SDCC BADGES ON SALE NOV. 22nd AT 6:00 a.m. PDT.

From the SDCC.com website. 

Comic-Con registration will open on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 6:00am Pacific Time. Thank you very much for your patience.

Badge sales will be online only -- there will be no onsite sales of badges! Supplies are limited.

Please note: Currently 4-day Badges with Preview Night are SOLD OUT due to onsite sales at Comic-Con in July. 4-day Badges without Preview Night are available. All 4-day Badges purchased online once registration opens will be WITHOUT Preview Night.

No badges for the 2011 Comic-Con will be sold on-site at the Convention Center. You must preregister everyone in your party before you arrive on site. Encourage your friends to register early, before we sell out.
PLEASE NOTE: Only one registration per person and that each person will need to have a valid photo ID that matches the name on their confirmation when picking-up a badge at the show next year.

BADGES WILL NOT BE MAILED OUT IN ADVANCE PLEASE BRING YOUR BAR CODED CONFIRMATION LETTER AND PHOTO ID ONSITE TO RECEIVE YOUR BADGE. BADGES WILL NOT BE PROVIDED WITHOUT A PRINTED, BAR CODED CONFIRMATION and PHOTO ID.

                               A photo of the large crowds that San Diego Comic-Con is know for. 


If you are thinking of going to SDCC you really need to consider purching your badge when they go on sale on Nov. 22nd.. Many fans were caught off guard last year when the event sold out months in advance and there was no way for fans to get in and see the Robotech panel.

Buy your badges when they go on sale on the 22nd.

SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTER ANNOUNCES EXPANSION PLANS

Good news from AnimeNewsNetwork.com for San Diego Comic-Con attendees.

The center, which has housed Comic-Con International since1991, would gain an additional 780,000 square feet of meeting, exhibit, and ballroom space under the concept design. (The center currently has 2.6 million square feet.) The city leaders estimated that the proposal would cost US$710 million and

could possibly open for Comic-Con International 2015. However, the city still needs to find the necessary funding for the proposal.

The expansion would include a five-acre rooftop plaza, a truck tunnel for exhibitors, and a 500-room hotel on top of a nearby parking garage. Denver-based architect Curt Fentress designed the proposal which was selected in a competition.

 SDCC has long been at their physical limits and any expansion is to be welcomed. The question remains is where the City of San Diego will get the funding for this project in this tough economic environment.

MECHACON ANNOUNCES 2011 DATES

MechaCon has made its official announcement of its 2011 dates. Below you will find the press release.

JETT

On August 26-28, 2011, Louisiana's largest and longest-running anime convention returns to the Crescent City!


MechaCon offers anime and mecha fans of Louisiana and neighboring states a chance to gather in a warm and friendly setting to learn more about the culture of Japan and to share in the experience that is the anime fan culture. Located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, MechaCon welcomes anime fans and Asian cultural enthusiasts across the south to join us for our seventh annual MechaCon weekend.

Located on New Orleans' world-famous Poydras Street, near the banks of the Mississippi River... the Hilton New Orleans Riverside will be host to MechaCon VII. Check out the wonderful accommodations offered by the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in our Accommodations section.

The 2011 event is our seventh convention and the MechaCon staff is completely dedicated to bringing you yet another spectacular convention experience in our commitment to continue evolving MechaCon to it's fullest potential. MechaCon is a unique blend, combining the worlds of Anime, Transformers, and Japanese Culture into an enjoyable three-day weekend. Fans of Anime and Transformers will not only be able to enjoy our many panels, viewing rooms, and dealers room, but attendees will also have the opportunity to learn more about the history and the culture of Japan through our informative panels and presentations.

ZEE

Now, it should be noted that we are aware that our 2011 dates may be inconvenient for some due to school being in session. We humbly apologize for this and ask for your understanding in knowing that this was the only weekend the hotel had available for us. Unfortunately, these are some of the growing pains we must endure in trying to make MechaCon a bigger and better event year after year. The Hilton is working with us to assure that we will be returning MechaCon to the month of July in 2012. We thank you in advance for your patience and your willingness to work with us to keep MechaCon growing ang going strong!


All that being said, we heartily welcome you back to MechaCon and if you haven't already, we hope you'll visit our forums and enjoy the full convention experience. All of the information for early registration, as well as the many wonderful benefits, will be available soon in our Registration section.

If you are interested in being a dealer, volunteer or purchasing a table in MechaCon 2011's Artists Alley, at MechaCon VII, these sections will be updated with reservation information soon.

Welcome back to the Big Easy...
welcome home to MechaCon!

