Monopoly Events - Comic Con Liverpool Anmeldelser 

First ever comic con.

Met the Hobbits. The four of them are truly amazing! Absolute legends.

The event itself has some work to do. We thankfully went on Sunday which was supposedly better than the mess that Saturday was…

The teeny tiny minuscule sad little time you get for your photo that you spend £300 on… is awful. I understand there’s a lot of people to get through but the rush is just so sad. I could barely talk to the legends anyway but that’s not the point.
Felt like customs at the airport.

Queueing an hour and a half before our slot just in case, and still being stressed about getting our photo wasn’t enjoyable.

The stalls were ok. The random boxes of used old toys were so car boot sale feeling…
So. Many. Funko. Pops.
If you don’t collect them - be prepared to see a lot 🤣

£5 for a donut…
It’s good you can leave the venue and return… we went for food and an outfit change.

The crowds were far too much!
Especially on escalators.

The updates and mistakes and changes that Monopoly/ Instagram did before hand was very nerve wrecking… seemed rather unprofessional..

Overall, I loved meeting Sean, Elijah, Dom and Billy. I don’t know how the celebrities do it if I’m honest. Complete respect to them.

Had an amazing time at Liverpool Comic Con 2024, some great exhibitions and stalls! Loved the guests, gutted the photo up I wanted sold out before I got a chance to buy.
They could really use some better seating options though; I have a disability and was in a lot of pain after a few hours with nowhere to rest up, until we made it to the arena section. Also, some more, and varied, food options would be nice.
However, the event itself was brilliant and I had a wonderful time there. Looking forward to the next one!

Great variety of stars lots to do only downside was Monopoly making everything one way when you came out of a panel . Had to walk all the way round upstairs downstairs then to be hearded into a small space made no difference if you had physical or mental health problems. It made a quite dangerous crowd where there wouldn’t have been one . Arena staff were fantastic and not their fault yet they were the poor souls left dealing with it .

3rd time coming to the convention, and every year you seem to make the convention better and better!
Few things can be improved. Queuing for example, me and my partner had a difficult and frustrating time waiting for Orlando bloom.
We asked 4 different people about what que to go in for the photo op and we got 4 different answers.
Then a supervisor got angry with us as according to them "we didn't listen to a word she was saying" which we found very rude.
I noticed all que supervisor had pieces of paper with what I assume was information regarding ques and guests. So getting multiple answers for one question didn't make sense.

*The opening party was a comic con themed kids party*

While I can't complain too much as the ticket was free but the overall vibe of the first comic con opening party was similar to a cheap child's birthday party.
The DJ wasnt good. He didn't say a word for nearly an hour and when he did speak, the mic was muffled and low quality.
The drag queens were great, but had no actual connection to comic con. Maybe if they focused there overall theme to films, games and overall comic con vibe then it would have made more sense.

*The opening of the arena was a god send!*

First time seeing the arena open for the convention was mind blowing!
More vehicles, props, stalls, activities then ever before! Getting a nice cold beer from the bar then sitting down to watch the cosplay and bands was a very weird yet relaxing feeling.

*Best opening party ever!*

Both me and my partner suffer from severe anxiety and depression. So of course at the start we were drinking by ourselves and being sociably awkward. But after abit, we got asked to take photos, join in on group conversations, and overall feel welcome! Craig Charles was brilliant, I was expecting more soul stuff but he honestly played different verity of songs, then surprising everyone with a full red dwarf reunion was just the greatest thing!

My only thought on improving the after party. When the after party was at mccains brewery, the DJ had video clips and music from different games, films and TV shows (LOTR, The witcher, stranger things, etc..) maybe add visuals to the big screen in camp and furnace instead of just the comic con logo. While also providing more songs relating to comic con, instead of just poppy music with 1 or 2 movie songs thrown in!

