Sunday - Opinion

[sazzra]

All of the guests who were there on friday were freezing. Nathan fillion wrapped his blanket around his legs cause he was cold. Maybe next time they could have heaters.

 

But it's not going to be an issue next time

[Avengers7]

All of the guests who were there on friday were freezing. Nathan fillion wrapped his blanket around his legs cause he was cold. Maybe next time they could have heaters.

 

 

Did you see James Tolkan jogging around the arena to keep warm on Friday?

 

In fairness, the guests were brilliant and seemedvery positive under the circumstances.

 

The stadium has a lot of potential, especially if the next one is going to be in the Olymic Hall in MK.

 

It was a shame the talks had to be cancelled though.

Edited June 7, 2009 by reddragon

[chris_mk]

Honest opinion from me of the whole weekend? worst one ever! I HATE the new venue and what the is with that fair we were suppose 2 b on about? i asked question and never got straight answers!

 

They definitely WERE there, but I think the weather was the beating of them. By this morning, the area they had occupied was pretty wet.

 

i think its ridiculous, u have to wait 4 hours for a pic then be told "oh dont worry it'll be out before 5", and have to pay £2 postage coz u cant stay till 5!!

 

Surely that would be the same issue if they were in the centre? The impression I got, was that they just took a LOT of photos (due to the huge popularity of the guests).

 

I also didnt like that i got told not to ask nimoy for personalistion but when everyone else did it was ok? on behalf of the staff tho, that issue was sorted for me, thanxs roxy and the pit manager.

 

I know you've been to these events before, so you know that some people will always push their luck and ask for something that they've been told not to. Leonard Nimoy seemed too polite to refuse those requests.

 

Also guests canceling on the day kinda SUCKED, but not sm fault i know that. it all seemed very disorganised and like the crew had too much on there plates, but just my opinion

 

Fair comment, if that's what you witnessed, but it sounded from your other comments, that actually the crew were able to help you, suggesting their workloads were relatively well balanced.

 

 

 

 

In fairness, the guests were brilliant and seemedvery positive under the circumstances.

 

I think that one sentence sums up the event.... the guests were awesome and kept high spirits, despite the meterological setbacks.

[Sazzzy]

Honest opinion from me of the whole weekend? worst one ever! I HATE the new venue and what the is with that fair we were suppose 2 b on about? i asked question and never got straight answers!

 

They definitely WERE there, but I think the weather was the beating of them. By this morning, the area they had occupied was pretty wet.

 

i think its ridiculous, u have to wait 4 hours for a pic then be told "oh dont worry it'll be out before 5", and have to pay £2 postage coz u cant stay till 5!!

 

Surely that would be the same issue if they were in the centre? The impression I got, was that they just took a LOT of photos (due to the huge popularity of the guests).

 

I also didnt like that i got told not to ask nimoy for personalistion but when everyone else did it was ok? on behalf of the staff tho, that issue was sorted for me, thanxs roxy and the pit manager.

 

I know you've been to these events before, so you know that some people will always push their luck and ask for something that they've been told not to. Leonard Nimoy seemed too polite to refuse those requests.

 

Also guests canceling on the day kinda SUCKED, but not sm fault i know that. it all seemed very disorganised and like the crew had too much on there plates, but just my opinion

 

Fair comment, if that's what you witnessed, but it sounded from your other comments, that actually the crew were able to help you, suggesting their workloads were relatively well balanced.

 

 

 

 

In fairness, the guests were brilliant and seemedvery positive under the circumstances.

 

I think that one sentence sums up the event.... the guests were awesome and kept high spirits, despite the meterological setbacks.

 

I KNOW the fair was there itr was just...Crap.. lol. There was like nothing to it and looked like if you went on it youd get hurt lol.

 

and no.. iv been to mk cons for last couple years both events each year and iv never had photos like that.. somtimes been a delay but never just been like "poh it'll be before 5", i think it was badly organised.

 

and yeeh i know, its just what bugged me is wen we asked we got told not to..but then everyone loads of people i saw after had it done so theyd obviously been ok to ask? anywasy as i said that got fixed, which i am very very thankful for.

 

yes..there was about 4/5 members of the crew who helped me out.. but one was because another of the crew sorted it for me with them. Another few, just seemed busy or didnt know what was happening themselves on a few things.

 

not that im saying it was ALL bad, i think half of this was down to the new venue, not actually SM, and it hasnt put me off there shows at all...bring on lfccc lol

Edited June 7, 2009 by Sazzzy

[lukeowl]

Honest views from long time posters don't seem to be welcome here...

