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Messages - Kuudere

#41
Quote from: citrus on April 25, 2016, 12:33:39 AM
A lot of writing...

I love the amount of thought and time that you put into this response. It's way less abrasive and much easier to read and agree with than I've seen before.

I agree with you on many points...and in fact, despite my usual defense of Fanime, I've made many of the same criticisms (1)(2 (bottom half)). First and foremost, communication has been a very, very weak point for staff for a long time. Those who do want to communicate aren't allowed to, and those that can communicate, don't for whatever reason. If I can't know information at a given time, that's fine...I would just like to hear something other than silence. Marketing and social media should be stepping their game up, in my opinion.

You're right about artist alley, too. You don't even have to be an insider to know that something, for the past few years, has been going on in there to cause the amount of discord that's happening each year. The artists are valuable to Fanime, but they aren't treated like it at all. Something big needs to happen in that department to straighten out whatever is going on - whether that's staff turnover or mismanagement or communication issues or lack of efficient scheduling. One of these years, the artists are going to feel that it's just not worth it to sell at Fanime, and I'd hate to see it get to that point.

As a plus, I'm glad that Fanime is trying to do something about that party-con image, whether intentionally or not, by requiring badges for everything. As someone who doesn't drink and party at conventions - crazy, I know - I'm going to feel a lot safer walking around the con at night knowing that there are less  drunk randos strolling around trying to get lucky with "hot cosplay chicks." Too many times I've seen non-badged people wandering the convention center at night, smelling of booze/other substances. I didn't come to Fanime for that atmosphere. I actually read from an unverified source that the Marriott is going to be strict on room parties this year. As someone who's roomed next to those party rooms in the past, I will be thrilled if that's the case.
#42
Hotel and Facilities / Re: Hotels....
April 20, 2016, 03:49:38 PM
I said I'd update when I got Thursday added to my Fri-Mon Marriott reservation. Today, I got it.

For reference, I was in the 2/24  3:00pm block.
#43
Hotel and Facilities / Re: Hotels....
April 13, 2016, 09:31:10 PM
Quote from: Nina Star 9 on April 13, 2016, 09:17:53 PM
I put in my waitlist early in the noon timeblock (so maybe 12:15 or 12:20 or so? I did have to deal with some server crashes) on 2/25. So people from that timeblock should be getting close to the top of the list for the next available rooms.

I'm really happy about it. :] Now I don't have to worry about not fitting onto the shuttles in some of my costumes! And I can stay out late!

I'm happy you got your request fulfilled! I thought it probably wasn't going to go well for you to have (what I'm guessing is) Condesce horns on the shuttle. The year I used the shuttle, we were packed like sardines and it was a really fast drive so we were tossed around a bit. Did you request Thursday too, by any chance? I'm still waiting for that day to clear for Marriott and I booked on the first day. I might have to check up on things if they're granting Thursdays already.
#44
Dealers Room / Re: Fanime 2016 Wishlists!
April 11, 2016, 04:16:28 PM
Klab (mobile gaming group) recently had a highly successful booth at Anime Boston which held a tournament alongside selling official Love Live merchandise (which sold out within the first hour). I know that they probably won't hold an entire tournament again this year, but it'd be awesome to have them sell the merchandise at our con. They're located in San Francisco, so it's not too much of a stretch to get them. Here was the line for merchandise, and here was the actual tournament set-up at Anime Boston.

Barring that idea, bringing in Bushiroad would be great, too. They also sell the official LL merchandise, along with merchandise from popular card games (which we know TCGs have a huge following from our attendees).

Basically, what I'm saying is I'd like official merchandise that isn't the usual cheap crane prize figure, haha.
#45
Hotel and Facilities / Re: Hotels....
April 08, 2016, 06:53:50 AM
Quote from: citrus on April 08, 2016, 12:25:42 AM
I guess I'm the butt of Puns and jokes? Yeah I'm fully aware of my reputation and I got nothing to be ashamed about it. Not that I don't mind anyways, since most of you still treat me with decent respect despite my complaints. Which I thank all of you who have still treat me well.

I don't think any of us are being malicious with our joking. I used to be annoyed by you, but now you're like part of the forums family. I read all of your opinions, and while I don't agree with the way that they're expressed most of the time, I do understand the passion behind them is driven from a desire to see Fanime become the best it can be. I think that's what we all want, here.


