A message for the complainers

[Deap]

hi, what is C12

[Neurie]

Collectormania 12.

 

Its in milton keynes the alst weekend in October.

[lams9999]

hi, what is C12

 

Another place where you will empty your wallet

[Deap]

Damn why cant i have my gamer card as my sig? I'm Deap360 for anyone who cares.

 

I started reading this thread because I'm an avid complainer. I don't want to be it's just my nature. I don't try to look for faults but I find that I criticize where things could have been much better. Its not that things were awful at this event but they could have easily been so much better.

 

I agree with dufresne (topic starter) I dint expect to agree after reading the title I expected it to be just someone who is part of the crew brown nosing but that wasn't the case I agree with most of his points but at the same time I very much agree with witchybelle4u2 (for those not paying attention this was the massive post about 2 pages ago)

 

This is my First convention. I'm sorry, a lot of you seem to rank yourselves higher because you go to a different convention every month. Now i agree that you have a better opinion of what to expect from a convention but please don't think that your opinion outranks mine I should be entitled to as much of a say as you all are.

 

My experience of a comic con event was not good my girlfriend also thought there were massive problems and we put most of this down to the organisation of the event which we can only describe as one big money spin.

 

Please don't disagree with me on this, That is my opinion and I'm going to stick with it if you want to be constructive then please tell me if I'm pointing my blame finger at the wrong people. A lot of you will agree a lot will disagree. My opinion will not change but i think after reading on you will find I'm being fair.

 

The queing outside was a problem, I got my ticket weeks ago and got there at &:30 to queue, met some lovely people who explained the ropes to me, all was good. stupid thing is come 10 pm, the box office queue was allowed to pay and let in immediately the same time as us who paid before hand. there should have been the main queue and the box office queue. the box office should have sold tickets only and to gain entry should have been asked to join the entry queue. gold members get in 1st? (fine they paid for priority)

 

The rush of Heroes fans, wow that was mental I got in there and got my VQT. Personally i don't care for Hayden. I mean Christ she is fit but I wanted to meet Jack Coleman the guy is just such a star. I guess It's because he knows what its like to be up then down then back up but either way he seems to love his fans. The other heroes seemed arrogant especially Hayden. Was that just me or did they seem that way to other people I hope it was because they were just tired from the world tour but I wanted to see the people behind the characters and they seemed like drones. Perhaps (and this is where i feel Showmasters did a bad job) they were treat like drones, The whole money spinning opinion comes from the fact that I pay to meet the guests. If i wanted top pay just for an autograph I could have bought it off one of the vendors. all I expected was acknowledgement I didnt want to ask questions or tell my life story I just wanted to say Hi and thankyou It was a pleasure watching you this season or please be on the show forever.

 

I got rushed down a line had barely enough time to put my wallet away where the lady with Hayden tried to take a photo off me when i wanted My HD DVD (which i paid express shipping for unknowing they would be on sale at the con) signed, she huffed as she tried to take the wrong thing and took my DVD box, plonked it down "damaged the top corner!" handed it to Hayden who i wanted to ask to sign with a silver pen as the others signed it black and i wanted her name to stand out (as she was the only girl) never got chance. I said thanks and was hurried off. she didn't even look at me. Its not what I expected sorry if this is not the norm but I would have rethink the idea if I'd have known there should have been limitations on how many people can actually see her as it must have been a nightmare for all of them to have to do so much work, too much work.

 

I had a photo of Jack Coleman which I took at the london eye and had printed 8*12 for £10. I asked for personalisation and he signed it Too Richard, My name is Ross!. I said it was ok. (seriously I'm not going to argue with one of my faveouraite actors of all time) but looking back im really dissapointed. I cant frame this now it just looks stupid.

 

The crowd waiting was retarded people with numbers like 1400+ queing there when they were on 1-500, there should have been a tannoy system announcing when a guest was queing for what numbers, maybe then people wouldn't have crowded waiting for their group to come up.

 

Photos, I wanted to get in there and have 2 seconds to get comfortable then done, they should have been limited for the actors sakes as well. this is why i call it a money spin.

 

the people selling photo tickets and handing out VQT's just wanted as many people through as possible with no consideration for the guests or a thought as to how many could actually get through a photosession or signing within a period of time.

 

the lighting was terrible i couldn't get many deacent photo's and my camera is worth more than some peoples car's,perhaps more photography would have been allowed if it was not flash photography. can someone actually answer why no photographs were allowed, did the actors explain that the lights are too much or did showmasters want to capitalise on the photo sessions?

 

No seating. we used less than half that upper floor the other half could have had some designated seating.

 

The guests being walked through the rom whilst fans chased was unprofessional and just stupid, I was pushed into a stall i was browsing just because some guests walked past, the guy in the pinkish purple shirt didn't even say sorry just kept saying stay back please.

