Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

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Nemra
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Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Nemra »

Please post feedback (good & bad) here regarding Anime Boston 2019.

Rules:
1) This is not the place to post criticism regarding previous years, but only for Anime Boston 2019.

2) Do not disrespect each other or staff. If you disagree with something, feel free to discuss, but we will not tolerate blatant disrespect for your fellow attendee or staff.

3) This is also not the place to post feedback for panelists. There is an entire section for panelists to use for feedback, so use those. However, if you have feedback regarding the way panels are handled by AB staff, this is the place to post it.

4) This is not the appropriate thread for Staff feedback. Please use the Staff forums for feedback regarding your division.

Don't forget that there is also a Convention Feedback Panel on Sunday from 4-5pm in room 207.

Please do not expect an immediate response from Staff even after the con is over. While the convention is over for everyone, for staff it is very much still being worked on and we're winding down and resolving many things on the back end. Be assured, however, that we are reading every comment and taking it in full consideration during the convention and after.

We've also created a super short survey for you to let us know what you think about the con! If you could take a moment of your time to fill it out, it would be super helpful!
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by DragonPup »

Security was a lot faster moving than previous years. Picking up my pre-reg badge on Friday was also very quick. Not sure what was changed this year, but it worked.

It'd be nice if the Con had a special parking garage validation program with the Prudential (normal validation doesn't work if you are there for more than 5 hours). $42 is crazy expensive and did bite into my con budget. By comparison, the BCEC is $20 all day.

For the con schedule, next year can all the video room columns be next to each other? It'd make it easier to see what's playing where.

Out of curiosity, is AnimeBoston bumping up against the maximum occupancy, or is there still room to spare?
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by omgxspazz »

During the Perfect Blue screening last night/this morning in Video 306, the lights were turned up halfway through the movie. Not sure why, as the room was perfectly fine in the darker setting for the film. It didnโ€™t look like it was a staff member who touched the lights, either - any idea on why this happened? The staff running the screening had turned the lights down upon starting the film. The lights coming up was distracting.

Another aside - the video room was right next to the Games (as in panel games) room - which was very loud. I understand keeping that room quiet at midnight is not a possibility given the programming, but is there a way to put video screening spaces somewhere quieter? There was a lot of cheering happening in the background of serious sequences. (Again, canโ€™t control the panel crowd, but would love a quieter and darker screening room.)

Otherwise I had a fantastic AB! The AMV contest will become a regular in my schedule!
AnimeBoston 2019: Haruhi Suzumiya
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by MGC2689 »

Been going since the very first AB!

Lets start with the good. I felt that the line organization was excellent this years. Even at a peak times, security was fast and efficient. Badge pickup was practically instant this year, great.
When it came time to events and panels, line forming and directions from the staff were all good, people were helpful.

Now for some other feedback
I felt the the new autograph system still takes up way more time in peoples schedule than it should. Everyone that wants an autograph seems to get there quite early. Like the policy of lining up 30 min before, lets reduce the waiting period if possible. I think the absolute minimum should be around 7 am, no more than an hour and then have people enter the room to wait. Gives folks a chance to rest the night before the day. I don't think anyone likes being squished for hours in a room with nothing going on for a long time.
And then speaking of the 30 min before autographs. I still saw many that came at least an hour before to sit in the hallway. It should be a bit more strict. If it means enforcing the halls better, so be it. A pain, but it reduces congestion.

Only other thing that irked me a bit was a certain staff member. Now I will be as respectful as I can be, but I will be pointing out what I saw.
I had seen this woman for a few years now. And I bit my tongue before, can't anymore.
She is tall and has a red shirt, I assume more in charge of security an all that. Walks into the room and I felt was very condescending to the audience. We are not children in preschool. Average age of us would be roughly 17-late 30's. Being talked down to about how things work is not a good way to start the day. I prefer people who can be encouraging and respectful. One example of that is a gentleman who runs the autographs portion and another young woman. They are always nice and talks to us, not down on us even adding some humor to their speeches.
As I said, she didn't say anything that I considered disrespectful, but it was her tone, more than authoritative, it was bordering on being some kind of drill instructor. I get that some people need a more firm tone to understand, but there is a way to do that in a better manner.
It's autographs, not the military. I do hope a higher up staff member takes this into consideration. And for the record, I've gotten comments from other attendees feeling intimated by her specifically, so it was not just me.

Again this didn't ruin my entire experience, but it certainly was something that I felt could've been handled differently by someone who is just a bit nicer.

Other than that, another great year at AB. Really solid otherwise, everything seemed effortless now.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Rosedust »

Honestly, you guys did great this year. The opening ceremonies were great, the AMV contest was great, I enjoyed the hell out of City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eye, and I only wish I had had more time to go see voice actors and the Miyavi concert between cosplaying and doing stuff with friends. My group and I noticed that the wait time for security was way down compared to previous years - I never waited more than 5 minutes or so to get through the metal detector area the entire weekend. Kudos to AB staff, Hynes Security and those heckin good doggos doin' a bomb sniff for running everything so smoothly and keeping us safe.

That said, I have one minor complaint: Whoever was checking badges outside room 312 for the storytelling AMVs on Friday evening was acting like a jerk who took his job way too seriously. He gave me a huge attitude for having a bunch of stuff in my hands from the dealer's room, including a prop for my cosplay (thus making me unable to get my badge out fast enough) and then he demanded to see it again WHEN THE AMVS WERE OVER AND WE WERE LEAVING, which required me to put everything down to fish it out of my bag again. I thought he was joking, but no, he barked "YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR BADGE ON YOU AT ALL TIMES" while also never asking the other 3 people in my group for their badges. What the hell? sorry, but calm the hell down??? first of all, you know I have a badge since I showed it to you ALREADY, and I have been going to cons including Anime Boston for 15 years and I have never once been asked to show my badge while leaving an event that was over. It wouldn't have even been so bad if he had asked nicely and explained that he was being required to check it when people left too or something, but no.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by PurpleKeyblade »

Last year was the first year out of the 6 years Iโ€™ve been attending the con, and I have to say that this year seemed to be the most disappointing.

(I will start off by saying, however, that the security protocols and overall lines for the convention were fantastic and I wasnโ€™t stuck in a 2+ hour line wait time. Only a few minutes or so.)

So my first issue which a lot of others had was the price point. I know that several years back AB ditched the single day badges and I think that it hurt a lot of usual con goers. I find that $70-80 for a weekend badge to any con is a bit pricy, but for the size and events at AB itโ€™s worth it. However, $80 for a single day of attendance is a not viable for many people and so I had a lot of friends bail because they couldnโ€™t afford that price for only one day.

My next issue was concerning the dealersโ€™ room. Now Iโ€™m aware of the fact that many vendors sell the same types of items and there isnโ€™t anything that the convention organizers themselves can really do to control this, but it felt as though many if not most of the vendors were selling the exact same items. I found myself walking around being fairly bored in the dealers room because there was a huge lack in variety of products.
(Side note: I get that My Hero Academia is a huge anime this year but everywhere I went in the artist alley had all stuff for MHA. I donโ€™t watch the show and so I Actually had a tough time finding things to buy or look at. Again, not the fault of anyone really but it adds to my comment about a lack of variety).

Because of the high price point and lack of variety in the con itself, I found myself quickly bored and unmotivated to really explore other things the con had to offer.


Whether or not the above issues could be resolved or looked at I still am curious if others felt the same way or experienced similar issues.

I will definitely be in attendance next year.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Fangreaper »

Even though I discussed this at the feedback panel I however still feel it should be somewhere in writing:

I got one of the laminated VIP passes from masqu. HQ for being on the waitlist for the costume contest. I showed up at 7 at the start of the show and first had to show my badge to a staff member then my ticket only to be told I needed to go upstairs to get a ticket (most of the line was seated by this point mind you.) When I explained the VIP pass I got told to go talk to another staff member and after explaining it to her I walked in to go talk to another staff member but had to show my badge to another two staff members at the door, one right after the other. Once inside I got directed to go sit with the regular line people by the people with the light sticks. I then explained the situation again then proceeded to be handed off almost like a baton to roughly 5 other staff members and volunteers before finally having someone take me to the VIP seating area. All I have to say about this? Communication please!

Second point to make regarding lines. I get the whole 4/5 to a row thing but its never made clear if we are allowed to sit or we have to stand. I understand condense the line as much as possible but I also would like to sit specially if the event/panel doesn't start for an hour or so considering I wanted to sit and pass the time playing super fight with people.

Third point security. Yes OMFG it was so fast like I didn't have to wait forever to get in the con! But the actual people working security? A mixed bag of people. I either got nice people who wanted to keep the line moving or people who were kind of rude. One instance through the Boylston entrance I had just come back from the Pour House and I had my camera around my neck wrapped in the camera bag since I don't have a lens cap. I went through the mall entrance no problem without taking it off since with my hat on it made it difficult. The gentleman with the wand demanded to know what the camera was and when I said it was a camera he demanded to see it in this very skeptical tone.

Fourth and last point. All the main event panels felt rushed and/or cut short. Cosplay chess finished at 11:30 and it was supposed to go to twelve since that's what the guide book app said.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by DocWatson »

Points:

* I agree with the above comments regarding the security lines moving quickly and smoothly this year.

* I appreciated the "market" in the Sheraton's lobby that replaced the Starbuck's. Good chocolate chip cookies and a polite, helpful staff.

* On the other hand, I wish that the market's lights were left on all night during the con. Most of the lobby is navigable, but not well enough lit for reading, and there aren't many other places to hang out after hours. (I'm a night owl.)

* My friends and I were disappointed to have been booked into a room in the Sheraton with a king bed instead of the one with two doubles as we had requested, though we did not mention it at the time, making the assumption that all of latter rooms were taken.

* There were three table lamps in our hotel room. All of them had standard electrical power outlets in their bases. It's a small thing, but when the lamps were shut off the outlets were as well, defeating much of the purpose of those outlets--to charge electronic communications devices, which is best done when one is sleeping. Like most people (or so I assume) I sleep best in a dark room...

* Another small thing about the hotel room: the toilet seat's top surface (the one to actually be sat upon) was relatively sharply tilted inward towards the bowl, making a sharpish (outer) edge that was uncomfortable for me to sit upon, and I'm not rail thin.

