Chair

[G.I.R]

Cheering for inanimate objects left onstage during masquerade has gone on for a long time. The first one I can think of that I recall was a large prop (foam or paper-mache, not sure which) rock left onstage at San Diego ComicCon's masquerade... I think in 1994 or 1995 I'm not quite sure.

Since then there have been all sorts of fun variant "rock" skits at SDCC.

It was at SDCC in 95 (I was there).  I belive it was the last time that the masquerade was held at the old convention center ( but the con itself has been at the new convention center since 1990).  If I can find it, I have a video tape of the infamous "Rock" chant  (I'm sure there are other people that have  videos also).

[Kaura117]

Mm... good ol' Chair. Every convention needs a silly urban legend. >_>

"CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHA-"

"Aw shaddup before I rip ye a new one!"

"...you're mean, mister..."

[kit]

I know I am dredging up a dead thread here and committing a forum-necromancy-foul, but I must put the "origins" of the chanting of chair to rest.

SuperKawaiiNeko got it mostly right on page 1 that it began at Fanime 2000 (maybe 1999? my memory fails.)  What is untold is the backstory, behind the curtain, backstage.

The Masquerade was indeed running late and the person running it that year asked someone for a distraction as the crowd was getting rowdy.  John Hernandez (cosplayed as Tochiro with Michael Wright as Harlock a few times during the staff skit) had a chair handy.  He put the chair on stage, chanting began.  That's it.  How do I know?  I was there.

Sure there were chants before "chair", most popularly, "dance" at AX, but the Chair spinoff originated at Fanime.  On a whim.


Photo taken by me of: (left to right) James "Matsuman" Matsuzaki (in the fur suit), Michael Wright (as Harlock), John Hernandez (as Tochiro) and some unknown Crossplayer.

[Tony]

The legendary Wright and Matsuman... what a picture!

[Green_Tea]

This is kind of straying from the topic besides it being about chanting but....


Did the whole "horse" thing in the Hentai room start last year or has that been around for a while too?

[MeliCat]

I think we should never mention "Chair"out loud at Fanime again...maybe it'll die out?

[~~Loktera~~]

I think we should never mention "Chair"out loud at Fanime again...maybe it'll die out?

You can only wish... But that probably won't happen. There are far too many n00bs and not enough time to warn them all...

[YoureMyHiro]

Theyve tried other things like "Rock!" and "Box!" but regardless, its annoying.

[Shinsengumi]

This is kind of straying from the topic besides it being about chanting but....


Did the whole "horse" thing in the Hentai room start last year or has that been around for a while too?

HORSE!!! started since 2004 it was my friend bakabaka was the first guy that said it and I was the 2nd. But yeah Chair just died out the last time I heard Chair was 2 years ago.

[Rette]

The whole "chair" thing was one of the first things my friends told me about when I asked about Der Cosplay last year, before my first Fanime.

[mDuo13]

The year before last (?) somebody put a chair on the ministage while people were waiting for ReDeath ReDux. After all, the line was huge and the attendees were all well-versed in Fanime Con history.

Though my favorite has to be the story I was told by a guy named Matt (Loktera: you know who I'm talking about) about an early ReDeath showing. It goes something like this:

ReDeath wasn't brand new, but it also was underestimated by the con staff, so Matt and friends got to the viewing room early. There was some really lame, cutesy/cheesey anime on, and Matt wasn't the least bit interested in it. Yet somehow, the room was already jam-packed with people. So he stood up and shouted out, "Who's here for ReDeath?" to the resounding response of just about everyone in the room.

Also, man, I want that Chair music video so much! I've never been able to find it, even though it's still one of my favorite Fanime Closing Ceremonies AMVs.