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General: Why San Diego Comicon Sucks
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
In this week's SDCC-themed List, Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller takes a look at just how the mother of all Comicons has changed into something altogether unrecognizable. See if you agree with his assertion and be sure to add your own thoughts to the discussion.
That right I said it. San Diego Comicon has become a complete joke. Sure all you fanboys (and I mean that in a good way) can take your road trips, buy your plane tickets and hope to get on G4TV’s coverage, but ask yourself what are you really going to see? This convention has outgrown itself. Here are my top five reasons why San Diego Comicon has become a complete laughing stock for gaming, comics, and the things that once made it great...
Read more of Garrett Fuller's Why San Diego Comicon Sucks.
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Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
Since I live in San Diego, I have gone to several Comic-cons over the years. My first one, in the late 90's, was fairly small and almost purely about comics. The next one had a few more TV and movie panels. By the 3rd convention, 2006 I think, it was a zoo. A fun zoo, filled with video games, movies, TV, and questionable celebrities, but comics? Not so much. At this point SDCC is just a pop culture binge. I will never attend again( as if I could with tickets selling out months in advance), but I will still watch the G4 coverage. Who doesn't enjoy a good binge?
Agreed with all points but 2nd. TV show panels and meeting actors, writers, etc is pretty much the only reason I go there now. Its the exact reason on why that event is my most awaited thing of july/august time..
# A GRIM, ODD, ARCANE SKY
# ANY GOD, I MARK SACRED
# A MASKED CRY ADORING
# A DREAMY, SICK DRAGON
I decided to look up GLEE. I lol'd! Every year that passes, there are less shows that actually have some decent entertainment value for me.
BOOYAKA!
Why is it called Comicon if there's no comics?
Should come to the New York one....we got that and the anime festival at the same time like last year.
It's because the target audience has been moved away from young and young adult males. Indeed, you'd be hard pressed to find much in all areas of society that is targeted principally at that demographic anymore.
Gone, it seems, are the days where guys can get together and enjoy doing "guy things" and being rude and crude and embodying "snips and snails and puppy dog tails". Indeed, if we do create something of that nature and get to loud about how much fun it is I can guarantee those outside that demographic will want to go to it the next time and by the third time they will have found some way to fundamentally change it.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Just another example of a once small knit hobbyist community being gobbled up, exploited, and shat out by crass commercialism.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
Just like MMORPG games!
Totally agree w/ Tardcore here.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
It's been corporate for quite a few years now, I always prefered the community feeling of Dragoncon to CC, but CC still has it's merits - I would never otherwise get a chance to say hello and sometimes chat with actual comic folk (and they are still there, hidden away behind all the galm of the TV and movie folk), I just avoid the PR folk pushing the latest teen craze and wander by the actual indie comic booths, who are usually chatty, approachable and pretty cool
Because MTV has all those music videos.
Hating on Comic Con is what all the cool kids are doing this year. Seems like you can't go anywhere without someone putting out a hate post. it's such a sheepeople thing to do.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Fans go to Comic Con, so movies/TV go to Comic Con, because that's where the money is. If you build it, they will troll.
Deepak Chopra actually has a few comics to his name, he has every right to be there.
I agree with all but number 4. Who would have the thought nerd +emo equals success.
I've read this part several times and I honestly can't tell much of a difference between them. Now, I don't like Twilight (at all), so don't misunderstand what I'm saying as defending it. But, tell me how "every single teen girl in Southern California skips school to drive to San Diego and catch a glimpse of Robert Pattison" is any different from "every single teen guy in Southern California skips school to drive to San Diego and catch a glimpse of Stan Lee"?
Okay, yes, Stan Lee had more to do with comics than Robert Pattison, but since the point was made in the article that Comicon is no longer about comics specifically, I don't know what else it could be. Robert Pattison is as much of a figurehead for that sub genre of entertainment as Stan Lee is for his; albeit less in a creative position. Instead, change Stan Lee to Harrison Ford and the creative difference is gone as well, without, I'm sure, having lost the theoretical teens driving to San Diego to see him (1990 or 2011).
It seems to come down to the same thing that every minority hobby that experiences exponential growth goes through: "it's mine and I liked it before it was cool and you can't have it!"
So what, the demographic has grown from being teen guys to teens in general - and not necessarily just teens as the teens from 20 years ago are hardly teens any more, likely without having lost their interest in this hobby. Teen girls is a demographic that, in general, has been hard to reach on a large scale over the past decade or so in the West. Now, something has come along that caught their attention; as a result they're considered intruders in a convention that, recently, has come to fit what they are fans of.
