Love the way these 2 turned out!
31 Likes
That Dragonite though!!! Was there the option for a Dragonite sketch?
If it were about sigs then there would be a mail in system. Its about the artist, show the artist love
Also i feel like the fact people were camping is a huge sign things are moving toward collector focused and not flipper focused. If i had to guess the amount of sigs being sold right away must be a fraction of what happened with the saitou signing!
Wow Himeno is truly one of the GOATS. I had music gigs this weekend which I felt a strong urge to risk my musical reputation and space out on to attend the event. Ultimately my senses kicked in but wow what an opportunity for anyone able to make it. Really a bummer for those not able to get a card signed that did attend. My heart goes out to you but lets hope she does more of these! I am a huge fan of her Natta Wake set and one of my collection goals is to get all 6 cards signed by her to me. Did she do photos? I’m assuming not even close considering the amount of people. This is a special hobby. Japan and its people are a special place. Lets all do what we can to make these illustrators feel loved and appreciated. I know so many are and I thank you for it.
5 Likes
It was a strictly no photo event around Himeno. Only her husband was recording and that video will prob never be released.
2 Likes
That panel was incredible… got to see a bunch of her original sketches including her first sketch of the Fossil Dragonite (my favorite card). I got the Jigglypuff sketch on the card because it turns out that’s the first art she ever did for Pokemon.
She seemed super happy + really enjoyed the event so I hope there are more with her soon. Great to meet some of you and looking forward to seeing y’all at future events!
20 Likes
Here’s mine!
Very thankful for the opportunity, especially with how many people didn’t even get anything. I was spot #277 in the general queue. Very fortunate I had a slot in the panels.
30 Likes
The panel was incredible, I feel very lucky just to have experienced it and to see the joy that she had as we laughed with her and appreciated her artwork.
She told me that she illustrated the background for this Pikachu after visiting Spain herself, as well as some reference photos from books and such. Love the little details and stories like that!
28 Likes
So happy and grateful that I was able to get a signature from Himeno, even after the mess of the line and not knowing if I’d get one (I wouldn’t have been able to get a sig if my flight wasnt delayed!) I’m just so happy and excited.
25 Likes
1 Like
I want to jump in here to give an extreme, heartfelt shoutout to @pfm, @gengarbrigade, and @swolepoke for their amazing work as volunteer staff. They got up extremely early to process the general line before the doors opened on Friday, they worked tirelessly the entire weekend, and they did everything to make Ms. Himemaru’s experience an extremely special one, as well as ensure that the event ran as intended, and in line with TPCi’s rules, which is always extremely important.
Ms. Himemaru had an AMAZING time. She was truly touched by the fans who came and shared their feelings about her work, and was so happy to see everyone’s passion. She said that Japanese fans typically just put the card down, wait, and pick it up and leave. Western fans love to share their experiences with her, and are so excited as she’s working. It really meant a lot to her.
Operationally, the event ran exactly as intended. Timing at the event is always a variable due to each artist’s signing speed, so schedules and capacity will always vary, but we followed the processes we’ve built up over the years and over this season of constantly making improvements after each event, and everything was extremely orderly on our side (thanks to our amazing volunteer staff).
Of course, I feel for everyone who wasn’t able to make it in and see us this weekend. I’m always thinking about the processes we have and will continue to work on future events. I am purely a volunteer for this, but I care a lot about these events, and a big part of that is attendee experience. Each change that’s made is simply a tradeoff. We lose one advantage to gain another, so any change that’s made will have it’s benefits and downsides. We might keep the same system, or we might make a change, but it’s not obvious yet what the right decision is.
Stay tuned for the next one!
53 Likes
Half-way through Sunday she mentioned she was very sad it was over. That’s a huge success in my books.
My heart really goes out to all the people who put in the time and resources for the chance to meet her but weren’t able to. Happy to hear any constructive comments. But I think the way it was organized is a really good system that had to handle a really hard (impossible) task of managing the MASSIVE demand.
The real positive thing I want to mention is that the ideal outcome is her having a great time. That’s the only way you will ever get her to come back. Hopefully with how much fun she had it opens the door to future opportunities
34 Likes
Thank you ALL for your time, hard work, and sleep sacrifices to not only create an outstanding experience for fans, but make it a magical experience for her! As has already been said, while we get to enjoy the opportunity, it’s really about making her feel appreciated and loved for her talents and contributions to pokemon and imaginations all over the world!
There is no doubt that a tremendous amount of planning, thought, and effort went into this event… so thank you!
As a patron, I can say it couldn’t have run smoother! The experience not only on the himeno signing, but the whole tournament was remarkable!
I also want to give a special shout out to everyone that was so gracious with my daughter joining the panel Sunday, and allowing me to quickly pop in to pay for her signatures! She is still beaming, and will forever remember the experience as a budding artist herself!
I hope everyone has safe travels home and gets lots of rest after a very successful weekend! See you at the next one!
10 Likes
I waited 14.5 hours overnight in line (arrived Thursday 5pm) as #187. I was not able to get any signatures through the general line and thankfully got two via the panel, which was an amazing experience regardless of the signatures.
I really feel for the people who traveled, paid for hotels/flights, spent a night camping on the sidewalk, and didn’t come out with any signatures. That is super frustrating. I paid for an extra flight on Sunday just in case my number would be one of the last called, based on the pacing Friday it looked like I’d make it late Sunday, but that ended up not happening. So while it was quite disappointing to put all that effort in and technically not have anything to show for it and not be able to help out people who arrived to the line later, all of that is effectively self-inflicted. We all chose to line up ridiculously early, and the only gripe I have is the miscommunication about when the line was allowed to start, which caused many people who wanted to respect the wishes of the organizers and not cause trouble to miss out on signatures.
Beyond that, the positives of this event from the point of view of someone in the general line are very significant:
- The line experience was brutal, but fair. People self-policed the line and nobody cut in front of people who had waited hours. There were no line-switchers.
- Event staff double-checked IDs at registration and handed out wristbands to ensure that people registering were both who they said they were and were not registering on behalf of others.
- People blatantly trying to game the system were caught and removed.
- Panel tickets were a true lottery and the 1-per-person limit ensured that as many people as possible had a panel.
There are a lot more positives if we don’t just focus on the signatures:
- I am so happy to hear that Himeno had a great time. This is the most important thing if we want more events like this in the future!
- I met so many awesome E4 people for the first time, and saw many old friends. These events feel like Worlds did from 2015-2019.
- The rollover queue meant that after we got done with the line on Friday, we had the whole weekend to hang out, go for brunch/dinner, swap stories, and admire each others cards.
Overall, I think this event went just about as well as one could hope, given that Himeno had not signed in the US for 9 years and is one of the most desirable autographs. Alec’s openness to suggestions and willingness to rework the event parameters to maximize fairness is amazing. All of the staff are so great and helpful.
27 Likes
I have to wonder, are there any people who rock up with cards not actually illustrated by the artist?
Seems like a fair possibility lol.
Shout out must also go to @mykel who actually had to drop a round (loss) when he was texted for the queue, but still made 8th from 1100+ players. GG! Absolute pleasure judging your stream game.
35 Likes
Woohoo!!! Go Mykel!!!
I’d also like to add there were 15 Canadian players out of 1100+ in Masters and 2 of them made Top 8! Go Canada!
11 Likes
I heard he went through the SMS queue and got back to his game with 30s to spare and ended up winning that game 
That was after queuing up for like 18hrs and getting minimal sleep
What a legend
24 Likes