I usually make it a point to attend this particular convention, based on the fact that it’s relatively close (Allendale, Michigan, which is actually not all that close) and it’s free. I started going in 2001, but it was only in 2002 when the convention really started to take off for my friends and me, since that was the year we participated in our first organized cosplay (don’t ask about the real first one).

We took the judge’s choice award in 2002, thanks in part to our cosplay featuring anime’ character Kintaro (from Golden Boy, expertly played by my friend Kevin) that domestic artist Doug Smith voiced in an English dub, and the sheer luck of having Doug’s then-fiancée on the judging panel. We walked away from that convention completely stoked and excited about the possibilities of next year.

I missed the 2003 convention, but 2004 more than made up for it. With C in tow, we put on a show that completely took the audiences and judges by surprise, effectively netting us the top prize at the contest. We left that convention with fans, laughter, and an indescribable feeling of satisfaction. We also left some serious psychological scarring.

I soon found that Jafax was my favorite convention. It was big enough to have things to do, yet not big enough to make a single person feel insignificant. It felt like a convention where anyone could feasibly be your buddy, a place where you can socialize and enjoy it. It had spirit.

Unfortunately, when the 2005 convention rolled around, C was in Korea, so we couldn't put on the show we had planned. Strapped for ideas, we relied on an idea I had brewing for a while and stuck a Pocky Box theme on it as a side joke. For your viewing pleasure, the original script can be found here.

As is the usually procedure, I sent in the script to be reviewed. There’s nothing that can cause a ting of panic quite like the realization that your show can only go on if you make some last-minute changes, especially after hours of rehearsing, so I’ve always opted to play it safe and send in the script ahead of time. This has proven a smart move, since the screeners have always pointed something out that they didn’t like. This gave us time to make the necessary adjustments before the show. So after two successful shows, I optimistically submitted the freshly-completed script to the cosplay screener. Almost a week later (and scant days before the convention), I received a letter of rejection.

I was mortified, though I’m not sure why to such an extent. It probably had something to do with the short time frame we were dealing with. Or it could have been the message itself. Basically, the screener (actually, I’m not sure if these were the screener’s words of the PR director, who was actually writing me. For simplicity, I’ll simply refer to the author as the screener) pointed out that there were four main problems with the skit: it was too long, didn’t involve extensive costumes, wasn’t “family friendly” enough, and (worst of all) had elements of plagiarism.

Before I go on, I’d like to reveal the official Jafax rules, found here. There’s a kicker at the end of all this, but I’m not going to spoil it until things start getting more interesting. I will state now that the Jafax staff as of late has been very unorganized, so it should come as no surprise that that there was trouble in the first place.

I wrote the cosplay keeping these rules, and, interestingly enough, there were no actual, direct violations. I could partly understand the time limit (though no official time limit was imposed), and I figured that the plagiarism thing was a result of my use of Scott Adams’s jokes in the first scene (I didn’t give him due credit in the original draft; I was hoping the audience would be able to guess their origins). I voiced my concerns and requested that the script be reevaluated within a day to help ensure its completion. I then went to bed that night nervous and angry, though I’m not sure why. It may have been an omen. This marked a brief and bitter correspondence with the public relations director, who doesn’t seem to relate to the public all that well.

Two days later, I received a rather cryptic reply, which (in addition to my original e-mail, with names and pointless other bits omitted) can be found here. I got my first indication that something was amiss when our easily-PG-13 script was deemed not family-friendly enough because of some of the jokes. Ironically, the Jungle de Ikou joke was from an anime’ that was rated “13 and up,” leveling it with Jafax’s own policies (I don’t agree with the anime’ rating myself, but on a technicality, it speaks volumes). The Golden Boy joke (and the cards being used for it) was actually tamer than the first offending joke, but it was this joke that would cause me more problems and almost prove that the Jafax staff was out to get me from the beginning.

The screener claimed that the joke we were using constituted plagiarism. This is simply wrong (as I pointed out in a later letter, so I won’t go into that point here). Interestingly, our joke wasn’t even exactly like the one featured in the Golden Boy anime’, but partly created at the spur of the moment by Kevin after we won in 2002 ("I love computers!" wasn’t quite right, but we stuck with it because it sounded good. Kevin actually muttered this statement in excitement while hugging Doug Smith’s fiancée, which can been seen on the official cosplay video). They didn’t even notice the Scott Adams jokes, but agreed they were fine if I cited him.