 

Why do you say that Luke?

The sheer amount of detailed comments and opinions that have been deleted and then followed up with a new topic by Showmasters arguing that any criticsm is only posted by first time posters trying to cause problems for the event. Paranoid or what?! If and event is good, I'll say it's good, if it has flaws, I expect to be able to post my views and not have them deleted! So, in answer to your question Mike, I say that because SM take any criticsm to be trying to damage the show and that really isn't the case. This will probably be deleted as well now!

Edited June 7, 2009 by lukeowl

[chris_mk]

Honest views from long time posters don't seem to be welcome here...

 

Why do you say that Luke?

The sheer amount of detailed comments and opinions that have been deleted and then followed up with a new topic by Showmasters arguing that any criticsm is only posted by first time posters trying to cause problems for the event. Paranoid or what?! If and event is good, I'll say it's good, if it has flaws, I expect to be able to post my views and not have them deleted! So, in answer to your question Mike, I say that because SM take any criticsm to be trying to damage the show and that really isn't the case. This will probably be deleted as well now!

 

I very much doubt this will be deleted. The threads you refer to, were destructive, rather than constructive and contained factual inaccuracies.

[SugarSpunSister]

My one serious complaint would be about the Leonard Nimoy escorts on Friday (I think). I'm not entirely sure it was Nimoy because it happened so fast. One moment I was walking along next to the queue for Nimoy in the opposite direction, close to it and keeping out of the way. The next moment a group of tuxedo clad men hovered around a man (probably Nimoy) , one of them screamed "Move over and give us some SPACE!!" or something along those lines at me, shoved me, and I hit the deck.

 

Yes, I was witness to the Leonard Nimoy entourage on Saturday, we were walking through the Dealer Room when someone started shouted "out of the way, clear the area" or something and then I saw the scary man who escorted Peter Facinelli all weekend at ET1 along with several other security people marching Leonard Nimoy through the area with no concern for the general public... Guess it does really suck to be a member of Joe Public! But that is bad if you fell over due to them x

Edited June 9, 2009 by SugarSpunSister

[Christoff]

I was assaulted by his minders as well and have just emailed Showmasters about it. I was with a friend in a wheelchair and they grabbed her chair with no warning and shoved her out of the way, coming very close to tiping her chair over and causing serious injury. They also grabbed me, shoved me aside and shouted at me.

 

I am sorry to hear other people had similar problems, and at the same time, releived to know I'm not alone. I can only suggest you email showmasters as I have done. Not that it was their fault but as the employers of the security guys, they do need to know about it.

 

I think I might've been in front of you in the queue, someone mentioned a themselves and a wheelchair being pushed out of the way who was in a TNG uniform (with their partner in a newer style unifrom and sunglasses), I also remember overhearing talk of you normally being a Klingon which you are in your display pic, so I'm guessing it might've been you

 

Not good at all - you definitely can't let something like that slide. If they'd pushed me like that, I'd have pushed back Did anyone else see it?

 

I have no idea... I was with my friend (christoff) but he was slightly in front of me so I think all he saw was me scrambling to collect my belongings from the floor.

 

I was pushed aside too, had no idea what that was all about at first, looked back and thought I saw the back of Nimoy in the middle of them, and I don't think I saw you scrambling to collect your stuff from the floor or I would've helped

[Grazer]

Its a shame that people have got caught in the way through no fault of their own and I appreciate how that can feel. In defence of the security guards though, they're not paid to mess about and being all "touchy feely" in asking people to move doesn't always work. Ultimately, they are paid to get the guest from A to B as quickly and safely as possible, they cannot take chances or risk getting delayed. Even more so with guests of Nimoys status.

[Psychosis]

Well, nobody ever said you're the most observant tool in the box... you did ask me if I was okay though LOL. (Chris)

 

They could've got the guest from A to B easily without touching me. I wasn't in the way. In fact, I actually took up more room when they bowled me over - they didn't even attempt to use the space that I was standing in when they shoved me, and there was no way I could've reached Nimoy from where I stood. And being touchy feely might not always work, but saying "Move aside please" and giving someone at least two seconds to process the request and move would be smart. Shoving people out of the way without any concern at all is just wrong.

Edited June 7, 2009 by Psychosis

[stobbs]

hey Mike, did try to spot you today, sorry i missed you. Did you get James to sign something on Wargames?

