The Entire Cast of Star Trek TNG is coming to Calgary Comic Con

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan74

I can tell you that one of the organizers has his own business and has a young family. Some of the guys sacarfice some of their own money to run this show.

That's great and laudable but after talking to some friends of mine who braved this event and gave me such terms as clusterf#ck, gongshow, and ridiculously organized, I would argue that if this event comes back with a similar format next year that they should spend money on professional event organizers, instead of trying to do it themselves.

I was interesting in going down and checking out this event but after hearing about the difficulties I'm almost glad that I didn't go and left the event to the professional "nerd" (no insult intended)

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

So is this show going to make alot of money this year?

I think it depends on how much they lose in terms of giving out refunds and lost ticket revenue from people that were turned away.

I'm sure they made a ton of money on booth costs etc, but they probably didn't help the outside of Calgary reputation for this event and need to be really careful with promotion going forward.

[GirlySports]

Would they ever risk doing something like this outdoors? Could get a TONNE of people.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Would they ever risk doing something like this outdoors? Could get a TONNE of people.

It was tried once before. There was mass confusion. Most of the attendees could not figure out what the giant shining orb in the sky was.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by pylon

It was tried once before. There was mass confusion. Most of the attendees could not figure out what the giant shining orb in the sky was.

Ok ok - we get it. You're cooler than all us nerds.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by pylon

LOL, Nerd Rage, unleashed! All to the CP Nerdmobile to get the evil Pylon for making a jab.

Asthma Inhaler - FULL!
Sunblock - APPLIED!
Neckbeards - UNSHAVEN!
Manboobs - SECURED!
Juice Boxes - APPLE!

Go CP nerd force go!! **Theme music starts**

Snuggy deployed

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Ok ok - we get it. You're cooler than all us nerds.

Actually I am one of you. I just do not take the title so frikkin seriously....

Lighten up people!

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Ok ok - we get it. You're cooler than all us nerds.

pylon's old, making fun of nerd and nerd culture is so 1990's.

[Coys1882]

I know you're kidding Pylon - I don't take it seriously.

I like to consider myself a hybrid - jock and geek. Jeek?

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

I know you're kidding Pylon - I don't take it seriously.

I like to consider myself a hybrid - jock and geek. Jeek?

Pretty much the same here.

I actually really did want to check this thing out. TNG was without a doubt my favourite TV series of all time, and one of the only shows I ever religiously watched. But all the reports of how poorly this thing was run, kept me away. I am a fan, but I am not going to stand in line for 4 hours to wander around in a building room full of unbathed mouth breathers... regardless of what type of trade show it is.

[Luder]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

I know you're kidding Pylon - I don't take it seriously.

I like to consider myself a hybrid - jock and geek. Jeek?

I prefer the term "Renaissance Man", myself

[WhiteTiger]

I guess there are some bonuses to waiting in line...a buddy of mine trapped in a line down there said a couple of very good looking Na'vi were wandering around topless. Can't imagine that was allowed for very long, though.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Was originally going to go down Saturday but luckily a friend who was there texted me at 12:00pm and said not to bother due to the crowd. So Saturday was shot. Got down at the grounds today at about 8:30am and had our tickets by about 9:15am and were watching a pretty cool video game theme song cover band (Thwomp I think?) in the Corral. Am pretty surprised to see some of the pictures in this thread with regards to how massive the lineup outside actually got today and yesterday.

Venue itself is definitely a bit confusing for people that have never been before. Walked out of the Corral into the actual Exhibitors Hall only to discover the Battlestar Q&A was back through the Corral in the Boyce Theatre. Managed to get in though and glad I did as I had never been to one and.. well, it's Battlestar. Aaron Douglass is absolutely hilarious and Richard Hatch, Katee Sackhoff and he were all really good and seemed to really enjoy themselves. You could tell Richard was very passionate about both shows and very thankful for the role he got in the new version (he basically stated as much). Katee I heard from many people is very friendly and she had some good stories and insight into the show as well. Aaron Douglass actually also said this is the best run convention he has been to with regards to how the guests are treated. Always have a volunteer there to help, great accommodations, food, etc. I heard from someone else an organizer said they do that to plug the Expo and get other guests to come via celebrity word of mouth. So it's too bad our Expo has this aspect going for it but it seems to have been negated some by the other issue with guest passes and overcrowding, etc.

All in all I had a pretty good time for my first trip to one of these and only on one day. I didn't actually experience any of the long lines waiting for tickets or being turned away thankfully. Sad to read about how many people, especially the out of towners, were disappointed with the experience. Definitely in part due to the big TNG Reunion but the Expo should have anticipated this and planned accordingly. Hopefully they learned some lessons for next year as I would expect next years to be just as big if not bigger.. use another building on the grounds, maybe have scanners for passes to better track numbers, only guarantee existing pass-holders entrance before noon or something, etc

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

As a vendor it has been awesome, but i can see how crappy it is to go as a fan today. My friends who were handing out my postcards said everyone was in a really crappy mood compared to Friday and who can blame them.

