of overlap between anime fandom and various web, comics, and video game fandoms. People like to dress up to reflect one or more of their favorite interests, regardless whether it's Fanime, Anime Expo, or Comic Con. It's no different from the huge cosplay fads for Bleach or Naruto or whatever other fads have come through. It will flare up for a few years, then taper off to less blatantly visible levels.

And having helped run even a small convention, let me tell you: It's very easy to say "Hey, you should set up your own convention for X thing!" Actually doing so is a very large, very expensive logistical undertaking that requires the cooperation and lots of donated time by a large group of people. You have to consider venue, organization, safety (and insurance liability,) staff and organization... and none of these things are particularly cheap nor quick and simple to do.

I suppose the tl;dr version of what I'm saying is "You just gotta deal with it!" Getting worked up about what somebody else wants to wear for a costume is just absurd.

[Naiagu]

This year was alright, there was not a lot I was hyped up for but my one gathering really. I was the leader for my pre-reg group and I got there around 4:30pm. I was in line for 6 hours in front of a really huge group of loud high school kids to kept bumping into me and bringing friends into the line.

Honestly, I miss when Pre-reg and early-reg were separate lines. I waited faar too long to get my badge. I was tired and having loud high school kids behind me for 6 hours did not help. When I got into the second to last room I also noticed there were a dozen new people behind the guy I was told to remember who was originally in front of me from the outside lines. The lady in front of me said she'd just followed the line, somehow she managed to get into the 2nd to last room without having to wait in the whole line.

One more thing about the lines, having to pick up badges in different lines when picking up for a group is the worst idea. I had to go into 5 different lines for the badges I was picking up. I saw another girl next to me picking up for 8 people. I wish they would put all the badges who are under a group with the group leaders name. It was quite ridiculous having to go into 5 separate lines when I was already exhausted.

[cassz]

I'd just like to point out that badge-pickup was also available at Clockwork Alchemy. A friend of mine went Friday morning and she basically said that it took two seconds to get it. I guess not many people knew about it.

I only happened to learn of this tip (after I had already experienced Thursday's pre-reg failure) from a couple tweets with the #fanime and #fanimecon hashtags; other than that, it hadn't been publicized anywhere.

[veganbabies]

Personally I was most let down by the Masquerade and the Black and White Ball

The cosplays and the skits were all wonderful (from what I saw, I left early), but the tech and the organization was terrible. The MC came off as really unprepared, the sound kept cutting out or getting mixed up, and it was just awful. I felt really bad since they cut off a Hetalia skit and it seemed like the cosplayers had worked hard on their performance.
The Black and White Ball was a disappointment. There were a lot of double standards being enforced and a TON of people ended up not being able to get in. I wore a business type dress and it was considered too short by an inch, so I couldn't get in. I ended up switching shoes with another girl because she got inside the ball but was later kicked out when staff changed their minds about her shoes.
I feel like they put all the strict staff members in charge of the ball and everything else, like enforcing walkways, was pushed aside.

Other than that, I think this fanime was the most attended and I did have a lot of fun besides these things. I just hope next year is better.

[spycker]

And having helped run even a small convention, let me tell you: It's very easy to say "Hey, you should set up your own convention for X thing!" Actually doing so is a very large, very expensive logistical undertaking that requires the cooperation and lots of donated time by a large group of people. You have to consider venue, organization, safety (and insurance liability,) staff and organization... and none of these things are particularly cheap nor quick and simple to do.

I suppose the tl;dr version of what I'm saying is "You just gotta deal with it!" Getting worked up about what somebody else wants to wear for a costume is just absurd.

And thats what im doing im dealing with it, but i hate that some of those " fans " act obnoxious, its like me asking " OH SO YOU COSPLAY HOMESTUCK? PLEASE TELL ME HOW YOURE A FAN OF ANIME " but i didnt talk shit to anyone at all, im just dealing with it, its the attitude of the thing.
hopefully my detailed cosplays are finished by next year, something ive been working on for a while.

[royjovero]

I didn't get a badge this year because of last year's experience, and had a feeling this year was going to be on-par, if not worse.  My suspicions were validated by feedback I received from friends when my girlfriend and I came to hang out with some friends.

It's always brought up every year, but what are the logistics behind not being able to mail badges out.  EDC mails their ticket packages out and an EDC ticket is 3-4X the cost of a Fanime badge.  Granted the money numbers are drastically different between the two events, but honestly, if you're just mailing the badge and a couple other pieces of literature, you'll only have to pay for First-Class Mail and, for security reasons, Signature Confirmation.  I don't want to speak for a mass of people, but if you were able to mail my badge to me, I would have no qualms against paying a premium for a mailed badge over one that requires 7 hours of waiting in line to receive.

[chifunii]

I'd just like to point out that badge-pickup was also available at Clockwork Alchemy. A friend of mine went Friday morning and she basically said that it took two seconds to get it. I guess not many people knew about it.

I only happened to learn of this tip (after I had already experienced Thursday's pre-reg failure) from a couple tweets with the #fanime and #fanimecon hashtags; other than that, it hadn't been publicized anywhere.

Actually, when you pre-registered online it asked you where you wanted to pick up your badge, either at Clockwork or at Fanime. Most people just didn't choose it.

[otakuya]

Note to self: pre-reg for Clockwork Alchemy instead of Fanime next year

[hikanteki]

Can you choose to pick up your badge Thursday at Clockwork too?