 

Perhaps next time walk them somewhere behind the scenes, if there is no behind the scenes. situate them near the door!

 

All in all the organisation was terrible perhaps somewhat due to a very last minute decision to inclue 2 massive stars but dont sit them all together then not expect a crowd to gather in the area where you announce what ticket numbers you are on.

 

Put the VQT's on the other side next time!

 

There are a lot of problems that happened at this event and as i have said i blame the organisation. its clear from the amount of complaints that there were actual faults and before i consider coming to another showmasters event i want to hear from at least one member of the crew acknowledge some of these complaints and apologise and say they will try to do better next time instead of just arguing that it was the public's fault for crowding. part of your job as organisers is handleing the crowds and putting things in the best places to stop them

[gebes]

It would'nt have made much difference if a tannoy system had been used, people still would have hung around that area. The crew working there had a very tough job to do on Sunday.

 

Yes, maybe having 6 big guests in the one area was maybe not such a wise idea, but that's something that will be remembered in the future.

 

Things like lighting and seating are down to Earls court staff, not Showmasters, I was told that SM had made enquiries about the lighting as it was not too good. I would hope that you agree with this at least.

 

Money spinning - I'm afraid I've never thought of SM as doing this compared to other events that I have attended, When you have guests as popular as the Heroes guests, and you get such a large turnout of attendees, SM were always bound to get complaints as to how long people got when meeting a popular guest. If for example you'd got to spend longer time with say Hayden, then there'd be other people posting that due this, they did'nt get to meet Hayden. So where do you draw the line?

 

Yes, there were some problems admittedly, but SM have run plenty of events that have run smoothly, in the case of LFCC , I would put some of the issues down to them possibly underestimating how many people would turn up on the Sunday. I've attended every SM event since Collectormania 8 and have never seen it like it was on Sunday. I'm led to believe though that possibly C4 was just as busy, maybe another forum member could give their views as to whether the crowds at LFCC were on a par with C4 ?

 

Another theory I have about the Heroes guests is, they were probably tired after a busy couple of days doing various media events, and if you were to do research on the web, I believe only Hayden has had any experience of attending such events as LFCC? I could be wrong as I don't know if Milo, Adrian or Jack have done any other events either here in the UK , or in the USA. So some of 'how they were' with attendees, could just simply be put down to inexperience of such events?

[Deap]

I will be happy as long as Sm are taking the complaints seriously, from what i have read there were similar complaints last year and nothing was done, such as seating. I like to think the guests were just tired and i cant blame them, I'd rather think that than start to dislike them because they had attitude.

 

I don't think I'll bother with Collectormania, I may go for one day since its only an hour or so away, but I'm considering eclipse but need more info 1st. I don't want to pay for things like a signature I want to get to know the actors. I don't mean get to know them and become friends I mean i want to know what they as people are like. I like Jack Coleman more now because he is such a cool guy Id rather have no autograph and just watch them interact with the crowd.

 

 

 

oh and one final complaint. I couldn't find a single Neon Genesis Evangellion Book, one vendor (shall remain nameless) even asked me what it is!

 

 

No it wasn't Tokyopop!

Edited September 4, 2007 by Deap

[Flibble]

I was lucky enough to get autographs from all four of the Heroes cast, and not once did I see a crew member do anything wrong. They were all cheerful people, and I didn't see unpleasantnes at all.

 

On the subject of photos, some of the actors bring their own with them, so if they have a limited choice of photos, it's not the organisers fault.

[johnhuk]

If there are genuine complaints with crew members - and I mean specific ones - then people should just either go to the information/organisers desk on the day, or contact Showmasters directly after the show.

 

 

 

This was also a problem.....I was witness to someone being very abusive to a crew member near the area where Milo was situated on Sunday. It was a mam of about 18 or 19 years old and the crewmember was trying to explain about no photo rules etc. and all she was getting was abuse and not looking very happy but eventually he left. I then overheard him saying to his mate that he was going to sneak around the back by the guest entrance to the signing area and cause trouble.....I tried to find a pitboss but no luck!

 

So I headed for the organisers/info desk.....where I waited and waited...and was the only one waiting, whilst four or so other crew were busy chatting to those manning the desk and taking the p*ss out of some cosplayers, and ignoring me...I did the usual, coughed, called etc. but was ignored.

 

Now I'm not saying crew can't chat, but jeez. I stood there for a good 5-8 minutes before giving up! They can't use the excuse that they didn't see me because we were about 2 metres apart and I'm not small enough to miss!

 

Just hope those guys didn't get 'round the back and cause trouble!

[Dr Evil]

If there are genuine complaints with crew members - and I mean specific ones - then people should just either go to the information/organisers desk on the day, or contact Showmasters directly after the show.