*Props to the main organiser!*

Running into the main man of comic con was a very surreal thing. You were honestly so lovely and approachable. I mentioned how I applied for a social media job for the convention and you generally seemed intrigued. I even have feedback for the overall convention and you took everything on board and it was truly a pleasure to meet you!

This is my second event in Liverpool. No complaints for the first visit however… they advertised this years May comic con as the biggest one they have done. This is great…. If the staff are able to help people in need. We had great difficulty navigating our way around even with the map. And whenever we asked a member of staff a question we just received ‘I don’t know mate’ and walking away. Aren’t the staff there to help out??

An escalator was broken so everyone was directed out and told to go to another entrance. No signs on the doors, nobody could tell us where to go, almost missed an expensive photo op 🙄. Then when we got to the photo stand I approached a staff member to ask how it works as I have never booked one before. He didn’t even look at me while I was talking just saying ‘go to the end of the line. Go to the end’. Shocking customer service, wouldn’t have minded if he had looked at me to show that he acknowledged I was talking to him and said if you stand here you can show your code when you get to this point… it’s a very chaotic and confusing place there are going to be people there that are unsure what to do. The photos aren’t really worth the price as you get rushed in and out in seconds and you don’t get shown the photo until it is printed.

We then had a paid Q&A booked for supernatural, we asked various staff to help us find the place (partially sighted and signs aren’t clear) and we were sent back and forth for half an hour to the wrong places. We ended up leaving without viewing the panel that we paid for because none of the staff knew where it was and it had already started!!!! I could have bought a single day pass instead of the weekend since we were unable to attend things and not had to pay for accommodation and travel!

Individual stalls are great. Lots of fan merch to choose from and large comic book stalls. Seeing everyone’s cosplay is great, remember to take lots of photos if you go to support the small businesses 👍🏻

Don’t make a convention even bigger if it’s just going to be even more chaotic and lose people money.

I love going to Liverpool and I go twice a year , the stalls were better spread out as it gave more room to move around
Down side was the food is too expensive which is not good would be better if it was cheaper as not a lot of people can’t afford it
Guests were amazing as always but a different variety would be better as it’s always stranger things or supernatural
We need more variety like the walking dead, critical role , cobra Kai again , balders gate etc
Something that everyone would enjoy and not just certain visitors

Overall a great experience, got to meet some amazing people (not just the celebs), got some great pics and videos, loved the sets and vehicles in the Green zone

However, it wasn't all perfect - and if I could sum up the biggest issue it would be communication. It seemed like there were three teams of people working the con - those from Monopoly, those from the venue, then a team of very young helpers/ volunteers and there seemed a lack of communication between the three and it wasn't clear who was in charge!

I think the demand for the Red Dwarf panel was underestimated, and with only one member of venue staff left to control it for a long time, it got a little messy, and once others arrived to help there was no clear action plan. I also think that the exit policy from the big hall after panels is laughable, particularly when you have tickets booked for back to back panels at the end of the 2nd day! I think some of the decisions made about queues on day two were a slight overreaction to the issues in day 1!

Also the demand for 'Baby' from supernatural seemed to take everyone by surprise and was poorly managed - we first joined the queue on Sunday morning, were told they were capping the queue, but 10 minutes later the queue was longer than when we had been turned away. Later in the day we would have got close to the car had it not been for the multiple people joining the front of the queue as no one managing it - why have people queuing when others are allowed to just butt in???

These were the most disappointing aspects of the weekend for me - I know others had issues with queues for autographs, and I know from Facebook you are looking at virtual queues going forward.

In a different note, I know you're returning the Edinburgh for Comic Con Scotland later this year, but have you considered the SECC? Having attended Liverpool now, I feel the SECC would be a much better venue that matches the space used in Liverpool, without the choke point that caused major issues in Edinburgh last year and part of the venue is not a barn!

Gets bigger and better each year queuing still needs tweaking as the company are aware but as always top con and excellent staff

Great event as always - great guests and stalls!

