Fanime 2008 Feedback thread.

[Sen]

Also, I heard through the grapevine that a lot of staffers just showed up for their badges and not to actually staff. I rather hope that was exaggerated.

This was not exaggerated at all for e-gaming, which is why we were extremely short staffed. We were supposed to have 30 people in our department, but I only saw maybe 15 (and I was there at nearly all hours of the day). Of those 15 who showed up, only about 10 actually worked.

I think we should set up a system where staff have to pay in advance and then get refunded only if they actually do all their hours. This would have made more staffers actually show up and not make our department so short-handed.

If they weren't showing up for their shifts then their department head should have been pulling their badges.  If specific shifts weren't assigned then this is a lesson for next year that either the department head or the department second needs to do one.  And those who flaked this year should not be welcomed back.  It's not fair to the rest of those working the con.

They never showed up for any of their shifts. We can't pull badges of people we've never seen. Specific shifts were assigned, but since many people did not show up for shifts, we were short-handed and many people stayed overtime or came even when it wasn't their shift to make sure we always had at LEAST one person there. For example, we were supposed to have 5 people working Sunday morning starting from 6, but when I came in at 7, there was only one person there. I had to help even though my shift didn't start until 12.

Did anyone try to contact them?  We all had to provide contact information for how we could be reached during con for reasons such as this.  And also do we know for sure their badges were picked up?  Maybe they just completely flaked on the whole con?  Just a thought for the department head to check into if it hasn't been done already because that's a different offense than getting the badge and just not showing up to work scheduled shifts.

We were short-staffed with Panels as well, but that wasn't due to staffers not showing up for their shifts thankfully.  That was due to it being a new thing having a staff for the department and not knowing just how many people would really need so we weren't stretched so thin.  Many of us who could were pulling longer shifts than we had scheduled.

Anywho, my only suggestion at this point is to figure out who didn't show up (and picked up a badge) and not allow them back as staff for any department.  Create a black name list so to speak.  And if they didn't pick up their badges then they need to give a good reason for bailing on their volunteer commitment, but certainly not as high offense as abusing their badge.

Registration has their staffers go to the department head for badge pickup instead of going to ConOps. I'm not sure if you can do it for your department, but it ensures that you will see your staffer at least once.

[mDuo13]

Pretty good con this year. A couple minor problems, but generally good organization.

Pros:
- Most things started on time, and overall rovers were courteous and on top of things. Pre-registration was very fast and timely, the swap meet was well organized, the lines for things like the Dealer's Room and the B&W Ball were nicely organized.
- Nice selection of guests - 50 members of GAINAX (!!) and then some others. The "Bandai Talks about Gurren Lagann" panel was excellent (esp. the translation).
- Artist Alley was lively and a great hang-out spot.
- Maid Cafe was decidedly bigger. Food was surprisingly good, too, though still (obviously) overpriced.
- Congrats to Tony on being the new Con Chair - you'll do a great job, I'm sure.
- Tabletop, Arcade, and E-Gaming had great setups and were nicely organized. They even opened early! And 24-hour tabletop gaming for several nights of the con was awesome.
- Video Main was so massive that there was always plenty of room whenever I came by. The sound and video quality was also really good.
- Tons of people showed up, even on Friday!
- Schedules were nicely colored and easy to read. A shame they didn't include the GAINAX Room, but I presume that's because it was a last-minute addition.

Cons:
-Overly strict organization during closing ceremonies, especially when it was clear that nobody else was coming in when the room was half full - and yet a rover threatened to take my badge away if I didn't go back to my seat on the left half of the room.
-Translation during the "Unlocking Gurren Lagann" panel and the first Maika Netsu panel was lax and boring. The translators hadn't watched the shows or read the manga they were talking about!
-Asian Cinema was apparently on a playlist, which meant certain shows started EARLY. Got to the Sukiyaki Western Django showing on Saturday 7:45pm (15 minutes in advance of its scheduled start time) and it was already well underway. Not cool.
-Not easy to find information about meet & greet / autograph sessions. I ended up not finding Sadamoto-san, though I really wanted to meet him especially.
-Information booths had 2007's maps instead of 2008's, for most of Friday (lol).

