Anime Boston

The trick is affording it. Yeah, the mini bottles are only $.50 each at Walmart, but when you're filling out how many con bags, it adds up quickly.

But that's an awesome idea in and of itself, and I may just bring my own sanitizer bottle (slightly larger size) for my own use. And maybe for anyone I see showing symptoms of Con Flu who wants to touch my stuff, though that could come across as rude asking them to sanitize before handling.

Disinfecting discreetly is always the best idea. Some people do take offence to you lathering up, and when you're trying to get their money, that's not a good choice.

Also, speaking as someone who lost two pads to the stuff, I highly recommend putting it in a strong double zip bag to keep it safe in transit, and if you put it on the table, to keep it away from any art. The main componanant is alcohol, after all.

Hmm...true, true.

Thanks for the warning! I have yet to have them leak, but there's a first time for everything and first times usually save themselves for the worst times.

Nikki, I don't know if you've ever looked into them before, but Ab might want to have a look at these guys and gals.
Link

I'm pretty sure this is the group Blitzava was referring to...they do con security for both Anthrocon and Furfright, as well as a number of other fantasy/sci fi cons, and probably a few anime ones as well. I have to say, in the 8+ years I've been selling/attending conventions, the ones I've seen the Dorsai work are some of my favorites. Less people (getting away with) being obnoxious, less breakage/theft, and a general all around feeling of folks who know how to keep things running smoothly and head trouble off before it starts. Just a general all around good group of people. Might be worth mentioning to whomever is in charge of security at AB.

Okay, my turn.

I've started doing more comic cons now than anime cons. In fact, I think the only anime con I still do regularly is Anime Boston, and even now I'm not 100% sure on how much longer I'll be going. I think when I hit the big 30 in a year I'm done.

Anyways...

Comic fans: LOVE art, respect it, ask you questions or are generally interested. They don't mind spending the big bucks for the nice stuff either.

Anime fans: Brutal, selfish, immature, "poor" (but you can spend HOW MUCH in the dealer's room?!), clumsy, chastising, ADHD and over-caffeinated.

Stuff that has happened and still happens regularly at my table:

*People eating something with their mouth open hanging over my binders.

*Fans yelling at me, YELLING at me because I don't do fanart of their series.

*Fans bumping into my table, knocking down my display and RUNNING. Sometimes accidents happen, and the majority will stop and help pick up what they knocked off...but not always.

*People taking things from my table that aren't free. Like pulling prints out of my binder. With me sitting right there. REALLY?!

*TAKING PICTURES WITHOUT PERMISSION. I told you nicely before to not do it, next time I'm telling staff.

*Taking pictures of cosplayers in the aisles, blocking traffic and potential sales. FFS, take it outside!

And my biggest pet peeve of all time: Putting your crappy prop or stuff on my table as if it's free for you to use while you talk/shop at the adjacent table/glomp. No, bad. I'm throwing your stuff on the floor. That's rude.

...yes I really have thrown people's stuff on the floor. }:| If you didn't hear me yell, "EXCUSE ME!" the first 4 times, I think you deserve to have your cardboard and tinfoil buster sword hit the floor.

Also, my sales have been TERRIBLE, which doesn't help my attitude. 5 years ago I'd walk from a con with a nice profit, now I'm lucky I'll break even. I wouldn't even so much blame the economy since I still do so well at comic cons, but the immaturity. 5-10 years ago, anime cons were still saturated with 18+ people and it was still kind of almost underground. Nowadays it's mostly tween girls who scream a lot and change into ridiculously revealing costumes as soon as their parents drive off. Blah. BLAH I say!

NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!

[quote=Ang]Anime fans: "poor" (but you can spend HOW MUCH in the dealer's room?!)[/quote]

On this one, I'll cut them slack if they're budgeting for the dealer's room and then realize there's something in the Alley they like that they can't afford anymore. But in that case, they really need to budget more for surprise expenses too. ::

I HAD heard of them before, but didn't know anything about them...

they sound really cool and neat- but don't know if they'd be INTERESTED in an Anime con, nor do i know if our budget could handle them - plus, its too late for me to ask for them, as the budget has already been decided for my department and signed off on by higher ups...

maybe its something to keep in mind for the future, though - thanks for the link!

hey ang - i wanna start doing some comic cons - what do you recommend?

ang..

of all the artists i have ever known.. you have been the most *sniff* awesome!

Nikki boston comic con the weekend after AB is good. I also do the two granite state comic cons. If you do a websearch for NE comic cons you get lots of lists. Harrisons comics has one in boston in the summer as well.