That's pretty cool, what booth were you? I think I managed to do a walk by of everything today and there were some great art, book, comic exhibits. Didn't know anyone around here had anything on display though.

[Freeway]

Very nice to meet Bertuzzied today. Got some good stuff from him for next to nothing.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

i had a really great time today; the panels were worth the price of admission alone. patrick stewart was amazing, stan lee was affable and adorable, and marina sirtis was hillarious and interesting. dorn was kind of bizarrely tuned out after 20 minutes, and frakes was kind of weird just in a general but fun way.

that being said the merch floor, for someone who doesnt care about comics, was largely boring and uninteresting. altho i was very pleased with how slutty a lot of women were dressed today. gi-ga-tee

[CaptainCrunch]

Not enough pictures of said slutty girls

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Much, much better organized today (except for one moron, more on that in a second). They had lots of people outside telling people where to go, what was available etc. They stopped selling new passes by 1015am.

I got there right at 10am and the lineup went from inside entrance (which is closer to the Ctrain station) to the Casino then outside and back to the train then all the way around the BMO centre parking lot back to the Casino. It was effing long.

Moved really quick though. After about 35 mins, when I was at the spot where the two lines merged (there was a 2nd line that started by the main entrance and went towards the train station) a volunteer came outside and told us that we could enter through the Corral.

Me and about 50 other people started literally jogging to the Corral only to find out that it was closed and we had to get back in line. By this time the line had stretched WAAAAYYY past where it was when I showed up.

I ended up complaining to a bunch of volunteers, had the idiot spreading misinformation outed but they still wouldn't let me in, they just told me to line up again.

I started badgering several of the volunteers. I finally found this girl who appeared to have at least some authority. She wasn't a volunteer in the green or grey shirts and she wasn't one of the blue shirted security. She was pretty though. Anyway, I followed her around while she tried to corroborate my story of this idiot volunteer guy who made me lost my spot. After I followed her for a while and wouldn't leave her alone she finally agreed to get me back in line. It wasn't perfect and I had to wait another 15 mins but I got in by 1115am. Did I mention she was hot?

Once I got in it was a fantastic time. So much better than yesterday. Re-entry was allowed which was nice, the panels were great.


Stan Lee's panel was great. Man he's funny and such a diehard cheerleader for Marvel. His memory isn't so good though.

Really, really touching moment. That hot red haired Emily chick gave him a big card with facebook responses/Tweets about what he meant to people. That was amazing. He got a standing O, the Emily woman looked like she was tearing up, Stan looked really touched and I almost ended up tearing up myself. He's such a great ambassador and it is truly amazing how much his creations have influenced my life. The whole Expo, hell the whole industry, might not exist if it weren't for him.

Patrick Stewart was good, as was the Frakes/Sirtis/Dorn panel. Billy West and John DiMaggio were really funny too.

[Notahockeyfan]

We actually managed to get in on Fri. evening around 5 pm and then again this morning around 9:30 am. I think if you didn't go right in the afternoon (we showed up on Sat. around 1 pm and left, as it was just chaos), you were ok.

True, Sat. was an absolute gong show, and I wasn't too happy about the lack of organization that ensued, but think of what they *did* accomplish: they made it one of the biggest shows to ever hit Calgary, and managed to get the entire Star Trek TNG cast together for the first time in 9 years. Pretty good for some 'local people'.

Again, everyone makes mistakes, and I'm sure the organizers had NO idea it would get as big as it did, but lesson learned, and I'm sure they'll do better next year and follow other events' footsteps in how to deal with crowd control.

True, if I was one of these people who flew in and bought advanced passes, I'd be *pissed*, but at the same time, it wasn't like it was absolutely impossible to get in, if you went at the right time. Just the Sat. and Sun. afternoons were bad, but like I said, Friday was manageable, we showed up at the BMO Centre at 9 am this morning, and got in just fine. Sunday was definitely more organized, although still insane by the time we left around 11:45 am.

They did their best with what they knew, and I'm sure things will be different next year. Nobody expected it to get as big as it did.

We had a great time! Lots of cool costumes, I got some pics of some of the celebs, got some cool prints, chatted with some artists, etc. I'd definitely go back.

[Coys1882]

Anyone reading Peter Panzerfaust? I got to meet the artist and writer and they were super friendly. Love getting to chat about how they come up with ideas and styles for their work.