This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...
Quote from: HeeroYuy135 on July 03, 2008, 12:17:21 PM
This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...
In what way? It's highly unlikely we'll beat them in terms of attendance, even given the last few year's worth of crippled AX management.
I think both conventions have their good points and bad points. This will be my third AX, and this last Fanime was my 7th one. I love AX monster hall and the concerts. But I don't like the crowds. While fanime has less crowds, but less things for me to do. But my friends make fanime awesome for me.
I haven't gone to AX, but I heard that when it comes to people that goes yeah is alot compare to fanime. But to reg is about takes a long time about 5 or 6 hours long I don't know that's what I heard. As for the con itself I heard good and bad stuff about it.
Quote from: Kaura117 on July 03, 2008, 12:20:45 PM
Quote from: HeeroYuy135 on July 03, 2008, 12:17:21 PM
This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...
In what way? It's highly unlikely we'll beat them in terms of attendance, even given the last few year's worth of crippled AX management.
In terms of overall impression. People weren't impressed with AX '07, which means a lot rode on Fanime '08 to deliver, which it did. Now we'll see if AX '08 can answer back.
Quote from: Kaura117 on July 03, 2008, 12:20:45 PM
Quote from: HeeroYuy135 on July 03, 2008, 12:17:21 PM
This weekend we shall find out if Fanime totally owned AX, given everything that has happened in the past two convention years...
In what way? It's highly unlikely we'll beat them in terms of attendance, even given the last few year's worth of crippled AX management.
More attendees doesn't necessarily mean better show.
Quote from: ShinsengumiI haven't gone to AX, but I heard that when it comes to people that goes yeah is alot compare to fanime. But to reg is about takes a long time about 5 or 6 hours long I don't know that's what I heard. As for the con itself I heard good and bad stuff about it.
Five to Six hours to register is a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of one. But since I can only go on Sunday, I'm really finding it hard to decide if it's worth going or not just for the above reasons, and since the last two AX's really kinda blew (although I do want to see the Exhibit hall) maybe I'll just save my money for SDCC where i most likely will have fun.
It's not a competition. Many people go to both. Many others go to one or the other only because of proximity to the convention. A lot of people would be upset if either con went away.
Well we'll find out how it is this weekend.
For me, it's not about size or location. It's more important to me if the event is organized and the staff is helpful as far as providing me with the necessary things to do my job. Everybody's needs are different.
Example: PMX. It's a small con with good programming. It's organized and the staff has always been very helpful and supportive.
This was the first year I covered Fanime as press and it was a good experience.
AX?? No comment. Fill in the blanks.
I'm already starting to hear some of the complaining...one of their featured panels, the Fansubbing one, was Industry-only meaning all regular attendees were locked out.
I wanna go to AX next year. But saving up for that, next year's Fanime, and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo is not gonna be an easy task.
AX did a lot of Industry/Press only panels. But it makes sense because it is really Industry and Press heavy. They don't want fans busting in on their announcements making a ruckus over new licenses etc.
Registration seemed to go way smoother this year, and overall the vibe I"m getting is an improvement over last year, which is good. A lot of good news came out this weekend as well, Funimation picking up around 50 titles that were previously abandoned by Geneon and ADV, Gurren Lagaan Dub Cast as well as Ouran release date and dub cast were all announced this weekend.
AX is still way bigger than fanime. And, if you're industry or press members, definitely better than Fanime. I was at Fanime for ANN and really, there wasn't much to report on. At AX, the News Editor was telling me that they sent a bunch of their guys over there to cover everything...and of course there were announcements almost every other hour.
Fanime and AX are two different conventions with different focuses and priorities. It doesn't make one necessarily better than the other.
too bad fanime lost this year...not to worry, I still love it more.
In all seriousness, AX was great.
Registration went so fast that we had too much time to spare on the first day.
Lines were a breeze and getting into events was never a bother.
Concerts were amazing, the dealers had plenty of goodies and artist alley was nice.
Oh, and great cosplays...shouldn't forget about that one.
Overall, one of the best con experiences I've ever had.
I'm gonna have to agree that AX this year was pretty good. Much for the same reasons why Lisu liked it. Except registration, which I can't comment on, because I had someone pick up my badge for me. XD;
Gonna say I enjoyed Fanime more though. It's the familiar comfort of the SJCC and larger number of familiar faces that win it for me. Stripping Fanime of those two advantages and placing both cons on the same level, I realistically probably would have enjoyed AX more. Blame the dealers hall, enjoyable concerts (musical guests I actually want to see for that matter), and the surprise appearance of Circus.
I still liked Fanime more, even though I had an overall very awesome time at AX. It would probably be better then Fanime really only if the hotels were alot closer by and the general location was more like San Jose. This time I actually went to the dealer's room mutiple times and enjoyed spending time there. The AA there was good even if some of the selling pratices I saw were... ehh not so ethical to put it lightly : / Fanime clearly won in the gaming room department, we had more console gaming and an actual choice on what we wanted to play instead of being stuck with about five games.