 

 

 

This was also a problem.....I was witness to someone being very abusive to a crew member near the area where Milo was situated on Sunday. It was a mam of about 18 or 19 years old and the crewmember was trying to explain about no photo rules etc. and all she was getting was abuse and not looking very happy but eventually he left. I then overheard him saying to his mate that he was going to sneak around the back by the guest entrance to the signing area and cause trouble.....I tried to find a pitboss but no luck!

 

So I headed for the organisers/info desk.....where I waited and waited...and was the only one waiting, whilst four or so other crew were busy chatting to those manning the desk and taking the p*ss out of some cosplayers, and ignoring me...I did the usual, coughed, called etc. but was ignored.

 

Now I'm not saying crew can't chat, but jeez. I stood there for a good 5-8 minutes before giving up! They can't use the excuse that they didn't see me because we were about 2 metres apart and I'm not small enough to miss!

 

Just hope those guys didn't get 'round the back and cause trouble!

 

don't know if that was the same guy i saw...but i did see one swearing at a crew member...because he couldn't get a look at the Heroe guests...i had this feeling that he wasn't there for autographs either!

[johnhuk]

If there are genuine complaints with crew members - and I mean specific ones - then people should just either go to the information/organisers desk on the day, or contact Showmasters directly after the show.

 

 

 

This was also a problem.....I was witness to someone being very abusive to a crew member near the area where Milo was situated on Sunday. It was a mam of about 18 or 19 years old and the crewmember was trying to explain about no photo rules etc. and all she was getting was abuse and not looking very happy but eventually he left. I then overheard him saying to his mate that he was going to sneak around the back by the guest entrance to the signing area and cause trouble.....I tried to find a pitboss but no luck!

 

So I headed for the organisers/info desk.....where I waited and waited...and was the only one waiting, whilst four or so other crew were busy chatting to those manning the desk and taking the p*ss out of some cosplayers, and ignoring me...I did the usual, coughed, called etc. but was ignored.

 

Now I'm not saying crew can't chat, but jeez. I stood there for a good 5-8 minutes before giving up! They can't use the excuse that they didn't see me because we were about 2 metres apart and I'm not small enough to miss!

 

Just hope those guys didn't get 'round the back and cause trouble!

 

don't know if that was the same guy i saw...but i did see one swearing at a crew member...because he couldn't get a look at the Heroe guests...i had this feeling that he wasn't there for autographs either!

 

 

Black or blue basball cap and a hoody...his mate was dressed the same with a striped cap.....

[Dr Evil]

If there are genuine complaints with crew members - and I mean specific ones - then people should just either go to the information/organisers desk on the day, or contact Showmasters directly after the show.

 

 

 

This was also a problem.....I was witness to someone being very abusive to a crew member near the area where Milo was situated on Sunday. It was a mam of about 18 or 19 years old and the crewmember was trying to explain about no photo rules etc. and all she was getting was abuse and not looking very happy but eventually he left. I then overheard him saying to his mate that he was going to sneak around the back by the guest entrance to the signing area and cause trouble.....I tried to find a pitboss but no luck!

 

So I headed for the organisers/info desk.....where I waited and waited...and was the only one waiting, whilst four or so other crew were busy chatting to those manning the desk and taking the p*ss out of some cosplayers, and ignoring me...I did the usual, coughed, called etc. but was ignored.

 

Now I'm not saying crew can't chat, but jeez. I stood there for a good 5-8 minutes before giving up! They can't use the excuse that they didn't see me because we were about 2 metres apart and I'm not small enough to miss!

 

Just hope those guys didn't get 'round the back and cause trouble!

 

don't know if that was the same guy i saw...but i did see one swearing at a crew member...because he couldn't get a look at the Heroe guests...i had this feeling that he wasn't there for autographs either!

 

 

Black or blue basball cap and a hoody...his mate was dressed the same with a striped cap.....

 

 

nope no baseball cap...short blonde hair i think.

[Queen_Sindel]

So as soon as someone has a negative opinion it gets shot down?

Just being honest....

 

A certain kind of negative opinion will get shot down, that's the nature of the beast.

 

I consider myself guilty as charged here in some cases here. But if somebody says he was "manhandled" by staff, doesn't give any details and hasn't complained on the day, yes, I will not react what the complaining person would consider nicely. Especially if it involves very experienced volunteers like roxy and others running the Heroes area who I have never seen doing anything like that before. Plus I consider some of them my friends. You would defend your friends too, right?

 

I have no problem accepting statements like the one by turkfox - which was done brilliantly by the way. But statements like in other threads, the 10807th thread saying "it was dark" or even name calling - I have seen no one "shooting down complainers" using words like you did for example - simply do not help.

[CelticRob]

Reading this thread, I have only one major complaint to voice about this event...

 

On the Saturday I looked at my wallet at 7am and counted £260.

