Forum - View topicNEWS: Otakon Spin-Off Convention in Vegas Planned for January
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glitteringloke
 Posts: 160 |
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way to pick a terrible date otakon. That's my annual Rosecon (aka: several day new years party awesome times) date this year :/
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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Was the November festival successful? I know that my Otakon group did not attend as we didn't really hear about it until too late (and I haven't heard anything about it these 4 months since) & while JAM Project is awesome they weren't sufficiently awesome IOO to hastily arrange to go to the event. Which leads me to:
Why couldn't JAM Project be at Otakon 2012/2013?! My only gripe about the musical guests at Otakon, and anime cons in general, is that they're almost always for shows I haven't watched (if they have done any shows at all; I don't care to follow Asian groups that aren't linked directly to anime) & so I have no familiarity with them. Much of the rest of the time I'm familiar with the group but am not a fan. JAM Project would have been a rarity, a group that I know & like, and yet they weren't at Otakon; "Missed it by that much". Sadness abounds.
Though I feel it should be said that you can go through Otakon and neither hear nor see a voice actor or band despite exerting a great amount of effort to do so. Therein lies the problem.
Due to the way the Japanese "system" seems to work I'm not very drawn to many of what I guess would be called "J-Guests" that Otakon has booked, save for those who run the industry panels. I've gotten a few signatures but the experience hasn't been that great IMO, but for the record I commend the effort. Someday, I hope, there'll be a "J-Guest" @ Otakon that I'm "chomping at the bit" to see. Though I'm really curious as to this mentioned cost of a US VA as it seems pretty clear to me that the bulk of the English VAs are brought in to let Funi/Aniplex promote their latest big title (which, as an "eccentric" anime fan, is generally not-awesome for me); are you telling me that they're cheaping out on otakon? |
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Vapors
 Posts: 139 Location: Bay Area |
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I'm kinda looking forward to this. Along with Japan Expo coming to Santa Clara, the next year could be an interesting year for me and cons. But I find it encouraging that during a time where every anime company seems to at least be stable (neither having big highs nor lows), there is a company willing to put itself out there and try something not in its comfort zone. Plus, if you go to their site's faq section, they list out pretty clearly why they opted not to do another con in the same city.
http://www.otakonvegas.com/faq.html Why are you starting a second convention? Mostly, we felt that one Otakon just wasn’t enough to contain all the awesomeness we want to share with you. We’re always looking for new ways to expand our horizons and offer interesting and exciting opportunities to our members. Why Las Vegas? Can’t you do this somewhere closer to the east coast? Otakorp's mission is to use pop culture as a gateway to broader cultural understanding. We're doing that pretty effectively on the East Coast now, but our membership reaches far beyond the mid-Atlantic. Holding an event in Las Vegas offers us a chance to pursue our mission out west, and gives our far-flung membership more opportunities to participate in Otakon-style events. Las Vegas is also a well-known 'destination city', attracting visitors from all over the world. The city's wealth of dining and entertainment options are an advantage when attracting guests, and the local anime convention schedule isn't as saturated as in some other major cities. (Las Vegas also happens to have some of the lowest airfares in the US.) This is great for people on the West like me who have heard all about Otakon but either don't have the funds to make the trek across the country nor have the time after Anime Expo and/or Comic Con the month before. Hopefully things go well for this and I look forward to updates. The only qualm I have is that this falls during the first week of the football playoffs. If my team is in, they take precedence over anime. |
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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Reading that FAQ & seeing where it talks about the interaction between the cons and "membership" with Otakorp, otherwise known as all that rot to try and keep the taxman from coming down on our anime awesomeness, I do wonder if all of the legalese is sound. I can't say that I like the sound of "you're not buying a ticket, you're buying an Otakorp membership and with that purchase you can now go to our annual event...oh, not the Vegas one, you can't go to that one, you silly soul, you can only go to this Baltimore one. If you want to go to the membership meeting in Vegas you'll have to buy this additional membership, but don't worry, we'll give you a discount since you're already a member." Maybe the taxman buys that, but it's the very definition of sketchy to me.