What got me was the last part of the section, which basically claimed that our hard work with the skits was irrelevant because it had little to do with fancy costumes. As I pointed out in the next letter, I have nothing but respect for the dedication of cosplayers who make their own costumes; I know for a fact I couldn’t do it that well. It was at this point I was tempted to point out that the audience generally enjoys a good laugh with their cosplay (you hardly see much of a reaction when people just show off their costumes), but held off out of politeness. It turns out that this observation would also be irrelevant anyway.

The next part of the letter was also wildly inaccurate, proven wrong because of some information gleamed off of the Jafax forums. Kevin reported to me weeks before the convention that people were upset because we won top prize and not a fellow who dressed up as a perfect version of Legend of Zelda’s Link. I laughed it off, entertained that we had caused some trouble, and pointed out that the audience reaction was so wonderful for our skit it was little wonder we won it. Kevin said that they decided to split the categories into two, one for costumes and one for skits, which was fine by me, because that just meant we would have less competition and the rightful prize would go to the person with the best costume. It was win-win. I was pleased.

Well, that’s not the case here. As you can see in the letter, the screener was none-too-pleased with my insistence on “pushing the envelope” to entertain the audience because that envelope belonged to the Jafax staff. She claimed there was never a separate category, despite the fact that it was clearly posted on the website. The screener then contradicted the posted rules again by saying they were weary of offending families and claimed the posted “PG-13” rating to be too much, despite the fact that there are actually very few small children that attend Jafax and even fewer that make it to the cosplay. Better safe than sorry, even though this belief basically throws the spirit uniqueness and risqué-mystique of anime’ and its inspirations (which this convention was supposed to be celebrating) out the window.

The screener did offer some admittedly good ideas, but due to a lack of people, we were unable to use them. I replied with a long, thoughtful, and polite letter (here) that suggested maybe there was something wrong with their strictness and tried to appeal to their inner-otaku and the attendees of the convention. I may yet get an e-beating for saying this, but it seems like the senior staffs’ inner-otaku died and was replaced by something else. I want to emphasize that I made a point to state that I wasn’t trying to overthrow the Jafax staff’s rules, because I had a feeling this is what it would seem like. Needless to say, this disclaimer was ignored.

It wasn’t long before I received this nasty reply (here) that simply horrified me. Instead of having a reasonable discussion, this letter turned into a stream of split words and closed-mindedness that, to put it simply, made me sad. I saw a lot of Jack Chick in this letter, and it scared me. I’ve held back so far, so I’m just going to be snotty about how I summarize the letter I was sent, even though I risk my credibility (I promise I’ll be serious afterwards). See if you agree or not. Here are the basic points:

Point One: This isn’t a “convention,” but a “festival,” because if we called it a “convention,” the evil anime’ convention gods would force us to charge you money.

Point Two (the most important): We don’t care what the attendees think. They can give us suggestions, but if we don’t like what they say, we can simply ignore them, because they haven’t paid us a dime.

Point Three: Chris Zasada’s group has been a problem for us ever since they began performing skits, but we never bothered to tell them. We’re also pretty mad that they left us with a toilet to dispose of the first year the group performed, but, again, we never bothered mentioning anything.

Point Four: Chris Zasada’s group have costumes that suck and no one will like them, so there’s really no point in having them go up and have a good time with the audience.

Point Five: Chris Zasada’s group is terrible, but somehow won the contest twice, and it bothers me that anyone would like them because they don’t conform to my vision.

Point Six: If you don’t sacrifice as much as the rest of the staff, you have no right to have personal feelings for the convention. If you give us your house, then we’ll talk. Skits are a horrible sign of appreciation. Pick something I approve of.

Point Seven: Okay, I’ll admit we’re unorganized and the rules we posted so everyone will know what’s going on are wrong, but it’s all your fault for not following the rules we just made up and you should be ashamed. We can’t be expected to keep a site updated and accurate even though we have a person dedicated to the task. Leave us alone.

Point Eight: Even though I’m pretty much saying any fan take on an anime’ joke is plagiarism, you’re still wrong about it and you could get us sued and I don’t like you or your jokes.

Point Nine: All of the staff has lives outside of the convention (you idiot) and we don’t have time to listen to your complaints, even if they occur once a month. We also don't have time to tell you the truth about the cosplay tape you really want.

Point Ten: I’m the most benevolent person here, and I’m treating you like junk.

Point Eleven: We’ve advised the judges that you’re a bad person and you’re having the screener throw you out if you don’t have an undeniably perfect costume.

Point Twelve: Stop making suggestions. If you don’t like OUR convention, don’t go.

Point Thirteen: If you’d like to speak to me openly and in person, find me at the pizza wagon, and I’ll so kick your ass.

