Los Angeles Comic Con Didn't Live Up To Hype Because It Had None

Blizzcon is well underway so a lot of people might have already forgotten that there was a convention in Los Angeles last week. Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con (formerly Comikaze) took over the South Hall of the Los Angeles convention center with the promises of a good time for all. I was lucky enough to attend last year and had a great time so I had high hopes. However, as the convention drew closer, there were some warning sighs that, in hindsight I should have picked up on.

While not terrible overall, it also wasn't the same as last year. It actually came in pretty weak.

So what went wrong?

A Bogus Weapon's Policy

The first thing that caught my attention was the new weapon's policy. In the wake of recent events a lot of conventions decided to be a little bit more tight with their weapons policies. LA Comic Con was no different as it came down hard on prop weapons. Anything that even remotely looked like a gun couldn't be brought into the convention center.

As a photographer, this was no issue for me but a good number of cosplayers in attendance were rightfully upset at the policy. Imagine spending all this time creating a prop only to be told that you can't bring it. And it wasn't like the policy was announced off the bat. It was dropped when tickets were already sold and the convention was drawing near.

Poor Enforcement

Having a hard line policy would be one thing, but there was also some slight inconsistencies with regard to enforcement.

One cosplayer who was dressed as Nightwing was told she couldn't bring in her batons because they were made of PVC and she could potentially harm someone with them. However, a friend of mine somehow managed to get in with a large laser rifle prop from Fallout: New Vegas despite the policy stating that there would be no way he could bring it in. A security guard eventually spotted it, however, and asked my friend to get to weapon's check, which would be fine except for the fact that he was already in the main lobby and had been there for at least an hour before anyone noticed a large laser rifle.

All in all, the policy itself left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Whether or not it contributed to lower attendance I can't say with certainty but it certainly didn't help.

A Lack of Attendees

There was no doubt in my mind that there more people last year than there were this year. Some thought that it was because LACC last year was being held at the same time was a League of Legends championship at LA Live so there was some attendance spillover. That may have been the case because this year wasn't anywhere near the energy levels of last year.

Friday was practically a dead zone. The floor didn't open until 1:00 PM but still closed around 5-6:00 PM so there wasn't much time to do anything.

Having Blizzcon the next week more than likely didn't help matters either. I can't speak for all convention regulars, but I'm pretty broke most of the time due to my love for these events. Every now and again, two great events are put back to back and I have to make the tough choice of which one to go to. This year, I picked LACC with my hopes bolstered by last year's performance. The lower turnout proved that I may have made a bad bet.

Overall, it wasn't bad but it wasn't great.

If I'm being honest, Los Angeles Comic Con wasn't terrible. Not by a long shot. However, it wasn't great by any means. A lot of the attendees ended up calling it the year's most "okayest" con and I would have to agree with them. Aside from the ludicrous weapons policy, there wasn't anything glaring about the convention. However, there wasn't the same energy and hype that usually comes with a Comic Con.

Conventions, for the most part, are what you make of them and I was lucky to be with a great set of friends who could made the con just a little bit more enjoyable. However, if this was your first convention, I feel bad for you, son. This convention had ninety-nine problems and hype was one.