James Marsters VQ Tickets

[andyw]

as far as James not personalising and leaving earlier than expected - you need to read the explanation I posted which is now on page 4 of this thread. hope that will then make things a little clearer and some people will be more understanding.

[mistaken_plane]

Why not take one simple easy option?

 

Put signs on all the doors saying there is only ONE queue and specify which doors these will be. Then you have one queue, no stampede, and calm ticket handing out.

 

No one would have minded giving them out early if the queue was properly honoured, but people who had queued all morning to be beaten by latecomers because they had the wrong door...well thats an ameatur mistake.

[Colonel Jack O'Neill]

Why are people still complaining about the tickets being handed out before 10am? It would not have made the slightest difference to the ticket you got if they were handed out at 10am or not, same happened at C4 with Elijah.

 

If they had waited till 10am all the people who had got a ticket and moved on would still have been in the queue and instead of having a constanly moving queue of a few hundred people you would have arrived at 10am to find a static queue of over 1000 so no matter what time the tickets were given out, arriving at 10am ment you had almost no chance of meeting James.

[kelle77]

We got there at just after 7 to queue, we were lucky enough to get ticket 180, we met him at about 10.30 & he was lovely Least he took time to shake your hand & say hello, even tho he was very busy

 

Luv Kelle

[mooby81]

We had tickets number 951-953 for James Marsters queue, which we were given first thing this morning after entering the complex.  At 4.00pm this afternoon, James Marsters was called away to take part in the Buffy talk, 50 ticket numbers before we got his autograph  .  I'm sorry, but this is really bad organisation on the part of Showmasters.  You knew what time the talk was due to start, so why did you give so many tickets out?  Why not start the talk later.  We waited seven hours, only to be told that if we want James' autograph we've got to come back tomorrow and start all over again .    I think the 200+ people who had tickets after number 900 for today's queue should have them honoured tomorrow.  I'm not so much angry as annoyed that a normally competent team of organisers made such a fundamental error.  I really think you should consider letting us use todays' tickets on the 2nd May otherwise I think you may find yourselves with a lot of angry people at the organisers office first thing Monday morning.  Also it would have been better to hold the talk after the official ending of the fair.  There were only a couple of hours to go, plenty of time for the final few tickets to be honoured before the talk could have begun.  I'll be coming back tomorrow, so hopefully things will be better organised.  I'd really like to know what the other disappointed people think of this huge spam-up on the part of the organisers.

just because you get a queue ticket doesn't mean you get to meet a guest. it's the way it has always worked. and the way that you always get around this is to queue up in the morning. i got in the queue at 9am on sunday and got ticket number 706 and i met him by 2ish

Edited May 2, 2005 by mooby81

[ramthx]

ok after reading some more posts i think that this could go on till C8

 

those who did not get his signature and Q'd up outside from 8ish onwards on saturday are the people are upset as the doors i certainly Q'd up at never opened and reading from the posts if some people was Q-ing inside at 9.05 what chance did we have in this Q not a chance Showmasters with BIG GUESTS should state what doors to Q-up at and hand the tickets if need be early (which i dont have a problem) outside to the people who have Q'd up not the people who have been lucky with doors opening on time and the rest of us standing like LEMONS outside...

 

 

like i said what gets people mad yesterday is 2 things him going early (explanation a broken hand he had a while ago) SO WHAT WHY WAS WE NOT INFORMED HE WAS GONNA OR THERE WAS A SLIGHT CHANCE HE WOULD LEAVE EARLY

 

and also people who got there after me saw james and i did'nt EXPLAIN THAT ONE SHOWMASTERS??????

 

 

shame i could'nt make it today just of interest someone should have asked him how his hand was and exhausted he's earned more in 1 day than i earn all year and he couldn't stay another hour

 

oh well thats 2 bad experiences with buffy/Angel guests 1 was at the NEC eliza dushka and i did end up getting her autograph...

 

maybe Showmasters if they have handed tickets out for so many why could they not have thought limit it to 2 signatures per guest at least they would have had a lot more happy fans after all the people i spoke 2 seemed to spend quite a bit of money at these events and it seems we are the ones that got Scr**ed

 

p.s still cant believe its a day later and i,m still MAD about what happened

[ramthx]

mooby 81 i Q'd up over an hour earlier thn U and still didnt see him as my ticket was over 900

 

SHOWMASTERS WE WANT AN EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????#

 

 

 

for some reason don't think we will get 1

 

 

would like to hear from the people who got stuck outside when the doors did'nt open....

and can they ensure this BLUNDER will never happen again

 

p.s how hard can it be to unlock/open a door????

