Anime Revolution

[Sononaka]

Oh wait, Funimation's there?

Crossing fingers for some Soul Eater lawls and some Monte Cristo

[Kirianne]

Caption contest on their Facebook page! I don't even know what to write yet, but I already cut the chibi out. So it's just sitting there, waiting to be filled in atm. Still another couple weeks, but no entries yet O.O If I win another pass, totally gonna give it to my friend for her birthday x) Wish me luck!

[Mrhadisen]

Hi all,

Where do I find people from Calgary who plan to go to Anime Revolution and are looking for a cosplay-noob to share a hotel room or to carpool with ? Is this a good thread to start my search ? (btw. also looking for the same for Animethon)

Short story long: I went to Otafest for the first time this year. Better than Stampede, sad I haven't I heard about it 3 years ago when I came to Calgary. Now I have to go to Animethon and Anime Revolution this August. I don't like carpooling with random strangers for a 12-hour ride and couch surfing also kinda sucks, but if it is with some friendly otakus, who also want to go to the convention, it could be fun. The super special hotel rate of 149$/day they advertise on www.animerevolution.ca is irritating (Marriott ? rolleyes !). Apparently they didn't commission hostels or Campus residences.. Seems a bit like the event is designed for locals and well-earning grown ups, probably more commercialized than our Albertan counterparts. Nevertheless I am very interested.

[KazenoShijin]

Hey everyone!

I had a FANTASTIC time at Otafest this year! Our show (the Seriously Ridiculous Dub Bashing Palooza of Pure Insanity Show) was a great success! Idol was a blast, the cosplay contest was so much fun, and our gang had a great time running the Anime Werewolf panel as well! Did you guys enjoy it?

Well, Anime Revolution is just around the corner... if you count a few months away as around the corner anyways lol.

To that end, we have just announced 3 more guests!

Angela Melick is the west coast-based creator / writer / artist behind "Wasted Talent," a semi-autobiographical webcomic based on her daily life. She will be set up in our Artist Alley Saturday and Sunday, so stop by and check out her booth!

Kristie Marsden is delighted to be apart of the Anime Revolution! Voiceover highlights include Fraw Bow in “Mobile Suit Gundam”, Yuri Hayakawa in “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, Sayu Yagami in “DeathNote, The Animated Series”, and “DeathNote Live Action”, the English adaptation of “The Little Prince”, as well as two seasons of the popular Marvel animated series, “Iron Man: Armored Adventures”, as Whitney Stane/Madame Masque. TV highlights include series regular role on “About A Girl”, and guest starring roles on “The 4400”, “Psych”, “Saved”, “Masters of Horror”, “Supernatural”, “Dark Angel” & “Wolf Lake”. Feature films include “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the cult hit musical, “Reefer Madness”. Theatre highlights include originating the role of “Sophie Sheridan” on the 2nd national tour of “Mamma Mia” as well as featured roles in “Les Miserables”, “White Christmas” (Arts Club), “Anne of Green Gables” (Gateway Theatre), “The Music Man” (Vancouver Playhouse) & “Somewhere In The World”, as a member of the Charlottetown Festival’s Young Company. She’ll be seen next on the Stanley Theatre stage, in the 4th remount of “White Christmas”, for the Arts Club.

Terri Hawkes In the 80's, Ms. Hawkes played Baby Hugs and Shrieky in the original Care Bears series. In 1990, she played Wendy Masters on the soap opera, "General Hospital." Soon after, she was cast as the second voice actress to play Serena / Sailor Moon in the DiC dub of the series. Her episodes began around Neflite's start and continued until the end of Sailor Moon 'R' and also through the 3 movies. Post Sailor Moon, she played Franny on the Canadian/Australian co-production: "John Callahan's Quads." Quads can still be seen periodically on Teletoon late-night. She also starred in another YTV series called "Flying Rhino Junior High," both as Lydia and acting as the Voice Director. She is also well known as the voice of the lead in "Princess Sissi." Terri will be taking part in the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Special Panel at AR, reuniting with fellow cast mates, Vincent Corazza (Tuxedo Mask), Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars), Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter), Ron Rubin (Artemis) and Sugar Lyn Beard (Sailor Mini Moon).

We are delighted to be able to host these wonderful people at Anime Revolution and we would love to see all of you as well! We may still have yet more announcements in the future, so stay tuned!

Thank you everyone!

[lolcats]

Hi all,

Where do I find people from Calgary who plan to go to Anime Revolution and are looking for a cosplay-noob to share a hotel room or to carpool with ? Is this a good thread to start my search ? (btw. also looking for the same for Animethon)

Short story long: I went to Otafest for the first time this year. Better than Stampede, sad I haven't I heard about it 3 years ago when I came to Calgary. Now I have to go to Animethon and Anime Revolution this August. I don't like carpooling with random strangers for a 12-hour ride and couch surfing also kinda sucks, but if it is with some friendly otakus, who also want to go to the convention, it could be fun. The super special hotel rate of 149$/day they advertise on http://www.animerevolution.ca is irritating (Marriott ? rolleyes !). Apparently they didn't commission hostels or Campus residences.. Seems a bit like the event is designed for locals and well-earning grown ups, probably more commercialized than our Albertan counterparts. Nevertheless I am very interested.

