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While I'm not going to Pre-registration on Thursday, I will say that I can understand 7:00pm starting registration would be fine for smaller conventions.  Back in 2001 when Yaoi-Con got started, pre-registration opened on Friday night around the evening, but there weren't too many people.

But this is Fanime, and people are used to arriving very early (like 7:00am in the morning) to wait in-line for pre-registration when it opened at 3:00pm on previous years.  This year I'd hate to be there in-person to see the line at 6:45pm next Thursday night, everyone crammed into that ballroom(s) at the Fairmont..

One non-convention example of craziness was at my work-place Wednesday night.  My theater had an advance screening of Star Trek : Into Darkness and normally we have screenings at 7:00/7:30pm.  That night we had it at 9:00pm, meaning that more people would get off from work and show up in the huge line, and people kept cutting in-line or joining their friends who had been there since 9:00am.  The # of complaints my staff and I got because of the line-cutters was too much.  And by 8:30pm the promoters still hadn't let people in, the lines went out the back-hallways and security yelled at us, etc.  ughhh  :P  Such madness happens when you choose to have something start at a later time. 

I wish the Fanime staff good luck with everything next Thursday, and hopefully everyone runs smoothly.  :)

So how did it go for those who signed-up for it? :)

A great example would be the group I sometimes call, "THE INSERT LADIES" or "The Swap Meet Ladies". I'm sure you've seen them, there's hardly any con I've seen that I haven't seen them at.
Their group usually consists of roughly 3 large chinese women (all usually large and wearing glasses, look like classic Fujoshi) who buy Japanese anime magazines, tear out the inserts, promo goods, etc... and then SELL them for INSANE prices, convincing buyers that their goods are actually worth 5x what they should be.

If these ladies are breaking the rules, can someone report them this year?  Possibly contact Fanime staff before tomorrow to let them know of their actions? 

I just focus on what I'm selling and not worry about what others sell and for how much.  I charge what I deem is a fair price, and if people ask for a small discount, depending on the item, I may or may not knock a few dollars off.

What irks me was that last year some buyers looked at my items, looked up ebay/amazon/etc. for the value of my item(s), and then bought it at the price I was asking (or asked for a discount.)  It's hard to say if they actually kept them or put the items on ebay for a higher price than what they paid for.   :P

Still, I'm just glad I sold the majority of my stuff last year.  :)

mod edit: Removed request for pictures...

I'd love an significant update with actual content before they close con registration on the night of the 12th.

Sadly, I don't see that happening before Sunday night comes to a close.  :P

we're under the 2 week mark now, and hadn't seen any info.

I'm getting concerned too..  Not for myself since I'm not doing it this year, but mainly for a lot of my friends who are planning to participate in the Swap Meet.   :-\

 

We are sorry to see you go!

Thanks for your wishes.  It's mainly that since I sold the majority of my stuff last year, I don't have as-much stuff this year that would make it worth spending all that time preparing everything, waiting in-line on Thursday for con pre-registration at the Fairmont, head back to the convention center and get my Swap Meet stuff from my car, waiti n-line to check-in for the Swap Meet, only to have my stuff this year not sell.  (Repeat the Swap Meet process on Friday..)  Not being able to sign-up for the Swap Meet to reserve a spot also killed my incentive to start gathering up any of the items I would've liked to sell this year.  :-\

3 weeks to go until Fanime is here.   :D

Unfortunately, still no news on when sign-ups will happen.   :P

I've decided to not participate in the Swap Meet for both days, so good luck to everyone doing it this year.   :)

Perhaps next year when everything is more organized like the previous years, I'll do the Swap Meet again.   ;D

While I've never been inside South Hall before, I pass-by it whenever I park at the smaller, outdoor parking lot that's away from the convention center.  From that parking lot, you have to walk-along the backside of the convention center, until you go through the side-entrance of the SJCC closer to the Marriott.  (I'm not-sure if there are any exits from the back of the SJCC to get to the South Hall quicker.)

