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Soo... everything in the con is still being announced as if they're just hamstringing things together at the last minute and offical announcements about the music guests STILL haven't been announced.

So this brings back to the name of the thread I created.  Fanime worth going to anymore? My impression so far? NOPE!

You staff mind answering why it's taking so long to finalize everything when that should have been taken care a long time ago? Or shall I expect silence?

Oh for god sakes! As of this post it's close to three weeks prior to the con and they STILL announced the rest of the guests or even anything about the con for that matter? I'm reading other threads and it's not just guests they're having problems with! Does the convention seriously think this is acceptable?! Do they even find it a problem!? This is even WORSE then last year! Because at least in 2014 they announced the first three guests and the main act for musicfest! If they don't announce anything soon I'm going to expect the worse when the day for the convention finally arrives...

Anybody still excited for the con after dealing with all this crap?

The band will announce they will be coming yet Fanime just SIMPLY refuses to announce them. We're already in may as of this post!

Well I do have to apologize if I may seem a bit aggressive towards but there is a reason why I'm acting like the way I am. Aside moderating certain sections of the forums, If you do read the forums and the threads and replies I make specifically, you'll notice I tend to make very aggressive posts and usually badmouth the staff and convention but not in ways that you wouldn't take me serious.

Usually, when a convention is going really bad many people will point the fingers at the staff for doing a bad job. And while this may not apply to all departments it applies to the big cheese who run the strings of the convention. I have complained constantly on social media and barely get any response or answers from the staff who run it. This includes the staff and moderators of the forums. What happens when I do? We get no answers and we are always constantly ignored. I have become very angry and aggressive for being ignored for so long that I don't trust the staff to get anything done because of it.

So in order to get any attention about the problems. being aggressive and ratting out the staff was the only way I could think of would get best way. The last staff member that I recall that tried to take action I haven't heard from him since then. Which I felt he wasn't trying hard enough or being genuine which only displaces my trust for the staff even more. It wasn't until now that you decided to actually offer to take action and have our voices be heard. So far you haven't ignore me like 95% of all the moderator or other staff have done and you actually addressed me head on. You also shown genuine care that you are going to try your best in which others have given the impression they won't.

So for now I'm going take your word and trust you. I expect and hope you won't let me down

[communicating]

Yeah... so I have to ask. What the heck took you moderators or staff so long to notice the discussions we've been having in the forums for quite sometime now? We complain and complain, non-stop but it wasn't until 1 month close to the con you guys start actually communicating with us and actually taking action. And it's not just on the forums are people complaining. It's on almost all of your guy's social media and I'm pretty sure there are people spamming you with complaints with e-mails as well.

You guys claim that all of you are working hard to improve the con. However a lot of us say the same thing. You either provide a generic answer or just ignore our voice's and concern's all the time. Okay so staff rotates and the head changes as well? If that's the case here's something you can do. DON'T change or rotate staff if possible and if someone as important as the head HAVE to switch then find a head that's popular with the attendees or much beloved. They may have different ways of running the convention but that doesn't mean they should discard everything of what the previous head that's done which has made the con successful. I will continue to say and constantly reiterate. 2011 was the last year fanimecon was good and since then everything has fallen downhill. It's not just the guests but everything about the convention in general.  Do you guys actually acknowledge our voice? Judging by the the lackluster communication the past months I highly doubt it.

I know you guys read the forums. And if you actually cared you would have resolved our complaints a long time ago. Not only that, it actually feels like you guys try to suppress our feedback one time or not hand us anything to allow our complaints be heard. In the year 2013 a online feedback form was created and distributed. Many people jumped on the bandwagon and filled out the form. You guys have distributed the feedback form on facebook but then a month or two later it was removed from facebook which gives off the impression you guy's can't handle criticism or feedback and the only way for people to actually access it was the official website. It's as if you wanted the least amount of people to find the online form. As far as I'm aware I was never given a survey or fillout form on how the convention was in 2014. I don't even think there was an online feedback form for 2014. What makes you think we can actually trust you'll finally be taking action for once. ( I am so expecting this reply to totally ignored)

I've never seen Back-On live before but I have heard of them and I know they performed in the U.S in the past and also had their music in anime and other media. But so far after listening to some of their music I'm fairly impressed. I'm just really HOPING that if they get another act it's not going to be someone American like Raj Ramaya. Don't get me wrong I've met the guy at sacanime and he was a decent music artist there.