On Saturday night I looked at it again and counted £18!

And this wasn't like a one off occurence, the same bl****y thing happened on Sunday!!!

 

I blame showmasters entirely for this problem.

[Trialia]

Reading this thread, I have only one major complaint to voice about this event...

 

On the Saturday I looked at my wallet at 7am and counted £260.

On Saturday night I looked at it again and counted £18!

And this wasn't like a one off occurence, the same bl****y thing happened on Sunday!!!

 

I blame showmasters entirely for this problem.

*splorfs and giggles*

[TommyT]

Please don't disagree with me on this, That is my opinion

You're allowed to have an opinion, but you can't tell me that I'm not allowed to disagree with it, no matter how politely you tell ask!

and I'm going to stick with it if you want to be constructive then please tell me if I'm pointing my blame finger at the wrong people. A lot of you will agree a lot will disagree. My opinion will not change

I wonder how productive it will be discussing things with you then, but let's struggle on fo the time being, shall we...

The queing outside was a problem, I got my ticket weeks ago and got there at &:30 to queue, met some lovely people who explained the ropes to me, all was good. stupid thing is come 10 pm, the box office queue was allowed to pay and let in immediately the same time as us who paid before hand. there should have been the main queue and the box office queue. the box office should have sold tickets only and to gain entry should have been asked to join the entry queue.

Your suggestion is of course an inefficient use of doors when the objective surely must be to get people into the venue as swiftly as possible. Making great swathes of them queue once for a ticket just to join another queue afterwards just slows down entry. Certainly at many other events I go to (sports events, concerts etc) the system works in the same way as at SM, or alternatively ticketholders and those buying tickets are in the same queue, where there is even less benefit to having a pre-paid ticket.

By having a pre-paid ticket you are in a queue that should move quicker, as nobody has to get involved in a financial transaction. A pre-paid ticket means that you have been able to spread your expenditure a little, and also means that you have less hassle getting in on the day - where does it say it gets you preferential entry terms? (If you're waiting for the bus and you've got a season ticket, it doesn't mean that you can get on the bus ahead of anyone else already in the queue who is going to buy a single from the driver, does it?)

Perhaps (and this is where i feel Showmasters did a bad job) they were treat like drones, The whole money spinning opinion comes from the fact that I pay to meet the guests. If i wanted top pay just for an autograph I could have bought it off one of the vendors. all I expected was acknowledgement I didnt want to ask questions or tell my life story I just wanted to say Hi and thankyou It was a pleasure watching you this season or please be on the show forever.

Perhaps SM need to do a better job of explaining the idea of the event, and what it can mean when you have very busy guests. (It does tend to go into this in the FAQs though, although I will concede that they are only semi-official and not everyone will read them in advance anyway).

I got rushed down a line had barely enough time to put my wallet away where the lady with Hayden tried to take a photo off me when i wanted My HD DVD (which i paid express shipping for unknowing they would be on sale at the con)

If that's a complaint, then I might point out that it's not SMs' job to advertise what dealers might be selling at the show, and even if it was, suppose they said there would be dealers there selling the HD DVD but by the time you got there they had sold out?

signed, she huffed as she tried to take the wrong thing and took my DVD box, plonked it down "damaged the top corner!" handed it to Hayden who i wanted to ask to sign with a silver pen as the others signed it black and i wanted her name to stand out (as she was the only girl) never got chance. I said thanks and was hurried off. she didn't even look at me. Its not what I expected sorry if this is not the norm but I would have rethink the idea if I'd have known there should have been limitations on how many people can actually see her as it must have been a nightmare for all of them to have to do so much work, too much work.

The damage is indeed unfortunate. The guest experience is perhaps a sad result of having so many people after those guests who were available for such a short period. Perhaps in your case you would have preferred it if under the circumstances the guests weren't there at all, given the constraints. I would guess that many other people would be happy to get some sort of experience and an autograph than nothing at all. It's a simple fact that you can't please everybody.

I had a photo of Jack Coleman which I took at the london eye and had printed 8*12 for £10. I asked for personalisation and he signed it Too Richard, My name is Ross!. I said it was ok. (seriously I'm not going to argue with one of my faveouraite actors of all time) but looking back im really dissapointed. I cant frame this now it just looks stupid.

Obviously that is not SM's fault - it's either Jack's for mishearing or yours for not speaking clearly enough or both. One piece of advice (often repeated here) is that if you want the guest to write your name on an item, it's a good idea to have it clearly printed on a Post-It attached to the item.

On a separate tack, you may be able to erase the name by careful and gentle wiping with surgical spirit. No guarantees, and you may prefer not to risk damaging the photo, but it's an option.

The crowd waiting was retarded people with numbers like 1400+ queing there when they were on 1-500, there should have been a tannoy system announcing when a guest was queing for what numbers, maybe then people wouldn't have crowded waiting for their group to come up.

