I think Himeno specifically is notoriously private (not sure if ‘notorious’ is the right word). Though, I think there are quite a few artists who like to keep things on the downlow. This immediately came to mind:
Some artists dont like to show their face even in publications in Japan about Pokemon cards. Im also reminded of photos of Nishida holding a Pikachu plushie in front of her face (i think it was Nishida).
Yeah I feel super bad for anyone who didn’t even get to see her. I guess she’s just a very private person. As @needszeebs just said, Nishida is the same way
Thinking about this a little more it would have to be done very carefully to avoid just having everyone input their mom and grandmas cousin into the queue. Maybe the lottery is when you get there you sign up and get a random number assigned from there… painful to miss out but extremely fair.
Also, people suggested if you get into panels you don’t get to go through general (I think this would be a fantastic idea). If they really want to then you can just put them on a “stand by” list that is after the general line’s last # when the queue is closed.
Ill be playing at EUIC, let me know if you want to do any testing before the tournament!
What book/magazine is this article in? If you don’t mind sharing.
Cover is illustrated by Arita! You could probably just type in Pokemon Illustration magazine, its relatively new. Theres tons of TCG artwork in it, unreleased and released!
Ooh I’ve seen this! Definitely need to pick one up, thanks for showing me!
I definitely recommend! Really fun to flip through 
Apologies for the delayed response. I wanted to take some time to reflect and appreciate the event in its entirety before commenting further. Really happy to see a lot of people enjoyed the event. I’m also going to split my thoughts into different posts so I do not inadvertently write an essay again (no promises though, heh). To your question about determining the order online:
Hopefully someone with a competent coding background can speak to this more clearly, but from my limited experience, the logic in the script would be similar to Ticketmaster’s process for filling seats in a concert hall or stadium, or an airline with assigned seating. No duplicate seating is possible and is first come first serve once the transaction is completed - in this particular event scenario, the coder would assign a unique ID that should be able to account for the linear progression, chronologically. If anything, applicants could theoretically sign up for slot 50 even if the other slots are not filled if the chronology can’t be automated. Mind you, my experience in coding is very limited so if the above is completely false and inaccurate, then please disregard.
Just as an overall fyi I am actively talking with Alec about ways to tweak things to improve the average experience so feel free to offer constructive suggestions
Maybe an add on option that obviously could be very expensive for sending in for the signing. Obviously would still be personalized etc but would cut into margin for flippers.
Give people a trusted way to ensure they could get the card signed if they couldnt make the event and peace of mind that it would happen and not just travel for a chance. This option potentially give the artist a nice payout aswell.
For a case like this for example im sure many here wouldve been willing to pay $500 + for an auto.
If she offered say an $800 send in then the amount that did it would be small but the net total would be pretty high for the amount of autos they would need to sign.
This would also be cheaper for many international people then travel to make it an option.
One recommendation I have is to have a NON - VOLUNTEER staff Member for the queue. There was confusion and rumors spreading like a game of telephone on the queue about things like when the staff will come to note down people’s position. Simply having a point person wearing an Overload Events staff T-shirt who can answer questions would be great. Even if there’s little they can actually say, it will reduce people’s stress to know someone is listening and Overload is physically present.
This needs to be a paid position. It’s way too much to ask of a volunteer, especially if queues keep getting worse. There are people who do this for a living. If you are going to write on Twitter that queueing may begin Thursday evening, give an exact time and have the staffer there BEFORE THEN to tell people the queue has NOT STARTED YET. Do not deviate from what was shared on Twitter. Like many have mentioned, I got a flight that allowed me to begin queuing Thursday evening. Had I known the queue would begin far earlier, I would’ve booked an earlier flight. Don’t buck responsibility for this with “people will line up anyway”. They won’t if a staffer warns them they will be removed from the queue if caught loitering.
Yes, this will cause a mad rush when the minute strikes. Good. Dissuades the need to come days early if you know there is zero benefit and you get no advantage over anyone else for waiting whatever hours nearby.
I also think this person should NOT be an e4 Member and ideally someone no one knows, and someone who does not plan to get their own signatures. From people outside of e4 I noticed so much confusion about who to look for help / why they would trust seemingly random people from a forum they never heard of / why they were getting their number in line from a non - staff member.
To be frank, a good amount of people assume the worst and that there are unfair advantages at play when they see all the volunteer staff are buddy buddy with Alec irl and all manage to get signed cards. Obviously within e4 we know this is not the case but from an outsider’s perspective it’s weird that the staff in line are just the event organizer’s personal friends who all collect signed cards as well.
