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I think what many people need to remember is and I've said it before on here.......the UK people love TV! They love TV shows, it's just the British way isn't it? In America conventions are mainly movie guests and TV is niche and quirky, for years the backbone relied on movie people like actors and directors and cast reunions. In this country it's TV and that means Dr Who and Game of Thrones and the priorities are completely different, which is fine, you cater for your audience and then you throw in Star Wars and Harry Potter.

 

Price families out of the market? It's kind of a dirty little secret it isn't it. No matter where you go it's in the small print. Many people will never understand paying for autographs and you know and I know that if that was advertised and made clear many families would just stay away because it boggles their mind. Many people think that way, why pay someone to write their name? And as someone who has attended shows and is Scottish and gets irritated very easily i have to say......i kind of see their point, and yet i do it myself! I think those waiting for Stan Lee got a big wake up call this year and serves them right. I'm glad Stan Lee took his sweet time. No one should be put under that kind of pressure or have to fulfill the expectations he had to. I'm not a comic book person at all and so never met Stan but that que largely represented what these shows are becoming and what many people want them to end up being. They want as few people as possible in those venues and get as much as they can for themselves. It's all money money money. They don't want people walking in off the street and taking their place, taking their spot in the que that they somehow think they are entitled to.

 

No one is better than anyone, I think those queing for Stan Lee found that out when it dawned on them there's not gonna be any autograph from him and they didn't use common sense and get there early enough. I think Gold Pass members found that out with their privelidges and I think those that have been attending for years and know the script got a big wake up call this year as far as just how popular these shows have become. Of course it could end up like American shows and you have your high prices for autos and photos and high entrance fees and have a hall full of 'collectors'. I think the best way to go is get as many people in the door as possible and turn as many noobies as possible into fans and regular attendees and let everyone fend for themselves. Everyone has a fair chance at everything.

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It was poor organisation on everyone's part really but look at some of the posts recently. Extra Stan Lee sessions, the complicated entry post and asking for more crew for LFCC post. It wasn't great but it's wasn't Gaza or Hillsborough either. It was a popular event in London it was always going to be chaos. I am surprised there was no police there, you've got to think at Stamford bridge around the corner there would be police there. It might have kept a little order and stopped the queue jumps at least.

it could have been hillsborough if the fire alarm had gone off, especially in those little autograph bunkers that jenna coleman and john hurt were doing signings.... i would've hated to see how people would of got out of those enclosed spaces in a hurry, especially as there was no signs in there to show the evacuation route to the nearest emergency exit

 

 

EC2 Hall has massive exit/entry points that would be quickly opened in the case of an emergency. Someone drove a large truck into it on Friday during the set up!

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I think what many people need to remember is and I've said it before on here.......the UK people love TV! They love TV shows, it's just the British way isn't it? In America conventions are mainly movie guests and TV is niche and quirky, for years the backbone relied on movie people like actors and directors and cast reunions. In this country it's TV and that means Dr Who and Game of Thrones and the priorities are completely different, which is fine, you cater for your audience and then you throw in Star Wars and Harry Potter.

 

Price families out of the market? It's kind of a dirty little secret it isn't it. No matter where you go it's in the small print. Many people will never understand paying for autographs and you know and I know that if that was advertised and made clear many families would just stay away because it boggles their mind. Many people think that way, why pay someone to write their name? And as someone who has attended shows and is Scottish and gets irritated very easily i have to say......i kind of see their point, and yet i do it myself! I think those waiting for Stan Lee got a big wake up call this year and serves them right. I'm glad Stan Lee took his sweet time. No one should be put under that kind of pressure or have to fulfill the expectations he had to. I'm not a comic book person at all and so never met Stan but that que largely represented what these shows are becoming and what many people want them to end up being. They want as few people as possible in those venues and get as much as they can for themselves. It's all money money money. They don't want people walking in off the street and taking their place, taking their spot in the que that they somehow think they are entitled to.

 

No one is better than anyone, I think those queing for Stan Lee found that out when it dawned on them there's not gonna be any autograph from him and they didn't use common sense and get there early enough. I think Gold Pass members found that out with their privelidges and I think those that have been attending for years and know the script got a big wake up call this year as far as just how popular these shows have become. Of course it could end up like American shows and you have your high prices for autos and photos and high entrance fees and have a hall full of 'collectors'. I think the best way to go is get as many people in the door as possible and turn as many noobies as possible into fans and regular attendees and let everyone fend for themselves. Everyone has a fair chance at everything.

