For me, not anymore. They’re all older than me, and the shows reflect that. Also, I didn’t like crowds back then, now I like them exponentially less.
The notion that fans smell bad is…true. You can literally smell the b.o. from the gaming room halfway down the hall. Fanboys and soap do not mix.
I attended regularly from 1985 to 2005, and was on the staff for several years. When I wasn’t actually on the staff, I volunteered.
But I lost interest when the crowds became so dense that navigating the main hall was physically miserable. Elbows everywhere, and no space between them. I once was trapped and had to follow a motorized wheelchair that acted as a kind of icebreaker.
There used to be little presentations and discussions. You’d have some guys talking about “Lettering in Comics” or “Clichés, Tropes, and Stereotypes” or the long-running “Gays in Comics.” Now it’s all massive presentations, with no audience input, in vast halls seating 6,000 people. The little, fun, fannish stuff is dead and gone.
Comic-Con is hugely successful. But it isn’t my kinda fun any more.
(The latest Westercon, in the same city, had 800 people attending, and was a pure delight!)
Ditto and ditto. I still go to the smaller, local cons, although even they are getting too crowded to be comfortable. In a way, it’s gratifying to know that the little niche hobby of mine is now gaining more fans and wider acceptance, but on the other hand, the overcrowding makes it a little less enjoyable.
Back in the early '70s, there was no such thing as a comic book store, so going to a con was the only way I could get back issues and other merchandise. Even now, with so many vendors in one place, the prices are competitive and you can find a wider selection than in any one store.
And meeting the people who create the comics was a big thing. I’ve collected dozens of sketches and autographs over the years. (And in the early days, they didn’t charge for sketches. A few still don’t.)
Even now, though, the panels are the most fun. Meeting the creators, learning what they’re working on, telling them what you’d like (or wouldn’t like) to see, finding out about comics history, asking (and sometimes answering) questions. Of course, nowadays you can do that on the Internet, but it’s more fun in person. And the panels are usually the least crowded rooms in the con (except when the speaker is a big media guest).
BTW, “con” is short for “convention,” not “conference.”
It’s probably one of those hyoo-mon bee-ying things.
We are Zombies of the Stratosphere, and are immune to merely human concerns.
(Um…can I get John Romita Jr. to draw my character?)
Never been to ComicCon, but I do go to PAX every year.
Most of the fun parts have been mentioned already. However, I will in addition mention that the lines are part of the attraction. You hang out with a bunch of people that you don’t know but have similar interests. Everyone’s playing a game of some sort; maybe a card game like Magic or Cards Against Humanity; maybe some kind of multiplayer video game; maybe even just normal stuff like 20 questions. And if you don’t want to play a game there’s plenty of things to talk about, like whatever it is you’re lining up for, their costume, or anything else. These are your people, so it’s not hard to find mutual interests. It’s great fun, and I’m pretty much a misanthrope.
Despite the lage size (70k ish, IIRC), I always manage to run into people I know, whether ex co-workers or friends I made previous years.
The food argument is dumb. Cons are in the middle of cities. Walk around and find a nice place to eat.
There are “con games” too; the last few years we’ve played a kind of puzzle hunt thing. Sometimes there are collectables, and you have to find other people to trade with to complete the set. The final prize isn’t worth anything; it’s the fun of doing it that matters. It’s a “side quest.”
Yeah, sometimes it hits a sour note, like presentations that are just long commercials, or celebrities charging for their autographs. But most of the time it works.
For those having trouble with this…
So are the bigger PAX events more centered around mainstream games? I was a little disappointed at PAX South that it was almost entirely centered around indie and small publishers.
Yes, I would say that mainstream video games are the centerpiece at PAX Prime. They do have a robust indie game section, but the largest and most prominent sections of the exhibition hall are for the big guys; Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Blizzard, Bethesda, etc.
I suppose the large companies have to limit the number of events they’re at, and just pick the most popular ones.
How about “ConFURance”? 