Try their forums.

[Kirianne]

Super excited, less than 3 weeks left to wait...

[Kirianne]

Hey everyone!

I had a FANTASTIC time at Otafest this year! Our show (the Seriously Ridiculous Dub Bashing Palooza of Pure Insanity Show) was a great success! Idol was a blast, the cosplay contest was so much fun, and our gang had a great time running the Anime Werewolf panel as well! Did you guys enjoy it?

Your performances are hilarious, I can't wait to see you guys live at AR this weekend /diesofexcitement

[lolcats]

I'll be dropping by to check it out~ getting my cosplay done tmr.

[Sononaka]

Ticket pickup's tomorrow. And AR idol prelims. I want to see the prelims, actually.

[KazenoShijin]

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've been able to post anything on here. I have been stuck at my day job, working off the time I took off for AR, so being able to post as often as I'd like to isn't as easy as it probably should be lol. I would like to share my personal experience as Programming Director and part time attendee at our inaugural year's convention, if you don't mind taking time to read the novel that is about to transpire ahead lol.

First and foremost, I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who stuck with us in our inaugural year this year! I was shocked, but in a good way, to see the final attendance tally! We managed to have 5,233 people attend, and it was just so heart warming to have people give us a chance! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who came out and saw what we could do. That number, of course, is the number of passes sold! Unbelievable for a first year convention and it completely blew my expectations! Thank you once again for your support!

This was, of course, my first time as a staff member at a convention, so I didn't exactly know what to expect. Being on the other side of the coin so to speak is quite an eye opener, and just deepens my respect for everyone else who runs any convention! There is so much hard work that goes into it, and you tend to develop a fun little family atmosphere with your fellow volunteers/staff. It's a lot of fun, and the comraderie is probably one of the things I still miss the most even almost 2 months later. I'm not sure if a lot of you guys know or not, but I live in Kamloops, so I'm about 3 hours away from Vancouver, and am not able to hang out with many of the staff members on a whim so easily. In fact, when I got there on the Thursday just before AR started, it was my first time meeting many of the people involved face to face! Oh, but it was so much fun, and while we had our share of the usual con ups and downs behind the scenes, I wouldn't EVER trade it for the world!

Much of my time was spent running all over the place trying to make sure that things ran as smoothly as possible, and with the exception of some hiccups here and there, I think things pretty much spoke for themselves. I know there was a lot of concern about the curtains separating the panel rooms and such, and believe me, we have taken that into consideration for next year! You live and you learn right? I also heard there was some confusion about the location of the con itself. AR took place on the old side of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, also known as the East Side, or more so as "Canada Place." I think many people were getting mixed up due to AE taking place in the West Side of the VCEC, which is the newer side, in 2009. Luckily, it worked out and most people were able to find the venue with little trouble! I remember going outside to meet some of the guests as they were coming in and being amazed at the line ups both outside and inside as well! Plus, having cruise ships dock and tourists everywhere, it was quite a fun and surreal experience!

The first guest I personally greeted was Sarah "Sully" Sullivan from FUNimation, and she is a riot! So much fun to talk to, and so accommodating. Her panels were quite popular and we look forward to working with her and FUNimation in the future for sure! Next, I got to meet Sugar Lyn Beard and escort her to the green room. I couldn't believe I was talking to Sugar and her brother! It was his birthday that day too so it was extra exciting! I also got to meet several other of my idols, as a Sailor Moon fan of course lol. Ron Rubin (Artemis), Vincent Corazza (Tux), Susan Roman (Jupiter), Katie Griffin (Mars) and of course, Terri Hawkes (Moon) were all there! They are all such wonderful people, and I feel so blessed to have been able to meet them in person! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd have that chance, and yet, there they were! lol. I had a chance to take part in an improv game during one of the 404's shows with Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic / That Guy With The Glasses.) We had to tell a continuous story and the one guy would point randomly at us and we'd have to seemlessly pick up from where the other person left off or act out a death. It was down to myself and Doug and I ended up winning! lol. It was amazingly fun and one of those con moments that stick with you forever as a fan! lol. I also got to chat with some amazing people who go to Otafest as well and they seemed to be having fun! I was so happy to hear that! I had the chance to talk with both Doug and Noah Antwiler (Spoony) and it turns out that much of the rumoured animosity between them is definitely false rumours. People online just like to spread so much needless drama without reaching out for more information from the sources lol. Fighting Dreamers Productions, a local cosplay group similar, yet bigger than my own here in Kamloops, also came and put on some great panels! They were all so wonderful and accommodating as well and came up to thank me at the end of the closing ceremonies, and I am so very greatful to them for coming and putting on some great content! That goes for ALL of our panelists actually! Some fantastic content for sure and I really wish I could have seen more, but when you're "behind the scenes" there's A LOT of running around and work to do from like 6 am to 2 am! lol Sometimes 24 hours and you know what, I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT! Jessica Nigri was another guest I interacted a lot with. She is SOOOOOOO nice as well and she was absolutely enthralled with our attendees and the stuff going on! She's also friends with Leanna Vamp and Nerd Girls. They were going around getting pictures with people and reporting on things! I'm so glad they had fun! Also, a VERY special shout out and THANK YOU to Mark Nguyen and Irulanne who were SPECTACULAR in everything during the con! Irulanne's concert was quite intimate and popular, and her performance of "Carry On" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHRaedEBT3o from the Sailor Moon English dub was met with a HUGE crowd reaction at the 20th Anniversary panel! She and I opened it with the English Sailor Moon theme! We sang it as a duet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4mrr2GoJtA and had only practiced it once that morning! YAY for last minute fun right!? lol. Mark was an outstanding host, and I am just eternally greatful to both of them for helping out when things were running a bit behind, etc. Stepping in and helping out like they did was so spectacularily wonderful and very much appreciated!