Being a powerless "corporate member" at our corporation's "annual meeting" was sketchy (and later frustrating) enough. Now I have to double that sketchiness and frustration if I want to truly represent Otakorp as a long-standing member? Well, if you guys say so...growl we may, but go we must?? That FAQ also sounds like they're not telling us the whole story. I'm not surprised as Otakon has a penchant for secrecy, which I've run up against whenever I try and track down the logic behind a bone-headed decision of theirs. I'm a fan of Otakon and enjoy it year after year but there's always at least one "WTF" moment at the con; experiencing one such moment is the sign that one has truly attended Otakon. The inscrutable bureaucracy at Otakon is to the anime community what the Masons are to society at large  
I am concerned about Otakon's future at the BCC & as such this LV concerns me, despite their FAQ's thin attempts to assuage my concerns. One doesn't have to be an "initiated" Otakon ("of the 33rd degree") bureaucrat to realize that the BCC is expensive, a tad small, has poor throughways and, failing a tragic decline in otakon attendance, going to be too small in the near future. The BCC also doesn't have adequate A/C for containing 30,000+ fans in a Baltimore summer. |
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bacondreamer
Posts: 99 |
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Booking musical acts isn't exactly like "Hey, come to our con" two month before the con. They usually takes more than a year worth of work to arrange to prevent any scheduling conflict. This year's TMR x HMKU concert itself is almost two years in the making involving painstaking planning and negotiation. Summer season in Japan is major concert season and with bands like JAM Project that's extremely popular with anime based events, their summer schedule is usually extremely packed.
What "system" are you referring to? The difference in cost is usually attributed by international airfare for J-guests to fly to the US. For example: a ticket from LA to DC/BWI would be around $400-$600 RT while from Japan to DC would be around $1300-$1600 RT. Then you factor in costs where certain guests request to be flown in specific class as per contract plus everything else that goes with it, it adds up. Sometimes English VAs are brought in by the company that they're promoting for rather than being specifically invited by Otakon. But since they are guest of the Industry, we do help promote them by listing them as guests. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14756 |
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Well, we have a couple family vacation houses at Vegas........... but around New Year's...........................
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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Keep in mind everyone that Otakon did have Jam Project at Otakon maybe in 2007 or 2008, I forget now.
Last year they had Aya Hirano perform who is related to anime. And this year they are having TM Revolution. Now my other concern for this Las Vegas con is they will bring a Japanese guest there I really want to see & not at Otakon, I will be majorly bummed if that happens. |
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Nocturne123
 Posts: 268 |
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Then all power to this. No complaints from me. |
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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It was 2008. Following your example, keep in mind that was 4, going on 5, Otakons ago.
As I said, I either have no freaking clue who those 2 acts are, or I'm not a fan. After all these years I'm dulled to the pain of Otakon booking musical acts in which I ultimately have no interest (would it kill y'all to get some heavier J-rock groups?) but I'd appreciate it if they were to, someday, book acts in which I have interest to their major membership meeting (ie:Otakon).
That Japanese voice actors, when compared to their English counterparts, are generally in very few shows, and in fewer major roles. There are so many seiyuu & so few of them seem to stick around for long in the industry. Comparing the list of works of most any seiyuu booked at a con in the US with that of any US voice actor booked at the same event has always been telling IME as I've had far, far, far more to get signed by the US guests than the J-guests. There are seiyuu who did roles that I'd love to get signed, but they've also done little else and/or did the role a few years back, and so the odds of them getting booked at a con is lower than low. However, the odds of finding a US voice actor for a major role from even the 90s is fairly high, from the 00s it's almost a sure bet, and that US actor has probably done a great many roles in anime since. This is, naturally, a source of frustration.
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tasogarenootome
 Posts: 593 |
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I think the timing was a bit off for this announcement (particularly on Otakon's Facebook page, where they teased a big announcement amidst all this 20th anniversary excitement) and that's probably where some of the backlash comes from. However, as long as it doesn't take away from Otakon itself, more power to you guys!
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jsieczkar
Posts: 139 |
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I'm kinda surprised by Planet Hollywood as the venue as I don't recall the function space being all that big even for a smaller con.
That said Pinks Hot Dogs and the Spice Market Buffet are very good and fairly cheap. Late lunch the same food as dinner at a cheaper price just shove enough food down to last the rest of the day. Koi is insanely good Japanese food.....just get someone else to pay. Lets see the Sports Book sucks, the Poker Room is ok, the slot floor is well odd. Planet Hollywood gets the 2nd most sucker poker players in Vegas it seems and you can make a quick buck if you know what you are doing, NY NY being the most sucker filled room. If you are on a budget walk down to Monte Carlo and over to MGM if you want to play weird games. Peepshow might be one of the best burlesque shows on the strip, lots of well i'll call it talent. Never stayed in the hotel so cannot comment on the rooms. |
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