Given the nature of crowds you get wanting to see the "latest big thing", a lot of people would have waited around there even if you said there was a damn great truck coming to run them over and would they please move to avoid grave injury...

I would also warn you that some people may take offence at your use of the phrase "retarded people"

the people selling photo tickets and handing out VQT's just wanted as many people through as possible with no consideration for the guests or a thought as to how many could actually get through a photosession or signing within a period of time.

Given that this is your first event, and that the people organising the show have been running VQs for years, and have experience and a reasonably good handle on guest signing speeds, (plus the disclaimer that a VQ, especially a higher numbered one doesn't guarantee you will see a guest anyway), on what evidence do you base your assertion that were handing out way too many VQ tickets?

the lighting was terrible i couldn't get many deacent photo's and my camera is worth more than some peoples car's,

Given you can buy a car for a quid these days, that says nothing. In low light conditions you need to set your camera to a fast ISO setting (even with flash, as a lot of built-in flash units, even on quite expensive cameras, are barely adequate in such settings. Or you could invest in a separate flash unit that costs more than some people's mopeds.

perhaps more photography would have been allowed if it was not flash photography. can someone actually answer why no photographs were allowed, did the actors explain that the lights are too much or did showmasters want to capitalise on the photo sessions?

Generally to speed the queue along to allow more customers to get the autographs that they wanted.

No seating. we used less than half that upper floor the other half could have had some designated seating.

That's a fair cop and one that was raised last year.

The guests being walked through the rom whilst fans chased was unprofessional and just stupid, I was pushed into a stall i was browsing just because some guests walked past, the guy in the pinkish purple shirt didn't even say sorry just kept saying stay back please.

 

Perhaps next time walk them somewhere behind the scenes, if there is no behind the scenes. situate them near the door!

Presumably you didn't see who actually pushed you (since from your description you seemed to have been pushed from behind) - may have been another attendee rushing past to get a photo. Whoever jostled you, it's an unpleasant state of affairs, but nothing to really weep about, is it?

As for "if there is no behind the scenes. situate them near the door!", how does this door help if a guest needs to move from one side of the room (where they are signing) to another side (for a photoshoot or guest talk)?

 

 

I don't think anybody claims that the show was flawless, but some of the complaints and blame-slinging are a little unreasonable.

[dufresne]

Have you noticed how people who complain because they didn't get what they wanted, when they wanted, how they wanted. This is ShowMasters - not Burger King

 

Your post has quite an authoritive tone to it - tell me, are you speaking on behalf of showmasters with your comments?

 

No !

 

 

I'm not the type to normally say this but dufresne, why don't you hold your arrogant, condescending tongue?

 

Things aren't always done "for a reason," thank you very much. Sometimes things are done the way they are because they are poorly thought out, poorly planned and poorly executed. How dare you blame the convention-goers themselves, rather than Showmasters? They paid out their hard-earned money and it's only fair that they have a good experience for it. It's not unreasonable to expect a guest to take the time to look up from signing a photograph when you dish out £25 for it. What? Am I to believe that the guests are there out of the kindness of their hearts? Do they or don't they walk away with a pretty penny from these conventions? As far as I am concerned, these conventions represent a WORK committment to these celebrity guests. They should-and many do-treat it as such, making every effort to please the convention-goers. Too bad Showmasters can't do the same.

 

Well, showmasters? Is it for the fans or is it for the money? 'Cause I'm not so sure anymore.

 

Having a look at the list of cancellations, I can't help but notice that ten of them were headliners...and two of them have pulled out in the past. Looks like another case of hook, 'em, reel 'em in...and the bait disappears. When Bill Nighy was first announced I turned to my husband and said, "It would be nice if it actually happened but, being Showmasters, do you think it will?" Huh. Turns out, I was right. Of course, I've had how many conventions now to base this opinion on? How many times have the headliners pulled out? Too d**n many.

 

If Showmasters wasn't only interested in the money, then surely they would post OUTSIDE the building when celebrities like Patrick Stewart can only appear for LESS THAN 3 hours or when celebrities like Torri Higginson cancel on the day. (And where was Rula Lenksa? None of the crew members could tell me a thing when I asked if she had pulled out.) If they REALLY cared about the fans, they'd tell you before you paid the entry fee. But, no. Seems like once they get your money they don't care. I'm sure they think you'll just find something else to spend your money one once you're suckered into the building.

 

Now, here's something a lot of people haven't mentioned. The lously selection of photos to have signed. Showmasters, you're responsible for these photos, aren't you? I know for a fact that you are because I spoke to both Ralph Brown, William Hoyland and Andee Frizzell about it. Where were the Miami Vice photographs from Lock, Stock? Where were the photographs from Hellboy? These guests could only explain by saying "There was a mix up with Showmasters."

