Its a good point well made. It may be cynical but from a business perspective its accurate. Lack of contracts and promises that have no actual backing all in exchange for what is essentially massive publicity.

It seems like typical AL “attack the nasty comment against us” behaviour that causes the bad rep of the community in the first place.

I do not like the man for personal reasons and nor do I like Animeleague, and I agree that Managa alliance is as stated in this blog. The general consensus in the UK community has always been negative towards everything Mike seems to touch for one reason or another and such a strong backlash must be mitigated by something. There is no smoke without fire as they say.

Before anyone goes crazy I am not calling a mass boycott, saying AL or Alcon or anything else should be destroyed nor am I calling an assassination order on Mike….I’m simply saying that people who dislike something have a right to state that opinion and that any organisation has to work to get past negative opinion rather than attacking the attackers or denying all mistakes. AL has made lives worse as well as better and there are much better respected places for fans of anime and manga, usually ones that focus more on anime and manga than AL does.

I think the demise of manga alliance was innevitable, there was too much backlash against it and it was too self serving. Still maybe something new and better can be born from its embers if the right heads get together and work on something that would better serve the community as a whole maybe?

Manga Alliance = sinking ship

Mike Tower – all he wishes to do is further his own position and make AL into an EXPO event and grabb the lionshare of the anime fans into his convention.

His recent behaviour in the Cosplay Island forum, registering an account just so he could spam it, then whining when things don’t go his way (http://tinyurl.com/MikeTowersLOL) is typical of how he operates. All that’s missing in this instance is the ability to delete the thread or swing the banhammer at anyone who dares speak against him (this wasn’t in his forum, see).

Everyone with even half a clue in the scene has seen through this instantly. Make no bones about it, MA is not operating for the good of the community – if they were, they wouldn’t be so incredibly vague in their blurb. They’re in it for themselves – nothing or no-one else. Constituents have demonstrated their interesting ways of doing things before – someone really should tell Dimensional that Rod Serling had the fifth dimension all mapped out decades back – and why does everything all link back to the same forum? Given AnimeLeague’s less-than-spectacular rep, you would think this would be a prime opportunity to shed that drama-soaked skin and rebrand anew. Then again, the phrases “Michael Towers” and “would think” don’t usually belong on the same page, never mind paragraph. Never mind sentence. Never mind breath.

And anyhow, drama will always find a way to rear its ugly mush. Isn’t that right, Fate-chan…

As another con committee member, I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around all this. I find the notion that our committee are incapable of dealing with this ‘credit crunch’ and that our close friendships and ties to other conventions mean nothing, insulting. Not to sound arrogant, but we really don’t need your help and you can keep that mascot and those silly conditions to yourself.

Mike, if you want to be taken seriously then perhaps you should get your own affairs in order first before you start preaching to us, call off your immature, fangirling, rabid attack dogs (that poster further up this genuinely terrifies me) and learn to deal with criticism and legitimate questions without the use of a banhammer.

Apologies if this comes off as a personal attack, I don’t intend it as such. However it is very hard to take an organisation fronted by Mike Towers very seriously at the moment.

I am choosing to stay anon on this comment because I am part of a con committee and would not want to receive some of the personal attacks I have seen above. I don’t want to be warned that I’m going to hell for thinking some guy you have a dangerously under-age crush on is an unprofessional idiot

Basically, I have not met a single committee member from any convention other than ALcon who has anything other than disregard or disrespect for this man. Perhaps if he managed to organise a simple task such as locking the dealers room of his own convention (!) we would see him as something other than a bumbling fool.

Mike – try starting with that (you put the key in the little hole and then turn it till it clicks, thus guaranteeing the safety of your long suffering dealers stock) and then there will be no limit to your organisational prowess!