* The appropriate staff is probably already aware of this general situation, but when I attempted to buy a con T-shirt at the merch table on Saturday evening, all sizes but small were sold out. My friend told me that a merch table staff member had told him that one of the con hotels had bought (IIRC) 200 T-shirts for their own staff, apparently without prior arrangement. While I'm certain the merch division head (or whatever the person's appropriate title is) was overjoyed to have made the sale, I'd still like a(n extra large) T-shirt, please, and for this not to occur next year (again: please). Would it be possible to sell them through this Web site?
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Oversoul »

I was dissapointed to find out that the pokemon sealed draft was 6 random booster packs rather than sealed kits that are used for pre release. I did try to see if I could build a deck that can function. With 6 random packs The "Best" way to make the deck work is have half of it be energies with is the PTCG's resource (deck has to be 40 cards). Another problem is evolution lines, many people were opening an evolved stage pokemon but not its basic stage. So with this I decided to go up and drop before any rounds started and got asked "is there a reason you need to drop?" I responded to the 2 running the sealed with "It's impossible to make a functional deck" and asked if I could get $10 back and keep the packs I opened which they agreed too. They did apologize but their response was "this is the standard sealed format" and said "there's no way this is the actual format for this." 6 random booster sealed is the standard for magic the gathering because of less types/colors and dont have to worry about evolution. I would love to still see pokemon tournaments for next year but not with just 6 random boosters. If you guys can't get a hold of pre release kits, maybe get preconstructed decks and give each participant 2 or 3 packs of the most recent set to strengthen it.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Misterlee »

Well this is my 6th year in Anime Boston in my book, and I have to say that overall I give this a 9/10. Although the majority of my experience was very positive, there were some minor hiccups I wish they could handle better and make some improvement. But of course it will take time to consider it and I'm just only pointing out potential ideas to make it better. Here are the list of pros and cons for this year Anime Boston.

Pros: There are so much to talk about but I'm goanna point out the major points in this tear convention.
Security: As such this year security ran very smoothly as the previous year and in 2017, where there were more staffs, friendly and professional security, expanded room to keep up the number of crowds, more metal detectors, and weapons were properly inspected.

Panels: The panels were very great, they were fun, exciting, informative and above all, entertaining. Especially I love the amv contest, you guys bring in a lot of great amvs. Plus showing past amvs in the Fan creations brings back memories. Keep up the good work.

Movie premiere: The movie of Code Geass Lelouch of the Resurrection, that was a great movie and I'm glad Anime Boston keeps up with anime industry and companies to get early premieres of movies that hasn't been release yet and show an early screening to us. I'm mean two years ago Aniplex of America, premiere Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale, great movie. I hope you keep up with more movies that will come out later on and premiere at Anime Boston.

Guests: You always bring back veterans and newer guests each year. Great that you brought back Johnny Yong Bosch. Plus, including new guest such as Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt. They were simply amazing and I hope you bring in more guests.

Staffs: I'll keep this short, STAFFS WERE AMAZING keep up the good work.

Autographs: It went smoothly that I manage to get my ticket for certain autographs that I'm glad to get. Plus, I manage to take a photos of Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt.

Conventions people: Overall I manage to meet new people and make lots of good friends at the convention. Also, they majority were friendly and kindly allowed me to take some photos. Thank you anime con goers, I hope to see you down the road.

Dealers Room: I must say there were a great selections of items to see and wanting to buy that I was just overwhelmed.

Cons:
Dealers Room: (Particular the paid guest signings): I manage to saw the guest that are offering signings/photos at certain tables and glad to see them. But the problem is that you should had post the times, prices, and offers on each table BEFORE they come in so that we can know how much they offer to sign or take a photo. I know that the staff info desk can provide the time for each guest and that on Saturday, you posted a board with each guests and time. But on Friday we never saw any posting time for each guests and I had to ask the info desk about it. It's fine, I manage to get an autograph. Plus, it was unexpected that table 708 would be Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt. I never saw the listing on the website nor the booklet that they were signing until pre-registration that I saw who would be offering paid guests signing on one sheet of paper. I know that it's based on the guestsโ€™ discretion to have their own times, prices to signed and/or take photos with them. In future maybe try to post a certain baseline of prices, package deals, and times of guests signing in dealersโ€™ room earlier. I'm not trying to make this a big deal it was just a way to make an early decision for us attendees to choose whom to meet.

Guests: I wish you invited more guests, I mean last year you invited at least 16 guests and that was a lot. For the Japanese guests, maybe you should had invited Japanese voice actor to the convention rather than producer, directors, composer, screenwriters.

Overall it was a great experience but felt that the prices were getting higher that maybe you should opt them back to $50 dollars. I mean I understand the popularity is growing that raising the prices means capping the event. But try to settle the prices down so that it can bring in more people for the excitement. Thank you and I will see you next year.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Snowraven4 »

Good:
-security was so quick and I didn't run into any rude security guards
-most of the orange shirt volunteers were kind and genuinely wanted us to move quickly
-pretty diverse selection of special guests
-the different layout of the video game room felt good! Felt like there was more space to walk and play.
-loved the theme and loved the little cardboard cutouts of samurai characters as well as the artwork on the 3rd floor.

Bad:
-I feel like I didn't get what I paid for. The price for a weekend was nearly $100, but we only ended up going to 3 panels and that is it. Everything else we tried to go to was either capped (for panels) or tickets were gone (autographs and events). I think it is time to start thinking about moving the con to the BCEC. Maybe not now l, but within the next couple years. The con is getting way too big and crowded, and I feel like soon it will not be worth the price if we can't experience anything.
-Can we please negotiate with the Sheraton to have an anime Boston password for free wifi? AB is the only con I have been to that does not have free wifi in the main hotel except for the lobby, and it is the most expensive of all the hotels I've been to for a con! And service was really bad in certain spots like the artist alley.
-I commented about this last year and I'll say it again this year: we should think of getting more diverse dealers. Just like last year, I feel like the dealers room was just tables selling the same plushies and figures, tables selling too much my hero academia and other "in" anime, and tables selling the same wall scrolls. I feel like I saw the same cat with sushi plush at at least 5 different tables for the same price, for instance. And what was up with AT&T taking up a whole booth, but nobody was there all weekend?? We could've had someone who actually needs to sell anime merch there. Not you guys' fault, but I feel like it is worth mentioning.
-this is minor but when we put our bags at the Sheraton on Sunday for $3, neither the volunteers or the actual Sheraton staff knew what time they would stop storing the bags. Also I couldn't find anywhere on the website or my email about what time check-out was.

That is really it. In sum, I think a lot of unhappiness came from it being too crowded and feeling like there wasn't enough to do to be worth the price. I did discuss with someone about how AB could be at the BCEC someday, and they suggested having the dealer's room and the artist alley in the expo hall, and then have panels in the rooms in the BCEC and the Westin. I know we are not even close to, say, PAX East numbers of attendance, but it will happen eventually.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Mirotic »

Cheers to an overall great year at AB!
As always, I'll give my feedback: the good/the bad

The good
  • The Lines: Security is improving year by year and it's awesome! They were super efficient and friendly! Keep it up!

    The Panel List: I thought there were more diverse panels this year in comparision to last year, woop!

    The Masquerade: Some very entertaining acts! Well put together.

    The Guest: MIYAVI WAS AWESOME, THANK YOU FOR BRINGING SUCH A GREAT GUEST. Definitely my highlight of the con (concert, autographs)- I brought my 13 year old CD to his autograph session and he was shook.
The Bad
  • Crowds: Saturday seemed very crowded. Moreso than usual. People were stopping in the middle of hallways and traffic was not moving. Staffers having more visibility and keeping people to the side when stopping would be great.

    Artist Alley: Lacked variety this year. A lot of very similar art from the same few series. The walkways seemed more narrow than usual, but that may have to do with the crowding (above). Staffers attempted to stop people from stopping/taking pics in AA but not very seriously.

    Dealers Room: Same as AA, lacked variety. Same plushies, figures at a bunch of booths. A few cool booths with some different stuff.

    ELEVATORS IN THE SHERATON: This needs to be addressed. Someone will get severely hurt one year if the elevator situation is not addressed. Due to most rooms hosting more people than allowed per room, there is major crowding at the elevators (not to mention the fire hazard). Several times people would cram into an elevator and set off the weight limit alarm. I don't know about everyone else, but that makes me incredibly anxious. I personally saw people experience claustrophobia and start to hyperventilate due to the extreme crowding in the elevators. Maybe set up a system here, whether it be through Sheraton staff or AB staff.
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MrowrMix
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by MrowrMix »

My thoughts and observations from Anime Boston 2019:

Registration/Security

Badge pick-up and security were awesome this year! When picking up my badge, I was in and out very quickly. As for security, I was through security in minutes every time and I didnโ€™t feel like I was trapped in Hynes last past years when I wanted to minimize trips through security.

AB Staff, Line Control, and Communication
I had some experiences with AB staff that were fantastic (even if brief) and some experiences that left a few things to be desired. Below are a few examples.

Loved:
Shout-out to the Blue-shirt staff person with the gorgeous hair (both head and facial varieties) who manned the tech desk in the Crunchyroll Industry Panel and helped seat people!! Seating had gone on a bit longer than usual and before the panel started, he thanked the audience for their patience and explained that because it was such a popular panel, they wanted to make sure that they could seat as many attendees as possible. This wasnโ€™t necessary at all but I really appreciated the communicativeness!

General interactions with staff where they gave clear guidance and left no ambiguity, like this:
Staff: โ€œAre you in line for [event]?โ€
Me: โ€œYes!โ€
Staff : โ€œGreat! Youโ€™re in the right place!โ€

Could have been better:
I noticed that a few staff who were on shift/stationed at a post were very focused on (glued to) their phones. One area that comes to mind is the entrance/exit to Hynes on Boylston Street. This didnโ€™t detract from my AB experience per se but I certainly felt like these staff werenโ€™t very approachable for questions.

Line control for the Johnny Yong Bosch Q&A panel had room for improvement. There was a break in the line so that we didnโ€™t block the entrance to Hynes 312 but some attendees entered the line there and ended up blocking the entrance for 20-30 minutes. One person in particular from this group exited and re-entered the line four times โ€“ on three occasions, he had walked away toward the end of the line and on the fourth time, he had walked into 312 for a few minutes.

Some staff I encountered didnโ€™t provide clear guidance and left me with more questions than I started with. For example, this happened to me when I was standing in line for Opening Ceremonies in a spot slightly past the entrance to Artistsโ€™ Alley:

A staff member asked the group in front of me if they were in line for Opening Ceremonies or AA, paused after getting their answer, and then asked me the same question. After I said โ€œOpening Ceremonies,โ€ she paused and then moved back toward the part of line in front of me. Less than five minutes later (literally!) she repeated the same question to the same group in front of me, walked away after hearing their answer, and then did the exact same thing to me a second time. Then the line started moving and when I reached this staff member, I asked her if I was in the line for Opening Ceremonies. She then told me that the line was farther up front so I took that to mean that I wasnโ€™t in the right place and exited my spot to try to find where I was supposed to be. After moving up a few feet, I asked another staff member where the line for Opening Ceremonies was and then she pointed me in the direction of where I had just come from. At that point, I had lost my spot in line after waiting there close to an hour.

