Well, as things currently stand. Absolutely not, I won't even consider it right now. Even if someone offered to cover the entire cost of attending. The reason is simple, they treat their attendees like shit.
Specifically, on July 3rd, they started the Masquerade at precisely the planned time, 8:00pm. The problem is seating wasn't completed until well past 8:30pm. So, sorry, if you got a ticket and arrived
on time you didn't get to see the Masquerade. Now for two tidbits from
this thread on their own forums.
KenjiO (AX Forums) wrote:
Zuo Ci wrote:
- Even if the show started on time, it was a huge unfair disadvantage for me, because when I finally got seated, it was already past the first 10 entries, I didn't even get to see them perform, next time they have to start the show once almost everyone gets seated, it was not cool for everyone.
This is ironic. Last year Masquerade was ready to roll at 8 pm sharp but due to the slow seating of attendees, I delayed the show for 30 minutes. I then received alot of complaints about being late. Now it is dept policy to start on time unless there's a technical problem.
I'm sorry Mr KenjiO, but that is show business, people will complain either way. You apparently did not learn the
why behind the rule about starting early. Now I (and I imagine others) are looking for that silver platter onto which you are
required to place your head.
KenjiO (AX Forums) wrote:
Zuo Ci wrote:
+ The Tickets to the Masquerade are free, no cost!
+ The show started right on time
Tickets have always been free. Your AX Badge is an all-inclusive pass to AX events.
Ha! Then why didn't everyone get to see the AMV contest? First, I have to imagine something similar to the above happened. Second, there weren't enough tickets for all attendees who wished to attend it. The badge is merely a
lottery ticket that
might get you into the events.
Okay, fair to say that I am just a wee bit pissed off at the Anime Expo organization. So I've been seeking redress via the traditional method (olde fashioned letters, they represent legal notification). They've failed to provide
any sort of response, let alone an acceptable one.
Anyway, it is on to harsher methods now. As such it is time to start coordinating amoungst the aggrieved. Anyone else who got hit by the incident, I'm interested in hearing from you. Zuo Ci (assuming you're the same one from the AX forums), this means
you. My e-mail address (when not burried in spam) is my username on this forum, on the domain m5p.com.
Bottom line, no I do not expect to go. In fact I'm deliberately planning to not go. I'm expecting to begin the process of (figuratively) burning the organization to the ground in about 2 months. I urge everyone here to boycott the AX organization and
not attend, it sounds like
Otakon is a much better event to attend.
sala, this isn't too early to begin planning, though most folks don't.
Westercon and
Worldcon tend to have pre-attending memberships available 2-4 years in advance. There it is partially an investment, they're a lot cheaper (by 50-75%) in advance and if the odds of attending are good enough, the interest rate is pretty good. For folks who are
really hard core, the 2007 Worldcon will be the first one held in Asia,
Yokohama, Japan in fact.