 

p.s still mad

[madstock]

Got there 8ish and queued, twice I saw someone push in further down the queue, slightly p*ssed at that but let it go.

When we got in we were sent to another queue for the virtual tickets, this was a shambles of a queue as people did not know where the end was as they were mixing with people from another queue from the other door. Settled into new queue and collected ticket 250something.

Got to see him just after 11. got a 30 second chat with him and a lovely signed in blood signature (red marker pen I provided).

 

I think all the people who were luck enough like me to get something have nothing to complain about, OK so I have no photo, dedication or get to spent a large amount of time talking to him, but at least I got a autograph.

 

As a suggestion that maybe SM could try next year, put a sign out for one queuing area, lock it down so people cannot push in. Also they could try and be giving tickets out early as people arrive and join the queue outside. First come first served.

[Jen]

At the end of the day if i was given a virtual ticket higher than 500 i would not get my hopes up that i would get the chance to meet the guest. Its not that unusual that guests leave earlier than planned or that their queue may move slowly. I didnt want to come away disappointed so i arrived at 5am. No problems getting any virtual tickets or autographs. It was an enormous shame that i came away without a single photograph of any of the guests i met, but it seemed so much busier than any of the other collectormanias i have attended.

[Yvie]

The simple fact of the matter is that although individuals may be intelligent, sensible souls who abide by the rules and respect the guests, people en masse are ignorant and rude. They cause H&S issues, put their own safety and the safety of others at risk by scaling furniture, banging on glass windows and surging forward in a crowd (crushing the people in front) just to get a look at a famous person. In this case - James Marsters.

 

Tickets were given out early because the queue for JM stretched from where he was signing, all the way down past all the Dealers tables and almost down to the sandwich shop. This blocked half of the Hall and was a serious H&S problem and it just can't be left like that. Tickets were handed out to disperse the crowd and resolve the problem, if you were 998th in the queue, you'd have had the same ticket number at 9am as you would have had at 10am; waiting an extra hour does not mean that the people infront of you would have evaporated into thin air - think about it sensibly please.

 

You can't have it both ways. JM could have signed 150 photos per hour or 100 photos per hour. That's the basic difference personalising all the pictures makes. If you want to add pausing to take photos to that, you're looking at less than 80. Do the maths.

 

Also, please back off because the guests aren't forced into set break times. If a guest is hungry and miserable, would you prefer them to sit there and sign your picture or go for lunch and come back rested, refreshed and happy?!

 

It seems that on the whole people on this thread seem to have more interest in getting a picture signed than in JM's own comfort and it shows a massive lack of respect for him and the people who worked VERY hard to bring him to the UK.

 

At the end of the day, every individual may be important to JM - but that includes the ones at the back of the queue with 4 figure numbers on their tickets as well as the people at the front of the queue demanding an impromptu photo shoot.

 

Incidentally; I was not crewing JM's queue, I was working next to it with the Alexis people instead. On the whole (from what I saw), the people in both queues were friendly and respectful, but I'm afraid it's simply a case of the few spoiling it for the many. I had a great time shuffling people from the photo table to the front of the queue ("no gaps please, we don't like them" "squeeze up to the person infront of you, it's a great way to make friends") but I also had to be the bad guy and stop people taking photos. We're genuinely sorry about that, but we have to do as we're told and shouting at us doesn't change that.

[mooby81]

mooby 81 i Q'd up over an hour earlier thn U and still didnt see him as my ticket was over 900

 

SHOWMASTERS WE WANT AN EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????#

 

 

 

for some reason don't think we will get 1

 

 

would like to hear from the people who got stuck outside when the doors did'nt open....

and can they ensure this BLUNDER will never happen again

 

p.s how hard can it be to unlock/open a door????

 

p.s still mad

i joined the queue INSIDE the building at 9 (the actual VQ ticket queue) not outside so that's how i explain how i got a lower number than you!

[Jedi_Redd]

How was it 2day. I decided not 2 go?

[Yvie]

How was it 2day. I decided not 2 go?

James had an Open queue (all tickets had been done) by about 2pm, I'm sorry that you missed a chance to see him.

 

The scary rush of Sunday was present again in the morning, but because we were ready for the demand today it all went smoothlyand quickly from what I understand.