Only comments would be that there wasn’t a lot of accessible seating. Great use of the arena but if you can’t manage stairs these were of no use and apart from that there wasn’t really anywhere else available unless you sit on the floor which also wasn’t an option.

Not a lot of food options for veggie or vegan. Really struggled to find any options without paying a lot of money for not great quality/cold chips.

Would be really helpful to know before the event who is available only for professional photos and who is available for both the photo booths and the tables for selfie/autos. As I didn’t know this before I spent a lot of money and time waiting in queues for a two second photo whereas I could have gone to the table for a selfie a bit of a conversation and gained a lot of time back on the day.

As a suggestion for people with 2 people in a professional photo - as you get two printed photos it would be great to have the option to have two different photos rather than two of basically the same. For example a single and a two person photo or simply a change of pose. We get two photos anyway and sometimes I’ve gotten three all different photos.

However the weekend is always fun and everyone is always friendly and welcoming. Look forward to the next one!

I have been to many of the Monopoly comic cons and it's great to see these growing year on year.

What worked well?
--------------------------------
1) Pre-booked time slots for photos and autographs in dedicated rooms - We had pre-booked time slots for some of the more popular guests. I found this worked really well and the queues for these were less chaotic and moved quickly.

2) Ticketed seat for panels - We missed some panels we really wanted to see due to the 1B and 1C being too small and only about 40% of the queue was allowed in and the rest turned away even after queuing for 45 minutes. Knowing you do or do not have a ticket for a panel makes planning much easier and stops you from wasting so much time queuing just to be turned away.

3) More space between vendor stalls – This was a breath of fresh air, in other cons you can barely move up and down the rows of vendors as they are so close together plus all the people, but for this one, there was plenty of space and it felt less claustrophobic.

4) Props - We just loved the props they had, from Johnny Five to the X-wing. They were just amazing.

5) The guest - I can't speak for all guests but the ones we met were amazing, they were friendly, spoke to you and made you feel special. Although all the guests we met were amazing I did want to specifically call out 2 of them. Jared Padalecki was the nicest person you could ever meet, and Kevin Smith made you feel like you were the celebrity and he was the fan.

What didn’t work well?
-----------------------------
1) Mixing ticketed and non-ticketed areas - We almost missed out on our Jarred autograph despite having a ticket and a pre-booked slot as security would not let us up the escalator due to the crowds queuing for the free panels. Either the ticket events need to happen away from the free events and crowds, or security needs to be told that ticket holders have priority. Was the same in ACC photo booths, trying to get in with all the people queuing plus all people there for the computer game and props. It would be better to have 1 dedicated area for photos and autographs and a different area for props and entertainment. This would make controlling the crowds at the photo areas easier as this should be ticket holders only.

2) Panels – These were pure chaos both free and ticketed. The staff knew the size of the rooms yet had people queuing in lines much longer than the capacity. After a point people should have advised they were probably not going to get in as the room only holds X and the queue is larger than X. Also the ticketed panels were crazy too. Even though hall 1A was empty and the queues had been there for a long time, the staff waited way too long to start letting people in which meant the supernatural panel started 30 minutes late. Then for the LOTR panel which we had tickets for the same seats, which was on after the Supernatural panel, we were made to leave the hall, go to the ECL area, then outside and up to the ACC area, through it to the other side, then go back outside to join another massive queue, just to end up back in the same seats where we in. This took 45 minutes to leave our seats and come back to the same seats. There has to be a better way to scan and check tickets of people who are in the following panels than causing more congestion outside.

3) Food – This one surprised me. At most of the other cons there has been a queue of food trucks with all sorts of variety of foods, but for this one the food choices were very limited and the one food truck outside had a queue of almost an hour between queuing to order, then queuing the collect. The food options inside were all the same and not great.

