complaints

[sarah-monster]

I was in the wrong Q and never got my xmen halle thing sat but otherwise it was good.

 

You're welcome to have mine if you like.

[Muffin]

Two things.. Firstly the prices on the photoshoot tickets it was a con I have to say.. I got home and i felt robbed but I had no choice but to pay the money otherwise I couldnt get a shot with Nathan Fillion.

 

Second thing.. being manhandled by JCB in the Don S Davis queue... I don't think a lot of people appreciate being grabbed and pushed about. Especially in a non major queue like this one. She can be nice sometimes but sometimes she really goes really overboard, I have been to quite a few events so I know how to queue.

[Charisma]

I was in the wrong Q and never got my xmen halle thing sat but otherwise it was good.

 

You're welcome to have mine if you like.

dont u want it?

 

email me if i want its in my profile on the aim part just at @aol.com

[Kell]

Second thing.. being manhandled by JCB in the Don S Davis queue... I don't think a lot of people appreciate being grabbed and pushed about. Especially in a non major queue like this one. She can be nice sometimes but sometimes she really goes really overboard, I have been to quite a few events so I know how to queue.

 

Did you see him on saturday or sunday?

 

I was his guest assistant on saturday and he was busy all day. He only stopped when his wife or JCB told him to. I think JCB didn't want anyone to go home disappointed that they didn't get to meet Don. Plus she knew Don and his wife had a theatre show to see on saturday night and she wanted them to leave with plenty of time to get there.

 

But please don't think I'm making excuses for her, she wasn't very pleasant about us crew that were working with Don on saturday

[SimplyFeendish]

Two years ago I went to the London Film and Comicon. It was the best Sci Fi show I've ever been to. There were over thirty stars there, stars of the calibur of Burt Reynolds, Michael Bein, the Aliens cast, etc. etc.

 

I was expecting the same sort of expeience when I returned to the Comicon last weekend. Sadly, I was disappointed.

 

Having spent four hours travelling, a small fortune on a gold pass and extra money on a photo session pass for Elija Wood, it's sad how Comicon bills itself as the biggest Sci Fi show in Britain when, in reality, it's just a pale shadow of its former self.

 

It's supposedly brags over thirty guests per day but, lets be honest, most of the guests, with the except of the Serenity cast, Carrie Fisher and Jorge Garcia and Gates McFadden, who the hell was there? As usual, Showmasteres did its trick of showing us amazing stars going like Collectormania. Yet again, the biggest stars pulled out. Christopher Lee only being posted for four days before lo and behold, he's hurt his leg. Does that really stop him from signing an autograph?

 

Then, there was the Elija Wood photo session. Having bought a ticket for me and wife to go and have our photo taken with him we were then told that we'd have to pay another twenty pounds for both of us to be in the photo. (So does that mean I have to pay double for the same photo?) Then, there was the joy of being told "Don't speak to Mr. Wood, don't shake his hand." It makes me wonder...What was the point? And where the hell did it say that it was twenty pounds per person in the advertising? It's still just ONE photo.

 

I understand that they must have had a lot of people to get through, but then surely they should have allowed more time. There were so many people disappointed with the way that they were treated. Especially when you consider those of us who paid £175 for a gold pass- and £20 on top for a photo ticket plus, the amount it cost to travel 200 miles to get there.

 

I know there ae probably many people who had a good time. But, my wife and I aren't in that catagory.

 

From the very begining, we were told that when the doors opened gold pass ticket holders would go in first. I should have known it was going to be a shambles because, lets be honest, they opened the doors to everyone. I heard someone complain saying that they were told this wouldn't happen only to have the Showmasters staff just shrug their shoulders.

 

The bottom line is, this was the poorest Showmasters event I've ever been to. They've had a year to plan it and, with the execption of Nathan Fillion, I'd met every one of the main stars before. Showmasters is going to have to improve a helluva lot before I waste my time, effort and hard earned money on a **** poor event like Comicon again.

[DavidB]

Christopher Lee only being posted for four days before lo and behold, he's hurt his leg. Does that really stop him from signing an autograph?