Here's an image of how close the South Hall is to the SJCC:

http://ottawaphotonics.com/media_lib/images/TheConferenceCentre1.JPG

We're at the 5 week mark until Fanime..  I'm excited  :D and stressing out.  :-\

I liked not needing a badge to SELL stuff last year, so I didn't have to spend the entire day waiting in the pre-reg. line. When the Swap Meet ended on Thursday night, I put my stuff away in my car and rested for a few hours, then waited in-line to get a Friday badge which I needed to sell on Friday night. :)

Sorry you had to go through that last year :(

I didn't mind.  While waiting in-line from 4:30am-9:00am was calm & quiet, when pre-reg. opened, it only took me 15 minutes to get my Friday badge.  That was easy, considering that later on the pre-reg. nightmare (continued from Thursday) happened again and people waited hours in-line while the con was already happening.

We're at the 5 week mark until Fanime..  I'm excited  :D and stressing out.  :-\

I liked not needing a badge to SELL stuff last year, so I didn't have to spend the entire day waiting in the pre-reg. line. When the Swap Meet ended on Thursday night, I put my stuff away in my car and rested for a few hours, then waited in-line to get a Friday badge which I needed to sell on Friday night. :)

I plan to sell my copies of Borderlands 2 and Dead or Alive 5 both on the Xbox 360.  :)  I might have other video-games but unsure yet.

If they open pre-reg. for the Swap Meet before the one-month mark before Fanime, I'll be happy.   ;D

If they open pre-reg. by the two-week mark before Fanime, I'll be frantic but relieved.   :P

eurobeat, I felt like I met you before.. are you the guy who dresess as ryosuke and cosplayed as an initial D character?

Yes, that's me.  I might bring back the FC3S one more time this Fanime.

Back on-topic, it takes time for me to prepare everything that I'm going to sell for the Swap Meet, and once I confirm that I have a spot, that gives me incentive to get the items ready.  This year, as it gets closer to Fanime, the less incentive I have to do it this year since it's taking so long for pre-reg. to open up.  :P

We're at the 6 week mark until Fanime..  :-\

This year it is indeed back in the main convention center in Hall 1 where Artist Alley used to be.

This seems pretty solid.

I'm glad the Swap Meet will be back inside the SJCC :)  While I thought it was nice (and cleaner) to have it at the Fairmont last year, it just made it difficult for sellers who parked their cars inside the SJCC parking garage to transport their items to/from.  But since I sold about 95% of what I brought to sell, I'm not complaining!   ;D

One question about where the Swap Meet sellers might be lining up before the event on both days?  I know Hall 3 was closer to the Hilton, and they used that long walkway and lined-up against the walls with their items until it was time to check-in.  With Hall 1, the only place I can think of is that hallway in-between Hall 1 and the other panel rooms next to it. 

About 7 weeks to go until Fanime is here, and still no updates about the Swap Meet?    :-\

we're nearing the 2 month mark soon, are we going to see any updates on the event? Same location as last year, or hopefully back at the convention center? Is there staff assigned to it yet? Spot registration date?

My thoughts as-well..  The staff is probably trying to figure out where to have the Swap Meet this year, so until they finalize a location, they don't want to say announce anything or open the sign-ups yet.  While I can understand that, it is frustrating.  But we can only hope they announce something soon (like early April)  :-\

[Bad-]

Bad- It's only one but it's a BIG one.

The Masquerade. I usually don't attend but this year I was convinced to do so. I was not convinced that I should ever go again.
The contestants ARE told that this isn't American Idol right? I say 'American" and not 'Japanese" because while I am so very, very, sick of going to see creative skits and costume only to see MOE cosplayer in skimpy outfits murdering my ears with some  high-pitched, grating song and dance,  those ARE at least relevant .

