Thinking about AnimeFest in Dallas

[cutiebunny]

Sure, JD. Keep trying to sell him on attending AnimeFest. That just means less Japanese Kit Kats and Oreo bars for you at YaoiCon.

(sobs)Why did I only buy 5 bags of the Oreo Bars at Mitsuwa?! Raspberry Oreos are delish!

[Jadeduo]

Why would you take away my snackies??? I've been a good minion!!

[cutiebunny]

Because naughty minions need to be punished

Ohohohoho....!

(And yes, for those of you who are uninformed, we run around cons saying "ohohoho". Often. It's our thing.)

[Omnigeek]

Lucky for her, I burned out my sweet tooth a while ago. (Well .. not really ... but I've been cutting back on candy and processed sugars for a while.)

I just need to figure out if I really want to spend that much time off on this -- and also whether I wouldn't look/feel like a doofus tagging along behind cutiebunny like a 5 year old after his nanny ... People might get ideas ... (They'd get ideas from tagging behind her if she were dressed like Misty May but those'd be ideas compatible with the male ego ... )

[Jadeduo]

Oh! Do it again!

Oh ho ho ho ho!

[cutiebunny]

Well...I-it's not like I want you to join my reverse harem...or anything!

As of now, there's four of us (five, if we count MechaBoy's sister who usually ditches us even though she has minion duties ). Yeah, we spend a lot of time in line. But we also look around the dealer hall, laugh at staff as they have yet to figure out line control, attendees and other rando stuff. Every so often, we'll talk about art. We're usually pretty modest about what we own. But for the most part, we just pick random stuff and talk about that. It's sort of like being trapped in an episode of Family Guy. We make the most of it the hours we spend in line.

I don't know if anyone has ever pointed at JD and I when we walk around with the other male collectors and thought things, and if they did, we'd probably milk it for comedy. I have noticed a lot more lopsided groups at cons, usually consisting of more men than women. But if you feel uncomfortable with it, that's fine and none of us would be offended if you did your own thing. We're pretty flexible like that.

Tch...well, JD, if you're going to enjoy it, maybe I should hit harder next time?

[Omnigeek]

Evil temptress ... my rationalizations on why not to go are evaporating ...

Reverse harem, huh? I should have expected it ...

[Jadeduo]

Only if there is aftercare!!

[cutiebunny]

Looks like AF just posted their autograph rules for this year. In short, you can't ask for autographs and the only way to get an autograph this year is to attend the panel and receive a ticket.

AX tried that panel ticket rule for a couple years and it was a disaster, so I can only imagine how well it's going to go over this year.

[grEenLeaFx]

I am glad you posted this because I have not seen it yet. What was bad about it at AX? Seems like it would be ok in theory. Pretty shady they announce big changes like that after the badge mail off date is cut off and the convention itself is only a few weeks away.

[cutiebunny]

The problem is usually in how a convention schedules its panels and guests. To decrease crowding, conventions will schedule things so that they overlap, especially on the weekends where you're more likely to have more people attending the event.

When you make it mandatory that all autographs will require a ticket obtained only at their panel, that means that you may have overlapping panels/autograph sessions of guests that you're interested in seeing. For example, they could schedule the One Punch panel during the Tokyo Ghoul autograph session. So if you miss the OPM panel, you won't get a OPM autograph, and if you go to the panel, you're going to miss out on a TG autograph, even if you already have the panel ticket. Normally, I don't mind going to guest panels, but having seen how conventions manage to schedule panels and autograph sessions so that there is always some conflict, I expect a lot of unhappy attendees this year.

The rules also say that you can't request sketches this year.

[grEenLeaFx]

Wow you were not kidding! There is a separate autograph faq section that does not mention any of this so you have to know where to find it. https://animefest.org/e/AF2016/Programming/Autographs Last time I went was in 2014 and it looks like they implemented the ticket system last year to much frustration from the way it sounds. They have a complaint board for last year and there were several complaints about the ticket system below.

Complaint:
I hated that you had to get a ticket to see the Japanese guest. I didn't know till they started lining up people and I went early.

If you're going to do a ticketing system again, please give us a heads up. I got straight up turned away one day since I got there kind of late, and I was told I could wait on another day but since I had a panel, it just didn't work out. I wish I had known about the tickets so that I could plan to be at a panel where tickets were being handed out.

Whoever organized the guest autograph sessions did such a terrible job. It was handled way better in previous years. The ticketing system was a completely failure. Not only did this ticketing system not guarantee attendees an autograph (especially if they were in the panel right for the said guest right before the scheduled autograph session) but the coordinator in charge of the entire thing was unwilling to even answer questions about it. Instead we were just told to "go back to where you were sitting" and gave out very little direction to the people who needed answers to fully understand whatever mix up there was. I saw a lot of attendees walk away in anger, frustration, and even break down in tears.

Here is a complainer about sketches last year...

Complaint:
In the autograph line, despite being told not to bring large items for the guests to sketch on, people still handed the guests large sketchbooks and sign boards. It really held up the line on Sunday (that I noticed) and was unfair to those who were still waiting. Perhaps in the future, staff could check at the front of the line what people are asking to get sketched? If it's over a certain dimension then the staff could instruct the person to use the sign cards they had on the tables. This would reduce the wait time for the line, as well as be overall more fair to everyone who wants a sketch (and not tire out our guests).

There is still probably a chance for sketches, but its not worth my time, energy, and money to find out. It is pretty lame to invite animators and illustrators and then have a bunch of new restrictions posted just a few weeks away from the convention starting. That was very bait and switch if you ask me, but sounds even worse for the ppl that went last year. I know not everyone is like us, but that is the only reason I go to conventions. I don't go to many cons and I like this one because it is smaller, but I think I will just sit this one out now. I was looking at the end of the 2015 program booklet online and it says AF is run by a "new management structure". If I am understanding it right the core group of people that have run it since the beginning are wanting to take a less active roll and now a board of directors will be elected every year to run that particular year's con. Cutiebunny what do you think are you still going?

[cutiebunny]

I've already plunked down money for hotel and airfare, so I am going regardless. I'm meeting up with friends there as well, so the event will not be a total loss for me should staff refuse to budge on their rules. What I anticipate happening is that the autograph line will finish in about 20 minutes and those wanting sketches will press their agenda. We've done this before at other cons. Sometimes it works, and sometimes the guest will launch into a 15 minute argument with staff. Either way, Takada will not be sketching. AF has produced special prints that she will be signing at her autograph sessions.

The convention is inviting artists because they know that their artwork sells. In addition to the charity auction, they had an art auction last year. That was where all the artwork drawn by the guests was sold. The funds raised here go directly to AF's coffers, so it makes sense to invite as many artists as they can. They may also feel that by giving out free artwork, less people will want to buy the art auction items.

I've read similar complaints about autograph sessions when AX has a board. Sadly, no convention will ever state something to the effect of "If getting a sketch means that much to you, you will get there early and wait." They will try to appease people as much as possible, but by doing so, they alienate a small portion of their attendees who want a sketch. The convention knows that those that have the money to spend on artwork will still attend for their art auction, and those alienated by the policy who can't afford to buy artwork will either not attend the event or just accept things as they are. This is the way that the industry is heading, or as with some conventions like SakuraCon, have already gone.