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Sometimes the guest or the guests manager will bring something like a poster, cards, CDs for sale, etc. To be safe always bring something to be signed.

Music guests usually will have something for sale, but quantity varies and can sell out. Also some stuff can be very expensive. All other guests are random.

I hope those who aren't pleased with the lineup will at least check out the guests. They may not be your cup of tea, but I've never met a guest that wasn't interesting.

I'll also say - not to make excuses or ask for pity or whatever - that the staff are extremely concerned about getting amazing guests for you, and providing amazing experiences for the guests themselves. And I know they'll be working even harder next year to do even bigger things.

Im not pleased with the guest line-up, but I will check them out as thats the cards we've been dealt. I said pretty much the exact same thing last year.

As for the working harder next year...now thats something I hear every year yet things seem to be getting worse. The lines last year, masquerade and guests left me wondering what the hell happened. How has Fanime responded? They removed the ability for people to post on their facebook page so people had to post concerns/complaints/questions on individual announcements. They then asked us to file all our complaints on some form so no one would publicly see the complaints. I have yet to see any explanations for what went wrong or any practical assurances that the issues will be fixed.

I can ignore many things like linecon, I mean I only lost like half of 1 day out of the con (which is technically unacceptable for a one day pass!). The masquerade issues made no sense as it appeared to be run by people who have never run or been to a masquerade before, but I didnt come for masquerade. I come mainly for the guests and there has been a noticeable decline in the last few years. Fanime used to be real consistent and reliable so I ignored it and assumed it was a fluke. I now see a definite decline in all areas and hope it would change for the better. The problem is time and time again I am seeing signs of problems to come from how Fanime and their staff are preparing 2014.

Not exactly who I was looking for, but much better then the nothing I was expecting =D

While the guest list is smaller than cons past, to say it's worse than a previous year is rather rude, don't you think? You don't have to like the lineup by any means since everyone has different opinions, but the guests who are coming out should at least still be welcomed and not, as a collective, be considered worse than a previous year because the total number is smaller or not who you want.

Rude to Fanime? I definitely think not. In fact I consider it rude to attendees that Fanime has yet to address the many issues from 2013. Coming off of 2013, its been non-stop disappointments in all departments. I keep hoping as my other friends have already abandoned Fanime. I only bring up the guest issue as its 2 weeks left til the con. Ive been quietly waiting and hoping for guest announcements for quite some time, but things dont look good.

Its cool though as the message has been received loud and clear. This will be my last Fanime until things get better.

Are there going to be any more guest announcements? Being 2 weeks away I am getting worried that this years guest list may be worse then last years.

Above posters: thank you for your comments. We understand your frustrations. I'm not too sure what I can do to appease you, but we hear you.

Im pretty sure you guys hear us. The problem is we dont hear you guys. I would love to hear why things were allowed to go so wrong in 2013 and know how things would be different from 2014. I want to know why after all this time the website is a shell of a website.

You guys need to understand that we have been waiting for quite some time and have gotten nothing other then a working Clockwork Alchemy site. The frustration has built up over time and now I want to know who I should be directing my anger at.

Before this thread becomes an venue exclusively used for venting frustrations, please let me know what questions you have that I can realistically answer and information that I can reasonably get for you.

This thread is pretty much for venting frustration. It is the only expected outcome when you have people asking for information, getting none, and only getting vague assurances things are being worked on. Normally I would agree that we should be in the "be patient and let the staff do their jobs" phase. That ship sailed like a month ago.

From what I can put together from the posts, you are looking for more information through other means of dissemination. I will pass that point on. Unfortunately, they are not optimized for our current model, but we will look into posting them there.

Its simpler then that. We simply want INFORMATION. Because there is an opinion that maybe the lack of information is because the website is not working, that information should then be shared with the fans via alternative means. Since the website development is in such a incomplete unusable state, it only makes sense to not be held back by the website and share the information via facebook, twitter, etc. I simply believe that there is no information and that is why everyone is silent.

Though an actual reply from a staff member is better then nothing, pretty much nothing is explained. The incredible delay was caused by "technical issues" and ewu is "not totally certain what the issue was". After this much time with a splash page, I find it hard to believe that we cant find someone who knows what actual issues were to let us know whats going on.

I doubt that fanime staff spent all this time doing nothing since that would be retarded. What worries me is that they spent all this time trying to get things working and this is what we are left with! I dont mean just the website, but all aspects of Fanime. The website is easy to point to as evidence of major problems since we can all see it.

Im much more worried about other aspects of Fanime such as badge pickup, the cosplay spectacular (failure), guests, etc. Seeing how 2014 is coming along, I have no reason to believe that Fanime will have these issues fixed. I have been given no assurances that they will be short of non-informational one line messages like "the website will be up soon".