4) No AC and no Deodorant – I just don’t understand this one at all. You have thousands of people crammed together indoors with no AC and security was taking deodorant off people? Why? The smell of the place was very overpowering at times and I don’t blame the people, some were dressed in heavy costumes, but either the AC needed to be on to cool the place down or you had to let people in with deodorant so they can freshen up a bit.

5) Queues – I will not dwell on this too much as many others have commented but these were a pure free for all for any queue that didn’t have pre-booked slots, with staff shouting and moving you from one queue to another and back again, then to be told to come back later. A lot of people wasted a lot of time queuing for nothing. Also even with the pre-booked timeslots for guests in the general photo areas, e.g. red dwarf group, these were not being checked and people were still paying at the table even though it was supposed to be a prebooked time slot.

Summary
------------
All in all me and my family had an amazing time. This was probably the biggest in terms of crowds the Con has seen so it is understandable to have some teething issues and some lessons to learn. We look forward to the next one.

Pros
- As usual the guest line up was really impressive
- With them finally making use of the space in the arena, it felt a bit spread out and you could make use of the seating in there.

Cons
- It was massively overcrowded. Just trying to get from the stalls in hall A to the arena took ages due to fighting to get through so many people. And if you wanted to use the one and escalator to go from the arena floor to the main level, at the really busy times, you sometimes had to wait 20-30 mins just to use it.

- Overzealous security. Despite the fact that as mentioned on their Facebook and website what items were and weren't allowed. While queuing especially on the first day, security were binning lots of items that were meant of been allowed into the venue. Not to mention taking bottle caps off peoples bottle of water. I even got questioned about a small handheld tripod which I solely for my phone for whatever reason.

- Little variety in terms in terms of the stalls. As me and my partner have been to many a con we always love seeing what's on offer. Especially for unique art pieces. But even though we were able too, this one felt a bit to samey samey. Too many pop figures. I feel that they don't scream con to me.

- Poor organisation from the management and staff. Especially if you were waiting for a panel to start and told people just to wait in "that area" instead of getting queues setup.

- Organisation of the panels as well was a shocker. If you were wanting to go to one of the free panels and got stuck somewhere in the arena you basically had missed your chance. The Red Dwarf panel especially was extremely bad for that. I feel that they underestimated how many people did in fact want to see it. And for the paid ones. We basically had no notification as to when they went on sale and even then they were, they were charging I believe £20 to sit in the front row. Again raking more money out of people. The tickets should of been £1 a seat, £5 for the front row. If not raffled. And I believe they should of had an option of when buying your entry ticket as to which guests you wanted to see, so you would receive an email notification as to when they go on sale.

- Being rushed through signings and photos. I had got my partner a photo with a guest and by the time we had got to the photo area, it was a case of dump bag, take photo and get out. They wouldn't even redo the photo. It was get what you were given and go. As later on that day we spoke to someone who had their photo taken with one of the supernatual stars and hated their photo and were really upset by it. Why not take two photos, three if there's two people and let you choose the best one/two before they are printed, as it literally takes a couple seconds to take them.

- Not enough food and drink options. Despite them saying on their site that there was plenty of options, there wasn't. Minimal at best. And if you did want something to eat/drink, everything was massively overpriced.

- No air-con in certain areas and heard about many many people struggling with the heat and even fainting. Not to mention couldn't find any water refill station. Let alone them giving out free bottles to the people that really needed them.

What a dream to get a picture with the lotr cast . The staff were amazing and even though it was so busy they didn't rush you through for a picture. It was amazing .

Fantastic line up, and the props/entertainment in the red and green sections were brilliant. My experience with one of the guests in the upper levels of the red venue also ran like clockwork, props to the people organising that. I saw a lot of the issues being raised on the Saturday being seen to on the Sunday and I feel like that deserves praise too.