In general, thanks, everyone, for a good con. Even though we had such massive turnout, everything stayed together and it didn't turn into ASUX. Awesome.

[angelaerith]

Who can I talk to that can make much needed changes for next year?
I know a bunch of people who are not coming anymore because of this years dissapointment.

1. Dealer Room- lacked variety. I know this is an anime convention, but it does do some videogames as well, or atleast used to. Where's the final fantasy stuff?? There was very little of it. Where is the Metal Gear Solid stuff, especially since the game is coming out in a month? These things were cut out this year. I think this convention definitely needs more videogames as well as anime. I could find the same things in so many booths. It was dissappointing. Also, where was the Gaia booth?

2. Movies- there were no horror movies this year. Some were labelled as horror, but were thriller or crime movies. The only one was "extensions" which was absolutely ridiculous. In all previous years there were many supernatural horror movies, like "one missed call" or "ringu" or other things like that, but not this year. Again I was very dissapointed. Also, this year, during the late movies, there was no trivia and prizes at all as in the previous years.

3. Scheduling- why so many clashing events?? An Cafe during the Yaoi gameshow, MISTAKES on scheduling like yaoi bingo on Friday instead when it is actually on saturday and sunday. Guest meeting/autograph session on Monday at noon was labelled Sunday at noon. Many people thought the AMV competition was cancelled. I know there were other clashes. I think also fanime needs some more events. They could be small, like some more contests spaced out throughout the weekend. Or somehow make the karaoke more engaging so more people come. Maybe offer a killer prize. Maybe have a band play live music (anime or game related) in the hallways, like Ramen and Rice did some years back. It needs more variety.

4. Food- need more places to eat inside during late hours that will not try to empty your wallet. If I want a drink, I dont want to pay 3.00 for a water bottle. Each day I ate downtown, not at the fanime. I would like to eat at fanime. Prices are outrageous though.

Pros:
1. Badges- made much better this year, mine wasnt constantly coming apart.

2. Artist row- Awesome. Many people, alot of cool artwork.


I cant think of other things right now, but these are important.

[angeljibrille]

Hi all~

Masquerade head here. Well, we can't please everyone all the time :) The skits are completely subjective, so skits some people love -- are skits other people hate. I can't control that. I also can't control the quality of the skits nor the content of the skits, as these things are decided on by the people who apply and decide to be in the Masquerade. Most of them will absolutely not discuss the contents of their skits with anyone else.

Honestly, the Masquerade is pretty equivalent with Improv -- you never ever know what you are going to get. For example, we had 99 entries sign up this year -- and by con only 50 of those were actually in the show. I have to take what I can get, and those are completely designed by the contestants. Often skits change at the last minute.

All I can do as coordinator is ensure that the event starts and ends on time (which it did!), that the contestants are comfortable and taken care of, that the theatre and music is set up to the best of our ability, and that the audience is able to see and hear the performances. Outside of that, and ensuring the skits are generally PG-rated, there's not much else I can do. The same is true at every convention. Some years we get amazing skits (and we had quite a few this year!) and other years not so much.

All I can say, as I do every year, is that if you think you can do a better skit ... sign up :)

Thank you for your comments.

[PyronIkari]

Every year, every con, without fail... I run into one ego-powertripped staffer that thinks he can do more than he should.

This year was no different at all. Friday night, at around 12:30am. Brandon Tomyoy was hosting his segment on Stage Zero, so I was heckling the hell outta him (because that's what friends do... right?). He started his movie up, and I ran into a group of friends. Someone from press decided to talk to me for about 20 minutes or so, and we were talking about random things online and Spinzaku was brought up.

For those that don't know, Spinzaku is a meme on nicovideo.

So we decided to pick up minh and spin in a circle... Imagine if you jus picked up a friend by the waist and spinned around in a circle slowly.

