I recently got a tip-off on Tumblr saying that someone is planning on throwing paint on my Belle dress at this May expo in London. Screenshot here
For those who don't know, a lot of stuff has gone down about and because of me recently, but I don't think I deserve this, so please, if you hear anything or know the people who are planning this: LET ME KNOW! I need to know who to avoid and just generally who what where when and why.
Thank you.

Whoa, what?! That's a bit... O_o

I've not heard anything about it, but then I don't really social network a lot. However, someone might have said it on a "blahblah I hate her so I'm gonna throw paint on her cosplay!!" and don't actually have any intention to do it. You get a lot of people who are just full of hot air.

If you're worried, make sure you're with friends a lot of the time. Try not to let it effect your day there, cause that's probably the intention of the person, to make you feel uncomfortable and scared during the day.

If it does happen, god forbid, make sure a friend is around with a camera or something to grab a photo of the person who did it, then contact the police and arrange for formal prosecution under assault and battery charges.

Throwing paint at someone constitutes assault and battery, and as the costume was home made, it also covers destruction of private property... both combined can be charged with automatic jail time if the cost of the property is above a certain amount, and a fine of not less than £5000

Something like this is very serious, and there is plenty of precedent for people being charged after throwing paint at someone, PETA have numerous charges against their members on this so it's pretty easy to see how it would go through the courts.

Really hope this doesn't happen to you though, and if you ever find yourself on your own through the event, feel free to hunt me down during any of the days and i'll happily walk around with you to make sure nothing like this happens.

Really hope you don't let this stupid threat ruin your event though.

M

They'd get a caution tops.

This^.

Insure your dress perhaps.

A prank registers quite low on legal prosecution. Unless it's against your race, gender, disability or if they have an intention to cause nuisance to other members of the public then there's little that can happen.

There has been legislation that has/will pass which is to reduce the severity of punishment for abusive language. Hell now everyone can say what they want without restrictions.

Also if they DO cause nuisance to other members of the public and yourself, that's a caution.

What I would do is screenshot whatever they send, record everything and post up in a public place with a "Come at me bro" message. Dangerous people don't give you warning, they just do it.

The way I see it, you've got two options. Not go, or go and be prepared for that to happen. And if it does happen, you beat the living snot out of them. Archaic? Brutish? Uncivilised? Yes, yes it is. But getting your face caved in is a much faster message than trying to reason with someone who has already demonstrated their IQ might be in double digits but when you add them together you don't get more than 10.

Have a couple of mates with you who're fast runners. Catch the idiot then take him/her somewhere quiet and "have a chat". Inb4"hate begets more hate", you can spend your life thinking the peaceful way is the right way, or you can teach someone the ways of life and karma.

Edit:

Does Tumblr not give you an option to trace IP address or service provider?

you'd get far more than a caution nowdays... it changed back in 2006 when someone was blinded after paint was thrown at them...

Now the police have to investigate it as full assault rather than simple 'mischief' as it used to be called, much like egging still is, as it constitutes a direct physical threat to someone.

Just because it's 'only paint' doesn't change the previous rulings on this. it can be charged with assault and damage to private property, and leads to some pretty serious legal issues nowdays.

M

I can tell you now it will be a caution. It's paint on a dress not Jack the Ripper. Especially if the person has no previous/first time offence. Trust me on this. The police would not investigate "a full assault" if there is just paint on someones dress, and the CPS would never run with it. Where are you getting this legal "insight"?

To OP, if you legitimately believe that someone is planning something and you know who they are, AND have some evidence which is more than "they said mean things on the internet", then ring 101 or visit your local police station. But as it looks, it seems that this "tip off" is an unsubstantiated allegation. Has the person you believe will actually do this told you directly? Or this just "he said/she said"?

Realistically it's highly likely this paint thing will never actually happen. Being a keyboard ninja is much easier than following up on "threats" in real life. That's if this person has actually made them. Just keep some friends with you, who can keep an eye out for this person so you can avoid confronation. Also Expo has an attendance of over 30k a day. Finding one person in that is a challenge in itself. If you do see this person and you feel threatended, both Excel Security, MetPol, and BTP patrol Excel during events, so speak to one of them.