[tazo]

Yeah the Clockwork Alchemy badge pickup wasn't even relayed to us until we were about 3 hours into the line. It was right under our hotel too. I'm more than a little furious we didnt hear about that sooner. :T

[Kite]

I would actually like to bring up something that was brought up on Friday while I was volunteering.

Due to logistics problems the line did not move for a considerable amount of time. Inevitably there were hostile parents who laid it on harshly about there annoyance of the fact. In my opinion, it was uncalled for that they were venting there rage on the volunteered help me included.

However what they said did have a point. By the time they reached the register half the day would have passed while the badges they were buying for the day would not be of their full money's worth due to the loss of so much time.

So I was wondering if a time limit could be used that after a certain passage of time for one day passes that the prices could be lowered at certain hours to appease certain parties?

[Dracil]

Yes, I would like to see that.  In fact, there should probably be a line for single-day registrations.

On Friday, there was someone with us in line from 12PM to about 5-6PM, at which point she gave up because she had to leave by 8PM.  So you basically wasted a person's entire day for no reason being unwilling to try suggestions given every year that other cons have implemented in order to improve the situation.

[otakuya]

I would like to hear Fanime staff's side of the story too and what they are going to do regarding all of these complaints, horror stories, and sayings that they're not coming back (and telling others not to go either).

[spycker]

LOL!!

[PinkHairSasuke]

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.

It was a Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network Gathering. It was quite small actually, CN outnumbered Nick by vast numbers. Nick had Gir, Angelica, Korra and Steve only I believe. Can't remember exactly.

Scantily clad women cosplayers will always exist. I do agree though that when creeper photographers find them though, they tend to take up space in crowded areas. I ran into one who was somewhat blocking the main convention center entrance on Friday if I remember correctly.

This year was alright, there was not a lot I was hyped up for but my one gathering really. I was the leader for my pre-reg group and I got there around 4:30pm. I was in line for 6 hours in front of a really huge group of loud high school kids to kept bumping into me and bringing friends into the line.

Honestly, I miss when Pre-reg and early-reg were separate lines. I waited faar too long to get my badge. I was tired and having loud high school kids behind me for 6 hours did not help. When I got into the second to last room I also noticed there were a dozen new people behind the guy I was told to remember who was originally in front of me from the outside lines. The lady in front of me said she'd just followed the line, somehow she managed to get into the 2nd to last room without having to wait in the whole line.

One more thing about the lines, having to pick up badges in different lines when picking up for a group is the worst idea. I had to go into 5 different lines for the badges I was picking up. I saw another girl next to me picking up for 8 people. I wish they would put all the badges who are under a group with the group leaders name. It was quite ridiculous having to go into 5 separate lines when I was already exhausted.

I was there at 6:30 in the morning and was the second person/group of people in line. Getting there that early, I knew I was in for a long wait but the fact that the wait was even longer than it should have been due to the even more chaotic than usual Pre-Reg pick up, it was too much. I'm hoping they make badge pick up less chaotic next year.

Personally I was most let down by the Masquerade and the Black and White Ball

The cosplays and the skits were all wonderful (from what I saw, I left early), but the tech and the organization was terrible. The MC came off as really unprepared, the sound kept cutting out or getting mixed up, and it was just awful. I felt really bad since they cut off a Hetalia skit and it seemed like the cosplayers had worked hard on their performance.
The Black and White Ball was a disappointment. There were a lot of double standards being enforced and a TON of people ended up not being able to get in. I wore a business type dress and it was considered too short by an inch, so I couldn't get in. I ended up switching shoes with another girl because she got inside the ball but was later kicked out when staff changed their minds about her shoes.
I feel like they put all the strict staff members in charge of the ball and everything else, like enforcing walkways, was pushed aside.

Other than that, I think this fanime was the most attended and I did have a lot of fun besides these things. I just hope next year is better.

BW Ball was more strict than I remember. I almost wasn't allowed in because of my shoes when they were the exact same shoes that I wore last year to get in, no questions asked.

[aetherltd]

Shuttle bus service between Clockwork Alchemy and the Convention Center was great - in 2012.

This year, it was awful. The bus drivers had no idea how to get around downtown San Jose.


Green - 2012 route. Red - 2013 route.

What was supposed to be a direct shuttle from the Convention Center to the Doubletree took the route shown in red. First, a side trip to the Fairmont.  Then a trip under the freeway, across the Guadalupe River, past the Sharks Arena (Sharks won!), under the railroad yards, around the Arena parking lot, back under the railroad tracks (low narrow tunnel), across the river again, under the freeway again, and finally onto the freeway.

WTF?

Same route on a later trip. One of my friends said their driver got lost even worse.

Smaller buses than last year, too. People had to wait through two or more buses to get on. It took some an hour or more to make the trip. It was really tough for Fanime people to make a quick trip to Clockwork Alchemy. We had some volunteers trying to work CA between cosplays at Fanime, and they spent hours in transit.

(Corinthian International, which ran the shuttle, is a parking company, not a bus company. It shows.)

[hikanteki]

I would like to hear Fanime staff's side of the story too and what they are going to do regarding all of these complaints, horror stories, and sayings that they're not coming back (and telling others not to go either).

I'd like to hear what they're going to do too.  While I'd also be open to hearing their side, there's not a lot they can say that can convince us that the 6 hour wait couldn't have been prevented.  (Also, I noticed your sig no longer says "not proud of 2013." ;-) )