It’s gone viral! Well that is one way to describe the growth of this con, year after year, constantly topping it’s previous year attendance record. But some where along the line, something happened, and it wasn’t good. You see a lot of people say something or someone has “sold out” when they hit heavy mainstream popularity, here though it goes beyond that, as it seems there was a shift of focus from the core demographic to just making bank. This yeah I attended my 3rd ComicCon (2nd one combined with AnimeFestival) and 5th con overall put on by ReedPop. I previously mentioned my disappointment from last year’s Con and although this year was a big improvements in some areas, it seems that the organizers just cant get a grasp on certain fundamentals, all of which I will discuss in some detail.
Floor Planning
One of my biggest complaints about last year’s ComicCon was the poor use of space occupy at the Jacob Javits center. With the combination of both ComicCon and AnimeFest that year, it was a nightmare of a situation with things mishmoshed all over the place, both on the show floor, the two artist alleys, the dealers area, and all the panels. The influx of people that it brought as it was heavily marketed and advertise months in advance, made the crowd almost double from previous years. This led to lots of slow dredging as people tried to get from point A to point B anywhere in the building. Booth of all sizes were strewn together in tightly made aisles where at most 4 people could squeeze in at one time, and with certain booths attracting big crowds, this led to quite a lot of jams on the show floor.
This time around though, they managed to be thinking on the same wavelength as me and with the additional floor space they had this year (they were able to get the entire floor space from north to south, the new north building, and the crystal palace, as well as the lower panel rooms) they managed to space everything out, create more walking room, and organize certain areas into sections. This time around they intermixed the main show floor with dealers and main attractions (aka the big players like Marvel, DC, Capcom, Rockstar, etc), but they pushed the main attractions to the front, the dealers to the back in groups of similarity and even had a cultyard (much like last year but more focused). The main artist alley was given more space and moving around the main floor space was a lot easier, although saturday saw crowds of a magnitude only accustomed to the auto show, so it was like being packed in a can of sardines.
The north building was dedicated to what was dubbed by some con-goers as the “kids area” as this is where Hasbro, Lego, Nerf, Beyblades and some other family centric events and attractions were located, and of course the Star Wars and Harry Potter clubs. The AnimeFestival had better luck this year as it was given the Crystal Palace to call home instead of being tucked away into a corner last year. But we’ll get to that in the next section, as overall the floor layout this year was significantly better, but more could have been done, with having less.
AnimeFestival
The AnimeFestival has once again been given the look over and pushed off further into obsolescence. What was once its own convention, was swallowed up last year by ComicCon and even though it was heavily pushed as being part of it, it was stripped with dealers and panels being squeezed in between the ComicCon setups. Major attractions disappeared and hardly any studios or Anime/Manga centric artists bothered to show up. The artist alley and the joke of a “stage” area were thrown into a corner where no one could hardly find it; I should know as it took me all day to find the place. After last year’s con there was a lot of outrage and negative feedback which seemed to have worked as this year they were given the upper floor, which gave lots of natural lighting, more space for the artists and a big common area and stage. While this was a big improvement, it still shows the AnimeFest as the afterthought as it barely mentioned on the site and any marketing done by the organization. From what I hear, there are rumors swirling, they will be omitting the AnimeFest altogether, simply souring a large demographic of con-goers who have been attending each year. While I understand the market may be down in the area, they should give it some respect and a chance to succeed, or at least give it a makeover and instead of focusing on anime, and probably focus on cosplayers themselves.
IGN Theater
One of the biggest complaints over the past several years has been the management of the IGN Theater, which seems to be regarded as hallow ground by the staff. In previous years and cons, it was and still is the hardest place to get into, with long lines, long waits, rude staff shuffling people around and away as if they were vermin trying to infest their prestigious joke of a theater. I myself have not gone into the theater itself but have taken a peak inside, and seen that its nothing more than auditorium. I am not sure why they treat it like some sort of holy grail, but it has piss poor lighting, is an auditorium, and is not glamorous or spacious. In the previous events, they didn’t let anyone stay inside between screenings, which was ok and understandable even if annoying. But this year they did away with it, which to many people was nice since they got to camp in the place, but to others it was a pain as they got the short end of the stick since they couldn’t get in from so many people remaining inside for several showings.
