A discussion about comic conventions, post pandemic. 2 2

[aardvark88]

25 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said:

 I've noticed locally is that there may to many shows within a short time period of one another, add to that the amount of things to do outside of comics, and smaller conventions or newer shows may have missed their window as the bigger shows start to come in.

 

Agreed that the comicon calendar is crowded. e.g. weekend of Sept. 11-12, 2021 has small Heritage Hall con in Vancouver, BC; medium size Red and White Show cancelled and big Calgary Expo took over Calgary, AB dates, Saskatoon Expo in SK, Canada.

[Vixom]

A good portion of dealers I know stopped going to cons well before 2020. The prioritizing of funko pops and "celebrities" along with increasing table costs drive them out. The dinosaurs who got a taste of online might not want to do the cons now. Ones who didn't convert might not be around anymore. 

For me to go as a buyer I need to be sold. I have no desire to pay someone money to sign something just because they were on a tv show 20 30 years ago. Not paying a artists for a rushed weak sketch. Would possibly pay for a signature if it increases the value of the book enough to justify the cost of signature and time standing in line. I haven't seen popular books sell for any deals, more like over fmv. So my time would be spent standing around for hours digging through boxes looking for deals. Tormenting any friends who still attend. 

I have seen people going about their lives for a long time. Cubs games look like good crowds to me since they lifted. 

[HotKey]

As long as the tax law changes for 2022 remain, cons will be huge for dealers wanting to earn unreported income. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

11 hours ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Define “post pandemic”.....

Anytime after 1918.

[theCapraAegagrus]

2 hours ago, HotKey said:

As long as the tax law changes for 2022 remain, cons will be huge for dealers wanting to earn unreported income. 

#TaxationIsTheft

[1Cool]

I'll have no problem going to the big shows since I've gotten vaccinated. I've attended a few smaller shows and they all involved people being shoulder to shoulder digging through comics so I'm thinking the big shows will be more of the same.

The huge amount of shows in October and November will just mean i have to pick a few and roll the dice as to how good they are.  I'll probably pick Motor City over Chicago since it's so much closer and the selection and prices have been good in the past.  Indianapolis is not that far also but it is last on my list for that weekend.  Baltimore is a great show so that one is also on the list for this year.

[Get Marwood & I]

Although I said I wouldn't, I went to the London Fair on the 23rd last month - the first for nearly two years. Everyone I know is double vaccinated, so I thought it was about time I started living again, as I couldn't see a time when anything would be any better from a safety perspective - the virus is here to stay, so we get busy living or take the other option.

I thoroughly enjoyed it as comics is my thing and comic fairs are as good as it gets for me. And the research list was enormous, having grown throughout 18 months of online only searching. It was great getting back to rifling through boxes. 

The organisers did reasonably well - a bit disorganised as you'd expect with a revised queuing system, held up by the need to either ping the track n trace app or fill in a details form manually. Once in side, half the usual dealers, and a one way system that was a little silly if its intention was to reduce possible transmission. That happens often I find - the introduction of an operational requirement that makes little sense, and which is neither observed or policed.

Hot day, so wearing the mask was the colossal drag that wearing a mask generally is for people like me whose skin can be irritated by a gnats eyebrow.

I picked up quite a lot of books in the first hour that you have to pay a fiver for (ten minutes of which was lost to the tracing scrum), then the crowds descended after that and it became almost impossible to get to any stock. I seemed to always be behind the chap who looks at every comic in the box slowly, senses it's now your turn, so he looks at them all again. You know, him.

I have to say, I was looking forward more to the fry up in my usual little Italian on route, but like a great many places in London it was closed. Hopefully not for good. 

Like everyone else, I'll be glad when the virus has reached the point where we can all live alongside it and that it no longer places demands on what we do and how we do it. In the meantime, I'll be back at the next one in August where, hopefully, a few more dealers might show up.

 

 

[Jeffro.]

12 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

Companies like Hasbro are KILLING it in the absence of shows.  Every week it seems Hasbro is holding online panels, unveiling new product and then directly launching that product from their stores.  Other retailers are doing the same.

All the while running their own crowd funding to bring back games such as HeroQuest. 

https://hasbropulse.com/products/heroquest-game-system

What happened to companies using their own capital to create their own stuff? I get crowd funding for indie projects or something created by Joe Average but for Hasbro???  

Edited June 17, 2021 by Jeffro.

[Jeffro.]

I used to go to Javits shows in NYC back in the 90s and those were fun. Of course some of that fun was the guys I went with and unless I could get them to go again, I'd pass on NYC shows. 

In fact, I'm unlikely to go to the bigger cons in the bigger cities ever again but that has nothing to do with covid. I find that these days I am satisfied with trusted dealers with an online presence, local brick and mortar stores and the smaller shows in my area. Although, I am close to both Boston, NYC, and even Philadelphia, I see little reason to travel to shows in any of those cities. Just not worth it for me, given the travel expenses and potential hassles. 

 

[Buzzetta]

40 minutes ago, Jeffro. said:

All the while running their own crowd funding to bring back games such as HeroQuest. 

https://hasbropulse.com/products/heroquest-game-system

What happened to companies using their own capital to create their own stuff? I get crowd funding for indie projects or something created by Joe Average but for Hasbro???  

great question that I will explain in depth later.  Guys like me were the problem and caused that.  Right now - in traffic 

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

1 hour ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Anytime after 1918.

Let’s just hope the virus doesn’t mutate again like it did back then. Not really interested in bleeding from my eyes and turning blue....

