Cosplayer trouble with convention thread?
Traveling as an invited cosplayers has been a thing for a handful of cosplayers for a few years now, so trouble has been cropping up with conventions generally treating cosplayers poorly, not providing interpreters, sexual harrasment, or even trying to scam them for money. So general thread where we talk about these incidents?
Things I can remember from the top of my head:
>Reika dumped at the wrong terminal without help at an American airport so she had to use twitter and friends in order to not miss her flight.
>Once again Reika, invited to an event in the Philippines, turns out they cheaped out on hotel, she was forced to sleep and shower in the organizers house, which resulted in her napping in her changing room and basically not sleeping during the trip.
>Most recent, Yuegene Fay has a disastrous run in with American border control, is unable to make it to an event in Ecuador. Is told tickets are non-refundable and ordered to pay. After some researching Yuegene realizes they are re-fundable and organizers are basically scamming her for money.
Picture related. There is a link on the Yuegene fb page to a google doc with all the chat logs.
For general discussion:
>Any other similar incidents?
>Like it or not, cosplayers have become a main staple as guests at events, especially in smaller countries. How do we make sure that young impressionable cosplayers are not scammed or abused when traveling? (Especially when experienced cosplayers are still having trouble.)
>How do we hold events responsible? CAN we hold them responsible? Are there certain areas or events that should be avoided for travel? What will this spell for the future?
>>8764193
did that ecuadorian guy ever do anything with "justice on his side?"
>How do we make sure that young impressionable cosplayers are not scammed or abused when traveling? (Especially when experienced cosplayers are still having trouble.)
have multiple people read the contracts. lawyers if available.. make sure they have backup plans (people they can count on in the vicinity of the convention and airport) in case things do happen. that's more something the cosplayer has to do though. if they're not experienced they should have a handler come with them who hopefully is experienced with international travel. friend, family member, etc.
>How do we hold events responsible? CAN we hold them responsible? Are there certain areas or events that should be avoided for travel? What will this spell for the future?
besides not attending them, not really.
>>8764220
>did that ecuadorian guy ever do anything with "justice on his side?"
Nah. EGIC just posted a doctored account of what happened on their page, leaving out less savory parts of the chat logs and patted themselves on the back for being so righteous. It's ridiculous. No legal action as to what I could find, probably because they don't have a case.
>>8764375
Doubt they could do anything to her anyway. Who the fuck would launch a lawsuit overseas for what, a thousand bucks? Probably cost more in legal fees
>>8764193
Links?
>yuegene fay
who?
really, is she famous? famous enough to fly half way across the world as guest?
>>8764897
Have you been living under a rock? Yuegene, Reika, and Kaname are like the cosplaying holy trinity right now. Reika is more new blood but Yuegene has had fans in south America and Europe from 2008 if not earlier. I started following them in 2010.
>>8764570
YuegeneFayOfficial on facebook. just read the thing and holy shit that organizer is really shitty
Sucks that they get taken advantage of, but then again I'm pretty much against cosplay guests anyway unless they are known for something other than cosplay. I mean it's not like we invite celebrity impersonators to events
>>8764953
>What are panels on sewing techniques
>What are panels on cosplay construction
>What are panels on posing and photography
Are you an idiot or
>>8764570
docs(.)google(.)com(/)document/d/1vFItW1sIvmFQ0HBUWx0j7w9YAqJ3GC4gEDmof-BS8Zc/edit
The one with information on Reika is way back on fb, but I found this blog with quotes from Jin/behindinfinity's post:
nendogamer(.)wordpress(.)com/2013/05/06/nendovault-what-to-do-and-what-not-to-do/
The American incident was Anime Matsuri in Texas I believe.
>>8764980
Good god, the nightmare just never stops for her, does it. The Hawaii incident was bad enough, with a scummy con playing "he-said/she-said" instead of stepping up and owning this visa disaster (which as you'll note is affecting her entire ability to travel anywhere outside of her country, not just to some con). But now she has this other scummy con showing absolutely no concern for anything other than his wallet--which is bad enough, but now come to find it was actually a scam.
Cosplay cons better step up their game or I don't know why any brand-name cosplayers would take a risk with them. They can do OK for themselves on their own online, without being scammed out of thousands of dollars or ending up on an international watch list.
>>8764976
Most cosplay guests aren't doing these panels, just chilling at there desk charging for an autograph or photo. I'm okay with those who show up at a con to do panels, but not the fame whores who just stand there
>>8765210
Then blame the cons for that shitty scheduling and bad cosplayer selection. There's tons of cosplayers who would be chomping at the bit for the opportunity to run panels as a high profile guest.
>>8764193
...Fuck. Reika was invited to AN, I hope she isn't shit on.
>>8765364
Anime North in Canada?
Is there a reason for worry with the event?
Otherwise I think it's fine really. As a foreigner I have a nice image of Canada, but I don't know about the cons.
>>8764897
Fay was the first cosplayer I ever saw and started following. Back in 2010. She has been around way longer though.
Kind of related in terms of recent visa disasters
https://kpopalypse.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/oh-my-girl-couldnt-enter-the-usa-and-neither-can-you-a-quick-primer-about-performing-visas/
>>8764897
Another person asking where have you been? Do you just not follow Asian cosplayers or something? Yuegene has nearly 100k insta followers.
>>8765364
eh, Canadians are usually pretty nice right? So she'll be treated courteously...
>>8766098
She's going to be covered in maple syrup and left outside
any info on touhoucon?
>>8766111
Sorry
>>8766071
It's seems they were trying to sneak in on tourist visas? Thanks for the read, I'd only heard briefly about it in traditional media.
Yuegene Fay had the correct visa though, I'm sure we established that in the previous thread. According to the Google doc she also had all the correct plane tickets with her, but maybe due to suspicions from border patrol or wrong dates or something on the visa she was denied entry to the U.S. The U.S. feels extra paranoid right now after the terrorist attacks.
>>8766264
what they should have done was ship all the stuff over from Korea. Yeah shipping costs would have been a bunch but then they wouldn't have had to bother with hauling all that with them on the plane and would have been able to claim tourist easily
>>8766264
Both Yuegene and Oh my girl had incorrect visa type. According to immigration if you're paid to perform then you must have P type visa. The B types are for tourists, guest lectuerers or volunteering kinda stuff. The problem is the type visa is hella expensive and most organizers won't bother taking care of temporary employment documents.
>>8766152
The Touhoucon incident wasn't really involving cosplayers though. It was mostly artists and staff members that got screwed over. (Is one of the artists that got charged)
>>8766523
the cosplay ambassadors got fucked over too
>>8766547
They were pretty much staff though, weren't they? I mean they weren't guests, they were just staff members that cosplayed. That's how it seemed to me at least.
>>8765364
There have been issues with cosplay guests losing their luggage (Kaname when he came to Otakuthon), but I don't think they would be retained at the airport like Yuegene was. Usually, Canadian airports are pretty chill.
>>8768643
Basically Touhoucon gave free staff rooms to a bunch of people and the hotel turned around and charged everyone for them at full price for possibly more days than they actually stayed.
2hucon director is mia and putting down a credit card, even just for incidentals, means that you agree to pay so the banks refuse to reimburse it.
A bunch of people are out 500+ dollars for rooms they didn't intend to stay at in the first place.
>>8769539
Ah shit that's mega scummy
