Aha.. I just thought there should be a little blurb about Chair.. On the website or on the programming booklet or whatnot.. Since it's part of Fanime tradition and well... I know not everyone knew wtf everyone was chanting "CHAIR! CHAIR!" ^^;;
*shrugs* Just an idea.. I know people who DO know what it's about get tired of explaining it..
whats this about a chair now? O_O;;;
ok iv been yelling chair out for about 3 years now at Fanime. but i was realy looking forword to watching the chair AMV that was shown at fanimes closing ceramony in 2002, it was great. and yes i know what chair is all about " remembers Rock"
i missed something.
In the video rooms, are you allowed to grab a chair and stack it on top of another so you can see the screen?
(I got away with it this year once!)
Quote from: "Mastersomething"In the video rooms, are you allowed to grab a chair and stack it on top of another so you can see the screen?
(I got away with it this year once!)
No, that is a huge no-no. That is a safety policy. Unfortunately, we did not have enough staff to watch over the video rooms properly.
*hits mastersomething with a rolled up news paper*
NO!
BAD!
Chair.
To explain Chair lets take the wayback machine WAY BACK to Fanime 2000. Specifically, the Der Cosplay (back then still known as the Masquerade.)
The setting: Waiting for the Masquerade to start in the Santa Clara Convention Center Theatre (I think thats where it was that year....I didnt go that time.)
The staff is running behind schedule, and so the Masquerade is late in starting. Everyone has been sitting around for about 30-40 miniutes, waiting for the show to start. (yes very late)
At some point, a chair was brought out, placed on stage, and forgotten about.
So, after a while of this chair being on stage, out of boredom some random otaku (God bless him) starts chanting "Chair chair chair chair chair!" like it was about to guzzle a soda or jump out a window into a pool or something. Hearing this, more and more people take up the cry, and begin chanting along, urging the chair in its daring feats, untill the show finally started.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Rotflmao. Yes. I think the whole world deserves to know this *nods*.
Sidenote: Why is it called DER?
so THAT's the thing about chair o____O i've been attending fanime since 2000 and never knew about that. last i remember in 2000, i hung out in the artist row a darn lot with a group of artists... now i know..... o_o
I believe the whole chair thing got prompted by either Mike or Brian telling the audience about the San Diego ComicCon Rock partway through Fanime 2K (or was it 1999? I'll have to check through my picture archives to see what year the Boxes also made their appearance, since there were chants of "Box!" as well). After the tale was told, the chair was left on stage as SKN related and it all started from there.
what the name of pete is the thing with the chair!!!! i dont get it!
ow, my eye!
All right I'm not gonna do that again, I'll just have to sit in the
front, oh boy!
(gets on my knees and begs pinkpanther not to hit me again).
stupid dog! you made me look bad! *takes out giant canibal looking mask* OOOOGABOOOGABOOOGA!!!!!!
Quote from: "the_Pink_Panther24"what the name of pete is the thing with the chair!!!! i dont get it!
For explainations please refer to page 1, written by SuperKawaiiNeko, and top of page 2 written by Stormfalcon. For further explaination please refer to the notes in CloudStrife546's profile below. If you need more explaination than that take the following steps: 1) invent a time machine and travel back to FanimeCon of 2000 2) experience it for yourself
Heh i was there when the whole chair thing started
this is totally unrelated, but after seeing the_Pink_Panther24's avatar, i was suddenly reminded of the "Lupin owns Spike" (i totally agree) flyers @ the dercosplay. anyhow, the_Pink_Panther24, monkey punch gots a new series.. its called 'cinderella boy.' The name is retarded, but the series is like neo-lupin. you might like it
Quote from: "wen"Sidenote: Why is it called DER?
because das is the improper gender marker.
ok all you noobs the chair is a ripoff os the AX 99 cos play where someone left a rock prop on stage for the hole show and the something (but with a chair) happen in Fanime 2k1 that's how it got started ^_^
Quote from: "Shin Gouki"ok all you noobs the chair is a ripoff os the AX 99 cos play where someone left a rock prop on stage for the hole show and the something (but with a chair) happen in Fanime 2k1 that's how it got started ^_^
You've got three stories all mixed up here. The chair business originated at the masquerade (as it was still called then) at FanimeCon 1999, when the convention was at the Wyndham hotel in San Jose, but that event was held in the theater in the Santa Clara Convention Center.
I heard from a reliable source of mine....it started at AX sometime after 1997, but before 2000....I'm still trying to clearify exactly which year it had happened though...97,98, or 99...?? :? It happened either at the same year as Fanime, or the year before.
Quote from: "HareSenpai"this is totally unrelated, but after seeing the_Pink_Panther24's avatar, i was suddenly reminded of the "Lupin owns Spike" (i totally agree) flyers @ the dercosplay. anyhow, the_Pink_Panther24, monkey punch gots a new series.. its called 'cinderella boy.' The name is retarded, but the series is like neo-lupin. you might like it
really now? i will have to check that out :D
though my funds are kind of drained from buying the neo ranga series :x
but suddenly im compelled to see the anime with the bizare name...because its like lupin......and lupin is the badest ass of the bad asses..
besides jigen...
Quote from: "frumpy"I heard from a reliable source of mine....it started at AX sometime after 1997, but before 2000....I'm still trying to clearify exactly which year it had happened though...97,98, or 99...?? :? It happened either at the same year as Fanime, or the year before.
Trust me dear, it's not that old. It started here in 99, after Mike Wright told the audience about the rock at ComicCon. He was the chair-man at the time, after all.
Hey thanx for the history lesson. I finally know why i was chanting chair and box and cane during the AMVs. I figured that it had history since a lot of people joined in so quickly.
