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Hi Everyone!

I was one of the Fanime Cosplay Gathering Staff Photographers over the weekend. Here's the link to my album and check it out if I happen to have caught you on camera:
http://fanime.slickpic.com/albums/JasonValdez/?wallpaper

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Great shots of the old school gathering on Friday!  Following you on Facebook.

One small point, perhaps the projection people could make it a policy to skip through the end credits of the individual episodes . Most of them do it, but a few do not.

No way! OPs and EDs are some of the best parts of anime! :D  I was SO glad the staffer running 8 Man After on Monday morning let the disc run through the still frames at the end (which is where the part four credits would have run in the original OVA before it was compiled into a movie) to the little "after credits" teaser which would have set the OVAs up to spin off a new 8 Man series if it had generated enough interest.  Same with Cutey Honey - one of the longest anime series ending songs but it's such an integral part of the series and was allowed to run each time.

Btw, leave the gaming room alone. Its great where it lies.

Agreed. It needs the space, restrooms and air circulation.

[Robot Carnival]

Nostalgia Room was AWESOME this year, as usual!  I have always wanted to see a large format screening of 8 Man After as it's my favorite OVA and seeing it on the schedule was a tremendous surprise.  I was glad so many people were in the room Monday morning to watch it.  Out of production stuff like this should always be a huge draw for the nostalgia room.  On the other side of the coin thank you for featuring so many old school series which have been recently picked up and released by Discotek Media including Cutey Honey, Mazinger Z, Galaxy Express 999 (movies anyway - let's not talk about S'Mores Entertainment screwing up the series release), and Captain Harlock.  That people can watch an old school series they've never seen or haven't seen in years, and then be able to go and buy it, right now, at a fair price from a solid company and support the industry is wonderful.  Let's see Lily C.A.T. next year after Discotek re-releases that!

I had forgotten how good Area 88 was, again with a fairly full room in attendance.  Same for the 08th MS Team, again, early Monday morning.  Just a great mix of stuff this year!

For next year I would love to see one morning, maybe starting at 6am (because that's when they used to air) a three film block of the very first three anime films the Sci-Fi Channel aired all those years ago under the marquee "Adventures in Japanese Animation."  I can't think of a more nostalgic thing to show in the nostalgia room.  Those three titles are Robot Carnival, Lensman, and Vampire Hunter D.  Vampire Hunter D is easy enough to find since it had such wide releases and re-releases over the years.  Robot Carnival had a restored 20th anniversary R2 DVD release years ago that had the full opening and ending (removed from the Streamline US release) as well as the Streamline dub tracks for the two shorts that feature dialogue - Presence and A Tale of Two Robots - as a hidden audio option.  This can be found online but I own the R2 release and could happily provide a disc swapped to R1.  Lensman is the tricky one...

The Lensman anime oddity began in Japan with the movie "SF Shinseki Lensman" (SF New Century Lensman) in 1984.  This was followed up by a TV series that began in the same year called "Galactic Patrol Lensman" that ran for twenty-five episodes.  The movie would be dubbed into English twice, first in 1988 and then in 1990.  The 1990 version being, more or less, a straight localization of the Japanese film with the Japanese music and sound effects left unaltered.  A few episodes of Galactic Patrol Lensman were chopped up, stitched together, rewritten and dubbed into English as "Lensman: Power of the Lens" which had a limited home video release.  What I'm talking about is the 1990 dub of SF Shinseki Lensman which is what aired on the former Sci-Fi Channel.  The 1988 dub is terrible, it's Carl Macek at his absolute worst, while his 1990 dub is the exact opposite.  The 1990 dub was released on LaserDisc and there is a rip out there but the audio balance is horrendous.  I acquired Lensman on LaserDisc earlier this year and I'm looking to make a better transfer for prosperity since it'll never be re-released due to the estate of Doc Smith being pissed off at how his Lensman source material was handled.  Maybe someone with more experience in LD ripping can get together with me and we could make Fanime 2015 the premier of a fresh rip of this nearly forgotten anime film.

Great work this year in the Nostalgia Room!  It's always one of my favorite parts of Fanime weekend.