Ah, that felt a little better. Anyway, in my reply (here), I established that there’s no point in arguing, because each person thinks that they’re right, so unless God himself comes in and declares the winner, logic and debate simply won’t work here. I've covered most of what I had to say in the letter, but I’ll spell it out again and offer my replies to the points I picked out:

Point One: No one would call this a “festival.” It’s a convention because it’s a group of people convening over a similar topic. It’s just like any other convention except for size and price, but mincing words doesn’t really change anything. Don’t sell Jafax short.

Point Two: You make me sick. This is the only thing I can say about this. How the hell can you go through all the work of putting on a convention, desire people to come, and not give a damn about what they think? Why don’t you just have a little anime’ party for you and your friends instead of going through all the effort? It should be a “staff” convention (as a friend of mine put it) if you’re going to be like that. I’m sure the vendors that you invited really care what the attendees think. No attendees, no money, no convention. Simple. Attendees matter.

Not to be arrogant (really), but I honestly believe the attendees would want my group out on stage entertaining them. The tape from 2002 clearly reveals nothing but waves of laughter, and this was only intensified in 2004. I’ll prove it just as soon as I get the damn tape.

I can’t express my ire for this statement enough. I assure you that Jafax was not created to flex the egos of its successors.

Point Three: If we were so much of a problem, why didn’t anyone say anything? I think it was clear that by 2004, we weren’t just going to go away, and it took some pushing to hear the truth of the matter. For someone with such righteous opinions, you sure took long enough to express them, waiting until it all erupted.

Okay, I admit it was my bad on toilet thing. Sorry. [I’d better explain. In 2002, we had Kevin hugging an actual toilet we dragged all the way from Toledo to Allendale and slammed it out on stage. In retrospect, this was a big accomplishment in itself. After the skit, we gave the toilet to Doug Smith in exchange for his signature on the toilet seat (which I still have to this day). Well, Doug couldn’t haul it home (I couldn’t imagine why he wouldn’t make the effort), and we didn’t have any room for it in the trunk (we bought too much at the convention, as usual), so we unthinkingly left it there. Of course, the staff didn’t say anything about it, so we didn’t pay the issue any mind]

Point Four: This also makes me sick. You’re using personal opinions to establish fact. Not to be rude, but there were worse costumes last year than ours with no skits to back them up. Clearly, the audience didn’t care about “bad” costumes anyway, not that you guys seem to care about them.

Point Five: We won because of our hard work in something other than costumes. What can I say? People like to laugh.

Point Six: Wow, how idiotic and disrespectful. Those who give what they have should be appreciated, not condemned for not giving more. I hauled myself up to Jafax and spent time volunteering during precious convention time, not to mention entertained your attendees and made their experience a little brighter. You built it, we filled it a little. You don’t thank the guy who built the restaurant for the food that’s served, you thank him for the building. Accolades for the food go to the chefs.

Point Seven: Last time I checked, I couldn’t read minds, and I’m angered that you didn’t so much as offer an apology for the mix up. I run this website, and you don’t see me complaining when things aren’t right. I find a problem, I fix it, and I’m the one doing the design end in addition to the writing, and I update more frequently. Interestingly, the obsolete rules are still there as of this writing.

Point Eight: Oddly enough, someone put on a skit this year that stole a scene from the Bleach manga word-for-word, yet with only three to five skits (I was too busy to attend, but this is the figure Kevin reported), it’s odd no one caught that one. I guess they didn’t piss you off yet.

Point Nine: Duh. All I asked is that someone check the e-mail once a month. Some people plan their trips well in advance, so you might be getting questions in July for the next Jafax. Maybe if you sent me a message honestly saying no one knew where the hell the cosplay tape was at, I’d accept that. You don’t care about my toiling through life, and, honestly, I don’t care about yours. No one thinks to ask the most people they deal with if they’re having any problems in their life; they just get their own personal business done and move on. You do it, I do it; welcome to the human condition. If you have a problem, tell me when it occurs, and I’ll understand better. Ignore me, and I’ll just think you’re a jerk.

Point Ten: In reality, most of the staff I talked to weren’t that bad, but definitely seemed to not like me. One thing that seems to get around is malice, but maybe it was just me.

Point Eleven: It sure sounds like you blacklisted my group. Feasibly, the screener could easily keep us out of the cosplay and use the “bad costumes” excuse, even though there were some arguably worse ones last year. Our only hope would be that 1/16 fully-functional Evangelion Unit 01 costume, but I’m sure we would be disqualified for having weapons or metal or something.

Point Twelve: Okay, maybe I won’t. Do I really want to be part of something that disses its supporters?