A roaver came by and stated "Stop horsing around or I'll pull your badges". This made me laugh. I replied back "actually... no you can't do that". This of course pissed him off and he yelled back at us "YES I CAN. If you don't quit messing around I'll take your badges". To which I replied "No, you cannot. You can politely ask us to stay here, call a higher up in roavers and explain the situation to them. In which they would deem if are conduct is that bad and if they so choose, THEY can pull our badges. You really can't do crap yourself though, especially since he haven't broke any rules at all." So he was like "I was watching you earlier, you were talking crap about the guy on stage zero, who is a staff member, and I don't care what you think" I interuppted him and stated "Yes, and he's my friend. I've known him for about 10 years now. In reality, I know a lot of staff members and I know the basic guidelines of jurisdiction. My friend Jenny was a rover for about 6 years. All you had to do was come here and politely ask us to keep it down so we don't hurt any one if you were concerned with what you were doing, but you didn't. Frankly, you can't do crap, and we will continue what we were doing. Call a higher up if you so choose to but frankly once more, you yourself can't do crap about this, and I think your higher ups will be annoyed that you called them over here because we lifted our friend up and spinned in a circle slowly."

He got super pissed and just walked away. He was with another roaver at the time, and that roaver apologized to us. He stated that the guy gets on power trips a lot and thinks he can boss attendees around. He apologized again and we talked and chatted for a few minutes before he went to meet up with the guy again.

It's not a huge complaint, and I know the con can't do anything about things like this, but every con without fail I run into a staff member like this.

[lyricaldanichan]

Only problem I had with the video rooms was some of the volunteers running them had no clue how to run the (actually quite nice) mac minis.  On more then one occasion members of the audience had to intervene and take over playing the videos. 

Was this a volunteer or a staff member? Was this in all videos rooms or on the Marriot
side?  We had told both staff and vols to contact the shift supervisor if there is any issues.
I think having a mac minis worked out great for playing the videos, I only wish we could use
one media player that can do both avis and mkvs. So far xbmc is the only one that can do
both without too many issues. We did give training material to our staff on how to use the mac minis and asked if they were still confused to contact me.

Unfortunately I can't force them to read the materials, but it does help to know which ones do not take their "volunteering" job seriously for next year.  As for the actual fanimecon  volunteers, they would not know how to use them since they are not part of staff. We also had problems with flakey staff members not showing up for shifts or coming in 30min - 1 hour late. It looks like we were not the only department in fanime with this problem and that will
change for next year. If there is anybody here that would like to join video programming and has extensive knowledge on how to use OS X please do sign up. We are a fun group of nerds that likes anime.

[Death_Note_Matt]

This year was alright -_- Not as awesome as the last year.
Here are my reasons why.
1.Most of the people there where there for An Cafe
and dressed in their Visual kei outfits and waiting in line 95% of the time. And having their Friends cut in those painfully long lines as well =_=;;; not to mention if one wanted a Autograph ticket they would have to wake up at 2:00am in the damn morning to get them. and still they would be  almost at the end of the line Dx

2.I Missed being glomped u_u [I have No Idea why >.> it lets me know I am loved]
But all the people that wanted to Glomp me said they couldn't because of the damn No glomp Rule Dx I was like Glomp me anyways Dx

3.I hardly made it to the gatherings due to t he An Cafe Line Issue.

4.The dance was Boring as Hell and there was a long line to get into the dance =__=; The music wasn't very pleasing. I liked Last years dance better.

5.The Karaoke room was always Packed Dx and it took me about 2 hours and 30 minutes to Sing one damn song Dx Then I would have to wait forever to get to sing up and sing again Dx so I gave up in that room.

6.The An cafe concert was amazing but too many damn people smelling like B.O and rubbing against me Dx

But despite all of that I had a Decent time there. I Just hope next years is Better and if there is a Big act coming No Tickets Dx that was sooo annoying to get them and then to stand in line for the  concert and have some guy passing out tickets for people who didn't have them. Pissed me off because I waited in a long ass line for the same ticket DXXX and to find out I could have been doing something eles instead of waiting in line to get the ticket he was passing out UGH SO annoying DXXXX *Yells around,  then calms down.* But all in all fanime was okay this year .__.