Last year MechaCon was the signature event of the Robotech Convention Tour, with outstanding guests, informative panels, great tournaments and memorable events for Robotech fans. On top of all of that you had the City of New Orleans to explore and explore it everyone did. 

The Robotech Ranger wants you to go to MechaCon!

WORKING IN THE ANIME INDUSTRY (REPOST FROM THE OLD BANK OF KEV PLATFORM)

NOTE FROM KEV: This post was originally posted on Friday, 22 October 2010 on the now abandoned Bank of Kev platform. There is an update from me below.

This interesting post comes from the always entertaining Answerman of Anime News Network.

Today, you'll notice, there are no questions about working in the anime industry, be it as a translator or animator or manga artist or author or anything. NOTHING. Unfortunately that meant I had to skip two rather well-written and well-meaning questions on graphic design and screenwriting in the process.

Because, you see, I'm just tired of it. Absolutely tired. Every time, it's always the same answer. So, here we go, real quick before I get to the questions at hand: Do you want to turn your love of anime into a career? A career in anime as a writer or an artist or a translator or a web designer or a mid-level marketing executive? Sure. You bet.

It will take a lot of work and you will need to prove to (anime/manga company) that your work stands outside the anime fandom and can succeed on its own terms. You will need to get noticed. So just hunker down and do the best damn work you've ever done. And then your dreams will come true! It's just like Luffy wanting to be King of the Pirates! Only instead of beating up people, you'll be working your fingers to the bone on your desired field and craft.

People are often shocked when I tell them it was not my love of Robotech that got me hired at Harmony Gold. What got Harmony Gold interested in hiring me was my professional experience working at places like Fox, Paramount, Universal, MTV, Godspeed Opera House, Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun over the past 15 years. (they were and still are all interconnected.

  

                                 The Mohegan Sun Casino

My Robotech.com work bio ties right into the Answerman's point work that stands "outside the anime fandom"

  

Kevin's first official assignment in the Robotech universe was as an audit of Robotech's television ratings and viewer demographics during its original run in the 1980s. Kevin's analysis of the ratings in a cost effective manner along with his years of production experience made him a natural candidate for the Robotech team.

When I did the R&D audit back in late 2003 (you can see some of the results of that work here ) it was something very important to the Robotech franchise but it would turn off nearly all anime fans due its "boring" nature. Doing the audit required hard-core number crunching off spread sheets (think pages and pages of endless rows of numbers) that would put almost anyone to sleep, it also required a distinct skill to audit the reams of data. However, doing that audit showed Harmony Gold that I could very easily produce “work stands outside the anime fandom and can succeed on its own terms.”

 

       Its show business with an emphasis on business.

                                    

People who want to work in the entertainment industry in general and the anime industry in particular must understand that its called show business with an emphasis on business.  Thinking like a fanboy will only get you flattened and puts you on a one way ticket to the unemployment line.

For those who want to really work in anime or the entertainment industry you in many ways stop being off your fanboy and start thinking in a corporate sense. On the surface that might sound like a bad trade off, yet I can tell you that if you do it right it will be far more rewarding for you as fan than you can ever imagine.

                        

                             One of the rewards was taking the tour to China in 2007.


UPDATE FROM KEV:  IF you ever get a chance please check out my "How I Broke Into The Anime Industry" panel on the Robotech Convention Tour. I go into great detail on how it was not my love of Robotech but my work for over 15 years in the entertainment industry that got me into Harmony Gold.

2010 ROBOTECH CONVENTION TOUR HAS ENDED

Well the 2010 Robotech Convention Tour is now in the history books. The tour had 21 stops in 16 states and was at 4 of the 10 largest anime conventions in North America. The tour has grown stronger every year and has now moved into the world of State Fairs.

In the past year Harmony Gold has harnessed the power of our new  Robotech Twitter News Feed and the Official Robotech Facebook Page so we can  expand our coverage at conventions. Along with videos on CNN more  fans than ever are able to experience the Robotech Convention Tour no matter where it stops.

Another welcome addition to the Robotech Convention Tour has been the RobotechX fan booth at selected stops. The RobotechX booth allows fans to interact with other fans at events and netqork with one another. Also there have been surprise guests appearances from past, present and future Robotech productions  making stops at the RobotechX booth.

Also fans who have attended our panels have gotten the first news on current and upcoming Robotech projects. For those who are unable to attend the panels the Robotech Twitter News Feed often tweets the information mere seconds after the speaker tells the audience helping keep the fandom informed.

The Robotech Convention Tour has allowed fans to meet other fans but also allowed them to share their fanworks with other fans as well. No matter where you live if you have a chance to attend an Robotech Convention Tour stop it will be well worth your time.