Guests and Guest Panels
For the Q&A panels, I wonder if it would improve the overall experience to establish some written guidelines or basic etiquette when asking questions to the guest(s). I attended the Johnny Yong Bosch and Yuri Lowenthal (+Tara Platt) Q&A panels and in each panel, quite a few people asked multiple questions at the mic. Even as just an observer (rather than someone in line to ask questions), this felt unfair to the other fans in line. I can understand short follow-ups to a main question but in one case, one fan asked four questions that werenโ€™t related to each other.

In past Closing Ceremonies, I liked that guests had a chance to come out individually to wave/say goodbye. In the past couple of years, it has been more of a "group goodbye" where they all come on stage at the same time without being named individually. I understand that there may be time constraints but I think it would be nice to recognize each of them by name during the group goodbye, like: "And let's give a warm thank you to our guests of honor: [Guest A], [Guest B], [Guest C], etc.!!"
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by SisterOfScarletDevil »

I have to say, this year was absolutely great for me. I had a great time, security moved quickly and efficiently for the times I went through. I left the con this weekend feeling better than Iโ€™ve ever felt and Iโ€™ve been going for 10 years now.

I have to echo a sentiment from someone earlier though. I have never gone for autographs before and had no idea how it worked. I get to the autograph pass room, wait my turn, only to not be able to get a pass for someone before they sold out. Alright, thatโ€™s my bad, I arrived late cause I got lost. My problem came when I tried to figure out how overflow passes work. I wanted to know where to get one. A staff member managing the autograph pass admitted they missed the meeting on the overflow passes and had no idea how they worked. I visited TWO of the info desks asking about them and neither of them had any idea about them. I finally get to an info desk in one of the autograph halls and they directed me to a room down a floor. But because it took so long to track down someone who could answer my question, the overflow passes ran out and I lost my chance.

I guess my point is this: I feel like staff members should be debriefed a bit better, especially if theyโ€™re the info desks. People are going to go to them with all sorts of questions and it doesnโ€™t really help if the info desks donโ€™t have info.

But aside from that, this weekend was a blast. I still appreciate all that the staff and and volunteers do to run this event and make it wonderful. Iโ€™ll be returning next year hoping that the guest I wanted to meet will be there again.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Painted_Outlaw »

Mirotic wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:58 pm
  • Crowds: Saturday seemed very crowded. Moreso than usual. People were stopping in the middle of hallways and traffic was not moving. Staffers having more visibility and keeping people to the side when stopping would be great.
Yeah, I had a great time during the weekend but this is probably the only thing I'd toss a negative mention at. Like, I know from experience that the con floor gets increasingly crowded from noon-onwards but it doesn't help when I'm walking around say, the Dealer's room and suddenly have to drop to 1mph because people decide to just either slow down or stop what they're doing in the middle of the hallway. It definitely didn't help when I was trying to get somewhere Saturday afternoon - not to a panel, family stuff - and it took what felt like hours because of all the traffic.

Granted, it wasn't all bad since some cosplayers I asked to take pics of were nice enough to suggest moving out of the way but, I'm still gonna shake my fist at it.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Baby Seal »

The Idol Showcase was a lot of fun! Please bring it back next year. Saturday would probably be better than Sunday though, there were supposed to be 9 groups performing but we ended up getting around 7. If it had been on Saturday maybe more groups would have been able to perform since people might have had travel plans on Sunday.

I only went Sunday so I don't have much to say about anything else other than +1ing everyone else's thoughts about the dealer's room and artist alley.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by OblivionJEN0VA »

It's been a long time since I posted on one of these forums, but I thought it was worth crawling out of the woodwork to commend the events staff on a job well done in the face of some very noticeable absences.

One of the things that makes Anime Boston special is that the staff are deeply embedded in the community, and every year when we show up it's just like we're picking up right where we left off. That's what's kept me coming back for 16 years and I hope it never changes.

You guys did a great job working recordings of Roadie and K-san into their events, which really resonated with me as a longtime attendee, and I appreciate the transparency and the effort that went into that. I think you guys handled this with a lot of grace and compassion, and the camaraderie that makes AB amazing. The on-site hosts did awesome and made 2019 memorable in their own right, and the whole staff has a lot to be proud of.

I wish you all the best, so first and foremost take care of yourselves!

P.S. Bring earplugs to Masquerade 2020 because the next time Roadie shows up that roof is coming DOWN. #KingofAudienceParticipation
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Aurabolt »

DocWatson wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 6:55 pm
<SNIP>
Ok so all of this should be taken up directly with the Sheraton Hotel, not Anime Boston. Just letting you know.
Mirotic wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:58 pm

ELEVATORS IN THE SHERATON: This needs to be addressed. Someone will get severely hurt one year if the elevator situation is not addressed. Due to most rooms hosting more people than allowed per room, there is major crowding at the elevators (not to mention the fire hazard). Several times people would cram into an elevator and set off the weight limit alarm. I don't know about everyone else, but that makes me incredibly anxious. I personally saw people experience claustrophobia and start to hyperventilate due to the extreme crowding in the elevators. Maybe set up a system here, whether it be through Sheraton staff or AB staff.[/list]
Ok so that's something that needs to be brought to the attention of Sheraton Staff.

I do know that there is a hard cap of 4 people per room in the Sheraton and it's strictly enforced. If you're caught violating this rule, everyone in the room's kicked out. It's Hotel Policy, not Anime Boston's.

PurpleKeyblade wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:03 pm

I know that several years back AB ditched the single day badges and I think that it hurt a lot of usual con goers. I find that $70-80 for a weekend badge to any con is a bit pricy, but for the size and events at AB itโ€™s worth it. However, $80 for a single day of attendance is a not viable for many people and so I had a lot of friends bail because they couldnโ€™t afford that price for only one day.
From what I understand, Anime Boston discontinued the Friday and Saturday Only 2-day passes several years back to cut back on how many types of passes they would need to have made each year. The intent as I remember it being explained was to encourage folks to buy a weekend pass even though they know or are at least aware a third of Congoers leave after Saturday.

By the way they still have Sunday-only passes. I not only think Friday and Saturday passes should be brought back but they should also enable pre-registering online for 1 day or any combination of 2 days (For example Friday and Sunday Only). Like you, I do agree it would be more profitable to bring back 2-day passes for Fridays and Saturdays like they used to.

In taking away that option, they lost revenue from the 1 and 2-day passes they discontinued. A side effect to that is we have also seen increases in the price of the weekend pass. Anime Boston is contstantly looking for creative ways to meet its financial needs. This is a pretty obvious approach and you kill 2 bird with one stone.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Dragonrider1227 »

The majority of the con went very smooth for me. My only complaints are that I think security needs to be better informed about where the AMV finalists are supposed to go for their VIP seating. I had asked a bunch of them because I found the instructions on the finalists badge a bit vague and many of them were confused even when I showed them the badge. Doesnโ€™t help that the badge said to โ€œarrive at Main Eventsโ€ despite the Masquerade being held at โ€œAuditoriumโ€ so no one knew what I meant when I asked โ€œwhere is main events?โ€ And the badge had a mistype saying to arrive at 4:45 pm when it turned out to actually be 5:45 pm causing me to and my friend to not only lose almost an hour of time he wanted to spend at the vendors but because there was so much confusion on trying to figure out where I was supposed to go I feared I was running late and began to panic. It also wasnโ€™t clear to me when I was supposed to meet the other finalists to vote for editorโ€™s choice. I couldnโ€™t remember exactly when it was last time I was Finalist but knew it was after one of the showings so I asked and was told it was Saturday but believing it would be after the show, Which ended at 1:00 I showed up around 12:30 only to find the contest was already over and everyone had left. Apparently they met earlier and I was not informed so I missed the meeting.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by badconsumer »

Registration was the best I've ever experienced at AB. Security did a great job getting people in quickly, such an improvement over past experiences. There was a couple not-super-friendly folks at the Boylston St. entrance but, honestly, they were fine given how quickly they were getting people in the door. Variety of panels was good, MOST AB staff were friendly and helpful.

Issues that could use help... Staff presence to keep things moving in the hallways and on the convention floor.
1. The Dealers Room is not a great place to stop for a photo shoot in your elaborate, over-sized costume. If you're an attendee reading this, please be more considerate of the other attendees. If you're staff reading this, I know managing the dealer room floor is a nearly impossible task, but staff presence was basically non-existent.
2. Apparently some people need to be told that large groups of people congregating in hallways is rude? At one point, I thought I was waiting in a line for something mysterious, just to find out that the line I was waiting in was to get around a group of attendees who were going over their various plans for the day. This is like getting caught behind two blabbering soccer moms at the grocery store on a busy day x10.
3. Artist Alley. Even more than the dealer room IMO, I think AB could do a better job jurying here. Aside from a couple outliers with interesting work, that was the My Hero Academia room and was incredibly boring. Not worth the sardine in a can experience of trying to get through it.
4. Volunteers. I know they're volunteers, but please ask these folks to try putting their phones down while they are acting in a support capacity. Many of these folks were unapproachable and gave you the impression that you were bothering them when you asked a question. Looking at you, kid near the Boylston St entrance.

Overall, good stuff and looking forward to attending again.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Fangreaper »

Aurabolt wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:58 pm In taking away that option, they lost revenue from the 1 and 2-day passes they discontinued. A side effect to that is we have also seen increases in the price of the weekend pass. Anime Boston is contstantly looking for creative ways to meet its financial needs. This is a pretty obvious approach and you kill 2 bird with one stone.
Think about it like this if they reach max capacity how many people would get stuck in line or turned away from entering because there are too many people? If they reach max capacity the fire marshal would have to come down and supervise and potentially shut the event down.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Kalyoth »

A lot of good things all previously mentioned by others & won't repeat. My two cents on Registration passes: lots of complaints on prices. Preregistration early is significantly cheaper that at the end. They even take registration a year in advance at the AB Merchandise table for the next convention. Consider that as an option.

As to single day passes, Scenario where they come back: hard caps come into play with ticket sales & facility limits for people (See Pax East as example). Every time you make a badge system more complex, you increase the time required to pass through it. Also, opens up more badge fraud. Whether in words or visual design, when you move from single to multiple forms of badges, you GUARANTEE Security Theater disruptions. Do we really WANT to go backwards here after how well this year went?

******

Only one thing that truly needs to be worked upon for future cons & it has been mentioned annually for at least the last 15 years I've attended the feedback panels & in the forum threads, getting worse each year with no seeming solution implemented: a centralized & well-organized, consistent & all weekend long hallway pedestrian flow management system.

