What do you do at conventions/Why do you go?

With Supanova coming up I'm thinking about maybe going. It would be my first convention and I'm wondering about increasing my inner nerd level by attending. However I'm curious as to what you actually do there and why do people go. For example looking at the guests I only recognise about 3 or 4 and I'm not sure why they are exciting in general or what they do when there or what people expect of them. I'm not really into celebrities etc and I kind of think of actors as just people who do acting as a job. So Jack Gleeson was on Game of Thrones but he didn't write it or invent it or do any of that stuff, just portrayed a character. Do they talk about how filming was? Teal'c is a character I really liked in Stargate, if I wanted to get a photo with the actor then I would also have to pay an extra $50 fee on top of the ticket too. :confused:

I'm not quite ready to make a costume and dress up but it would probably be fun and interesting at looking at the other people doing that.

The Aussie Transformers collecting club Facebook group I think is having a stall so I guess there are lots of people selling merchandise etc which could be good to look at. Do people who go generally buy stuff? What are the prices like, for things that are not rare or hard to find?

It also goes over multiple days, are the days different?

I suppose more 'general' ones like this and Comic Con are different to something like Botcon which is all about one theme which is more focussed. So Just after some thoughts I guess on the appeal and what you do if you go!

I've been going to cons since 1994, so for me it's actually so I can catch with a lot of my nerd friends. :) So it's really more to do with socially interacting with fellow fans than anything else. Same reason why I enjoy attending Transfan Meets.

Cons are just too overcrowded these days. Seeing an international guest now costs more money and you can spend hours lining up, not to mention the time lining up just for admission, even if you pre-book online and rock up early. :( Up to about 10 years ago, cons were relatively more fun because they weren't as crowded. You could just stroll up to international guests without having to pay for the privilege (you only paid if you wanted their autograph or to purchase their merch) -- and you could spend a long time having chin wags with the likes of John Rhys-Davies or George Takei etc. Nowadays people get treated more like numbers. You line up, have a quick chat, then, "Next!"

And it's not necessarily because the guests want to treat you like that, but often because they have to because there are so many people all waiting to have their turn to meet the guests during the allocated session times. I find it difficult these days to justify spending half your time at the con standing in queues. (-_-)

Even as a vendor, it's impossible to access some stuff because they have no down time. At last year's EB Games Expo in Sydney, they were letting people play the new Star Wars Battlefront game. I was thinking about having a go during times when there were no attendees on the floor, but this didn't happen because there were people with VIP passes who were lining up to play the game when the expo was closed to the general public! :eek: And of course, when even the VIP pass holders had to leave, it was time for all vendors to pack up and go. So I never got a chance to try it out. :rolleyes: There are still some small cons popping up around the place, like the Heroes and Villains Convention which feels more like what cons felt like in the 90s and 00s.

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Originally Posted by philby

I'm not quite ready to make a costume and dress up but it would probably be fun and interesting at looking at the other people doing that.

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You know, you don't have to attend a con to cosplay. I did my first cosplay in 1995 for an RPG party (no, it wasn't LARPing :p). Didn't do my first con cosplay until 1999.

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Originally Posted by philby

The Aussie Transformers collecting club Facebook group I think is having a stall so I guess there are lots of people selling merchandise etc which could be good to look at. Do people who go generally buy stuff? What are the prices like, for things that are not rare or hard to find?

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Yes. People absolutely go to cons to spend money. One thing that took me off guard when we did the OzFormers booth at Sydney SupaNova in 2003 was that we didn't have toys for sale. griffin was selling comics, and we had a exclusive comic on sale, but that was it. We had toys for display only, but not for sale. But we had lots of attendees asking to buy toys! The Sabretron 2004 and OzToyCon 2006 conventions had people selling TF toys, and they were very popular.

Prices can be somewhat unpredictable at cons -- it all depends on the individual seller. But just because attendees are looking to spend money doesn't mean that they're not price sensitive either. I've been to many cons and fairs where vendors have charged outrageous prices for things which fail to sell, and I see the vendor either lowering their prices or just packing up their unsold merch at the end of the con.

