Forum - View topicNEWS: Kunicon Cancelled ?
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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Mmm, cluster****. Kind of sad - I've heard some pretty good things about the Miami event, and I remain convinced that a professional for-profit anime con *can* work. Bottom line is, no business is safe from fraud, but on the other hand, trying to get a for-profit event organized without having much for-profit event management experience always did sound to me like a recipe for disaster.
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Becki_Kurosaki
Posts: 19 Location: New York, NY |
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I was there last year, and I had a great time.
 But I was also going on vacation to Orlando with my family that weekend, so I could only stay for about half of the Con. X_x
I wanted to show Vic Mignogna the Fullmetal Alchemist comic that I'm working on. But I guess I'll have to wait until next year (if KuniCon is back by then). 
At least there's still YasumiCon (which is always fun, even though it's usually somewhat disorganized and I'll have to wait until summer for it X_x). |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2311 Location: Online Terminal |
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Funny, I heard nothing but bad things about the Miami event. Of course, most of it was due to corporate idiocy, but that's beside the point. Negativity is negativity. A professional for-profit con probably can work but I do not think it will work. Why? Well, for one, there's the stigma of being corporate and thus given the stereotype that you don't give half a damn about how the thing runs, as long as your bottom line looks peachy (4Kids haters will probably concurr with this statement). Second of all, there would be a backlash from all the dozens of not-for-profit cons whose staffers don't like the idea of being shown up by some snobby rich guys. When given the chance to strike back, they almost certainly will, and man, if you want to talk about clusterfudge.... The only way, I feel, that a corporate con will work is if a bunch of former con heads (especially from big ones like Ota, AX, and ACen) decided to pool their talents and decide "Hey, I think it would be cool to put on cons for a living" and start their own company. Then, it (or something similar) may have a chance. |
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CorneredAngel
Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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Tell that to the people who run ComicCon. Or the Pokemon Rocks events. Or Transformers conventions. Thing is, there are plenty of anime fans out there who are in their twenties and thirties and up, and making decent money, and *want* the kind of service and experience that a fan-run, non-professional event just can't provide. In fact, it's being 'fan-run' that can sometimes lead to the fallacy that 'anything we do is good enough, because we are pure of heart.' Far too often, staffers at the fan-run cons seem to subscribe to the attitute that 'since I'm not getting paid for this, why should I do anything but the absolute minimum of work' Bottom line is, there is a place for the smaller fan-run con, but I also think there is definitely a place there for a professional for-profit event. Especially since there are enough people out there who have the experience. Now they just need to stop being afraid to make money off it, while at the same time, never forgetting that what they are doing is first and foremost running a business. |
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ACDragonMaster
 Posts: 405 |
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Yeah, but things like the Pokemon events and such are sponsored by a huge company, and feature a very, very popular product. Bandai or Geneon might be able to sponsor a con in their name and make something of it, but that's a big might. Are they only going to be selling their own products? Will their legal advice tell them not to allow fanworks in an artists alley or such? Would they even have those things like artists alley, fan panels, diverse viewing rooms, AMVs, dealers specializing in import goods, etc, that are amongst those things that are the big draws for a lot of fans?
Maybe of the big corporations pooled their resources, they could pull it off, but that's a big maybe, I think. The anime fandom has very specific expectations of a con now, and I dunno if that can be met by something corporately-run. Though as for that staff attitude... There's also, on the other hand, the cons where the attitude amongst the staff is "we even pay our own admission so we're gonna do everything we can to make this thing go well no matter what" or something like that. An attitude that can only exist with volunteer con staff who run things for nothing but the sheer love of anime and its fandom. And those, in my opinion, tend to make for the some of the best cons. |
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Lothar
 Posts: 67 |
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Mikhail, we've discussed this before, but I think it bears repeating. Cons today are primarily social events for fans, whereas in years past they were both social events and a place to buy things when one couldn't get anime-related merchandise anywhere else. AnimeNation, eBay, and even Best Buy and Suncoast have made all but the most obscure anime-related products readily available. Swag is still sold at cons, but the dealer's room isn't the comparative draw it once was.
So what does that leave older fans with money for an incentive to go to cons other than the social aspect of them? They're probably not going so much because congoers tend to be adolescents and college students who want to show off their costumes or just hang out with their friends that they met on IRC or some Bleach messageboard. The only way I can really see a professional anime con staying in the black is if it institutes a strictly-enforced "no damn kids" rule and the panels are devoted to anime pre-1990. Seriously, I've seen this idea thrown around by older fans. With cons today, there's nothing much to sell because the fans themselves are the primary product. Unless it's a con with a firm niche that fans have the willingness and ability to pay for, I see for-profit anime cons as pointless. |
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adam_omega
 Posts: 256 Location: Seven Seas |
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This news doesn't surprise me. Of all the cons that I've ever tried to get a press pass from, Otakucon/Kunicon was the absolute worst ever. I managed to score a press pass for Animefringe for the Miami con, but I was treated so badly on the phone and via e-mail that it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I refused to even attend or waste the money on travel/hotel.
One of Animefringe's other staffers attended the St. Louis con in a press capacity and seemed to have a great time, but I just couldn't ever remain focused enough to take in their Miami or Atlanta cons after being treated like crap. Whatever problems Otakon had this past summer with their press department paled in comparison to Kunicon's. |
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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I attended the St. Louis con on a press pass as well, and I had a great time. It was no ACen, but it was good. It's a shame to hear Kunicon is gone....I guess that means the St. Louis one as well? |
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Rikabu
Posts: 25 |
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Sadly, I think so. I thought the con in St. Louis was really fun. I hope something replaces it very soon, that was our first anime con here. Hopefully not our last... |
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remember love
 Posts: 764 Location: Germany |
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Your "no damn kids" rule won't happen by any means. Though I agree with it to a certain extent it won't happen because most company's and undertandably believe that kids are the future and are the ones who are willing to want to buy most of the merchandises out there. Now you say no college students who dress up in the costumes I don't think that's fair.If they wish to have fun dressing up as there favorite character so be it...it's the same as an star trek convention if someone dresses up as a Klingon. Let them have there fun too, that's what it's all about for fans. Now younger kids like below teenage level I will agree towards they shouldn't be there because the more muture audience would like to be in an enviroment which probably doesn't make them looking like a 8 year old child, that's understandable. But I believe from highschool age and up should have the rights to be allowed to go see their anime and have a good time. That's what the whole convention is about having a good time and if companies want money off it let them do what they have to do. If the teenagers are there to hang out with friends so be it...it's the same with amusement parks friends go there to hang out and have a good time. I think there should be a standard for this. People who come in cosplay and those teenagers you describe are true anime fans or really enjoy going to conventions then they should be willing to pay. If older fans have a problem with it all I have to say towards them is deal with it. |
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Joe Mello
Posts: 2311 Location: Online Terminal |
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Lothar seems like the kind of person who might be able to appreciate this editorial. It's almost 2 years old, but a lot of it still rings true.
I replied to this editorial, even though I had never been to a con then. What I said then, I'll say now. If you don't like what goes on in the convention scene, then don't show up. Also, if you can't figure out a good reason to go, you shouldn't. (I could post the full e-mail, but that seems unnecessary) |
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