The constant stopping of people blocking hallway doors, stairwells, escalators, security processing exits, bathrooms, panel / video rooms, inside the Sheraton & Hynes. This was especially true on Floor 2 of the Hynes in front of the Info Booth with only 1 pair of working escalators & also the doorways into the Dealer's room. There needs to be constant personnel keeping the flow moving. Hynes provided or approved methods of flow control used. It was bad enough that a fire marshal would have closed the building as a safety issue. We are all lucky that the worst elements of society also did not rise for an incident because, in situations like this, crowd control inside chaos is a disaster on top of another disaster.

This is something that needs to be given serious focus because it will be needed no matter where the convention is held (in event of location changes anytime in the future). It was a plague to Otakon for 14 years & was fixed only because they left Baltimore for D.C. (not attended there so no experience with lines there) & not by the actions of organizers. Thousands avoided Otakon (evidenced by its attendance numbers rapidly decelerating over time) due to this & other issues they did not act upon.

It is better to be known as the convention organizers actively try & constantly improve vs. the con that smiles, accepts all forms of payment & then takes a hands off approach for the weekend. AB has time before it hits the wall. But, its a much shorter road each year as we grow...

Thank you for a wonderful convention this year & the consideration of my comments.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by teaflower »

Hello hello! This is my... fifth year? 6th year? It's all kind of a blur.

The good: Lines getting in to the con, even at peak time on Saturday, were incredibly efficient. It didn't matter if you had a bag or not, you were moving very quickly and efficiently. Bag check was great this year.

Staff knew what they were doing. Lines for the most part were well organized and moving, Great stuff. I'm really excited for next year!

The not so good: While I didn't go to autographs this year, my friends tried to see Yoko on Friday. It was not made clear to them that they did not need their badges to enter, so they waited until prereg opened to get their badges. When they got there, they reported that there was a white board with names that had been crossed off, with no announcement or clear up that a guest was taken. They were seated, and then staff informed they would be going by columns, then changed their mind. People who had been seated after them were called for autographs before they had a chance. Last year when I got Steve Blum, they had a projector with available names, and as a guest was removed, their name was removed.

Further, a lot of the people in volunteer vests didn't seem to know a lot of things. Not even like super specific questions, but things like "When does dealer's close today?" were met with an "I don't know." and that was that. I understand the whole con is volunteer based, but even having a handy dandy cheatsheet for some volunteers would be wonderful.

The ugly: I posted about this on Twitter, and y'all replied, but here's more detail.

Saturday, pre-masquerade, my friends and I were on third floor. I know that the line doesn't officially start until X point, and seating starts at Y, but I also know that if we don't start lining before then, the people who DO start lining before then will have already started, and we'll end up with a lovely view of a support beam.

While we asked the people, we weren't getting any answers. I eventually flagged down a staff member, who informed me the line was where I was standing. Phenomenal!

Shortly after this, we were shuffled in to the auditorium during the end of the Code Geass movie. It did feel a little odd, but when a staff member tells you something, you don't question it. So the lot of us got comfy in the balcony. After the movie ended, and as masq people trickled in (I waved to one of my friends who was in masq), a security lady showed up and informed us she needed to have us all moved out. Naturally, a lot of us were pissed, because we had GOOD SEATS and we had just been following instructions. Before we were shuffled out of the auditorium, the security woman informed us "You will be placed at the front of your respective lines. If you have a ticket, you will be placed at the front of the ticket line. If you do not have a ticket, you will be placed at the front of the no-ticket line."

On those terms, we shuffled back out. Once we were shuffled out, we were all placed at the BACK of our respective lines. We were told it would be a 30 minute wait before seating. Being in uncomfortable cosplay shoes, I took a seat, ready to wait.

A security fellow came by, bellowing at us that we needed to be ready to move. No sitting. So I stood, in uncomfortable shoes, for half an hour. Walking in uncomfortable shoes is painful, but standing in uncomfortable shoes is incredibly painful. While I still got very good seats, I'm still salty about this whole experience.

After posting on Twitter, I was asked to go to room 108 to remedy this. I did not go because, quite frankly, I did not want to lose my spot in line.

Overall, this was a stellar year. I'm excited for nest, despite my salt.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Mad Dad »

You did an awesome job as always. Security staff was super nice and efficient at the entry areas !

This was our sixth year. Using preregistration last year in the Dealer's Room was a breeze. We made it a point to preregister for 2020 while we were there! See you next year!
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by macmow »

Thank you so much for an amazing year. The staff at AB work so hard, and it shows. The biggest change I noticed this year was easy access to free water, and I couldnโ€™t be more thankful. In previous years, I was left with the choice of dehydration and feeling awful, or spending money that I didnโ€™t have on bottled water once the supply I brought into the convention ran out. Having access to water coolers throughout the convention really helped me get through the hot, sweaty days, and really enjoy myself. I just want to thank everyone from the staff, the artists, the panelists, and the guests for an amazing year. See you in 2020!
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by NanoZero »

Jeez, this was my 11th Anime Boston! Time just flies...

This year was one of the best Anime Bostons I've ever had. Made many new friends and reconnected with old ones too. Giving us nerds a welcoming space to gush about our favorite shows has always been and will always be what makes Anime Boston a special event for me. Thank you to all staff and volunteers for the work you've done in the past year. You all deserve a good rest!

A few good points:

-Cosplay meetups and photoshoot coordination have been so helpful in the past, and I'm glad you guys are continuing to do it.

-I'm glad the Idol Showcase exists and went really well! Hopefully you'll bring it back next year and maybe schedule it on a busier day.

-The peeps at the Cosplay Repair Station are serious MVPs! You guys are wonderful!

Some crits:

Security, which has always been a pain point, was a huge step up from last year. I barely had to wait longer than 5 minutes to get my bag checked and ready to go. I do however, agree with the crowding issue in the Art Alley, despite attempts this year to widen the aisles a bit. In my opinion, moving the con to the BCEC is the only way I see this issue being fixed, which unfortunately might not be happening anytime soon.

I also agree with the lack of variety in both the dealers and Artist Alley. Good for my wallet, but not so great for pre-shopping. Lot of the same figures, plushies, blind boxes and fan merch of the same series. I understand that the lottery system is likely the culprit and that it's also the most fair for the ultra competitive Artist Alley applications, but I do hope next year will have more variety.

While I had an excellent time with friends and in cosplay, I'm not so sure I got my money's worth this year. $75 is a bit steep for not noticing any tangible improvements, making me think the only reason the price is so high is to keep the con from getting too crowded, with an obvious financial benefit as well. Going to the BCEC, as the contract with the Hynes approaches expiration, should seriously be brought to the table at this point. The Seaport is no longer the empty space it once was, and if we can be real for a sec, I don't see why the BCEC's layout is "unsuitable" for AB. In fact, I think there are too many lackluster panels and/or the same kinds of panels running each year and hosting the con at the BCEC could actually "cut the fat", per say. It's a hot take, but I stand by it!
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AB2013: Misaka Mikoto (casual)
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by kiarrens »

Fangreaper wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 6:09 pm I got one of the laminated VIP passes from masqu. HQ for being on the waitlist for the costume contest. I showed up at 7 at the start of the show and first had to show my badge to a staff member then my ticket only to be told I needed to go upstairs to get a ticket (most of the line was seated by this point mind you.) When I explained the VIP pass I got told to go talk to another staff member and after explaining it to her I walked in to go talk to another staff member but had to show my badge to another two staff members at the door, one right after the other. Once inside I got directed to go sit with the regular line people by the people with the light sticks. I then explained the situation again then proceeded to be handed off almost like a baton to roughly 5 other staff members and volunteers before finally having someone take me to the VIP seating area. All I have to say about this? Communication please!
Hey Fang, let me explain where the miscommunication occurred.
On the back of the badge, it states to arrive at 5:45 (15 minutes before general seating begins). This is so we can get all of the VIPs seated in the front rows before we start filling up the rest of the room. Because the masq is so popular (we usually fill the entire room), once we begin general seating, we fill every available seat. So the VIPs are already seated and we start filling in everything behind them. We donโ€™t rope off a whole area or anything, and the staff usually arenโ€™t expecting VIPs to arrive once general seating has already begun, hence people being confused and not quite sure what to do.
Iโ€™m sorry that several people had to be asked before we could get you situated.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by kiarrens »

Dragonrider1227 wrote: โ†‘Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:33 am The majority of the con went very smooth for me. My only complaints are that I think security needs to be better informed about where the AMV finalists are supposed to go for their VIP seating. I had asked a bunch of them because I found the instructions on the finalists badge a bit vague and many of them were confused even when I showed them the badge. Doesnโ€™t help that the badge said to โ€œarrive at Main Eventsโ€ despite the Masquerade being held at โ€œAuditoriumโ€ so no one knew what I meant when I asked โ€œwhere is main events?โ€ And the badge had a mistype saying to arrive at 4:45 pm when it turned out to actually be 5:45 pm causing me to and my friend to not only lose almost an hour of time he wanted to spend at the vendors but because there was so much confusion on trying to figure out where I was supposed to go I feared I was running late and began to panic.
Sorry Dragonrider, that was on me. We had to adjust the time of the event after I had made up the badges to give to Lantis, and that update didnโ€™t get passed along to him. Iโ€™m truly sorry for the confusion and I will make a note that next year we will have better instructions on the back of the badge as to where to go and when, and will make 100% sure that the correct time is on them when we send the badges to print!
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Assistant Director of Programming - Cosplay Division 2019
Assistant Masquerade Coordinator 2013 - 2014
Cosplay Chess Coordinator 2009 -2014
Attendee 2003 - 2009


The Anime Boston Masquerade Staff Creed: "It's our job to panic so you don't have to."
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by mainmarco »

Personally, I really enjoyed this AB! It had some great panels, staff was pretty great, and I had a great time. Security went fast and pre registration allowed me to also register early with my panel so I could just focus on the con and not need to make a detour till Sunday. The staff for me was able to answer my questions and help guide me anywhere I needed too. The price while high, still seemed fair to me. I do not agree with bringing back two day passes or single day passes other than Sunday. It will get way too complicated and lead to more crowding/price issue.

I only had one issue. It was super crowded. Like it got pretty nuts this year and made it difficult to move sometimes. I feel like getting some staff to wander around and ask groups taking photos or talking to move would help. Like asking them to move to the side or away from elevators/escalators/stairs so people can move (Especially with one escalator down). Maybe even designate a hall each day for a few hours for general cosplay photo shoots/chilling that people can use and maybe plan mini group cosplay photo sessions. Again, just a thought. I know the game room is mainly for chilling and gaming and there are lots of benches, but as AB grows, more space will be needed.

Thanks for another fun year! See you all in 2020!