But there's the big difference. Sacanime is not really known for their music concerts and they don't really emphasize on them really being any good. Most of their music artists have ALWAYS been the same and it ever rarely changes. It's either Kazuha, (A very American inspired band from Japan) The Slants (Some kind of China Town dance music band that's what they decribe themselves anyways), Akai Sky (Another American inspired Japanese band) and Eyeshine. But unfortunately their concert and music events have REALLY fallen down since the last winter event consisting mainly of cover artists and Djs. Really the only band I ever kind of look forward to is Eyeshine and for some reason I never get tired of seeing Johnny bosch and his band play their music since it was good to begin with and many anime fans like them.

My point is that for fanime standards when Raj played the 1st act it was absolutely horrendous and unbearable to listen to because the guy really isn't that great of a singer and his band were just playing covers songs of famous anime OP. It was like listening to a horrible tribute band. But THANK GOD, he only played for a half hour and HOME MADE KAZOKU made everything up for it. And here comes to my next point. If I compare the two Fanime is KNOWN for their musicfest. Like others say it's the bread and butter of the convention and reasons why quite a few even bother coming to the convention in the first place. While for Sacanime. They are not known for their music events. They are known for bringing in the Top-named North American VAs and recently, hollywood actors.

I REALLY hope it's not another American artist playing the 1st act. Or at least something that of a cheap tribute band... I'd rather see one Japanese music artist play then having to sit a half hour of Raj Ramaya playing. When I think about about it, Ai Nonaka does have a singing or music career. So if their not gonna get another separate Big name act. I hope she'll be the one performing!

(Also let's face it. Fanime is still doing a horrible job getting everything together. They are just recently speeding it up and announcing general events, but even then it's still at a snail's pace and they're just giving me an impression they are prognosticating or slacking off)

Okay then Kuudere where did you find information that Back On is coming to fanime? I've been going to the bands official website and their social media and I have not found any information of them announcing coming to Fanimecon. It's not in their live schedule and most Japanese bands state if they're going to perform overseas in Japanese. I have an okay understanding of Japanese but I couldn't find the word "Fanime" spelled in Japanese in any of their social media. Either that or I'm not trying hard enough.

Anyways, where did you get info like that from? It's hard for me to believe you without any proof.

Then I would appreciate it if you would mind telling me that who is. I am kindly asking you to please tell me who it is or at least give me a hint of some sort because I am reading and trying to decipher and count who it is. I've been given the impression that fanime never usually listen to our requests.

Reading some comments on Facebook posts, there seems to be a general sentiment that 2012 was the year everything started to fall apart in terms of guest announcements.  Turns out that's also the year that Clockwork Alchemy got started. Perhaps it's time to cut this unrelated con out and focus on Fanime.

I'd be very curious what the guest budgets were prior to 2012 and afterwards.

Now that you mention it. Not only was that the year when Clockwork Alchemy started and became a branch of fanime. It was also the year I heard from someone at the AX say that the head of fanimecon switched during 2012. Perhaps the reason why fanime deteriorated and had a list of crappy guests for the past previous years is because the head that ran for 2 years loves his precious steampunk convention more then he does with anime... It's possible that this is mostly his fault. However from that one person at the AX forums said switched to animazement after 2013, figuring 2012 was just an off year. But unfortunately that person was wrong and the con just get worst when it comes to getting guests and overall how organized the convention is. However, according to what this person said. The head that ran for 2012-14 that ruined fanime and turned it into a crappy con left and now that there is a brand new head and I quote from that person "I know the knew head and his is an all around terrific guy! If it's anyone who can get back to fanime's 2011 glory its him!" I think I did recall that somewhere reading the head left and the new guy is up. But from what I'm seeing... NOTHING'S CHANGED! If there really is a new head he's certainly doing a bad job as the previous guy!

