Yesterday, the official site of the Wonder Festival figure, model, and hobby event posted news that the upcoming 2009 Winter congregation will be canceled...

WonFes 09 Winter was scheduled for February 15 at Odaiba's Tokyo Big Sight, the same venue at which the event is held biannually every year, until next. The unfortunate news comes as a result of the "escalator incident" at WonFes 2009 Winter seen below. Ten people were injured and the cause of the accident itself still under investigation, reason due in part as to why 2009 Winter is, for the foreseeable future, postponed.

In my opinion, this is less of a safety issue than it is a legal stalemate in responsibility. Limiting the number of people on escalators at a given time to avoid surpassing the carrying capacity is but one of many alternatives available without the cancellation of the event. Regardless of blame and finger pointing, if we don't have a WonFes come February, it'll be a very sad time in the garage kit/hobby community.

Sources:[ANN]