[Lina]

This is starting to get a little annoying. Why haven't any guests been announced? The con is 3 1/2 months away and there are no guests in sight. Usually you guys have something announced by now. Hopefully you will be announcing something soon because guests are super important to me and they will decide whether I only go for one day or the whole weekend.

[Okko]

I was also curious about this, I'm going regardless but I must know!

[Voltaire30]

Lina, on 11 January 2012 - 11:44 PM, said:

This is starting to get a little annoying. Why haven't any guests been announced? The con is 3 1/2 months away and there are no guests in sight. Usually you guys have something announced by now. Hopefully you will be announcing something soon because guests are super important to me and they will decide whether I only go for one day or the whole weekend.

I am sure that GR is taking care of the necessary things before they announce things, like they do every year, even when you were on staff. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to email us.

[Lina]

Voltaire30, on 12 January 2012 - 12:31 AM, said:

I am sure that GR is taking care of the necessarily things before they announce things, like they do every year, even when you were on staff. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to email us.

That was pretty much my only question. I just hate the pattern of repeatedly announcing guests late and there's no information whatsoever on whether there are guests lined up or not. Hopefully you're right. I have tried so hard to put my faith into GR, but so far I haven't been extremely impressed so I'm hoping there will be fantastic guests for year 15. This will probably be my last year, as well as 10th year, going to ACen since I have been less than pleased with the con for quite some time, so I'm hoping there will be a fantastic guest list for my possible last year.

[Stormy-chan]

Yes a little more speed on listing the guests would be awesome! I go for the whole weekend since I come from out of state, but it would be awesome to know soon so I can start digging through my collection for items yet unsigned *hehe*. Can't you put up a list of possible guests, and just put unconfirmed next to the ones you are still waiting to hear back from or get paperwork signed for???

[ravenfinch]

i hope so i haven't have anything sign since it gonna be my 2nd year last year i bought no surovner and i didn't get anything sign since i got lost from my friends GIVE US THE FREAKING INFO plzzz.

[El Ken]

Stormy-chan, on 12 January 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

Can't you put up a list of possible guests, and just put unconfirmed next to the ones you are still waiting to hear back from or get paperwork signed for???

The answer to this question is simply no. We can't even announce confirmed guests. We can only announce guests once we have a fully executed contract, and sometimes we even have to wait longer for the guest to give us official press release material or we may have an embargoed press release awaiting a specific date.

Regarding the guest list for ACen 2012, we have several confirmed guests, but we're ironing out the agreement details. Like I said, once we have contracts in hand, we will release information. We are also currently embargoed on the press release for our first band announcement. Those details will be coming soon.

We're doing our best to bring guests to you this year that you want to see, though we obviously won't be able to make everyone happy. There will be announcements posted in the coming weeks.

[Stormy-chan]

El Ken, on 12 January 2012 - 11:14 AM, said:

The answer to this question is simply no. We can't even announce confirmed guests. We can only announce guests once we have a fully executed contract, and sometimes we even have to wait longer for the guest to give us official press release material or we may have an embargoed press release awaiting a specific date.

Regarding the guest list for ACen 2012, we have several confirmed guests, but we're ironing out the agreement details. Like I said, once we have contracts in hand, we will release information. We are also currently embargoed on the press release for our first band announcement. Those details will be coming soon.

We're doing our best to bring guests to you this year that you want to see, though we obviously won't be able to make everyone happy. There will be announcements posted in the coming weeks.

Thanks for the clarification, though that really bites that they tie your hands that way with releasing the info. I would think that they would want the info out there quickly so more fans can plan to come who may be on the fence as it were. Ah, back to cruising the forums then till permission is given for the fun info to be released...

[linlindesu]

This thread happens every year. Nothing happens to the timing of the announcements. Con becomes more and more of party con. Price keeps going up because of destruction caused by acen being "party con". Guests become less and less quality and are announced very late on. Thread happens again.

[Gabichox]

^ I love you. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Anyway, I was a bit worried myself today seeing as how other cons have been announcing guests and they are further away than acen. :/ I'm glad there's a thread for it but as Linlin said, this happens all the time. I don't even need to reply with my feelings since I've been repeating them for the past 5 years.

[Animexcel]

I'm not worried.

[Krystal]

linlindesu, on 12 January 2012 - 07:15 PM, said:

This thread happens every year. Nothing happens to the timing of the announcements. Con becomes more and more of party con. Price keeps going up because of destruction caused by acen being "party con". Guests become less and less quality and are announced very late on. Thread happens again.

Gabichox, on 12 January 2012 - 07:54 PM, said:

^ I love you. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Anyway, I was a bit worried myself today seeing as how other cons have been announcing guests and they are further away than acen. :/ I'm glad there's a thread for it but as Linlin said, this happens all the time. I don't even need to reply with my feelings since I've been repeating them for the past 5 years.

I think this could be another thread entirely. I am afraid Acen will become the next Reactor in that it caters to ravers and partiers more than it does ANIME fans, but try to have faith. It's a big con because of the fans, and nobody is going to completely ignore them.

This post has been edited by Krystal: 12 January 2012 - 10:52 PM

[Eneishi]

Krystal, on 12 January 2012 - 10:50 PM, said:

I think this could be another thread entirely. I am afraid Acen will become the next Reactor in that it caters to ravers and partiers more than it does ANIME fans, but try to have faith. It's a big con because of the fans, and nobody is going to completely ignore them.

Reactor was waaaaay smaller than Acen... so you really can't compare.

Granted 4 or 5 hotels are completely booked, but a good majority of the people are there for anime, but can you really say it's a bad thing if they do their anime thing during the day, and get their party on at night? I mean, that is some of the best times I have ever had! I'm hoping this year is the same if not better than the last year I went in 2008.

