Are Comic Book conventions really Comic Book conventions? 1 1

[october]

6 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

Saying cons are pointless is a blanket statement and it's incorrect.

But I think I'll stay off his lawn.

Big cons aren't totally pointless to attend....yet.

 

But they seem to be headed in that direction. 

[classicaaron]

sorry to come off so harsh especially on a first post.  ive been a lurker for a long while but this topic just made me need to talk.  im definitely bitter towards these cosplayers.  I was fine with it years ago but after constantly being bombarded by rude and annoying cosplayers they have worn me down.  its like that cute neighbor kid who is cool the first week you move in but after years of him coming over and annoying you your just done with him.

 

again if they would just act normal I wouldn't have a problem, not like i have a problem with the huge amount of autograph hounds that show up, they just get in line and do their thing.  or it would be the equivalent of me laying on the floor of the convention taking up the aisle while I search long boxes under a table and just sing songs or shout impersonations of every comic character I flip through, im sure people would hate me too.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

19 hours ago, classicaaron said:

 

finally all cosplayers should be punched in the face.  sorry but its true.  they are the most annoying loud obnoxious people on the planet. 

[VintageComics]

1 hour ago, classicaaron said:

sorry to come off so harsh especially on a first post.  ive been a lurker for a long while but this topic just made me need to talk.  im definitely bitter towards these cosplayers.  I was fine with it years ago but after constantly being bombarded by rude and annoying cosplayers they have worn me down.  its like that cute neighbor kid who is cool the first week you move in but after years of him coming over and annoying you your just done with him.

 

again if they would just act normal I wouldn't have a problem, not like i have a problem with the huge amount of autograph hounds that show up, they just get in line and do their thing.  or it would be the equivalent of me laying on the floor of the convention taking up the aisle while I search long boxes under a table and just sing songs or shout impersonations of every comic character I flip through, im sure people would hate me too.

I suspect you'd be just as annoying to some people.

[punksdropdirtysrh]

Someone needs to give classicaaron a Snickers.

[thehumantorch]

38 minutes ago, punksdropdirtysrh said:

Someone needs to give classicaaron a Snickers.

[Ken Aldred]

2 hours ago, VintageComics said:

I suspect you'd be just as annoying to some people.

I can also see an equally-irritated counterargument on cosplay message boards. 

"After putting six months or more of intense effort into fashioning a costume of the highest quality,  we then have to tolerate these filthy, scruffy, comicbook-reading fanboys who can’t even be bothered to wash themselves for weeks before the convention.  Their thoughtless, overpowering, offensive stench and banal dress sense should be removed from our events."

Edited March 24, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[Get Marwood & I]

3 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

I can also see an equally-irritated counterargument on cosplay message boards. 

"After putting six months or more of intense effort into fashioning a costume of the highest quality,  we then have to tolerate these filthy, scruffy, comicbook-reading fanboys who can’t even be bothered to wash themselves for weeks before the convention.  Their thoughtless, overpowering, offensive stench and banal dress sense should be banned from our events."

 

Who are you calling thoughtless? 

[Ken Aldred]

Just now, Marwood & I said:

 

Who are you calling thoughtless? 

You're a Brit.  You do irony. 

[VintageComics]

1 hour ago, thehumantorch said:

2 hours ago, punksdropdirtysrh said:

Someone needs to give classicaaron a Snickers.

[Robot Man]

On 3/23/2017 at 0:21 PM, classicaaron said:

first off major cons have become pointless to attend.  I don't know why anyone goes anymore.  I don't need to spend $50 to go to look at promotional booths and annoying cosplayers.  I know from attending Wizard World Philly the past 15 years that the show used to be awesome.  it was an entire con filled with hundreds of dealers all selling comics or figures and maybe one or two t shirt stands.  now this past year there might have been 8 comic vendors.  the rest were pirate ships, a huge soda booth, a zombie cage, at&t, some movie sponsor and whatever I could care less about.  it was my final straw and why im not going this year.  again I don't need to spend $50 to be bombarded with advertisements, I get that for free all the time.  these local hotel shows for $5 that have twice the comic vendors and much better deals is where its at.  I can walk out with a ton of comics in hand for what it would just cost me to get into the big con.

as for celebs, I do like when they attend but again wizard world sucked all the fun out of that.  having some comic related media guests who sign for around $50 bucks is cool.  having chris evans come and sign the letter C with a line after it for $500 is not cool.  ive been to celebrity shows and that's all it really is, its not meant for vendors and I prefer that.  keep them separate as they draw far different crowds anyhow.