 

You're more than welcome to an opinion on the event as a whole, and I'm sorry if you didn't enjoy it or the guests were not to your personal tastes etc, however I suggest you have a bit of understanding and compassion for a man in his 80s! I hardly think he would be in the mood to sign autographs, nor in a physical condition to sit there all day and do so. I hope once you get to that age, people treat you with a bit more respect.

 

As for comparing it to other events ... I never do that. After all, what's the point? The lineup is never going to be the same, and there will always be more/less guests that you want to see from one event to the next. It's not like Showmasters aren't ATTEMPTING to get high calibre guests, that much is obvious, but unfortunately circumstances can be beyond their control.

[Queen_Sindel]

I'd like to add something about the comparison of the show to a cattle market.

 

Showmasters base their autograph prices on a certain number of people that get to see a specific guest and buy an autograph. If they cut the number down so that a smaller number can get more time with a guest, autograph prices are bound to go up.

 

A perfect example would have been Christopher Lee - one day only, if I recall correctly somewhere somebody said they were aiming for 600 tickets. He's a huge star, so of course SM have to pay him quite a bit of money to appear. So his autograph ended up with a price tag of 45 quid. And yet again, a huge number of people complained.

 

So whatever SM do, they will never get it right in everyone's eyes.

 

I was disappointed about no posed photos with Nathan as well, but still he made sure that everyone felt special.

The girl with me had never seen a single episode of Firefly when she took me to meet him and after we left the queue she took off to buy the box set. I guess that's all that needs to be said.

 

And while the photos were indeed pretty pricey, I think they were worth the money.

I admit I was kind of worried how the pictures would look seeing it was the first time Showmasters were doing this. When I got my picture with Elijah back Saturday afternoon, my first and only comment for a while was "wow." That's one of the best photo session pictures I ever had, and I had a fair number done so far. Unfortunately blurry pictures can still happen. But I'd like to get a huge compliment to the photographer.

Edited July 3, 2006 by Queen_Sindel

[Guardianofthecookiejar]

Having seen the result of one of the Elijah photo ops, I can honestly say that if that photo had been mine and I'd have paid £25 for it (or however much it was), I'd have been totally fecking ballistic and shouted the place down until I got a refund. It was an awful quality shot.

 

He looked like a ventriloquist's dummy with the attendee's hand shoved up his Khyber Pass. If this is the best Showmasters can do, they got problems.

Edited July 3, 2006 by Guardianofthecookiejar

[DavidB]

Having seen the result of one of the Elijah photo ops, I can honestly say that if that photo had been mine and I'd have paid £25 for it (or however much it was), I'd have been totally fecking ballistic and shouted the place down until I got a refund. It was an awful quality shot.

 

He looked like a ventriloquist's dummy with the attendee's hand shoved up his bottom. If this is the best Showmasters can do, they got problems.

 

So your problem is more with the way Elijah 'looks' rather than the actual quality of the shot? They can't exactly make him look any different

[Queen_Sindel]

Having seen the result of one of the Elijah photo ops, I can honestly say that if that photo had been mine and I'd have paid £25 for it (or however much it was), I'd have been totally fecking ballistic and shouted the place down until I got a refund. It was an awful quality shot.

 

He looked like a ventriloquist's dummy with the attendee's hand shoved up his Khyber Pass. If this is the best Showmasters can do, they got problems.

 

It was 20, and unfortunately there's always some shots that look better than others. You may have seen the odd exception, but I saw like 20 photos and besides one all looked good or even perfect to me. I have no idea what you are referring to with "awful quality" as it doesn't sound to me like the picture was out of focus or something.

 

He was sitting down for crying out loud. Of course the pictures won't look as original as they did for example with Nathan.

Edited July 3, 2006 by Queen_Sindel

[samwise]

I was quite happy with my Elijah photo but I didn't think the quality was brilliant - it was slightly blurred and the guy isn't my favourite photographer in the world - I've discovered from previous events.

 

Still, as I'm not very tall, the photo looked OK - people who were quite tall looked a bit daft in theirs, with Elijah's head at the bottom of the photo and theirs at the top.

[Guardianofthecookiejar]

Having seen the result of one of the Elijah photo ops, I can honestly say that if that photo had been mine and I'd have paid £25 for it (or however much it was), I'd have been totally fecking ballistic and shouted the place down until I got a refund. It was an awful quality shot.