And one final note, maybe not have it on Easter weekend anymore? not major, but that would be great.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by RayneDeanZ »

Honestly, this year was great, but there was a single issue that came up while I was at the con. Probably outside of the scope of the con since it happened at the hotel, but still something that might need to be known by Ops: Everyone was booted out of the pool on Friday by hotel security because they were โ€œwith Animeโ€ and โ€œAnime didnโ€™t have access to the poolโ€. When we went to complain to the front desk, they told us that it was on limited hours and that โ€œStaff had been informed.โ€

I donโ€™t know if that meant AB staff or Sheraton staff, but hotel security telling us that we didn't have access to the pool because we went to the con despite being paying guests.
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Anime Boston 2017:
Mastermind!Chihiro Fujisaki (Dangan Ronpa)
Makoto Naegi (Dangan Ronpa)

Anime Boston 2018:
Shintaro Kisaragi (Kagerou Project)
Yasuke Matsuda (Dangan Ronpa)
Kiki (Kikiโ€™s Delivery Service)

AB 2019:
Kiki (Kikiโ€™s Delivery Service)
Axel (Kingdom Hearts)

AB 2022:
Kiki (Kikiโ€™s Delivery Service)
Kazuichi Souda (Danganronpa)

AB 2023:
Kazuichi Souda (Danganronpa)
Kiki (Kikiโ€™s Delivery Service)
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Eri Kagami »

Really enjoyed AB this year! I only have one complaint:

Eataly Discount
I'm not sure if all of the staff at Eataly knew about the discount from Anime Boston. My partner and I showed our badges to the pizza place. Pizza cashier guy wasn't following us when we talked about the discount. We even showed the tweet. The manager came out and I explained to her the AB discount. She wasn't following either. She said she wanted to see the program book, but we didn't have ours, we thought we only needed to show our badges...? I just felt that Eataly needed to be on the same page as AB. I like this place, I want to support them and I do appreciate their sponsorship for the con, but even if it was 10% discount, I wish all of the Eataly staff knew.

FWIW, this was at 9PM on Friday.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Nemra »

Eri Kagami wrote: โ†‘Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:11 pm Really enjoyed AB this year! I only have one complaint:

Eataly Discount
I'm not sure if all of the staff at Eataly knew about the discount from Anime Boston. My partner and I showed our badges to the pizza place. Pizza cashier guy wasn't following us when we talked about the discount. We even showed the tweet. The manager came out and I explained to her the AB discount. She wasn't following either. She said she wanted to see the program book, but we didn't have ours, we thought we only needed to show our badges...? I just felt that Eataly needed to be on the same page as AB. I like this place, I want to support them and I do appreciate their sponsorship for the con, but even if it was 10% discount, I wish all of the Eataly staff knew.

FWIW, this was at 9PM on Friday.
Thanks for letting us know! I will forward this to the appropriate parties.

For the future, and this goes to everyone reading, please let us know by tweeting/emailing us so we can address it!

Has anyone else reading experienced this?

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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by bulletdancer »

This is my... 10th anime boston at this point, and I keep on having a good time.

Some of my thoughts for the weekend:

concerts:
I don't know if it's AB, or the guest who balances the concerts, but Miyavi's bass felt like it was going to kill me it was so loud. There were times when it was a job to hear anything but that bass. Otherwise it was a fantastic show, good job with lights, awesome that you could get such a talented guest to come play.
Sunday concerts: This is the 2nd year you've had a Sunday concert, and I absolutely loved the show. PLEASE keep doing these, they are the highlight of both my partner and I's Sunday and a fantastic way to appreciate the work that goes into anime music, potentially introduce people to a new series, and is just a great way to put a stamp on the end of the Con.

Security:
Generally seemed like the lines were going pretty smoothly. I think if you have any influence on it, try to get the people at the far end of the bags line where there's space to go around the metal detectors to be used to handling large costumes that can't fit through metal detectors. We'll be wanded, it's fine, just cramming something through the detector is just awkward.

Panels:
good spread of content, always sad at the ones I missed, but hey, maybe they'll come back around sometime.
Pet Peeve of mine. Please can you get people to put a full description of the panel, not simply "for the nth time, we present this, you already know what it is...". We brought a friend with us who hadn't come since 2009, and while she definitely had a great time, when we were figuring out what we wanted to go do, there definitely were questions as to "what even goes on in this panel?" that because I hadn't gone to them before I couldn't answer either.

Looking forwards to next year.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by justjoekingjr »

I'm a teacher who was recruited by my high school's Anime Club to chaperone their trip to AnimeBoston on Saturday. Only knew a little about anime (seen a few classic movies, grew up watching Starblazers as a kid) but I had a good time. I was impressed by the amount of events going on. Job well done! I'll have to get myself recruited again next year.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by kittengeist »

This is my third year going to Anime Boston, and while I saw many great things...there were also bad things that left me feeling disappointed.


PROS:

Security/Staff:

It was super smooth and fast, no wait to get into the con. Super friendly security too! Staff was also super nice and informative too! Great job guys!


Maid Cafe:

PHENOMENAL! Such an improvement from last year!! The maids were super nice and interactive with the con goers. Please PLEASE bring it back next year!


Idol Showcase:

Bring this back next year! It was super fun to watch with all the idol groups dancing and getting together. The energy was upbeat and fun! Only thing is maybe having it on another day that isn't Sunday.



CONS:

Variety

As many other people have said, the dealers room and artist alley lacked variety. I saw the same things over and over and got super bored quickly, essentially wandering around aimlessly and not sure on what to do. Seeing the same fandoms more so than others was also extremely disappointing as someone who likes fandoms that aren't "in" right now. Wanting to see more variety next year!

Crowds

Personally, it was WAY too crowded, especially on Saturday. With AB growing more popular and in number, I feel the convention should be moved somewhere bigger within the next few years. Getting through hallways was a task and having people constantly run into me and my stuff was annoying. Also with crowding around certain spots and stopping in the middle of the hallway. It's not only a huge pet peeve of mine (i'm a fast walker and get annoyed by this) but also an inconvenience. There should be better jobs at crowd control if possible

Panels

I have noticed a lot of panels end way earlier than they should. Not sure if it's because of lack of content but kinda felt disappointed by them ending so early (up to 45 min early!).

Can't wait for 2020! See you all then!
AB 2024 Lineup:

Friday AM - Cure Majesty
Friday PM - Cure Wing
Saturday - Cure Majesty
Sunday - N/A
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by kawaii&kowaii »

Regarding Dealers' Room: I felt this was well-organized and there were some quality products on offer, but many of the dealers we're not prepared on time on Friday, which was a bit inconvenient considering the room opened at noon. I'm not sure if there is a way to improve this, but they should all try to be set up by at least 11:30 if the room is open at 12, especially since it can cause traffic problems and some people only have limited times in those rooms because of events/panels/etc. Also, not as much variety in products as there has been in previous years.

Regarding Artists' Alley: Excellent artists this year! Really amazing, but the fact that someone was making announcements about not being able to take pictures in the room was a bit ridiculous to me. One of the main things people like about AB are the cosplays, and taking pictures. To not allow people to take pictures when they see someone is not fair, because they may not see that person at the Con again, it's huge. Also, the person running the cash register in the Art Auction area on Saturday afternoon had problems with simple maths, and that was concerning considering it was a cash only area. Please make sure they have a calculator next time just in case.

Regarding Maid Cafe: The organization of this was better this year, but a bit rushed. AB needs someone who knows what they are doing to supply the boba and snacks, though. The food and drinks were very disappointing (boba was not cooked properly and tea was not brewed properly), and you are pretty much required to buy something while you are. If more people can get involved in the future, AB could potentially make profit with this as many people are interested. Also, one of the maids needs to be very careful about dressing in the cafe. She was not conscious of how short her skirt was and caused some awkward flashing (she was also pulling at her panties IN THE CAFE) that made me uncomfortable, especially since she could have been asked to hold food at some point. Sanitary conditions are very important to maintain. The Hynes workers in the cafe were also YELLING in the cafe which was really unnecessary. I know people can get loud, but yelling should be a last resort it you cannot get people's attention. Use a bell or something to atteact attention.

Regarding the panels: Great selection, but sometimes noise from the halls would interfere with an ongoing panel. If possible, someone should be stationed outside the door, or a sign asking people to be quiet in the area should be posted so that the panelist don't feel like they are competing with outside noise. I know this is hard to control, but when possible it could be helpful. Also, while waiting in some lines, we were being given opposite orders on how to line up, where to stand, etc. Please make sure all employees are instructed the same way on what to say. It was very confusing.

Regarding security: this definitely moved faster this year, and having more entrances was definitely helpful. However, this hasn't been perfected especially since I had to do bag check about 10 times a day if I needed to leave the main Hynes area for anything. There's got to be a way to make this more effective and less time-consuming. Service doggos worked very hard, they deserve extra treats. I would go to a panel to learn about those doggos.

Regarding Opening Ceremony: I found this to be disappointing. The line took far too long, the two managerial women did not seem like they rehearsed, and there was no "entertainment" section of the ceremony. Only introductions of the 'celebrities.' There could have been dances, featured panel introductions, AMVs, anything...but it was very minimal. The Japanese translator also needs a bit more preparation next time, and they should NOT translate if someone spoke in English. This should be developed upon in the future, really a lost opportunity for AB. Shoot prizes into the audience or something like they do at sporting events, the crowd was enormous.

General: I really liked the various backdrops around, I think there should be more for pictures. AB staff were very friendly and helpful, as well as panelists. I think, if possible, allowing the panelists to advertise on the AB social media might be a great to help support them as well as promote AB. Also, I appreciate that the MBTA ran normal weekend train hours during the weekend (they typically had delays and shuttles). This was very helpful and considerate. Something else to consider might be a room where people can rent a cot to take a nap for an hour or so, as people get quite tired. AB could make some money off this, and I am pretty sure people would appreciate it. Also, vending Japanese snack food might be something to consider.

Please try to release the schedule a bit earlier next time, at the very least before Maid Cafe reservations can be made. People like to plan around this. Also, I don't think any "lolli" products should be sold at the Con... it's concerning and many families and children attended.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by stokage »

In general, was one of the most easiest Anime Boston's for my group to manage, but mostly due to the experiences of past years leading to winding up getting a hotel room at the Sheraton which really solves a lot of issues inherent with traveling to the con.

Pros:

Registration - very quick and easy. Has been getting better in recent years. What a relief to only lose 10-15 minutes in line rather than hours in past years.

Security check in - was relatively smooth, staff varied from very friendly and personable (for security) to firm and harsh but fair - they have a job to do, I think it was a good mix. Weapons check was also very smooth, fast, and very fair, at least in my groups' experience, as compared to previous years.

Photoshoot zones/scheduling - very available schedule, well designed, and plainly explained area zones to find photoshoots, whether participating in or just camera shooting. Much improved from years ago.

Panel variety - quite good this year, I felt there was a lot of mix and mash, despite a lot of it not appealing to my group - there were always options, and some questionable sounding panels turned out to be very entertaining.