On topic: I saw a few pieces of anecdotal evidence that the hotel waitlist has moved for people recently. I'm still waiting on getting Thursday, myself, and I'll report back when my waitlist request is fulfilled (or if my friends' requests to get into the Marriott are filled).
#46
Hotel and Facilities / Re: Hotels....
April 06, 2016, 04:02:22 PM
Quote from: Nina Star 9 on April 05, 2016, 01:07:34 PM
Looks like I'm turning into citrus, lol

Quote from: Mango Bunny on April 06, 2016, 10:28:24 AM
You aren't being a citrus!

I'm laughing at the fact that this is a thing now. Can we use it like a verb, too?

I agree with the general sentiment that, while there was a step forward in hotel booking (yeah, the website crashed once, but it was actually a short amount of time compared to previous years), there was also a step back in communication. Even though it worked out great for me because I bought my badge early on a whim this year, it wasn't fair to just drop this on everyone without a fair warning for people to plan accordingly. Not to mention artist alley getting pretty screwed over.

I think ideally, they should have announced the plan prior to badges going live, then do everything pretty much the same, except release rooms in batches so that it wasn't a first-come-first-serve free for all like it was. That way, Marriott and Hilton wouldn't have been sold out on the very first day. Though I'm sure we'd still not have enough rooms because there simply aren't enough hotels for the amount of attendees that come. At least the people who ghost the con had a harder time taking rooms away from paying attendees this year.

Two people in my group* are holding on to two other rooms at lesser-desired hotels because we're hoping something else opens in the Marriott (probably unlikely). I know they're for-sure going to just drop those rooms at the deadline if nothing opens up, so for those without any rooms at all, you'll probably be seeing a bunch become open at the end of this month. I'm betting there are many other people in that exact same situation who are planning to drop their rooms and squeeze in with a friend (or strangers) somewhere else.




*I should specify that my group is a large one that justifies the number of rooms we're holding. We're not just holding rooms to hold them.
#47
Quote from: Angelx624 on March 24, 2016, 08:17:11 PM
Huh, those are some hints, alright. XDD Hope we hear who it is sooooon!!! ^___^

EDIT: I did some research, and I think I figured it out!! Wow......... Fanime........... coughthey'rehot :DDDD <3333

I think I just saw your post on the Fanime fanpage...You did an awesome job in figuring it out! I did waaay more sleuthing and work to get to the answer, and you literally just googled it. Haha...wish I'd thought of that.
#48
Meanwhile, MusicFest's twitter has been dropping hints of who's coming this year... So I think we'll get the announcement soon!

(I already figured it out based on the hints, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for others! I wasn't familiar with them before, but looked them up and they look like they'll put on a fun show. Congrats on getting that group, MF staff!)
#49
Serious Business / Re: A little backstory until now
February 11, 2016, 02:47:45 PM
Oh believe me, I can get ranty on this subject, too.

Ultimately, Fanime, like any other place, is filled with some great people and some crappy people. I'm a white female, so the amount of discrimination I face is negligible in comparison to the first poster, but even I have some negative experiences regarding con-goers and race. I dressed as Celty a few years back, and if you're unfamiliar with the character, the cosplay is a tight leather one-piece with a large helmet. It shows no skin, and I painted my neck to add to the "headless" look. As I was running to get somewhere, this guy approaches me and asks, "What race are you?" This is a question POCs may get all the time, but as an obvious white girl, I stood there confused at the question until he saw my wrist peeking through above my glove and said, "oh, you're white. Never mind." To this day, this is the weirdest interaction I've had in cosplay. Why my race matters at all, and why he felt it appropriate to ask a stranger that, is something I still don't understand. Likewise, my boyfriend (who's Cambodian and actually does get the "what race are you?" question all the time) dressed as the original Black Power Ranger one year. He lost count of the amount of times people asked if he was "really black" behind the helmet, and even more inappropriately, if he was "black down there" also. What the hell, people?

I'm also sick of the term "black version" of a cosplay. If an African American girl dresses as Sailor Moon, regardless of if she uses a blonde wig or her natural hair, she is SAILOR MOON, not a "black version of Sailor Moon." It's just straight-up disrespectful to the time and energy that she put into her cosplay to categorize it like that. I don't see us white people being called the "white version" of whatever Japanese character we're cosplaying, so why does it happen to another race?

One last thing regarding race that I've seen around conventions is the idea that "only X race can cosplay Y character." I love Garnet from Steven Universe (who, to be clear, is an alien gem and thus race-less), but I will never, ever cosplay her because I've seen people online tear apart white cosplayers for daring to cosplay her, equating them to racists for their way of showing appreciation for an awesome character. I would understand that mentality if someone were doing offensive blackface, but that's not the case here. Also, no one is taking a character away from any other group; literally anyone can cosplay anything they want. That's kind of the point of cosplay to begin with. I know that that's a very unpopular opinion on some parts of the Internet, but I don't agree with the belief that a fictional character can "belong" to a race.