One of the other nuances was that once you were inside the theater, you couldnt go back out (even to use the bathroom) as you would forfeit your seat and not be allowed back inside. The whole ticketing of the events being held in there must have been thought up by an idiot, handing out tickets and passes to the first entrants in the morning, some of who probably didnt want to bother with those events, without notifying anyone in advance was just bogus. They should have scheduled times and locations to release tickets and then let people go in and out of the theater to the bathrooms if needed. This would solve two problems as the theater could be cleared out and only ticket holders could get back in and allow people with tickets to use the toilet as I know spending all day at a con requires several trips.
Panel Rooms
Now I wont talk much about the panel rooms because I don’t really partake in any panels as I find them absurdly dull and people ask either the most asinine, silliest, or off tangent questions. I.e. people asking Mark Hamill questions about Star Wars when he was there to promote and speak about something completely different. Are you kidding me people? This isn’t the 1970s, he didn’t just film those movies, get over it! I know he can be your idol and what not, but that’s not the place or time for those type of questions, which Im sure he has answered hundred of times in different interviews, just go youtube those up and save everyone’s time. This goes for all celebrities, they are attending these events for a reason, stick to that, it will save you from looking like an asshat. Excuse my rant, I get a bit carried away with nonsense. But back to the panel rooms, and how they are so disorganized and have people waiting in ridiculous long lines for a long time when it shouldnt be. Simply put, doesnt anyone count the chairs in the rooms and then make a note to the staff how many chairs are available per panel room, so that they can at least know when to cut off the lines as anyone after a certain point wont get in. Its not hard to do, not hard to implement and it saves everyone time and grief.
North Building
The land of the lost, where one must take a long corridor at the northern most point of the main building to family friendly zone. There should have been signs pointing to this place, seriously, it was hard as hell to find and one could tell if one went cause the place wasn’t so crowded when there weren’t signings going on. The new building is nice and very spacious and high ceilings, and so much more could’ve been done there but it was mostly laid out for families and kids as there were a lot of activities there. This was also where you would find the Harry Potter and Star War clubs and their tables, who did well with all the space as they were able to goof around and not worry about bumping into people. I wound up here trying to find my friends of The Group That Shall Not Be Named, yes that’s the real name, and ended up resting my feet as I comfortable sat at a table which was very nice. Like I said, there was a lot of open space here and they could definitely fit more booths or attractions there, or just move the AnimeFest there instead of the cramp quarters upstairs.
Press
Being Press at ComicCon used to mean something when it was a lot smaller, meant you had certain priveledges and perks that really helped the Press get the most out of the convention. Now it is nothing more than a badge that gets you into the place and nothing more. Gone is the nice press room with freebies, internet, and snacks; replaced with a small room in the back with tables and chairs, everything else came out of your own pocket. No more where you allowed special seating and first entry into panels or events, now you had to wait in line with the rest of the attendees. While you had a lot of promotions giving out press access time, you usually had to sign up for it and then wait for it to happen, if it did happen as scheduled which it usually didn’t cause of the demand, which meant having to reschedule and other nonsense. This year being Press meant you had to put in an all out effort to get the interview or scoop you wanted and usually it was a let down. With as popular as this convention is becoming, and with the over flux of bloggers and journalists making the bulk of the Press, its easy to just give them entry as it costs them less and doesn’t annoy the paying attendees, as its obvious its more about making $$ these days than attracting the attention which they now have secured.
Overall
A big improvement over the previous year, but there could be so much more done. They really need to take a hard look at how other conventions use that space and learn from them, especially the auto show, or more importantly, they need to see how the other ComicCon is run or Otakon, who do phenomenal jobs in managing the space, the crowds, and their staff in an effective way that lets the attendees leave with good memories instead of complaints. Already I have read and gotten first hand lots of negative feedback in regards to this year’s con. While it is bring in a lot of new people into the mix and making fans of them, those that have been around for a while and much of the press are less than impressed with the decline in quality. Too much can be a bad thing, and less can be more, if managed correctly.
I did manage to have fun when I got to see familiar faces and on the last day I really took it all in as it wasn’t as packed and I was able to really walk around. I managed to pick up a lot of swag too, which was a first. But all this has made me think this may have been my last time attending this con, but there’s still a year to make that decision.
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