Jun 12 2009
TwiCon Attendees Furious Over Prices / Autograph Policy Announcement
One of my readers recently sent me a link to a TwiCon 2009 message board, where some attendees are making their displeasure with this Twilight convention known. TwiCon is taking place in Dallas, Texas, July 30 - August 2, 2009. Apparently the organizers just release new information about the convention’s autograph policy:
Autographs for each attending cast member will be available for reservation on Friday, June 19, at 11:59pm EST. Each attendee can sign up for one free autograph at that time. To reserve your free autograph, login to your registration account and go to the Agenda section. You will only be given the option of selecting one cast member. Don’t worry; once everyone has had time to select their free autograph, we’ll be offering autographs for sale for those cast members who have more time and autographs available.
[…]
Personalization of autographs is not possible due to time constraints. […] If you linger with the cast member signing your item, his or her handler will not hesitate to move you along.
Needless to say, the fans are a little upset at this “one free autograph” limit and these other “constraints”, considering the price of admission. I actually wrote about the outrageous price for this convention back in January (tickets are $255 for the weekend). Considering how incredibly high that price is already, to only provide one free un-personalized autograph with it is highway robbery, and to move the fans along like cattle is more than a little rude. At least when Creation Entertainment charges that much, more autographs are included (and their policies about autographs are established from the beginning when tickets go on sale - not after).
Here are some of the comments from the TwiCon forum:
I am FURIOUS right now. I have already paid over 600 dollars only to find out the person that I was wanting to get a autograph from and pic with I will not be able to because his sessions are on August 2nd…the day we leave and my flight is at 2 p.m. […] This information should have been provided so people who were planning on flying out on the day the con ended would be able to plan accordingly.
I’m furious b/c our REGISTRATION FEE was suppose to cover so called ‘rubbing elbows’ with the celebs. So after $255 reg fee, $500 for 3 night hotel, $20 for 100 Monkeys ticket…im at $775 thus far in spending before this thing is even started. Now its gonna cost $40 for a photo and possibly $16 for an autograph. Do they think we are all made of money? We are in a recession and they are bleeding us dry. We still have to buy food and pay for an outfit for the Ball. I’m almost to the point of selling my tickets. This is getting ridiculous.
I’m kind of upset about it all as well. I asked and only one person can appear in a photo. Which kinda sucks since their is only a short number of them available. I understand the time restriction but you’d think they’d be will to help us out a bit especially since the $255 was supposed to include a bunch of cool things, which now is just shaping up to be an hideously expensive movie ticket.
As someone who has attended a ton of cons over the years, and is an avid autograph collector, I’d like to actually address some of what has been said over at these forums. I’ve read some justifications like “I know their time is limited,” and “I know this con is bigger than most.” Neither is a valid excuse for this con’s policies. 2,500 people is not a big convention. That’s medium at most. I’ve seen stars willing sit down and sign for 2 to 3 times that amount of people without complaint. I also know that it doesn’t take long at all to do photos and autographs for that amount of attendees, especially with a con that is spread out over four days. I read that the celebrities are limiting themselves to 65 photos with fans. This is absurd. They have an entire weekend, and are being handsomely compensated for their time, I assure you. I call bullshit.
Don’t buy these excuses TwiCon attendees. You have a right to be upset. This convention is gouging Twilight fans, and trying to get as much money from you as possible because they believe they can. (Star Trek fans can tell you all about how it feels to be exploited this way.)
Until members of fandom stop patronizing these outrageously priced conventions, they will continue to try and take advantage of our love and devotion for these shows/movies/comics/books. It needs to stop. Write to the celebrity guests and their management companies. Let them know you will not be patronizing these conventions because of their prices and policies. They wouldn’t even have conventions if it weren’t for us fans. Don’t keep silent.
Hear hear! I called BS on the outrageous pricing & spotted the obviously poor planning from the getgo, which is why I told my Twihard friends not to attend this con- I knew it was going to pull stuff like this. $255 for a weekend con for general admission? Ridiculous. Asking them to pay for autographs & photos? Not that ridiculous, but them springing all of these changes & limitations on them is incredibly stupid. Especially since it’s at the last minute.
Heck… I’m not even a fan & I’m outraged that these people are bilking the Twifans out of their money. Some of these fans worked really hard to save up for this & they aren’t getting even a fraction of their money’s worth! I hope they continue to complain! Some are getting attacked for their complaints by other members, saying they aren’t true “Twihards” if they complain- basically using their fandom against them. I say that the true fan is one who is willing to call out someone who is trying to pull a scam using their fandom as a cover for that!