People are just really, really weird about race. Still. That doesn't stop at the convention doors, unfortunately. We may seem to be a more inclusive bunch, but there are still just as many judgmental people as there are outside the con scene.
#50
Quote from: Acid_Android on February 05, 2016, 09:25:27 AM
Do you want to see more local bands inspired by Japanese music (whether cover bands or folks creating their own), or would you rather we kept MusicFest strictly to overseas Japanese artists/bands?

Thank you for bringing the discussion here. I'm not very active at all on twitter so I'd probably never see the poll otherwise.

I might be in the minority, but I feel that it's very easy to see local bands outside of Fanime (some of them even perform during Fanime weekend in local venues). What makes MusicFest stand out is the fact that it brings overseas guests - guests that the majority of us would never get to see if it weren't for Fanime bringing them to us. It just wouldn't quite be the same having a focus on local bands. Maybe there could be a short opening act or something, but certainly not a main act.

MusicFest had a state-side guest (forgoing names, here) appear not that long ago, and it wasn't highly received by attendees. Perhaps things have changed since then, but I'd be worried about a repeat of that situation.
#51
Registration / Re: Registration 2016
November 26, 2015, 08:59:50 AM
Quote from: fanimefreak on November 25, 2015, 11:31:04 AM
Anyone have any word when registration begins?

Nothing that I've seen yet, but I did see from an unconfirmed source that badges will be a little different this year, so I would imagine if that were the case, they may need more time to put everything together to make sure it all works correctly when they launch the site for badges. It may just be a rumor, though.

I highly recommend using their social media to warn you of when registration will go live. You can "like" their Facebook page, and under the arrow by the "like" button, there is an option to have notifications turned on whenever they make a post. They usually give at least a few day's notice before going live, so you'll have time to see the notification even if you don't check Facebook every day.
#52
Quote from: Admiral Donuts on September 09, 2015, 09:57:54 PM
The plan was nixed but a technical glitch meant it happened that way anyway. You couldn't book a hotel unless you'd already paid for your badge.

It should be clarified that this was for people who actually managed to book through the website. Anyone who did so through the phone (which was quite a lot of us) did not have to have a paid badge. I didn't pay for a badge until much later.
-----
I do like the plan of requiring a badge to book a room, but A LOT of consideration will need to be made for all of the guests that attend. These need to be confirmed and communicated in a timely manner well-ahead of badge/hotel release. I believe that Fanime staff is capable of successfully implementing it, but it will absolutely be much more work than their current system.

Off the top of my head, they'll have to fix these situations before attempting the badge-before-hotel system:

1.) Give ample time for people to purchase badges before hotels get put up.
2.) Make arrangements for artist alley artists (who often will not buy badges early but will reserve hotels in the hopes that they are accepted). Many artists attend only because their art sales allow them to afford hotel/transportation, and they don't wish to buy a non-refundable badge for an event that may reject their application afterwards. Fanime staff will have to do something like reserve rooms for artists, or even better - make the artist selection process happen way before badges/hotels go up. It's possible, but like I said before, a lot of work.
3.) Any other badge-purchases that are contingent on acceptance into something (panels, press, vendors, etc.) would need to be considered and processed ahead of time.
4.) Communicate the need for purchasing badges as effectively as possible with multiple notices on the website, social media, etc. Not hard, but more work.
5.) Place some kind of limitation to how many rooms per badge can be booked and code that into the system. Badge-before-hotel is essentially useless if one guy can buy one badge and reserve 10 rooms with it.
6.) Consider those who will reserve via phone and make sure CMR is able to check whether the person has a paid badge already.

These are all things that would need to be worked out to make things fair to everyone attending. If all of us were just regular attendees, it'd probably be no problem, but there are many other people who have different needs, and it's not fair to exclude them. It is doable, just with a lot of careful preparation and work.
#53
Registration / Re: Fanime 2016
July 31, 2015, 04:46:32 PM
Let's look at the general history of registration announcements:

2015: November 2014
2014: February 2014
2013: January 2013
2012: January 2012


You can probably anticipate the announcement happening around the same timeframe of November-February. Subscribe to the Fanime Twitter or Facebook page if you would like to be updated on when they open registration. They're usually good about giving warning/heads up on social media. That way you won't have to keep checking back here for updates.
#54
Oh, I know it would be incredibly hard to get them. But if they did manage to somehow make it happen (through corporate sponsorship/charging for tickets - both unlikely since that's not Fanime's style), it'd be a major home-run for them. Your suggestions are a nice compromise, though (but I might be biased because Yoshino Nanjou voices my favorite girl).