Dealer and Artist rooms widening - giving more space at the expense of an additional few dealers or artists really helps the traffic - was about the best I've seen in all the years I've gone - not sure if there is any way to improve it further without axing more dealers/artists, which is not a good mitigation.

City Hunter Screening - THIS is what a con is all about - brand new screening to the region, screening staffed with special guests at the screening, and getting something you can't get anywhere else (even at other cons of similar genres) is exactly on point. No matter what the panel is about this is a big reason why cons attract.

My Cons, and though these might be detailed, I only do so for staff to have as much info as possible, as detailing issues is always more intense than giving praise for things that went well:

Venue: It's been said, but needs to continue to be repeated - a venue change is likely the only way to solve many of the issues below and others that posters before this one in the forum have mentioned.

Wifi: No free wifi from the Sheraton, so if they won't budge, AB should be able to cut some kind of deal - if most info is in the digital age to save on choppin' trees, I'm all for it, but since data is very spotty in most of the areas, there has to be something to be done for some kind of low speed wifi, enough to handle a ton of people just looking up maps, schedules, etc, or even better, a special wifi that is limited ONLY to the AB specific website(s) and information. Sure would make the volunteers jobs easier as well to cut down on always answering basic questions and instead deal with more specific/special matters as they come up.

Maid Cafe - This applies to when my group went on Sunday late morning for brunch. Having a pre-reg system for it solved the craziness of the past, but the entire experience was a major let down. I think most of us have a reasonable idea of how a Japanese Maid Cafe works, and what we experienced wasn't anywhere close. I don't fault the Maid staff, I am sure they were doing what they could. Issues: Food choices - hotdogs, chips, soda, cupcakes, felt I was at a sporting event. I realize the Hynes demands their own food offerings, but if they are completely inflexible, even for a special room event, then I guess the Maid Cafe idiom won't ever work there. Prices of said food were sky high as you'd also expect. Maids were pleasant, but I never did meet a single one - 3 of them did a 10 second routine, which I missed while waiting in line for food (my past experiences always led to having the Maids in question serve the tables, which was not how it worked at AB), and we were never visited by a Maid either at our table. They were able to arrange picture taking so that was something, but overall really ruined our group's morning since we did the pre-reg, and waiting in line for a good 30 min, only to leave unsatisfied with both the food and experience. Again, I think much of this was due to Hynes constraints, but if AB is to have a Maid Cafe, it has to at least get halfway there, or give up on it until a venue change.

Popular panels - Consistently-in-demand and popular panels need to be in larger rooms as every year they happen and yet being a veteran AB patron I've yet to ever get in, but then again, not willing to lose an hour to stand outside a room just for a possibility to get into a panel like that (the masquerade, I can understand, talking more about things like Bad Anime, Japanese Snacks, etc)

Photoshoots - If your group is big (SMASH BROTHERS), the shoot needs to either be in a huge open area (outside?) or you're going to have to scale down to specifics the group size...photoshoot zones are just not designed for how big that group was.

Escalators - Maybe just bad timing, but before a con this size, the Hynes has to be operating on all cylinders for traffic technology, as it will likely break down at some point during and if some of it is already out of commission to start with, it just makes more complication for foot traffic and more pain for the staff/volunteers to try and manage it.

I agree about the Prudential Parking promo idea that was mentioned - many cons cut a deal somehow to give a bit of a break - Boston charges a fortune for everything but in the business world there is always room for negotiation.

While on that note I also echo on the Sheraton that our group also experienced the "one king size bed instead of two doubles with no warning" surprise at check-in, first time it happened to our group. Hotel did the best they could to help with a cot but this was a downer right off the bat, especially considering the early reservation and the cost. Also for the Sheraton - the Elevator issue. Not sure what can really be done about it, honestly, though.

In general: I get how many are frustrated with the weekend only passes, and the increasing price for such. But I think the weekend price is fair. But at the same time, for more people to get "their money's worth", perhaps bringing back a single day pass really should come back into play, obviously at a higher price per day than the entire weekend deal - pretty much all other cons I have gone to do that. I will say that giving a discount for early reg is good, but not as fair as you think it is - the AB schedule doesn't come out until almost at the event (and for good reason), but to get the most worthwhile discount, you have to just roll the dice early and hope your upcoming year's experience will be good enough to justify. I get it - you don't want late registrants to still have a nice discount available but see the schedule and then bail out on the con, but when you add in all other costs it adds up very quickly. My group will likely go to AB every year but getting the best early bird discount is just not doable that far ahead, especially when adding in logistics and unknown programming and guest, so it feels more like a tease discount than a viable option.

Also for all those reading this that don't go to a lot of cons: Carry only absolute necessities in pockets/bags for security to keep things a'movin - in recent years AB has had more necessities like water and food stations available. And if you need to get a cosplay pic in the halls/walkways, or just need to stop and check something, get over to the side or to a non-traffic area closest to you. Seriously. And if you don't think us cosplayers will walk slightly out of our way with you to pose for a photo, guess what, most of us will, and gladly, to keep traffic steady.

I appreciate whomever took the time to read this wall of text.
AB 2012: S-Kogure Kiminobu (Slam Dunk)
AB 2013: F-Harima Kenji (School Rumble), S-Tuxedo Mask
AB 2014: F-Harima Kenji, S-Chinese Dragon, Tuxedo Mask
AB 2015: S-Jin (Samurai Champloo)
AB 2016: F-Jin, S-Yu Narukami
AB 2017: S-Jin
AB 2018: F-Tuxedo Mask, S-Yu Narukami, Su-Jin
AB 2019: F-Clark Kent, S-Tuxedo Mask, Su-Jin
AB 2020: Cancelled
AB 2021: Cancelled
AB 2022: AB Boycott due to shot requirement
AB 2023: Same as above
AB 2024: Maybe (IF shot requirement is rescinded)
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by DocWatson »

Aurabolt wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:58 pm
DocWatson wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 6:55 pm
<SNIP>
Ok so all of this should be taken up directly with the Sheraton Hotel, not Anime Boston. Just letting you know.
My apologies. I'm accustomed to Arisia, which has a hotel liaison, who does handle this sort of thing, i.e., passing on feedback from the attendees. In particular, I thought AB might be interested in the part about our room assignment since we were required to use (Maritz/)Experient through the AB Web site.

Edit: However, you didn't address my point about the T-shirts. Might you, or someone else?

Edit 2: Added explainatory statement above.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Setsunayaki »

Hi everyone :)
I'm a really critical and direct person, so apologies if my post offends anyone. I really do not intend to offend others.

I will start with the BAD/HORRIBLE first:

Panels:
Political/PSA Panels: These panels focused on bringing political issues from the real world into the anime convention world. It was unnecessary and a recipe for disaster.
FACT: 30 years ago, anyone in the academic world was allowed to teach or be a guest speaker in a heavy area of political or social-interest (even if they were not teachers). Today, only teachers who are certified in the area of interest are allowed to teach a seminar on the matter. (note: I speak only of Massachusetts)

Teaching Panels: These instructors failed to understand that there is a limit to how much the human brain can process. Most of these instructors kept on talking and talking and talking to the point that they really had 45 minute-long non-stop monologues. I have a notebook filled with notes from most of these panels I was in. When 8 - 10 pages are filled up for a single one hour panel of information, it proves that most of those attending will not retain the information beyond an hour after the panel.

Most Panels: This year the panel selection felt so low and uninteresting that Anime Boston 2019 spells a record low on the number of panels we (my partner and I) visited in the convention.

ARTIST ALLEY: Not only did this feel like a clone of the previous year, but there were stalls that just sold what existed in the previous year. The same shops were there, along with the same people and attitude (good attitude as they tried). I truly felt like I time warped into 2018 when I was here.

DEALERS ROOM: I was disappointed a bit with the Anime-Boston Store. I have a tradition to always buy a T-Shirt and a Water Bottle yearly. I managed to get the last T-Shirt my size (yay me!) just to find out that they did not have an AB2019 water bottle this year. Instead, they were selling last year's bottle and they clearly admitted and openly said it. I will give them points for honesty. I'd rather have the honesty than be lied to directly. Just a disappointment, because I love your store! Later on I had managed to find a figurine of my favorite character ever, but I did not want a $300 Figurine of a girl about to be BDSM/Tentacle-You-Know-What sitting on my desk. If such is going to happen, I can use my imagination where in the very least it stays in my mind and does not get out. Aside from this, the rest was nearly the same from 2018.

The AVERAGE:

Convention Environmental Settings: Friday it was really cool/cold inside. Saturday it was warm inside. I knew these because Friday my partner was wrapped up in her cosplay and was a bit cold. Saturday she was almost sweating all over the place.

The Lines for main attractions: Once again we deal with lines that go all around the wall to another country as far as the eye can see in order to go to the main attractions. Some of these lines were as bad as waiting in line for an Amusement Park ride with a pretty long wait time. I had to make the choice "Do I see this attraction and lose 1 - 2 hours waiting in line, or do I do something else with my time?" Want to make people choose attractions? Simply schedule certain attractions in the same time slot to force people to choose. In trying to make all attractions accessible to everyone, it actually closes access to many. I've actually seen people leaving lines to go to the bathroom because they couldn't hold it in any longer, or leaving to eat food due to hunger.

I name it as average because there was no real change from the previous year.


Seating in Closing Ceremonies: I don't mind being seated to the back at tines, but when I am seated at the far-right end where I have to completely turn my head and look up to see the screen, it just shows how bad things can get. MANY people who were there had trouble seeing the Monitors that they just got up and left to point the last 3-5 seats in most front-right rows when I was there went from being full to empty pretty fast.

The GOOD:

Cosplays: I do couples cosplay meaning that my fiancรฉ and I pick out anime-couples to cosplay and since we are a real couple in real life, we don't have to worry about crossing that line between acting as lovers and being lovers. We have been together for a very long time and we absolutely love doing this. This year we did Disney's Tangled as Rapunzel and Eugene.

Not only were cosplays amazing, I was extremely happy with what I saw. I live for the cosplays and poking my eyes out there and seeing what to try. I've always believed that there is an energy that exists around each cosplayer that empowers us to do as well as we can when we are out there; that the convention floor is our stage and its showtime! We bring life, Spirit, and Energy to the floor and spread the love out there.

This year I saw more diversity in cosplay than in previous years. I saw more males cosplaying female characters, more minority and Alternate Universe Representations of Anime Cosplay Characters as well as less figure-dependent bodies. I've seen full-body/full-sized figure sailor scouts and dainty-girl/petite figure sailor scouts across the spectrum of the same sailor scout, which was cool.

The ABSOLUTE ALMIGHTY GREAT:

Security: The lines to get in and out were short and security was friendly and worked out great.
Staff: They were everywhere and accessible.