Two excellent con experinces in a row! I can't wait till the next one.
I hoping to check out AX soon.
Darn, I just found out that David Hayter (MGS voice actor) was at AX this year.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168559
I should have gone to AX :P
This year was my first Fanime and my second AX, and overall, I found myself enjoying Fanime more, of the two. A good part of that may have been the weather, for me -- I despise warm, especially when I'm wearing layers and layers, and AX was pretty daggone hot. It felt like they didn't have the A/C quite high enough indoors, and outside was pretty gross, lacking the sea breezes from last year. Also, it was pretty crowded, but that's kind of inevitable with AX.
To me, the big problems with AX were:
- the lack of good photoshoot locations. For me, a bit part of con is cosplay, and it seemed like the only viable locations were either sunny (yuck), out of the way, both of those, or indoors and crowded. We did wind up finding a nice little set of benches and trees for a shoot on the very last day, but otherwise, meh. (I don't know if this contributed to my having less fun at the shoots in general, but I found Fanime's more enjoyable on a whole. Less bleacher-shots.)
- location. I expect part of it is the contruction, but it felt like you had to hoof a good distance to get to non-con-centre food and the like, or go back to your hotel -- or maybe it was just the weather making everything seem longer.
- panels. This comes back to the industry-versus-fan thing, I think, but there weren't really any panels I was honestly interested in. (In my defence, I don't play MegaTen or the like, but my group enjoyed that one thoroughly; I left so someone who actually knew the stuff and cared could have my seat.) One of my friends also noted that everything shuts down crazy early as far as panels, which seemed odd.
On the good side, the Dealer's Room was much less fail than last year, the Artist's Alley was awesome, and the smoothies inside the con centre weren't too ridiculously overpriced. :3 The shuttle service, despite all the misgivings, seemed to work out extremely well. And frankly, I had enough fun with the people I was hanging out with that I'm going back next year, even if it's just for a day -- but AX is less than two hours from me, so I can do that.
Of course, I'll be back at Fanime next year too, despite the five-hour drive, so take that as you will. :D
I agree that the shuttle system worked very well. On Saturday, I went to hang out with my friends, but not attend the con. I didn't have a convention membership badge, but was able to board the shuttle bus and have dinner with my friends at their hotel. :P
This was the first I have ever attended Fanime and had a really good time. :) I'll definately be back next year. And I went to AX for the 9th time this year and had a REALLY good time. I think what I enjoyed most was the main events which held at the Nokia Theater. My favorite event was the Shoko Nakagawa (Shokota) concert. It was freaking AWESOME!!! :D Guess if I had to pick which one was better, I'd pick AX. But only by a small margin.
I'll probably go to AX in the future, if only for the musical guests. At least, if they continue to have artists I care about as much as the last couple years. Especially this year, I'm still kind of bummed to have missed Nakagawa Shouko and Jyukai.
i thought they both had their good and bad points, but i cant really say much for anime expo because i was sick for two days and the remaining time i was basically just avoiding getting sick again. the cosplay at anime expo seemed to be of better quality, but on the other hand it was mainly based around certain shows which was a bit of a letdown. there were more people and a bigger dealers room, but that isnt necessarily a good thing. i did have this one girl randomly come up to me in the dealers room to read my shirt, which i ironically bought at fanime, and watch her walk off going "oh no, no, no" when she finally realized the end of the equation was "girls=evil." that was a pretty funny experience
for the most part though, id say fanime is more of a "get together with everyone" type of deal, where anime expo kinda goes into the clique of "im cosplaying this anime!" maybe next year ill have a better understanding of both, assuming i dont get sick again
There's always good and bad for both. For me, it was just nice to return to Fanime since I skipped it last year because I was so busy with school work ;_;
AX's lines are always going to be long, but it's pretty much a must to pick up badges on day 0 so that you can just wait to get into the place the next day. Last year and the year before that's registration system was bad...sending them out was chaos because people received their badges late (or not at all) and it added to the mess of printing them out in a separate line because of it. I have to say though, this year was good with the bar code scanning and all because that made it a lot quicker :)
Akiba > any con in terms of swag, so my trip to japan this year was the highest tier on that aspect. :P
Anyway, since I didn't go to AX this year (which was replaced by said trip), I'll say it's definitely who you hang out with that determines how much fun I have IMO. A con can have the best guests in the animeverse, but it will still suck if you go alone. In a sense, I can't really put AX above Fanime, or vis versa since I got to hangout with cool people either way. ;o
On a side note, didn't Yoko Ishida come to this year's AX? BAAAAAAAAWWWWW
Wtf, it sounded awesome. I should have gone this year. D:
Ugh, next year, I PROMISE I'll go. Maybe. >.>;;
I had a really good time at AX this year, I also had a lot of fun at Fanime. You really can't compare the too since they are both very different cons. AX has the concerts, panels and guests i want to see. The dealer's room was way bigger and had so much stuff I wanted to buy. While Fanime has hardly any panel I want to see, and way smaller dealer's room. But all my friends go to Fanime, and they make it fun for me. Cosplaying is more fun for me at Fanime too.