What the fuck was with #28? They didn't  have costumes. Of ANY kind. The song didn't have anything with anime. NONE of it had anything to do with anything really.

I'm still reminded of FanimeCon many years ago (i think it was 2000 or 2001) when I was fortunate enough to be able to watch a rehearsal of all the skits before the actual show.  The Masquerade staff called up each group, and let them perform their skit once in-front of little to no audience, to make-sure their audio was in-sync, lighting, etc.  

One group, three guys wearing either T-shirts or bare-chested, did a skit from the anime "Fist of the North Star" but all it was was them punching each other, doing "moves" that Kenshiro does, and instead of blood, they threw confetti into the air.  It was absolutely pointless and boring, and after I saw that I said "why is this even allowed in the Masquerade?"

Well, when the show commenced, and I was dreading that the FOTNS skit would come up, low-and-mf-behold: it was axed!!  ;D

I'm unsure to this day if the guys dropped out at the last minute, or if the Masquerade Staff found the skit to be too plain/boring/idiotic/etc. so they canned it.  Sure, everyone is allowed to sign-up for the Masquerade each year, but having a dress-rehearsal if there's time to let the Masquerade Staff determine if a skit is appropriate or not and disqualify any skit they see fit, would be nice to have.

I recall a couple of years ago when one contestant stood on-stage wearing a Smiley-face mask from "Ghost In The Shell", normal clothes, and held a Zion flag from "Gundam", and just stood there for 3-5 minutes, while the "Mighty Mouse" song was being played.  Just terrible.. (I know Anime Central used to have a big GONG they used to use to get contestants off-stage when they were dragging, they no longer do, but that was one example where the skit needed to end.. and quickly.)  :P

Which brings me to this year's Masquerade.  Being backstage in the photo-area, I saw all the contestants before they went on-stage, but didn't get to see their skits.  One group, entry #6 "Pokemon Men" had 4 guys and 1 girl.  Two of the guys were half-naked, and the one Power Ranger(?) had holes in his costume in certain areas that were quite disturbing.  Once they stood in-front of us photographers, they immediately started doing poses where they grabbed each other, like one guy stood behind the other, and lifted the other's legs.  Just overall pretty distasteful..  

Here's their skit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_9ipJMEKc

I got there a little after 5:00pm on Friday.  With my spot being in the 20's, I knew I wasn't going to be checked-in until probably 5:20-5:30pm.  I personally would rather get to an event early, and if there were any changes I'd rather let the staff of that event tell us, rather than trust the Information Booth of a convention in-case of any mis-communications. :)

That's all well and good, but remember I'm also working the artist alley and I don't have the luxury to go track down the staff of the event or to get there early.  I had expected things to go as they did on Thursday - we got there at the time told to us, we lined up in order according to our numbers (my number was #2), and we get to pick our spot.  It might not seem important to those who don't come to Fanime to conduct sales, but good time management is very important to me.  If I leave my table early, a missed sale could be a difference of up to $85 profit, depending on what the customer wished to buy. 

Also, you said in your previous post that the head of the Swap Meet was very rude to you.  Are you referring to Maryssa, AKA AngelJibrille?  She's always very busy running the Swap Meet each year (as-well as the Masquerade.)  My friend, who was also selling on Friday showed up later to check-in around 6:00pm.  My friend had to attend a funeral that morning, and by the time she got to the con, she had to wait in-line for badge pick-up which took a few hours.  Maryssa was very kind to allow her to check-in.

That is good for your friend, I'm glad she was able to still get into the swap meet.  But just because Maryssa was nice to some people doesn't mean she was nice to everybody.  It doesn't cancel out the negative experience I had with her or make her rudeness to me any less important.  It doesn't make all the other complaints about her go away.  And I would prefer my complaint about her to be heard rather than for it to be challenged.

This is my feedback in a feedback thread, so please stop trying to dismiss my opinion.

Done.  Sorry you had such a bad time on Friday at the Swap Meet.