We had so many guests and I wish I had the chance to meet every single one of them, but I did miss a few myself like Sam Logan and Angela Melick, due to not getting to Artist Alley aside from like one moment on the Sunday I think, close to closing...

We were supposed to have the Sailor Moon Fan Made Movie from Australia for screening, but it did not make it in the mail in time sadly. I felt so bad for everyone looking forward to seeing it ( I was too! ) but there's not much you can do when it's stuck in transit. We even tried working with the director of the movie to download it online, but it was just not to be. Instead, a fellow Sailor Moon fan and friend of mine, Troy, gave us the New York trailer for their Sailor Moon fan made movie, and we showed it at the beginning of the AMV contest, and at the closing ceremonies! I hadn't seen it ahead of time, and it turned out to be quite dark and rather gory which I think shocked people, but it is an artistic take on things, and overall, I am glad to see such a HUGELY renewed interest in Sailor Moon as a whole!

The 20th Anniversary Sailor Moon Celebration Panel, hosted by myself and Irulanne, was also a huge success! We showed various clips, such as the final battle between Sailor Moon and Galaxia in Stars Episode #200, The HORRIBLE SABAN trailer that we ALMOST ended up with prior to the DIC dub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Hge38AkFg, 21st Century Koi no Senshi ja Irarenai from the Sailor Moon Musicals, and one of the most epic scenes from the live action series, when Sailor Moon becomes Princess Sailor Moon and goes all bad a** on Queen Beryl and company while fighting over Mamoru! We then had all 6 voice actors present come up on stage and answer questions! One of the most popular parts was where I asked them if they could do a quick battle cry in character as seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA9b0WjnEFQ with a special one from Vincent Corazza as Sailor Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0S-dKlwmc4. It was fun, and I really hope everyone had a great time!

So much to talk about but so little time! It's like 2 am here! lol.

Anime Revolution Idol went VERY well and Ally and Sally ended up taking home the Idol 1st Place trophy this year! It was SOOOO close and the competition was very fierce this year, but I think everyone had a lot of fun! Momohime came in 2nd, and she had done a BEAUTIFUL enka song on Saturday's round, and I was SOOOO happy to see someone tackle enka! Such a hard style that one is! She did it exceptionally well though! Laurie came in third, but she also had won the audience choice during our 2nd round on Saturday, and I have had the honour of seeing her perform during all of the Idols I have run myself from AE to Cos & Effect to AR this year! She is always a treat to watch as well! I also threw a few performances of my own in there during judge deliberations to help entertain the crowd (hopefully lol) including Last Angel, which won me Otafest Idol 2011! A HUGE thank you to Irulanne and Shannon for judging all three rounds, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the competition! We had special guest judges each day too! Kirstie Marsden on Friday, who herself is an accomplished voice actress/musical actress/songstress, Yuki and Marc from our Saturday night performing band "11 to Midnight," judged on Saturday's Idol round, and Doug Walker helped as a judge during our Closing Ceremonies for the 3rd round on Sunday! Everyone was marvelous and did a great job!! Thank you for all of your help!

I got to help out with the Cosplay Contest as well, and Sugar was our MC for that! She was absolutely adorable up on stage trying to pronounce Japanese words and messing up but definitely taking it all in stride! She was fantastic and her tenure as a host on THE ZONE for YTV definitely shone through! We had some great groups perform and it was so much fun to watch! My room mate Megan was a judge, and was joined by Jessica Nigri and Ron Rubin as well! Thank you to all of the contestants, and our judges!

