Hello, everyone!
I have been getting a lot of messages asking for more info on why Andrew Con had to be postponed!
The event “Andrew Con” was originally going to be a Cosplay Gathering at Little Tokyo in Weller Court
You have seen my public message that was posted on my Facebook page.
“ANDREW CON IS CANCELLED (for now)
Andrew Con is being postponed until further notice and will be relocated.
Information on this will be posted in the near future!
Several people have raised concerns for the safety of Little Tokyo as well as keeping it family friendly.
The last thing I want is for the cosplay community to become divided and for there to be any bad blood between anyone.
I just want to respect the wishes of others.
This gathering has grown larger than I expected it to be. I wholeheartedly admit to being unprepared for an event of this magnitude! It’s flattering that so many people showed interest in this but it was all very unexpected!
I appreciate all of the support that I’ve gotten from everyone on this.
This was intended to just be a place for cosplayers to hang out while enjoying lovely Little Tokyo.
I apologize to anyone that had to make special arrangements to get work off to come to this event.
I also apologize to anyone that was offended by this event. It was never intended to be a risk to getting ALL cosplayers or gatherings cancelled in Little Tokyo.
A new location will be found for this and you will all be notified when that happens!
Thank you for your patience!
Please refrain from arguing with one another! There is a clear difference in point of view but as cheesy as it sounds: don’t forget that we’re all cosplayers and fans of similar shows and video games and more.One of the greatest things about cosplay that I’ve experienced is acceptance and ability to find so many friends. So I ask everyone to put the feelings of remorse in the past.
Now that I know that more people than expected will be coming, myself and those helping me will do a better job preparing for the next one.
Thank you for understanding!”
If you were interested in finding more details on why it was cancelled, here are all of the answers!
Andrew Con’s Original Goal
The original idea was based off of a Little Tokyo Cosplay Gathering I hosted that took place in December of 2014. My friend Kylie told me that I should host it. It was relatively small at about 100 attendees, was very relaxed, and was a lot of fun. Due to that, I decided to host another gathering.
In this case, the name “Andrew Con” was invented by some friends as a joke. The original intention was to invite friends and that they could bring their friends too, eat at the restaurants there, and to simply just hang out in a more relaxed environment than a real convention.
Grew Too Large
When the event hit 200 attendees on Facebook, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that over 200 people were going to the event. I thought that was amazing as well but also inaccurate. I figured that at least 10% of the people on the list wouldn’t be going.
Eventually it got to over 300 people and the small “fun event” I had in mind at grown into a huge event.
At first, I embraced its growing size. I created a website for it to explain details of the event to clarify any misunderstandings which led to it growing larger.
I also thought that it was cool that a lot of people were going since it meant that the stores and restaurants would be getting a ton of business!
I originally planned to go to Little Tokyo the Tuesday before and talk to the owners and sort of “warn” them about the mass amount of people that would be attending. Being naive, I didn’t realize that that was cutting it WAY too close!
I never really made that sort of knowledge public so it became a large problem and caused a ton of concerns.
Concerns
There were two main problems that contributed to the possibility that Cosplay Gatherings (and cosplaying in general) could be permanently banned from Little Tokyo.
Indecent Exposure
The first issue was the concern about cosplayers being indecently exposed at Little Tokyo. If people in Little Tokyo were offended by extremely revealing (and nearly naked) cosplayers that they might have no choice but to ban ALL of us.
TOO Many People
The biggest issue was safety. The expected amount of people going was 100-ish at most. Even reaching 200 people wasn’t on any of our minds but the event got to over 350 people.
Safety
Sure there was the possibility that the number was a bit bloated and that not all of the people would show up, but it still would likely become a fire hazard at Weller Court in Little Tokyo. Weller Court is not really fit to hold that many hundreds of people at once on top of people that are just trying to shop!
Legality
The last gathering I hosted in Little Tokyo had no problems at all since only about 100 people showed up. This eventually became 3 times as large as the original gathering. It became so large that it required a permit with the city to be legal.
Permits must be submitted 40 days prior to an event and we are about 6 days away from the event as I type this!
On top of that, someone called the police to try and shut down the event. I’d rather not fight the law.
Postponed
Why the Decision was to Cancel
In the end, the decision to cancel the event was the wisest choice. While legal issues were largely why it was cancelled, it was also because it was starting at ton of flame wars.
People were even beginning to argue about unrelated issues within the event. The intent of the event was to bring people together and it was sort of doing the exact opposite in the end.
Let’s go to a Park Instead!
Hosting the first gathering was a ton of fun and I thought that this one would be the same but it wasn’t.
I plan on attempting to postpone this event at a different location in the future. Most likely a park that can support the mass amount of people.
I hope that this answers any questions!