#riccrefund

[prouxaire-old]

i'm glad I didn't pay to get into RICC.

the whole experience was pretty miserable. it had more room than BCC but there was still nowhere I could get away. I have spacial issues and I was on a verge of a panic attack the whole time because I couldn't find a place to get away from the crowd and breathe.

The line for the Supernatural panel was extremely messed up. We spent five minutes waiting in the wrong area because no one told us where the line was. And the people working trying to sort the crowd were three teenagers, trying to work a giant crowd for one panel.

It was almost impossible to find anything, there were like five different lines and we had no idea where to go into the convention for a while.

And they made the line go through a parking garage. Where people were DRIVING.

I had fun when I was able to talk to friends and look at merch but

I would not pay for that experience no matter how cheap.

[toriandrelativedimensionsinspace]

In summary, Rhode Island Comic Con was a nightmare and hugely illegal and exploitative. I will not be returning and the Boston Whovians will not hold official events there in the future.

[toriandrelativedimensionsinspace]

RICC Day 2 Summary:

-got in without standing in line for 5 hours, so that’s cool -you still had to wait to be let into the dealer room/show floor in waves due to overcrowding -staff member at door denied (again) that the show was oversold -dealers had to wait indefinitely to get back to their table if they so much as left to get change -there were about a dozen or so chairs to sit in in the whole convention center -more people passed out -The con was still blaming the problems on “how popular the event is” rather than on the fact that they oversold -cosplayers and fan club presidents (like myself) were not allowed to hand out business cards or we’d get kicked out for soliciting -vendors were being instructed to make their checks for taxes out to THE CON instead of the state and not being given receipts -a shadow cast of Repo was announced as “Repo the Generic Opera” over the PA system -The RKO Army, a prominent shadow cast group, were shoved into a TINY panel room instead of a proper performance space -The staff was unhelpful, uninformed, and often rude/belligerent

Other highlights from the show overall (in case you’ve missed the other posts):

-people were made to stand outside in freezing rain -numerous people fainted and were injured being crammed into holding pens -people with tickets, even VIP passes, were continually locked out -The space was so overcrowded that people missed the photo-ops they paid for -The show continued to sell tickets even after the fire marshal threatened to shut them down -no fewer than four code adams (missing children) were called -families and friend groups were separated for hours due to being barred entrance -vendors were not told where their booths were in advance and really left to flounder -The convention deleted all posts on their Facebook page with negative comments -Mark Sheppard was locked out of his own panel -The convention continually lied about letting people back in -numerous people fell ill from lack of food because of the long lines and limited options inside the convention and the fact that, if they left, they knew they would be denied re-entry -fan groups, such as the Boston Super Heroes and my own group The Boston Whovians, were unable to hold photoshoots or, in the superheroes case, forced to hold their shoots early and rushed, because all of their cosplayers were stuck in line. -The con sold more than 4x the number of tickets than the space could hold -Colin Baker got left at the airport as no one picked him up.

Smaller things I was personally bothered by: -no staff communication with attendees, we never seemed to be able to find them -extremely unhelpful website -they misspelled the name of my friend’s booth (Untamed Undies > Untames Undies) -The con blamed the attendees for all issues -constant PA announcements for missing people (literally every couple of minutes) and changed event locations -literally no gender neutral bathroom options in the whole complex that I could find -shaky harassment policies and safety procedures -very iffy and VERY cishetero-centric sci-fi speed dating. (signs said “females get in free!”) -overall felt like it was run by people who didn’t like or understand the community they were supposed to be catering to

For more info, check out gingerjuju and her posts about her experience as an artist there.

Also, check out the tag #RICCrefund