 

He looked like a ventriloquist's dummy with the attendee's hand shoved up his bottom. If this is the best Showmasters can do, they got problems.

 

So your problem is more with the way Elijah 'looks' rather than the actual quality of the shot? They can't exactly make him look any different

 

I have no problem with the way Elijah "looks" as you put. But for any half decent professional photographer, and I assume whoever took these photos was professional, basic composition is a pre-requisite.

 

You don't sit someone who's short on a chair, and have the attendee standing behind them in a position that make the guest look like a cross between Jimmy Krankie and Lord Charles.

 

The photo I saw was crap. Period.

[Persephone1]

I'm a little surprised at the amounts of complaints about the Elijah photo session. The session was similar to every photo session I've ever been to at an event (and believe me I've been to a few). Some guests are happy to do various poses (Nathan Fillion has been to numerous events in England so he's a bit of a dab hand at the photo sessions now), others are slightly more reserved and prefer to just stand (or sit!) and smile. And to be fair it was stated in the faqs that it would be £20 per attendee for the photoshoots. So two people in the photograph - £40 and one photo.

 

I have no complaints about my photo. Malcolm is a very good photographer and I was perfectly happy with the quality as were the majority of the people I met who had had photos done.

 

I'm interested in what the expectations were of those people who were unhappy and whether they had ever attended events other than Showmasters as the photo sessions really weren't run any differently than I'm used to.

[samwise]

I'm interested in what the expectations were of those people who were unhappy and whether they had ever attended events other than Showmasters as the photo sessions really weren't run any differently than I'm used to.

 

I was happy with the way they were run, and yes, they were like other events :) I thought it all went very smoothly and the stewards in charge of the photo shoot were very nice and didn't treat people like cattle, which was a bonus :)

 

I was fairly happy with the picture itself - I've attended dozens of events over the last couple of years with various photographers - including Malcolm. I'm not saying he's the worst, but I've not had brilliant experiences with his pictures in the past.

 

And it's got nothing to do with how I look, etc...

[cyberem78]

I was also in the wrong queue. The line was so long and it didn't look like there was two queues. I think Showmasters could have sent a crew member along the line to shout and inform people that if they had an early bird or pre-paid ticket they could go straight in - it was too hot to be standing around when I didn't have to! The crew were very good at crowd control though!

[Tatia]

All in all I had a good time, spent way too much money and had fun with friends.

 

With regards to the problems with the queues on saturday, I understand it was easy to see what was going on if you arrived early. My friends and I arrived about 8.45 and just saw loads of people and no-one to tell us where to go. We couldn't see the signs cause there were loads of people in front of them. We ended up in a really short queue and got in very quickly but overall the queue system didn't work great.

 

The only problem I had all weekend was with the sound in the guest talks on sunday. (I was only in the John Barrowman talk but heard a few others from outside the area. Was in a few on saturday and it was fine.) The mics were gained way too high and everything was crackled. I don't know who was running the sound or if they were professionally trained but it was such a stupid little problem that could have been easily fixed. I was actually dreading someone asking John to sing, he's got such a great voice but with the mics the way they were it would have been so distorted.

[Muffin]

Second thing.. being manhandled by JCB in the Don S Davis queue... I don't think a lot of people appreciate being grabbed and pushed about. Especially in a non major queue like this one. She can be nice sometimes but sometimes she really goes really overboard, I have been to quite a few events so I know how to queue.

 

Did you see him on saturday or sunday?

 

I was his guest assistant on saturday and he was busy all day. He only stopped when his wife or JCB told him to. I think JCB didn't want anyone to go home disappointed that they didn't get to meet Don. Plus she knew Don and his wife had a theatre show to see on saturday night and she wanted them to leave with plenty of time to get there.

 

But please don't think I'm making excuses for her, she wasn't very pleasant about us crew that were working with Don on saturday

 

I met Don on the Saturday of the show it was a busy queue don't get me wrong... I am a massive stargate fan and Don was who I was wanting to see but I mean he wasnt the likes of Elijah or something for example. I just know I don't appreciate being manhandled...

 

I didn't get stressed about it was rather funny cos I actually burst out in laughter... it was one of those random moments. I just don't think anyone has the right to touch and push around a person like that. I respond to being asked ... it doesnt even have to be nicely.