I have had a much better time at the comic cons and y know.. i dont think I have ever seen a single glomp there lol

[quote=Tuberat]as noted - we have attendee rules in the program book - including things about food and drink and cameras and i believe also blocking.....they are obviously not reading it.[/quote]
Perhaps if they were in mini-comic form people would pay more attention to them. A comic strip catches the eye much more readily than a block of text.

[quote=Kiarrens][quote=Tuberat]as noted - we have attendee rules in the program book - including things about food and drink and cameras and i believe also blocking.....they are obviously not reading it.[/quote]
Perhaps if they were in mini-comic form people would pay more attention to them. A comic strip catches the eye much more readily than a block of text.[/quote]

Oooooh.... Why can't we "like" comments!?

This would be an awesome idea, and I think we artists should get together to do some comics for a little booklet to hand out either in Reg bags or at the door to the Alley proper. Little guides for proper Alley ettiquette.

[quote=DArtJunkie]Nikki, I don't know if you've ever looked into them before, but Ab might want to have a look at these guys and gals.[/quote]

Since we've already got our own security team that works with everybody on our staff and with the uniformed security, there's really not any need to add to it. I'm certainly not already budgeting for it. Our security team's already seen your suggestion and has been discussing it, though. Nothing's solid until a lot closer to the convention (I'm sure there are still some security staff positions open and schedules for coverage don't get assembled until shortly before the con.)

FWIW, our security staff has definitely been thinking of how things can be done smarter and more efficiently. I used to get a handful of people to boss around for the Dealers' Room security and it was sometimes hard to find someone or organize things, but they've been sending over a more dedicated 'team' (squad? cell? detachment?) in the past couple of years that I think has been working tremendously better. They do a pretty good job. :thumbup:

[quote=Kogarashi]The trick is affording it. Yeah, the mini bottles are only $.50 each at Walmart, but when you're filling out how many con bags, it adds up quickly.

But that's an awesome idea in and of itself, and I may just bring my own sanitizer bottle (slightly larger size) for my own use. And maybe for anyone I see showing symptoms of Con Flu who wants to touch my stuff, though that could come across as rude asking them to sanitize before handling.[/quote]
It might be worth it to contact the hand sanitizer companies to see if AB could get some for free as a form of advertising.

ALSO I have noticed that some convention centers have hand sanitizer "kiosks"

Maybe the Hynes has those too?

[quote=marikotoeii]ALSO I have noticed that some convention centers have hand sanitizer "kiosks"

Maybe the Hynes has those too?[/quote]

The Hynes DOES have them, and has for the last two years, if memory serves, when the first real "OMG H1N1 IS GONNA KILL US ALL!" panic.

As the merch person for AB, I will tell you flat out, I will never be getting hand sanitizer bottles for selling/distribution. Ever.

Conservative estimate, including shipping and handling, for 18000 bottles at 1/2 ounce, with custom AB branding: 14500.00

I can get that, or con shirts. My choice! 8)

I understand the frustration on this thread, I do. As a con staffer and an AA participant (albeit a subpar artist with no delusions of ever making a living from my art), I've dealt with more boorish, unpleasant, insulting, horrific behavior then you can imagine.

Heck, I work customer service for a credit union. On days when the social security administration is late depositing people's checks, my job is a nightmare from which no civility can escape. It's as if I took people's checks and hid them under my desk, the way they scream at me.

Don't delude yourself. AA is a job. If you intend to do the Alley long term, then yes, it is a job, and professionalism matters. I'm of the opinion that you can do more to 'train' the next generation of fans by treating them with firm, polite, kindness. It's hard, and it's grinding, and I've snapped at more than my fair share of attendees that shouldn't be behaving the way they are, but you know what they took away from that?

That all staffers are heinious bitches who should be ignored. It doesn't matter if I was right or wrong, it doesn't matter what they were doing, they're going home and telling their friends not to go to AB because the staff is horrible.

I remember my feeling of utter betrayal when I read a post in the wake of 08, where a long time congoer stated on the forums that "All the staffers were horrible, every single one I met was nasty, rude and unpleasant."

It took all the 'professionalism' I had not to reply, "So when I, as a staffer, ran to the bathroom three times to get wet paper towels when your child spilled juice down your costume, when I spent ten minutes helping you clean your posessions and get you a replacement lanyard because that one was all sticky, I was one of those horrible staffers, too." And yes, I was wearing my blue staff shirt. She knew I was staff. But when she posted two days later, "All staffers" were horrible to her, all weekend.