A lot of us have been complaining nonstop for the past few years and months, yet for some reason the staff has done NOTHING and I think has gotten even worse at their jobs as each year passes by. And to those that suggest to us that joining the staff we could make a difference I feel is just absolute bull. The masquerade head? Yeah he tried using that method and he said to suggests a couple of guests and he'll do his bests to find people he knows to get the guests we want. And you know what? After that the guy has not commented or what I know of made any progress

I'll say it again tjimmy is the ONLY staff member I know who I feel like is trying hard and is doing the best he can to give us a better experience. Everybody else and even the admin? Yeah your not doing a very good job showing us that your making improvement or progress toward the convention. By now they should have addressed our concerns but HASN'T at all. And I'm sure all of you know Fanimecon has SERIOUS and unacceptable issues! Not everything is all cookies n cream. I'm aware that some attendees who go to fanimecon has different taste and standards are satisfied with what fanimecon has to offer. But to those of us that are complaining are clearly not happy. I've given this con 3 chances to fix things but there has been barely any substantial improvement.

There are only 2 things that actually HAS improved and that is the line to get your badge and the size of the panel rooms. That's it! No matter how short the line is, they've got to back it up with good guests and good programming! I've endured AX's lines, and waited a couple of hours just to get into certain panels! But do you know what the difference is? IT'S WORTH IT! Even if I had to pay way more money for traveling expenses and more money at the con I'm at least getting my money's worth! For someone that lives in Sacramento my local convention Sacanime has shown DRASTIC improvement towards everything that there just simply doesn't even seem any comparison towards fanime's problems. And that's the thing while not Sacanime is perfect and there are some things that could improve the complaints that I do have are so minimum that I always end up having a phenomenal experience. With how things are going so far I wouldn't be surprised that people would start going to Sacanime instead of fanimecon in the future. If my local con can start offering experience's like fanime 2011 then I'll be happy to cross off fanimecon permanently off my list!

With the extreme lack of guests announcements or updates about anything of the convention. I am seriously concerned that there won't be a musicfest for 2015 or if there is going to be one, I'm expecting that the music line-up is going to be abysmal like 2012 or the 1st act of 2014.

Musicfest is the ONLY thing I remember each year (with the exception of 2012) and one of the only reasons why I even bother driving 2 and a half hours to stay around for the convention. If there is no musicfest or with an abysmal line-up, then this will be the last straw for me attending the con as its practically the entire reason why I attend fanime. 

Trust me, This is not a business model at all for a convention. I really don't know if the con will live by this model for 3 more years. using this model in radio business KILLS stations. I really am biting my tongue on this, and you all have big points, but I won't say anything until we have all the guest, and compare to the lists of guest requests for the last 2 years. And then I just will have a talk with the head of con, and talk this out.

Your the only staff member or at least a person who attends any of fanimecon tjimmy. And your the ONLY person I've seen so far is actually working hard for the con to get its act together. All the other staff members in this convention's forums either give the same generic answer, never get back to us and just ignore us or even when one tried to help, they never got back to us or truly assure that they're going to do their bests to get the guests we want or address our other concerns. So far your really the only person out of everyone I trust, because you know fanime has problems and your working hard out of everyone else as far as I'm concerned. If we had more people like you. Then maybe fanime would be back to its former 2011 glory.

So ewu you FINALLY decided to come out and give a reply. So your saying all guests are set and we can suggests guest for 2016? Then what's the point in using the 2015 guest suggestion then!? We put A LOT of effort and time making the list the guests we want at fanime 2015. And you made it clear that all guests for fanime are all set and is no longer negotiating or finding anymore guests it seems. Then what the was the point of guest suggestion thread we made for 2015!? Cause its now clear its useless. Suggest your guest for the guest suggestion thread for 2016? You got ****ING KIDDING ME! Even if we do so are you guys gonna actually give us what we suggest and get the guest we want next year? Whatever upcoming guests you have I be won't be even that great. And if you want our feedback for guests in 2016. READ THEM AND GIVE WHAT YOUR FANS WANT! I'm done talking. Its useless to talk to the admin that posted here. He's just gonna bail and not answer anything...