finally all cosplayers should be punched in the face.  sorry but its true.  they are the most annoying loud obnoxious people on the planet.  its one thing to just dress up but no they have to shout and run around like spoiled children.  they pose directly in the middle of aisles like look at me I can be cool for one day because the 364 other days they are a total losers.  they don't mind bumping into people with their 15 ft foam sword so guess what, when I walk by I intentionally trample parts of the costume or give them a stiff shoulder.  if your rude enough to expect me to move around you like im not there ill be rude enough to make it a point that I am there.  maybe they will get a clue.  and it would be somewhat enjoyable if they actually put effort into costumes.  99% of them wear terrible Halloween costumes, are 300 lbs and somehow think they are Harley Quinn.  and I swear if I have to stand next to one more joker in line who does the worst joker laugh every five minutes because he thinks hes cool while i wait to get in for 2 hours I may honestly go postal on them.  these people are rude dorks with zero social skills who cant handle themselves.  also for the very few who actually look good or "hot", on the street they are still trash, they just look good compared to the ultra pathetic cosplayers that make up the 99%.  I know dealers are always annoyed with them blocking their booths and they never buy anything so no point catering to them.  dealers are becoming less and less because they just cant make money at these shows.

 

long story longer, cons are garbage anymore because they over exploited it.  its why mini shows are popping up all over the place.  I expect these shows to restart and in another 20 years will probably become the new "con" as shows like wizard world die off from over hype.  its a vicious cycle.

Wow... Welcome to the boards???

[Mercury Man]

7 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

I can also see an equally-irritated counterargument on cosplay message boards. 

"After putting six months or more of intense effort into fashioning a costume of the highest quality,  we then have to tolerate these filthy, scruffy, comicbook-reading fanboys who can’t even be bothered to wash themselves for weeks before the convention.  Their thoughtless, overpowering, offensive stench and banal dress sense should be removed from our events."

Ahhh..but the counterpoint is,  the chicken or the egg-  Comic book Conventions were basically guys rummaging through boxes, buying and selling comics, with an occasional guest artist or two.   They came first.  I am sure somewhere in the history of Comic Conventions, a few guys dressed up in a Spidey or Superman costume.   But this newer Cosplay phenomon (what 15-20 years now), has overtaken the Con, and now the dealers are dwindling.  If there was a Cospaly Convention, and then the annoying Comic book guys showed up, I am sure they would complain on their boards, and rightly so.  (I use Irish Spring btw, both soap and deodorant, sometimes 2x a day.  I know I am weird). 

[mysterio]

On 3/19/2017 at 9:05 PM, thehumantorch said:

 We have a couple regular customers who cosplay, so yes, cosplayers do buy comics.  But most cosplayers are worried about their outfits, posing for pics, navigating the aisles, trying to see out of their masks, it's generally not condusive to shopping.

Cosplayers aren't the enemy.  They're evidence that our hobby has gone mainstream.

Superheroes have gone mainstream, not the hobby of collecting comics. Attendance is up at baseball games too, but that hasn't turned into a glut of card collectors. 

If the majority of people attending shows, including cosplayers, were there for books then the megashows would be chock full of dealers. The fact that these shows don't typically have many comic dealers reflects the fact that most people attending shows these days aren't there for buying books. They most certainly aren't going to shows to buy books that cost $25 or over. If comic collecting had actually gone mainstream then we might actually see dealer numbers growing instead of shrinking. 

Edited March 25, 2017 by mysterio

[thehumantorch]

2 hours ago, mysterio said:

Superheroes have gone mainstream, not the hobby of collecting comics. Attendance is up at baseball games too, but that hasn't turned into a glut of card collectors. 

If the majority of people attending shows, including cosplayers, were there for books then the megashows would be chock full of dealers. The fact that these shows don't typically have many comic dealers reflects the fact that most people attending shows these days aren't there for buying books. They most certainly aren't going to shows to buy books that cost $25 or over. If comic collecting had actually gone mainstream then we might actually see dealer numbers growing instead of shrinking. 

There is a trickle down effect.  We're selling a ton to people who've seen the movie and are curious about the source material.  10 years ago I don't think we had a female customer, now a good 1/3 are.  We've getting tons of kids and people in their 20s.  Most are buying $1 books or cheap sets but there are exceptions.   We're also selling to guys who collected in the past and got inspired by the movies and started collecting again.

Sure, most of these new buyers will buy a few books and then disappear but some will continue.  I started collecting because I found a Fantastic Four 50 in a second hand book store and loved it.  That random purchase has influenced my life for 40 years.    Getting comics into the hands of curious buyers has and will result in more collectors and I consider these movies and Pop Culture events to be a godsend to the hobby.