Kudos to the staff: This story deserves to be written here:

I was in the convention when a girl had recovered from collapsing. The staff was helping her, but the amazing thing was that she was being helped by several other cosplayers who saw what was going on and went to help. We found out what happened from people around and when we passed the girl, her friends were with her, and the staff/security was giving her basic awareness test to check if she could stand and was ok.

It was amazing that it was done like that without causing such a major scene and I liked how the community responded. They didn't just let her fall and ignored her!

Crossroads: There are people from previous years who remember me, and I remembered them. It was amazing to see them again and continue the same old, same old. Its like time stands still when Anime Boston occurs and it feels like yesterday I was in costume, in another time; another place, etc.

A-ko/B-kun: This year B-Kun wasn't portrayed as a super idiot, always taking the butt of A-ko's jokes and personality. It was a bit more even and fluid. A-Ko started out condescending and stealing the show as usual, but by the end of the show, it was more evened out.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Mirotic »

Aurabolt wrote: โ†‘Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:58 pm Like you, I do agree it would be more profitable to bring back 2-day passes for Fridays and Saturdays like they used to.

In taking away that option, they lost revenue from the 1 and 2-day passes they discontinued. A side effect to that is we have also seen increases in the price of the weekend pass. Anime Boston is contstantly looking for creative ways to meet its financial needs. This is a pretty obvious approach and you kill 2 bird with one stone.
Unpopular opinion, but I disagree and do not think daily passes should be brought back. The weekend pass is getting pricey and I would love to see that drop a bit, but AB was already extremely crowded this year (except for Sunday). There is no need for daily/2-day passes if there is already crowding with weekend-pass congoers.

Until they can get the crowding solved for Fri/Sat (with better flow patterns, rules, etc) I wouldn't want additional passes added to the mix.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by runicmagitek »

I had a lot of fun at AB this year, which I was worried I wouldn't; this was my first year not cosplaying due to health issues. I was able to do a lot of things I normally wouldn't have done due to lack of cosplays and I have a bunch of extremely nitpicky criticisms, but I still had a blast. Thanks to everyone who make AB possible every year.

Pros
  • This was my first time attending a concert at AB and I had a blast. Thank you so much for bringing Miyavi as a guest. It was such a treat and teenager!me is still squeeing over this experience.
  • Security was fast and efficient. I don't think I waited in line for more than five minutes at any point throughout the weekend.
  • The autograph ticket process went well. I'm glad the starting time was bumped to 8am. A lot more reasonable and I didn't have to plan my day around it. Also the autograph session itself went smoothly and wasn't as much of a headache as I was preparing it to be.
  • I enjoyed the theme this year and loved the theme-specific panel options along with seeing so many creative cosplays of people doing feudal Japan-inspired versions of modern characters.
  • Thank you for maintaining the blog on tumblr. It's great to see synopsis of panels I had contemplated going to and getting a mini version of it, especially the panels that are more or less recommendation panels.
Cons
  • There was never prop check through the artist alley entrance into the Hynes. I know there was one last year. My friend was cospalying on Friday and no one in security said anything about their giant prop sword. Not ok.
  • Congestion in artist alley. I know, it's a convention. It's going to be busy. Dealer's room was busy too, but not nearly as cramped as artist alley was. That one row in particular leading to the Sherton entrance is just bad. I barely got to check out the booths in that row due to how cramped it was. I don't know what the solution is to this aside from look into a bigger venue.
  • I don't mind if people want to take cosplay pictures in the dealer's room or artist alley, but at least step out of the way. Easier said than done, I know, but I feel like a lot of cosplayers didn't have the common sense to find some place more convenient when someone asks for their picture. Maybe mention something in the program or on the monitors along the lines of the cosplay is not consent things?
  • Could hours of operations please be listed in the guidebook? Or if it was in there, I could never find it. I had to cosntantly tab back and forth between the guidebook and the hours of operation section of the AB website to double check times. Not fun.
  • Speaking of the website, please update the how the schedule of panels and events is presented. Please. I beg you. I don't know anyone who can read that properly. I took one look at it and gave up, hoping the guidebook would go live shortly after. At least have it so you can open the links to a new tab. The way it is right now is dated and beyond inconvenient.
  • I wish there was more information on the panelists outside of the featured/guest panelists. At other conventions, I can read up on a panelist and see both their social media info and their experience. I have zero idea if a panelist is doing this for the first time or this is their tenth year running it or if they have studied about the topic in college or if they just combed through TVtropes and slapped a PowerPoint together. Things like that help me figure out if I'm even going to attempt seeing a panel or not. It's frustrating to plan around a panel you're interested in, get there, and then 15 minutes in realize it's not the panel for you. By then, your secondary panel option is going to be halfway over by the time you get there.
  • Also, more helpful summaries for the panels would be great. While a single shitpost sentence is funny, it doesn't help me as an attendee as to whether or not I want to go to it, because I have no idea what it's going to be about.
  • This was my first time going over to the live gaming area to check it out. I was really excited about the Root demo on Saturday, but when I got there, apparently they had to cancel the event, because they never got a demo copy of the game. Which is fine, but I wish the guidebook updated to reflect that. I wish there were more selection of games, too. There were a lot of copies of the same games I wasn't interested in (Ascension, Catan, etc.). I've been to smaller conventions that had better tabletop selections. It was really disappointing.
  • While I love artist alley, I was sad to see it was overwhelmed with the same fandom stuff everywhere. I get it - whatever is popular that year is going to generate more art and thus will more likely sell well. I wish there was a better screening process so that things like this didn't happen, but maybe I'm in the minority for that.
  • The line for the Sunday voice actor panel. Wow. What was the deal with that? The panel was supposed to start at 1pm and I don't think we got seated until close to 1:30pm. No one ever told us anything. Just that we needed to be standing and get ready to be seated. It would have been nice if we got even close to a clue as to why it was taking so long. My friend and I almost skipped it due to the wait.
  • I also wish there were more guests. Compared to last year, it felt bare bones.
  • Having Cosplay Shenanigans literally next to the midnight viewing of Perfect Blue was... not well planned. Thankfully one of the staff bumped up the volume to help drown out the cheering next door, but it didn't remedy the problem. I'm glad I had seen the movie already and was just there as moral support for my friend, but if it was my first time viewing it? I would've been pissed. I also don't know why the lights were bumped up a bit around 10-15 minutes left in the movie. Was a bit jarring going from no lights on to a low dim setting.
1/4 of Curtain Call Cosplay

2019
N/A
2018
Twili Midna (Legend of Zelda) | Canti (FLCL) | Satsuki Kiryuin (Kill la Kill) | Neptune Vasilias (RWBY)
2017
Julia (Cowboy Bebop) | Twili Midna (Legend of Zelda) | Canti (FLCL) | Glynda Goodwitch (RWBY)
2016
Julia (Cowboy Bebop) | Squall Leonhart, SeeD ball uniform (Final Fantasy VIII) | Nicolas Brown (Gangsta)
voidgear
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by voidgear »

As everyone said: Security line was GREAT. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to get through every day.
Some of the signage didn't get updated as panels changed last minute, but staff did well making sure to find out if we were in the right place. I know this isn't your area, but even the security provided by the hynes seemed friendlier and more happy to be there than previous years.

Bummed that there was no designated rooms for the photoshoots and meetups this year as there was last year, it lead to a lot of congestion in the hallways around the areas which were designated as photoshoot spaces and I also saw a few issues of groups sneaking in between the officially organized shoots to make use of the area which lead to even more traffic and confusion. The areas were well marked on the maps however so there is that.

Artist alley aisles felt much narrower than past years, especially the two end rows seemed significantly smaller than any of the others. Maybe some staff here or a periodic reminder over the PA to remind people not to take photos in the aisles would be helpful.

I feel like you were much better on marking what lines were for last year, either with staff along the line or signage marking it at the end. Several times I'd see a giant line where even some of those lining up were just hoping they were in the right line because they had no idea and couldn't find staff to direct them. This is such an easily solved issue since, like I said, last year was much better with this.

Staff seemed incredibly inconsistent this year overall.
The halls seemed almost empty of staff where normally there'd be a security staffer making sure traffic kept moving and making sure people taking photos knew to move off to the side. Then other areas would have several security staff just hanging around on their phones.

My BIGGEST issue:
Staffers NEED to be more educated on the accessibility stickers and what to do with disabled attendees. My friend was told by a staff member when they asked for any sort of accommodation when lining up for the masquerade because they wouldn't be able to stand that long that the "guy who handles that isn't here" and so there was nothing she, the staff member, could do. Even though there's a clear policy of advanced seating. The staffer didn't offer to get a chair, move them to the front so they could be seated earlier, nothing. Staff need to be on the same page and need to receive some sort of brief sensitivity training so they don't just shrug and tell a disabled person to sit on the floor because the guy who knows what to do "isn't here" which should never be the answer to any question since most staff have walkies and the ability to post to the staff fb page with questions.
If the accommodations for disabled guests aren't widely known to all staff, then why even bother having an accessibility policy. This is something that's clearly going to come up, and I'm not saying every staff member should memorize every policy, but even if they had something to reference on their lanyard maps that stated the policies they were told to refer to so they can take the appropriate actions.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by voidgear »

runicmagitek wrote: โ†‘Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:19 am
  • There was never prop check through the artist alley entrance into the Hynes. I know there was one last year. My friend was cospalying on Friday and no one in security said anything about their giant prop sword. Not ok.
I didn't think there was, i remember several people having to leave and go through line hell because they were told there was no prop check at that entrance? unless they later added one.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Master of NERV »

Here's my take this year...

Registration: in and out in less than five minutes Thursday night.

Security: Smooth and fast through the metal detectors. The only annoyance was having to take off my lanyard and vest, both of which are always festooned with metal pins. Oh, the price I pay... :mrgreen:

Convention staff: whether the shirts were blue, orange, or red, I have no complaints whatsoever. Much of this, I'm sure, is a reflection of the experience of convention organizers.

Screenings: the idea of having a bigger share of feature films this year worked better than I thought it would. I caught Maquia, A Silent Voice, and Penguin Highway; that's one movie a day. :) Think a moment how much that would cost if you went to a theater and did the same.

Panels: I didn't attend many, but I had no issues with those I did. The one about how nasty real-life Japanese schoolgirls could be over the decades was particularly fun, as was the one about how to deal with the glut of new titles every quarter, much less every year!

Dealers room: like others have said, a lack of variety. That said, vendors will always bring in what they think will sell.

Cosplay: as always, a healthy and varied sample to be seen in the halls. However, with today's anime production/streaming landscape being what it is, I often have no idea what shows the characters are from! :cry:

Where I can't fairly comment this year: Artists Alley, ticketed events, autographs.
Kalyoth wrote: โ†‘Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:34 pmPreregistration early is significantly cheaper that at the end. They even take registration a year in advance at the AB Merchandise table for the next convention. Consider that as an option.
This cannot be overstated. I paid $60 at AB18 for this year, and it ended up being $80 at the door.

