No Ticket No Entry Policy inside SMX: Battle for Supremacy

They say to get ahead of business you must know the exact time when to distinguish yourself from your competitor and strike the distinction which will make you popular with your target customers.  Is this the logic behind the sudden announcement of a different policy in Cosplaymania after Best of Anime management issued an announcement earlier. Best of Anime 2014 organizers PrimeTrade Asia decided to implement a "No Ticket-No Entry Policy" at the SMX Convention Center for their event this September 20-21.  This means that only those with tickets from Digitech Manila Conference and Expo, Best of Anime or Manila International Book Fair; you can go in and out of SMX.  However, for sure cosplayers who would be loitering inside SMX without BOA tickets will surely face the wrath of the known SMX guards and watch out for Ms. Minchin as well.

Four days after we learned of this from Deremoe, another article was published on the site, "Cosplay Mania: Non-Ticket Holders Are Allowed Inside SMX."  This article seems to be a direct reply to the policy of BOA and an answer to the distress of some people in the community. Moreover according to Deremoe, Cosplaymania had issued a statement via Facebook and information about the following:

Take note that we have added a ticket booth right next to Side Entrance (designated as the non-ticket holder entrance) in order to allow the speedy purchase of tickets upon entry. Non-ticket holders will be allowed entry into SMX, but must still abide by the Cosplay Mania Code of Conduct.

Deremoe further elaborated that,

They are also giving Non-Ticket Holders Dressing Rooms and Baggage Services for Cosplayers to change and store their belognings, with a minimum fee of 50 Pesos per day. However, Gold and Titainum holders will be able to use them for free as part of the package.

In business we have something called hostile competition and advertising, by the way I look at it this is one of them.  It is a direct message which seems to say that "hey, we cater to everyone and we are taking care of you better." There is nothing wrong with this since everything is allowable in business and advertising, however this will add to the already controversial issue and discussion.  Although, Cosplaymania does not directly compare their event policy with BOA it can be deduced that they are very different from each other. Deremoe's byline could have been different in order to avoid further conflict, however, due to the law of SEO and popularity, they must have choose to go more controversial to lure on more viewers, commentaries and discussion on their site about the issue. It is just sad to see things like this where people from the community have to bash one another or result to comparing each other and worst of all call some "pulubi", "whining cheapstake cossers" or "elitist."  Events like these should have been a means to foster friendship within the community and even improve the passion and hobby we all have. Could this be a result of cosplay being in the mainstream? Everyone wants to cosplay and everyone who cosplay seems to be in and cool, thus more and more people want to be part of it and as a result "crab mentality" comes in. Cosplaymania and Best of Anime are both great events.  In fact, these two events should not be viewed as competing events.  What I see in BOA is an event which promotes the culture and love for Japanese anime and not more on cosplay.  I hope to see more anime free screenings, voice actors, learning about anime, anime related cosplay, anime booths, manga reading and more.  This for me is the highlight of Best of Anime. Cosplaymania on the other hand is really about cosplay.  It is still the biggest and annually awaited cosplay event by every cosplayers.  Though for sure some of us hope that ticket prices could be better and greater things would come, this event would remain to be an icon in the Philippine popular culture scene. In the end, as part of the community we should learn that:

• Organizers need to be respected since they spend time, effort, money and more for every event that they make.
• Respect each other in the community so that we can all work harmoniously.
• Be a catalyst to promote better harmony and provide a positive outlook so that people from the community will instill the positive spirit of friendship.
• Avoid name calling and respect your fellow members of the community.
• Do unto others what you like others to do unto you.
• To keep events from happening we need to support events specially good events which really worth our support.

Update: 9/17/2014 - I am not someone who bashes people but if you would comment be sure to make it something which would benefit others.  Try to think first and not just comment like you are a spoiled brat.  This is one example of something we should avoid and thanks to Xian Tolentino for this screen cap.

We have our freedom to speak, and we can make a stand on our opinion, but at the end of the day it should be nothing personal but an opinion made so that things would be better.  

Thanks for reading and continue to spread goodness in the community.

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