From: fafhrd@lunacity.com (David Medinnus)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: AA'93, AX'93, and Flame Wars
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 92 16:40:44 PST
Organization: LunaCity BBS - (Clan Zen Relay Network) Mountain View, CA

As the last half-dozen posts following George Greene's response to the 
GOH #4 posting imply quite a bit that I find to be misleading, I feel 
compelled to respond. Please note that I AM NOT a staff member of Anime 
America (nor is George Greene, last time I checked). Consequently, please 
direct flames at ME, and not them.

During Anime Expo '92 a large number of the AE'92 staff begged John 
McLaughlin to ressurrect AnimeCon, which he decided to do, and asked me 
to be the Chairman thereof. On the Sunday of AX '92 I informed Mike 
Tatsugawa that I was going to be running AC'93, with much of his 
dissaffected staff, on the July 4th weekend. Mike and I mutually agreed 
to delay any announcements about either con for 30 days, to give things a 
chance to settle down, and for each one of us to do our own checking on 
things.

Mike broke this agreement (later, when he and I were attempting to 
achieve a settlement/merging of the cons, he claimed that he had 
forgotten, which, given the sheer number of issues which we discussed, is 
quite understandable), and following his announcement, I announced 
AnimeCon '93.

We had two meetings thereafter, to try and mergew the two conventions. 
The minutes of these meetings were taped, and are public domain, open to 
examination to anyone who wants to check on precisely what was said. The 
upshot, however, is that (1) a combined con to be called Anime Expo '93 
would be run, (2) James Matsuzaki (then a member of the Anime Expo board 
of directors) would run it without interference from eithe Mike or 
myself, and (3) that James would be free to pick elements from both cons 
(including staff, hotel contracts, etc.) at his discretion. I went home 
with a sigh of relief; the Anime War was over.

Two weeks later, James issued a cease-and-desist order to Mike to stop 
negotiating with the hotel (it was Chris Knight's job), to stop 
negotiating with guests (that was Andy Kim's job), etc. Unable to get 
Mike to stop playing "God-Emperor" of AE'93, James resigned, and took 
much of the staff with him. Thus was born AA'93. I was (and am still) 
heartily sick of the level of infantile politics and lies involved in 
the Anime Wars. 

Again, I am not on staff with Anime America, although I am good friends 
with Greg Scanlan and James Matsuzaki. 

George, please refrain from slaming either con (although AE'93 is more 
likely, given the substance of your last post....). People here are going 
to decide which con to go to based on their Guests, not on the rumor andf 
innuendo of r.a.a. (at least, I hope they will). 

Albert, please check your facts before you make statements on-line. For 
example, if you check the AE'92 staff list for department heads and above 
you will find that more than half of them are with AA'93, including the 
entire Operations division.

Please pardon the spelling errors; I compose on-line, and find it a 
pretty petty thing for people to complain about. 

And if I hear another "quality vs. quantity" comment, I'll vomit. All of 
the guests confirmed at both cons are professionals, and should be 
accorded the appropriate respect REGARDLESS of which con they decide to 
support. I find it insulting that you imply that Adam Warren, Ben Dunn, 
etc., are somehow intrinsically "less worthy" because they are in a 
roster of 14, instead of a roster of 4. 

FWIW, my shop has no Anime Expo flyers, presumably because y'all feel 
that I am too unprofessional to allow my customers access to information. 
I do not bear grudges, and if you send me flyers I will display them 
right next to the Anime America ones.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Medinnus -> (fafhrd@lunacity.com)
                                LunaCity BBS - Mountain View, CA 415 968 8140
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime