CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Katsucon is nigh. (Boy, that sounds highbrow.) My daughter and I are here for Friday and half of Saturday, if anyone is interested in meeting up. Look for the older guy with a bemused look and a Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo shirt.

Already saw Shishio at breakfast (I noticed he was avoiding the crisp bacon). I'll try to get some pics posted later.

i wish i could go =(

Hehe my bro is there, he is dressed as a red mage from final fantasy 11. Look for the enormously tall guy (he is 6'8) ^^' He tends to get glomped alot cause of his size, lol.

Gosh, Kisa, your family is *tall*.

lol....
did you go shoo?

Too far

I might go to AX this year, but I haven't sorted my schedule out yet.

wish i was out there, been really wanting to go to another anime con.

Well I got to the show paid to get in for the day and only got to see the AMVs on Saturday which took 45 mins to get started because the person that knew the password for the computer let the room for something else.
To get into the dealers room would have taken most of the day because the line started at the door went down and up a side hall and down to where main progarming was for the AMVs had been. I figured about 2 to 3 hours to get in or better.
Part of the con was in the hotel next door which I didn't make it over to, so I just left and went shopping down the road and back home.
Next year the show will be in Washington DC near the Zoo.

ashfire wrote:Well I got to the show paid to get in for the day and only got to see the AMVs on Saturday which took 45 mins to get started because the person that knew the password for the computer let the room for something else.
To get into the dealers room would have taken most of the day because the line started at the door went down and up a side hall and down to where main progarming was for the AMVs had been. I figured about 2 to 3 hours to get in or better.
Part of the con was in the hotel next door which I didn't make it over to, so I just left and went shopping down the road and back home.
Next year the show will be in Washington DC near the Zoo.

KATSUCON IN WASHINGTON?????

oh IM GOING NOW!

o___o Did anyone see the Psycho Le Cemu concert? Please say yes. T.T

Sorry, I didn't get to the concert, it was either cancelled or ran late Friday. Not that paying attention to the schedule mattered...

ashfire's comments pretty much reflect the mood of the entire con. Basically, very little went off either on time or without a hitch. Saw some AMVs on Saturday after the long delay, but had to leave early. The Dealer's Room was a nightmare to get into. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but will try to have a few up this week.

In short, a lot of enthusiastic attendees surrounded by fairly gross incompetence as it pertained to planning and sticking to the schedule. I'm told this is typical of Katsucon, and am wondering if I'll bother to go again.

That doesn't sound very compelling, no. Where do you think the problems were coming from, though?

Katsucon is a very largely volunteer-operated convention. That's good on paper, but I think (for a very small hike in the already high $50 weekend admission fee) that they could afford to bring in a set of professional contractors to work the technical issues for a weekend. It was so bad at one point they had to delay the Opening Ceremonies -- a largely optional function -- for several hours, throwing off the rest of the main schedule.

It was not their fault the concert was postponed, as two of the performers arrived in DC sick. Such is life. But so much of the schedule was built around the concert that when it didn't come off on time, nothing else did either.

The peculiar thing is that most attendees paid just as much as if they were attending Otakon (five times larger), yet none of the staff felt particularly compelled (in my opinion) to keep things timely, or communicate the myriad of last-minute changes effectively. That attitude may be OK when you're running a small, nuisance-entrance-fee sort of operation, but for the price most of us expected something a little more engaged. Even finding a staff person to talk to was a challenge, and the poor folks at the single information desk must have gotten awfully beaten up. I talked with several of the convention Security people concerning the long lines and safety issues, and their general attitude was "I'm not told what's going on, and there's nothing I can do about it". Not good.

So... too much centralized decision-making from a virtually invisible convention staff, a lack of people on the ground to make things happen when they needed to (and probably denied the authority to do so even if they could), a technical staff that adopted an attitude of "we're the experts, you little guys should just sit down and break out your crayons" even when they were woefully unprepared to execute The Plan... it all adds up to a very marginal convention experience.

Kokoro Daisuke wrote:o___o Did anyone see the Psycho Le Cemu concert? Please say yes. T.T

I saw about one song of it and left...

Did anyone see me as Nightcrawler?

Too much visual kei? *giggles*

That costume is incredibly freaky in a COOL way.

That's a GREAT costume!

If I'd seen you, I would have taken a picture, so, no, I guess I missed you.

A terrific job nonetheless!!