I know I'm forgetting to mention other things but it was such a whirlwind experience, and a very positive one at that. I know I sound like a broken record, but I honestly can't put into words how much it meant to me that people came out and gave us a chance. AR was a labour of love, and we are definitely coming back in 2013! Plans are under way right now and we're hoping to "rise from the ashes" of our mistakes and use them to build a better convention for the future! There has been some talk of locking threads and so on in the feedback forums which does have truth to it, but please note that there is a specific feedback form link in said locked threads that allows people to leave feedback for us to streamline it to the proper departments (for example, I'm the Director of Programming, and thus programming related feedback gets forwarded to me and my team for review, etc.) I don't always get to check the forums as much as I'd like to, and feedback can get lost in one big jumble of posts, but through the form, I can get it through email, which I do check at least once or twice a day, and we can go from there! Same with the other directors, etc. In fact, the link to it can be found here: http://www.animerevolution.ca/about/fee ... ggestions/ so if you happened to make it to AR this year and have some feedback for us, I'd love to hear from you! The constructive critiques as well as the good times you had! I really hope that this helps to eleviate any concerns regarding AR not wanting feedback, because we most certainly do want to hear from everyone! This way is a bit different from how other cons have approached it in the past, but as I mentioned earlier, it is to help streamline things and get things to the right departments!

On that note, I'm going to close by once again thanking you all for hanging in there through all of the debating and so on that has happened throughout the year! Every convention has it's share of drama, but in the end, it's all about having fun and working to make sure our attendees had a blast as well! If, for some reason, you came and didn't have a great time, I am very sorry, but thank you for giving us a try! I know we won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I do know that I heard so many positive reviews from people as well and it was so heart warming and helped cement in my mind exactly why we do this! Fandom is unique and shared by so many in different ways, and I think it's important to support all of the conventions as much as we all can. The current situation with Animethon has been a heartbreaking reminder of what can happen, and I sincerely hope that Animethon 20 pulls through and that staff can be found to help nurture such a historic and well loved convention to rise again! I am also rooting for Otafest Aurora to be successful! Congrats to the Otafest Executive committee for your hard work and I really hope your event is a HUGE success! Being so close to Christmas, I'm sure people will be in the festive mood and that can only work in your favour! Plus, I'm REALLY hoping to make it to Otafest 2013 in May as well!

Have a fantastic week everyone! Thank you for reading through my novel above lol. I will keep you posted on AR 2013 news and updates as we move onward!

With much love and sincerity,

-Jeremy Androsoff-
-Director of Programming - Anime Revolution 2012/2013-
-Anime Revolution Idol 2012/2013 Coordinator-

[Scaff]

Holy *** Jeremy that's a really long post and a huge read. I won't lie, I did not enjoy my time at Anime Revolution at all.

To be honest, I found it to be the worst convention I've been to. Out of 18 conventions. And some of them were first year conventions. =/

Also I find it kind of hard to believe that that's the final total of passes sold as I honestly didn't see more than 2000 at Anime Revolution. It was a small, cramped space that was unwelcoming to cosplayers. Most of my friends didn't pay because it was too expensive and I seriously regret paying $50 for that weekend.

[KazenoShijin]

Hi Scaff,

Thank you for giving us a chance. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your time at AR. I guess it didn't necessarily appeal to everyone, but I really appreciate you at least checking us out.

You mentioned that you thought it was cramped. I don't personally agree myself, especially in the Vendors hall/artist alley. It was probably the most spacious one I've personally seen and allowed for people to be able to move around and not have to worry about being hit by cosplay wings and/or other obstructions. The line up room helped keep the hallways reletively clear for fluid movement from room to room, although, I know the panel rooms were considered somewhat small, and slighly inconducive to the plot with curtains separating the rooms. We've taken that into consideration for next year of course

We did have some interesting feedback from panelists on both ends. While some did express concern about the noise from one room to the next due to the curtains being the only block, others liked it because it allowed for more people to hear their panel from the room next door and thus brought in more exposure to them for that reason. I guess it was kind of a catch-22 of sorts lol.

I would love to hear your suggestions on what you think we can do to make things better for AR 2013. It sounds like you have decided you don't want to come back for another year, but if you could give us some suggestions that would be great! You can email me at jeremy@animerevolution.ca or fill out the feedback form here: http://www.animerevolution.ca/about/fee ... ggestions/

Again, I really am greatful you gave us a chance in our first year and I am sorry you felt it didn't live up to the hype. Perhaps we can meet up at Otafest this coming May and discuss things in person if you'll be there? (I'm hoping to make it again!!) Either way, thank you for the feedback here so far as well! A convention can't grow without help!