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Originally Posted by philby

It also goes over multiple days, are the days different?

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Saturdays are the busiest and Sundays are less busy. Usually the schedules are the same unless there's a special event happening on just one of the days. Check the convention programme for details. Some people like to attend multiple days to see what new things attendees bring, such as Cosplays.

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Originally Posted by philby

I suppose more 'general' ones like this and Comic Con are different to something like Botcon which is all about one theme which is more focussed.

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This is true. I like attending general conventions because it's just everything under one roof. It also allows you to socialise with people from across different fandoms, so they're great for diversity. But yeah, more specialised cons give you a far more dedicated and specialised convention for just that fandom. So both kinds of conventions have their pros and cons.

I would love to see a Transformers only convention in Australia -- and indeed we tried this from 2003-06, but alas it just didn't work. Especially because we didn't have official sanction from Hasbro (which is what BotCon enjoys in the US). Perhaps a dedicated TF booth at the mass media conventions might be the best we can get here. :(

Supanova annoys me because it's so crowded and in a venue that is way too small. I only go if they have someone of interest there.

I prefer Oz ComicCon due to the larger venue that is much easier to walk around in. At Supanova you literally have to squeeze through a lot of people and that is not fun.

This year I may give it a go as Jade and Ryan from CheezTV will be there but that's about it.

I don't have a lot of real-life nerd friends so I used to drag a lot of 'regular folk' along with me each year to their beusement :p.

I used to go to Supernova and Armageddon in Melbourne when I lived there mainly to nerd out, pick up a few rare imported TF toys and maybe a few random other collectables, dress up in my weird costumes and have my photo taken with all the other cosplayers. I'd sometimes go to a talk or something if there was one that interested me (the creator of Invader Zim was pretty good).

Always enjoyed it. Think the only time I found anything confronting was the last time I went to Armageddon. Half the caucasian girls there seem to have gone through every comic until "Yes! That girls superhero outfit is two shoestrings and an eyepatch!" - I was too embarassed to get my photo with those ones :o. The asian girls always had the best anime costumes - so cool!

It's one of the few things I really miss about living in a capital city. I don't get to nerd out like that in the bush :(

I'm a celebrity seeker, but they'd have to be involved in something I've loved, ie Carrie Fisher, Karl Urban, David Hasselhoff and Christopher Lloyd.

Crowds don't bother me, at least they're a bunch of fellow nerds who actually are enjoying the moment and having fun, rather than a bunch of tryhard pretentious douchebags you get at music festivals.

There may be the odd bit of merchandise that catches my eye, but with my focus now on MP collecting only, I can't see myself ever blowing my cash at these events.

This year I'm interested in Supanova, Troy Baker will be in Perth and I want him to sign my Art of Mass Effect book. I can't imagine there being a ridiculous line for him. Shame Christopher Judge isn't coming to Perth, my girlfriend introduced me to Stargate and we're going through the boxset of SG-1.

I go to get stuff signed in person, usually comic books and prints. I take a day off and go Friday to get the queuing out of the way and enjoy the weekend days walking around.

Went once and absolutely hated it! Too many people and not enough things to interest me -- Transformers etc is pretty much the only kind of geeky thing I'm into.

I've never had a lot of interest in doing Botcon, but going to San Diego Comic Con is on the bucket list. Problem is it's in July every year - wish it was on during NBA season so I can catch a few Blazers games at the same time. First world problems.:p

Also not all con's are the same format.

I can't speak from recent AU cons but "back in the day" (pre-kids) I attended a couple of Trek cons and a Buffy con which were a load of fun and as Gok said you could mingle a bit with the celebs and they wanted to mingle with you - meeting other like minded people was the best bit.

