Getting cold in Melbourne

It's been getting rather chilly down this way.

This bear is going to have to go into hibernation.

I know it's been quiet lately.

Guess that's to be expected when you lose inspiration...

Booted from Supernova :(

On April 14th I walked all the way from the parking lot to the front of the Melbourne Show Grounds in  my bear outfit, holding my head (as I can't see with it on), purchased a ticket, went to walk in and was stopped by security.

I was led to a panel which proceeded to ask if it was a Pedobear costume.

I think my mistake was to say yes :(

They said that I could either leave the head with them or be escorted off of the premises. I found this very confronting. I tried to open a discussion about it being a laugh on the Internet and that I had only ever been met with enthusiasm whilst wearing the costume. They were quite decided on the matter though. As I was leaving one of the members mentioned that the 'Pedo' was short for paedophilia.

I was annoyed. So I wrote up a long letter to get a better understanding of what was going on. My two main points being:

I do not wear the costume to support paedophilia.

I do not know nor could I associate with paedophiles.

I'd be slightly sickened to hear that people thought I was a paedophile because I was wearing the costume.

I wonder what other costumes you would ban because their characters portray actions you deem unacceptable.
Would you ban Dark Sidious (Star Wars) because he has people killed and wants to rule the galaxy by force?

Would Indiana Jones be banned because he acquired some of his goods via dubious means?

I got a response back from Drew (whom I thank for the decent conversation).

In this day and age of social media, you can see the very high possibility of being slandered through media saying that we are a convention that supports paedophilia by allowing pedobear with the kids.

Felt that they are just covering their asses. Not really wanting to go out of their way to support the people who attend their event.

It was good to hear that "You haven't been targeted and this isn't personal at all". It definitely felt that way on the day.

It was interesting to read "Pedobear itself is banned per se, but I'll let you look into the background if you haven't already". Guess I'll have to try to make the case for Barry Bear and totally avoid answering the question "is that a Pedobear costume?"