There's a lot of open talk in this year's feedback about badge prices. This is a genuine concern to be sure, but in all fairness we should also take a look at the matter through AB's eyes. The post below was originally written in response to the mess that 2016 turned into. Please direct your attention to the section concerning con finances from the organizers' point of view (starting at the fifth paragraph):

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20779#p279506

As for the idea of one-day badges, that creates its own problems. If you have Friday- or Saturday-only badges, AB then has to--
  • create distinct badges that clearly reflects this
  • make sure the supporting registration software is bug free and badge printers operate correctly
  • have adequate time to train Hynes security and all the orange shirts
Now, let's say you pre-reg for Saturday only. AB then has a decision to make--either

1) Restrict issuance of Saturday-only badges to Saturday only, pre-reged or not (the smart choice)
2) Issue a pre-reged Saturday-only badge earlier than Saturday morning, to cut back on registration lines on Saturday itself (which creates the potential mess of unscrupulous types trying to use badges at unauthorized times; thwarting them would result in slower lines at every security checkpoint. Also, you run the risk of pre-distributed badges being faked and copied)

Already paid up for 2020! See you all there!
Last edited by Master of NERV on Tue Apr 23, 2019 5:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
AB 2003-2023 -- pre-reged for 2024!
2006, '12, '13: Commander Ikari (Evangelion)
2007: Dr. Akai (Maburaho)
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animosc
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by animosc »

No major complaints from me. All of my comments have already been said by others so I'll keep this short.

Autographs: Great! I think you've figured out a system that works. Let's keep it this way.

Security: Wow, what did AB's organizers say to the convention center to make security go so smoothly this year? :D

Dealers room: Regarding the lack of diversity, I believe AB still does first-come, first-served with dealer registration? So it's out of AB's control. (Do correct me if I'm wrong. I last looked into dealer registration 2 or 3 years ago so things may have changed since then. I do remember how ultra competitive it was to get in.)

Wifi: Yes, this is very much needed.

Guests: The guest list felt small compared to the past 2 years. Seems like people are not very interested in the Japanese production staff. It's very sad because they are the most knowledgeable about their shows and can answer questions most thoroughly, even though the voice actors get all the attention.

Hours of operation: At other cons, I've seen this info printed on the badge. It's an easy well to let people know the info.

kawaii&kowaii wrote: โ†‘Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:55 pm Regarding Artists' Alley: Excellent artists this year! Really amazing, but the fact that someone was making announcements about not being able to take pictures in the room was a bit ridiculous to me. One of the main things people like about AB are the cosplays, and taking pictures. To not allow people to take pictures when they see someone is not fair, because they may not see that person at the Con again, it's huge.
It's because attendees who are taking pictures clog up the aisles of the dealers room and artists alley. AB Staff made the right decision here.
Setsunayaki wrote: โ†‘Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:47 am Teaching Panels: These instructors failed to understand that there is a limit to how much the human brain can process. Most of these instructors kept on talking and talking and talking to the point that they really had 45 minute-long non-stop monologues. I have a notebook filled with notes from most of these panels I was in. When 8 - 10 pages are filled up for a single one hour panel of information, it proves that most of those attending will not retain the information beyond an hour after the panel.
By teaching panels, do you mean the "Foundations of Anime" panels? I've never heard criticism about a panel having too much information before. :lol: Usually the criticism is about how panelists don't have enough content and end up stopping early. My recommendation is... bring a voice recorder or a video camera.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by stokage »

kawaii&kowaii wrote: โ†‘Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:55 pm Regarding Artists' Alley: Excellent artists this year! Really amazing, but the fact that someone was making announcements about not being able to take pictures in the room was a bit ridiculous to me. One of the main things people like about AB are the cosplays, and taking pictures. To not allow people to take pictures when they see someone is not fair, because they may not see that person at the Con again, it's huge.

It's because attendees who are taking pictures clog up the aisles of the dealers room and artists alley. AB Staff made the right decision here.
Yes I also understand the announcement on this, though I will admit I was not shy about taking a few pics in Artist Alley and the Dealers Room when appropriate - off to the side out of traffic, and not aiming at any Artist or Dealer booth merchandise. Not preferable, but the notion that you may never see a particular cosplay again is legit - in fact every year I wind up seeing a bunch of cosplays in others' photo rolls that I never saw once, despite being in and out of the rooms and hallways all day (and evening) every day.

I played by the strict no photos rule in AA and DRs last year, and not only did I miss a ton of picture chances, everybody else I noticed was pretty much ignoring the rule anyhow.
AB 2012: S-Kogure Kiminobu (Slam Dunk)
AB 2013: F-Harima Kenji (School Rumble), S-Tuxedo Mask
AB 2014: F-Harima Kenji, S-Chinese Dragon, Tuxedo Mask
AB 2015: S-Jin (Samurai Champloo)
AB 2016: F-Jin, S-Yu Narukami
AB 2017: S-Jin
AB 2018: F-Tuxedo Mask, S-Yu Narukami, Su-Jin
AB 2019: F-Clark Kent, S-Tuxedo Mask, Su-Jin
AB 2020: Cancelled
AB 2021: Cancelled
AB 2022: AB Boycott due to shot requirement
AB 2023: Same as above
AB 2024: Maybe (IF shot requirement is rescinded)
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Rosedust »

voidgear wrote: โ†‘Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:00 am

My BIGGEST issue:
Staffers NEED to be more educated on the accessibility stickers and what to do with disabled attendees. My friend was told by a staff member when they asked for any sort of accommodation when lining up for the masquerade because they wouldn't be able to stand that long that the "guy who handles that isn't here" and so there was nothing she, the staff member, could do. Even though there's a clear policy of advanced seating. The staffer didn't offer to get a chair, move them to the front so they could be seated earlier, nothing. Staff need to be on the same page and need to receive some sort of brief sensitivity training so they don't just shrug and tell a disabled person to sit on the floor because the guy who knows what to do "isn't here" which should never be the answer to any question since most staff have walkies and the ability to post to the staff fb page with questions.
If the accommodations for disabled guests aren't widely known to all staff, then why even bother having an accessibility policy. This is something that's clearly going to come up, and I'm not saying every staff member should memorize every policy, but even if they had something to reference on their lanyard maps that stated the policies they were told to refer to so they can take the appropriate actions.
Yikes.
2019:
๐‘…๐’ถ๐“‹๐‘’๐“ƒ (๐‘…๐’ฒ๐ต๐’ด), ๐’ช๐’น๐’ถ ๐’ฉ๐‘œ๐’ท๐“Š๐“ƒ๐’ถ๐‘”๐’ถ (๐น๐’ถ๐“‰๐‘’/๐’ข๐’ช)

๐“Ÿ๐“ป๐“ฎ๐“ฟ๐“ฒ๐“ธ๐“พ๐“ผ ๐“จ๐“ฎ๐“ช๐“ป๐“ผ:
'06, '07, '09, '10, '13, '17, '18
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QueenVulpix
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by QueenVulpix »

This was the first time I was able to attend since AB 2015 and I had so much fun!

Didn't get to go to many panels but the Yoko concert was amazing. The security/speed of entering the con was also amazing as well! I'm not sure what changed since the last time I was able to go in 2015 but it was so fast and took no longer then a couple minutes to get into the con no matter what time/day I tried!

The anime cafe was really fun and all the maids were super friendly and nice. The only complaint I have about it, and maybe it was because I went on Sunday was that 70% of the menu was unavailable and only cupcakes, and 2 of the 3 types of bubble tea were available for purchase. Right before we were told we could line up to order food one of the maids recommended us to try the donuts but sadly there were no donuts, macarooms, sandwiches, or pretty much anything else listed on the menu in the maid cafe except hot dogs, 2 bubble tea flavors and cupcakes. The cupcake I tried was delicious but was a bit bummed out that I couldn't try the donuts or macaroons or any other options.

Congestion in the Dealers room wasn't bad at all though it feels like the exact same merchandise/vendors I remember seeing back in 2015 just with some newer animes and far less Alpaca plushes (R.I.P Alpaca plushes, I miss you :'( ) Still got many things though.

The Artist Alley was great and many lovely art/artists but it felt a lot harder to navigate/more cramped then the Dealers Room.

Overall I had a very great time and look forward to hopefully coming back next year!
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by Star »

I'm an artist and had spent the entire con inside the artist alley, so that is the only feedback I can give.


โ€ข Badge pickup was fantastic. I was grateful to how quickly I was able to get through security and on my way to setup.

โ€ข I had to ask directions and there were a group of staff who had no idea where the artist alley was. I think knowledge of the layout of general areas is something that needs to be addressed, it would've really cut down on time with me standing there with heavy items while staff members combed through their guides to find where to direct me.

โ€ข This was my first Anime Boston, so I can't address how similar things were to last year, but I did also notice there was a lot of merch featuring a certain fandom

โ€ข Holy mother of as;dljfja the music from next room was SO LOUD, what was even going on in there??

โ€ข My biggest complaint, however, are the photos. There was a table in my row with someone who stopped literally every other person to pose for a photo. And not just a quick shot either, they were doing these big fight poses and it seriously clogged up the ENTIRE WALKWAY every time it happened. There were several times traffic just stopped because this guy. If people managed to squeeze by, they just quickly scurried away without even looking any of the surrounding tables, much less make a purchase. And the worst part of all, I found this guy's instagram and my face, my helper's face, and a lot of my art were in the background of his photos, which I do not like and do not appreciate. I had talked to staff several times over the weekend about this guy, but they just came by to give him a warning, which made him stop for all of half an hour before he was back at it again. Nothing else was done and this was the biggest stressor the entire weekend. My entire Anime Boston experience was amazing, but this alone was enough to keep me from completely enjoying it.
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Re: Anime Boston 2019 Feedback Thread!

Post by x106eevee »

I really had wished and prayed hard that the Idol showcase wouldnโ€™t be on Sunday as I always have to leave early and desperately wanted to go. I legitimately cried in class today and have been depressed since I have found out it was on Sunday. If itโ€™s on Saturday youโ€™ll not only get actual idol fans and youโ€™ll get more people whoโ€™ll want to perform so badly that theyโ€™ll be there at 12 pm lined up! The reason I wanted to go to the idol showcase was thereโ€™s never been anything like this at AB and I genuinely was happy they would try something new! I like many couldnโ€™t go to the idol showcase due to sickness, religion reasons, and they could have had work. I really hope the AB staff consider Saturday or even Friday of the next AB for the idol showcase or an earlier time on Sunday as many again couldnโ€™t go.
Friday - hanfu Luo Tianyi
Saturday - out of cosplay hanfu
Sunday - casual clothes
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