I hear rumour (maybe someone can confirm) Peter Cullen gets lectured by convention organisers a bit because he like to chat with the fans and gets told to "move it along" so I imagine (if it is true) even the celebs feel a bit like a production line rather than getting to enjoy themselves and can't really connect with fans these days. I've never been to a TF con but if he ever does another one that's on my bucket list if I can manage it even if I have to queue up for hours just to say hi. :)

In Asia (eg Hong Kong) the con's are more about the products and the cosplay and less about the celebrities. You get famous Asian singers and the odd artist but the HK con's are booth after booth of geek and anime goodness to drool over, pre-order and dream of ever having the $$ to afford as well as lining up for convention only exclusives. Then it is about the cosplay shows, the cosplay competitions and hanging out with other cosplayers. I don't do cosplay but I really love seeing them and appreciating the effort they all put in to their costumes. It's a lot more sterile than the AU cons but I still really enjoy going along because you get to see some crazy stuff, some awesome stuff and occasionally connect with like minded fans.

cool thanks for all the comments! I'm sort of just curious about it all. Maybe I should wait for another one with more people that I would be more interested in seeing? If someone like Sarah Stone was there for example I would probably want to get a comic autographed or something. I think I might know at least 1 person going this weekend so maybe I'll go anyway to check it out.

I used to go to conventions back in the day, when things like supernova were just starting up.
At first I just went to enter TCG tourneys (I was pretty heavily into the scene back in the day) but the atmosphere was good and there were plenty of things to see do and new people to meet, including actors from anime and sci fi.

But as time went on and the cons got more popular they began increasing prices, having less to see and do (unless you paid heaps of money), and became little more then glorified sales expos you had to pay twice for (once to get in and then again to buy stuff for nearly the same prices as ebay) because buying merchandise was the only thing left to do.
As the others have said, even the actors dont get to do what they want anymore, ie. stop and chat to the fans, tell tall tales, basically have a grand old time with people as passionate as they are.

So sure, conventions can be good to meet up with other fans and get some autographs, but I find the downsides far outweigh the benefits these days with things being too expensive, not enough free entertainment to warrant the cost of admission, and all the chaos going on.
Last time I went to a con I felt like I was just at a shopping center on a thursday night with all the screaming kids, shoppers, and people just hanging out there cause they had nothing better to do.

Give me a small gathering with a group of dedicated fans over that any day of the week!

Primarily to spend money. I've found I can normally get a wider range of stuff at a con for reasonable prices than I would locally.

Secondary to that, to meet people. Not just people I've arranged to meet but to make new friends with people with similar interests.

The final reason would be celebrities. I have no real interest in just getting photos and pictures signed, but if there's an author or comic book writer/artist I like I will get them to sign a piece of their work, either a comic or a print in the case of artists. The prices charged for so-called big name celebrities at events like Supanova are a rip-off, especially when they frequently advertise celebrities in attendance who cancel a few weeks before the event.

I am planning on going to 2 Oz ComicCons this year, Melbourne and Brisbane. I love all things Scifi and really enjoy meeting Celebs from my favourite Scifi or Transformers shows.

I enjoying walking around, seeing all of the booths/stalls I also really enjoy looking at the comic artists work.

I dont really spend to much on items, but I do like getting photos with the celebs and getting some of my Transformers signed. Last convention I got John Di Maggio to sign my TF4 Crosshairs I also got Adam Baldwin to sign my Breakdown

I went to Supanova and I'll have to admit it was hard to justify the costs with the celebrities. But I mainly went to catch up with the fellow Ozformers in the area.

After searching for a bit, I managed to meet up with Neil Kaplan and um, the guy who does Michelangelos voice from new TMNT (stretching for that one).

Neil was cool, tiny line and we had a good chat. nice bloke. Annoyingly while Neil was fine with photos, the staff were all "No." But at least they weren't telling people to move on. There was no line.

Thing that annoys me though was the place was too small, with no place to sit down and have some decent lunch.