Thanks for adding your requests! It'd be awesome to make '16 the year of the idols.
#55
This thread is for MusicFest guest requests! For general guest requests, please use this thread in order for those requests to reach the correct department.

I didn't see the thread yet, and I wanted to get it started early so staff has an idea on who people want to see before they begin the long process of getting a MusicFest act.

Remember: the sooner you request, the better chance you have of staff being able to fulfill that request! These acquisitions can take months of planning/talking, so request early!


For 2016, I'd like to see:

  • The Pillows (forever first on my list). They perform the whole soundtrack for FLCL and are just a great group all around.
  • ClariS. Featured in Madoka Magica, Nisekoi, OreImo, Nise/Tsukimonogatari.
  • Tommy Heavenly6. Featured in Soul Eater, Paradise Kiss, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Gintama, Bakuman, and Pokemon.
  • Crystal Kay. Featured in Nodame Cantablie, Fullmetal Alchemist, and several J-dramas.
  • Kalafina. Featured in Madoka Magica, Black Butler, and Fate/Zero.
  • Etsuko Yakushimaru. Featured in Arakawa Under the Bridge, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Space Dandy, Mawaru Penguindrum, Natsu no Arashi, Tatami Galaxy.
  • Kana Nishino. Featured in Soul Eater, Naruto.
  • Maaya Sakamoto. Featured in too many anime to name, but probably mostly famous for Wolf's Rain's Gravity.
  • OreSkaBand. Featured in Bleach and Naruto.
  • Supercell. Featured in the Monogatari series, Guilty Crown, Black Rock Shooter, Naruto, Magi.

And my #1 request:
  • μ's. Featured in the Love Live franchise.
    • Probably a long shot, but I'd really, really like to see the girls of μ's (pronounced Muse) on stage. While expensive to get all 9 girls, the cost can be justified by their value as both extremely popular singers and seiyuu. Since the group was founded from the anime/game (Love Live), it has the industry tie-in to make them relevant for MusicFest. Other conventions are capitalizing on their popularity (AX is charging its attendees just to watch a recorded performance), so if Fanime ever wanted to charge a small fee to help cover the additional costs, I'm positive people would pay to see them. If all 9 aren't feasible, they do also sing in smaller, three-person groups (BiBi, lily white, and Printemps), though that won't have as much impact, obviously.


#56
Hotel and Facilities / Re: Review your hotel stay!
June 06, 2015, 10:03:25 AM
Stayed at the Marriott from Thursday to Monday.

Pros:

  • The staff - Each year, they seem to get even better at managing the masses. They had a separate area set up on the second floor specifically for Fanime attendees and were polite in informing us. We showed up really early (11:30 am), and they cheerfully allowed us to check in and even hold our bags for us if the room wasn't ready (it was). They were very prompt in sending someone to change out the feather comforter and pillows for our allergic friend, and switching out a TV remote for us (but this was all Thursday before the rush). On Friday night, Brian from valet was hilarious and bursting with energy while helping us. Michael, who served as our bellhop, was wonderful enough to take our stuff (and us!) up through the staff elevator to avoid waiting for the regular elevators. Nearly everyone we were in contact with was pleasant and prepared.

  • Hulu and Netflix on TV!! OMG, this was amazing. Instead of being stuck watching whatever was on, I could watch all my shows and not miss anything while away from home. This was my favorite new room addition.

  • It seems like they upped their plug game. There were more plugs and USB plugs for phones this year, which was a relief.

  • Elevators didn't seem as bad as previous years, though I spent most of the time using stairs anyway since we were on the 6th floor. Although I think they closed them randomly late at night?? That's not really great for disabled guests or people on the 20+ floor.

  • I love the Fanime mascot projection they have for the floor in the lobby. It's probably Fanime's doing rather than the hotel's, but it feels like they really do welcome us with it.

  • Beds are nice. I'm not really a fan of the bedding used, though. It feels too heavy (but the sheets alone, too light) for summer, so I was often hot at night.

  • The rooms are fairly big. They put the minifridge under the TV this year, so that saved on space, too.

  • The curtains are crazy at blocking sunlight. You'd think it was still night time until you opened them up.

  • I'm not sure if it's because we signed up as rewards members or if it just came standard, but they had free WiFi in the rooms. That was really nice.

  • The convenience of being connected to the convention is one of the top reasons I keep booking at the Marriott each year. No walking outside in cosplay, no worrying about safety in having to go outside at night.

