Some thoughts now that Phoenix Comicon 2017 is behind us
No two cons are alike, and each convention seeks to find its own identity and niche in the con world. Phoenix Comicon 2017 feels like it is having an identity crisis as they struggle through their recent growing pains to continue to put on one of the largest cons in the country. Despite its attendance topping 100,000 last year, putting it amongst the ranks of the “big cons” like SDCC and NYCC, Phoenix Comicon is working with a fraction of the square footage; Phoenix convention center is less than half the size of San Diego’s.
The trouble started with staffing. After a lawsuit was brought against Emerald City Comicon last year regarding non-payment of volunteer staff, Phoenix Comicon announced that they’d be working with the Blue Ribbon army to source their staff volunteers this year. That plan didn’t seem to go over well with prospective volunteers, who balked at the $20 annual membership fee the organization charges. In response, Phoenix Comicon announced that they were transitioning to a much smaller and all paid staffing system. Although the small staff numbers were noticeable, I don’t think the numbers had a huge impact on how this year’s con went as compared to how management utilized them.
This year’s con faced a unique security situation when on the first day of the con a man entered the convention center fully armed and wearing body armor intent on killing one of the celebrity guests, a former Power Ranger. The Phoenix Police Department was able to subdue him without incident, but the ensuing events were chaotic and confusing at best. The convention suddenly went from virtually zero security- no bag checks, no visible police presence we saw, peace bonding bracelets scattered on the floor where literally anyone could have picked one up- to full blown TSA level security checks including wanding of every entrant and searching of every bag and a crackdown on ALL cosplay weapons.
Security Line at Phoenix Comicon
There was a distinct lack of communication noticeable throughout this year’s con, made perhaps more noticeable by the sudden changes. Because of the security incident, it was suddenly announced on the con floor, over the loudspeaker, that NO COSPLAY PROPS of any kind would be allowed in the building for the rest of the con. This announcement led to many questioning, what is a cosplay prop? Initially Facebook comments from Phoenix Comicon staff indicated that all wands and sonic screwdrivers were included in the ban, prompting outrage from those with tickets for photo ops with Bonnie Wright and Karen Gillan. The following day the policy was relaxed to include only prop weapons. Refunds were offered to those who chose not to attend due to the change in policy.
Due to the long and unexpected security lines the convention announced that the exhibit hall would remain open an additional hour and a half on Friday, which was a great thing for guests who spent many hours standing outside the convention center waiting to get in. However, officials with Comicon didn’t run this decision past any vendors before announcing, and left many of them in a lurch and scrambling to cancel evening plans to man their booths longer with zero advanced warning.
Lack of communication seemed to be the theme of the weekend when we arrived to attend the Dick Van Dyke panel as well. Despite sending out confirmation emails to everyone, those emails failed to disclose that everyone needed to convert that email into a ticket, causing a huge line up outside of the panel room and the panel to begin 15 minutes late as they were still processing people through at start time. Which brings us to another growing pain of Phoenix Comicon this year, the panels.
Upon announcing that legendary Dick Van Dyke had chosen Phoenix Comicon for his first ever con appearance, an advanced ticketing system was also announced. For $45 per person you could secure a highly coveted front row seat. $30 reserved seating in the next ten rows and for $10 a guaranteed seat in the room was available. This ticketing scheme was applied to every major panel with the exception of Mr. Van Dyke’s panel which required winning a ticket by lottery if you did not pre-purchase one.
On its face I see the merits of such a system, especially since I was able to purchase 4 front row seats for my family, and myself, however many were aghast that such a system had been put in place. It is a longstanding con tradition to line up hours in advance to secure your spot in the panel of your choice. I myself have slept outside San Diego Convention Center on many nights for primo Hall H seats. For a convention with little space, and really nowhere to house such a line, I can understand the practicality of such a system, however I do agree that it quickly becomes cost prohibitive on top of already high (and climbing) ticket prices.
Based on this year’s performance I’d like to see a lot more signage next year directing traffic, and perhaps better-trained staff, who actually know where things are located. Communication needs to be improved between the convention and vendors as well as attendees to keep things running smoothly in the future, and to keep people coming back. Security has always been a concern among attendees and vendors of this con, and I fully support the increased security measures as long as the list of approved items to bring is clearly communicated ahead of time. I do think that they should bring back a peace bonding system though, so that the con can continue to allow Ghostbusters and wizards to express themselves through cosplay.
I look forward to seeing what changes may be implemented for future Phoenix Comicon events as they continue to adjust to their new size and stature in the con circuit.