Very much agreed!  I had a spectacular time this year, not to say I didn't have a great time in years previous but this year was superb.  In fact the only annoyance I had was with a roaming staff photographer one morning whom was kind of rude and argumentative, strangely enough.  Shrugged that off though and no issues otherwise - AND I was able to bring a Jet Jaguar figure home! :D

I would hope that with the huge demand for this event and the seemingly obvious mis-match between the size of venue and the size of the audience, we will see a venue change next year that may be able to accommodate more sellers and more buyers...but ultimately that will depend on our available facilities.

I'm sure Decantus will have a few things to say, but on behalf of staff I wanted to thank all of those who came out to sell, and the patient buyers who braved the son of linecon to browse their wares!

Swapmeet staff and rovers did a great job of keeping the line moving and organized.  I didn't mind the line so much as lining up outside at night and getting swarmed by insects and the downtown San Jose transients.  With all the new facility space it kind of left me scratching my head as why swap was given a raw deal and we were all standing outside but I understand that you had no control over that and did the best that you could - which in all honesty was excellent.

I think South Hall would be a perfect fit for swap meet however I am aware there's a noise ordinance in that area of the convention center.  Maybe it's time for swap to take place earlier?  Maybe all day Friday with two six hour rotational seller sets or something like that?  I don't know but when the only real complaint is there's not enough space, that's about the best complaint you can have.  Great job!

[If you took a picture of the guy with the big red drill, that was me]

On Friday I was Taizo Hori / Dig Dug from the video games Dig Dug / Dig Dug II / Dig Dug Arrangement / Mr. Driller G / Namco X Capcom.  My girlfriend was also with me as Masuyo "Kissy" Tobi from the classic arcade game Baraduke and the Mr. Driller series.  In the evening she had a baby Susumu Hori (Mr. Driller) with her.  If you took a picture of the guy with the big red drill, that was me.

On Sunday I was Taizo Hori / Dig Dug once again and was carrying my P3 All-Purpose Subterranean Demolition and Defense Drill until around 3pm when I traded it out for a plush Pooka enemy from the Dig Dug games.

Here we are via CosplayInAmerica on Friday evening before the Old School gathering - http://instagram.com/p/oW-vXRSEZb/#

If you caught me at Fanime please PM me, post the photo, or post a link.  Thank you very much for a great con!

I didn't stay for the GR screening after Mazinger Z but I agree with all your comments about the earlier dub track being the best way to watch this!  It just feels more grand all around.  Perhaps because the first dubbing is more or less a hidden audio option on the DVD release is why more people don't check it out?

Thank you again so much, BSaphire, for hosting this gathering!  Come on everyone, bigger group next year - old school is awesome!

Yay!  Green Tea KitKat!

Just got even better - as of yesterday Mitsuwa just got the toaster oven-able pudding KitKat back in stock!

Do you need to print out the email? What if you have it on your phone? My friend is in line and she didn't print out anything.

I believe Reg said that as long as you turn your phone up to full brightness they may be able to scan the QR code.  You will need photo ID regardless.

Agreed on all points! This was the fastest registration pickup for ANY convention of ANY kind I have ever seen.  It was walk-in, walk-out around 12:15.  Thank you ALL!

Mitsuwa info - green tea KitKat back in stock this morning.

The Kinokuniya bookstore is at the same spot as Mitsuwa (plus a few restaurants and Clover Bakery).

If you catch the 23 (south I think) in front of the convention center, it'll take you into Cupertino (about an hour - 45 minutes) to the Marukai Market on Stevens Creek Boulevard near Wolfe (in Idlewild Center).  There's a Daiso next to it, Beard Papa, Yoshinoya beef bowl place across the street, Jo-Ann's Fabrics across the street too.

Yup, yup.  Take 23 toward De Anza College and depart at Stevens Creek and Saratoga Ave.  Depart the bus, cross Stevens Creek Blvd. and follow Saratoga Ave.  It's about three blocks, over the 280 freeway, and then one more block and you'll see the Mitsuwa and Kinokuniya.  If you're going to visit a Daiso in West San Jose, the one in the middle of the parking area here has a better selection of goods than the Cupertino store.  Catch the return bus back on Stevens Creek on the opposite side of Saratoga Ave. - across from the McDonalds.

