FanExpo 2010 report!
I know a lot of you have already heard about the craziness that was FanExpo this year, so here's some of how things went down for us:
Friday: Had to get up at 5:30 am to get to the con centre to pick up our registry for the table, since the window they gave us was 7am to 8am. Con didn't start til 2pm so, we go off to Cora's for breakfast. Our waiter had asked if there was some anime con going on and we told them it was FanExpo. Then he started wondering if he'd have to time to get to the con! Apparently he wanted to start his own comic book so we talked for a bit and I gave him my card. XD
The actual con itself was busy that day but not like the sheer madness that would be Saturday...
Saturday:
Pure madness.
I was able to at least get my CD signed by Ogata Megumi and shook her hand and go to the Amano Yoshitaka (my favourite artist) Q&A. Re_love kindly dropped by our table and handed us baggies of cookies she made. She does not believe in chocolate chips and had put in pieces of chocolate bars. It's a wonderful thing. <3
In between that time, total madness ensued. People (who had already paid) were stuck outside, not being let in. The place had broken fire code in terms of capacity. illintent, who had an exhibitor pass and had gone out for food, was not let in. The guest waiting beside him was stuck too. Even some staffers were having problems coming in. The police were not letting people in. Meanwhile, I was at our artist table. The only reason why I knew all of this was because I got calls from re_love, illintent (from a pay phone) and mike from AnimeLondon telling me they were stuck outside. I called some staff to ask them what was up as well. I finally left my table to a friend who kindly watched it while I went down to see what I can do from the inside. They managed to all get in by the time I got there! (About 2 hours later!)
Went to the Ogata Megumi concert which, due to shenanigans, had to be moved from the Theatre to one of the rooms. It started late mainly because the previous people in the room took their time leaving. A huge kudos to the CN Anime staff for pulling this one off.
Imagine: a concert with Ogata Megumi shared with about a 100+ people. She performed amazingly, then ran around the audience, did an encore and shook everyone's hand. Thinking about this now, I think people would kill to be in this audience! The first half of the songs she performed with the band was like the soundtrack of the years when I first met Mika, Mike and illintent, the old days of the anime club etc...which eventually led to a lot of people important to me now. I nearly started crying! lol! Ogata also performed K-On!'s "Don't Say Lazy!" I found out, at the end of the concert that I had lost my voice from cheering. Oops.
That evening, Mika stayed over with us so we can get to the con together the next day...
Sunday:
Busier than a usual Sunday, but probably because of what happened on the Sat. baikautsugi stopped by our table and kindly dropped off some peach/blueberry mini muffins she baked! mmmmm... <3
Most of my voice returned sometime during that day, which went by pretty fast. A bunch of us went off to Wayne Gretzky's after the con and had much fun there!
As for us, we did better in sales than last year~!
purchases include:
all of the amano "con exclusive" items
ogata megumi cd
ghostcat magnets from sick on sin
tigertail squid + owl magnets
"The book of Irrational Fears" & "CAT" by Junyun Daniel Lee
"Steelbreed 2" comic from friend Marvin
Shout outs to:
baikautsugi: thanks again for the yummy mini-muffins~!
kinnonyee: take a break man, you've earned it! Dinner invite is still open!
mauig: good chatting with you as always! hope it was a good con for you!
om_nom_berries: thanks for stopping by to chat. sorry I was so dead. (...couche-tards...)XD
orangisque: was a pleasant surprise to see you on the Sun! Glad you were able to make it!
pandachop: thanks for joining us for dinner! I was great to see you again!
re_love: thanks for the cookies and brownies! they're absolutely decadent!
schierke:crazy times! lol! At least we got the amano q&a!
stonz_blue: thanks for dropping by~! we're due for another dinner sometime soon!
studio_marimo: thanks for buying the whole whack of comics and joining us for dinner!
sunhawk: so happy you got some space and did well! I <3 my squid! Thanks for joining the dinner!
yuzu_mikan: papercraftlolz! thanks for your help! ;3
...and to everyone else to stopped by/bought stuff/chatted/pokewalker connected: THANK YOU!
