Wednesday, May 05, 2010

ninjaHELL! @ Anime Matsuri 2010: Final Wars

Okay, I think nearly a month is enough time to calm down after what happened.

First of all, I had a feeling that this show was off to a bad start when I didn't hear anything from any convention personnel for two months. We only found out what day our event was after a fan mentioned it in passing to us. As a result, we headed down there without any guarantee of passes, crash space, or equipment we needed them to provide (I'm a poor college student and a projector and sound system are a little pricey for me).

Turns out, they were also too pricey for the convention. No one there had read any of the emails I sent, so they were surprised that I didn't bring a full sound system, two microphones, and a way to hook up my equipment to their 10+ year old projector. As a result, we literally started half an hour late, unable to show any material. And when we finally could, we had to have our tech guy (one of our crew, not the convention) hold one of the two microphones to the speakers of the projector.

Once we got started, we had some fun, but the complete apathy of the staff and a heckler made this show very rough.

Fans, I'm really sorry. I felt that this particular show wasn't the quality you've come to expect. And regardless of whatever other people may do to us, I should still be able to throw a high quality show your way, and I plan to work on my showmanship to make incidents like this one never happen again.

That said, in terms of numbers we had about the same number of people as Ikkicon IV. So, we must have done something right. 

As for what we showed:
  • Wounded Children (Tried to start strong after all of the Tech problems)
  • Heaven's Gates Hell's Flames
  • Animation Show: Intro, Intermission (in the 3rd Dimension), and End of Show
  • Girls Beware (While I love Sid Davis, this one was a little too dark)
  • Focus on: LSD (But this one was just right)
  • Tried some Sweating to the Oldies, but we didn't have near enough foreplay for it (HAHA... Innuendo.)
We're not going back there again, and I would really warn anyone who thinks this convention sounds fun: if you want to feel like you and your audience have been dragged through a dirt field covered with salt pellets, and only then, would I recommend this convention.

On that note, let's never speak of this convention again. EVER.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

It happens. I've had more then a few bad cons over the years. It's why I only do local cons. If it goes bad I can pack up and go home, or the hotel bar...

article marketing said...

Although I'm not so clear about what you say.I'm very fond of the pictures in your blog.Wish you happy!I'm just a passer-by.

Kubu-kun said...

...thank you article marketing.

I was considering doing some form of violent acting out due to the situation, but your kind words have really helped me turn my life around.

You're a saint. May God reward you at some point down the road.

Danno: Well, that's why I try to at least not have to pay to do HELL! anymore. If I can get free room and board, then I at least have that.

Funny enough, this was one of the cases where we had to provide room and board ourselves. I assume Zardoz is not pleased with this.

d.merrill said...

I've had similar things happen too, and over the years I've learned that if the con doesn't want you, don't go. If they don't respond to your emails, write them off. If they can't supply your AV needs, cross them off your list.

But, this is what I've been saying... there's no need for a Hell event at every. single. convention. ever. I think you've just proved it.

Kubu-kun said...

I agree: every convention doesn't need a HELL! event. The issue here is that I've only now been able to gain some form of reputation with the fans, so I didn't want my not showing at a horrible convention that decided to schedule me to harm all of the work that I spent 4 years to gain.

I'm going to stick to doing "[Regular] ninjaHELL!" at 2 conventions a year, but traveling around doing "ninjaHELL! Presents" at various conventions (My version of "RiffTrax Presents").

Kubu-kun said...

And thanks, d. merril. The support you guys have been giving me have been building my spirits back up.