Convention Appearances 2018

Conventions and other events, fandom, stores, manga-ka, animators, and other people, etc
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Akage
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by Akage »

Guyver I wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:22 amNamely that, I think anime conventions have largely retained their "fan" origins and, more importantly, atmosphere. Sure, you have behemoths like Otakon having an east coat and a Vegas iteration..
You've never been to Otakon Vegas, have you? As far as conventions go, it was a joke. I went there the year Sushio attended (2015?) . They tried to run it like Otakon despite the fraction of attendees present. They managed to piss off the wrong people, all of whom have big wallets, and its why those people never returned. I believe Otakon has given up on expanding to Vegas.
..but still, by and large, most anime conventions I've attended in recent years aren't all that different from when I first started going. Talking about creeps in line, or waiting to get a cel signed by a GOH, or hearing locals talk about "that annie-may stuff," - it's all things anyone who just stepped out of a 1998 convention would recognize.
No, the game has really changed since the 'glory days' of 1998. For one thing, Anime Expo is just the anime and manga version of SDCC. It now has well over 100K attendees per year. Don't kid yourself that Hollywood isn't after the nerd dollar. It used to be that the head of guest relations would have a rolodex of contact information for Japanese guests. Take a look at the Anime Expo guest list for this year and in the past few years. Notice how many of them are brought in by companies like Aniplex, Viz, etc. The majority of guests that attend Anime Expo now are brought by the industry, controlled by the industry and, in return, Anime Expo gives them premium booth space for free. Companies like Good Smile get kick-backs from conventions like SakuraCon and Anime Expo because they bring in attendees. Lines to get into just the AX Dealer Hall for limited premium items start at least 5 hours in advance of opening, and if you want an autograph (and just one), you need to start lining up for those tickets at 11pm the night before. The tickets won't be handed out until 8 am the following morning, and if you want more than one, you need to return to the back of the line and hope that that guest still has tickets available. Anime Expo is the only anime convention I've attended where your hotel room serves as nothing more than glorified luggage storage. It also is the only anime convention I've attended where, if you actually want to enjoy the convention, you need to spend $$$ on a premium pass because you'll otherwise spend most of your time waiting in lines just to get into the panel room, even for smaller panels.

Let's talk about autographs as well. That, too, has also really changed. When I first started attending conventions in 2008, you could line up for a guest and get an autograph. This largely meant that you could lounge around in the autograph area, start a line an hour or two in advance, and as long as it was orderly, staff would leave you alone. It also meant that, if you were willing to put in the time, you had a solid chance of walking away from the convention with a couple of really nice sketches for free. Now, though, in the name of 'fairness', conventions won't allow people to line up until 30 minutes prior to an autograph session. Sometimes they also implement tickets. Most conventions have cracked down on attendees getting sketches for free, usually claiming that it takes too much time and thus would be unfair to everyone (boo hoo). If the convention doesn't have an auction where they encourage you to spend big to get these sketches, the artist might have a booth in the artist alley where they will take commissions for a couple hundred each, in cash. Word has gone out that people are willing to spend a lot on artwork, and certain artists will only draw if the price is right. There also is a greater emphasis in sponsorship. I could tell stories here but I'd prefer not to make the information public.

What keeps the fan spirit alive is the size of the convention. I find that the magic number is 30,000 attendees or less. Anything after that and the convention either goes into industry overdrive like Anime Expo or half-heartedly attempts to be a convention because management realizes that they're a party con and people will just show up anyways regardless of their guest list or content, like Fanime.

I take all this into consideration when looking to attend a convention, particularly as many conventions don't announce their guests until roughly 1 month away from the beginning of the convention. It's becoming no longer an issue of what guests are showing up, but more along the lines of whether or not you can actually get something of value from them, either by waiting in line or paying for that artwork.
davemerrill
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by davemerrill »

I think I just spent an entire paragraph detailing how Hollywood was indeed after the nerd dollar, so I don't know that I'm kidding myself about anything.

As far as the "magic number" of attendees being 30K or less, well, I guess it's a good thing that very few anime cons are larger than that - most are smaller.

Surprisingly, Otakon Vegas is still a thing! Who knew?
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DKop
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by DKop »

davemerrill wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:32 pm I think I just spent an entire paragraph detailing how Hollywood was indeed after the nerd dollar, so I don't know that I'm kidding myself about anything.

As far as the "magic number" of attendees being 30K or less, well, I guess it's a good thing that very few anime cons are larger than that - most are smaller.