I do agree with many of the article's points (religion has no place in any kind of entertainment convention and general overexposure of Star Wars, being the biggest two), but the Twilight complaint seems to be more of a hipster crying as reality doesn't live up to nostalgia.
Agreed with 4, 3, 2 and 1. Mostly because I've no clue who Deepak Chopra is. For someone like me who is a mild anime/comic book fan and have to fight so hard to try to get in/get hotel and competing against hoards of people trying to get in to see Rob Pattinson or the cast of LOST or GLEE or whatever show is actaully selling stuff... just pisses me off. All these TV things need their own convention.
Hah! I can drink 14 glasses of milk without puking!
Hehe your brief overview cut off "See if you agree with his assertion and be sure to add your own thoughts to the discussion." after the last s in assertion so it made me LOL so I had to check to see if you cranked up the maturity rating a notch or two.
Agreed. I've almost given up on TV myself. I'm a huge fan of Sci-Fi and now that Sci-Fi channel has stopped showing sci-fi (lol, with a tear) many of my favroite shows have been canceled in the last year. Caprica and SGU are good examples. These days I watch Star Trek reruns on Netflix because TV bores me so much. It's mostly just reality junk these days. If I wanted reality I wouldn't watch TV... oh well at least we still have Walking Dead and Falling Skies... sadly though they both are very similar.
If you look at some of the aspects of stereotyping and bullying that Glee portrays it is pretty straight to the point. That is how the world works and if you think otherwise -- you are just being naive. I don't understand why this article even exists. Comicon stopped being about comics when comics themselves became irrelivent. The popularity of these has gone far away from what it once was.
The reason you see all these different themes based on television,movies,ect is because they take all things comic related, which have been modernized to the con.
I live in SD and never go anymore, its still pretty cool, and I will most likley go again at some point. I just think with most of these geek cons, anything goes, they evolve into more and more anything goes fests and it never ends, nothing wrong with that really.
San Diego Comic Con has also bashed independents and artists trying to break out. A long while back you use to have tables set up for artists to do commission work. Things like artist alley. Many college students used conventions like these to try and show off thier skill and get recognized while also making a few bucks. I haven't made the last couple cons but I hear tables are extremely expensive and if you leave the area and try to do art in the lounge they harass you or ask you to leave. I'm mad that large conventions don't allow new talent to show their work and at least try to pay off some student loans. Sheesh. I don't think young or new artists are bothering anyone if they just find some corner outside the main area to do some art. Sure some of the art sucked but it was still interesting to see new styles and technique. I'm not talking about a full booth here... Just someone with a pencil and a sketch pad.
Burning Man being another good example of this.
This can be blamed for messing up quite a few things I love. Some marketing A-holes saw some demographics weren't being exploited so they started bastardizing current stuff. That's how Stargate series ate it imo. Spent too much energy on drama/relationship stuff that appeals to the female demo and it couldn't even wrap up its storyline in a quick and dirty way.
MMO's suffering from this as well. They went from an involved systems to little more than singple player games with 'multiplayer' modes or glorified facebook apps without the actual facebook.
Oh and if you go out with the intention of keeping it 'guys hanging out' its either BS version of that, or people call you a POS for not being more inclusive.
Yes, exactly.
I rarely reply to anything on MMORPG.com since the opinions generally differ than my own.
But I had to reply here, in regards to reason 5 of the list, Glee.
I can understand if you dislike the music, aren't into accapella or show choir. But for some of us, even those of us well out of high school, Glee harkens back to a time when life was pure and utter shit. High school was hell for some folks. The socially awkward, the smart kids, the nerdy kids, the fat kids, the ethnic kids, if you weren't on a sports team of the school, a cheerleader or someone who fit into their cliques, you amounted to nothing.
Many kids in that age bracket are tormented, bullied, and more. And yes I do think it makes you a stronger person for surviving it, who knows you may end up that asshole football players boss ten or twenty years after graduating. But that is still not something I think kids should have to go through.
So when I watch Glee, for 45 minutes an episode, I relate to these kids. I understand the shit they deal with every day. I went through that myself. For each episode I myself don't feel awkward or alone or an outcast. I feel normal and realize many others went through the same shit and still do. The music isn't half bad either in my opinion and even though certain aspects of their high school life are hyper-realized versions, others are not and I can relate to them each and every one in at least some minor way. Some more than others.
Even if you hate their music, if you even had a high school experience that even remotely came close to theirs, you too can relate to it. And at the very least they have found friends and family amongst the group. They are not alone, and are stronger as a whole. I only wish I could have had that sense of family as well.