We don't nec. agree with the fact that US cons thrive mostly on movie guests. There are many, many, MANY US-based cons (including San Diego) that thrive mostly on TVstars appearing at their cons. They do have the added benefit of being in-state or at least in-country which means airfares are much lower than any non US-based con would have to foresee. They're also more likely to premiere movies or series at these events because they're so local.

 

If TV was a niche market, most networks wouldn't bother with pilot season, renewing shows the way they do now because it just doesn't cover the cost of making the series if the US market doesn't buy into it. What we do believe, however, is basically a same trend that has been happening in the UK and pretty much all over the world: the world of Conventions is opening up to a larger, more mainstream audience because more and more networks realize the promotional opportunities that come with an event such as Comic Cons. It's become less of a sci-fi/anime/...exclusive market which is beneficial for everyone who wants to meet their favorite actors or even organize an event like this

Edited by twinzz
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There's 2 ways of doing this high prices and fewer attendees or reasonable prices and big crowds. I personally would have rather pay more and have a bit more room and shorter queues.

SM is a business that had no regard for health & safety on Saturday.

They also have a duty of health and safety to the guest remember. They are guests not slaves and you can't expect them to work non stop for 10 hours.

 

 

I never said anything about making the guests work non-stop for 10 hours. I was talking about health & safety for the ENTIRE event, which includes EVERYONE present. The queues outside the venue, the over-crowding inside the venue, the lack of aircon, the locked fire escapes..... do we need to go on because the list goes on.

 

 

I've seen these accusations made a couple of times. Has anyone published any pictures of these alleged locked fire escapes? H&S of the venue is in the domain of the Earls Court people. The dealers were made to wait before they got in each morning, because 'The Safety team is running through its checks' (thats a quote from the EC Security guy who was stopping us come in until 8).

 

The entry to EC2 is again within the remit of the EC staff and the Fire Brigade, who issue the licence. SM are going to let people in, until they are asked/told not to (which may or may not have been the case on Saturday, depending on who you listen to). If people want to queue outside for hours, when you can see the queue stretching all the way around the building, then that is their choice. At what point should SM have sent them away?

 

Finally, I was inside EC2 for 2 1/2 days. The aircon WAS on, but was no match for a full hall and 30 degrees outside. Its an old, giant, inefficient building, which means the Aircon is never going to be very effective. Before the crowds came in, it was noticable and through the day, you'd feel the odd burst from it.

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I think what many people need to remember is and I've said it before on here.......the UK people love TV! They love TV shows, it's just the British way isn't it? In America conventions are mainly movie guests and TV is niche and quirky, for years the backbone relied on movie people like actors and directors and cast reunions. In this country it's TV and that means Dr Who and Game of Thrones and the priorities are completely different, which is fine, you cater for your audience and then you throw in Star Wars and Harry Potter.

 

Price families out of the market? It's kind of a dirty little secret it isn't it. No matter where you go it's in the small print. Many people will never understand paying for autographs and you know and I know that if that was advertised and made clear many families would just stay away because it boggles their mind. Many people think that way, why pay someone to write their name? And as someone who has attended shows and is Scottish and gets irritated very easily i have to say......i kind of see their point, and yet i do it myself! I think those waiting for Stan Lee got a big wake up call this year and serves them right. I'm glad Stan Lee took his sweet time. No one should be put under that kind of pressure or have to fulfill the expectations he had to. I'm not a comic book person at all and so never met Stan but that que largely represented what these shows are becoming and what many people want them to end up being. They want as few people as possible in those venues and get as much as they can for themselves. It's all money money money. They don't want people walking in off the street and taking their place, taking their spot in the que that they somehow think they are entitled to.

 

No one is better than anyone, I think those queing for Stan Lee found that out when it dawned on them there's not gonna be any autograph from him and they didn't use common sense and get there early enough. I think Gold Pass members found that out with their privelidges and I think those that have been attending for years and know the script got a big wake up call this year as far as just how popular these shows have become. Of course it could end up like American shows and you have your high prices for autos and photos and high entrance fees and have a hall full of 'collectors'. I think the best way to go is get as many people in the door as possible and turn as many noobies as possible into fans and regular attendees and let everyone fend for themselves. Everyone has a fair chance at everything.

Have to agree, you need to keep bringing in new people if you want to last for a long time, it would be very short sighted imo to price potential new customers out of your business.

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