Originally published at: Horrific Anime Expo crowd looks like disaster waiting to happen: "If there is a fire … we are all dying" (video) | Boing Boing
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They’re thinking of immediate safety, but all I can think about is the inevitable post-Expo COVID outbreak. Not a lot of masks in that crowd, to put it mildly…
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It doesn’t fall within the remit of fire chiefs to close-down/disperse such obviously unsafe events in Los Angeles? (“eh they’ll shut it down as soon as they get Hiroki Hayashi’s signature on their Ryoko figurine”)
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Does the convention center not know how to move people through? That hallway looks A LOT like the local KC Convention center, just haven’t seen it THAT packed at once. Though both Planet Comic Con and other conventions in the area see some huge crowds.
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I wonder if the facilities and organizers are rusty at managing crowds this big after COVID. E3 was in the same space and certainly bigger than this every year. While it was crowded, it never felt dangerous or unmanageable.
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apparently “not selling more tickets than the venue can support” is not an option, I guess
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Holy cow. I’ve been to the LACC many times for SIGGRAPH, and the crowds then are bad enough… WHY are people willingly putting themselves through THIS?
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because they bought tickets, traveled there, got dressed up, and were hoping for an excellent all around time?
it’s understandably hard to give that up. and if you do ditch out, how then would you feel if it then got resolved and you missed out?
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Homer: “This lesbian bar doesn’t have a fire exit!”
Woman: “What’s her problem?”
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I dunno, I’ve been to cons before, and to Disney, and waited in plenty of lines for stuff. It’s always a balance between the hassle of dealing with the masses and the promise of gratification at the other end of it. I’m willing to put up with quite a lot. But I’m pretty sure that upon this level of clusterfuck I’d be nope-ing out to go hang out somewhere else in downtown LA, grabbing a drink and waiting for word that the con has made itself actually enjoyable. That’s the key for me: an excellent all around time is precluded by this mob.
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Yeah I remember the last year I went to Planet Comicon, before I moved to New Jersey, there was a pretty long line/wait to get in, but it was very organized. There was no confusion about where you were supposed to go or where the line was. I think the longest line I ever saw at any Planet Comicon was a few years before that when William Shatner was there. The line for his autograph went downstairs, out the building, around the corner, and then down the street that goes under part of the convention center. I decided I didn’t need a William Shatner autograph.
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This sort of crowd is on par with what I’ve seen in photos of Comiket and AnimeJapan in Tokyo. Though my understanding is that people move around those in a fairly orderly way.
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I read the headline and thought “why would a horror-only anime convention have massive crowds?”
Anyway, I couldn’t handle one tenth that many people shudder
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… I am sure that there are other fun things to do in Los Angeles, but I’d expect all those other things are also quite crowded this “weekend” — and crowded even by L.A. standards, not wherever-they’re-coming-from standards 
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Lines, lines, everywhere are line. Blocking out the scenery Breaking my mind.
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Last year Otakon had an unexpected 50% increase from the previous year, and they still got everyone inside in 2 hours. AX has very little excuse.
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Whoa–that’s a lot of people. Prior to covid I was beginning to lose interest in attending conventions because of the crowds–the ones I attended felt a little oversold. Those crowds seem minuscule in comparison to this. Yikes.
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Worse than that, tourists tend not to realize how bad the traffic in LA really is, especially downtown, double especially at a con.
The trip from the downtown off-ramp to the convention centre is maybe ten blocks, and during E3, I’ve seen that drive take three hours. We would only do it because we were hauling gear and had no choice. Most people don’t realize what they’re getting into, and once you’re in the jam, there’s no way to nope out of it.
Nowadays the Metro goes there and it’s good, but most tourists don’t actually know LA has a subway (a lot of locals don’t even know) so they rent a car thinking that’s the best thing to do. Thus you finally get to that con, and there’s no way you’re going to try and leave. You’re trapped by the traffic.
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This convention will make an excellent data point.
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How Badley run can it be, its like they are trying to be bad, that’s just to many people for my liking, i would not be joining them queues and i am British, we que for fun!
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