Raleigh Supercon or not so Supercon
Over this past weekend i have the ability to attend Raleigh Supercon in Raleigh North Carolina. Over all the experience was a good one. There were issues I saw and was apart of all weekend that I feel need to be told from the standpoint of a parent, photographer, fan and con goer.
We will start with Friday. My husband, little girl and I arrived early so we would not have to wait in a long line........ That wasn't the issue. Apparently there was a lot of miscommunication with what the con said and actually did. There were times online on the events page, facebook pages and the cons official page about what time the doors would open for badges. We arrived about 9:30am to the line after parking. It was an hour before the doors opened to allow people inside for badges. If you have ever been to North Carolina you know the extreme variations in weather we have in a week. Why they did have tents up to help with the heat from about. The body heat was another issue. And if you happened to be in a part of the line that wasn't near the doors where they placed those big cooling fans. You were destined to suffer till you could get around to them. The people I talked to in line where all understandably miserable, hot, tired and annoyed. Once they opened the doors everything flowed pretty well.
Once inside there really wasn't anything to do till 12pm..... So it pretty much became stand inside in the ac con, until panels or exhibitors hall opened at 12ish. So I was lucky enough to have husband and daughter help me with my first handful of sessions. After the sessions were over we went inside. The floor in the exhibitors was full, we could barely walk and kept getting separated. Good thing we have a rule about where to meet up if we do. So husband found me and our daughter. A few guest I saw with wheelchairs and strollers were having a much harder time getting around. The rows were not nearly big enough for them to navigate. So after looking around, which took about 2 hours... just by browsing and not really stopping to shop. We found that most of the merchandise was mostly funko pops, stuff you could easily by at Wal-Mart or Target for a fraction of the price, comic books and some bootleg dvds, blu rays and bad knock offs. I did however notice that the event was marketed toward families, yet some of the stuff in the exhibit hall were not covered up or in a book for older guest to browse thru. More on this later
We decided to only get a few small things. After that we grabbed lunch. I checked into my hotel room and rested before heading back down before my other sessions. Because of the amount of time it took in the exhibit hall I missed one of the panels I wanted to attend. The rest of the day went off ok for the most. I was surprised when I was sitting down enjoying my small cup of ice cream from two scoops ice cream truck that I got to see Mick Foley. I said "Hi Mick" he was already past me and did a head nod. I thought that was pretty cool that he acknowledged me. Some people who are famous would just go about there business. So I sat there people watching while I finished my ice cream. The protestors were out in full force and left after about an hour since they were being ignored. (thank you for ignoring them, if they have no one to listen they don't stay and harass families)
Saturday morning rolls around and I do the few sessions I have down. After that I grab lunch and then go into the exhibitors hall. I manages to find my daughter and husband some merch before heading off to a panel I wanted to see. Only to find out it was canceled. So I decided to head back to drop off the gifts for my family. While I was looking thru the book deciding what to do next. My friend Charlie (Charlie Rocket Cosplay) asked me if I could help cover her Nerd Parenting Panel because an emergency popped up. I gladly went and had a blast answering questions from my parent perspective. Now back to the marketing as a family con. While at the panel I had a few parents during and after the panel say that the way they had things set up in the exhibit hall was not to kid friendly. I understand where they were coming from. One of the booths had cosplayers with not so kid friendly pics up. Most cons i have been to have a rule for anything that is considered 18+ to be in a book where the older con goers can view out of the site of kids. One of the mothers who had a son was concerned about this. There is no wrong way to parent. So please don't judge a mother wanting to raise her son to not see woman as sex objects. I will not point a finger at those cosplayers either for wanting to feel empowered by their sexuality. But I do believe that if you are going to advertise it as a family event. Then do a little more to help parents and have some rules for 18+ material to covered in areas. That being said as a person, please watch what you say when kids are around. Humping a body pillow and faking a orgasm in front of a 5 year old boy and just laughing after he looks at you funny is not appropriate.
After the panel I decided to go to John Barrowman's panel. Unfortunately after I got done with the Nerd Parenting the line was already extremely long. So I decided to walk around with some friends in the exhibit hall. While down there this German Sheppard was parking at service dogs and some little kids. I was shocked that the dog was acting in such a way. Later I heard from my friend Catilin what happened. I feel like it needs to be shared so i will post her experience here. She reached out to Raleigh Supercon but they deleted her post. Hopefully this will get back to them.
------ I am a disabled woman with a service dog and I would say that accessibly at this convention was a joke except it was not at all funny. I will leave a thorough accounting of the con’s accessibility flaws (such as the autograph lines that disabled people could not physically fit in and the panel dedicated entirely to teaching people how to fake a service animal and get away with it) to someone else. Instead, I will focus on one particularly telling incident. In the exhibit hall one of the vendors, a rescue group, had brought a dog, a very large German Shepherd. When it saw my service dog it went completely out of control. It was lunging, straining at the leash, and barking madly trying to get at my dog. I walked away quickly but it wasn’t until I reached the far wall that the dog stopped barking. Such behavior is harmful because it is distracting to my dog but also may cause her to become fearful of strange dog requiring retraining or possibly ending her working career. The dog’s behavior was so out of control that the owner followed me to try to justify it (“He just likes to talk! He has a lot to say!”). I wished her luck in finding him a home and she corrected me that, no, this was her pet dog. I have been at cons before where a dog tried to attack mine and followed standard procedure, I reported it to accessibility staff. The first woman I spoke to went very pale and ran to get a second woman. The second woman then left to go consult with a someone else. At this point my disability was flaring. I was shaking and flushed. The first woman commented that I did not look well. I said I needed to sit down. She told me I needed to wait until the other woman came back. When she did, she told me that the law prevented her from acting. I informed her that this is untrue and gave her a place to look up the law and confirm. I then repeated that I needed to sit down and moved to leave. I was grabbed. Not only is this a wholly inappropriate act of intimidation, due to my disability it is quite painful. She second woman shoved her finger in my face and said, “Now you listen here, young lady!” I am a grown adult. She then proceeded to berate me for not treating her properly while she was trying to help. At this point I was about to pass out so I repeated for a third time that I needed to sit down and left. Why this exchange is inexcusable should need no further explanation and I will do my best to ensure that all disabled individuals know that Raleigh Supercon is not safe for us. -----
After the headache started from the barking I went up to my room to get some Advil. Once upstairs I grabbed my gear, it took forever to get down because one of the elevators at the Sheraton was broken all weekend. So I headed to the few sessions I had. We got caught in the rain for one of them. But after it cleared up we had lots of fun. After the sessions I sat down and ran into a few friends while relaxing. We hung out and it was nice to just relax. So more people watching and protestor harassment to a few families walking by. A few people said they were being harassed by some guy and the con staff did nothing about it. After observing little things all weekend. The con staff wasn't aware or trained to handle anything. They were mostly volunteers who just wanted a free badge to be able to go for free. Sunday morning I decided to head over to the Starbucks in the Marriott to finally try a Strawberry Frappe. I don't know if something was left out of it but it was like drinking sugar water. I stirred it up to see if mixing it would help. It didn't. So at this point the line was now super long so I just chunked it in the trash and left. I didn't get a chance to go to the con Sunday. After the sessions I had I was so tired and ready to head home that I was about to pass out.
Would I go again? Maybe, staff has a lot to learn on how to handle things. Disability services, kid friendly, safety and much more needs to be addressed before I would recommend anyone on going.
I hope this was somewhat educational and an ok read. ^_____________^ I look forward to the next convention.
