Comic Con Talk (Renamed since LA Comic Con can't get it together) (2 Viewers)

[GrandAdmiral]

We can't do the FanExpo now. Wife is having surgery Monday ... trying to keep our Omicron risk at zero. This surgery has already been pushed back twice.

Good luck to her with the procedure.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Guests dropping like flies now. Understandable due to Omicron but wow did timing just kill them with this.

 

[Doug B]

The Sundance Film Festival, due to start January 20th, have cancelled all in-person events. The Grammy Awards, slated for January 31st, have postponed.

It's a few days out ... could FanExpo get away with rescheduling? Or would it be the 2019 Big Easy Con disaster all over again?

 

[Sun Wukong]

They'll probably follow through. As of earlier today they were still promoting things. But this is definitely not how Fan Expo wanted this to go.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

They'll probably follow through. As of earlier today they were still promoting things. But this is definitely not how Fan Expo wanted this to go.

PR guy is still telling me things are still set for the weekend. I think they're all in unless a government intervention/request happens.

 

[bonnjer]

PR guy is still telling me things are still set for the weekend. I think they're all in unless a government intervention/request happens.

So if attendance is low / lower than expected, is this a one and done? I hope not. Hopefully they can weather this covid shirtstorm.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

So if attendance is low / lower than expected, is this a one and done? I hope not. Hopefully they can weather this covid shirtstorm.

I doubt it's a one and done. Fan Expo bought a bit of the Wizard World team when they took over (PR guy is one). I'm sure they can relay how attendance typically is. Fan Expo also has to know that the number of cancellations this quick isn't normal.

Now, if sales have been slower than usual, that's a different ballgame. But I don't think that's the case knowing our history of supporting Wizard World and LACC in spite of.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

The show goes on...

 

[bonnjer]

@Grandadmiral, how's Fan Expo going?

 

[GrandAdmiral]

@Grandadmiral, how's Fan Expo going?

Day 1 was pretty decent. Lite, as expected as people were still seeing up. Getting ready to head over now for Day 2.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Day 1 was pretty decent. Lite, as expected as people were still seeing up. Getting ready to head over now for Day 2.

So Day 2 is over for me. If there's a disappointment, it was with the vendors, but that's only because they were at other shows I attended late last year and they didn't added to what they were selling. Had a good bit of vendors with some nice slabs.

I did avert a potential disaster from last night. Dropped my phone getting to the room last night and busted up the screen. All of the interviews I conducted yesterday are on the phone and there was no way for me to get them off because I couldn't put the phone into file transfer mode. Luckily, I found a repair place that was open and had parts for my phone in stock. It's up and running so that a huge sigh of release.

Mark Russell (Second Coming) was supposed to arrive yesterday but got caught in a flight cancellation out of Denver. Made it in today with no bags, no clothes, and no books to sell as they hadn't arrived yet from the airport. Sucks for him, but he agreed to do a show in the future.

 

[bonnjer]

So Day 2 is over for me. If there's a disappointment, it was with the vendors, but that's only because they were at other shows I attended late last year and they didn't added to what they were selling. Had a good bit of vendors with some nice slabs.

I did avert a potential disaster from last night. Dropped my phone getting to the room last night and busted up the screen. All of the interviews I conducted yesterday are on the phone and there was no way for me to get them off because I couldn't put the phone into file transfer mode. Luckily, I found a repair place that was open and had parts for my phone in stock. It's up and running so that a huge sigh of release.

Mark Russell (Second Coming) was supposed to arrive yesterday but got caught in a flight cancellation out of Denver. Made it in today with no bags, no clothes, and no books to sell as they hadn't arrived yet from the airport. Sucks for him, but he agreed to do a show in the future.

How was attendance?

 

[Doug B]

Day 1 was pretty decent. Lite, as expected as people were still seeing up. Getting ready to head over now for Day 2.

I hope it's gone well enough for FanExpo to return. Hopefully New Orleans gets a "COVID mulligan" if that's something that even appears to be limiting crowd size.

Pretty astounded that 90-year-old William Shatner did not drop out. Michael Rooker is not a kid himself at 66, but he lives for these things.

The three WW cons in N.O. that we've attended would most definitely have been super-spreader events had COVID existed at the time. Makes me wonder how different things are at Fan Expo -- fewer people, more spread out, limited seating for panels, etc.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

How was attendance?

Attendance was decent. As I was leaving around 6, there was still a decent crowd and more were actually showing up as I believe the cosplay contest started at 7.

 

[bonnjer]

Attendance was decent. As I was leaving around 6, there was still a decent crowd and more were actually showing up as I believe the cosplay contest started at 7.

Given the current state of covid, that sounds pretty good.