 

i went all three days, upon arrival on Friday i was shocked/surprised on the layout and the fact the guest's were on the 'outside'. Seemed very strange and did worry SM had made a big mistake.

but have to say the whole set-up grew on me over the weekend, Sat/Sun with more people and guests made it feel better and ended up having a great time and spent a lot of money.

 

 

however this was a one time type of event, next one will be indoors as usual, shame it wasn't held the previous weekend with the heat-wave

 

 

god knows how many laps of the stadium i did over the course of the weekend, but my feet are killing me now!

[Grazer]

I didn't see what happened to you Psychosis and I completely believe what you say. Just saying I understand the security's approach to things sometimes.

[MikeDonovan]

I very much doubt this will be deleted. The threads you refer to, were destructive, rather than constructive and contained factual inaccuracies.

 

On reflection I agree with Chris - I'm not sure I entirely agree with the deletion of those whole threads either, although there was a lot of non-constructive posts. But I think everyone on this thread has been pretty constructive by and large.

Edited June 7, 2009 by MikeDonovan

[cat in boots]

 

The Guests

The only thing that had me scratching my head was the fact that the dealers were ensconced in a (relatively) warm room, while the guests were outside in the cold. I'm sure there were reasons, but intuitively I expected it to be the other way around. After all, sorry dealers, but in terms of importance the guests are a bit higher up the food chain than you are.

 

I've read this sort of comment a few times over the past couple of days and has anyone thought that the reason for the dealers being where they were was because that was a lockable not open to the open area. I know some of the dealers were in the more open area and I saw them setting up this morning. The Guests arn't left in the arena over night are they, they are taken to nice safe hotel rooms. The dealers need to know there stock is safe overnight. But that would be my guess anyway.

 

And sorry but I wasn't keen on the venue at all, just didn't seem to feel right for me anyway.

[Rockstar6662]

They could've got the guest from A to B easily without touching me. I wasn't in the way. In fact, I actually took up more room when they bowled me over - they didn't even attempt to use the space that I was standing in when they shoved me, and there was no way I could've reached Nimoy from where I stood. And being touchy feely might not always work, but saying "Move aside please" and giving someone at least two seconds to process the request and move would be smart. Shoving people out of the way without any concern at all is just wrong.

 

And could possibly be classified as assault. I imagine there were quite a few witnesses. There's no call for that kind of thing and if it's true that someone in a wheelchair was pushed out of the way by them, they clearly don't know how to do their job properly. I was under the impression that security staff are not supposed to lay their hands on anyone without due cause and just getting people to clear the way doesn't sound like a good enough cause.

 

Normally everyone seems to be pretty respectful when the guests are moving around the place and keep out of the way so there shouldn't be any need to be so heavy handed.

 

Hope you're ok from the experience though.

[MikeDonovan]

hey Mike, did try to spot you today, sorry i missed you. Did you get James to sign something on Wargames?

 

Same here! We'll have to have a quick pint at LFACC. As for Tolkan, I thought very carefully about that, and eventually decided that it was pretty unlikely I'd ever get any other sigs on that poster, so didn't in the end. It'll probably come back to haunt me

 

 

this was a one time type of event, next one will be indoors as usual

 

Definitely worth everyone remembering - this was very much a temporary setup!

 

 

has anyone thought that the reason for the dealers being where they were was because that was a lockable not open to the open area. I know some of the dealers were in the more open area and I saw them setting up this morning. The Guests arn't left in the arena over night are they, they are taken to nice safe hotel rooms. The dealers need to know there stock is safe overnight. But that would be my guess anyway.

 

That sounds plausible - although what about the dealers outside?

[jayjedi]

the venue. Yes the shopping centre was a bit crowded but the footy stadium was cold, and had no atmosphere. the dealer room was so packed you couldn't move and apart from the sports guests all together the others were that spaced out and enclosed it just felt odd and cold. was it to stop people taking photo's of people whom they were not getting signatures from ? that is half the fun, just because you cant get everyone's signature its still great to see them up close when you are getting others.

 

i have only being going to these types of events for about a couple of years and am a relative newbie compared to most but have to say it ws the worst one i have been to so far. i thought the guest line up was the weakest ( yes i know everyones taste differs) but for wow factor it lacked household names. with the exception of mr nimoy and mr glennister ( who both seemed to have the sort of lunch breaks we would all kill for )

 

i still enjoyed meeting gordon banks and although his was the only sig i got it was still better than spending the day at home. i am really looking foward to november as billy dee williams is hopefully going to be there .i am not moaning for the sake of it and know that SM must work hard and dedicate a lot of time and money to their projects.... just an honest opinion

[MikeDonovan]

Shoving people out of the way without any concern at all is just wrong.