So, after spending countless posts of nothing but constant complaining, it's clear that the con or staff is not registering my concerns. So instead of spending my energy on complaining, instead I decide to make a thread about what other conventions you guys recommend. If any of you guys do have any recommendations or alternatives I would greatly appreciate it if you post.

I dunno, Citrus, but I think your energy could be better spent elsewhere.  Fanime is certainly not going to change for the better by you continually posting your complaints.  If staff seriously cared, action would have been taken.  This action would have been taken years ago, after the lackluster guest list and late announcements (two weeks before Fanime in 2012).  You are doing no one a service by continually complaining; Staff is aware and either doesn't care or doesn't have the manpower to address your concerns.  If Fanime has a large dip in attendance this year, perhaps then they will consider your advice.  But as long as people flock to the con and Fanime earns revenue, in the eyes of the upper management and investors, there is no need to change the status quo.  AX is a perfect example of this; The only time things improve is when hundreds of people post complaints on Facebook.  As these people aren't posting on Fanime's page, your criticism hasn't even registered a blip.

As I've said in the other threads; If you have the money to do so, go elsewhere.  Dealing with 12,500 at Animazement is a lot nicer than 25K at Fanime.

I suppose your right... I can't really argue with what you stated. The reason why I continually complained in the forums was because I truly hoped and believe that the staff would actually acknowledge me or at least others and address me straight on. But it seems like you said. I'm doing no one a service and after continually complaining, the results are bearing no fruit at all. The only thing that fanime did change, was the registration line and that's pretty much it. Complaints for everyone else seems to be bear minimum or non-existent.

I do have to admit I am sick and tired of fueling all my energy complaining so I'll take your advice and spend my energy elsewhere.

Incentive or not there should be announcements about guests well before April.  Have they even used Twitter and Facebook to announce these guests?  Or anything lately? :\

They do... but they BARELY even use it and they never communicate with the fans complaints either. Both on facebook, twitter and the forums themselves. Given the lack of objection or comments from the staff themselves. They just give me the impression, they could care less about their fans.

And I've said it once and I'll say it again. They're tagline "For fans by fans" and pardon me for my french is full of bull**** now. If it's so much for by fans. They would address their fans complaints, be more organized and overall do a better job with the convention. That tagline use to be fairly valid but not anymore. Given with how the convention has performed. I don't think they even deserve it if they have unhappy attendees going to other competitors for a good time. Or have others constantly badmouth the convention through other competitors convention forums. I recently attend Sakura-con for the first time. While it did have a fair amount of issues. I was able to overlook them due to their fairly solid guest roster and programming. I had an immensely good time compared to the last few years of fanimecon. And when I was at Sakura-con I overheard 3 people talking about fanime and one of them said "Isn't fanimecon 50% full of **** now?" And all three of them agreed that it has really gone downhill. One of them I know was a vendor and also a recent staff member of another con called Touhoucon.

While I have no idea what issues a vendor deals with at fanime but it's clear that even people that sells things during the con agree with the general attendees. Artists included to I bet.

I also got some information from the fanime facebook staff straight out of their mouth. Shocking!

"There's never going to be an "early enough" time to announce everyone, but we still have to wait until everything is confirmed. There's not much we can do other than wait for things to be confirmed and unfortunately it is preferred to not mention guests that we are in negotiations with."

So from what I'm understanding is. The reason why your not announcing guests is because your STILL negotiating for guests and waiting for them to confirm?! Now I understand that it does take time to negotiate and confirm guests fanime had an ENTIRE YEAR to negotiate for guests! Now I want to know is. What the heck has the staff been doing for the entire year then!? As far as I'm concerned either the staff is super lazy and decided to progressinate or the staff who is in charge of negotiating guests is absolutely horrible with their jobs! Maybe if they had done a better job in the first place we would get earlier announcements! And yes I understand that you can't announce EVERYONE early. But you could at least confirm some at an early time! For example take my local animecon sac-anime. The convention is held every 6 months meaning it has a summer and winter con. And before even the con started they already had 8 guests that were going to be either at the summer or winter show confirmed on a flyer they had at-con. So what does this mean? It means that the staff are actually GOOD at their jobs! Or for example a big con like AX. While last year was their worst year ever. They had at least announced some guests 3-4 months prior to the con, giving enough time for people to decide whether or not they should go!

