Howlers Manila Cosplay & Music Festival issues apology for their mishandled cosplay event and World Record Attempt
The official Facebook page for the Howlers Manila Cosplay & Music Festival has released an official statement regarding the fiasco that was their cosplay event and Guinness Book of World Record attempt yesterday!
Here’s what they posted on FB
Dear Howlers Family,
We owe you a heartfelt apology. To all the cosplayers, fans, and attendees who poured your heart into this festival, we are deeply sorry for the experience you had at Howlers.Our goal was to bring you an unforgettable event, and we understand that in trying to break a Guinness World Record, we overlooked your basic needs. The heat, lack of food, drinks, and seating were major mistakes on our part. We know many of you suffered, and some even fainted. You deserve better than that. Your hard work in your costumes, the time and energy you put into attending – none of it should have been at the expense of your well-being.We take full responsibility and can only promise that we’ll do better. You trusted us to create a safe and enjoyable space, and we let you down. We’re learning from this, and we’re committed to ensuring this doesn’t happen again. Thank you for your patience, your love for the community, and for sticking with us through this.Again, we are sincerely SORRY and we promise that WE WILL BE BETTER.
With deepest regret and gratitude,Howlers Manila Cosplay and Music Festival
I guess, the outcry wasn’t as painful as what happened to CONQuest so the story goes and it also feels like they earned back ticket sales during the event. They did say that they “will be better” meaning they will definitely be back. And to be honest, I hope they really do better. But also it feels like they burned down any goodwill they have with the regular cosplay community. They won’t have a problem that much with the more popular cosplayers but the newbies? It feels like they would have a hard time convincing them to come out, spend an entire day.
But I really hope they do.
Oh and also did you hear about what happened yesterday?
Apparently, they really were all over the place and nobody even thought of trying to make the cosplayers as comfortable as possible. They didn’t even get water until hours after the official call time. Then when people started to faint (yes faint) that’s when they went really did something… or so the story goes anyway.
Anyway, let’s see where this goes and let’s all keep this as a receipt for next year’s Howlers Manila event.
