more TWEWY
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00112.jpg
I forget what's the game title
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00160.jpg
Devil May Cry
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00169.jpg
D-Grayman
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00053.jpg
Shuffle
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00051.jpg
Death Note: Misa and Rem
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00019.jpg
He had a nice Claymore!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00174.jpg
More Metal Gear Solid
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00018.jpg
I forget the name...
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00020.jpg
Power Rangers
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00150.jpg
Haruhi + Yuki
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00064.jpg
Lucky Star
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00024.jpg

Ragnarok Online crew
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00058.jpg
Code Geass: CC + Euphie gowns version
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00075.jpg
More Gurran Lagann: Adianne
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00037.jpg
Kingdom hearts
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00083.jpg
WALL-E (was a paper prop)
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00069.jpg
Eyeshield21
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00052.jpg
Bleach
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00077.jpg
Legend of Zelda
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/DSC00188.jpg

lulz that doesnt make any sense. even if i volunteer that doesnt give me any power to invite better guests. i only went for 4 hours on friday cuz i knew it was going to be a disaster. Saw some pretty neat costumes though most of the Con looks amateurish and looks like its organized by a school club. And stop giving me that dont like it? volunteer BS, i did security for AE the last two years

Why wouldn't she give you that BS?

Every year, programming asks staff what guests they would like to see. They also ask the congoers (in case you haven't checked the AE forums in awhile). If you don't like the guests who are being invited, then I'd suggest you try and get your way in to programming instead of security so you can influence who the con brings in.


Without volunteer staffers, and the work of same, nothing happens at AE. Lots of people complain, few people help.

security has nothing to do with guests. PROGRAMMING has EVERYTHING to do with guests. consider staffing in a different department? also please do keep in mind that who is invited largely depends on who is available and COSTS. even when all that is considered, there are STILL guests who flake out on the con last minute.

considering the con literally had to start all over from square one due to the venue change, i think for 5 weeks of solid work, this was a decent event that was put together. it was no where near as good as the past years and i fully acknowledge that but staffers and execs gave it their best shot. if you were staffing the con for the last two years as security, then you of all people would understand how lacking the con is of staff and volunteers.

Compared to last year, AE this year was way too unorganized. Although it's understandable because of the recent location fuck up and the severe lack of staff, it could've been a lot better. The new location is way better because of the short walking distance between events and better sound system for main events. If possible, it'd be nice to see AE2009 be held at UBC again.

What I really disliked was the lack of organization and planning for the events. Events were being cancelled, moved around, rooms were shuffled and so on. And to add on top of that, there were a batch of event pamphlets that were circulating that had the wrong info on where and when events are being held.

The quality of guests are understandable. As a convention, AE isn't as widely recognized compared to Sakura-con or Anime EXPO. We can only hope that AE will continue to grow and acquire enough budget and reputation to be able to invite big name guests (Shoko-tan, Aya Hirano, JAM Project, Ali Project are examples of guests for other conventions). Maybe in the future will see those names pop-up in the guest list.

There was also the case of merchants being screwed out of their money. They paid to be in the dealer's room for all 3 days, however they were only allowed 2 days. AE (to date) hasn't even bothered to give refunds.

Despite the circumstances, i'm glad the AE pulled through the challenges they were thrown at this year. Since there's a possibility that there will be another one next year, we can only hope that they'll look back to this event and improve on the things they were lacking at.

Before you guys start telling me to volunteer or STFU, I just want to say that i'm only offering constructive criticism. AE staff did a good job but I know that they realize that they could've done better.

What a waste, I failed to take pics of your costume on the 2nd day so I was hoping to see your around in your Shiki costume for the 3rd day. If my stalker memory is accurate, you were wearing glasses on the 3rd day?

Pics I took =D
First Day: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...3&id=504192288
Second Day: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&id=504192288
Third Day: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...e&id=504192288

i'm sure constructive criticism such as yours ecchiecchi would be more well received and would lead to improvements more than comments like Seamo's. for those of you who attend this event, you would know of the forums, go write it up in the proper section. hopefully the exec's n staffers will read it and the department heads can reflect on it.

My ex at AE. Guess the character:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/lomac/bamae.jpg

lol

yea they asked on the AE forum but they never listened or never follow through. Instead they invited dubbers and small fries. Why would I try and get into programming if my specialty was in security?


U asked me in ur first post that I should stfu or volunteer. Well I told you I did volunteer in security. So no shit, security has nothing to do with guests and programming does. Even so, as a volunteer, they should've listen to us and the con goers.