[RonS2112]

Have been going to my local small-ish con since it started back up in Jan.  No issues at all -- masks are required and the number of folks in the room at one time is limited.  Can't beat the selection or the great deals to be had.  And only $3 to get in.  In fact, there's another coming up this Sunday!

[theCapraAegagrus]

2 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Let’s just hope the virus doesn’t mutate again like it did back then. Not really interested in bleeding from my eyes and turning blue....

You're missing out.

[HotKey]

2 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

#TaxationIsTheft

And not correctly ratified, depending who you ask.

[Jeffro.]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

great question that I will explain in depth later.  Guys like me were the problem and caused that.  Right now - in traffic 

 

Jean-Claude should be able to get you out of that.
 

I still remember the time we were coming back from the Philly area and instead of getting on the Garden State to go up to the Tappan Zee Bridge, I said, sure let's just take the GW. How bad could it be? 
I truly don't know people deal with driving where you are.

 

[Jeffro.]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

3 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Anytime after 1918.

Let’s just hope the virus doesn’t mutate again like it did back then. Not really interested in bleeding from my eyes and turning blue....

Depends. Will it give me super powers?

[THE_BEYONDER]

2 hours ago, Jeffro. said:

Depends. Will it give me super powers?

It might.  Unfortunately, it also kills you in about 12 hours.

[Buzzetta]

4 hours ago, Jeffro. said:

All the while running their own crowd funding to bring back games such as HeroQuest. 

https://hasbropulse.com/products/heroquest-game-system

What happened to companies using their own capital to create their own stuff? I get crowd funding for indie projects or something created by Joe Average but for Hasbro???  

 

It's a combination of a few reasons.

Brick and Mortar Storefront

Okay so here is the extended reason.  Hasbro had no problem making things like that in the 80's and 90's when it was cheaper to do so.  That $100 GI Joe Aircraft carrier and that $100 GI Joe Space Shuttle Complex would probably run consumers $500-600 each given the increase in plastics.  The current market does not support the footprint in brick and mortar stores since brick and mortar is on the decline.  Hasbro recognized this trend in the early 2000's to mid 2000's when they tried to revive the GI Joe line.  Brick and Mortar stores were not interested in devoting that much retail space to "boys" toys like they were in the 80's when Star Wars, Transformers, and GI Joe each had their own devoted aisle at Toys R Us.  Hasbro relied on early internet storefronts to sell what was nicknamed the DTC (Direct to Consumer) GI Joe line.  Eventually that too failed and we got modern Joes with updated articulation.  

Jerk Collectors Like Myself

When Hasbro revived the Star Wars line in 1995 under the Kenner banner, there were vehicles aplenty and retailers could not order enough especially as the vehicles were cast from the original molds.  They did well enough for Hasbro to create new molds and new vehicles.  Then... the price of plastic increased and Hasbro had to increase prices.  What collectors noticed was that anything that did not sell would be bought out by TJ Maxx and other discount chains.  A lot of these upper end vehicles were geared toward adult collectors.  Mom is not buying her kid a $100 X-Wing.  However, this guy writing it did.  What we learned on the collecting forum was that if you held off on buying it, it would eventually be discounted.   I am not talking a small discount either.  Even two years ago when Hasbro gave us a highly detailed Rogue One Imperial Assault Tank in Vintage Packaging which MANY collectors asked for, it went to clearance.  It was priced appropriately at $79.99 for what it was.  However, everyone started in with, "Wait for it to hit clearance."  Eventually you could score these on clearance for $35 if not cheaper in some areas. 

On top of that you still had people buying out exclusives and then trying to flip them if they did not sell within 90 days you would just take them back to Toys R Us or Target or Walmart.  I admit that I did that frequently.  It helped pay for college books and the hustle was real.  This got the brick and mortar stores to turn their back toward boy's toys even more. 

Why crowd source?

It's an excellent way to get what the adult collector wants.  With Hasbro it all started with the Sail Barge.  For almost thirty something years the fans asked for a sail barge.  Hasbro basically said, "no."  It's going to be a money loss for us if we do this at retail.  So, special order was the only way to go.  They made the mock up and wanted to see if there was enough support to warrant making it.   There was an overwhelming support so Hasbro sold it directly to the consumer.   The fans got their sail barge made and Hasbro reached the number of orders where it justified making it.

 

There have been Haslab projects that failed.  They tested the waters with a $300 Cookie Monster that was as close to the actual muppet as you could get with one of those King Kong mechanical and posable skeleton's on the inside. I supported that but it fell short of the goal and was cancelled.   With this program Hasbro has been able to offer fans the big items or certain niche items that people would not normally be able to get because it would not be worth the risk.

Interestingly, Mattel did it first with some of their product lines. 

[Buzzetta]

7 hours ago, Jeffro. said:

Jean-Claude should be able to get you out of that.
 

I still remember the time we were coming back from the Philly area and instead of getting on the Garden State to go up to the Tappan Zee Bridge, I said, sure let's just take the GW. How bad could it be? 
I truly don't know people deal with driving where you are.

 

What was annoying was that it took over 2hrs to get to Brooklyn.  Then I only had to stay in Brooklyn for a half hour.  Then I turned around and went home and that only took around 45 minutes.   This is why I normally take the train.  I get fewer bad thoughts in my head. 

[kaculler]

I went to Wizard World Chicago for about 20 straight years before skipping it in 2019.  I was thinking about going to it again this year when it was scheduled for the end of August.  I don't know if I'll go if the October dates stick.

Chicago is about a 5 hour drive while the Motor City show is only about 30 minutes away.  However, I tend to find a lot more that I'm looking for in Chicago, though who knows what it will be like this year.  Other than a small local show, those are the only two that I am considering.