Hey! I was checking out the website and it looks like the guests haven't been listed yet. Have they been listed elsewhere? Trying to get a feel for whose autographs I should schedule/plan for this year.
Hate to break it to you but no. Fanime has NOT posted a single guest anywhere else. I checked all the social media they're on and there has not bee a single guest announced. And I have a feeling there going to delay the guest announcements until MAY which is the month of the con. Fanime simply love's to do this now.
Quote from: citrus on March 29, 2015, 08:43:15 PM
Hate to break it to you but no. Fanime has NOT posted a single guest anywhere else. I checked all the social media they're on and there has not bee a single guest announced. And I have a feeling there going to delay the guest announcements until MAY which is the month of the con. Fanime simply love's to do this now.
Oh wow. It's been awhile since I've been to Fanime (4 years or so) but I seem to remember guests being a pretty big draw. I went the year Haruko Momoi attended, and it totally made my con.
Has the focus of the con shifted then? With no guests announced at all two months before the convention, I'm just wondering why people are registering or why the hotels are all booked up. Is the primary focus of the convention the dances and the steampunk mini convention now?
I've never gone to a single guest event since I've been going to Fanime. I've been going since 2003. I guess I really don't care about guests but it's not why I go. I have only missed one year since 2003 and that was in 2011 and that was the year Tuxedo Kamen's Japanese voice actor was there. I was devastated. Luckily, my girlfriend got me his autograph. ;D
I guess if there was someone really interesting for me I would totally go to their event. I'd love to see Kotono Mitsuishi but that's highly unlikely ever.
I feel bad for the fans that do like to meet guests at cons. I hope we have someone good this year for the fans and that information will be posted soon. It's almost April already.
It just seems like a lot of things aren't happening the way they're supposed to this year and not a lot of communication is happening. I hope this doesn't mean bad things for the convention itself. :/
Fanime has, since 2012, only announced their guests in May. They usually will give you the same song and dance about how they only announce guests when the ink is dry or, my personal fave, the "their management has asked us to wait until May to announce". While the latter excuse may work for some guests, it can't possibly apply to every guest for the past three years. This is especially true when other cons are able to announce their guests months in advance.
It's forthese reasons that I opt to travel 3000 miles to go to Animazement instead. When Fanime can get the same caliber of guests it had in 2011 AND announce them at least two months in advance, I'll return.
Yeah, with the way they were getting stuff out earlier than expected this time around(like the site and the registrations for badges and hotel) I thought we'd be getting guest announcements earlier, as well. And then I realized I was wrong......
I hope they give us at least ONE guest before May. The wait always kills me. And I doubt ALL the guests are having Fanime wait until May to announce.
Again, I am barking at the meetings for announcements earlier than may, cause the ink IS dry.
Quote from: cutiebunny on April 02, 2015, 10:39:46 AM
Fanime has, since 2012, only announced their guests in May. They usually will give you the same song and dance about how they only announce guests when the ink is dry or, my personal fave, the "their management has asked us to wait until May to announce". While the latter excuse may work for some guests, it can't possibly apply to every guest for the past three years. This is especially true when other cons are able to announce their guests months in advance.
It's forthese reasons that I opt to travel 3000 miles to go to Animazement instead. When Fanime can get the same caliber of guests it had in 2011 AND announce them at least two months in advance, I'll return.
Yeah, this is, sadly, par for the course for Fanime but NOT standard for anime (or other) conventions. They normally have a pretty good guest lineup but it's not announced until frustratingly late. (Last year's was a little weak overall, however they scored big with HMK for Musicfest.) I'm not sure if it's because they want to surprise us, they take that long to finalize the guests, they're too lazy to update, or if they have some other reason.
I'm going this year because they fixed registration and I live within walking distance, and at least they have the website up (unlike last year). But if I didn't live in the area, I would not make plans to travel to Fanime with no information available.
As a frequent cosplayer, I appreciate when cons do early guest announcements. So when they announce so-and-so from such-and-such is gonna be there and I've been dreaming of cosplaying a character from such-and-such for ages I can use this as my big chance to finally do so. However, it is rather unlikely that I can pull together a decently cosplay in less then 3 weeks (I'm not quite that good... also need shipping time for wigs and such).
Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed they haven't announced the rest of the guests yet. Guest panels/autographs are always a highlight for me, and other than cosplay/meetups, the main reason I attend. I hope in the future they realize the importance of having an updated guest list.. I've been checking for the last few months! Even Sacanime already has their list out... I wonder if its gonna catch up, in terms of popularity.
Anyway, I hope they (the staff/organizers) hear us out. It would really boost attendance to have one or two highly-sought guests.. perhaps some seiyuu or Jpop/Jrock bands!! Yeah, the Japanese Tuxedo mask was a great one.
I remember when LM.C went, and it was insane. People were waiting outside for hours til the concert. I want more of that!! :)