Fanime 2008 Feedback thread.

[Kaura117]

I can do it.

...especially if I get a staff position- coughcoughnudgenudge.  ;)

Sure!  Please send e-mail to [email protected].  Mention your forum nick, and include a resume and writing sample just for fun.  I'm going to reorganize and send out a questionnaire when I'm ready to rehire people on my staff for 2009 (we all get fired and rehired every year), and I'll add you to the list of people I send the questionnaire to.  Thanks for offering!

Sexy. I'll start working on that list.

Sad to say that my resume might be a bit sparse, however. My "professional" list of written works is, embarrassingly, a touch on the scant side. But the writing sample's no problem.

[K&K4ever]

Seeing all of my friends was soooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome

[Kanchii]

Friday nights dance wasn't very good... Saturday though, was very good.

[K&K4ever]

Move the Masqu back to Sunday please, I don't want to miss Yaoi-bingo next year

[Sucrose]

Anime schedule was weird.  Absolutely everything interesting was shown in the early morning (like 8 am or earlier).  I realize that's my preference and whatnot, but yeah... that was strange.  We actually ended up watching NO anime (at the con) this year due to weird scheduling.  Watched anime instead in our hotel room.

Bishie bingo attendees don't know wtf a chair is for, i.e.: you SIT in it so that people BEHIND YOU can SEE.  If you're a 6' guy, why the fuck do you need to stand on a chair?  Also they created a fire hazard by rushing the center aisle.  Everyone was standing on a chair, which made seeing the front impossible.  Ended up yanking a chair off the end and dragging it to the side aisle because I couldn't see a damn thing.  It would help if the strippers had a stage to stand on.  They did this one year; I'm not sure why they stopped.

IAWTC. Our group barely saw anything because most of what we wanted to see was waaaay early. But yeah, I guess that's just a preference thing and not really something that can be changed.

We ended up sitting in the way back during Yaoi Bingo and yeah, we couldn't see any of the action because of so many people standing. I'd never attended before, and found the whole thing rather weird. The announcer lady seemed very harried and kind of mean to attendees, and since we couldn't see anything it kind of eliminated the whole point of attending in the first place.

[sykoeent]

Just a question...
In Comic-con's program book, they have various fan arts. Did Fanime's program book have fan arts? I didn't look through it yet.
Also... if there is no fan arts in the program, is it possible to have a section dedicated to fan arts? Themed ones... like anniversaries or whatever?

[Jelly Soup]

While I haven't really looked through the book myself, if memory serves, 07's book featured fanart.

[Tenba]

Did Fanime's program book have fan arts? I didn't look through it yet.

The FanimeCon 2008 program guide had various art from the very talented FanimeCon Art Pool.  This year's theme was Feudal Japan, so we had ninja, swordsmen, merchants, and girls in kimonos.

If you (or anybody) can get me access to the ComicCon program guide being referred to, I'd love to take a look so that I can see what you're talking about.

[Keys]

The fan art is actually separated from the Events (Program) Guide at Comic Con into the Souvenir Book:
http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_progbk.shtml

I'm sure it's fairly expensive to produce (though lower quality paper than Fanime's program guide by far, and only black and white) and while nifty, there are a lot of events/departments at Fanime that could benefit from the cost.  I can try to dig one up for the next meeting though.

I really liked the Fanime Program Guide this year - great job by the Art Pool and Pubs!

[the otaku god]

mabe someone should make this thread a sticky so it doesn't get lost in the shuffles of post

[RyuHayabusa]

Ooohhh, my thread got stickied. Just because:



Now back to your regurlar  scheduled thread XD

[BenihimeSama]

Okay.. Here's my list..

Pros:
~ Artist Alley--I wish they wouldn't have sold out so early, I would have loved to have sold there. That's okay though.. NEXT YEAR!! On the merchandise side though, very wide variety, so that was awesome. I think that the AA this year was actually somewhat better than Dealers Room..

~The Panel Lineup--Great!! Although the scheduling of some kinda sucked. Kinda can't help it when you have a convention this kind of size. So I forgive you Fanime.

~FREE WI-FI!!! OMG, that single handedly made this convention the BEST CON EVER!! I've been to tons of conventions with no internet access and my hotel didn't have free Wi-Fi, so the fact that you guys had it was AWESOME!!

~The Anime Rooms: Another OMG.. There was so much to see, and I didn't even get to see it all! Oh, and yay to the Yaoi and Hentai rooms. Although, I wish there was some Yaoi on Friday night so I wouldn't have spent all of Saturday Night/Early Sunday Morning watching.

~Stage Zero: Loads of fun. Even in the middle of the night when all they did was play AMV's. Totally rocked.

~Oh, and even though the peeps that worked there didn't like this, the 24 hours Starbucks.. Awesome. I felt truly like I had stepped into otaku paradise..

The "Meh" Section

~Dealers Tables: Some cool stuff. But nothing worth seriously emptying my wallet over.

~Gaming Room: There was alot of cool stuff, but I would have seriously loved to have had some Magic The Gathering lessons. I really want to learn how to play that game. But no one has taught me yet. So that would have been a bigger plus for 2009.