What Leadmill says is true; the police did rather little when my neighbour's window got smashed, and that's a deal bigger than paint being thrown at you.

However, May Expo is huge and is crowded. It's hard to find your friends when you've made plans to meet them, so them trying to find one girl dressed as Belle is gonna be hard for them. As it stands, the fact you made it public immediately that you knew that someone had it planned will deter them. They know you're gonna be on the eye out, as well as your friends. Plus, a lot of people will have an issue themselves with paint being thrown about.

I still feel it's more of a way to ruin your day by making you fear that someone is out to get you. You'll be get caught up with waiting for paint to be flung that you won't enjoy your time in your costume, which is just as bad than if they did throw paint at you.

ok, here we go... here's 2 accounts of it in the past few years...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/students-declare-war-over-asylum-bill-1582302.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/paint-protest-group-guilty-1305217.html

Charged with 'Common Assault', which is...



Also outlined here under Non-fatal offences against the person.

http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199234127.pdf

But if you'd also like the full legal recourse, then

"the defendant must intend to cause the victim to apprehend immediate unlawful personal violence, OR BE RECKLESS as to whether such apprehension could be caused"

As stated under legal authority for the case of R v Venna 1976.

If any physical harm is suffered as a result of the paint being thrown, then you're be looking at Assault occasioning actual bodily harm, s47 of the Offences against the person Act 1861; the paint-thrower could get up to 5 years for that.

Another case is Day, R v Parke B where damage was caused specifically to the clothes Day was wearing, the court upheld the verdict as well.

As legal precedent shows, assault already applies, battery WILL apply if it happens, and if the police or event security are notified and do nothing, then ABH could result if it isn't prevented.

M

but yes, i agree that it is rare for this to happen, it's far more likely that the person threatening this is just 'mouthing off' and won't actually do anything...

In either case i really hope you don't let it ruin the event for you

M

It could even be the person that posted it is a troll and is trying to make you worried and edgy for expo.

Don't worry about it and just deal with it if it happens. There's not a lot you can do prior to the event (other than inform security but even then they can't do a lot until it happens either).

I wouldn't worry about it, as other people have said, it's a huge place and very difficult to find anyone.

That does sound incredibly harsh, if I were you I'd change your cosplay plans but keep it quiet. If someone's specifically looking for you dressed as Belle, they most likely wont recognise you in another costume.

I don't care what you did or who you may or may not have upset on the internet, no one deserves to have their costume and hard work ruined

I agree with Yasmia!

As already said, its unlikely this person will do this or even if they decide to, its unlikely they will find you but if you don't want to run the risk then just change your Cosplay plans but keep it to yourself.

Not being funny but this is childish pettiness of the other people. Its like someone throwing a snowball at a car. I highlly doubt they will get paint into the event or anything like that due to how much security there is and paint is an obious item.(unfortunately for me I am allergic to paint, so if someone threw at me they would be in very serious trouble with the police)

If you feel its making you extremely anxious. Change your cosplay plans and use the one you have later. I havent come across any cosplay drama as of yet so i must be lucky

I do advise to email the event organisers about your issue they can make sure their security is on high alert for things that should not be brought in (PAINT)

Make sure you have a Beast with you to tear him a new one! But I'm sure its just someone with nothing better to do than be an idiot!

Best response ever.

I agree that it'll probably come to nothing though.

what the hell? This is just plain awful!! I will tell you if i hear anything

^ THIS

It's idiots like these that wind up ruining events for everybody involved.

I'd reccomend sticking close with a group of friends - maybe focus on using Belle indoors so that if anyone does try something there is a MUCH higher chance of them being seen and identified.

Good luck x

I was going to stay out of this as it was clearly an over-reaction to a tumblr troll from a drama llama...

However, I have since found out what the "drama" that you conveniently didn't actually link to was and you should not be trying to get sympathy because you and your friends (I do not know who was all involved and I am not naming the names that I do know) are deffinately in the wrong in this case. Sympathy, you get none.

