This post will make no sense if you’re unfamiliar with the Manga Alliance/Anime League/Dimensional Entertainment Drama, so you may want to skip it. It’s too long a story to catch you up (although I’ve sprinkled some links throughout the thing to remind us all of the history), but my involvement started here: Manga Alliance: Buyer Beware
Well, knock me down with a feather, will you look at that:
I’m going to be a bit more cynical below, but first I want to acknowledge what happened here: Mike Towers apologised. And it’s a real apology, no “I’m sorry but this is really your fault“, no “Why must you be so sensitive”, no “I’m sorry but I didn’t do anything wrong”, no, an actual apology.
“I messed up, I understand what I did wrong, I apologise.”
Holy shit. I honestly did not think he was capable of that. In fact, this is so out of keeping with what I thought Mike was like that I’m willing to entertain the possibility that maybe I had him wrong. So, therefore, thank you for your apology Mike, please consider your unofficial ban lifted. And no, I’m not being sarcastic. I’m honestly surprised and impressed.
I hope others will join me in taking this as the death-knell for Manga Alliance. (Though maybe someone can write to Thoughtbubble, BICS and the J-Culture Con to fill them in?) I would like to point out that Mike Towers and his friends have as much right to run anime events and set up clubs as anyone else does. We have a right to decline taking part, and even criticise what they are doing, but not to the point of bullying and harassment. There’s no honour in being a sore winner.
There is also a longer statement from Jason Joiner of Showmasters, explaining how they came to be part of Manga Alliance, and why they no longer are.
A statement from Jason about the Manga Alliance
Tl;dr: Dil mislead us, it became too commercial, don’t hate on Mike, don’t blame Showmasters, we’re no longer part of this now let’s have a hug.
I have some thoughts about this, first, I do think that Mike Towers got far too much credit/blame for the Manga Alliance thing from certain quarters, and I immediately believe that Dil of Dimensional Entertainment was one of the driving forces too, and possibly the initiator.
There are parts of Jason’s statement that bother me though.
At no time was I asked to agree to anything, or sign up to agree to rules or anything like that. I would not have done so even if i was asked as I do not think this is needed, and as everyone’s ideas of how something should be done is different, it would not work.
Wait, what? When you work together with people, especially if it’s a deal between businesses, or one business and a private person, or even if it’s just friends but there’s going to be money involved, you need a contract or agreement of some kind. The Manga Alliance, if it was going to be at all successful, would be important to the bottom line of several companies, which all had slightly different interests. Yet, Jason didn’t think it was necessary to make some solid arrangements about how this whole thing was going to work? Maybe you should have put a little thought into the legal dimension of what you were doing?
as everyone’s ideas of how something should be done is different, it would not work.
And this means you don’t need rules?! What?! You’d join up for something like this without any kind of agreement saying what’s expected of you and them, without any rules about decision making, without even a vision or mission statement or something?
I find that odd.
Remember, one of the important problems with the Manga Alliance was that its purpose wasn’t very clear. Or rather, its purpose was abundantly clear: it was a promotion vehicle for Dimensional Entertainment (and Anime League). How did Jason miss that?
But over a short time I do feel that at least one of the people involved has lost his way and it’s not been for the good of the UK anime scene. Their drive was more for commercial reasions than for the fans , which is fine if you are running a company but as an organisation to unite fans and people that love anime and manga I do not think you can mix the two. Either it’s a group to help everyone into anime or it’s a commercial business. Not both.
Hm, that kinda sounds like what I was saying. Wonder if Jason Joiner will be “getting hell” from the Angry League? (Ohai you guys, btw, apologies impress me, see above. Do feel free. >_<)
Did “at least one of the people involved” (his name is Dil, Jason. Remember?) really lose his way over a short period of time, or was Jason just not paying attention? Why did it take pointing out by the internets for him to realise what was going on?
As to the people I have met though the Manga Alliance, there are some really nice people that I am going to still work with. I also feel some good people have been caught up in something thay did not realise was going the wrong way and turning too commercial. [...]
We look forward to maybe seeing some of you at future events where you can start to see us for what we are – good people trying to grow a fun event for all the fans that attend it . [emphasis mine]
What do you mean, turning commercial? Did you not realise the panda was more than a mascot for the Manga Alliance? Did you look into the people you were entering a partnership with, by, like, checking out their site?
You know, I’m perfectly willing to believe they had the best intentions. But good intentions aren’t really that important when it comes to answering questions like: is this event worth my money? Will I have a good time? Can I trust these guys not to screw everything up?
If I have to choose between two events:
- one run by real anime fans who have lots of love for the community but no real experience or know-how when it comes to running events,
- and one event run by a businessperson who is only out to make money but knows how to set up and run events, and knows enough about the crowd to give them what they need,
I’ll pick event number 2, please, kthx. I’m not that impressed by anyone’s “true fan” status. I’d much rather have true capability.
So do better next time, OK? OK.