~Swap Meet: Nothing super awesome. Although, I regret not buying that Kyo Kara Maoh poster..

Cons:

~Um yeah, those lines for the dance wasn't hot. As well as the An Cafe concert being on top of the B&W Ball, and my panel too.. Eh.. I still forgive you Fanime

~PADDLES WEREN'T ALLOWED AT THE CON. Now I know this is a weapons policy issue. But it wasn't anywhere in the Weapon's Policy. I think that Fanime for the future should consider either being more detailed about what is not and what is allowed, or just ban weapons altogether. Yes it would suck, but if it meant that Fanime would have one less thing to have to lose their permits over, then we can forgive them for it.

[PyronIkari]

~PADDLES WEREN'T ALLOWED AT THE CON. Now I know this is a weapons policy issue. But it wasn't anywhere in the Weapon's Policy. I think that Fanime for the future should consider either being more detailed about what is not and what is allowed, or just ban weapons altogether. Yes it would suck, but if it meant that Fanime would have one less thing to have to lose their permits over, then we can forgive them for it.

THese weren't banned because they're "weapons".

[outcast]

This year was my first convention ever and it was. Even though the lines were long you always had someone to talk too. 

[Jelly Soup]

Just for the record, there were a number of people wandering around with paddles.

[Gogetah]

I've been to EVERY Fanime Con. 2008 was a mixed bag for me.

Fanime Con 2008 didn't seem to go as smoothly as 2007 did.... I left 2008 in a bad mood after being treated like a prisoner during the closing ceremonies.... Yeah, congratulations on a successful convention.... *grumble grumble*

Pros:
*Lots of food options.
*Swap Meet went well from my experiences.
*The Nico Nico Douga Medley masquerade opening act.
*Guest panels were surprisingly informative.

Cons:
*Closing ceremonies. The worst closing ceremonies I've ever attended at any convention. Volunteers were very rude to attendees, especially this one guy wearing glasses who was yelling "You're not in line if you're not against the wall!" when we were all already against the wall....

When we entered the room, attendees were yelled at to take the next available seat starting on the left side of the room. After seating was done, there were great seats empty in the front on the right side....

I don't understand the need for people to be going on power trips at closing ceremonies.

Volunteers being new is no excuse for being rude and abrasive!

*Panels scheduled close together. This caused some panels to run into next and caused a lot of excessive hall traffic because of the lines for the next panel. There should be some space between each panel for clean up and set up.

[PyronIkari]

*The Nico Nico Douga Medley masquerade opening act.

I'm convincing her to do the VIP version of Melody 3.

[Aelia]

I'm going to say flat out that I liked some parts, but thought a lot of the con has become mediocre.

Disappointments
- The Dealer's Hall sucks. Flat out. There's no variety really, no good prices, nothing I can't find for cheaper on the internet.
- The Yaoi Bingo needed a stage. Badly. Seriously, what's the point in being there if you can't see anything?
- Food; overpriced, not that good, bad hours. I realize our abilities to alter this are very, very limited, but... whatever we can do would be nice.

Praise
- Artist's Alley was really good. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of non-print stuff that was for sale. Yeah, drawings are nice, and buttons are ok, but more creative ways of displaying/using artwork would be fantastic for next year. Still, I was really pleased by what they had there. Good job to the artists (and the staff).

Ideas for Improvement
- We handed out maps featuring nearby places, could we maybe get them to give us coupons or something, and we could give menus and coupons and ads and stuff all in a little booklet? Because that would be awesome. Having a booklet with a bit more detail about the restaurants, and coupons for goodness would be nice.
- Swap-Meet could really use like, tables or something so you don't get a half-dozen people all crouched around a blanket or a square of cement.

[Gogetah]

Disappointments
- The Dealer's Hall sucks. Flat out. There's no variety really, no good prices, nothing I can't find for cheaper on the internet.
- The Yaoi Bingo needed a stage. Badly. Seriously, what's the point in being there if you can't see anything?
- Food; overpriced, not that good, bad hours. I realize our abilities to alter this are very, very limited, but... whatever we can do would be nice.

The food vendors at the con were pretty expensive. So I walked 7 minutes to Subway and got a $5 footlong each day. :P

I liked that Starbucks was 24 hours for Fanime Con. ^_^

Edit: Added the word "footlong". I could have sworn I wrote it when I originally posted this.... Did it get censored? I'm referring to Subway's deal on $5 footlong SANDWICHES.... O_o;;;

[BenihimeSama]

~PADDLES WEREN'T ALLOWED AT THE CON. Now I know this is a weapons policy issue. But it wasn't anywhere in the Weapon's Policy. I think that Fanime for the future should consider either being more detailed about what is not and what is allowed, or just ban weapons altogether. Yes it would suck, but if it meant that Fanime would have one less thing to have to lose their permits over, then we can forgive them for it.

THese weren't banned because they're "weapons".

They were banned, when I went to get my paddles Peace Bonded, the dude who was doing it told me that it was not allowed at all. And he was a douchebag about it as well.