[mysterio]

2 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

 

2 hours ago, mysterio said:

Superheroes have gone mainstream, not the hobby of collecting comics. Attendance is up at baseball games too, but that hasn't turned into a glut of card collectors. 

If the majority of people attending shows, including cosplayers, were there for books then the megashows would be chock full of dealers. The fact that these shows don't typically have many comic dealers reflects the fact that most people attending shows these days aren't there for buying books. They most certainly aren't going to shows to buy books that cost $25 or over. If comic collecting had actually gone mainstream then we might actually see dealer numbers growing instead of shrinking. 

There is a trickle down effect.  We're selling a ton to people who've seen the movie and are curious about the source material.  10 years ago I don't think we had a female customer, now a good 1/3 are.  We've getting tons of kids and people in their 20s.  Most are buying $1 books or cheap sets but there are exceptions.   We're also selling to guys who collected in the past and got inspired by the movies and started collecting again.

Sure, most of these new buyers will buy a few books and then disappear but some will continue.  I started collecting because I found a Fantastic Four 50 in a second hand book store and loved it.  That random purchase has influenced my life for 40 years.    Getting comics into the hands of curious buyers has and will result in more collectors and I consider these movies and Pop Culture events to be a godsend to the hobby.

 

How long do we wait for the trickle down? The "movie effect" may be working for individual shops, which is indeed fantastic, but if it were working at shows we'd expect to see comic buying expanding. We don't appear to be seeing that. Those occasional purchases of a dollar book aren't flooding Wizard shows with more comic dealers. 

[Mercury Man]

Keeping in mind through all of this, a comic convention went from hotel conference rooms for 1 or 2 days, to a cities biggest Convention Center for 3-4 days. This was to accommodate the larger crowds.  

As a result, Dealer table costs, hotel stays, and incidentals, go up.  

But the increased attendance isn't because of comic book buyers, it is because of cos-players and autograph hounds.  So do they spend enough on books, or are they there for the other reasons mentioned, thus causing less dealer satisfaction making them less likely to show up next time. $$$$$

[mysterio]

5 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

Keeping in mind through all of this, a comic convention went from hotel conference rooms for 1 or 2 days, to a cities biggest Convention Center for 3-4 days. This was to accommodate the larger crowds.  

As a result, Dealer table costs, hotel stays, and incidentals, go up.  

But the increased attendance isn't because of comic book buyers, it is because of cos-players and autograph hounds.  So do they spend enough on books, or are they there for the other reasons mentioned, thus causing less dealer satisfaction making them less likely to show up next time. $$$$$

This. The dealer rooms are practically superfluous to many mega shows these days. They're definitely superfluous to many of the autograph hounds. 

Edited March 26, 2017 by mysterio

[VintageComics]

23 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

 If there was a Cospaly Convention,

Without being insulting, if there was a cosplay convention it would not make any money.

 

[mysterio]

3 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

Without being insulting, if there was a cosplay convention it would not make any money.

 

I don't know, if the tickets were high enough to cover costs who knows? No vendors, just a big empty room for photos with a few concession stands. Since at least some cosplayers seem to think that cons are all about cosplay, maybe they think this is how cons started. The dealers showed up sometime later as cons evolved. 

[VintageComics]

5 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

Keeping in mind through all of this, a comic convention went from hotel conference rooms for 1 or 2 days, to a cities biggest Convention Center for 3-4 days. This was to accommodate the larger crowds.  

As a result, Dealer table costs, hotel stays, and incidentals, go up.  

But the increased attendance isn't because of comic book buyers, it is because of cos-players and autograph hounds.  So do they spend enough on books, or are they there for the other reasons mentioned, thus causing less dealer satisfaction making them less likely to show up next time. $$$$$

Comic Con in SD wasn't an issue for dealers until it became difficult for customers to get into the show.

Now, even if you want to get in the door and spend loads of cash, you can't. Because the badges sold to everyone else.

That is the main reason I've heard dealers have either cut back on their booths or stopped doing the show that was once considered the Superbowl of Comics.

That and the costs (hotel, airfare, booths) have made it unprofitable.

My first time in SD was only about 6 or 7 years ago. Even as recently as thatI could still find a nice 4 star hotel room for about $180. I stayed at the Westin SD and literally booked it 2 weeks before the show.

Now? Good luck finding a place for under $300 or $400 if there is any availability at all.

Tickets? Good luck.

Sharing badges? So you've been setting up at SD for decades and want to get your best customers in so they can shop with you? If you get caught by SD you'll have to work really hard not to get thrown out by SDCC at worst and at best not have all of your badges confiscated.

The show is a real problem for those who just want to buy comics.