A moderated forum where Stan Sakai and the UYD Shogunate regularly post UY-related news, comic con and signing info, Dojo contest info, and special announcements to UYD Members.
We just got back in town and put our kids to sleep. What a wonderful trip. Today was the highlight of the Comic-Con, getting to meet some of you in person.
Todd Shogun wrote:
. . . the gifts he put together that many of you all contributed to. So thanks Dojo Members! The entire award took three books to complete, the likes of which has been reproduced on the web at http://25yearsof.usagiyojimbo.com ...go check it out!
I also want to thank all of you who contributed something. Your thoughts, art and gratitude was very inspiring to read/look at. You are very expressive fans! (and I know more of you wanted to submit something but didn't have the time or life events prevented you from doing so. That doesn't make you any less of fan. We all know Usagi fans are the best!
Todd Shogun wrote:
(BTW Mike's presentation was captured on video and will be available soon here on the Dojo!).
We'll see about that. Cheryl told me everyone was standing when we gave the speech. So she had to hold the tripod up to give a visual. I haven't looked at the footage but I can't imagine much of it is very good (steady). But I'll look at it when I get back home (we are leaving again - one of the benefits of having a 10 month position) in a few weeks.
Todd Shogun wrote:
Ray's Albedo NR 2 cake! SWEET! (literally)
That cake was super cool!
Todd Shogun wrote: Many Dojo Members turned out for the annual "photo shoot" outside of room 8 overlooking the bay. Diana Schutz also appeared, making this her first Dojo photoshoot! Also in attendance were Mayhem, Glennosuke Masuda, Kim "Leonardo", Rob Kassebaum, Dri "Groosagi" Serna, Cynlee, Buslady, James Fujii, Glenn Bernabe, Tokka, and a few other folks who need to help me identify them!
It was very nice to meet many of you!
The Annual Dojo Group Photo
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Peace, maka
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I get to catch today's Todd report, but that's cos I'm checking the boards late after I've packed ready to fly home tomorrow...
Anyhoooow, yes it was fun filled day starting with the Dr Who panel and then following on with the double whammy of Mouse Guard and Usagi Yojimbo; I think a few peeps who came in early for Usagi and caught some of the MG talk ended up lining at David's booth afterwards as there was a flock of people wanting items and signatures towards the close of play
We had the presentation and the cake and the photo... and the surprise of Stan making me stand up for the introduction to the thumbnail demo! Caught me unawares that one
As always it was a pleasure meeting the rest of you folks from the Dojo... I'll catch you all when I get back and upload the slew of pictures I've taken...
With a breeze comes a storm, but then you'll all be washed away...
It's too bad that Stan and Sergio probably only get a small fraction of the attention that other stuff gets at SDCC, but, then again, maybe they prefer it that way.
I'd like to go to SDCC someday, but there are some parts of it that I'm perfectly happy to skip (I might have to at least partially overcome some of my phobias about crowded, noisy events before I attend). Is it that bad if you don't care about any of the movie stuff and you're just there to meet comic book creators?
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"It doesn't matter whom you are paired against;
your opponent is always yourself."
That reimagining of the SDCC logo is spot on. NOT only could I and Buslady NOT get into Futurama, the shirt came out (while we were in line since well before it was to have taken place) at 1:45 to inform us that if we were in line for Futurama we would not get in, the room was full. I immediately pointed out loudly that there was no point in his FINALLY telling us this as the panel was now over. It was fruitless. And I missed the con talk back--- and I was going to carry the info that the Mirage crew was not pleased with how they were treated at times by the SDCC powers-that-be during their stay in Artists Alley.
Oh, did you see on the last day the two guys carrying the signs "Twilight ruined Comic-Con"? The Mirage crew signed their signs in agreement.
Stan and Sergio and many many others deserved more. I certainly think we (the comic fans) deserved more. I'm going to write an email AND a snailmail to Comic-con and let my feelings be known.
Happy stuff-- the panel for Stan was awesome. Wish we could have had some cake.
They need to start booking programs like they book memberships. I wasn't affected (this year!), but I can see how someone who wants to see a panel can be completely screwed because a panel afterwards (i.e. Twilight) causes the room to be packed with people taking up space just so they can see their more "popular" panel later on in the day. Maybe they need to adopt a ticketing policy like they do with the Masquerade (but don't force people to wait in line), and make the ticketing available online so people can more or less save a spot for their panel...the only caveat is clearing the larger rooms between panels...they'd need to have longer gaps of time between each one. But they clear the rooms in the smaller panels so this is not a new concept...just takes someone with some brains to figure out how to make it all work!
If anyone saw the Kevin Smith panel and the talk about Twilight...I completely agree with what was said. I won't repeat it all here because this isn't the forum for such discussion but dang do I agree!