[PyronIkari]

2.I Missed being glomped u_u [I have No Idea why >.> it lets me know I am loved]
But all the people that wanted to Glomp me said they couldn't because of the damn No glomp Rule Dx I was like Glomp me anyways Dx

No, there's a simple reason why. You like physical contact. If it lets you know you you're loved... you're either dillusional, or trying to make up for having a crappy family life. Random people hugging you at a convention doesn't equate anything close to love...

Also, there was no ban on glomping. Maybe they just used it as an excuse because they DIDN'T WANT TO.

6.The An cafe concert was amazing but too many damn people smelling like B.O and rubbing against me Dx

I'm guessing you've never been to a concert before.

But despite all of that I had a Decent time there. I Just hope next years is Better and if there is a Big act coming No Tickets Dx that was sooo annoying to get them and then to stand in line for the  concert and have some guy passing out tickets for people who didn't have them. Pissed me off because I waited in a long ass line for the same ticket DXXX and to find out I could have been doing something eles instead of waiting in line to get the ticket he was passing out UGH SO annoying DXXXX *Yells around,  then calms down.* But all in all fanime was okay this year .__.

I didn't address the other times you said this, so I'll address it now. You realize... no tickets is the STUPIDEST MOST IDIOTIC POSSIBLE THING you can do right? By having a no ticketed event, you're literally asking for people to barge and fight their way in, causing fire hazards, and so many more problems.

It works like this, if you want to see the event, you wait in line. If it's not worth it, then don't wait in line and go do other stuff, letting someone who is willing to wait in line to get the ticket. You act like, you entitled to be able to do everything you want, and have priority over everyone else. We *share* this convention and everyone else has the rights to do the things they want to do. You have to prioritize what you want to do, and spend the time how you think you should for your best interest.

[wings_of_an_angel]

this was my 1st year coming and it was awesome but not everything

pros:
lots of fun cosplay gatherings,delears room,artist alley,stage zero , an cafe

cons:
such a short Q&A panel for an cafe and no flash photography allowed so pics came out kinda bad and problems with one staff member not letting me stand for a few secs to take a close up pic and then stood only a few inches away from my seat and telling me that im blocking the aisle and saying it was my last warning jeez it was only a few inches >:( and also not knowing where to get tickets and the time for the an cafe autograph session is it really necessary for fans to wait in line for tickets for an AUTOGRAPH SESSION? when they shld just allow fans to line up and get an autograph and the fact the black and white ball happening during the same time as the an cafe concert and also the peace bonding thing ending up scratching off ALOT of paint from my yuna wand T_T

thats about it dont kill me for saying this much about the cons


all in all it was very fun 4 my 1st time and i will come back next year

[short_storiesgl]

4th Year and:



Dealers Room: hella smaller like there wasn't even close to as mean things as there usually is... well maybe its cause the Gaia booth takes up so much room i dunno

Panels: I only wanted to go to 2 and 1 of which got canceled which was balls cause i wanted to see it. Most of you know what im talking about. the fanime forums one was okay good laughs.

Dance: didn't touch it

Masquerade: didnt go

an cafe: didn't go =p

Hentai room; all i have to say for this is "hahahah"

i felt as if con was different.. as in the atmosphere i dunno felt way different but i did have fun and as i said i met some really cool people and i generally had a good time even tho for most of the nights i was a little drunk =] but meh over all i give it a 7.

[Xanreo]

This was my first anime convention so I didn't know what to expect. It was just as awesome as I had imagined it to be.

Pros:
- An Cafe
- The Asian Films had its comedy but didn't have any Horror.
I would've liked to been scared stiff and see my friend's reactions also.
- I thought registration was going to be a hassle that would take forever but I got my badge after a short 15 minute wait.
- Awesome staffers. Especially the ConOps. They were super helpful.
- Pretty much almost everything.

Cons:
- Some bad(irresponsible) apples in the bunch.
The staff in the game room lost my badge so now I have the blue paper one to take home instead of the laminated card one.
- The concert attendees.
There was this person that actually held up a sign that blocked plenty of people's views.
- Weren't there supposed to be UFO Catchers in the game room?
I want more games where you can win prizes. I got bored of losing all my money to the Pile-Up and "Spinny" game.