-Jeremy Androsoff-
-Director of Programming - Anime Revolution 2012/2013-

[moose]

When you say you had 5,233 people attending, could you give a little more info on that? Did it include all con staff, volunteers, site staff, maintenance, vendors, artists, guests, the milk man, santa and the tooth fairy? From what we saw around the event, and in the vendor room especially, I have to agree with Scaff, I can't trust that attendance figure.

especially in the Vendors hall/artist alley. It was probably the most spacious one I've personally seen and allowed for people to be able to move around and not have to worry about being hit by cosplay wings and/or other obstructions.

This actually says more about the number of patrons than the spaciousness of the room... the vendor area was no bigger than the room used for Ai-Kon and was far more empty. You can compare the layouts at:

Rev: http://www.canadacosplayimages.com/even ... _small.jpg
Ai-Kon: http://www.canadacosplayimages.com/even ... _small.png
Ai-Kon was at 2500'ish in 2011 and was far, far busier than Rev was.

From a vendor's point of view, and we pay pretty close attention to things like attendance, demographics, etc, there's no way that 5000+ people paid and walked through the doors. If you speak to any of the other vendors there (which i find unlikely 'cuz noone seemed to have wanted to deal with vendors directly anyway) you'll likely receive similar feedback.

The community can tell when something seems ... off.. and numbers like that won't be believed by anyone that actually patronized the event.

[Scaff]

When you say you had 5,233 people attending, could you give a little more info on that? Did it include all con staff, volunteers, site staff, maintenance, vendors, artists, guests, the milk man, santa and the tooth fairy? From what we saw around the event, and in the vendor room especially, I have to agree with Scaff, I can't trust that attendance figure.

Don't forget the Easter bunny!

And I do agree; the vendors area was large and spacious, but that was partly due to so few people being there. I know it wasn't a matter of people for some reason not finding the vendors or not wanting to be there, because let's be honest: the vendors area was the only area in the convention where I didn't feel like I was some freak show on display for all of these tourists without passes who still walked openly in the convention area, gawking at me and my friends and acting rude towards us. So I would try and spend time in the vendors area to hide from that stress.
Which, as I mentioned before, has never happened to be at any other of the 18 conventions I've been to. Ever.

Also Jeremy, I actually e-mailed Can and the head of security (as posted on the Anime Revolution website) on the Sunday of the convention, mentioning my discomfort at being at the convention in cosplay, and I was ignored by both. I know that you're a lovely guy who won't ignore me, but it upsets me that SECURITY and the HEAD OF THE CONVENTION ITSELF did not seem to care about my concerns.

[KazenoShijin]

Hello Moose and Scaff! Thank you once again for the feedback! I will try and answer your questions as best I can:

When you say you had 5,233 people attending, could you give a little more info on that? Did it include all con staff, volunteers, site staff, maintenance, vendors, artists, guests, the milk man, santa and the tooth fairy? From what we saw around the event, and in the vendor room especially, I have to agree with Scaff, I can't trust that attendance figure.

I am sorry it has taken me a few days to get back to you. I wanted to confer with James, our Director of Sales, before giving my answer on the attendance, and as far as I've ascertained it works out as follows:

The 5,233 attendance is based on the number of badges sold to the general public, and is NOT inclusive of the convention staff, guests, volunteers, R.A.S.T. team members or VCEC Security. It DOES include some of the pre-registered vendors and artists though. It takes into account not only the amount of badges sold throughout the pre-reg tiers and 'at con' purchases, but also the actual badges picked up by the buyers, thus giving the proper number of actual bodies attending the convention versus just basing it on number of overall badges purchased without taking into account those picked up.

So, by the sounds of it, there was a higher attendance IF the staff, etc. is to be counted as well

This actually says more about the number of patrons than the spaciousness of the room... the vendor area was no bigger than the room used for Ai-Kon and was far more empty. You can compare the layouts at:

Rev: http://www.canadacosplayimages.com/even ... _small.jpg
Ai-Kon: http://www.canadacosplayimages.com/even ... _small.png
Ai-Kon was at 2500'ish in 2011 and was far, far busier than Rev was.

I admit I really don't know much about the vendors room statistics myself as I was busy running all over the place I was merely commenting from personal experience of the cons I've gone to (inclusive of Anime Evolution, Otafest, Cos & Effect and BIG Con) The 'hallway' space down the rows of booths allowed for less chance of cosplay mishaps and/or destruction of the nice vendor/artist displays. Sorry if I came across differently. The times I did make it into the vendors hall were generally to escort guests to the autograph/photo booth sessions, and to literally run around looking for certain staff members. I found it relatively easier to navigate the halls as opposed to say the cramped-style vendors of some other conventions I've been to. That said, of the crowds I did notice in the various areas of the exhibition hall, it didn't seem any less than what I've seen at other places either. Again, that's just my personal experience. I'm not doubting your thoughts either.

