Wait 'till the fire turns green (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_archfiend) wrote2013-03-13 07:35 pm
the_archfiend) wrote2013-03-13 07:35 pm
Epic Fail on anime convention GoHs, 2013 edition
This is getting to be a depressing annual occurence.
If you happen to look at the Anime Central guest list for 2013 (as well as the special entertainment page), the only guests of honor you will find listed as of March 13th are the Japanese vocal trio Kalafina and mural artist Eric Maruscak. That's it. Period. The convention itself - which drew over 24,000 attendees in 2012 and has never had a contraction in attendance throughout its 15-year history - is now only slightly more than two months away.
That's two announced guests. With two months to go before the start of a convention that probably outdrew every mainstream SF convention in Chicago held during 2012 (including Chicon 7, no less) combined.
Add to this the fact that the hotel rooms continue to be absurdly expensive for a convention where there's more of an inducement to spend tons of your hard-earned dollars in the exhibition hall on fannish goodies and not less, and you're left wonderning why ACen is becoming more and more like this each year. This is starting to look like a pattern, especially since it took until the eleventh hour to announce any real guests last year as well. Can the concom stop this? Do they even want to?
Look, when I started attending this thing in 1999 it was a nice, manageable size. Now it's not. The rooms were also quite affordable. Now they're not, and this actually hasn't been the case in years. I have no real idea why I'd rather go to this over, say, C2E2 or Anime Midwest since the former (although not fan-run) has just as big a dealer's room (if not more so) and the latter costs much, much less money to stay at despite the fact it's held in the same primary hotel that Acen is.
People affiliated with ACen can feel free to snipe at me here or ony my Facebook page. Go right ahead, with one distinction: it's not like I have anything personal against any of you, other than the fact that you're pricing this convention out of the reach of my wallet, I also get the feeling I'm not the only one.
If you happen to look at the Anime Central guest list for 2013 (as well as the special entertainment page), the only guests of honor you will find listed as of March 13th are the Japanese vocal trio Kalafina and mural artist Eric Maruscak. That's it. Period. The convention itself - which drew over 24,000 attendees in 2012 and has never had a contraction in attendance throughout its 15-year history - is now only slightly more than two months away.
That's two announced guests. With two months to go before the start of a convention that probably outdrew every mainstream SF convention in Chicago held during 2012 (including Chicon 7, no less) combined.
Add to this the fact that the hotel rooms continue to be absurdly expensive for a convention where there's more of an inducement to spend tons of your hard-earned dollars in the exhibition hall on fannish goodies and not less, and you're left wonderning why ACen is becoming more and more like this each year. This is starting to look like a pattern, especially since it took until the eleventh hour to announce any real guests last year as well. Can the concom stop this? Do they even want to?
Look, when I started attending this thing in 1999 it was a nice, manageable size. Now it's not. The rooms were also quite affordable. Now they're not, and this actually hasn't been the case in years. I have no real idea why I'd rather go to this over, say, C2E2 or Anime Midwest since the former (although not fan-run) has just as big a dealer's room (if not more so) and the latter costs much, much less money to stay at despite the fact it's held in the same primary hotel that Acen is.
People affiliated with ACen can feel free to snipe at me here or ony my Facebook page. Go right ahead, with one distinction: it's not like I have anything personal against any of you, other than the fact that you're pricing this convention out of the reach of my wallet, I also get the feeling I'm not the only one.