This is a tumblr troll stirring things, which considering the context you should have known immediately. I know what the context is and it is a misquote from someone saying that they would consider pouring a bucket of water over someone who blacked-up for cosplay and was not just aimed at you, nor was it an actual threat from this person, who would have said it to your face were it one. This person was merely venting their justified anger at your group's entirely racist antics including telling this person that they didn't look black so stfu (they are mixed race and these racist comments are upsetting to me and I wan't even involved, so take a moment to think about how a mixed race person would fell when told that they weren't black enough to complain about racist comments directed at them specifically...). I do not know which of you/your friends actually did this, but quite frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself for simply associating knowingly with them. If it was you then, actually, yes you do deserve to be pelted with much worse things than paint.

You do not have a leg to stand on. Nobody is actually going to throw paint at you, because you're not worth getting banned from Expo over. Legs to stand on, you have none. Now get an actual clue. Thanks.

I am not easy to anger, but you have managed it. There is now going to be a chapter in the book on cosplay etiquette I plan to write specifically on the topic of race changing for cosplay (any how not to do it). HULK SMASH!

Oh my. I actually thought this was related to someone else (I know purely because one day everyone started going nuts on my Facebook Newsfeed) so I figured it was down to the other flurries of dust and feather ruffling caused by the OP. I'm not going to say what she did aside from what was described above, but after reading this knowing what she had done before, it is merely a case of keeping your head down, keep quiet, let everything settle and make peace with those that have been upset by your actions. It is now that you've made your bed that you must lie in and just basically....suck it up and listen to those who are there for you even now. That's all I can say. I dont know the OP and I haven't spoken to her, but from what I've heard and seen I can only begin to imagine what the people around her have gone through.

Really though, if you love to cosplay and the community and want to take part in it all as the rest of us do, then something is going to have to give otherwise you could lose it all for good and never be respected again. I'm always around if you need an unbiased ear who has heard of little else. But before you can proceed you need to be prepared to listen to whatever anyone may have to say to you.

i highly doubt someone is gonna throw paint at u but i wanna put this in a situation

lets say ur in the main expo bit walking round in ur lovely bell cosplay and one of these people throws paint at u
in an open space this would only get u and no one else but with the expo halls being crowded u wont be the only person that gets paint all over u that one person will cause more trouble than needed if he gets more than one person and if all those people had made there cosplays and took all the time they had for it to make the cosplay more people will wanna say something

sorry if u can understand it

I don't think that in this case the OP was the actual instigator of this incident in question (and also, had no idea that there was more drama than that... as if it wasn't enough). And if I am wrong about who was involved, then I apologise, but my understanding of the situation is that a tumblr troll has misquoted someone over the racism fracas. I don't do Facespace, so all I have to go on is tumblr and what I have been told by a number of witnesses.

It's very frustrating when people who have done something wrong decide it's a case of "oh poor me, sympathy please, the people I was mean to are totes wrong to call me out on my bad behaviour". A simple apology to the wronged parties and a fresh start would fix most of it, so OP needs to stop whining and deal with the drama of her own making.

Having read through the thread, here's my pennies of thought,,.

I don't think this was the best place for posting any of this. While I can understand that something like this can be quite alarming it would feed any drama troll that has likely caused the problem in the first place.

If this was going to be a genuine threat (of that I'm not 100% sure on given some of the replies that have been posted) then the best thing to do would to have contacted the event staff. They would then advise the best course of action.

I've had some problems myself in the past (those who know me well will know of what I speak). I did not post it on a website like this is I felt it would add extra fuel to an already tense situation. Instead, I contacted people I trusted. I was able to get the best advice which kept the situation from blowing over into complete chaos. I feel the situation has been handled the best way it could have been without adding any extra problems.

By posting on a public forum it has in some ways added more than it needed to (judging by Pudding's response. I'm not going to state who I think is right or wrong). I therefore suggest/request to the admins that this thread be closed.

I agree with Sephirayne, posing in a public place to fish for sympathy is not a good plan. And yes, please close/lock the thread.

Also, Sephirayne (as far as I'm aware) you didn't cause the problems you had. OP did cause hers.