Friday: Had to get up at 5:30 am to get to the con centre to pick up our registry for the table, since the window they gave us was 7am to 8am. Con didn't start til 2pm so, we go off to Cora's for breakfast. Our waiter had asked if there was some anime con going on and we told them it was FanExpo. Then he started wondering if he'd have to time to get to the con! Apparently he wanted to start his own comic book so we talked for a bit and I gave him my card. XD
The actual con itself was busy that day but not like the sheer madness that would be Saturday...
Saturday:
Pure madness.
I was able to at least get my CD signed by Ogata Megumi and shook her hand and go to the Amano Yoshitaka (my favourite artist) Q&A. Re_love kindly dropped by our table and handed us baggies of cookies she made. She does not believe in chocolate chips and had put in pieces of chocolate bars. It's a wonderful thing. <3
In between that time, total madness ensued. People (who had already paid) were stuck outside, not being let in. The place had broken fire code in terms of capacity. illintent, who had an exhibitor pass and had gone out for food, was not let in. The guest waiting beside him was stuck too. Even some staffers were having problems coming in. The police were not letting people in. Meanwhile, I was at our artist table. The only reason why I knew all of this was because I got calls from re_love, illintent (from a pay phone) and mike from AnimeLondon telling me they were stuck outside. I called some staff to ask them what was up as well. I finally left my table to a friend who kindly watched it while I went down to see what I can do from the inside. They managed to all get in by the time I got there! (About 2 hours later!)
Went to the Ogata Megumi concert which, due to shenanigans, had to be moved from the Theatre to one of the rooms. It started late mainly because the previous people in the room took their time leaving. A huge kudos to the CN Anime staff for pulling this one off.
Imagine: a concert with Ogata Megumi shared with about a 100+ people. She performed amazingly, then ran around the audience, did an encore and shook everyone's hand. Thinking about this now, I think people would kill to be in this audience! The first half of the songs she performed with the band was like the soundtrack of the years when I first met Mika, Mike and illintent, the old days of the anime club etc...which eventually led to a lot of people important to me now. I nearly started crying! lol! Ogata also performed K-On!'s "Don't Say Lazy!" I found out, at the end of the concert that I had lost my voice from cheering. Oops.
That evening, Mika stayed over with us so we can get to the con together the next day...
Sunday:
Busier than a usual Sunday, but probably because of what happened on the Sat. baikautsugi stopped by our table and kindly dropped off some peach/blueberry mini muffins she baked! mmmmm... <3
Most of my voice returned sometime during that day, which went by pretty fast. A bunch of us went off to Wayne Gretzky's after the con and had much fun there!
As for us, we did better in sales than last year~!
purchases include:
all of the amano "con exclusive" items
ogata megumi cd
ghostcat magnets from sick on sin
tigertail squid + owl magnets
"The book of Irrational Fears" & "CAT" by Junyun Daniel Lee
"Steelbreed 2" comic from friend Marvin
Shout outs to:
baikautsugi: thanks again for the yummy mini-muffins~!
kinnonyee: take a break man, you've earned it! Dinner invite is still open!
mauig: good chatting with you as always! hope it was a good con for you!
om_nom_berries: thanks for stopping by to chat. sorry I was so dead. (...couche-tards...)XD
orangisque: was a pleasant surprise to see you on the Sun! Glad you were able to make it!
pandachop: thanks for joining us for dinner! I was great to see you again!
re_love: thanks for the cookies and brownies! they're absolutely decadent!
schierke:crazy times! lol! At least we got the amano q&a!
stonz_blue: thanks for dropping by~! we're due for another dinner sometime soon!
studio_marimo: thanks for buying the whole whack of comics and joining us for dinner!
sunhawk: so happy you got some space and did well! I <3 my squid! Thanks for joining the dinner!
yuzu_mikan: papercraftlolz! thanks for your help! ;3
...and to everyone else to stopped by/bought stuff/chatted/pokewalker connected: THANK YOU!