 

And could possibly be classified as assault.

 

Agree with this 100%. It's inexcusable - I'd strongly urge you to put in a formal complaint Psychosis, otherwise those thugs are left with the impression they can get away with it.

[Psychosis]

I'm really fuzzy on my days/times/positions though. I don't remember what time of day it was, it took me an hour to remember that it was Saturday not Friday, and I couldn't point out where exactly I was. That, and I can't prove anything. It was over and done so fast. I sent them an email though to let them know that it happened so that perhaps they can bring it up if the same people/situation might occur in future.

[-Craig-]

I think that's fair and basically my point of view too. I don't think the venue would be comfortable in any weather condition - at the Britannia Stadium, for example, even a 40 degree summer day can reduce me to a shivering block of ice if I sit in there. It'd be nice if the dealers area could have "PLEASE DON'T STOP WITHOUT LOOKING BEHIND YOU" signs up.

 

My one serious complaint would be about the Leonard Nimoy escorts on Friday (I think). I'm not entirely sure it was Nimoy because it happened so fast. One moment I was walking along next to the queue for Nimoy in the opposite direction, close to it and keeping out of the way. The next moment a group of tuxedo clad men hovered around a man (probably Nimoy) , one of them screamed "Move over and give us some SPACE!!" or something along those lines at me, shoved me, and I hit the deck.

 

from what I saw today they did look a bit heavy handed, it was the quickest meet and greet I have ever been to.

 

hey Psychosis

 

hope you were not badly hurt on friday due to that and I also agree that you should mail sm about it as from what im reading here and what I saw today it seems that you were not the only one to get treated like that, myself I didn't go friday I went today (Sunday) although usually I go on Saturday to Collectormania

 

and yes Lingham I also seen the Leonard Nimoy escorts moving Leonard around the venue today and I also thought they were a bit heavy handed with people when really there was no need for it, maybe sm should remind them how they are expected to treat people at the venue (I say that now from seeing what I saw today and hearing that someone (Psychosis actually got pushed to the floor) (and someone else in a wheelchair got pushed out of the way)

 

I myself didnt meet Nimoy to get anything signed (due to lack of funds ) but like I said I did see him and his minders walking about the venue

 

hmm my opininon well lets be honest it was never gonna be as good the first time as middleton hall was it

so to be honest I wasant really suprised that it wasant as good as when it was located at middleton hall but as we all know that was out of SM's control but dont get me wrong I had a nice day

 

as for the signage maps around the walls of the venue - no complaints there maps were clear and showed me how to get where I wanted to go

as for the signage for the stadium in the surrounding area I thought it was very poor as we didnt get one sign with the stadium mk on but that may have been due to the route we took I dont know but of course thats nothing to do with sm

 

weather - again sm cant control that so not a complaint just a shame that everyone guests and us fans are exposed to the winds when its weather like it was today

 

food - having already had a thought of what it would have been like and then read the forum I skipped it and ended up going over to asda like others like someone else said being in the center:mk if you wanted a burger or something you could go to a number of places to get one i.e mcdonalds and with the new venue its a bit more trouble to do that

 

crew - all were pleasant and helpful to me today so no complaints there either

 

guests - same as MikeDonavan - it also got me why the guests were out in the cold while the dealers got the nice warm room as guests are more important than the dealers ( sorry dealers) as for the dealer room itself I also found it cramped and a "game" to get from one end to the other

 

Specific guests - well I only ended up meeting 3 guests in the end due to lack of funds did want to meet the bttf guests too but hey theres always next time! :)

Rachell Luttrell - real pleasure to meet her and she remembered me at the photoshoot which was nice (as I got an 8x10 from her before the shoot) :)

 

Phillip Glenister - again really nice guy he made everyone laugh at the photoshoot by grabbing some of the fans for their photos (aka like his character gene hunt does) and like the other guests he was nice when he was signing my things :)

 

and finally Nathan Fillion - again he was nice maybe a little quiet but he was super busy when I met him but im happy as all 3 were on my guest "wishlist" to meet and all were pleasant although Rachel was my favourite person that I met today simply because of how nice she was to everyone :)

 

like others I seen the various costume people around and agree they were all very impressive

 

 

u have to wait 4 hours for a pic then be told "oh dont worry it'll be out before 5", and have to pay £2 postage coz u cant stay till 5!!