But it was a fun experience, I'd go again, but only with good company

I started going to Supanova back in 2003 but stopped about 5 years ago as I felt they were going too corporate. Early on they had the specialty dealers there similar to what you would find at the old Parramatta Fair but on a larger scale. With their sponsorships with EB, JB HI FI etc., what they have on offer is nothing different to what you'd find going into a Westfields. At least with a Westfields, there's no entry fee.

I got an autograph from Claudia Christian from Babylon 5 at a convention but she didn't get my jokes so I didn't bother keeping it :rolleyes:

I also get to meet Chase Masterson who played Leeta in Deep Space 9. I asked her when her character would leave Rom for Morn and she just laughed and said 'next question'. Since she was also not wearing her Dabo Girl attire I wrote her off as well :p

A friend of mine was verry chuffed as she was a bit of a sci-fi nut and got to meet the cute mechanic chick from Firefly and the fat guy from Sliders. I just stood in the background and took pictures for her.

I'm not that interested in the Celebs. Unless its someone I admire I really don't care. Same as not really caring about their opinions. I don't need superstars with private jets telling me how bad the environment is and how we all have to do our part when they leave a bigger carbon footprint in one trip than I do in one year :rolleyes:

hmm ok well maybe I will skip supanova then...is anyone from melbourne going?

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Originally Posted by philby

hmm ok well maybe I will skip supanova then...is anyone from melbourne going?

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There's a good chance a "Supanova [City] meetup" thread might pop up. Often one or two people here end up going to these things.

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

The Sabretron 2004 .

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Best. Con. Ever. :D Although really it was a mincon (pun intended)

I can feel what everyone is saying about overcrowding, I went to New York Comic Con on the Thursday, the apparent quiet day and the entire facility was shoulder to shoulder, and this place was massive. I did get a little thrill by seeing the Toy Hunter and his shop, he was quite well priced and was so into what he was doing, I know people think he is a dick but I could see he truly loved being in amongst it. I was so lucky to stumble across his booth because by that time I was ready to go and didn't have a store guide. But overall it was a very annoying experience.

I agree with Trev with some of the cosplay, to get implants and wear a thong isn't that hard (unless you are a guy), and if you had a young child with you it would be pretty difficult to explain, but the people who actually make an effort, those cos-players are amazing.

If there were guests that I were interested in I would consider paying to get a photo/autograph.

I think we may see a rise in regional cons because of this overcrowding in the cities, the ones in Cairns and Mackay last year were quite good from what I have read, we are getting one in Townsville this year so I am very interested in going to it. We had a Lego one last year and it went really well and was great to go to.

For the past few years I've been going to PAX (penny arcade expo), this has become my preferred one to attend as the general culture are there to have fun playings video games and board games collectively. I've spent the day with groups of friends and random people playing games such as RISK, Munchkins, Pandemic, Cards Against Humanity, etc. I also bring along my 3DS to play with the crowd of people or just play the games set up throughout the exhibit halls. Sometimes I dress up as well.

I use to attend Supanova and Armageddon but I've lost interest going those and haven't been to either of them in a while.

For Australian Conventions, I usually only go if there are several people I know going (usually from here), and that often requires someone significant from Transformers being a guest (like Peter Cullen at Supanova in 2014).
The annoying thing is that you can't take photos of the guests at the autograph area, to remember the occasion or prove that you saw them (not selfies)... which is a big part of the experience for me, to go back over photos to relive/remember the events.

I'd like to go to more, just for the wander around and see things as a "day out", but it isn't as much fun if I go by myself, as having someone else can help fill in the day more if I run out of things that interest me.

I ended up going. Like Griffin says I guess it was basically to wander about and see what it was like, being my first one. I was on my own, I did bump into a uni friend who I knew was going which was good. She is really into Marvel and made an AMAZING Rocket Raccoon costume from Guardians of the Galaxy. The Transformers Collectors Club Australia group had a great looking stall. I got a photo of my admiring:

http://i.imgur.com/3dgaopc.jpg

It was only $32 for entry so it wasn't too bad and not very crowded (apparently Sunday is more quiet and other days it is pretty packed). I'm not 100% sure if I would go again on my own or if there are no people I want autographs/photos with (I didn't get any of either). I didn't do a lot of shopping either, I grabbed a couple of things which I'll post in acquisitions but there wasn't really a lot I really wanted. I asked every stall I think if they had any BB-8 pop vinyls but they were all gone.