Point Thirteen: Gee, what else is there to say?

I sent a defiant e-mail (here) that made it clear that while I would withdraw from the cosplay, I wasn’t going to concede that the screener or her beliefs were right. Needless to say, I haven’t heard back from PR as of this writing, not that I expect to. Not until they catch wind of this article, anyway.

That’s not to say Jafax 2005 was a complete bust. We rolled in after 5 PM thanks to Kevin. Christy and I missed our volunteer time, but tried to help where we could. I spent what little time I could at the actual convention, checking out the vendors and supporting them (and the convention) with my hard-earned cash while supporting my own collection.

On that note, the vendors this year were top-notch. One in particular, known throughout the convention as “Second Spin Anime," gave me some very good deals and were extremely friendly, making them one of the best vendors I’ve ever dealt with. I met some really interesting people. Even some of the staff was pretty cool. The panel headed by Jan Frasier was hilarious and fun enough to make us leave late, even though we didn’t want to leave at all.

The convention itself was really good, despite the questionable video room schedule and the usual un-Japanese art style and hippie theme that the convention was based on (though one sign that said "Make H not W" was humorous). Overall, it was a wonderful time, though it wasn’t as good as the last two years I attended.

I can’t shake the deep disappointment that no one ever reported a problem with the skits to us. We kept winning, so why should we stop participating? Shouldn’t the fact that the attendees had a great time with us factor into whether or not we were allowed to participate? I’m even more disgusted at the lack of empathy towards the attendees and their opinions. I really don’t see a point in having a convention that doesn’t respect the attendees, but that’s just my perspective.

I’m aware that there’s a strong possibility that the entire problem was caused by one of us missing the point, and I’m not necessarily saying that the Jafax rules are definitely wrong, I simply don’t agree with them or believe they align with the principles of anime’ fandom. This could just be the public relations director spouting off personal opinions, though, and not a true reflection of the staff as a whole. But when you designate someone as “public relations director,” you kind of hope they’ll represent the convention as a whole, which I hope isn’t the case here.

I’m deeply saddened that my favorite convention suddenly became the source of my troubles and turned out to be secrective and political. You just can’t replace something like this. I’ll always have fond memories of the anime’, the camaraderie, the laughter, and the fun, all beginning after navigating the tricky university drive and pulling around to reveal the familiar Henry Hall where the memories would unfold. For now, memories may be all there is left, but we had a damn good time, regardless.

Will I attend Jafax again? I can’t say for sure. Couple the policies with the five-plus hour drive, and the convention doesn’t look very attractive anymore. Not that I’m saying that the staff will cry themselves to sleep if I don’t go. After all, I’m just one person, and they clearly don’t like me anyway. I won’t make any apologies if this article causes attendance to drop, however, because I had a bad experience with the staff and reported what happened and how I took it. The convention itself was very enjoyable, and I need to re-emphasize that the vendors were awesome and the people were fun.

In fact, with the larger conventions imposing all sorts of idiotic rules that don’t make any sense, Jafax is still pretty liberal, despite the statements made by their PR director. I expect anyone considering whether or not to go to make an informed choice and not just rely on my opinions and experience. Go and see for yourself. I don't think you’ll regret it.

To end on a positive note, I’d like to thank some people. I took the opportunity to promote Pocky Box while I was at Jafax, and while I didn’t sell any shirts (I’m sure people were just fresh out of money. I was late getting their, after all), I got the word out, and there were a few vendors who helped me spread the word by accepting fliers. Special thanks to Second Spin Anime, Chibi Toaster, Joy’s Japanimation, Fast Food Anime’, and anyone else who I’m forgetting or don’t know about who helped promote Pocky Box. Your support is appreciated!

If you want more information on Jafax, head over to www.jafax.org. Be sure to ask them about the Jafax 9 cosplay video.


Addition: Shortly after hearing about this matter, Selmek sent me this almost poetic letter. I excluded the name of the person who wrote me out of benevolence:

Dear Mr. Zasada,

Your troop has been a source of aggrivation, and will therefor compete this year
Over my dead body. There is no way your opinion will matter to us
Unless you have sold your home and ruined your marriage for this convention.

Obviously, you are to stupid to know a "festival" from a "convention" and so
We have decided to hate you
Endlessly.

Must I continue to impress on you that it is not
Enough just to make people happy.

My vision is the only one that matters.
Our organization is based
Not around the needs of the customer, but on a far more
Existential quality that
You could not possibly understand
!

Sincerely,

-*******

P.S. There is a secret code hidden in this message. Can you find it?