Quote from: pockystix on July 20, 2008, 02:47:43 AM
Akiba > any con in terms of swag, so my trip to japan this year was the highest tier on that aspect. :P
Anyway, since I didn't go to AX this year (which was replaced by said trip), I'll say it's definitely who you hang out with that determines how much fun I have IMO. A con can have the best guests in the animeverse, but it will still suck if you go alone. In a sense, I can't really put AX above Fanime, or vis versa since I got to hangout with cool people either way. ;o
On a side note, didn't Yoko Ishida come to this year's AX? BAAAAAAAAWWWWW
quick question, did you happen to cosplay rangiku at the san fran gathering about a month back?
oh, and ill have to remember about akiba for when i go in a year or so
Quote from: pockystix on July 20, 2008, 02:47:43 AM
Akiba > any con in terms of swag, so my trip to japan this year was the highest tier on that aspect. :P
Anyway, since I didn't go to AX this year (which was replaced by said trip), I'll say it's definitely who you hang out with that determines how much fun I have IMO. A con can have the best guests in the animeverse, but it will still suck if you go alone. In a sense, I can't really put AX above Fanime, or vis versa since I got to hangout with cool people either way. ;o
On a side note, didn't Yoko Ishida come to this year's AX? BAAAAAAAAWWWWW
Yes, she did. She also attended AX some years ago too (can't remember which one >_< ).
Quote from: Jebus on July 17, 2008, 09:46:45 PM
the cosplay at anime expo seemed to be of better quality, but on the other hand it was mainly based around certain shows which was a bit of a letdown.
It's the same at any con. In fact, from my observations, AX had more a more interesting variety in cosplay. If anything, it's cause there was simply more people/cosplayers.
Quote from: videogirlc on July 20, 2008, 02:43:03 PM
I had a really good time at AX this year, I also had a lot of fun at Fanime. You really can't compare the too since they are both very different cons. AX has the concerts, panels and guests i want to see. The dealer's room was way bigger and had so much stuff I wanted to buy. While Fanime has hardly any panel I want to see...
Fanime panels have more character, IMO, because they aren't all industry panels.
I would have to say that I loved Fanime Last year it was so fun...This year is kindof Lacked excitment.
I would have to say that I was a bit bored this year. I missed the glompers [¬___¬ I know I am going to get bitched at for saying that. But oh Well] Most of the people where there for An Cafe [Which is my favorite Band XD]
And the cosplayers where lost upon simple Visual Kei people O_O and when I went back into the convention when An Cafe was about to play. There was like not that much Cosplayers there. like last year. I was like WOOOW O_O Looking around at everyone, Yeah This year at Fanime it was all about An Cafe The Big act.
But I love Fanime MORE XD
And I am coming back again next year.
After hearing their first full album with Takuya and Yuuki, I was really disappointed. I was originally planning to go watch them, but decided it wasn't worth it. Bou-kun, you are in my heart.
Bottom line, if we have this same thread next year, then I don't think Fanime has done its job. The two shows should not even be comparable for you should have a completely different experience at both shows. I have always felt that Fanime should be a show that caters to the fans while AX, and for that matter Otakon as well, are the huge glamor shows that provide a huge wow factor, but not much fan interaction with guests, staff, or input into what is being programmed.
At the end of the day, you should attend both shows because you will have a unique experience at each. The Fanime experience will just feel more like a party in your own backyard with 10,000 of your closest friends.
Ebner
The blamable one.
Quote from: dealerJason on August 07, 2008, 01:15:00 AM
At the end of the day, you should attend both shows because you will have a unique experience at each. The Fanime experience will just feel more like a party in your own backyard with 10,000 of your closest friends.
Ebner
The blamable one.
Word. Quoted for emphasis.
And I dont blame you Ebner; I stil think its all Bush's Fault. :P
Quote from: Death_Note_Matt on July 23, 2008, 02:32:13 AM
I would have to say that I loved Fanime Last year it was so fun...This year is kindof Lacked excitment.
I would have to say that I was a bit bored this year. I missed the glompers [¬___¬ I know I am going to get bitched at for saying that. But oh Well] Most of the people where there for An Cafe [Which is my favorite Band XD]
And the cosplayers where lost upon simple Visual Kei people O_O and when I went back into the convention when An Cafe was about to play. There was like not that much Cosplayers there. like last year. I was like WOOOW O_O Looking around at everyone, Yeah This year at Fanime it was all about An Cafe The Big act.
But I love Fanime MORE XD
And I am coming back again next year.
pffft Visual Kei is dead I havent seen anything visual that has impressed me, it all looks the same now.
The concerts and dealers room are really amazing, I went last year. The bad thing is that the people over there aren't really friendly. I met Denis Rodman there,, dudes so freakin tall...He bowed to my friend and almost head butted him from across the table. It was ridiculous.
/thread