PAX East "Controversies"

Okay so apparently people have gotten all up-in-arms about PA's handling of two events that occurred at PAX. After reading both sides of the argument I have to say...I have no idea why anyone is mad. PA did fine handling the situation with Jessica Nigri's cosplay outfit being too revealing, no matter what decision was made there would be fallout. As Gabe (Mike Krahulik) mentioned in a post earlier this week he, and PA in general, were "vilified" last year for the booth babes being "exploited" to sell games. Now this year Gabe has to ask Jessica to cover up a little because her outfit was too revealing and there were many families with small children in attendance who did not feel that was alright for their kids to see.

People chose to take Ms. Nigri's situation extremely personally and barrage Gabe and PA with complaints and false stories insisting they kicked her out on Sunday. They simply had her change into a T-shirt that was less revealing than what she was wearing before in an effort to respect the wishes of those select few who weren't comfortable with her showing that much skin. If anyone raging about Nigri getting "kicked out" reads this I encourage them to go take a peek at the pictures of her on Sunday, wearing a slightly more modest shirt, totally still at PAX. She was not kicked out nor did she appear to be mad at all. I question the validity of all the articles trying to fan the non-existent flames of controversy that seem to exist only in the minds of people who didn't actually go to PAX.

The other "controversy" was concerning a gentleman who, at previous PAXs, decided taking off his pants to disrupt panels was cool. He was promptly banned from future conventions. He begged to be let back in this year and PA agreed provided he promised not to take his pants off on stage again to ensure panels remained uninterrupted. This guy agreed to these terms and was allowed back in where, predictably, the first thing he did was disrupt a panel by taking his pants off.

People are mad because...? I'm sorry do people want to see that? Does this guy do other things? Somehow hearing that he was banned, let back in, and re-banned for doing the exact thing they had him promise not to do doesn't seem noteworthy. If you don't want to wear pants...cosplay as Vincent Brooks (from Catherine). People either really like to see this guy's junk or just want something to whine about since PAX is always fully wonderful and awesome.

/endfestrant