If this had been five years ago, this news would have almost crashed the main global fansites and we would have a record number of Australians going this year despite the exchange rate... but I looked at the news postings at each site, there's barely 50-100 posts at each, and about half of those are by repeat people discussing the matter or asking about the special VIP ticket.
And how many Australians do we have that are planning to go... just 2 definites and a maybe. We had bigger turnouts back when the AU$ was a 50us cents.
Part of me... the old timer fan from the early days of BotCon... is surprised about the limited enthusiasm from the fandom over such a "holy grail" guest.
While another part of me... the more recent fan who has been burnt by FunPub and seen how it has treated others with legitimate issues... is beginning to realise that not even the most wanted guest since Peter Cullen in 1997, can get people to put aside their bad experiences to show their support or intention in going.
(I think the VIP ticket will still sell out as there is apparently a little over 200 of them... but factoring in the Golden Ticket expense as well that most VIP holders will also probably want, I'm having trouble estimating how quickly or how long the VIP or Boxsets will take to sell out this year.)
Personally I feel sad, because I miss the excitement of the fandom when a big name, first-time guest was announced 4-5 years ago... which used to get more local members wanting to go, and both of those things makes it even more exciting for me to look forward to it.
I do wish that FunPub didn't burn so many bridges in the fandom, acting as if there were plenty more fans out there to fill those spots... and maybe this lack of *public* enthusiasm is showing us that the reserves are now depleted.
To illustrate that point, 2011 was the last BotCon that they sold out their boxsets during pre-registration, despite the numbers of boxsets being reduced for the last two. It will be interesting to see how well they do this year with the Welker factor in play, or if they cut back the boxset numbers a lot just to make sure they sell out this time.