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Yes you do know what you have been told and you have proved to be wrong in what you are saying on here by the people who you have accused but you are still not happy with their answers which really goes to prove you do not believe them or have any respect for them or you would now leave this all alone and try to show people you andd your partner jason joiner have a small amount of self respect left but obviously you do not.
As it has been proved as hearsay nothing more, so all you are doing is trying to black other people.
You are trying to make others look bad due to your short falls and your partners shortfalls, people saw through what you were doing and now you are trying to demonise people who never wanted anything to do with you and still do not want anything to do with you or your partners it is as simple as that.
Keep apologising for for the manga allince means as much as you like it means nothing to the people wth sense because they can see on here that you and your partner have continued to carry on trying to ambush and spread untrue rumours about various groups and naming names with NO foundation.
You are just trying to squirm your way out from yet another bad situation that you mike towers ( anime league and alcon ) and you ( jason joiner showmasters ) have gotten yourselves into, yes again not under the banner manga alliance anymore but under your own individual names but still for the same basic goals.
Even though for some reason it has proved unpopular on here to be brought out in the open are all still working towards the same goals as manga allinace the intelligent people will see this and again see through it again, you are using the same bushwacking tactics, rumour mongering and blacking of people for your own gains.
So by aking for the few people who are or who may be taken in by you to contact you is quite sad but there you go judging by everything that has and still is written about you and also what i am beginning to see about jason joiner on the net many many people are telling the truth about you and you have reinforced it.
I thank you mike towers, jason joiner and in the background Dil for making all of those people right
i’m going to sound like such a bunny boiler here, and i’m no better than you guys for posting…
but could you maybe take on willie’s advice and take up your arguments through e-mail or something more private?
I just think as an observer you are causing way too much drama. surely this is a real personal thing between just a few people, you don’t need to drag others into it, do yer?
If anything, you are NOT being at all professional by doing this publicy. I’ve no doubt that you will probably get somewhere in this silly argument if you lot exchange e-mail adresses.
sorry, I know that sounds rather pushy of me as someone who isn’t involved. i bet i sound like a party pooper too! haha
Good points made anon
But to be honest I am not trying to be professional I am being honest and truthful and everything that I have been saying all the way through all of this has been backed on here by the people or most of them that have decided to post on here as being truthful.
So emails may be great but considering that what they are doing is blacking people, rumour moungering and basically trying to discredit others which in essence was what the manga alliance was all about “controlling people” it proves that are all about the same thing and have not changed.
Again people will see through them again as individuals now instead of them using the manga alliance banner to achieve the same goals.
“Has there EVER been a single article or news item in it about Ayacon, Amecon, Kitacon, Minamicon, Alcon, Fuyucon etc etc ?”
I did not address that point directly as I felt it not my place to explain, nor would I have NEO feel the need to post publicly as Emma (Strike 1…) and Colin (Strike 2…) have felt compelled to do. By my example of Pwanda I wanted to point out that NEO does still make its own decisions in support of the manga scene. If you want to play with the big players you should certainly show them some respect for what they do.
Magazines, many that I know, cannot and will not report on many events for fair reasons. You might consider this for instance, as one such possible: Should a nation-wide distributed magazine spend two pages introducing tens of thousands of readers to a convention that can only accomodate 1300 of them? Or would the public be better served by a reference to MCM’s capacity of 30000? Or would they rather see an article about the latest anime series on those two pages? A great deal would prefer the latter, in fact.
In closing, please do not think of magazine advertising as a necessity. There has not been a shred of advertising or coverage on MCM in my country, yet people go there out of reccomendation by fellow fans who attended it and had a good time. That is the single most important thing you should focus on in this closely-knit manga scene.
“I would like to know! I haven’t seen it, but maybe I missed something here? Someone should really go and research that one.”
That someone should be you, sir. I think it has become apparent that third-party information leads one astray. Why not ask your visitors how your event compares to MCM?
Now if you’ll excuse me, I grow weary and would like to read Willie’s next blog entry which holds greater interest to me
UKAnimeGuy
is this going to come down to this were you can say anything you want with no comeback at all you can only attack me because i am up front and give my name .
you can say anything you want as no one can prove who you are
so you are at such a total advantage than me, as everything i say you can trash with out having proving anything .
you can discredit us with out any comeback at all , and you say what ever you like and pull in anything you need to win your points be it fact or fiction
nothing you say will ever damage you or hurt you you are a coward and have no prof of anything you are saying you just twist the truth to suit you game plan to destroy us now as individuals .
you twist things out of all reality with out comeback .
