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Wizard World Philly
So, have any of you ever attended a comic convention before?
Comments
I mean, there are some assholes or really pushy people, but no one I've hung out with has ever gone so far to heckle potential customers— that's just bad for business. I think you guys just went to a bad con with some desperate/socially inept comicers.
OH SHIT, BLACK BASTARD?? I KNOW THAT DUDE
Comic conventions are more like celebrations of 50+ years of American sequential art and its offshoots. As such the average comic con goer is more mature than the average anime con goer. That's proven by all the attention whore cosplayers, 13 year old yaoi addict girls, punk kids with ADD, pedophile middle aged men and goth lolitas I see whenever I go to anime cons. I think that comic con goers are more likely to be percieved as less friendly because you've been accustomed to all the extremely extroverted, less mature types at anime cons. Of course it's easier to get interviews at anime conventions-those attendees are practically begging for attention. But the lack of successful interviewees shouldn't read as a condemnation of the social skills of comic con goers. The CGS guys had a lot of fun mingling with and interviewing other people as evidenced by their coverage of the show.
Maybe the more of a fan you are of a specific genre then the more enjoyment you'll get out of a con. Could it be that you two are at best casual comic fans and can't appreciate all that a moderate sized comic convention has to offer? Do you think you guys would have a fun time at the San Diego comic con? Should a convention of any genre be overwhelmingly enjoyable to every attendee regardless of the level of devotion they have to the fan culture?
In the end I think you guys were just out of your element and you had unrealistic expectations. For the price of admission you expected the show to be at least half as good as one day at Otakon. They're different experiences and I think that because you're more used to one type of convention (the anime cons) you were judging this comic show by the wrong merits.
It is possible that the Wizard brand of corporate comic convention style leaves a lot to be desired. It is possible that Wiz World Philly was actually Hikikomori Con USA. It is possible that the majority of comic fans in attendance would have loved to give interviews but you just picked the wrong people. All that is possible, but I doubt it.
Comic con attendees don't want to be interviewed because they are embarrassed to be there and they don't want people to know that they went. That's why Rym was as popular as someone trying to sell soap to you fanboy comic con boys. Maturity, by your definition, must mean no longer believing it is necessary to wash.
Instead of scary people freaking out when I tried to talk to them, people were practically begging me to interview them. Everyone was really friendly and outgoing, and we met several awesome artists.
It's not that "anime kids" are immature and that "comic fans" are: it's simply that the SMOF-type comic fan culture is inward facing, somewhat anti-social, and, in my opinion, scary. Comic cons can be awesome: Philly Wizard World was not.
We will cover this in detail on Wednesday night.
It's such a useful word!