[Seraphim]

sorry guys, another complaint about the 'Elijah thing'

I didn't do the photo session and by the sounds of it I didn't miss out on anything!

 

However I did go for an autograph, got number 163 ticket. All excited to meet him but when I got there, even before I realised, he'd signed my photo, no personalisation (I wasn't even asked to write my name down on the samller piece of paper before) and I was being shoved past, I only just managed to fit in a 'how are you'. I felt like I was in a cattle market, my friend was only able to get one photo of me infront of him but even then he's looking at the person beind me! I was very upset, even approached the people in charge to see if they could pass my photo back to him and just get him to write my name. I kinda feel it was a waste of money done that way. Sorry if you disagree, that was just my experience which was pants!

 

On a possitive note meeting Alan Tudyk was like a dream, grogeous, gorgeous bloke, friendly, shook my hand twice, interested in me, . . . did I mention gorgeous!!! Would meet him again and again and again!

 

Also just like to say I loved the troupe of Storm Troopers wondering around intertaining everyone! They were brilliant, hope to see them at every convention! They just make the whole event!

[CurlyKirsty]

Troy

 

Yep I remember you, I was Jedi-chef girl who tried to enlist Maggie, but you and everyone else there would not take photo for me.

 

Kirsty,

 

I'm really sorry about that, I felt like a real heel, as I know how much it means to you - but I was only trying to enforce what I'd been told, and the problem is that if someone see's me allowing one person to do it, then everyone else wants it as well, and the battle is lost.

 

I really hope Maggie can get back, for your sake,

 

 

T.

(((Hugs Troy))) Thanks kind sir.

It was my first time out as jedi-chef and it was so embarrassing, I was so self-concious and prob looked like a right idiot but lots of fun. I was so upset that Jorge passed up cos I had hoped he would be first but as i said Shaun was wonderful so alls well that ends well. I am so tired now as I went early Sat arriving at 7.30 and ended up working till 10 at night, then back to the show for a couple more hours and left to go work again till 10pm I really was pushed for time, mean bossy lady would not give me day off. Also apologies if my Jedi-cheffing upset anyone.

 

Stay away from JCB! I saw her pushing kids around on Sunday!

 

My complaint would be having to get the train into Heathrow with a lightsabre and autos under one arm and a big picture and my bag under the other, what are LFCC going to do about it?

[jamie1138]

''do not speak to elijah wood''

who told you that?

who do they think he is?

'kin royalty???

i can understand that chats would slow the whole process down... but ''do not look him in the eye,do not pass him any objects,do not...'' comes across a bit creepy.

[tiggerific]

personally i had a fab time and cant really find anything to complain about.....

 

regarding the door confusion on the saturday you could always do what we did.....do a recky the day/night before - we went for a walk the friday night well early evening to see if there were any signs up....

 

another thing you could do is have some of you get in the queue and someone take a walk up to the doors to look or simply just ask the person in front of you!

 

i personally felt the signs were quite self explanatory pre paid means you have already paid......

 

anyway thats just my thoughts!

[CurlyKirsty]

Thanks for entertaining the Queue with con-dancing on Sat morning. That was funy

[hobbitlover]

Elijah Photo Op was well orgaised although I thought it was silly that we had coloured tickets and you didn't use that idea it was good that he was sat on the stool better than a chair but I know it's not showmasters fault but in mine and 5 other pics I saw it looked like we were stood next to a cardboard cut out.

[Charisma]

I was quite happy with my Elijah photo but I didn't think the quality was brilliant - it was slightly blurred and the guy isn't my favourite photographer in the world - I've discovered from previous events.

 

Still, as I'm not very tall, the photo looked OK - people who were quite tall looked a bit daft in theirs, with Elijah's head at the bottom of the photo and theirs at the top.

 

 

My friend's pic was blurred, mine wasnt thank god...

[tiggerific]

i didnt have any photoshoots at lfcc but have had them in the past at other events...

 

i think that what may have been better from what ive heard is that if the guest is sitting for wahtever reason then the otehr person in the photo should be too so that they are at least closer in height i mean if someone really tall was in the picture it would look kinda odd...

 

maybe think about that for next time...

 

:)