Organizational nightmare.
I've always made a point in at least attending the first year of a con, but a coinciding trip last year prevented me from going. So I'm not entirely familiar with this independent convention paradise of which everyone else speaks so highly. It has since entered into a partnership with Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment.
Not sure if it was just a big, bad case of Murphy's Law, but today was one of the worst days I've ever had at a convention, and I've been to more than 80.
First off, I can see why Comic-Con International no longer deals with Elite Services USA. With one kind, helpful gentleman as an exception, the few with which I had interacted were incredibly rude and ill-informed. I got off the train, walked to the convention center, had my ticket print-out in hand and was immediately yelled at to stop and wait in front of the doors by the red-shirted men with bullhorns, saying they'll give us instruction on where to go in a moment. So a bunch of us waited, and then were yelled at, "OK, go get in line," after everyone else had already been walking over there.
"But what about VIP?" some asked, waving their print-outs from L.A. Weekly, Ticket Leap, Fab, Google, Goldstar, and so on.
"EVERYONE GETS IN THAT LINE OVER THERE TO THE RIGHT," we were told. This was pretty much said just to get rid of anyone who asked anything, whether they were pre-registered or not.
All right... so I get in the line. Lines are part of the whole con-going experience. Anyone who's been to Anime Expo, Comic-Con, or any host of other geek gatherings can tell you.
I'm in it for two hours. The line started near Figueroa and Pico, ran down Pico, around Hall Drive, continuing onto Convention Center Drive, and abutting the 110 Freeway, getting close to the 10, before it wrapped around and winded back.
It also just so happened to be over 100 degrees out there.
Eventually with what he said was another 30 minutes to go in line (again, I've already been in it for two hours at this point), a Comikaze staff member walked by to explain that if you have a ticket bought through another company that we should have lined up on the other side of the convention center, down Figueroa.
Those of us with said tickets walked by the front and Elite was still giving the same misinformation to other convention goers as they were before. Some of our meager group of strangers started shouting, "They're lying!" which got people to follow us to the other side, saving them from the two-hour wait. We get in, the kind Elite gentleman I mentioned before was there to point us in the right directions.
After that, it was a continued comedy of errors from my next ticket line at a total standstill for 20 minutes while the one worker took papers and applied wristbands -- no badges at this con, you've got to wear a wristband for two days and shower and sleep with it on -- to scheduling conflicts and technical difficulties with panels that ended up starting late. Was yelled at by Elite a couple more times for trying to re-enter the exhibit hall (all doors open, there are no lines, no one's waiting to get in, so I try to just walk by and they shout that such-and-such entrance is only for exhibitors. "You... wristbrand!" said with such disdain, "This entrance is only for badges! Go over there!" regarding the next set of doors a couple yards over).
Thanks for the great time, Elite Services. Sorry, Comikaze. I know they aren't your staff, but since you hired them, they're out there representing you and they are not making a great impression.
Other than the panels that I ended up missing due to the line (I don't get too attached to panels these days since when one attends Comic-Con, one usually has to sacrifice one panel for another), one I came to see was held on the main stage, in the exhibit hall with standing room only with no chairs laid out. Hard to see the stage, even only 10 feet from it. The mob was dense and made it hard to leave when the one I was there for was over. On top of that, the ambient noise of the convention floor (particularly the loud music playing in Activision's booth) competed with, and even overwhelmed, things on the stage.
Exhibit hall was pretty crowded as it was. Cheers to that, right, Comikaze? Cah-ching!
So what makes going to conventions like this worth it again?
After all that I spent about four hours at the con before it closed up. I took some pictures of some cool cosplayers, had a few laughs watching two-and-a-half panels (where I learned about someone's worthwhile Kickstarter campaign), ran into some friends and had a good time with them. There's still ways to salvage the experience, I suppose.
Putting on a con is not easy. I get it. It's stressful and things simply go wrong sometimes, especially when more people than you expect come. But I have definitely experienced better from smaller and larger cons, and so the two-star rating stays. read more