 

And a word or two about the photo shoots. To expect husband and wife to pay TWICE to be in the same photo is completely unreasonable and unfair. Why should we have to pay £30 or £40 just to be in the same photo? We wouldn't recieve two photos with the both of us in it, would we? (No, I KNOW we wouldn't, because I asked.) So we pay twice as much as everyone else just because we choose to appear together in a photograph. How do you justify that?

 

"Wanting the on the day early birds admitted after pre-paid early birds (which you just happen to have) is an unreasonable request." How? Please explain. How is this an unreasonable request? If I have booked my ticket in advance because I have been there, done that, and know what to expect, why shouldn't I be expected to be shown straight into the building while the people outside are still fumbling with their wallets? Not just that but it makes things run smoother.

 

Now, I want to thank all of the geniunely pleasant and helpful crew members. You were life savers. The rest of you-and I'm talking specifically about the crew members between Patrick Stewart and Adrian Pasdar-you were rude, arrogant and pushy. How dare you treat us all like a bunch of naughty school children and how dare you bully us. I was surprised by the number of foul tempered crew members I encountered on the Sunday. Several were downright aggressive. Here's a tip: If you don't want to do the job, don't volunteer for it.

 

Showmasters crew do NOT-I repeat, DO NOT-have the right to manhandle people and that is exactly what they were doing. I was pushed here and there and shoved from behind as people surged forward in response to the crew members shouting orders at them. If one of my very expensive-just awaiting the autograph of Patrick Stewart-autographs had been damaged because I was shoved into the person in front of me thanks to a bossy showmasters crew member, I would have done more than "toss my toys out of the pram." One crew member had the audacity to say to me, "If you can breath, you're not close enough." I beg your pardon?

 

Lucky for Showmasters my 6ft, no-nonsense husband was not waiting in these queues because, if someone had pushed him around the way they pushed ME around, I don't doubt that he would have lost his temper, responding to this assault-and, yes, crewmembers, laying hands on someone the way you did is legally classified as assault-with assault.

 

Having someone grab your newly signed autograph from you and whisk it away down the queue is not just unwise, it's ridiculous. Let me explain why: 1. I saw the way that the items were being handled and I'm surprised that many of them weren't smudged. If they had been, would Showmasters have assumed any responsibility? Would the poor convention-goer been taken straight to the front of the queue, apologised to and gotten another autograph for free? I doubt it, 2. Anyone could have grabbed the item and been gone with it before you got down the queue to retrieve it-Just thinking about fully signed cast photos and posters...

 

Can I ask why the lighting was so poor, or is that too being unreasonable? And why were so many vendors stuck in the darkest reaches where it was difficult to see their wares? How much, I wonder, did they pay for that little treat? Years ago LFACC was laid out beautifully with the dealers in one hall and the celebrities in a single file in the next. Perfect. Why can't that be done again? Why continue to squeeze us into too-small halls with the queues so poorly done?

 

Don't you dare tell me that I'm being unreasonable or that I'm throwing my toys out of the pram because I'm not happy with the SHAMBLES that is and has been the London Film and Comicon. I work d**n hard for my money and I choose to spend it on autographs at conventions. That means that I work d**n hard for a positive, happy experience at the London Film and Comicon and I have not had one in the past few years. Poor show, Showmasters.

 

I daresay I will have a hundred smarmy response from the Showmasters brown-nosers like dufresne but let's be honest, the number of unhappy convention-goers far outnumber them. If they didn't this thread would not have been started at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2007 by dufresne

[Deap]

 

[see above I'm not copying the whole thing out]

 

 

Ok well thanks you clearly put a lot of time into that . I wasn't meaning the post as a complaint (I have this problem of posting and sounding like a whineing bitch when i really don't mean to)

 

I quite enjoyed the day and after the event I'm very much looking forward to collectormaina and eclipse. I just wanted to say what i saw as problems with the event. you cant really argue with things that people found a problem. If i didn't like something then its a problem in most of these cases i felt they were problems that could have been sorted. SM themselves have already said it should have been better organised but they were taken by surprise (guess that's what happens with 2 last minute A-list guests)

 

and as for your reasons as to why my ideas like a tanoy system wouldn't work, well have you actually tried it? how can you say something wont work if you don't try. its easy to say to people if you haven't got between number 0 and 500 there is no point being her, we will announce when we are taking up to 550/600 ect. maybe then people would feel safe and see they had time to browse the vendors before having to return. If you try it and it fails then fine I was wrong but you cant argu something wont work on your opinion. im not argueing it will work just that it might?

