Messages

I wore a Fist of the North Star shirt on Saturday.  3 people the entire day commented on it.  Two of them were the band members from FLOW!  Both of them were, "Kenshiro!"  ;D

Mamoru Yokota did an awesome sketch for me of Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya, using a cell phone charm as a reference.

Did all my shopping on Monday for the dealer discounts.

-Battle Angel: Last Order vol. 10 & Evangelion vol. 11 - $18 (20% off cover)
-School Rumble vol. 8-11 - $36 (10% off cover)
-Sega Asuka & Rei Gothic Night figures - $55 (talked them down from $28/each to $25/each but he was cool with it and told me about their preorder setup with a warehouse in Emeryville)
-Akatsuki & sharingan decals - $4

Total damage: $113 which I'm happy with, did not go too far over budget

[Artists' Alley & Dealers' Room]

This is my first FanimeCon in 10 years although I went to WonderCon last year and this year, so I will using that event for some of my comparisons.  I don't know how much the differences between Fanime and WC are funding driven, so please keep that in mind re. my feedback.

Artists' Alley & Dealers' Room
If it hasn't been mentioned before, maps and at least a listing of who is where. I read somewhere for 2008 or so that the dealers' room was very dynamic even up to Friday of the con start date, but is it at the very minimum possible to have a map of where the booths and tables are with the numbers on them, and a list that can be modified if need be even up to the last minute like the schedule was?  If it can't make the print program, what about having it at the info desk or at the entrance and exit to the various rooms?  I asked about a map at artists' alley and I was told something to the effect of, "we don't want you stalking them by knowing where they are." Is this for real???  Also in response to the argument that I can just walk around and find out for myself who is where and so on: this takes time, the most precious resource that anyone has, especially at a time-driven event like a con.  I want to use my time as effectively and wisely as I can.  This is the point of schedules after all, so people can plan.  For WonderCon the program has a map of the dealers' hall with a full directory of who is where.  Although there were Fanime booths at the back of both artists' alley and the dealers' room where people staffed and could point out who was where, I would think that at some of them could be freed up to do other things if there was a map and listing in place which would cut out having to ask location questions.

Autograph policy for LM.C
I didn't know that LM.C has a  very strict autograph policy until I found a mini flyer that stated that they will only sign official merchandise, which means I wouldn't expect them to sign something like the program, which was not an issue with the other GOH signings I was able to attend, even FLOW was cool with it.  A restrictive policy like this would preclude people who didn't attend MusicFest to purchase a shirt or were able to stop by the booth in the dealers' room selling official LM.C merchandise from getting an autograph.  Restrictions like this need to very clearly communicated very openly for groups like LM.C that have ground rules in place that need to be played by as a condition of their appearing.  However one can't play by the rules if one don't know what they are.  This is not about LM.C's policy, but about making policies like their's known as much as possible.

Info Desk
Overall they tried their best and I have no real complaints.  However one incident that's still bothering me (so I guess I do have 1) is that when I went to the one near Stage Zero on Monday to confirm when the dealer's room was closing and con was officially over, I got 2 conflicting answers which were quickly sorted out.  However the person I was asking seemed to take it personally when I pointed out the discrepancy and had to explain why she gave 2 responses.  When I was turning away, I saw her throw up her hands in exasperation that I was wondering why she mentioned 4:00, then corrected it to 3:00.  Or it could have been the way I asked, but I didn't put any undue stress in how I asked, I was just asking for clarification.  I understand that staffing things like this isn't easy and that it takes a lot of patience and can be difficult, but for someone working such a customer-focused point of contact like the info desk, I was expecting more professionalism, and the fact that I even saw kind of visual reaction, and that soon at that, was very disappointing.  It was uncalled for and very unprofessional especially since that particular info desk is in a very visible place.  There was a little area right behind the curtains and if staff need to cool off or vent, then can they at least do it out of sight of the con-goers, their customers?

Autograph signings for Ishiwatari, Mori and Yokota
All 3 GOHs did sketches and signed autographs.  Although the lines were not as crazy as FLOW and LM.C., what happened was that time was seriously crunched for the folks later in the line who were looking forward to sketches and had to settle for autographs.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that these GOHs were willing to do sketches to begin with.  What was done at Yokota's signing on Monday was to determine who wanted what, and for those who wanted sketches, to make a listing of what character for what series so Yokota could work on the ones that were easier for him first and do the trickier ones later.  Autograph people were allowed to quickly get in and out so they didn't have to wait as long.  Now Yokota's line on Monday was not as long as the one on Sunday was, but I'm wondering if something like this can be done next time for the signings where the GOHs may do sketches and autographs as a sort of triage to move people along faster.  I have to mention that for Yokota's Monday session that it was backing up into 12:30 when LM.C. was going to come in prior to their session at 1, so I really appreciate him and staff relocating to the storeroom so he was able to finish, especially since my request was one of the tricky ones.

Schedule
I'm curious as to if the schedule has been as dynamic this year as it has been previously and if it's hard to firm things up sooner, say by the time that the PDF of the pocket guide was posted.  I was lucky enough to discover the mobile schedule on Friday and take note of the major changes.  My understanding is that the copies of the pocket guide at the info desks were updated, but if one relied on the printed program it was already to some extent obsolete for the schedule.  I do like the idea of the mobile schedule, although I don't have a smart phone, so after Friday I went by a printed copy of it, but had no problems attending the signings I wanted to go to.

Lol, that's awesome, everytime I heard someone out in the little lobby area in front of our room I felt compelled to open the door all seductive like!

Uh oh, now you've got something that's going to bug you for the rest of your days!

Having never heard the Yes dance before, the skit was one of those that made the strongest impressions on me.  I had to go and look it up after I got home Saturday night.  Thanks to the 3 of you for coming up with it and executing wonderfully!  I don't know if you were in costume on Saturday, but on Sunday who didn't know who the 3 of you were!

Some of the guys sound so high that I thought it was a male/female duet.  ;D  Also quite hard unless I read the lyrics as they're singing to pick out the English in there, it sounded like there was none.  Thanks!!!   :D

I've listened to this several times and tried to use what I think the words are in Google, but no luck.   :-\  I would appreciate some help.  Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31OWulTOBYw