We also had the lines for the autograph sessions, the autograph sessions themselves, the bouncy castle, cashier, photo booth and games scattered here and there as well if memory serves, so it was quite the multi-purpose space! We're already working on some ideas for 2013's layout as well! If you have any suggestions, again, please send them to our feedback page here:

http://www.animerevolution.ca/about/fee ... ggestions/

From a vendor's point of view, and we pay pretty close attention to things like attendance, demographics, etc, there's no way that 5000+ people paid and walked through the doors. If you speak to any of the other vendors there (which i find unlikely 'cuz noone seemed to have wanted to deal with vendors directly anyway) you'll likely receive similar feedback.

The community can tell when something seems ... off.. and numbers like that won't be believed by anyone that actually patronized the event.

Again, I am sorry you feel this way. We did have packed panel rooms, hallways, main events, etc, and lots of people enjoying the outdoor areas as well just chilling and hanging out with their friends. The vendors hall was one part of the con as a whole for sure, but there were people everywhere! For the most part we have had a lot of great feedback, and also some constructive criticisms as well, such as your own. We definitely appreciate any feedback as it does help us grow in future years, learning from potential mistakes and moving onward! May I ask your meaning behind your statement about no one wanting to deal with the vendors directly? I can make some inquiries on your behalf and have the appropriate director respond to you. I don't know why there would be a perceived lack of communication between some vendors and staff, but it is possible given how busy everyone was. That is not an excuse of course, and again we do value you as a business owner/operator and attendee at our convention. So please, let me know and I will do my best to connect you properly!

And I do agree; the vendors area was large and spacious, but that was partly due to so few people being there. I know it wasn't a matter of people for some reason not finding the vendors or not wanting to be there, because let's be honest: the vendors area was the only area in the convention where I didn't feel like I was some freak show on display for all of these tourists without passes who still walked openly in the convention area, gawking at me and my friends and acting rude towards us. So I would try and spend time in the vendors area to hide from that stress.
Which, as I mentioned before, has never happened to be at any other of the 18 conventions I've been to. Ever.

Scaff, I am sorry that some people were gawking at you like that. Being that the convention is in a public place, there's little that we can really do to stop people outside of the convention goers from making comments. Cosplay is definitely something that not everyone is accustomed to, and I suppose it's human nature to react in different ways to new things. I too have had varying reactions to costumes I've chosen to wear at conventions in public places. This includes every one of the above conventions I've been too, as all of them take place in areas that are not specifically cordoned off for convention attendees only. The rooms are policed, of course, but the hallways are always open to the public. SFU, UBC, UofC, are just as prone to this as the convention centre, only it's primarily students you run into at Universities, but their reactions can be just as stunning.

I have cosplayed as Tuxedo Kamen, Eternal Sailor Moon, Shindou Shuuichi, Magus, Sephiroth, Goku and now Link. I have had so many different reactions to my costumes from the spectrum of people enjoying them to downright being terrified (can you guess which one scared most people? lol Yep, Sailor Moon, and I was dubbed 'Sailor Man') I guess the differing opinion here is that I enjoy the shock value of many different styles of costumes and expect to have reactions of all sorts. I am by no means a 'professional' cosplayer of course, but I just love dressing up as characters I love and gauging the reactions of different people! This includes wearing said costumes to other events such as mall outings (going to Metrotown in cosplay has been a perennial favourite of my groups over the past 8 years we've been attending the West Coast cons), going to the Spaghetti Factory, to the Welcome Back BBQ at our local University here and bringing attention to the Campus Radio Station I have a show on. No matter where you go, people will always have different opinions on your costumes, and it's important to embrace them openly. Any actor will agree as well, because they will take on character roles that will invoke people's ire and appreciation at the same time!

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to brush over your personal experience with "outsiders" of the convention, but more so trying to underline the fact that any public forum that you go where you dress in cosplay or 'out of the norm' compared to what society is accustomed to, you will elicit agreeable, and perhaps unwanted opinions from people. Another way I have experienced this myself is the fact that I am a gay man, and have luckily had mostly positive experiences with people who have met me and know that fact, but I have also encountered those who do have issues with it as well. The best thing to do overall is just let it wash over you and move onward with your head held high because you are cosplaying as a character that you enjoy, and no one can ever take that away from you, regardless of what they say or do.

Also Jeremy, I actually e-mailed Can and the head of security (as posted on the Anime Revolution website) on the Sunday of the convention, mentioning my discomfort at being at the convention in cosplay, and I was ignored by both. I know that you're a lovely guy who won't ignore me, but it upsets me that SECURITY and the HEAD OF THE CONVENTION ITSELF did not seem to care about my concerns.

