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Permalink Reply by john on March 4, 2020 at 5:16am

so are you heading to Awesome Con in DC then??

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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on March 4, 2020 at 8:12am

The same thing happened with a convention up here in Canada, related to an older television franchise I was a fan of.

For those who were big fans of the Degrassi High/Degrassi Street franchise, a group of fans organized a convention near my city. While I get and understand that this was a "niche" convention, it was exploited to the nines. You had to pay $100 just to get in the door for one day, and anything else (meet-and-greets/autographs/lunch/etc.) were an extra charge on top of the full ticket package (which ran $300 for all three days). Far as I'm aware, most of the cast members ONLY do those conventions now, as everything is heavily incentivized to encourage VIP purchases (you can't even interview them for free if you're press - you have to pay the VIP fee like everyone else, lol), but it's apparently successful enough that they've run it for the last two years, so what do I know.

It goes back to a topic I spoke about related to sports cards and the explosion of signed cards and premium products. Why would an athlete, or actor, spend hours upon hours spending their time signing autographs if they can get a huge cash bonus doing the same thing on a designated day? We've seen the premium card market extend to franchises like Star Wars, Stranger Things and more, along with the reselling of cut historic autos in glorified mystery boxes and plenty of overpriced items that are being used to (seemingly) artifically spike the price of autos in the short term.

I have fans who religiously attend FanExpo Canada up here every year, paying exorbitant prices for admission, parking and food/drinks, while shelling out money on top of it to wait in line for hours just to get a couple items signed. Can't say it's for me, but if that's what makes the market work, more power to the celebrities who do it.

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Permalink Reply by john on March 4, 2020 at 11:56am

some of the niche shows--fanfesst or arrowverse--don't like their people to do these shows...some make more money doing a show then what they make in a season
a couple hundred signatures with a $40(average amount and shows cut) and then if you want a photo with the guest it is another charge above that. I am not sure but it looked like you had to pay almost double as in almost every show you go to now a days

I get annoyed that it has to come this..in the past you get your signature and a fast handshake and your off on your merry way (some to another line or coa counter?

last comic show l went to there were barely and artist/writer/ink/letterer that wasn't charging for their signature. I went broke quick and had to end my day hours earlier having 1/4 of the signatures that I wanted.  yes l know-- I enable this by paying for the signature but lve doing all this for decades. 

the sport shows are so %#$& crazy prices. the new Heisman is getting 2x more then HOFers marino and aikman combined.(not to jinx him but how many Heisman have gone on to have a great career.. he hasn't taken a snap in the NFL and is making that amount of money is disgusting but there are people that will buy into that. before I got sick (recluse life for a decade) on weekends with my daughter were out looking for the hotels where teams stayed before the game. big time names that cost over 1oo at a show.  that part of my life is over and l don't see me getting back into going out looking I now yes the mail to get signatures. A lot of the sports world will sign something for a donation. Donations are a fraction of what they get at a show both in signatures and attendance. I know that aikman and marino get a little over $120k  weekend. 

these stories will continue long after l am gone but there will still be those who will pay those prices and my boycott means nada. 

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