YOU ARE A TROLL with a job destroying us , with no come back or accountability
dose anyone else think this is right ? or is now getting anyone any were ?
i can never win a point here as he can say anything to discredit it and totaly lie with out come back and he dose .
the only way to win this sad game is to join up and not give a name and talk trash and just lie back , which is something i am not going to stoop to , and it will not help with the real issues i have
i am going to stop feeding him anymore as its wasting all our time , if real people want to talk then email me .
he has one this game but in the end, its people like this that kill any chance of real people talking and fixing issues between them , getting to know each other a bit more , this is his game to try to stop people talking to each other to stop them working more with each other , so he wins and we know what to expect next time as well , the bully with on name and no prof
great tactic i hope it last for you
jason
ZOMGG STFU LOL
There is proof I’ve seen(well heard) myself from ddruk owner colin stating he has an exclusivity contract with expo. So I’m afraid I have to follow Freesaiyan on thoses notes.
The only correct thing you have said in your statement jason is that yes I wont divulge my name to you, for the simple reasons that I have already made very clear on here that you are extremly vindictive in your dealings and when you do not get your own way, this is nothing that i have not already said and it still stands.
I tried to help you in the past or in another way work with you but i got screwed, this is something that again has happened to a number of people in the scifi/movie world in many ways but not yet in the manga anime world as they do not know you or the way you play the game and they are more than willing as many were over the years to give you the benefit of the doubt before they were screwed also.
I am not saying a load of untruths just stating facts and as has been highlighted on here again by some of the people you and your friend mike towers troubled enough to post an answer.
So how does that make what i am saying fiction?
I dont need to prove things because other people have themselves
Not for one moment am i against anyone working together as i am aware that many of the anime conventions and the like do work together very happily so did people in the scifi world until you decided to twist many things, but it should be for the right reasons and you do not come into that category and niether does mike towers which again is everywhere over the internet not posted by me but many others.
So ANON you have basically and with not room for movement called the ddr person a liar.
Way to go, just along the same lines as mike towers rubbishing the sweatdrop people and the ddr people and of course clearly the neo magazine.
Oh what a mess this has turned into for the ex or should i say current manga alliance commitee as it proves that you have not changed at all
UKAnimeGuy -
As with most of my post I’ve been balanced in my arguments but in this case I felt I had to put something forward. I honestly (I know that sound strange given the blog thus far) can say I’ve had dialog with Colin where by he stayed on more that one occassion he has an exclusivity contract with expo, preventing him from working with other PROFIT making events in the London area.
so yes am I
btw I’m nothing to do with MA I’m just a Uk con-goer
I’m sorry but other peoples business practices are no concern of anyone else except the parties involved. Even if they we’re true it’s not illegal to have exclusive contracts with anyone so even then it’s not really a problem.
I can’t believe people are still on about this when there a far more interesting posts in this blog.
WRH
I agree with what you are saying, though I felt I had to say something in light of what Colin had posted.
Since I now it not to be true I felt the need to comment.
So ANON as I said you are calling the ddr person a liar or am I wrong??
I never said you were part of manga alliance is was a blanket quote and one that also covered what mike towers was saying that basically the people who have denied exclusive contracts so far are either worng in what they are saying or down right liars.
It is quite something when more people are now being attacked
Can someone (UKAG, Jason, etc) please leave NEO, DDR, Sweatdrop and everyone else the hell out of these shitflinging pissing contests? “I heard that” and “So and so said to me” count for JACK SHIT.
PROOF, people. CITATION NEEDED. Pics, else it didn’t happen. Until then, ACCEPT the representative’s damn word. You all need to go back to your fucking schoolyard and punch each other or something, this is getting BORING. Get a hobby, go to the gym, GET OUT FROM THE NET.
For the record, internet is here and is usually the way cons are spoken about, via word of mouth and forwarded links or forum posts. It’s just so happened to be that way since forever, so don’t even think about using this as part of your arguments.
OK you guys, I guess you didn’t hear me. The party’s over now, you need to go home.
You can still post, but comments are moderated. Your comment will appear if and only if you have new information to bring to this discussion, no vague accusations, no “this is what I heard” from anonymous posters, no more whining. Just stop.
I would like to point out some facts:
1/ DDRUK and Sweatshop posted saying they have no exclusivity contracts, their statements are in the comments here. Drop this topic unless you actualy have proof and post it.
2/ Neo has had articles mentioning other conventions; The cosplay article most frequently, but on occasion other articles, talk about Ame, and Minami amongst others.
And some opinions:
I think everyone is best served if people avoid attacking these, amongst other companies. Most notably to Mike: Neo featured Pwanda, the flagship title from your partner and until recently from the alliance. The feedback to this was pretty illuminating, and you may want to be sucking up to them not attacking them if you want any favours or good relations in the future.
UKAG: I have not the words. You may have had some good points but everything came out so venom and bile filled that it’s difficult to take you seriously, and your anonymity takes even more weight from your words. I’d suggest you try and compose yourself in the future if you want to convince anyone of anything.
Jason: Try to be more professional, everything you post in this kind of a situation can and will be taken as a corporate line, pretty much. You should be careful with what you say and don’t be afraid to be the big man and step out of an argument. Also, this sounds bad, but please, spellcheck posts, I know you have dyslexia, but so do I, it makes it a lot easier for everyone to read and looks more professional.
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