Thank you for the personal compliment I am trying to bridge the gap perceived by people of 'lack of openness' with our convention, etc. I am, however, a little at a loss for what to say as I don't know why you haven't heard back from either of these parties you mentioned. At least with the convention president, I don't know how much time he personally has to get back to everyone who sends him emails, unless it's of an extremely serious nature such as theft, physical abuse, or immediate emergencies. The head of the R.A.S.T. team however, I don't know... Again, we don't want to upset any of our attendees, and while it can be difficult to address every concern, I hope that perhaps I was able to shed a little bit of light on it? I will, again, bring up your concerns with Can and the head of security for you and see if there's anything that can be done differently for next year, but perhaps short of holding the convention at a private and closed off exclusive location for con goers only with heavy policing, I don't know how we can do so. Plus, it detracts from the overall experience to some degree, as it stops the general public who are generally curious about what's going on and may want to attend (yes we did have some people come in off the streets after finding out what was going on ) from being able to find out what's going on. While we advertise quite frequently in a broad spectrum of ways, people are busy and don't always notice until it's right in front of them, so it benefits the convention as well to have it in a public forum. I'm sure that some members of Otafest can even agree on that?

I really hope I haven't offended you in any way. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings at all. I know it can be tough to have people gawking and saying things you may not necessarily expect, but it is a part of dressing in cosplay and taking in the atmosphere of the con as a whole. I have been on both sides of the coin myself and have learned to take it in stride. I really hope you can as well!


Also, I don't want to double post, so I'd like to include a few links to videos of interviews with some of our guests this year! They talk about their work, their time at AR, Vancouver, and more!

Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s12iaYGMd6Q&feature=plcp

Ron Rubin (Artemis) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHeRRX1n0pw&feature=plcp

Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0K3j7LQcs&feature=plcp

Vincent Corazza (Tuxedo Kamen) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm5jWIzEz_Q&feature=plcp

Sugar Lyn Beard (Sailor Chibi Moon) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSn5JmR14_o&feature=plcp

Terri Hawkes (Sailor Moon) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJJYo1uT8b0&feature=plcp

Nakata Jouji (Hellsing) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-_SrwZYW5E&feature=plcp

LeeAnna Vamp (I <3 Nerd Girls) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5bbgC9vvB4&feature=plcp

Thank you!

[moose]

Edit:
*gives up*
noone believes 5000+, and it's not worth arguing over.

[Pyrahus]

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to brush over your personal experience with "outsiders" of the convention, but more so trying to underline the fact that any public forum that you go where you dress in cosplay or 'out of the norm' compared to what society is accustomed to, you will elicit agreeable, and perhaps unwanted opinions from people. Another way I have experienced this myself is the fact that I am a gay man, and have luckily had mostly positive experiences with people who have met me and know that fact, but I have also encountered those who do have issues with it as well. The best thing to do overall is just let it wash over you and move onward with your head held high because you are cosplaying as a character that you enjoy, and no one can ever take that away from you, regardless of what they say or do.

I hate to beat a dead horse here but I think that AR should seriously consider moving venues to somewhere more private, or at least spend more time considering what Scaff has said here instead of brushing it off.

While I understand that people will inherently stare and be rude wherever you go, I personally find cons to be a place where I feel safer. Even as Otafest is hosted every year at the same time as a volleyball tourney, most of us are still lucky to be outside of the "public" eye, on Otafest grounds.... not exactly a place that opens onto a main street. Even Animethon which is held in Grant Mac in downtown Edmonton allows congoers more privacy and I never feel harassed while in the con area.

If I wanted to go out to a very public forum in cosplay, I'd do so- however, as I do not wish to seek that sort of attention, I go to cons where most cosplayers are afforded some sort of respect and if not, there is always security that is happy to put an end to any harassment.
Though I agree with walking around head held high, I now shy away from cosplaying in public to try and avoid the public harassment I get whenever I cosplay outside of cons, no matter how covered up I am.

As a con, should AR not think more for the cosplayer's comfort? I don't think it's fair, asking cosplayers to just buck up and deal with it. I know many people who cosplay are shy in the end, often because of uncomfortable experiences they have to deal with when it comes to being in costume outside of a con environment.

Though I understand that there will always be random passersby that will wander accidentally into a con and even enjoy it, holding a con in a tourist center seems less than ideal as a tight-knit con environment.

[Scaff]

Pretty much everything Pyrahus just said there.

I even said that I have been to 18 conventions. 18!! I've been to Otafest, Animethon, San Diego Comic Con, Anime Evolution when it was at SFU, UBC and the actual convention center, not "Canada Place" aka attached to a hotel, the dock where the cruise ships pull in, and full of tourists everywhere. Yes, at all of those cons mentioned, there were always a few people who would give a look of "wait, what? What's going on here?"

But there weren't more tourists than con goers (because I don't care what you say, there weren't over 5000. Unless AR doesn't know how to count?) at any of those conventions. When Anime Evolution was at the convention center, I felt safe EVEN THOUGH it was still downtown and close to where Canada Place is. You know why? BECAUSE NO ONE EXCEPT FOR CON GOERS WERE ABLE TO ENTER THE CONVENTION GROUNDS. As soon as I went through the doors into the beautiful convention center, I was completely safe from outsider eyes.

