Wizard World Austin -- October 2-4, 2014

[SteveoSupremeo]

They are all expensive because of ACL. If I lived downtown still, I'd let you borrow one of my spots I had.

 

Try the parking under I-35 at 6th and 7th. It may be a walk, but it will be cheap.

 

Also try parking near the capitol building and walking or bus to the convention center.

 

I payed 5 for 5 hours near an apartment complex off of 35

[SteveoSupremeo]

If anyone needs an autograph from someone. Today is the day to do it. Lines are reasonable and you may have time to chat it up.

[MyNameIsLegion]

wow that looks like a lame show judging by the pics. It looks even deader than Capital City did on Sunday, and that was at the Palmer Auditorium. This looks terribly misplaced at Austin Convention Center. The vendors and VIPs on preview night at Alamo City CC dwarfed that crowd. Most of the few comic dealers there were at Alamo City. and I only recognize Black Cat as being a local. The guy with the movie posters is from Dallas. I hope Walmart Wold Comic Con has learned it's lesson and won't try to in the local pool next year and book 2 cons in south Texas either side of Alamo City to try and put the squeeze on them.

[Meeklo]

Driving around Austin is a pain today….not only is there WW Austin, but also ACL, AND there is a UT football game at the home stadium.

 

I'm staying indoors now!

[Trev]

It was definitely better than capital city. Though that doesn't mean much. Today was relatively busy.

 

I hit all the dealers except the one selling new books and variants.

 

Black cat - brought 4 boxes of dollar books! I was pretty shocked to see that as I usually associate them with gold, silver, and pulps. With a focus on gold. I bought Vicki 1 and 2 in VF from them. Excited to get those books.

 

Austin books - at least they setup their booth. At capital city they left it empty and just did email registrations.

 

Graham crackers - said they won't be here next year. Very slow. I bought some books from their 20% off bins and then the guy working tried to tell me the 20% was built in to the marked price. Whatever. I still bought because I want to encourage the dealers to come back and they were ok deals.

 

There's one guy whose from FL and has a bit of a haphazard setup with nothing really sorted but he grades well, is good to talk with and gives good deals. Got a showcase 37 from him, among others.

 

Disappointing to see national dealers pulling out. In the last few years I've seen Harley, Greg Reece, dale Roberts, bedrock city, high grade all do 1-2 years and then leave. The bigger regional dealers have stopped going because of the rates. I don't understand why wizard doesn't do something to get more dealers into the show. I can't believe that swords, time share scams, and dead space is the mix they want for their floor.

[Trev]

Also there was still a TON of cosplay. And some really interesting ones. Th level in Austin is going up.

[Dale Roberts]

It was definitely better than capital city. Though that doesn't mean much. Today was relatively busy.

 

I hit all the dealers except the one selling new books and variants.

 

Black cat - brought 4 boxes of dollar books! I was pretty shocked to see that as I usually associate them with gold, silver, and pulps. With a focus on gold. I bought Vicki 1 and 2 in VF from them. Excited to get those books.

 

Austin books - at least they setup their booth. At capital city they left it empty and just did email registrations.

 

Graham crackers - said they won't be here next year. Very slow. I bought some books from their 20% off bins and then the guy working tried to tell me the 20% was built in to the marked price. Whatever. I still bought because I want to encourage the dealers to come back and they were ok deals.

 

There's one guy whose from FL and has a bit of a haphazard setup with nothing really sorted but he grades well, is good to talk with and gives good deals. Got a showcase 37 from him, among others.

 

Disappointing to see national dealers pulling out. In the last few years I've seen Harley, Greg Reece, dale Roberts, bedrock city, high grade all do 1-2 years and then leave. The bigger regional dealers have stopped going because of the rates. I don't understand why wizard doesn't do something to get more dealers into the show. I can't believe that swords, time share scams, and dead space is the mix they want for their floor.

 

I would love to do the show again, but can't do it the week before NYCC.

[mysterio]

It was definitely better than capital city. Though that doesn't mean much. Today was relatively busy.

 

I hit all the dealers except the one selling new books and variants.

 

Black cat - brought 4 boxes of dollar books! I was pretty shocked to see that as I usually associate them with gold, silver, and pulps. With a focus on gold. I bought Vicki 1 and 2 in VF from them. Excited to get those books.

 

Austin books - at least they setup their booth. At capital city they left it empty and just did email registrations.

 

Graham crackers - said they won't be here next year. Very slow. I bought some books from their 20% off bins and then the guy working tried to tell me the 20% was built in to the marked price. Whatever. I still bought because I want to encourage the dealers to come back and they were ok deals.

