Fanime 2013

Venturing out into the sunlight? Planning on meeting up with other cel addicts? Post convention or gathering info here.
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Kyley
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Fanime 2013

Post by Kyley »

Just wondering is anyone else is going. It's a local con for me, so I go every year.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by cutiebunny »

I'll be there, and DrScorpio will likely be there as well. :)

We'll likely be in the autograph lines, as we are every year. Come stop by and say "hi". We can all head out for lunch or dinner later :)
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by Kyley »

Cool! I'll be around I'm sure. I usually sell at swap meet and then run around in cosplay the rest of the time, so we'll definitely have to try and meet up sometime then. :)
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AR-99
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by AR-99 »

Cool beans, I'll be there too. No Yokota this year though.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by zerospace »

The hubby and I *might* make it to Fanime for one day this year, since it looks like we may be in the bay area for the weekend :). Does anyone know if Marisa (Anime Online/misa) is still involved with the con? I know she used to be ...
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by AR-99 »

In what capacity? There is a Marisa that I know of but not sure if it's the same person. Last year she did swap meet and masquerade but announced at the latter that since she has a new son I believe she would be stepping down.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by zerospace »

AR-99 wrote:In what capacity? There is a Marisa that I know of but not sure if it's the same person. Last year she did swap meet and masquerade but announced at the latter that since she has a new son I believe she would be stepping down.
Yep, that sounds like her. I know her son takes up most of her time now, so that's sorta why I asked if she was still involved. Thanks!
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by AR-99 »

So, who ended up going? I posted a report on another forum, please let me know if this is not kosher. Very much an Eva-themed Fanime for me and overall I enjoyed it despite all the SNAFUs that plagued it this year. Met DrScorpio and learned how awesome a mecha illustrator Nonaka is. And that cutiebunny opted to go to Animazement instead, cannot blame her.

Not mentioned in my con report but I did run into Casey (Marisa's husband) at swap meet on Friday night and picked up the Eva chips and Gunnm chirashi from him.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by cutiebunny »

^ Yeah, sorry about that. It was kind of a last minute thing for me. I had been waiting for Fanime to announce someone 'good', and as they failed to announce any artists that I was interested in and I had friends going to Animazement that I could bunk with, I opted going there. Basically, I learned this year that there really is no need to purchase your tickets ahead of time for Fanime, and I'll never buy my pass until maybe 2 weeks before the con date again. Although they announced some guests in April, I'm tired of Fanime waiting until three weeks before the con to announce the majority of their guests. There's absolutely no reason that Fanime should continually do this year after year, especially when every other large con (AX, Otakon, etc.) can announce guests several weeks, if not months, in advance.

I did see a few other Fanime Refugees there as well, so it looks like word has gotten out that, if Fanime is utterly disappointing, there's always Animazement to go to. I saw that they'll be at the same convention center on Memorial Weekend through 2018, so, keep that in mind.

Overall, I had a great time at Animazement, and if Fanime fails to get anyone I'm interested in for their 2014, I will likely go back. It was like a breath of fresh air - no 3+ hours of waiting in line, no lines where you were required to line up 6 hours beforehand if you actually wanted something, etc. Plus, the food was dynamite. I had pulled pork, biscuits and ballin' macaroni and cheese at The Pit. Spec-ta-cu-lar.

AR, are you planning on going to Japan Expo USA this year? I've already purchased tickets, so unless AM2 gets anyone absolutely stellar, I will likely go there this year.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by AR-99 »

Glad to hear that you had a good time. The issues that you mentioned with Fanime were still there, although I had an abnormal pre-reg back pick up wait time, just over an hour. Heard of some nightmare waits of several hours. The autograph lines this year though were different since the only artist was Nonaka and I was actually 1st in line 5 times in a row. :cheers

Japan Expo is tempting given that it's within driving distance in Santa Clara and as it's put on by the same co. that puts on Japan Expo in France, I would expect them to get some big names for this one to start off the US iteration right. However I found out that Yuko Miyamura (seiyu for both versions of S. Asuka Langley) will be at Saboten Con in Arizona on Labor Day weekend, so I'm thinking of going there. There's actually a whole bunch of Eva dub actors going that I don't care about, but eh. In looking at all the costs involved I realized how much of a blessing it is to be able to go to cons within driving distance.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by cutiebunny »

It might be a longshot, but have you thought of networking out to people that are attending (ie. con staff, convention forum members) and asking them if they can pick you up an autograph? Just tell them that you're a fan and you're willing to pay for her autograph, explain your situation and maybe they can make some kind of arrangement with you. The worst that can happen is that they tell you 'no'.

There are a lot of kind people out there, and people that won't mind helping you out, especially if there's some kind of monetary incentive. Remember that a lot of the people going to cons are teens and young adults, and $50-$100 for an autograph will go a long way for them. I've gone this route a couple of times. Sometimes it pays off in a big way, and sometimes it doesn't pan out too well. But, that's just the risk you take by not going.

Did you go to BigWow the weekend before Fanime? I was there, and I plan to go back next year as well.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by AR-99 »

The idea for Saboten sounds good. A red flag for me though that came up is that they don't have much of a forum, nor is it jumping. There's not even a general con type subforum for this a topic like this, with Ask the Staff maybe being the closest. Maybe I can contact the con directly so at least that way staff will get it. Or post on their FB page.

According to this list, there were no anime/manga guests at Big Wow unless they're missing some folks. Had not heard about it until DrScorpio mentioned it to me.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by cutiebunny »

AR-99 wrote:According to this list, there were no anime/manga guests at Big Wow unless they're missing some folks. Had not heard about it until DrScorpio mentioned it to me.
That list is incorrect - Toshio Maeda (creator of 'La Blue Girl' and 'Urotsukidoji') was there. He was a pretty cool guy and I enjoyed hanging out with him.

And speaking of Yokota, I noticed that he went on a small vacation this past weekend, which seems to indicate to me that he had left the weekend open in the hope of being invited to Fanime again. I wonder what happened.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by AR-99 »

I wonder who else I missed besides Maeda, would have loved to get a Miko Mido sketch. Big Wow removed their 2013 guests already so I don't know who went other than the American comic artists.

This is secondhand rumors, I heard someone mentioning in line that Yokota is persona non grata from Fanime, not sure why. I heard also that there were staff changes in GR.
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Re: Fanime 2013

Post by cutiebunny »

The list on Anime Cons isn't complete either when it comes to American artists. There were a lot of artists, but Maeda was the only anime/manga artist at the convention. Basically the entire convention had various artists sitting at tables, selling items and/or taking commissions. Registration consisted of you showing a print out of your ticket and someone handing you a lanyard and a convention badge. Fanime could learn a lot from the way they handle registration.

Regarding Yokota, yes, I believe I mentioned that to you last year. I know the full story, but it's probably not something that I should mentioned on a public board. If you're curious, just send me a PM.
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