The people taking numbers in the line did it at their own discretion, event staff did not ask them to do that nor was that list used for anything
A great reason to have an actual staff member to avoid self - appointed people filling the void because they recognize the valid need.
Thoughts on the event:
First and foremost, I was not aware that the aforementioned “organizers” in my first post were entirely volunteer staff. Given the size of the event and amount of chaos that they had to wade through to properly execute the event, I will say that they did a phenomenal job of orchestrating this event’s primary objective, which is to ensure the artist had intimate and quality engagement with the fans.
Although I did not make the cut for a signing, I was living vicariously through those who did. One person was telling me how excited he was to meet her, and he brought a recently acquired Tropical Mega Battle Plaque that Himeno had signed decades ago. After the signing, he had a massive grin on his face, and he shared that when he showed the plaque to Himeno, she exclaimed with excitement, ran to her bag, and pulled out the complementary badge that she had kept on hand since that event! After hearing many similar interactions during this past weekend, I realized two things:
One of my favorite factoids I heard was an explanation she provided in her first Q&A panel for why Psyduck is Himeno’s favorite Pokemon - she apparently had headaches in the past and she could closely relate to Psyduck, her “spirit pokemon,” if you will.
Overall, I believe I met close to 30 people whom I had the pleasure of having in-depth conversations about their collecting journeys, their background, and their current goals in life. I was reinvigorated to see the strength of the community when I saw the happiness of teenagers receiving a sketch on their favorite Pokemon card from Himeno.
cpbog1
Feedback on the Event
I found it very interesting that whenever I made an objective observation about the progress of the event, someone managed to interpret it very negatively and another person would interpret it to be very positive based on not only their own perspectives and experiences, but more importantly on the assumptions and parameters that they set in place to make their interpretation.
Because of this, the pile of feedback given to the organizers can be very challenging to decipher. The “priorities” that some have mentioned above allude to the parameters that need to be set when determining methods of improvement for future events. Below are some considerations for future events:
(Examples of Goals: Does a priority want to be placed on a more robust registration process? On the overall experience of the attendees? Does the event want to cater more towards fans, collectors, children, or the people looking to profit from the experience? Should the latter question even be a consideration for the organizers given the nature of the event? Is there a concern for potential increase in line size and duration for future events (city concerns, for example)? Is there a marketing/branding potential of having said lines that would benefit the Pokemon community (i.e. iPhone drops or movie releases) (I had over 10 passerby ask me why we were all waiting in line)? Should the consideration of user experience matter for the sake of growing the community and allowing the children to find value in attending these events given that the children are the future of the hobby? Is there potential for adding additional activities to the events that would make participants who did not receive a signing still meaningful? (i.e. generic signed posters that artists can agree to in advance)? Should there be more structure for the flow during the event, or should the event be left open-ended at the artist’s discretion on the day-of for the sake of versatility?)
cpbog1
you probably don’t want people to self police the line as these events continue to grow its really not ideal in the long run especially with such long waits.
I think it only works if they had to wait like a couple hours but overnight things can get questionable. it may have worked this time but with future events potentially being even bigger than this if the artist demand is there you have to be careful.
I can assure you that I would not compromise the integrity of my position just so that other people could get some sleep. I’m a part of this hobby so of course I knew many of the people in the line but I am very intentional in treating everyone the same way at these events if I’m working in official capacity. I was also pleased that really no one I knew tried to leverage my position for their benefit, which makes me proud of all of you.
Alec is one of the most principled people I know so because he gave me the opportunity to work at this event I feel obligated to rise to his level of integrity. I can only speak for myself but I’m sure the other staff feel the same way. The last thing I want to do is make the event unfair
For me, I only have one issue with the organization and running of the event, which was the post earlier that the line was not allowed to start until Thursday evening. As others have noted, I planned around this and assumed I’d be more than fine to fly in Thursday afternoon. I did not want to cause any hassle or trouble for the organizers by lining up, or attempting to line up earlier than was allowed. This post was not vague or misinterpretable, it literally said event security would remove people who lined up before Thursday evening. People who ignored this and lined up earlier were rewarded, while many people who followed the guidance did not receive signatures because of it.
Other than that, I believe all of the supposed issues with the event are symptoms of absolutely massive demand rather than any flaws in the organization of the event. We had 2 previous signing events with very similar rules which basically went off without a hitch because the demand was manageable. I don’t think that any significant changes should be made going forward, unless Alec has somehow secured Sugimori for the next event. It’s a simple supply/demand mismatch, and what we need is more signing events to even it out.
