Messages

Can anyone tell me why the dealer room seems to get smaller and smaller? i this is my third year going and the dealer room was so small this year.

Mzre Yuen @ TaoToys booth

There were more dealers than last year, but less diversity of what they were selling.

I'd also like to say prices were higher, but prices are always too high for everything when you're a student. ;)

Personally, I love the Mariott. The room was amazing, the staff went out of their way to help me booking said room, the elevators were fast and flawless even if they did take a long time to make it to floor 25, the room had at least a dozen electrical plugs, and the TV got good stations, so I got to watch the great movie Under Siege and then go on to see two King of the Hill episodes when I was feeling too antisocial to watch movies with other people at 2am Sunday morning. And the location was wonderful, I could have stayed indoors the whole time from Friday to Monday if I hadn't decided to hang out with the crazy people at night in the courtyard, or to buy reasonably priced food.

I've not seen the Saint Claire before, so I can't compare the Mariott to that, but it was definitely a better experience than the Hilton.

There wasnt a dress code for the rave was there?

I don't believe so, beyond the general convention dress code.

I think it would be very helpful next year if there was better communication between safety staff. Whenever an SoS person is unsure of what to do or doing something big (i.e. taking away badges, confiscating items) he or she should be able to confer with someone senior to make sure the right action is taken. If this doesn't happen already, there should be a report made promptly when an SoS staffer does something big. These steps should be major steps in eliminating issues with attendees. Hopefully no-one in the future will suffer the same fate as justkitteh.

As well, it would be extremely helpful if staff members who don't get much training and volunteers were given a more clear description of what their jobs entail, and attendees given an avenue of complaint at the convention itself. I had an issue with one SoS staffer Sunday evening in the line for the dance after the BBW where I was unable to press myself against the wall due to people being too dense on both sides. This staffer physically shoved me at the wall when she saw me, without even asking me to move first. Thankfully, people moved out of the way when they saw this, but probably only moved the congestion elsewhere. This situation would probably not have arisen if the staff member had known she was not supposed to use physical force, and would have been closed on the night of if I had had a place to complain about her (I was told there was none when I asked an information desk personnel, and if there was it was well-hidden.)

In terms of material ways to help smooth things, walkie-talkies would really, really help. Like I said above, better communication between staff could prevent a lot of problems. Also, hired security and/or San Jose police on-site would probably be helpful and eliminate the need for safety people to start confrontations, but I'm not sure exactly how possible it would be to get them.

Finally, I've heard complaints about theft and situations that invite potential theft, which is a bit frightening. However, there are no easy solutions for this, beyond enlisting more staff, and maybe a couple signs warning people that they should keep their eyes on their bags and valuable-looking items.

Don't think that I'm being rude with my criticisms, I've heard a lot of complaints from my friends and now on these forums about the SoS group as well as a hundred thousand other things, and hearing people's negative experiences from the con makes me want to help to prevent them from recurring.

Well, my original exposures to anime were as a kid, with Sailor Moon being my favorite show for a couple years, and then Pokeman for several years. I still love that old pokeymon show. I didn't really get into anime until about two years back, though.

Way back then, I was really into posting on forums, even though I wasn't a very good writer, and my favorite forum was about Fire Emblem, which is a Japanese video game for the one or two of you out there who don't know. Most of the on-topic discussion was centered on the games not released in the US, which were considered by the locals of the board higher caliber than the newer ones, and most of which have been fan translated. Needless to say, just about everybody was a complete nerd on that forum, and at least half had their main nerdy focus on anime.

I had a friend who I knew from all over the internet at the time on that forum, and after awhile he was absorbed into the whole anime fandom by the community there. Even though I'd resisted for nearly a year, I just noticed that the majority of off-topic discussion referenced anime directly or indirectly through channer jokes, and it couldn't be all bad if it was tantalizing my good friends to conversion. So I decided to watch the hugely popular show of the time, Haruhi.

I was pretty impressed by the sheer quality of the artwork and intricacy of the story--a TV show with a plot like a novel's seemed amazing to me--even though, with more experience, it no longer seems extraordinary. I went on to watch a couple more titles, including my favorite of all time Full Metal Panic, and was hooked. Recently, my anime stuff has even come to outnumber all of my other nerdy objects, including Star Wars figurines, model tanks, and Mudkip merchandise (Poke Mon is not animu, it's a field in and of itself ;)).

Personally, the Mariott by the convention center seemed a great hotel.

My only complaint would be the press in the elevators. The waiting times, and then the lack of space within the elevators, were not fun. I don't see how the hotel could have prevented it, though, since four elevators are more than enough for twenty-six floors in a hotel with around a normal rate of occupancy, and they were very fast when they did move, so much so that I heard someone complain it was disconcerting on the first night. It was definitely uncalled for when assholes took the confusion in the elevator chamber to press all the buttons, though, since it's rediculous to wait through when you have to go to the twenty-fifth floor.

It was a really nice room, and never smelled bad or got crowded or littered, though those points are probably just because all but one other in my group canceled just days before the con started. The free business center downstairs was also a nice perk, though I didn't use it since I can check my email from the phone and don't have a website to update or anything. The staff did everything they were supposed to with the room, making the beds, keeping things clean. I can't say that about a couple of places I've stayed in. The staff really went above and beyond what I expected, too. My group had signed up somewhat late for our room, and the person who had actually signed us up decided not to show up. I thought for awhile that I'd be forced to go a few miles away and look for some empty motel. But the staff were really committed to helping me get the room I'd paid for, even though they had no rooms available when I approached them, putting me on a special waiting list, eventually giving me a room when someone canceled.

Overall, it was a great experience.

Not to sound condescending, but it's a good travel trip in general to carry electronics or other breakables either on your person or padded in the center of your luggage with clothing all around. Most porters who handle your luggage when you travel are going to be careful if they see something breakable or oddly shaped, but there are definitely exceptions, like the OP has experienced.