 

There's one guy whose from FL and has a bit of a haphazard setup with nothing really sorted but he grades well, is good to talk with and gives good deals. Got a showcase 37 from him, among others.

 

Disappointing to see national dealers pulling out. In the last few years I've seen Harley, Greg Reece, dale Roberts, bedrock city, high grade all do 1-2 years and then leave. The bigger regional dealers have stopped going because of the rates. I don't understand why wizard doesn't do something to get more dealers into the show. I can't believe that swords, time share scams, and dead space is the mix they want for their floor.

 

I would love to do the show again, but can't do it the week before NYCC.

 

Hopefully that won't be an issue next year, though apparently it will still have the strange Thursday to Saturday scheduling.

[Meeklo]

Hopefully, they change the dates up. Try not to coincide with ACL or a UT home game.

[mysterio]

Hopefully, they change the dates up. Try not to coincide with ACL or a UT home game.

 

Has UT published a decent enough schedule this far in advance that you could be certain it wouldn't change? I'd guess the organizers just have to cross their fingers and hope for an away week or, at the very least, a night game to minimize disruptions. ACL is a big issue too, but shouldn't the return to Halloween weekend take care of that one?

 

I'm most concerned about the Thursday-Saturday schedule and the proximity to NYCC. Again, the Halloween dates ought to remove the NYCC factor but if they keep this odd schedule next year it has got to hurt sales and attendance (by dealers and consumers).

 

Edit: I Googled the football schedule for 2015 and it is all TBA after late September.

[Trev]

Hopefully, they change the dates up. Try not to coincide with ACL or a UT home game.

 

One of the dealers told me it was going back to the weekend before Halloween. I think that's a decent spot for this show.

[mysterio]

October 29-31, 2015; Thursday to Saturday. They published those dates a couple of months ago.

[SteveoSupremeo]

The best part of the Austin Show is that I sold my Cap #25 for the price of my Thursday admission.

[Meeklo]

UT doesn't release their schedule this far in advance. I also don't believe UT is that much of a problem since it is just one football game that is over within a couple of hours.

 

ACL was the major killer this weekend. There was a lot of traffic on all three major highways (I-35, Mopac, 183) on Saturday.

 

This is just a weird time for a convention in Austin. They should actually try moving it to early August and get a jump on everything else that happens here. As Formula One beefs up it's schedule, it will be even harder to schedule in the Fall.

[JorgeRR96]

ACL cant be on August since Lollapalooza takes place in August (same promoters). Luckily, the F1 race is a week before the weekend of the Con. As of right now, I dont think there is something going on that weekend.

[mysterio]

ACL cant be on August since Lollapalooza takes place in August (same promoters). Luckily, the F1 race is a week before the weekend of the Con. As of right now, I dont think there is something going on that weekend.

 

That's good news. Even if a football game were happening it should cause fairly minimal disruption around the convention center.

[Meeklo]

ACL cant be on August since Lollapalooza takes place in August (same promoters). Luckily, the F1 race is a week before the weekend of the Con. As of right now, I dont think there is something going on that weekend.

 

I meant move Wizard World Austin to August.

[mysterio]

ACL cant be on August since Lollapalooza takes place in August (same promoters). Luckily, the F1 race is a week before the weekend of the Con. As of right now, I dont think there is something going on that weekend.

 

I meant move Wizard World Austin to August.

 

It seems like WW SA was pretty much a flop in August, and being situated between San Diego and WW Chicago may not be a strong position to place a show like this. The weather in Austin in August is also not ideal (nor San Antonio, for that matter). I'd rather see this show later in the Fall, like Halloween weekend, and as long as there are no other major events in Austin that will conflict I think the dates they have scheduled work really well.

[RCheli]

Hell, put this in March and move WW Madison to October.

 

I still think the Wizard people schedule conventions by throwing darts at a calendar.

[Meeklo]

ACL cant be on August since Lollapalooza takes place in August (same promoters). Luckily, the F1 race is a week before the weekend of the Con. As of right now, I dont think there is something going on that weekend.

 

I meant move Wizard World Austin to August.

 

It seems like WW SA was pretty much a flop in August, and being situated between San Diego and WW Chicago may not be a strong position to place a show like this. The weather in Austin in August is also not ideal (nor San Antonio, for that matter). I'd rather see this show later in the Fall, like Halloween weekend, and as long as there are no other major events in Austin that will conflict I think the dates they have scheduled work really well.

 

The more it moves into fall, the more it will coincide with UT football and Formula One racing. Plus this is when weather gets really bad. Rainy, hail, flooding…I'd rather put up with the August heat.

 

They just need to rearrange the schedule. Put WW Austin in April or early May and if any WW cons happen at that time, move them to fall…chances are their weather would be better.