Anime Expo AMV - Farewell & thanks for the memories

[Kazemon15]

Thanks ^^

I was also curious about the other finalist too, but if it's too much, I'll take what I can get.

[General Agemo]

Don't say I never did nothin' for you guys. j/k

Best Action:
Legends Never Die - By Plee Plee
("Legends Never Die" by Against the Current - [Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works])

Best Comedy & Humor:
It's Easy M'Kay - By Maboroshi Studio
("It's Easy M'kay" from South Park Movie - [My Hero Academia])

Best Drama:
MIA - By May Tjhang
("Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Ray - [Violet Evergarden])

Best Fun & Play:
One Step Ahead - by Auto AMVs
("One Jump Ahead" from Aladdin Movie (1992) - [Magic Kaito])

Best Rhythm & Beat (and Best in Show):
hypnotic DollTrance - by miso
("Maze" by Rezz - [Tsukimonogatari])

Best Sentiments:
The Pure Imagination of Hayao Miyazaki - by FanEditz
("Pure Imagination" from Ready Player One - [Various Studio Ghibli])

Best Bonus:
Plus Ultra Bodywash - by Maboroshi Studio
(Old Spice Commercial - [My Hero Academia])

XStylus still working his magic

[Castor Troy]

Wow.

What a drop in quality this amv contest was.

I can say with no shame or remorse that nobody rocked the AX AMV contest the way we did.

Spoiler :

drama

[TnAdct1]

Thanks ^^

I was also curious about the other finalist too, but if it's too much, I'll take what I can get.

Here's the ones that I know that are on Youtube.

Bold denotes a runner-up video in its category (got an e-mail mentioning the runner-ups).

Action

Cant' Stop Me Now - by DopplerDo
("Can't Stop Me Now" by Oh the Larceny - [My Hero Academia])

Can't Run from Conflict by Teriyaki
("Run You" by The Quemists - [Various])

Get Ready to Die by Sumisu
("Ready to Die" by Andrew W.K. - [My Hero Academia])

Volitation by Ramen Noodle Productions
("So Say We All" by Audio Machine - [Infinite Stratos])

Comedy & Humor

Friend Like Megumin by Captain Drew
("Friend Like Me" from Aladdin - [Konosuba])

Drama

Make Believe God by Jocelyn Mullins
("Lovely" by Billy Eilish and Khalid - [Madoka Magica: Rebellion])

Chihiro in Wonderland by Opner
("C'mon" by Panic! at the Disco - [Spirited Away])

Innocence - The Final Adventure by tko03
("Innocence" by Madeon - [ Beyond the Boundary])

Fun & Play

Lament of the Lo(ne)li Demon Lord by Toon Addict Production
("I'm So Ronery" from Team America: World Police - [Endro!])

Rhythm & Beat

Wayward Wanderers by MarmalaDiva
("No Roots" by Alice Merton - [Samurai Champloo])

KPOP MASHUP by Zeeruy
(Various songs - [Various])

Bonus

MHA: Infinity War by Opner
("Avengers: Infinity War Trailer" by Marvel Studios - [My Hero Academia])

[XStylus]

AX2019 has come and gone. I think I should offer some final thoughts so that I can close the book on this for good. This is going to be a long post.

1 ) - The New Team

There is one thing I want to make clear to everybody, and I want this to be absolutely crystal clear:

I don't want to see anyone harbor any ill will toward the new team whatsoever. I'm thankful that I've seen none of that so far.

They were handed a shit-sandwich. They had a community that was silently shunning their event, and we, their predecessors, had intentionally left them with nothing about how to run a very complex beast. Out of friendship to their (and my former) superior, I provided general advice, but that was it. They were set up to fail by design. That said, I find it to their credit that given the ridiculously short amount of time they had to put everything together, they still managed to pull off an event. Obviously there were rough edges. There couldn't not be. But given the circumstances, simply crossing the finish line is a win.

One thing I found interesting is that the new team was pretty much sheltered from knowing anything about the circumstances of our departure until the "Bury a Friend" controversy brought their attention here. The new coordinator's reaction was along the lines of "WTH did I step into?" I explained the situation to him, and he was sympathetic. If nothing else, he now knows the kind of organization he's dealing with. He expressed that he was apprehensive about making a presence on this community, thinking that it would be unwelcoming of him given all the controversial circumstances. I told him that would absolutely not be the case, and that the issue is with the organization, not him and his team. I strongly urged him to come join the community here to make himself known, and that he would be welcomed warmly. If he and his team chooses to do so, I expect everyone here to hold to that.

