Katsuhiro Otomo to be guest of honor at Anime Expo 2019

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DKop
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Re: Katsuhiro Otomo to be guest of honor at Anime Expo 2019

Post by DKop »

usamimi wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:19 pm

At Conjikan, the voice actors charged for autographs, but in a round-about way (buy a piece of their merch, the autograph was free!). These smaller, newer cons seem to have this kind of arrangement often. Older cons where they've always been included in ticket price seem to be holding onto the free policy as long as possible, at least.
That was something Tiffany Grant gave me her opinion on. She's not the type to start charging for autographs, shes old school like that because she really loves her fans. On the flip side, she's starting to bring stuff to sell to cons out of her personal collection (ie mostly Hello Kitty/Evangelion/ADV merch) so she's making that on top of whatever the con is charging her.
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Re: Katsuhiro Otomo to be guest of honor at Anime Expo 2019

Post by Akage »

usamimi wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:55 am
I've heard Fanime was great. ACEN is midwest, I thought?
No. Did you hear about Fanime this year? If you were at AnimeFest/Hostage Walk 2017 and enjoyed that set-up, you would have loved Fanime/Hostage Walk 2019. Attendees had to put their hands above their heads this year in order to get into the autograph area. I had a couple of friends that attended and they were not happy.

Fanime hasn't been great since maybe 2012. That was really the first convention that I loved that eventually let me down. Despite living about an hour away from it, I prefer to fly 3000 miles to Animazement instead.

ACEN is Chicago. I referenced it because, like NYC Comic Con, it's a convention outside the West Coast that employs the 'Buy x amount of goods for an autograph' policy that is so popular here.

I have another friend who is now loosely affiliated with a localization company and has brought over guests to conventions like AWA before. He mentioned that one of the deciding factors as to whether or not a guest will attend a convention is if they want to visit that particular city (or will be taken to a nearby place that they want to see either before/after the event). Free trips to America aren't all that enticing unless there's something the guest wants to see or do in the area. So, in regards to southern anime conventions being the slowest to adapt to industry sponsored guests, I would say that this is accurate. There aren't too many super popular guests that would be enticed to visit Raleigh when LA, San Francisco and NYC have so many more exciting offerings. And as industries want to sell their goods, they're going to want to bring in guests that will generate sales...which means they'll largely be interested in only sponsoring guests to large cons in areas where Japanese guests want to visit.
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Re: Katsuhiro Otomo to be guest of honor at Anime Expo 2019

Post by DKop »

Akage wrote: Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:09 am So, in regards to southern anime conventions being the slowest to adapt to industry sponsored guests, I would say that this is accurate. There aren't too many super popular guests that would be enticed to visit Raleigh when LA, San Francisco and NYC have so many more exciting offerings. And as industries want to sell their goods, they're going to want to bring in guests that will generate sales...which means they'll largely be interested in only sponsoring guests to large cons in areas where Japanese guests want to visit.
I think what helps returning guest to come to east coast southern cons is the fact that those guests and the staff have a good relationship where they want to come back every year. Keiko Han, Nakao and Maruyama have been regulars to Animazement for years now, and Maruyama has been at Otakon a number of times. I think the biggest guest for me they've gotten in the past few years was when the Japanese Gundam cast came, which who knows when Suichi Ikeda will ever come out this way.
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Re: Katsuhiro Otomo to be guest of honor at Anime Expo 2019

Post by usamimi »

Huh, I have friends who go to Fanime, but they don't really care about the guests so that might be why they enjoy it so much? Lol they're not going in line to get autographs and such.
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Re: Katsuhiro Otomo to be guest of honor at Anime Expo 2019

Post by labsenpai »

Akage wrote: Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:09 am ACEN is Chicago. I referenced it because, like NYC Comic Con, it's a convention outside the West Coast that employs the 'Buy x amount of goods for an autograph' policy that is so popular here.
The autographs I managed to get at ACEN last month didn't necessitate a merchandise purchase. Sure, you had to present official goods to be signed, but that was the only requirement. The doujin I bought from Sonoda was just something unique I wanted. There was a special signing for Kinema Citrus fans that bought goods from their booth, and maybe something similar for LAM. I don't know how the sessions went for the musician GoHs. I'd say anyone with industry sponsorship at the con next year is going to get that push towards "greased" interaction with fans. I'll be bummed if the events later this year have all become impersonal sideshows.
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