[Dark Stranger]

The question keeps coming up because ACEN seems to be annoucing guests late for the past couple of years. My first ACEN I knew a long ways away that HIGH And MIGHTY COLOR was going to be there. Hell that was one of the reason I came. But recently it seems like we have less then a month to hear from guests. The question should be, What can ACEN do to make the process go faster. Many other cons still annouce guests months in advance. Even AX which has many more japanese guests then ACEN so I'm assuming there would be even more contracts and what not to go through so what are they doing differently then ACEN.

I'm proabably not coming this year and sadly this is one of small contributing factors. :/

[linlindesu]

Eneishi, on 13 January 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

Reactor was waaaaay smaller than Acen... so you really can't compare.

Granted 4 or 5 hotels are completely booked, but a good majority of the people are there for anime, but can you really say it's a bad thing if they do their anime thing during the day, and get their party on at night? I mean, that is some of the best times I have ever had! I'm hoping this year is the same if not better than the last year I went in 2008.

Go to archive. Read threads created after almost every con about con damage and other horror stories. See the difference between "getting party on " and "destroying hotel property"

[Lina]

I can't quite remember who it was, but I believe it was you, El Ken, who said that you and your team were working on 2012 guests just before ACen 2011 even started. How is it almost taking a year when you started so early?

[El Ken]

Lina, on 15 January 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

I can't quite remember who it was, but I believe it was you, El Ken, who said that you and your team were working on 2012 guests just before ACen 2011 even started. How is it almost taking a year when you started so early?

You know, I'd love to have that answer as well. I'm honestly pretty frustrated with some things right now, and I'll be following up on several correspondences to find out what's going on. I had high hopes with all the talks starting so early... I guess the transition from talk to action is where we failed this year. Sorry, everyone, for saying that things would be different and then not delivering on it. Hopefully at a minimum, the guest list, when it is finished, will be something we all can be excited about.

[Lina]

El Ken, on 17 January 2012 - 02:57 PM, said:

You know, I'd love to have that answer as well. I'm honestly pretty frustrated with some things right now, and I'll be following up on several correspondences to find out what's going on. I had high hopes with all the talks starting so early... I guess the transition from talk to action is where we failed this year. Sorry, everyone, for saying that things would be different and then not delivering on it. Hopefully at a minimum, the guest list, when it is finished, will be something we all can be excited about.

It's good to know that you aren't happy with what is going on and aren't making any excuses. I hope things get worked out because I would love to know the guest list.

[opimus.rm]

I doubt ACEN will be able to get many Japanese guests this year because Golden week starts April 29th this year.

This post has been edited by opimus.rm: 18 January 2012 - 08:41 AM

[El Ken]

opimus.rm, on 18 January 2012 - 07:43 AM, said:

I doubt ACEN will be able to get many Japanese guests this year because Golden week starts April 29th this year.

That has been a difficulty for us as the last day of ACen is the first day of Golden Week. We're doing our best to bring guests people want to see.

[linlindesu]

opimus.rm, on 18 January 2012 - 07:43 AM, said:

I doubt ACEN will be able to get many Japanese guests this year because Golden week starts April 29th this year.

yet they'll still have the usual DJs. A chunk of those that are regulars at the hardcore are from japan...

[Sapphy]

I was browsing DragonCon's guest list the other day and checked ACen's immediately after and was pretty shocked to not see even a single guest lined up yet. ACen is not that far away--it's likely that people who would come for a guest (but haven't signed up yet) would end up passing if it meant having to wait until a month before the con to see if any of their favorite guests were coming.

I've attended ACen every year of its existence save for 2011. I don't remember guest announcements being this late in the past.

[Otaku Otoko]

94 days until ACen... Too bad we are hitting Golden Week... I was hoping ACen's 15th anniversary was going to be big. Well at least I have friends to hang out with and a laptop. Sadly I have to spend $175 a night for this...

[Ashori]

I admit, I'm growing impatient due to my own excitement, but honestly, the excitement of waiting for things to be announced is just part of the experience for me.

I'm sure A-Cen is going to blow us away with some fantastic guests this year. ^^

[El Ken]

Ashori, on 23 January 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

I'm sure A-Cen is going to blow us away with some fantastic guests this year. ^^

<.<

[Krystal]

Ashori, on 23 January 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

I'm sure A-Cen is going to blow us away with some fantastic guests this year. ^^

El Ken, on 23 January 2012 - 03:41 PM, said:

<.<

I feel so relieved!

XD

[HEDGESMFG]

I have a theory...

Has the currency difference in yen vs the dollar (77 yen to the dollar now, was 100+ yen to the dollar in 07 and earlier) partly been responsible for the lack of Japanese guests we've seen these past few years? (less yen for the dollar would mean paying to transport Japanese guests should cost more, I'd guess)

Back in the early 2000s, ACEN and many American cons used to regularly get not just Japanese voice actors, but also directors and producers (Shoji Kawamori in 2002?). Many that Japanese fans themselves would be excited to see if given the chance. Maybe I'm missing some things, but those days seem to be long gone. I would honestly like to know, is the additional cost of show creators a major factor, or have the guests selected just shifted with the tastes of the fans (maybe I really am an old fogie now who wants guests most attendees don't care about)?

[Krystal]

HEDGESMFG, on 23 January 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

I really am an old fogie

True dat.

[GITS SAC Motoko]

I'm going to stay positive and at least think we will have some cool guests for the big 15. But hey, if not this year then sweet 16 should be good then, right?

[Sapphy]

El Ken, on 23 January 2012 - 03:41 PM, said:

<.<

This isn't exactly comforting coming from a guest relations rep?