I'm not saying that any person should put up with any lack of respect to their work, their space or their possessions. But I do believe that the majority of people are oblivious, not malicious, and one or two incidents shouldn't be blown up into "all attendees" or "all anime fans" or "all teenagers," or even the majority of any of those groups. If AB has 15000 attendees, and you have fifteen people leaving their props on your table, or trying to steal something, or dripping ice cream on your stuff, then by percentage, that's 0.1 percent of the population. The percentage of Americans currently in JAIL is at 0.75 of the general population.

It's not everyone, it's not even a fraction of everyone, and a few horrible attendees are not enough to generalize about the whole population. I'm sure Alley participants don't want to be put in the same catagory as the artists who show up late, take other people's space, mock other's work publically, leave trash all around their tables, leave their table vacant for long periods of the weekend, have unstable displays that threaten their buyers and their neighbors, plagerize, and produce shoddy, overpriced junk then badger people into buying it.

And yeah, I've encountered all of that from AA participants. So if this is your job, deciding if you want to go into it hating your customers and your potential customers is something you have to consider. 8)

[quote=marikotoeii]Nikki boston comic con the weekend after AB is good. I also do the two granite state comic cons. If you do a websearch for NE comic cons you get lots of lists. Harrisons comics has one in boston in the summer as well.

I have had a much better time at the comic cons and y know.. i dont think I have ever seen a single glomp there lol[/quote]

I only did Boston Comic Con for a day, and I did fantastic. I did Granite State in Manchester and it was horrible, but everyone said it was an 'off' con.

Also, I would like to point out that I am not trying to say that my actions against the few morons that put their stuff on my table are the RIGHT ones. To be honest, I've only done the prop on the floor bit once or twice, but again, the attendee NEEDS to listen.

However, I feel that a lot of tweens/teens today are not getting the proper social experience to become good consumers. ESPECIALLY if you're of the nerdier diaspora, and this isn't good.

I'm also having a hard time in one of my classes with the generational gap. A lot of 18/19 year olds are coming in with this "holier than thou" attitude now, thanks to all those stupid programs in which everyone wins, like soccer or other sports. They're spoiled by the system who basically told them that they're a winner, even if they lose. It's not good, it's the wrong kind of reinforcement. They expect to be force-fed information like they were in high school, and don't grasp how college works. Unfortunately when they graduate, they'll be very picky about getting a job, and expect to be given everything STILL, and it's not going to happen.

There's a lot of the same behavior in consumerism, inside and outside of conventions. Kids get frustrated when they can't have something they want at a price they want it at, or they feel entitled to behave in a certain way, because that's "okay" for their generation. This is why they "hate" the staffers, because they don't like being told what to do (and maybe some parents aren't doing a great job either. Ritalin and Adderal aren't parents. KTHX. I take Adderal for really real ADD I was diagnosed with back in the late 1980s when it wasn't the excuse for everything. I don't agree with it's abuse. AT. ALL.) I really do hope that a lot of them turn around though...otherwise America is going to be a pretty awful place to live in 20 years.

I think the comic strip idea is a good one, and if we can't get it printed up for everyone in their convention bags, we should have it printed large-format and put in front of the alley doors.

...That and a huge sign that says, "ABSOLUTELY NO PHOTOGRAPHY, INCLUDING VIDEO, PERMITTED BEYOND THIS POINT. VIOLATORS WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE." Sometimes being a little firm is necessary to get the point across.

[quote=Ang]
...That and a huge sign that says, "ABSOLUTELY NO PHOTOGRAPHY, INCLUDING VIDEO, PERMITTED BEYOND THIS POINT. VIOLATORS WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE." Sometimes being a little firm is necessary to get the point across.

[/quote]

Agreed with on ALL points, Ang. But remember, if such a rule is made, no artists can be asking for a photo of a costume either. Gotta be fair. }:|

[quote=SciFiGrl47][quote=Ang]
...That and a huge sign that says, "ABSOLUTELY NO PHOTOGRAPHY, INCLUDING VIDEO, PERMITTED BEYOND THIS POINT. VIOLATORS WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE." Sometimes being a little firm is necessary to get the point across.

[/quote]

Agreed with on ALL points, Ang. But remember, if such a rule is made, no artists can be asking for a photo of a costume either. Gotta be fair. }:|
[/quote]

I, for one, would actually like to avoid such a restriction. I like being able to take pictures of the neat costumes that wander by, and would love for people to be able to take my photo (with my permission) if I'm in costume. I think it would be better just to have the artists and staffers in the room remind anyone who's not exempted that way to break it up and move the photo shoot to the hallway. If people argue, it *IS* in the rules and can be pointed out.

That would be pretty awesome and would catch more attention than a bulleted list of do's and do-nots.

OR a big poster outside the alley simply with the items of no-nos (food/drink, props, cameras) with red slashed circles on them like the "Do Not Smoke" signs.