Panel was incredible. Highlight had to be that she collects Komiya’s cards and other Pokémon merchandise he’s involved with.
Chose Psyduck for my sketch as it’s her favourite Pokémon. She associates closely with it getting headaches whenever trying to come up with new ideas!
Fully agree. The events are about getting the artists in front of as many guests as possible and getting them paid. Things restricting the amount of times people can go through a line do nothing but hurt the artist if not enough demand shows up for an event.
As someone that got screwed in Baltimore by line jumpers i like the sms system but still feel like the 1st come first served lines are the way to go.
That is a super sweet sketch and signature. Hope you had a great time on the panel. Thanks for sharing and looking forward for more of the signed cards.
Cheers!
It’s just boils down to one primary issue. That is, Himeno is just one woman and can only sign so many cards in one weekend. If she can only sign fast enough for 300 people across the whole weekend and there are 600 people who come to the event… a lot of people will leave disappointed.
There’s no system that can fix this. It becomes a question of priorities. The current system uses a set of near guaranteed slots awarded by lottery. But you can’t over-rely on these slots because if you overpromise and underdeliver on how much the artist can do, people would rightful be upset.
Outside of the panel slots, you want to be able to fill in the remainder of the time with whoever else you can. How do you best and most fairly allocate those spots? First-come-first-serve is probably the fairest approach. Prioritize the people who were willing to wait the longest.
And of course it absolutely SUCKS to pay for flight and hotel and leave with nothing. But that’s necessarily going to happen when there are more people attending than she can physically sign for. If you’re not okay with only a chance at an autograph, then you should cancel your trip if you don’t get a panel slot.
Overall I would say the system is extremely fair. But obviously with that said, any system can be improved. I just think in this case any improvements would be marginal because the root problem is a demand issue
My only small issue with the event is why bother keep having people sign up through SMS Friday inside the venue once it goes past 400+ people if its going to be unlikely she can sign for 250 people. It just gives off a bit of false hope that will end in disappointment. Overall though the event was organized and the line went smooth. I’m Very happy I got to see other people I talked to from past events again.
If I’m able to go to CT, I’m definitely curious when the line will start though. It has gotten earlier each time since Baltimore. Someone said he got there in the AM to line up. Scared to see CT if its another huge artist.
This was a pretty great place for regionals to be held. Wish every regionals could be held in this type of location.
I am just guessing, but it’s probably because it’s hard to guage the speed of the artist the first day? Harada-san seemed to be very fast and she was churning out signatures pretty quick, but Saito-san seemed to be more meticulous and took his time. Also, if I have made the effort of coming to the event, I don’t mind signing up for the SMS queue just incase there is an outside chance that my number does come. But I think I would still have a realistic management of my expectations.
Cheers!
Yeah, that’s a fair. I would think though after Friday they would close the queue for the rest of the event since there is over 500+ people total so far. Today it closes at noon, so I’m curious what the total would be. I really didn’t expect this many people to show up, but I guess its cool to see how many people are interested in signatures.
My guess though, I think she will get around 200-250 people done throughout the event from general queue.
I have a bit of a hot take: right now, the priority for event organizers should NOT be getting the most people through the line. In fact, I’d put number of people served at like #10 on a list of event priorities. The most important thing is that the artist enjoys themselves and has a good time.
Signature events are still pretty precarious, but with each event that an artist enjoys, it makes it more likely that they will come back in the future and recommend signing events to other artists. The rumor going around is that Himeno decided to do a signing here because Saitou encouraged it and told her how much he enjoyed the Baltimore event. As @pfm mentioned, the root problem here is a demand issue. Pressuring artists to go faster and sign more might be a temporary solution to the demand problem, but it would decrease the artists enjoyment of the event. What we really need are more signings. And in order to get more signings, you want the artists to love coming here.
From an outsider’s perspective looking inward, outside of this thread I don’t see a lot of people with qualms over how many people are getting through, how much the artist is charging, etc.
What I can definitely understand and what I’m seeing a ton of frustration over is queue moderation and panels. The former is easily fixable with an event fee tagged onto every autograph price, and honestly after Baltimore I thought this would be the easiest and quickest fix to the event as a whole. (There are alternatives like lotteries that would work best, but it seems we really like the whole standing outside for hours outside of a building thing🤣) If money is the issue, there is a solution. A small $5 event/processing fee on top of each autograph price with only 250 autographs would afford 6 employees with 9hr shifts @ $20/hr for that entire 18 hour waiting period. Make it $7 per auto and 6 people make $25+/hr… Do a lot of people want that job? Probably not. But I know there are definitely volunteers ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Everything 4star said. If the main purpose of the event WAS the signing but since the main purpose of the event is TCG/VGC/GO and the signing is just a bonus? They should really just get everyone in SMS and care about if the artist is okay. I’m more than happy Himeno is here and it’s kinda up in the air if I’ll even get through the line when I was under 150 in the line to get in line. Considering how expensive travel to the event and boarding is for people, I can understand the frustration if you spent so much to get here. Good luck to everyone in the queue.
Here’s the issue with this. Lets say you hire staff all day Thursday to process the line so no one has to wait. At the next event, the line now starts on Wednesday at noon so that people can be the first ones processed on Thursday. The line will always try to optimize around the system
A lottery solves all of these problems, yet Americans like waiting in line for things. I agree, it just moves the goalpost. But that being said, @Alec let me know if you need line staff in Hartford 
I’m a cheap date and love merch
Americans like waiting in a pack not a line.
Single pile not single file 
LOL! After the pandemic we all need some social huddling
I get that it kinda sucks, but i really agree with ensuring the artist is happy, especially if that means more signings in the future. I told myself that if i didnt get a panel i wouldnt be going and i didnt, so i figured it wasnt worth the very real risk of not getting a sig.
I get the frustration about people lining up the previous day. I hate that shit, but ultimately, its not unique to Pokemon signing events. People want the thing, and this was the best path to it. If youre not willing to take that risk and sacrifice your comfort and time, then unfortunately, you gotta accept the situation.
Despite the fact that a lot of people arent gonna be able to get a sig, I think its important to be happy that something like this is even happening in the first place; the opportunity itself is enough.
Thank u for listening to my ted talk 
Got my Cosmos Tyranitar signed! Thanks to Alec and everyone on the overload team. The event was great. Also it was awesome meeting people. Until next time!
Not mine, saw this earlier on IG
These are so precious! Love that Togepi illustration.