 

many other events I have been to have sepeare box offices to entry queue's. I have never seen anyone merge the two. in fact on Saturday this was not done. and if there was a a health and safety risk of bottlenecking in the foyer then having 2 queues is a worse idea. it would be safer to have one entry queue and the box office solely for ticket sales. when you have your ticket, join the queue.

 

There is no need to be so condescending in you reply It would have been more constructive (i.e. if you want to change my opinion in some way) to just provide reasons with evidence preferably as to why my points are bad.

 

I have a cannon 400D with the ISO set to 1600, aperture on 3.5 on an 18mm lens, auto adjusted shutter speed was an average of 1/50 or 1/100 if the flash was enabled. so trust me the lighting was P!ss poor.

 

finally the guy who pushed me was a tall heavy-ish built man wearing a pink or purple shirt and its not like he threw me into the stall but he walked straight into me which kinda hurt and surprised me. Its just not polite or professional

[Stuart]

It's not unreasonable to expect a guest to take the time to look up from signing a photograph when you dish out £25 for it.

 

Generally speaking, no, it isn't unreasonable. However you've also got to remember the guests are only human, and in the case of the Heroes guests had just spent several weeks on the road. People get tired, and they aren't always at their best. Should they call and cancel at the last minute, saying "Sorry, I feel knackered, and if I come I probably won't manage to smile at everyone because of that so I figure it's better to pull out and not see any of the fans at all"? I've seen actors go backstage from a signing only to almost literally deflate because they are exhausted or because they've been putting on a happy front to the fans while other aspects of their lives are depressing them (such as one actor who attended a show because they felt they couldn't let their fans down, despite one of their parents having passed away only days before); the point is, you don't know what else is going on for them, and if they aren't happy and bouncy and smiling at everyone, there may well be a pretty good reason for it that they can't share with you. People have off days.

 

What? Am I to believe that the guests are there out of the kindness of their hearts?

 

Some do, some don't. Most fall in the middle ground - they do get paid and the money is certainly a factor, but it's not the sole or even main reason why they are there. I doubt Burt Reynolds attended LFCC 2 for the money. Any actor who is steadily working and yet attends events is not doing it solely for the money, because what they get for appearing at shows like these is eclipsed by what they get paid for acting roles; the money is undoubtedly a nice incentive, but unlikely to be the main reason they attend.

 

Do they or don't they walk away with a pretty penny from these conventions? As far as I am concerned, these conventions represent a WORK committment to these celebrity guests. They should-and many do-treat it as such, making every effort to please the convention-goers. Too bad Showmasters can't do the same.

 

Well, showmasters? Is it for the fans or is it for the money? 'Cause I'm not so sure anymore.

 

Again, its a bit of both. It takes a lot of time and effort to run an event like LFCC, and if you aren't hoping to make some profit and live off it, then you simply won't have the time to organise a show like this whilst also meeting the commitments of your paying job. That's nothing to be ashamed of either. The people who make the books, comics, tv shows, films, etc that we like and enjoy aren't doing so purely for our entertainment either; they hope to cover their costs and make a profit so they can live off their work.

 

But Showmasters are not JUST in it for the money; if they were, then they wouldn't provide free talks. Talks means hiring floor space (venues like Earl's Court charge by the square metre), chairs, tech equipment, staff to run that equipment, vans to shift that equipment, and time away from signings when guests could be making money. Yet at LFCC the talks are free. Showmasters has no way of recouping that money, but they still don't levy a charge for what is being provided.

 

Having a look at the list of cancellations, I can't help but notice that ten of them were headliners...and two of them have pulled out in the past.

 

Sadly, by their nature, "headliners" tend to be the busiest actors and thus the most likely to get an acting role.

 

Looks like another case of hook, 'em, reel 'em in...and the bait disappears.

 

And that might work, if everyone bought their tickets in advance or all the cancellations were left right to the last second. Cancellations are a risk of all shows involving actors, where they can be offered jobs at the last second, and will cancel on the show in favour of those jobs. If it is such a concern to you or you are so convinced it is all a scam by Showmasters, then don't book in advance.

 

When Bill Nighy was first announced I turned to my husband and said, "It would be nice if it actually happened but, being Showmasters, do you think it will?" Huh. Turns out, I was right.

 

Hindsight. Always perfect. Kind of like the Sun with it's predictions for upcoming Doctor Who; a few months down the line, the Sun will trumpet each and every prediction which came true as proof of its foresight, whilst quietly forgetting all the predictions which didn't pan out.

 

Of course, I've had how many conventions now to base this opinion on? How many times have the headliners pulled out? Too d**n many.

 

Nature of the beast - the more guests you have, the more likelihood of losing some. And the bigger the names, the greater the risk they will get a job offer.

 

And where was Rula Lenksa? None of the crew members could tell me a thing when I asked if she had pulled out.