Yea, you're right on who were available. But guess what, we should at least get some REAL small fries Japanese bands instead of a bunch of wannabe hongers.

You're wrong on the cost though, this year, they boosted up the ticket price again and gave us all that bullshit that they can't sustain or w/e, two years ago, the tickets were cheaper and they even got a REAL japanese band over (ZZ). and wtf happened this year?? I bet the chairman or w/e on the top pocketed some of the money themselves. It's pretty unexcusable to boost the price up and set up a lackluster amateur "con"

sigh.. i might be able to answer the question of why dubbers are invited.. it's because they're local. they don't really cost the con anything to get them here, and also i believe the production company that they work for is one of the larger production companies for dubbed anime, and also an active sponsor of the convention.

to clarify though, in case anyone misunderstands i'm just a small fry working under other people and know nothing of the workings of the executive team. maybe they should do a chart that illustrates where exactly all the money goes to.. say whatever % goes to flying guests here, whatever percentage goes to renting the venue and whatever % goes to catering for food etc etc. that might settle a lot of questions regarding $$ issues. it all boils down to my next point about being transparent.

one problem i saw about AE was definitely the lack of transperancy between executives and staff and the executives towards the public and as a result having people question exactly wtf is going on with the exec team and their planning. hopefully things will go better next year, but personally i couldn't care less as i won't be around to see it.

Lulz same, Eurotrip!!

i'll butter your sashimi if you know what i mean baby.

um, a random surrey slut? :p
either that, or maybe Gwen Stefani. cosplayers in Vancouver have really stepped up their game in recent years, lots of good costumes. I remember going the first few years the event was held at SFU, and the cosplayers had lame costumes. I only recognize maybe 20% of the characters in the pics posted above.

^i was going to say the same. i went to AE in '04. haven't been able to since, but the quality of the constumes has improved exponentially over the last 4 years.

will definitely make an effort to go next year. even if it is only a day or two.

Lol @ Ulic.

Last time u went was 04 right? I hope you realize that the pics I put up were the best I could get out of my camera at the moment. There are still plenty of fail in the con crowds but it kinda depends on your level of expectations/pickiness and your tailoring standards. People are also investing more bling into buying their costumes while doing so wasnt so readily easy years ago.

From what I hear, AE has come a long way since its inception. It's a local event run strictly by volunteers, so when people compare AE to ones held in Seattle, Edmonton, what have you, AE will definitely seem pretty unorganized. This year, an organizer from one of the other more established anime cons will be putting together a report with recommendations and will present it to staffers and volunteers soon. The person was quite appalled by the state of affairs. In any case, AE is the only choice for a lot of anime aficionados in the area. Most attendees cannot afford to travel to the other well-known cons.

According to some of the volunteers, this year was a bit of a disaster. No communications at all with volunteers and some staffers. It was frustrating for them. As someone mentioned earlier, the people running the show did not listen to what others had to say. Again, the con is only as good as the people who volunteer, but there has to be more accountability from the people up top. Let's hope they take the recommendations given by the consultant seriously, because AE has a lot of potential.

I thought I heard that next year the con was going to be held at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre and that AE may join forces with another anime group. Rumours?

From the sounds of it, a lot of people who have given up their valuable time, effort, and energy in the past will not be back next year.

Is that the lady from Anime North in Toronto?

I believe so. EDIT: it's a lady from the Edmonton con (Animethon).

Overall, I think the convention was a success considering losing the venue two months before the proposed dates. It must have been tough losing vendors and such. Gotta hope it didn't leave too bad a taste in people's mouths. All it takes is a couple of bad years for people to not take it seriously anymore. So, any chance you'll get back into it?

Yep, I'll be getting back in to it. I just need a year off to remind myself of what cons are supposed to be--fun. And in the positions that I've been manning over the last 6 years, I've had fewer chances than I'd've liked to enjoy the con.

Also: YGPM (soonish)

How's this year's event?

Any pics?


It's at the Convention Centre this year...........

AE @ the VCEC this year.

Pre-registration was 2400+.

Going to be fucking crazy.

I saw a bunch of weeboos on the Skytrain yesterday. I was embarrassed for them. Flame me if you want but you shouldn't bring cosplay to public transit.

what are weeboos? is it like a twitter/facebook site?
On that note what's an AE, as you can probably tell, I'm new to this rev scene too...

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Weeaboo (here there be NWS dragons)

AE

AE = Anime Evolution, www.animeevolution.com