Hmmm...if some guy in a suit at Cosplay or even Karaoke stood on top of a chair and sang "Fly Me To The Moon"...would he be "The Chair-man of the Board"? ^_^
Okay, that was wrong. Time to hit my sugar-free sours again.
Okay I can get my first "Chair" incident narrowed to AX96, I think. It was the year I was a gofer. I had to do a google search to match the guests since I know I got Ai Orikasa and Yumi Takada to sign my Tenchi laserdisc that year.
*Actually perhaps it was 97 I don't know if I had a chance to go to masquerade in 96.*
Anyhow Evangelion was new and someone did some skit called "Waiting for Gendou" In it Gendou sat there on stage doing absolutely nothing. After it was over they pulled off the table but left the chair. We started to chant "Chair!" just cause they took so freaking long to set up for the next skit. When they were announcing winners I do believe we were also chanting for the chair to win. Needless to say I was in the simulcast room where people tend to be a bit rowdier and stuff. For those who remember that was the year that Peter Brown went on stage and did the transformation of Sailor Starfighter.
Word of the "Chair" phenomenon has spread here to the Northwest since then, and the staff at Sakura Con always work heavily against anything like that happening.
Chanting is Universal. This whole AX had it first thing really irks alot of fanime people. Fanime made it an institution so even if AX chanted chair first at some point we say "IT'S OUR'S NOW!" And that's all that matters! :lol: Bwah ha hah! Besides *sniff* We do it better, I'm sure. *Sticks tongue out and darts from the room*
Chair! Box! Head! Chair! Box! Head! (Poor Lina)
Chair is fun. Don't mess with Chair!
*Disclaimer: It's all in fun people!
About the chair. I heard a story from my friend after he came back from Otakon 2000. He said during a cosplay theatre thing that there were a few minutes between one of the skits that no one was doing anything, but the previous people had left a chair up on stage, so people started chanting "Chair! Chair!" and that after there was some poem/song about the chair posted on some sites. When he came along with us this year, he found it odd that they were doing the same thing, though I do not think it is something that originated here at Fanime like some people seem to think since the Podium master commented something like "See, we too have chair technology." Just my thoughts.
I'm not sure where it came from... Out on the east coast, you get people swearing it originated at Otakon.
Perhaps it's like "Gin and Tonic" from Hitchhiker's Guide... all cons were fated to create it at one point or another.
it's one of those "you had to be there" things i think.... it's become such a con legend now, all the cons are competing for the title of "the one that started the chair chant". personally, i think it was fanime, but hey, that's my home con, and i'm biased. :)
(btw, i hope we're done with chair, and move on).
i think the funniest chant though, wasn't chair or head or even box (though i loved the boxes), but JER-RY JER-RY! anyone remember that one?
I'm still pretty certain that the chair chant did begin at Fanime. I suppose I cannot bring any more evidence than "I've heard a lot of people say it did and I think I was there myself," but from the sheer number of people I've heard from, Fanime is by far the most likely location of origin.
Oh, and Jerry is awesome. Too bad he wasn't in the Der Cosplay staff this year. Actually, he was sitting in the audience in the chair right adjacent to me. ^^
I don't think the "Chair" chant is something that FanimeCon necessarily should be proud of doing best :-P. I place it in the same category as heckling from the audience. Having said that, I agree that"Jer-ry" was pretty entertaining.
AX '96 had the "Chair" chant. It was on a friend's Masq videotape.
Not to mention this staff worker here
http://www.teammisaki.org/Images/DSC_0663.JPG
Is now famous for holding the sacred "Chair" ;D
yah so the chair was left on stage and became its own act...
sometimes staffers who run across stage...
get teased by Deiter and have their 2 seconds of fame... =P
it happens ppl... only at Fanime :roll:
Quote from: "Stormfalcon"I'll have to check through my picture archives to see what year the Boxes also made their appearance, since there were chants of "Box!" as well.
The Boxes made their first appearance in 2000. I'm friends with one of the guys inside the box. ;)
I'm highly irritated by the whole "Chair" thing. It's bad enough I have to wait for Der Cosplay to start, but on top of that I have to hear "Chair" chanted at the top of the lungs of heavy, excited fanboys who are showering me in spit, about to knock me over from flailing thier hands in the air and about to blast my eardrum out! *hisses* I vol. to jet on stage when the chair is there... like a ninja... and SET IT A FLAME!!! NO MORE CHAIR YOU B@STARDS! :twisted: Ahem, in short, I've been trampled, slobbered on and lost my hearing in an ear all because of that damn chair. Let it never return again.
.+:*MeliCat*:+.
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.
I have yet to experience the "chair," but it seems quite shrouded in mystery. I mean, no one is sure of it's origins, and there are disputes over which con made it up first? This would make a wonderful documentary. "Chair-the hunt for it's origins..." Seriously man. Seriously. Anyway, it sounds like it's all in good fun!
One question that I've been wondering about. Der Cosplay. Why "Der?" I know because it's the appropriate gender for the word "cosplay," but why are we using German? Is there a reason? Did it begin in Germany? Cause honestly I have no clue.
Quote from: "MainStageTech"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).
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..."
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.
(https://forums.fanime.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.comcast.net%2F%7Ekitness%2Fstuff%2F6.jpg&hash=f163ec23919018a25cab7a097cd70f68b50adafe)
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.
The legendary Wright and Matsuman... what a picture!
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?
I think we should never mention "Chair"out loud at Fanime again...maybe it'll die out?
Quote from: "MeliCat"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...
Theyve tried other things like "Rock!" and "Box!" but regardless, its annoying.
Quote from: "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?
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.
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.
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.