completely agree with you there Sazzzy, I did not think that was very fair either - I saw the signs at the photo collection point up about the postage and I was told there was a delay with the photos so I ended up going back twice before I got mine although im sure I saw another one that said if it wasant back for the end of the event then the postage would not be charged for someone else can proberbly verify that much better than me I managed to collect my pictures before I left the venue so that wasant an issue for me but I did notice about the £2 charge which I also thought was not very fair to do to fans if it wasant their fault that the pics were not avaliable

 

so yeah there is my "quick" post for you about what I thought of today though may add to this post later if i think of anything else

Edited June 7, 2009 by -Craig-

[Rockstar6662]

I'm really fuzzy on my days/times/positions though. I don't remember what time of day it was, it took me an hour to remember that it was Saturday not Friday, and I couldn't point out where exactly I was. That, and I can't prove anything. It was over and done so fast. I sent them an email though to let them know that it happened so that perhaps they can bring it up if the same people/situation might occur in future.

 

Well as long as it didn't spoil the weekend for you and you're ok.

 

I think at least one other person said on another thread that they'd sent an email as well. Probably there's nothing that can be done now but at least the matter has been registered.

[Christoff]

I'm really fuzzy on my days/times/positions though. I don't remember what time of day it was, it took me an hour to remember that it was Saturday not Friday, and I couldn't point out where exactly I was. That, and I can't prove anything. It was over and done so fast. I sent them an email though to let them know that it happened so that perhaps they can bring it up if the same people/situation might occur in future.

 

Saturday, soon after lunch I think, just before you went to meet Rachel (though that could be one of many times ), I'd guess about 2pm maybe, and it was while walking past his queue

[bunny-summers]

I've been doing these cons since C4 and was talking to one of the dealers and sponsor today. He said that they were inside because A) they have to pay a lot for their stall and that B ) if they were going to be put outside they wouldn't have had a stall there as they don't have that kind of insurance on all their stock if something happened to it outside.

This con was ok, i think SM tried to make the best of what they could get basically and my experiences with the guests were pretty positive, even though Nathan dedicated my cast shot to me after me asking him nicely not to as i just like to get a collective set of autos on a group pic, so as he couldn't duplicate Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyks autos he signed something else for free for me.

I am looking forwad to the next LFCC as yes, the venue is much better but also looking forward to next year to see how they run the event in the actual new venue not just this pit stop they had for the weekend.

I too ran into Nimoy this weekend with his minders but they were only shouting at people to move out the way, i didn't see any of them physically moving anyone, but who knows what happened earlier or later on?

Edited June 7, 2009 by bunny-summers

[Psychosis]

I'm okay, thanks people :)

 

And can I just say, I'm not saying anyone was rude, but if you are annoyed about the photo collection stuff, DON'T get aggressive with the crew who have the misfortune of crewing the photo collection desk. They have NO control over when the photos turn up. In fact, considering that you can walk around and they're stuck behind a desk waiting helplessly to be given photos to give to you, you have more ability to complain than they do. Believe me, I've crewed the photo desk and it's HORRIBLE when the photos are delayed and you can see people who need to go home, because you feel like you're personally disappointing them.

[lams9999]

Back to Belgium safe and quite happy after this week-end (very tired too).

 

I didn't go through all comments and won't be too long as I'm off to bed right after that but I agree the stadium was not a very good idea. It had some advantages (lot of places for queues for example) but many more disadvantages (lack of food, few seats and of course the cold!!). That said, the week-end was very nice because the guests were absolutely fantastic and as someone mentionned above, the BTTF guests were awesome! Friendly, funny, chatty, lovely (Claudia woke up my teenager crush on Jennifer lol). Among the best guests I've ever met. BTTF is one of my all-time favourite movies and I'm sure I will watch it again very soon. But everyone was really friendly, including Nimoy who looked very happy and smiling during photo shoots, Ben who gave a bit of time to everyone, Nathan charming as usual, the very sweet Rachel, the very nice Andrew Robinson, Liz Brice, Avery Brooks, Burn Gorman and the very impressive Philip Glennister. Guestwise, I'm just disappointed to have missed Naoko and Alice. I hope the first one will be back soon (LFFC? Hub3?) and for the second one, Jason told me she got a job and had to fly back to LA on saturday so happy for her (back at LFFC?). Thanks also for the free buses, it was very helpful. Just a note: next time could someone print the timeline for the buses and put it outside because nobody really knew the timeline with accuracy. And of course, a final usual thanks to Malcolm for taking great pics.

 

I've been far too long! Off to bed now!