I dont blame ewu for anything as he has the short end of the stick of having to address our concerns with no actual way of addressing our concerns. The problem is that is another thing that we can point to as evidence of MAJOR issues with Fanime.

The lack response is just as bad as the barren website. The staff must be reading these posts. They just must be in a position where they either are not allowed to respond, have no meaningful response and/or are in such a bad state of disorganization no one knows whats going on.

I still havent seen any responses to 2013's concerns much less 2014. The Fanime facebook still doesnt allow visitors to post comments in the main area (probably since the entire page would just be filled with complaints. I am still bothered that they disabled that to stop attendees from voicing complaints. I cant stand the fact that thee is no response from staff. By response I mean a meaningful one that addresses issues...like the horror of Fanime 2013.

I used to love Fanime and would suffer the 6+ hour drive to attend this con, but last year was the first year where I didnt think the con was worth the drive. I will be attending this year, but it may very well be my last Fanime. Several of my friends already gave up on Fanime and will not be attending.

There has been almost no information from Fanime anywhere! I had to use google to find this forum! Ive been looking at that placeholder website for way too long now!

I was hoping Fanime would get their act together from the horror of 2013, but based on how little seems to be done, I think 2014 may be worse. Theoretically things may be happening behind the scenes, but the late AA applications, panel submissions, etc. tells me maybe not.

The issues are Fanime this year were so huge I cannot imagine the staff not already knowing most of the issues. If the upper staff live in such a bubble that they need a form to let them know of the mass failures at Fanime, there are major communication issues at Fanime.

I did fill out the form, but the whole point of a public forum is the interaction and sharing aspect. I went through hell to get my badge, I was curious how many others went through what I went through. Its possible my experience was fluke there was something I could have done to avoid it. Seeing the posts of others who went through the same thing I went through tells me the issue wasnt me, but the con.

Locking threads and asking people to fill out some form makes it appear that Fanime is trying to hide the problem trying to prevent people from voicing their opinions publicly.

I also think the issues at Fanime 2013 should be quite clear to any and all staff. If the staff are not aware of what went wrong, then all is lost. Linus Lam wrote a pretty detailed report of the problems and what should have occurred:
http://www.usagichan2.com/Fanime2013/

The con chair and everyone in management positions at Fanime should read that report. They may find it quite informative.

I feel Chiba was exactly in line with the standards of music performers over the last several years.  Let's go back to 2006's guest, Kamijo, as a solo act.  Lareine had long since been dissolved, Versailles hadn't been formed yet, and there were just as many "whoz dat gai?" looks on people's faces as people had for Chiba.  Same deal with Mari Ijima.  Frequently the musical guests we've had are kind of in the twilight of their careers or a downtime in popularity in the Japanese music scene -  and I am not complaining about this at all mind you; I've enjoyed them.  I'm just being realistic about them.  FLOW is arguably a bigger name than Chiba/Nightmare/Sendai Kamotsu, but that has not been typical if you compare Chiba to other guests we've had and where they're at in their careers when they've attended Fanime Con.  I feel like FLOW set the bar pretty high, and nobody remembers a time before FLOW.

You are defending Chiba by bringing up an example from 7 years ago. 7 years is a very long time in the convention world. Hell, Fanime's attendance was half of what it was now in 2006. Its unrealistic to compare a 10,000 attendee size con to a 20,000 attendee size con. I expect more for Fanime as it is NOW, not 7 years ago.

I am hoping more guests are announced. Not like last year where everyone was hoping for the announcement of another Musicfest guest and were disappointed to learn that it wasnt going to happen about a week before the con. It would be great if some staff would just say something like "dont worry, there will be more guest announcements".

As for being badly burned on music guests last year... big name by who's standards?  Most people in Japan seem to be familiar with Chiba and Sendai Kamotsu.  I saw his beaming face plastered quite a few places when I was over there last month.  We're never going to get an X-Japan level performer, that is unrealistic at this point for a con this size.

By who's standards? Id say the standards that Fanime has set over the last several years. Fanime isnt a no-name con and has quite a history of amazing guests and performers. I dont think anyone is expecting X-Japan, but then I dont think anyone was expecting what we got last year.

I normally come to Fanime for the guests, but this year the guest list is lacking. Are there going to be any more guest announcements?

So what you're saying that, instead of shikishi this year, I should bring fruit to pummel the guest relation staff with.  Gotcha  ;)

Thats just for the musicfest (which I still think would be awesome lol). Tho I dont really want to go to the autograph sessions and see Fanime staff signing  ;)

Plan A = GoH to perform. Plan B = Our Guest Relations and MusicFest departments will perform.

I actually would love to see plan B.

I dont think people are stupid enough to think that Fanimecon wont be getting any guests.

I would like to know which guests are coming though because that determines whether or not I will be attending Fanimecon. I assume this also applies to attendees who live far away since if they need to plan for a plane ticket and hotels, they kinda want to know what they are getting into first.