Rough Couple of Days
May. 31st, 2017 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerWe are home now.
That was a week’s worth of highs and lows.
I want to say a couple of things about Phoenix ComicCon before getting into other things.
Matt and his crew throw an amazing convention. We were well taken care of from the time we got there until we left. They handled our issues along with a lot of other issues as well as they could given the circumstances. I would highly recommend this convention not only for the crew but the fans as well who are enthusiastic and warm.
Shout out to the hotel staff at the Hyatt who managed to keep things moving, especially the elevators, forward. Yes it was a bit of a pain at peak times to get to one’s room but we all made it and a short wait for safety and no broken elevators was worth it.
Shout out to the staff at the convention center along with the security staff who were given an impossible situation where not everyone was going to be happy and managed to improve on it between Friday and Saturday so that things went back to moving along much smoother.
Shout out to the fans also who dealt with things with a sense of humor rather than get mad at the convention that they could not bring in their props. I do understand that a lot of work went into them and you wanted to show them off, but considering what happened I hope that you can see why they did what they did.
Now for those of you are reading and wondering what the heck I am talking about. Here’s what happened at the convention on Thursday from the local paper the Arizona Republic. Short version was that someone got in with a bunch of loaded weapons and threatened to shoot police and an actor who was attending. He talk about it on social media (facebook) and someone called the local police to inform them what was going on just in case it was serious which is was. So thank you to the individual to stepped forward and said something because they saw something.
What is not being said in the paper because he is now claiming he was there to kill Jason David Franks (Green Power Ranger) as his motivation is that his original reasons for being there are even a little more scary than that. He was stalking someone who was at the convention. He texted/message her that if she didn’t go out with him/spend time with him, people were going to pay. This behavior on his part had apparently been going on for a while. He had come to the convention because she was going to be there. The person who reported him was friends with the young lady who was being stalked and they were concerned at the escalation of the threats both at the police, the convention and this young woman.
We had that clouding the convention. The convention offered refunds if people didn’t want to come because of what happened. Some fans got bent out of shape because they couldn’t bring their cosplay weapons and went to the Internet to cry how unfair all this was. I think that the convention did the best they could under the circumstances and did a blanket policy that would ensure the safety of the staff, guests, and attendees. I will say it was easier to walk through the convention without having to worry about being smacked in the face with an oversized prop or baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
Peter had to leave the convention on Sunday due to his mother passing away. Caroline and I stayed to greet fans and pass out his autograph. We joined him in Connecticut the next day and spent time with our family up there. We returned yesterday evening and now are working out the next thing on our plate.
I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and sympathy. It really does mean a lot to us.
I promise to talk about our more positive adventures from the convention tomorrow. Today I have to get the bathroom ready for the contractors who are coming to repair a number of issues with it including the fact that the tub is cracked.
I am grateful for family.
That was a week’s worth of highs and lows.
I want to say a couple of things about Phoenix ComicCon before getting into other things.
Matt and his crew throw an amazing convention. We were well taken care of from the time we got there until we left. They handled our issues along with a lot of other issues as well as they could given the circumstances. I would highly recommend this convention not only for the crew but the fans as well who are enthusiastic and warm.
Shout out to the hotel staff at the Hyatt who managed to keep things moving, especially the elevators, forward. Yes it was a bit of a pain at peak times to get to one’s room but we all made it and a short wait for safety and no broken elevators was worth it.
Shout out to the staff at the convention center along with the security staff who were given an impossible situation where not everyone was going to be happy and managed to improve on it between Friday and Saturday so that things went back to moving along much smoother.
Shout out to the fans also who dealt with things with a sense of humor rather than get mad at the convention that they could not bring in their props. I do understand that a lot of work went into them and you wanted to show them off, but considering what happened I hope that you can see why they did what they did.
Now for those of you are reading and wondering what the heck I am talking about. Here’s what happened at the convention on Thursday from the local paper the Arizona Republic. Short version was that someone got in with a bunch of loaded weapons and threatened to shoot police and an actor who was attending. He talk about it on social media (facebook) and someone called the local police to inform them what was going on just in case it was serious which is was. So thank you to the individual to stepped forward and said something because they saw something.
What is not being said in the paper because he is now claiming he was there to kill Jason David Franks (Green Power Ranger) as his motivation is that his original reasons for being there are even a little more scary than that. He was stalking someone who was at the convention. He texted/message her that if she didn’t go out with him/spend time with him, people were going to pay. This behavior on his part had apparently been going on for a while. He had come to the convention because she was going to be there. The person who reported him was friends with the young lady who was being stalked and they were concerned at the escalation of the threats both at the police, the convention and this young woman.
We had that clouding the convention. The convention offered refunds if people didn’t want to come because of what happened. Some fans got bent out of shape because they couldn’t bring their cosplay weapons and went to the Internet to cry how unfair all this was. I think that the convention did the best they could under the circumstances and did a blanket policy that would ensure the safety of the staff, guests, and attendees. I will say it was easier to walk through the convention without having to worry about being smacked in the face with an oversized prop or baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
Peter had to leave the convention on Sunday due to his mother passing away. Caroline and I stayed to greet fans and pass out his autograph. We joined him in Connecticut the next day and spent time with our family up there. We returned yesterday evening and now are working out the next thing on our plate.
I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and sympathy. It really does mean a lot to us.
I promise to talk about our more positive adventures from the convention tomorrow. Today I have to get the bathroom ready for the contractors who are coming to repair a number of issues with it including the fact that the tub is cracked.
I am grateful for family.