2 ) - The Editor Boycott

This is something that I neither encouraged nor discouraged, and I bit my tongue whenever the topic came up. Now that the event has come and gone though, I will say that the solidarity was appreciated.

As for whether people wish to participate in AX in the future, or wish to continue to just write them off, that remains something I neither encourage or discourage. If you believe the new AMV team deserves your support despite the capriciousness of AX as a whole, feel free to send to them. On the other hand, if you feel that AX doesn't deserve the fruits of your work regardless of the earnestness of the new AMV team, feel free not to send to them.

In any case, I will cynically say that I don't hold any expectation that AX will learn anything from this experience. If anything, it just means they'll keep more of a watch over the AMV department to ensure that there won't be a talent and resource vacuum if/when they decide to replace the team again. Our team had been afforded a very unusual amount of freedom and independence that is unlikely to be repeated. The quality of our event wouldn't have been what it was any other way.



I have more to say, which mostly consists of suggestions for the new team, but I'll leave this here for now. To be continued...

[Rider4Z]

...if you feel that AX doesn't deserve the fruits of your work regardless of the earnestness of the new AMV team, feel free not to send to them.

And that would be where I fall. G'night everybody.

[TnAdct1]

Following the events of the contest on Twitter this past weekend, I do agree that there shouldn't be any ill will towards the new team.

Yeah, there's definitely some hiccups that need to be fixed (for one thing, they were having problems spelling the title of my video and my studio name ), but as Xstylus said, this was pretty much their first year doing this contest doing this, and they were pretty much dealing with a lot of crap this time around, be it them having to follow up a team that got screwed over by the convention, the mass editor boycott in protest of said incident, and the short amount of time to put everything together (by the time they started taking entries, it was close to the initial deadline for the contest).

Besides, I know that the transition from AMV team to another is not an easy one, especially when the previous team is a tough act to follow. As someone who attends Anime USA each year (and submits entries to that con since 2015), I do notice some of the rough patches the first couple of years of Freki's run as the coordinator follow the VicBond007 era. However, I definitely can see that his heart is there when running the AMV room, and, as someone who has been into AMV's since 2001, I really feel that I could help contribute in some way.

[Smtjt]

Hi let me be the first say that i really appreciated the past amv crew who worked tirelessly in putting on a good show. i been going to the amv computation as long as i can remember an it safe to say up until now that is the reason i like to go to ax every year. This year on the other hand it was a complete disaster at the amv.but i feel that this new amv crew was lazy and didn't put the time and effort they needed to make the show great.

[crossplayersince2011]

I'm really sorry to hear that the higher ups at AX decided to pull the rug out from under you like that after all hard work your team put in. Your AMV competitions were must see parts of AX and one of the things that I couldn't miss, the production values made it truly feel like the Super Bowl of AMV contests. I'm very salty towards AX for what I felt was a lackluster con and this year's contest didn't help. But, knowing what I do now reading through this thread, I do have to applaud the new team for crossing the finish line and putting together a contest at all considering they stepped into a bad situation and didn't have much time (I can only imagine how much time goes into the contest and all the AMV related programming). I hope that with this year in the books and more time to prepare for next year the AMV contest can return to something close to the contests I have come to enjoy so much (but, big shoes to fill).

[TnAdct1]

Hi let me be the first say that i really appreciated the past amv crew who worked tirelessly in putting on a good show. i been going to the amv computation as long as i can remember an it safe to say up until now that is the reason i like to go to ax every year. This year on the other hand it was a complete disaster at the amv.but i feel that this new amv crew was lazy and didn't put the time and effort they needed to make the show great.

The problem isn't that the AMV crew was lazy, but rather they didn't really have enough time to prepare for it. For instance, AX didn't even start accepting AMV contest entries until early May, which, in previous years, was when the contest deadline was set (this is done to give the AMV crew enough time to evaluate the videos, DQ those videos that break the rules, and move around the videos to different categories if need be).