I'm reading other threads and just because fanimecon racks in the most money for San Jose out of all other events doesn't mean its GOOD! While not everyone convention is perfect, the complaints I have for some of them I can overlook easily. But for fanimecon's case? They got too many problems that it's highly unacceptable!

I only pray fanimecon will get their act together one day...

Actually, citrus, there ARE some guest announcements as of today on the website. Do you even check it?? Guessing not since all you seem to do is complain, but that's just my two cents. Carry on.

Well I apologize If I seem to act rash or angry most of the time. And yes I always DO check every single day for guests announcements. I was not aware as of today on this post that fanime FINALLY made some guests announcements. And in ways I think I have rights to complain, since this is an important issue and it's been what many have been anticipating. If the convention would actually post some guests or showed that they are working hard sooner I wouldn't complain or rage so much. I don't have much to complain for now at least...but since fanime has finally decided to budge with progress, I'll try to trust them and not complain.

Yes I apologize for always complaining everyone but I can't help be on edge with extreme lack of progress in the past few months. But I think that might change now. Still it wouldn't HURT to communicate and ensure there fans they are indeed working...

Hey fanime! As of this post its april 9th 2015. Are you just going to keep using your ink so hard that you can't extract anything anymore or are you EVER GOING TO ANNOUNCE YOUR GODDAMN GUESTS!? Oh and news flash everybody. Fanimecon has already announced some of their guests for their steampunk convention counterpart. Yet we have not gotten a SINGLE announcement for their anime convention which it originally started and is their cream of crop. And their has not been any announcements for the convention in general. I know all of you staff are reading this! I know one of you is online every single day! If you are. Why don't you provide answers why guests announcements haven't been announced. Or anything about the convention has been updated?

Oh wait... no matter how many times I ask none and I mean NONE of you are willing to answer! Is it because you can't answer not without getting in trouble? Thats right you never clarified anything like that because nothing has been provided. This is what I think. Either the staff is super lazy or you KNOW your guest roster is going to suck and you won't announce it until very late!

Join the staff you might say to see if I can change things or make a true change? As far as I'm concerned one is already doing that for us and has not made any progress so far.

"i'm really digging how you never answer any of your attendees on any form of social media. you handled your line fiasco, but how about you do something about this lack of communication?"

"Soooo... Guests?"

"Any updates on guests? Or who's getting into Artist Alley? The convention is seven weeks from Friday."

All quotes from facebook, They complain about two things. No guests announcements and LACK of communication with any of your fans. And if you value your fans then COMMUNICATE THEM AND ADDRESS THEIR CONCERNS! But no, as from what I've seen my vocalization is going to remain fruitless and the staff will continue to ignore me. So go ahead and continue to ignore me fanime. Continue to disappoint me and other certain fans that feel the same way as I do. Don't want to disappoint me? Then address and me prove me wrong!

Somebody big or at least very well known. Please DO NOT make it like 2012 and lie to us. And NO American acts like 2014. Only big name acts or at least well-known acts. Of course there's always fanime never listening to us and giving us stuff we don't want or ask for.

The staff from facebook said that the convention mainly consists of locals and that not mainly people stay in hotel rooms. Really now? As far as I'm concerned the convention has plenty of elbow grease and plenty of room to fit attendees. The con is not gonna sell out anytime soon. Yes. Locals are a good thing but if you only rely on locals the convention probably wouldn't be this size now. People who usually drive or even fly all the way to San Jose tend to spend more. And if there's no hotels available. There's no chance of getting into the con. People are sick and tired of having to fight for or play the waiting game just to get to the con. Either we get more hotels or you might as well cap the con as far as I'm concerned. And so far. Getting hotels early seems to be the ONLY thing fanimecon is doing right. But they still have to fix their crappy hotel registration system...