Rula Lenska was being brought to the event by the Blake's Seven Audio people, not Showmasters, and as such it isn't surprising that Showmasters crew didn't know what had happened to a guest not under Showmasters jurisdiction. I asked the B7 people where she was on Saturday, and was informed she had been offered work which conflicted with her attendence; I know from speaking to Jason later in the day that the first he knew of her non-attendence was when I told him.

 

Now, here's something a lot of people haven't mentioned. The lously selection of photos to have signed. Showmasters, you're responsible for these photos, aren't you? I know for a fact that you are because I spoke to both Ralph Brown, William Hoyland and Andee Frizzell about it. Where were the Miami Vice photographs from Lock, Stock? Where were the photographs from Hellboy? These guests could only explain by saying "There was a mix up with Showmasters."

 

Showmasters provide some photos, but just because an actor has appeared in a given show doesn't mean Showmasters will be able to provide a given image from that show. Its always been advisable that if you want a specific image then you should source it prior to the show and bring it with you; and if you can't find an image, then it would be unfair to be annoyed at Showmasters if they can't either. And remember that Showmasters don't charge for the photos they do provide, which again goes against your "They are only in it for the money" claim, as providing photos does cost money.

 

And a word or two about the photo shoots. To expect husband and wife to pay TWICE to be in the same photo is completely unreasonable and unfair. Why should we have to pay £30 or £40 just to be in the same photo? We wouldn't recieve two photos with the both of us in it, would we? (No, I KNOW we wouldn't, because I asked.) So we pay twice as much as everyone else just because we choose to appear together in a photograph. How do you justify that?

 

As the discussion about the Adrian/Milo pictures shows, taking a photo with more than two people in it (the attendee and the actor) often takes more time than taking two photos with two people in each - every extra person raises the odds of someone blinking or otherwise not being ready when the camera goes off. And at past shows where multiple people wanted to be in the same photos, in practice what happened is that groups of friends would club together, and you'd get four or five attendees all wanting in a single photo; they'd pay once, then get themselves multiple prints. So the actor and the show would get the money for one photo being taken, while the time used to take the picture would be the equivalent of five or six "regular" photos. So the rule is, one person per photo, and if you want more than one, then you pay for each individual in it. And despite what you say someone told you, yes, if you pay for two photos, you get two photos, one print of each.

 

Showmasters crew do NOT-I repeat, DO NOT-have the right to manhandle people and that is exactly what they were doing. I was pushed here and there and shoved from behind as people surged forward in response to the crew members shouting orders at them. If one of my very expensive-just awaiting the autograph of Patrick Stewart-autographs had been damaged because I was shoved into the person in front of me thanks to a bossy showmasters crew member, I would have done more than "toss my toys out of the pram." One crew member had the audacity to say to me, "If you can breath, you're not close enough." I beg your pardon?

 

I totally agree that people should not be manhandling one another. However from what you are describing, it sounds more like the people behind you (not the Showmasters crew members in front) were the ones doing the manhandling. If it was a member of Showmasters crew, then you should have reported it then and there.

 

Lucky for Showmasters my 6ft, no-nonsense husband was not waiting in these queues because, if someone had pushed him around the way they pushed ME around, I don't doubt that he would have lost his temper, responding to this assault-and, yes, crewmembers, laying hands on someone the way you did is legally classified as assault-with assault.

 

Lucky indeed, if your husband has as little control over his temper as your statement suggests, because while shoving anyone by anyone is out of order, assaulting someone simply because they shoved you is something you will get arrested for. Venue security would have have taken a dim view of such actions. However Showmasters' 7ft, no-nonsense crew boss, would not have gotten physically involved, because despite his size, he doesn't feel that being a big man gives him the right to lash out at people who annoy him and controls his temper.

[StarryKat]

A tannoy system wouldn't be very useful to those who are deaf.

 

You need something visual

[sparks]

A tannoy system wouldn't be very useful to those who are deaf.

 

You need something visual

 

 

Actually I have a solution for this but it involves lots of techie toys.........

 

sparks wants to play!!!!

[Big_Pants]

A tannoy system wouldn't be very useful to those who are deaf.

 

You need something visual

 

 

Actually I have a solution for this but it involves lots of techie toys.........

 

sparks wants to play!!!!

God help us.

[peeka85]

I personally think there wasn't enough free cake.

[Big_Pants]

I personally think there wasn't enough free cake.

I'm with you on that one. Free cake makes the world a better place. I want some. Now. Thank you.

[peeka85]

Me too... and doughnuts.

[sparks]

 

 

So as soon as someone has a negative opinion it gets shot down?

Just being honest....

 

 

No as soon as somebody has a negative point somebody tries to clarify what happened. Hva eyou noticed that most of the replies from showmasters themselves are along the lines of "we know what went wrong and we are looking at ways to fix it for the next time." Constructive feedback is useful and helpful...bitching is just bitching