Overall I really enjoyed the con...it's never perfect. Heck I've been going since '87 when it was 99% dudes, two halls the size of Ballroom 20 each, and comic-con STILL can't get it right to this day. But that's what makes it comic-con. It's a disorganized mess, but you gotta love it!!!
I have heard that in 2010 the con will limit Preview Night attendees to the first 13,000 people who purchase 4-day passes. I have not heard any official word on this, though.
Preview Night began as a way to reward those folks who support the con by purchasing full-con badges, but now it's become just another day. They want to go back to the original purpose of PN. Again, I stress that this is unconfirmed.
Todd Shogun wrote: The entire award took three books to complete, the likes of which has been reproduced on the web at http://25yearsof.usagiyojimbo.com ...go check it out!
I think I fixed the link. Try it out and see if it works. A special thanks to Todd and Fanfan for helpful feedback on website design and uploading. Learn something new everyday.
On comic-con lines: My family waited in line for Hall H on Friday for two hours and didn't get in. Hall H holds 6500 people. Incredible. I felt bad for my kids when my godson said, "We are wasting our time here, we could be on the floor."
That was disappointing. But that same day we were able to talk with Larry Marder (http://larrymarder.blogspot.com/) and Eric Shanower (http://ericshanower.com/es/index.shtml). I had bought Beanworld book 2 on Thursday. It's 328 pages. Angela read the whole thing that night. It was great for her to talk to Larry about Beanworld's characters and her perspective as a 10 year old. I loved watching them interact together.
With Eric I bought his Adventures in Oz and read the first book as a bed time story to Cami and my godchildren. So Cami was able to tell Eric how much she laughed, "They are so happy!" at the end of that book. I love it when artist can see the positive impact their work is having on children (especially mine. ).
It was a rather expensive vacation, much of the cost was housing cost. We had to check into a Motel 6 for Saturday night and that was over $150/night for a pet friendly motel. I won't be making it to Comic-Con again for a while.
That said, it was my first Comic-Con and I loved the experience. The main highlight was giving your UY Dojo gift to Stan. I also loved meeting and talking with some of my favorite cartoonists who art and storytelling I love. I have no regrets and I am full of great memories.
Back home, a bit tired, sad to leave you all behind... and the "fun" begins to try packaging up all the goodies people wanted me to buy hah hah. Photos will come in due course. Images of all the stuff I bought for my collections will be added to the Usagi, TMNT and Mouse Guard groups on my Flickr.
@Jet Jaguar - strangely enough I brought that captioned image of the Count from SS up a couple of times at the Con
cynlee wrote:and I was going to carry the info that the Mirage crew was not pleased with how they were treated at times by the SDCC powers-that-be during their stay in Artists Alley.
Oh, did you see on the last day the two guys carrying the signs "Twilight ruined Comic-Con"? The Mirage crew signed their signs in agreement.
PM me if you don't want to clutter up this thread about the Mirage guys Cyn, but I was chatting to them for a fair bit and they never mentioned anything about that, even though we touched upon what it was like to be back in San Diego after so long. I'd be interested to know what you found out in general.
I didn't see the signs but I have to agree to a point; it certainly ruined Thursday, because they should have had that panel first as originally proposed in Hall H... I abandoned any hope of getting in there, just like last year. Conversely, with a little queueing here and there, I got into every other panel I wanted to get into. So something worked out there at least...
With a breeze comes a storm, but then you'll all be washed away...
Stan Sakai wrote:Preview Night began as a way to reward those folks who support the con by purchasing full-con badges, but now it's become just another day. They want to go back to the original purpose of PN. Again, I stress that this is unconfirmed.
Stan, the problem is that Preview Night has turned into Exclusives Night...
More attendees are crowding in on PN just to get first crack at the exclusive merchandise, and the a lot of the big name exhibitors are actively encouraging it. I was looking over Kotobukiya's SDCC 2009 coverage, and they listed that amount of one exclusive figure availabe on PN would be 150 units, while the rest the con would be roughly 1/3 of that per day.
Limiting the Preview Night attendee headcount might work, but not without some restraint on the part of the exhibitors... NBC/Universal (after last year's Cylon Toaster mayhem), got smart and made their exclusive SDCC merchandise available only via ordering from their website, while only bringing down ones to display at the SyFy booth (or as daily prizes).
And just to let you know, my first priority on SDCC 2008 Preview Night was to see you and contribute to your daughter's stuffed bear pile (uh, and pick up that rokurokubi commission too!)
khyron82 wrote:And just to let you know, my first priority on SDCC 2008 Preview Night was to see you and contribute to your daughter's stuffed bear pile (uh, and pick up that rokurokubi commission too!)
Oh man, Hannah had another "Bear Drive" and no body mentioned it ahead of time!!!
). 