I’m guessing that the constaff is limiting the number of autographs b/c they’re trying to do the bare minimum of everything so they can pocket the most money at the congoers’ expense!
Oh… and something else to think about- each star is only signing like 45-65 autographs each. So taking into account that about 2000+ people are going to be attending, how on earth is everyone going to get their “guaranteed free autograph”?
Big surprise. They won’t. There’s going to be signups online & pretty much if you don’t sign up online you won’t get a signature. Which means that there’s going to be quite a few unhappy congoers when they realise that getting in line isn’t going to help them get the sigs & that their “guaranteed free autograph” only guarantees them a free sig if they managed to get into the very limited amount of signing spots that were made available!
i actually live in dallas
however cant afford or justify paying 255 just to get in
and to pay extra for autographs
then again this is an unnoficial and summit, stephanie meyere
and twlight itself doesnt endorse this or support it
dont wonder why!!!
this is absurd
i even offered to volunteer
got no response
and also one cant just volunteer
you too have to be registerd!!!!!!!!!!
ok a registerd volunteer
if i paid that much i am not volunteer
thats the whole point of volunteering
gosh the even charge the volunteers to volunteer!!!!
this is absurd
I REALLY hope you’ll do a follow up article on TwiCon 2009 and let some of us who were there for the chaos have a chance to vent. If you think $255 was outrageous assuming a “good con event” would come of it, you should hear what happened there! I’m back at home already because today was the last straw for me (I live in Dallas), I bet a lot of the attendees are wishing they could go home (as a matter of fact, I know they are, as I talked to so many visitors in the never-ending-lines-to-nowhere)
I am one of the furious people who attended TwiCon! It was horrible. Not one person I talked to was happy. $255 bought a lanyard and a ticket to the Volturi ball. The ball didn’t even have an open bar! And the supposed celebs…yeah they didn’t attend. They also ended the Q&A after about 30 minutes b/c they were too inept to start seating people early…that was the ONE event that did NOT cost $30 extra! EVERY other event that was worth attending was extra. The hotel was terrible as well. If I don’t get some sort of refund, I’m going to be even more pissed off than I already am!
The only highlights for me were two random run-ins in the elevator with Christian Serratos and the cast of the Hillywood Show parody.
I unfortunately was someone who attended twicon. It was a horrible mess and a huge waste of time and money. I spent well over $500 for this event and in the end only got two autographs out of the whole thing. The staff was clueless and didn’t really seem to care about anything anyone was upset about. During the entire convention I was unable to find anyone that was happy about the way anything turned out. I will NEVER do this again and would not even recommend this convention to my worst enemy.
I also attented the TwiCon. The staff (except for a couple of people) were extremely rude and screamed at everyone constantly. They were unorganized. The Q & A was great because of the actors but very short. I paid for an autograph with Peter. We were told on head-shot (which I paid $11 for) and one personal item could be signed for the $16 you paid for the autograph session. I didn’t bring my twilight book since we were not told we could have personal items signed until we were in line. So I bought a New Moon poster for another $9. We were also told we could not take pics of the actors while in line. I understand not while you are up there getting your autograph. Peter signed the headshot, then I handed him the poster. The Twicon staff, very rudely asked if I paid for a 2nd autograph. Peter reached over and signed the poster anyway and was very nice about it! I thought I paid for the convention, autograph session, photos, posters, and numerous other things and you are going to embarrass me in front of Peter (Peter was embarrassed as well), by asking me if I paid for it!!! I also got in “Trouble” for video taping. We were told repeately “No flash photography and no cell phone”. Great I complied, not once did they say anything about video taping, so 20 min into filming they come screaming at me to stop filiming. I got the impression the whole convention was about $ not enjoying Twlight.
Actors that charge for autographs are very pathetic in my opinion. It makes them look desperate…I think it’ll hurt their image. They fail to realize in every generation actors come and go and those that don’t give a damn about their fans will long be forgotten.
If I was a celebrity here’s my strategy in making $$$. Free autographs is free publicity, which in turn will lead to more fanbased. Due to word of mouth assuming I have a business I bet you my business would probably be booming by now, or even better being offered work by various companies. Fan support is what made them who they are, how can they forget that? Fans spent countless $$$ to make sure they have a job for infinite number of years. A little contribution by them doesn’t hurt.
I went to a comic con convention in long beach 3-4 weeks ago. i wanted an autograph with Lou Ferrigno. He charges $25 for a signed autograph which I’m willing to pay, then to take a picture with him he charges $30 what load of crap is that? A few fans walked off. I was one of them. I put his photo down and head on my way (It’s like an F you sign from me). What an ego trip joker.
I hope a few celebs will come to this website and find this comment here.