Surprisingly, Otakon Vegas is still a thing! Who knew?
Funny, I told my friend the other day about it when he asked me about anime cons in Vegas and im like "Yea, they do that one there called Otakon Vegas, I guess it's still going on?" :lol:

If that magic number of 30k and under is the staple of what makes a good anime con, AWA better not EVER expand that number otherwise its screwed! Even with its attendance last year at roughly that number it felt more of an anime con than Animazement. Maybe I didn't see raver people occupying the outside of the Cobb center on how me and Karageko got in, or the lack of street preachers on the roads (which its private property and would never happen from what Dave told me last year) as I am accustomed to these things at Animazement every year, which is just the norm now of that particular con. Without those factors IMO, it feels more like an anime con and more anime focused. But in fairness, Animazement is a straight up anime con, based on panels, guests, dealers and cosplayers of course. But to compare the two, Animazement is maybe another decade or so away to where AWA is at now, and who knows where AWA is going in that decade. But hey, in 10 years, who knows... except how fandom will change.

I feel like smaller anime cons take in whatever panels they can get to increase numbers, so they become this general nerd con that just has an "anime" name on the title. I think there are the handful of large attended anime cons that are real anime cons, while the others don't stick to that original foundation on what their name means.
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labsenpai
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by labsenpai »

Going to a big gaming convention a few years back taught me to avoid multitudinous expos. If your interest doesn't mesh with mainstream, prepare to fight for a seat in a forgotten game room. Or, discover that the facet of dice-rolling fun you paid to enjoy was just fed to the CATAN/MAGIC/BOFFER horde. I know experiences like my lone AX96 trip are unlikely now, but sometimes you can extract a similar feeling if the con has enough otaku content to keep you in the zone. The list of guests and sponsors is my main test for this, combined with past experience if it applies. Fashioning a routine itinerary and bypassing hype-magnets seems common for most old timers. If ACEN needed more sponsorship this year to bring in a classic guest line, I'd rather deal with any resulting complications than have no guests worth seeing.
Here is a pic of the exhibition hall, which funneled everyone past 14 corporate booths before the mass of smaller vendors. Jotaro seems to be pointing towards an escape route :D
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runesaint
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by runesaint »

And yet even reading these I miss going to conventions of any sort... I like the feeling of being with people that I can talk to and far too often I feel that I can't.
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Akage
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by Akage »

labsenpai wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:04 pm If ACEN needed more sponsorship this year to bring in a classic guest line, I'd rather deal with any resulting complications than have no guests worth seeing.
Depends on how tightly controlled that guest is. I was amused that people thought that the guests that Viz brought to ACEN would actually draw. That was a big nope. Viz regulates their guests to the point where all you'll ever get is just an autograph.

So, no. I'd rather not have an artist guest attend if it means there's no chance of getting a sketch from them. At least make something available for the auction. But if the company refuses to do that, then I'd rather not have the guest there. Seeing that Viz or some tightly controlled company brought someone over is a discouragement, not an incentive, to attend a convention.
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labsenpai
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by labsenpai »

Admittedly, sponsorship control isn't something I'd uncover without insider info (in convention-hibernation for over a decade) ;)
Losing the charity auction is a sore spot, and playing games for panel rewards can be depressingly random. I could still appreciate a GoH that doesn't draw, but only if he/she had a sizeable body of work. I'd think somebody with a niche following should reject restrictions...promote by drawing?

In other news, did anyone go to A-kon or AnimeNext this past weekend?
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by usamimi »

I'd considered going to A-kon on Saturday just to see Tohru Furuya, but on Thursday the badge situation was an utter disaster from what I saw online (misprinted badges, them deciding to merge prereg and on site purchase into ONE LINE, some people saying they waited 4-5 hours in line)....then they announced the 1st day of the con that autographs were ticketed and limited to 100 per guest. So....figured it was not worth my time to get all the way to the con (they moved it so it's kinda far away for me now) for 1 day just to gamble & see if I MIGHT get to get an autograph. :/ Ah well.
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labsenpai
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by labsenpai »

usamimi wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:39 pm deciding to merge prereg and on site purchase into ONE LINE
Wow, doing that is breaking a convention Commandment...rookie planning after this many years? As a courtesy, those of us in the autograph ticket line at ACEN would shout out when a guest became "unavailable". You felt bad for hopeful kids stuck a hundred paces from the booth. I don't recall the staff saying exactly how many tickets were on hand per guest...
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Re: Convention Appearances 2018

Post by davemerrill »

Just got back from AnimeNEXT and it's a 13K attendance show that feels busy but not rushed. Lots of extremely anime-specific programming, and that's on purpose, they're trying to keep it focused on Japanese animation. I feel like this is the kind of show that fits nicely into the sweet spot of being big enough to afford to do big, expensive things and bring in Japanese industry guests, but still small enough to try new things and have fun. And it's in Atlantic City, which has enough restaurants, shops, and touristy things to keep people occupied when not at the convention. The city seems really happy to have ANext there, which is a nice change from the "who are you people again?" attitude we sometimes see.
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