Forum - View topicNEWS: SPJA Comments on Anime Expo 2017's Saturday Security Line Fiasco
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2458 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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This is my first AX, and one of my main takeaways is a new appreciation for how well-run my main con, Anime Central in Chicago, is by comparison. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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I thought they were for-profit as of recently. |
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Asrialys
 Posts: 1163 |
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2014 happened... |
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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I went to Anime Expo a LONG time ago -- 1994 and 1995.
Both times, I felt overwhelmed by the crowds and the size of the dealer room. And I'm fairly sure the crowds were probably 1/4 or less of what they are today but there were organization issues and definitely an AC issue in '95 when it was in LA (at the airport) for that year. Sure, it was neat seeing some of the newer anime premieres or even getting to see classics in projector rooms but other than that? Well, today's a different world. There's the Internet. You almost never have to leave home to see anything if you want. I don't know -- I guess if you were going with a group of friends, it MIGHT be worth it. To buy anime? Please! You can save tons more buying online and even your local Best Buy occasionally has better deals! As far as guests go... Occasionally, you get somebody neat but I felt bored because of the translation process and that just doesn't work well. (With one recent exception... Nabeshin is a BLAST to attend a panel for. He's a got a level of NUTTINESS that translates across language barriers regardless of whether he has a great translator available or not!) With online coverage and floor reporting, there's almost no reason for you to go... You're gonna gets the news releases, new show reports within a day, tops. Uh-uh... I can only see going to the California cons again if I were nuts or involved in the industry somehow. Seriously, you're better off going to a local con. They're cheaper and generally a lot less annoying than AX. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2547 |
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I've been going yearly since 2008 and I'd say SPJA these days cares more than they used to, because those pre-reg switchback line and hall waiting line tarps were the result of the 2014 heat, along with free water bottles (on Sunday anyway). The LACC architectural design isn't conducive to managing huge lines and they seem to try thier best for arrangement, but the line Saturday whose end was blocks from the center snaking though a fairly seedy bun-infested area was almost surreal. Would have been dangerous if there weren't so many people and I've never seen anything like that! If that should happen again, serious changes to line management and other personnel is in order.
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2238 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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Yeah, that's the one complaint that I don't really understand how people are making. Okay, so the line goes past a bunch of homeless people in a not-so great neighborhood. It's the middle of the day, and there are, sort of by definition of a giant line, 100s if not thousands of people near you at all times. If anyone is made uncomfortable by this situation it's the poor homeless people. I think the reaction that it made people feel unsafe was more a reflection of the people in line's own prejudice than the neighborhood. News flash, downtown LA has homeless people and not-so-great-neighborhoods. But they're hardly unsafe in the middle of the day in groups of 100s of people. Was there even a single incident of something bad happening because of this? It's no excuse for the horrible lines, but the reason to have shorter lines is not "so that we don't have to line up near homeless people". |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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yeah, looking at their guest lists, string of premiers, sky high attendance numbers, they're top dog, and they know it. The could have had staff walk up and down the line and strike every third person with a stick and there'd still be replacements ready to go. |
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PsychoCJ
Posts: 3 |
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I am so glad I decided not to go this year. I still remember a few years back we had pregistered and had gone the day before the event to pick up our badges and we were stuck there for hours. Our friend who decided to go there last minute and pay at the door was in and out of the line within 1/2 an hour. Made no sense at all. The following time we were in an out pretty fast. 2 years ago it was another long line, took about 2 hours to get inside the convention. So the lines are nothing new.
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Considering this occurred in a large city at the height of summer, I'm sure many people are thinking that you have to draw the line somewhere... |
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Hardgear
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Honestly I'd be happy if they just had express checkin lines for people who don't have any bags or anything else to check. Cause after waiting in line for 2 hours and just being waved in.....
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BluExocet
 Posts: 64 Location: The High Mountain |
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I remember the line for getting your pre-reg badges for AX'05 was like 3-4 hours long. Just a long snake of people in the garage of the Anaheim Convention Center.
To think they would have a system down or mail out badges by now. |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2893 Location: California |
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It looks like they are planning to start mailing out badges next year. Extra $7 for shipping is what I read on Twitter.
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2271 Location: Online Terminal |
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If divided evenly, each NFL team makes about $400 million a year, and most of those deal with 20-40% less people each week for a significantly less amount of time There is undoubtedly room for improvement, but sometimes it's not that simple. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2547 |
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@ samuelp: I don't understand how someone can read the first few words in a sentence and argue a point the following words make. My remark was about the length of this line at AX, not the bums. There are a few in and about my neighborhood and I'm not uncomfortable, but some are actually dangerous and that was my concern as was the overall environment of the line. "hardly unsafe?" An assault with a deadly weapon happened on Day -1 at 10:30am where the line went (a block from that armored fortress police station BTW) and if some enterprising hoodlum with a gun were to rob someone in line, I don't think 100's of unarmed bystanders would matter... |
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Hideki-Motosuwa
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Went to AX one time when I was in the military. That was the worst con experience I've ever had and sworn never to return to that gawd awful convention ever again and this is just another thing to add for myself as to why I'll never return.
I don't care what anyone say or thinks but I'll stick with going to Anime Weekend Atlanta, Kami-Con, & Hama-Con here in the south. Regardless of the con size or how "official" things are, the experience at those conventions are better and more hospitable to me than anything AX can show me. At least I don't have to wait no more than 5 - 12 mins to get through a badge line FFS. <_< Last edited by Hideki-Motosuwa on Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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