For Marukai and assorted stores you'd want to stay on 23 for another 10 minutes or so and depart at Stevens Creek and Portal Ave.  The Marukai and the like will be on the other side of Stevens Creek - look for the big Merlion statue / fountain.  Return bus will be right there in front of the Elephant Bar, across the street from Yoshinoya.

Better to hit both in the morning as 23's can be fairly crowded on the weekends but the buses run fairly frequently.  Friday morning would be your best bet for a quick trip out and back in my opinion.

[never]

You have to also remember that at the end of the day it really comes down to where the guests want to go.  I would hope (and assume) that many potential guests wouldn't be swayed strictly by waving around more cash in their faces.  Have you ever attended a panel at a convention where you could clearly see that the guest didn't want to be there?  I have - puts a weird vibe in the air of the room.  Sometimes being a big convention can hurt your chances with hosting guests that would rather have smaller and more laid-back appearances as well.

I think it's just as important, if not more so, to have guests that are enthusiastic and excited to attend a convention than to have a big name to throw up on a marquee.  Also remember, convention guests also, like, you know, have to work and live their lives and create the things that make us want to see them in person.  They can't pop around the world every weekend to show up at fan events.

However we should never be disrespectful to the guests who appear at the convention.  Don't know who they are at first glance?  Expand your horizons!

Convention center floors are nice - well, way nicer than sitting outside like last year!

If you go to the registration page and hit the "resend confirmation email" thing, you'll get it. I'm not sure if they've gone out other than that.

That's a different thing. Everyone should have a confirmation e-mail, but there will also be an "e-postcard" coming out in the next week or so that you need to bring to reg.

Actually that's what I got e-mailed to me when I did the "resend confirmation" at r.fanime.com yesterday.  It says it's the e-postcard, has my (now combined) two person group listed on it, as well as a QR code.  Makes me think that the mass e-mailing of e-postcards is just around the corner.

All props 100% complete. :)

I would like to add my thanks for letting us do the smaller groups.  This way my roommate can get our things in the room while I grab our badges, as we've done in years past =).  One question, though.  Will we get an email if the grouping is successful, or only if there was a problem and it didn't work?

Yes, we will email you if there is a problem. If the grouping is successful, we will send out an email to all parties with the email addresses listed with the updated e-postcard/confirmation email (I believe. We still need to work out the specifics actually).

Thanks for explaining that and even more thanks again for taking on the extra task of offering this to us!

[I'm looking for $100 cash and would like to sell locally in San Jose as this is a beast to mail.]

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to have a merchandising vendor ship me an extra Dragon Quest IX display standee to promote the release of the game.  I opened up the shipping carton to check the contents but this display has never been assembled.

This thing is massive, made of four main panels. The back panel also makes the support for the back and the support for the base while small bridging supports connect a second panel with the game characters. The base panel continues the artwork along with a Blue Slime and the Nintendo DS logo and rating information. In front of the characters a large cutout of the game's title is suspended with foam blocks. At the top of the back panel two cardboard trays are connected that hold little booklets that promote the game. Included are also game case inserts used to convert generic DS cases into display cases. The packet of booklets and case inserts is sealed, it also contains the assembly instructions.

This was never assembled or displayed, in fact it has only been removed from the shipping carton twice - once to check the contents and late last year to verify everything before a later canceled sale. The tip of the sword is a little crinkled due to bouncing around during shipping. I don't observe any issues other than that. This has been in the original shipping carton, sitting in my closet for over two years. The carton itself is around 4' by 3' and about 2" thick.





















I'm looking for $100 cash and would like to sell locally in San Jose as this is a beast to mail.  I'm also open to offers so that price isn't set in stone.  I had a buyer last year that was up for paying to ship it to him but due to a life change he had to back out of the purchase.  After that I never really tried to aggressively sell this one as right after that fell through work became busy again.  Shipping estimate was $75.32!

I'd actually like to sell this BEFORE con to someone local if possible as it's pretty freaking big and I'm going to have enough giant gear to haul around when con is in full swing.

I don't have any feedback here yet but I have a Feedback Forum thread at Digital Press starting in 2005 - www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?68339-InsaneDavid

As well as a long eBay history - http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=thelaststarfighter

So if you're interested, let me know and we can arrange a meet-up.  If you have any questions, need better pictures, have an offer - send me a PM!  Thanks!