The blue venue - where I spent most of my time (mainly unwillingly due to the queue sizes), and as many others have pointed out, felt like complete chaos, especially in regards to auto/photo queues. Guests/attendees shouldn't still be lining up for autographs over an hour after the event closing just to fulfil obligations, and a massive thank you to the guests that did for their fans!
There definitely needs to be separate lines for diamond/disabilities access, timed slots and pay on the day for each guest, or some better way of this being implemented. I and many others missed out on so much other stuff happening throughout the day by just being stuck in lines for 90% of my time there on both days, and some people even missed out on guests they had already paid to see as a result.
Some of the autograph lines were intertwining with other guest lines and even the photo op lines at several points and timed slots just ended up being completely abandoned/pointless with people just walking up and paying in front of people with a time slot, resulting in them missing in and everything backlogging.
Kudos to the lovely staff and volunteers who didn't deserve the abuse a lot of them got, but equally a lot of them seemed very untrained and I don't feel like there were enough of them, a more commanding presence could have helped with the line sizes.
Some seating in this area wouldn't go a miss either as a lot of people were just sat on the floor.

Some more food options would be ideal, some food vans could easily be implemented in the outdoors areas around the venues and with some seating around would help solve this problem too. This could also help for people with dietary requirements too.

Can I also suggest releasing time slots and the event schedules at the same time to help people plan their days better in advance.

This was a behemoth of an event, and I imagine a logistical nightmare to pull off, so congratulations on pulling the event off as well as it did run and well done for addressing raised issues and feedback on social media. There were things that certainly went well but I, and as many others have echoed, feel like the photos/autos organisation definitely needs to be improved upon, amongst other things.

Been to a few cons now and this was by far the biggest and had such a great variety of props to take photos with which were included in the price. We definitly needed the full day just to get round everything unlike some of the others we've left within a couple hours.
Attendance experience was hampered by the sheer number of tickets sold in all aspects (tickets for the event and autographs/photos). The crowds going into the blue venue up to the stalls was manic and it was so hot! There were also congestion problems at the escalators with no stair option visually available. The autograph session with Jared was very rushed and over within 10-15 seconds for £150 plus booking fee this needs to be a little clearer that your slot is less than 20 seconds, his staff were lovely but the event staff were quite abrupt. Also dislike that some of the Q and A panels are additional costs and announced last minute.

Great guest list again but several things dropped my rating to 3 star. Was told you could bring bottles of water but when got to security was made to take the lid off. Not happy but ok... only to find other people were let in with the lids. Real lack of seating. Had been sent an email to pick a time slot for the Red Dwarf group op. Picked 2pm got an email to confirm. Get there, and there is no 2pm slot but it's 1.30. Queue up but no one actually checked anyway. Just because you can be the biggest doesn't mean you should be.

Monopoly Events pull it right out of the bag once more with the biggest Liverpool Comic Con yet. Three building full of cool stuff such as lots and lots of interesting and varied stalls and shops, interactive gaming, some of the biggest and best guests you could meet, some amazing set props you can take photos with and lots of acts performing comedy and music. Had a fantastic day, everyone was really awesome in their cosplays and staff were helpful though I never particularly needed any assistance. Would easily recommend and cannot wait for the next one

The Comic Con Liverpool event was another great success. Thank you monopoly events for providing the memories! It was an incredible experience and weekend for me.

Cons - While some staff members at Monopoly were incredibly supportive and understanding regarding my disability and my use of a wheelchair, others did not show consideration for my needs. The staff may be extremely busy at this event; however, some of them need to listen with respect and empathy to our requests rather than shutting them down or ignoring them.

Improvements -
- Limiting access to lifts to only those customers who require them, for example, people with disabilities. Many people were using them who were not in need of them, and as a result I was delayed for my photo and autograph opportunities, and staff rushed me.

- For popular photo ops with props, fast pass accessibility wristbands need to be considered. I wanted a picture with Dean Winchester’s car but the queue was huge and there was no fast pass lane so I had to give this a miss as my disability would of flared up if I waited in the queue for hours.