[mooby81]

How was it 2day. I decided not 2 go?

James had an Open queue (all tickets had been done) by about 2pm, I'm sorry that you missed a chance to see him.

 

The scary rush of Sunday was present again in the morning, but because we were ready for the demand today it all went smoothlyand quickly from what I understand.

I thought he might go open today. i met him yesterday. but sunday was always gonna be busier for buffy/angel guests cos there were 4 cast members there

[Jedi_Redd]

How was it 2day. I decided not 2 go?

James had an Open queue (all tickets had been done) by about 2pm, I'm sorry that you missed a chance to see him.

 

The scary rush of Sunday was present again in the morning, but because we were ready for the demand today it all went smoothlyand quickly from what I understand.

Crap Oh well

[ramthx]

mooby 81 i Q'd up over an hour earlier thn U and still didnt see him as my ticket was over 900

 

SHOWMASTERS WE WANT AN EXPLANATION AS TO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????#

 

 

 

for some reason don't think we will get 1

 

 

would like to hear from the people who got stuck outside when the doors did'nt open....

and can they ensure this BLUNDER will never happen again

 

p.s how hard can it be to unlock/open a door????

 

p.s still mad

i joined the queue INSIDE the building at 9 (the actual VQ ticket queue) not outside so that's how i explain how i got a lower number than you!

would have been able to get inside the building at that time

 

 

 

THATS MY POINT

[tiggerbabe]

I heard it over the tannoy that he was open queue today! Its totally mad how two days can be so different!

[mooby81]

I'm not sure what door you were queuing at. but they only open the doors at 9ish and obviously someone has to unlock them so they aren't gonna be open at the same time. when i got let in at 9 there were obviously 700 people (in front of me) let in before me so i was just lucky i didn't get in any later.

[Jeni]

We got here at 7.00 - V early, but well worth it! I was 135 for James - such a nice guy, very chatty!

Hope those of you who didnt get to meet him today, will morro!

Same here! (actually, it was about 7:30am)

 

Frosty, were you queuing around the back? because I didn't think we were let in until 10am... my watch would have been wrong, I guess...

[buffy_rocks]

Grrrrr! I am really annoyed at myself for not going today now, I waited around all day yesterday for James to have an open queue, just through sheer desperation, but today I decided it would just be a clone of yesterday so didn't go. Instead I sat around doing nothing and feeling miserable about yesterday!

[bored_now]

Well the important thing is that it sounds as though things have improved today for other fans. Hopefully there will be other chances to meet James and lessons have been learnt all round.

[Smurfet]

I went again today and got there at 8 and got ticket number 200 and saw him within 45 mins. This is because it was done more fairly than yesterday as you had to queue up at a certain door and the door for James Marsters wasn't being opened until 10am and everyone had to walk in single file to get their tickets (so it WAS first come first serve with no pushing and shoving or health and safety risk) and anyone who went in a different door to get a ticket for JM was told to go to the back of the queue outside. This was all I was asking for, I wasn't blaming James for anything, as I said in my last post, I was just pointing out it's unfair that other people go in a different door to grab a ticket instead of joining the exsisting queue and that the tickets were given out too early and the fact that so many tickets were given out when they knew there was a chance he'd only do 800 (in which case they should have only given out 800 tickets and then made it open queue after if poss) Anyway I'm just glad I managed to get his auto today and that they sorted yesterdays problems out, thanks sm!

[PyleaDude]

Yes, everything was handled a lot better today. I missed out yesterday but decided to come back today. Apart from a mix-up over which door to queue up at 8am this morning (went to door 11 only to find no-one there and thinking this can't be right). Joined the queue outside where he was signing and spent the hour from 9am til 10am watching SM setting up and telling people inside to go outside a get in the queue. Met him about 11-ish - much happier faces all round.

[ramthx]

shame i missed him 2day but glad showmasters sorted all the problems out from sunday

 

 

 

:)

 

lets hope next time they use the same common sense with the bigger named guests just miffed off i missed out 2day oh well EBAY here i come lol

[thesulah]

Get up early next time, I arrived at 01.00 and was the first one who got the signing from James masters, at that time he was very friendly, the tickets flew out very quickly. It's not that I'm a total freak but it was better to spend the night in front of the door than arrive at 10 in the morning and have no autograph. Sorry when you don't get one but I DID.

Was a very great sunday, tired but great.