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

[griffin]

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.

[philby]

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:



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.

[Bidoofdude]

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.

[UltraMarginal]

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?!
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.

[Sinnertwin]

I can't remember the name of the last local convention I attended. 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 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 ) 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

[Jetfire in the sky]

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

Nice

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

[PROVOST]

Pretty much never go to them.

Last one was SupaNova back like 5 years ago.

Not sure what I am missing but am ok.