I also enjoyed at the other conventions that I went to (e.g. Otafest) that if the public was making me feel uncomfortable, I could tell the convention staff and guess what? THEY WOULD ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING!!!! WOW WHAT A CONCEPT!! I think that's something that Anime Revolution could try doing instead of brushing of their attendees. I didn't pay $50, and my friends didn't pay OVER DOUBLE WHAT THEY PAID FOR OTAFEST to be treated with no respect from security.

Speaking of, there were also a few incidents where security has absolutely NO RESPECT for other people's costumes. At one point, my friends and I were standing in the ONE hallway (not sitting because it's a fire hazard, even though there's LITERALLY NO WHERE TO SIT INSIDE THANKS DO YOU KNOW HOW TIRING IT CAN BE WEARING HEELS?), and a bunch of security guys burst through a door, and shoved my friend over who HAD WINGS ATTACHED TO HER, breaking her wings. She had to leave the convention grounds to fix it, and didn't feel comfortable returning as she didn't want her costume to get completely destroyed by the convention staff.

Unless Anime Revolution makes major changes and decides to actually care about it's patrons and apologizes to me for their rude behaviour, I will never return to that convention and I will never recommend it to anyone. (Especially not Homestucks since the convention staff were particularly cold towards them.)

[Gareth Lypka]

Hi everyone,

I would like to continue to have this thread open. I just want everyone to keep in mind that the best way to give Anime Revolution your feedback is to use the form that Jeremy has mentioned. I don't believe anyone other then Jeremy represent AR on this forum. Posting your opinion on this thread may help relieve your frustration but the feedback isn't going to the right places if do not you use the form.

Please make sure you are reasonable when you post.

[KazenoShijin]

Hi everyone,

I would like to continue to have this thread open. I just want everyone to keep in mind that the best way to give Anime Revolution your feedback is to use the form that Jeremy has mentioned. I don't believe anyone other then Jeremy represent AR on this forum. Posting your opinion on this thread may help relieve your frustration but the feedback isn't going to the right places if do not you use the form.

Please make sure you are reasonable when you post.

Thank you very much Gareth, I appreciate your help I also appreciate everyone's feedback, but he is right, it is best to send concerns to our feedback page, and we will get back to you as soon as we can! Scaff, I sent you a response, and I believe Can did as well. Hopefully that helps to answer some of your questions.

One thing a few people have mentioned is that Canada Place is not the convention centre, but I must protest that it actually is legitimately considered part of the Convention Centre, forming a campus of sorts if you will. The Canada Place, or East Building, was actually the first part of the convention centre. The West Building, featuring the green roof and consequently where AE 2009 and Fan Expo 2012 were held, is the newer addition. Fan Expo 2013 will also be moving to the East building this coming year by the looks of it, thus taking place in the same building now as AR did this year and will be doing next year. For authentication purposes in regards to Canada Place being part of the convention centre campus, here is the confirmation from the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre official website: http://www.vancouverconventioncentre.co ... fications/

For concerns / more information regarding our attendance numbers, please contact James, our Director of Sales at: james.s@animerevolution.ca

And for anyone who is interested, we have opened up the pre-registration for AR 2013! Check out our website for more information! http://www.animerevolution.ca

Thank you all once again! I appreciate your patience with me and I will continue to try and answer your questions as they come in!

-Jeremy Androsoff-
-Director of Programming - Anime Revolution 2012/2013-
-Anime Revolution Idol 2012/2013 Coordinator-

[JHKorei]

Oh really? I can't wait!
I'm going to cosplay as Totoro... Is anyone going to cosplay at AR 2013?

[KazenoShijin]

Hey everyone!

I know things have been a bit quiet on this topic around here lately, but I figured I would mention I will be at Otafest this weekend, taking part in a few events and running some panels:

*Can't Stop The Insanity ~Parody Palooza~ will be taking place Saturday Night in room ICT121 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.
( viewtopic.php?f=37&t=5106 )

*Yaoi Round Table Panel will be taking place Saturday Night in room ICT 122 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.
( viewtopic.php?f=37&t=5105 )

Please remember that both shows are 18+ events!!

If you have any questions about AR or concerns, please feel free to come up and say hi and we can chat! I would like to hear from you guys! I also hope you enjoy the shows if you come and see them!

I am also the president of the Kamloops Anime Club and members of my group will be running the Werewolf: Anime Edition (Beginner and Advanced) games as well. If interested in those, Werewolf Beginners is Saturday morning from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm in room ST 127. Werewolf Advanced is Saturday night after the show in room ST 127 from 9:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

Anyways, thank you everyone! I know that all of us who attend Otafest this weekend will have a fantastic time! I know our group is really looking forward to it for sure!

Also, if you are planning on attending Anime Revolution this August, I look forward to seeing you there as well!

Thank you for giving us a chance!