Other than that, it was great. Met plenty of great staff and people.
Looking forward to next year. :D

[PyronIkari]

cons:
such a short Q&A panel for an cafe and no flash photography allowed so pics came out kinda bad and problems with one staff member not letting me stand for a few secs to take a close up pic and then stood only a few inches away from my seat and telling me that im blocking the aisle and saying it was my last warning jeez it was only a few inches >:( and also not knowing where to get tickets and the time for the an cafe autograph session is it really necessary for fans to wait in line for tickets for an AUTOGRAPH SESSION? when they shld just allow fans to line up and get an autograph and the fact the black and white ball happening during the same time as the an cafe concert and also the peace bonding thing ending up scratching off ALOT of paint from my yuna wand T_T

thats about it dont kill me for saying this much about the cons


all in all it was very fun 4 my 1st time and i will come back next year

Photos aren't allowed for a number of reasons that I won't bother to get into. Events will conflict, that's just how things are. There's no way to plan it so that every event only runs at that time without making the con 2 weeks long.

By just allowing fans to line up would cause a number of problems. 1... time. It would take hours upon hours upon hours for them to sign for everyone, and people would just rejoin the line getting like 10 autographs.

2... it's stressful for the band. I don't know if you've ever done it, but sign your name over and over and over and over again 5,000 times with short little breaks in between, adding names or other crap to it. Then right after that, go play guitar, or the drums.

People don't realize it's not exactly easy to sign autographs for a huge crowd. It's extremely stressful for them.

[furubaholic]

This is my 3rd year and I had alot of fun
pros-
-amazing Fmvs this years I was impressed
-marvel vs capsom skit at the masquarade very well done
-very friendly people like every year :3
-water stations

cons
-up tight staffers
-no gaia booth
-the video rooms had technical problems (I think someone was asleep at the wheel XD)
-having to walk all the way to subway to get cheap meal (not cons fault we were on a low budget)XD

hope to see you all next year

[Jun-Watarase]

Every year, every con, without fail... I run into one ego-powertripped staffer that thinks he can do more than he should.

This year was no different at all. Friday night, at around 12:30am. Brandon Tomyoy was hosting his segment on Stage Zero, so I was heckling the hell outta him (because that's what friends do... right?). He started his movie up, and I ran into a group of friends. Someone from press decided to talk to me for about 20 minutes or so, and we were talking about random things online and Spinzaku was brought up.

For those that don't know, Spinzaku is a meme on nicovideo.

So we decided to pick up minh and spin in a circle... Imagine if you jus picked up a friend by the waist and spinned around in a circle slowly.

A roaver came by and stated "Stop horsing around or I'll pull your badges". This made me laugh. I replied back "actually... no you can't do that". This of course pissed him off and he yelled back at us "YES I CAN. If you don't quit messing around I'll take your badges". To which I replied "No, you cannot. You can politely ask us to stay here, call a higher up in roavers and explain the situation to them. In which they would deem if are conduct is that bad and if they so choose, THEY can pull our badges. You really can't do crap yourself though, especially since he haven't broke any rules at all." So he was like "I was watching you earlier, you were talking crap about the guy on stage zero, who is a staff member, and I don't care what you think" I interuppted him and stated "Yes, and he's my friend. I've known him for about 10 years now. In reality, I know a lot of staff members and I know the basic guidelines of jurisdiction. My friend Jenny was a rover for about 6 years. All you had to do was come here and politely ask us to keep it down so we don't hurt any one if you were concerned with what you were doing, but you didn't. Frankly, you can't do crap, and we will continue what we were doing. Call a higher up if you so choose to but frankly once more, you yourself can't do crap about this, and I think your higher ups will be annoyed that you called them over here because we lifted our friend up and spinned in a circle slowly."

He got super pissed and just walked away. He was with another roaver at the time, and that roaver apologized to us. He stated that the guy gets on power trips a lot and thinks he can boss attendees around. He apologized again and we talked and chatted for a few minutes before he went to meet up with the guy again.

It's not a huge complaint, and I know the con can't do anything about things like this, but every con without fail I run into a staff member like this.

Oh dude, that night was so awesome.