Cons:
  • There was only one negative experience with staff this year, when we were told that we would be called on when our car was brought out during check-out, but we weren't. So we stood around pointlessly for a long time, only to be lectured by staff about "paying attention" because they brought the car out a while ago but failed to inform us like they said they would.

  • I wish that there were staff cleaning out the stairwells, because people are nasty and leave trash and empty beer bottles in there.

  • Every year I get sad that the bathroom doors are still the sliding ones with no lock. I suppose it cuts down on "I locked myself out of the bathroom" calls, but it's pretty terrible for privacy. It's never personally been a real problem because my roommates are good about checking if someone's using it first, though.

  • Closing the elevators at night?

  • Far from Panels. I'd have to leave even earlier to get there at a good time.

Overall: 9.5/10.
#57
Ideas and Suggestions / Re: Sleeping arrangements
June 03, 2015, 09:16:17 AM
Perhaps they could advertise it more, but every year there's a thread on the forums to get roomless people together with people who want to share their rooms. Lots of people use it successfully, even up to the last week before the convention. Staff and moderators do their best to get everyone who posts needing a room into that thread so they can find someone.

Only a small amount of attendees use the forums regularly, though, so I don't know how well-known this resource is outside of the forums.
#58
General Convention Discussion / Re: Success!
June 02, 2015, 02:40:32 PM
Quote from: Abyss1 on June 02, 2015, 12:23:15 PM
out of curiosity what was the final attendee # and how has it been over the last 3yrs?  Up or down?

According to this post, "north of" 27,000, which was last year's estimate. They never really release official numbers, but I've heard past recent years that it's been around 25k, so it's definitely growing.
#59
You've got your work cut out for you to take on everything by yourself! Though, the forums are a little slow by now, so if you really want to reach a larger audience for feedback, promoting this thread through social media would be a good start.

Note: Most of my largest concerns were already responded to by staff (because we have some awesome staff that check in on the forums), but I'll list them here just so that they're on the "official" feedback and don't get forgotten. And I want to mention beforehand that this year's Fanime was one of the best-run Fanimes I've been to in my 11 years of attendance. So great job, staff!

----------------------------------------------


Guests:
  • More thorough moderation in guest panels to avoid inappropriate attendee behavior.
  • Keep guest panel line for questions out of the middle aisle so as not to obstruct view of the guest for half of the room.
  • Bigger rooms for guest panels.

Artist Alley:
  • More transparency for Artist Alley methods and reasons behind delays.
  • Accept more crafts artists. The prints were beautiful this year, but there weren't enough crafts.

Guides:
  • Utilize apps like Guidebook for mobile guides. These should be able to easily push updates to the schedule, I think.
  • Minor request: Make guides available in downloadable form without making a separate account on a third party website.

Housing:
  • Better servers for CMR housing. I'm really hoping that this, above all else, is fixed for next year.

Registration/Website:
  • Require a user-generated password for registration accounts.

    Explanation:
    It is way, way too simple to figure out how to log into someone else's account when all that's required is an email and zip code. This is a big area of concern for privacy, since private information is stored in these accounts. Also, hotel reservations are kept under this account and can be changed by unauthorized people if a person were to want to, say, get back at another person or just to be malicious in general.

Swap Meet
  • Keep the swap meet in the South Hall. Even though it was still packed, there was at least room to escape the crowds and find people.

Gaming Hall:
  • More space between the tabletop games tables. This can be an issue for safety reasons.

General:
  • More official response to complaints/serious suggestions, less silence from staff when things go wrong. This helps with building trust in staff.

--------------------------------------------------

That's it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll mention it later.

And like I've already mentioned, this year's Fanime was great overall. I hope that the staff that see these know that they're likely only going to hear the negatives, but that's because the people who enjoyed themselves don't often leave feedback. Thank you, staff, for a great 5 days!
#60
Quote from: Nina Star 9 on May 29, 2015, 11:32:27 AM
I'm not confident enough in my ability to recognize faces to give a good description to a Rover...which that's fairly specific to me, I think, since most people seem to be better at faces than I am.

No, I'm pretty terrible with remembering faces too, especially in traumatic situations. Your brain goes into overdrive and important details like that can be easy to forget as you're stuck in that state of "did that actually just happen? What do I do?"

If possible to do safely, try to take a photo of them (or get a friend who has better control of their senses at the time to do it). That way you're not relying on your memory, and you can give rovers an exact image of who to look for. Again, only take a photo if you think that it's safe to do so. If someone is dumb enough to come to a convention and take these kinds of photos, they're probably dumb enough to get aggressive if they think they'll get caught.