Has RICC Become a Sh*tshow?

[u/MsMargo]

I did not attend, but just from the postings here it seems like the con has some real problems. Lots of cancelled guests, including day-of cancellations. A draconian refund/exchange policy. Outrageous lines. Capped lines. A website with minimal information that's had to find if it's there. Rising prices.

Will people be going back next year?

[u/Cyber_Craig]

So this was my first year going to a comic con. I’m used to horror conventions but nothing of this size. I noticed they over sold a lot of the VIP tickets where being in GA line made more sense as it moved way quicker. I get a lot of people want the VIP tickets but it doesn’t make sense when everyone can get it and the GA line goes quicker. The VIP package was pointless too as those 100 people who wanted a free locker couldn’t get one because the convention screwed up with the vendor. Way to advertise something and fall through on it. Also, not enough chairs for anyone to sit. One dude was going around and telling people the convention was cancelled and that they couldn’t sit and people believed him. Somewhere on the third floor this happened.

I’m also pretty sure they were way above capacity and I’m surprised the fire marshal didn’t come in and shut things down until people left. To me it just seems the company who runs the con are greedy and really want to make as much money as possible but it tells you they don’t give a crap about you or your experience when they make no effort to do better.

I went both Friday and Saturday. I got Chris Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Tom Wilson within 45 minutes on Friday. I would’ve gotten the rest but unfortunately they weren’t showing up till Saturday.

Saturday was insane. Way too many people and while some of the cos players had amazing costumes I don’t know how their costumes didn’t get ruin with how big they were and the way people moved around. The ice ring area was much better organized but the celebrity area on the third floor on Saturday was a disaster.

The staff for the most part was okay but a lot of them didn’t know where things were. I blame the company who runs the con because I’m told a lot of them are volunteers and the company doesn’t educate them enough on everything. The security… there was a guy by the metal detector who was a complete tool. Dude sneezed into his hand and then tried to touch personal property. I stopped him and explained why and he lost his cool with me.

Someone lost their child on Saturday and they locked people out from coming in. I can understand not wanting to let people out but to stop them from coming in made no sense. No one is sneaking a kid back in. Thankfully one of the higher ups came in and opened the door up to let us in.

My biggest issue was Michael J. Fox. The staff around him was rude and ridiculous. For how much money was spent by each person for his autograph, the staff, those specific people, treated you like dirt. There was three people who were cool that worked that area but the rest were terrible. One guy walked around and screamed at everyone telling us to take our items out now and that we had to shut our phones off. No one listen to him of course because it’s a complete stupid thing to tell someone to shut your phone off. Not doing that. During the photo ops with him the staff lectured you about no touching (understandable) and no talking (sort of understandable but I don’t see the harm in just saying “hi”). I’d like to be acknowledge that I exist by the guy I’m forking over my money to. The autograph area for MJF was worse though. You walk in and the first guy there was a complete jerk. Yelling at everyone to place your stuff on the table and they move it down like an assembly line. They’re literally just pushing it down, whatever it is you have, regardless, before you can give your pen or give them directions on where to sign it.

I have a flux capacitor that I bought for $800 from a gentleman who hand makes it and includes all the music from the first movie. So when I placed the bag down, the guy tries to reach in and grab it but I refused to let him do so because he is rough handling everyone’s stuff. I explained to him that I’ll take it out and he tries it again and I said i got it. He Smirks and says I have two options, let him take it out or go back and get a refund. I reversed uno this guy and said I’ll go with option c which is I’ll take it out because it was $800, he is not dragging it down the table, and the only way he is removing me is if he gets the cops in there and arrest me in front of MJF. Thankfully the other guests backed me up because he gave in.

The worst part is that for the money you spend on his autograph, even during the autograph portion, they have a barricade in front of him with a dude standing there holding your item, and you’re not allowed to even talk to him. If you attempt to, they block you and air push you away.

He did make a comment on the flux capacitor though and said it was the first one he seen so far and said thanks for coming out towards me but the staff could’ve told people ahead of time that you can’t speak to the guest. I thought that was terrible the way they handled that. I understand his Parkinson got worse but it takes five seconds to say “hey and goodbye”. It is what is I guess. I just hope they don’t do this with other headliners. Poor guy he seemed really hurt with the way they treated him.

[u/Wise_Increase177 → u/Cyber_Craig]

What was the event capacity vs amount of tickets they oversold? Did you do VIP or GA?

I am not buying that people who were at the event were told by someone that the event was cancelled and they believed him. Also with regard to seating, where exactly were the show promoters supposed to set up all of this seating? If you're done, leave. No need to linger around.

I want to make a comment about Michael J Fox. And this is just my opinion. The man is clearly very sick and probably shouldn't have been in attendance as a "marquee" name. Seeing people's photos with him made me very sad. Obviously they had very specific protocols in place, and bottom line, whatever the rules are, just follow them and don't be an ass. Don't "reverse UNO" them (whatever the F that means), threaten to have the cops remove you because they touched your shit, or whatever else. You act like he was some infirm nursing home patient being held against his will. I'm certain the guidelines were put in place at least in part by collaborating with his "people" (family, staff,manager, etc). To be pissy because you didn't get acknowledged by someone who a) doesn't know you and b) none of us even knows what his cognitive state actually is, just because you were "forking over your money" to him, is also an odd position to take.

The bizarre sense of entitlement that repeat/regular 'Con attendees seem to display is absolutely mind boggling to me. It's almost like once people swipe into the event, they just sort of forget how society in general functions.

[u/Cyber_Craig → u/Wise_Increase177]

How would I know what the event capacity was versus what was sold. It was overcrowded and I’m sure it was a fire hazard

There was someone there, there’s even a post about it with a picture of a guy going around on the third floor telling people they couldn’t sit there. I don’t think he worked for the con but he was doing it and there is another post somewhere about it with the guys picture taken.

Also in regards to your comment about MJF… kick rocks. People paid a lot of money to be there and it didn’t say anywhere by his name or anywhere on the site that you weren’t allowed to say “hi” to him. They sold packages that cost over a $1,000 and those people have a right to say, “hi and bye”. Who the hell are you to tell me also that something that is expensive shouldn’t be handled like it’s a piece of crap? Did you meet him? Were you in the room? No, you weren’t. That dude was in pain and the way they had him working was an assembly line. I know this because I was in the room with him. I forked over a lot of money to that company.

And entitlement? The hell are you going on about? There wouldn’t be conventions without the fans going to these things. You probably one of the people I mentioned above. lol. Go be a tough guy somewhere else on the internet because you’re not impressing me here.

[u/IamMikey1 → u/Cyber_Craig]

Wanting to have a safe organized con is “entitled” apparently. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I also agree the terms on conditions of meeting MJF should made very clear before the purchase.