Abridged Version:

Us being a group of retards and holding our super tall friend in Spinzaku position and spinning him around. Eventually he falls on his ass. (He's okay, though. It was pretty hilarious.) Then two rovers come by...

Rover A: Hey. Stop horsing around! I'mma take your badges if you don't.

Pyron: FOO! I do whateva I wan'!

Rover A: I can take your badge if you don't listen to me.

Pyron: YO G. YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! <Goes into a long explanation on the Fanime staff and reporting system and explains 1000 and 1 reasons why they're unable to pull their badges.>

Us: <We're in the background being all :O and liek> Oh shi-, Pyron's ripping that guy's balls off.

Rover A: <Walks off hella pissed off 'cuz Pyron crushed his dignity by takin' his authoritah.>

Rover B: Yo man, it's coo. That guy's a foo anyways. I'm only here 'cuz Stage 0 jacked my laptop to be coo.

Pyron: lol

And next thing we know, Pyron's across the room, chillin' wit the other rover.

Us: Wtf? W/e, that was awesome in the hizzouse.

Then we all rode our Harley's into the beautiful sunset.

[PyronIkari]

-marvel vs capsom skit at the masquarade very well done
see you all next year

Oh oh oh, I saw this. It seems I'm like the only one that noticed. Bison isn't in MvC1.

... ... ...

[G-Force]

The skit was kind of a mix between MvC 1 and 2 as the gameplay elements combined a few. For one the fight was 3v3 and each team did a triple super. However they also used the assist system from 1 as you were able to call out characters outside of your team to attack your opponent.

[~~Loktera~~]

Pros
- Actual, somewhat, edible food available around the convention.
- Twilight Knights and their weapons panels. They were a cool bunch of people.
- Swap Meet, managed to sell alot of stuff. Making me happy that I didn't have to take as much home.

Cons
- Swap Meet could be advertised a little bit better for next year, especially for the Pre-Registered people.
- Dealers room felt like it was missing something. It wasn't Gaia. They needed more Doujinshi merchants.
- The Anonymii, honestly Rick Astley was funny. Now it's become nothing more than a Sign. Annoying, overdone, useless to the rest of us. Also, just like the rest of the people who felt "The Game" is still funny, it's not. It's old. I'll laugh once more when someone Duckrolls me.


That's really about it. There was probably more, but... whatever.

[PyronIkari]

The skit was kind of a mix between MvC 1 and 2 as the gameplay elements combined a few. For one the fight was 3v3 and each team did a triple super. However they also used the assist system from 1 as you were able to call out characters outside of your team to attack your opponent.

... Are you trying to preach about MvC1/2 to me?

Ugh... Assissts have been in game since MSHvsSF. MvC1 was technically a 3 person team. 2 characters 1assisst. And like I said, they mixed elements when they shouldn't have. You don't tribute to the 10 year anniversary, and combine stuff badly. Anyways, they used mostly MvC1 reference and that was the basis, then they broke mold and did things they shouldn't have.

Loktera: If you go to AX< I work at a doujin dealer booth. My friend comes from Japan every year and brings as many as he can fit into boxes to sell. He takes special requests and has a website. Can't link as it's pornographic. Message me if you're looking for stuff specifically.

[BrightHeart76]

Every year seems better for me.  I really enjoyed this year, and a lot of that was the fact that I involved myself more this year.  

I can't list all of the pro's.  I can't speak for other people, but I had non stop fun for days!

Cons: Got glomped once....just about knocked my wig off and I felt like my ribs got broken.  

When I was going into Black and White Ball I got some "innappropriate" attention from a staff member who craned his neck to look down into my cleavage and then says "Thank you and THANK YOU" in the creepiest pervert voice I've heard in a long time.

[OniCourseMusha]

Pros: Stage Zero is pretty cool, Black and White Ball was waaay better than last year.  I'm glad that the videos are back at the Masquerade.  And staffers gave me a friendly approach towards me so far regarding few issues.

Cons: The line at the dance was waaaay too long.  And plus I did not like the regulation at the Dance having my DDR box be removed!  I even played DDR in that thing and I know my risk!  I kind of find they were just overreacting about our own safety.  If its the space issue, maybe next year, I think the con should move it to a bigger place again!