Cons provide a large space full of people more likely to have similar interests to me. I can meet some members or friends there and am sometimes able to track down some stuff I've missed. Fingers crossed I can find an Air Raid at my next one.

I've only ever been to a few conventions.

Many years ago I went to a Star Trek convention in Melbourne, a 3.5 hour drive from home with my Mum. I was in my early teens at most. It was before voyager started here. One of the features of the convention was they showed the Pilot for the first time in Australia. I was blown away by the whole thing, Tim Russ and René Auberjonois were the special guests I think. each had an hour long Chat/Qand A session.
This was an era when conventions were still 'small' in that you could attend everything and not miss anything because something else was on at the same time. there were several thousand people in attendance. I still remember we purchased our overpriced pies at the Hotel café before going around the corner and seeing four huge dudes wearing complete Klingon costume and makeup sitting around sharing lunch together. Blew my mind!

I've since been to a couple other Star Trek conventions, a Star Gate convention and in more recent years Botcon 2011 and 2014.

I used to put great stock in getting something signed by the guests at the con, there was only ever a couple and the lines weren't massive. I've since come to the personal realisation that I'd much rather spend an hour in a panel listening to behind the scenes info, stories, news etc than standing in a line for an hour or three waiting to spend 30 seconds speaking to someone and getting a signature on something. I don't begrudge people from getting signatures and for people that have themI often have some measure of envy that someone has an MP prime with a Peter Cullen signature on it, or something like that.

The last time I had something signed was at the stargate convention I went to a few years ago. it was held at UNSW, there would have been only 1500 attendees. there were a tonne of guests and While EVERYONE lined up to get a photo and signature from Richard Dean Anderson my friends and I managed to spend pretty much a solid hour chatting with a bunch of the other stars who had no 'customers'. I got Dan Shea (Sgt Siler, and the stunt coordinator) to sign a large shifting spanner for me.

the two botcons I've been to I did the entire package, partially to make the most out of the trip but also, Why not?!:D
I did one of the tours and the custom class prior to each convention, on the days of the convention, I did pretty much every panel I could attend, this meant missing out on signatures, but I didn't have anything worth signing and the panels were all very entertaining/interesting. I attended as much extra curricular stuff as I could fit in, last Botcon I met some TFW people for breakfast one morning and went out to a pub one night with some of the Seibertron crew.

As for local pop culture conventions like supernova etc, I am yet to go to one. I would want to see as many panels as possible but I often look at the lineup and figure that I'd have to go both days to see all the people I wanted to see and then only really fill up less than half of each day. I often have sport or other commitments on as well making full attendance unlikely. I've never considered Australian cons a place worth shopping for transformers, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

I can't remember the name of the last local convention I attended. :confused: Was it Supanova last year at Homebush Bay? Must have been.

Anyhoo, I recall it being severely overcrowded to the point of smelling the guy next to me's cheap aftershave :rolleyes: and being a TF'er first and foremost, I found the selection of merchandise unappealing and anything that was, was severely overpriced to recoup some of the cost of attending and displaying at the convention.

As for the reason to go? The last convention that I attended prior to that was the one where the OTCA guys had a diorama with the death of Prime. (Forgive my shoddy memory, but thats how long ago it was :o) and thought that it would be nice to attend another. Plus a friend had managed to score discounted tickets and I'm slightly partial to women dressing up as Mortal Kombat characters :p:D

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Originally Posted by Sinnertwin

I'm slightly partial to women dressing up as Mortal Kombat characters :p:D

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Nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYt0WbDjJ4E

Pretty much never go to them.

Last one was SupaNova back like 5 years ago.

Not sure what I am missing but am ok. :)