Accessibility remains a huge barrier at this event, and although it is an excellent weekend and much time and effort has been put into making it so, accessibility needs to be taken into account and thought out more carefully.

An impressive line-up of guests, fun panels with good moderators and efficient photo staff.

Using the arena as a third building created a great space for props and much welcomed seating after years of lacking seating.

Panels seemed fewer and further apart in 2024 - would welcome more in future, (especially as two I wanted to attend filled out so I couldn't get in). They're a convention highlight so more, please.

Pricing is getting beyond my affordability as bigger names are coming.

Still a need for more and larger signage at photo and autograph areas.

Booked timeslots were rarely checked - frustrating to have to queue behind people paying on the day when they should go at the end after those with booked slots.

The website said water was permitted but it wasn't - either conviscated or made to drink it all on entry as lids were taken. Clearer communication needed as many people were caught by this.

Saturday was relentless queuing, Sunday was more fun. Future events will need to work out walking routes better as doors and escalators were often closed off and detours made you late for timed slots.

Online communication needs to be better handled. Timeslot bookings weren't sent out to all payees so lots had to chase and chase these.

I think the photo area staff do a good job and are very efficient but they sometimes forget the customer experience - it’s not our fault if you get the guests to the photo area 20 minutes or more late so are overrunning. Design the schedules with more time for them to get from panels to autographs to photos - build in contingency time at the planning stage - don’t keep pushing for maximum profit possible by churning the most possible people through; it erodes the experience. And when you are overrunning, don’t shout at paying customers for saying “Hello” back to a celebrity they’ve paid a fortune to meet when they have said “Hello” to you. It doesn’t make anything go faster and your staff look bad in front of celebrities who are visibly upset by how those coming to meet them are being treated.

Overall, the organisers are to be comended for running an event of such scale and attracting good guests. The feedback I give is written in the hope of helping refine things for future events as this convention keeps growing but needs to master some elements to ensure smooth running and paying customer satisfaction. Keep going - we're willing you to succeed!

Whilst the experience was positive overall, I feel it important to relay some key bits of feedback.

We queued for Jim Cummings which was slow and, when he took his scheduled lunch break, we were given small tokens to come back at 2pm which I thought was a good idea. Unfortunately when we returned there were problems with the card payments. God bless the girl at the front working through her lunch to try and sort it.

We then moved over to the Red Dwarf Q&A which could've been handled better. Amongst the crowds, it wasn't too clear which queue to join and so really could've done with some clear, consistent communication.
Inside the hall, there really needed to be a system in place where people were allowed in in a number at a time - say 50 - and guided to seats so that they were all taken. A lot of the chaos came from gaps being left and more people than available seats being let in. This can be avoided if the number of people entering the hall is controlled and they are all guided to seats.

After the panel, we made our way for a 16:50 photo with Sean Astin. The organisation and communication arriving at the queue was much better - clear instructions about where to stand and consistent relaying of information. The problem arose when, at the front of the queue, we were informed that Astin only had 20 mins and we were basically rushed through. It must be noted that Astin and his agent/handler couldn't have been more pleasant and polite. But if he has somewhere to be at 17:30, maybe don't schedule him as the last photo of the day. This wasn't helped by people turning up to the wrong time slot - which in some cases is due to a knock on effect from other queues running slow. It felt 30 minute slots were tight enough as it was, but there really needed to be some tighter policing across the board.
To summarise:
-Better, constant communication
-Better scheduling - allow enough time for the tickets available or reduce the tickets to fit the time
-Ensure people are at the right timeslots at each session to avoid knock on effects.

Organising an event this huge is a lot of effort so I appreciate the hard work, these are just things I feel could be improved for next time.
Sean Astin and Jim Cummings were delightful and there were some great stalls so we still had a good day, but with a bit of tweaking it could be that much better.

Went on the Saturday and it was really good, a little bit om the disorganised side as we encountered confusion twice with photos as the star before hand was running late