It's a teeny one-person wank!
This one actually started a while ago, but a new round is threatening to bring on the splooge.

Over on the Plan C message board (which is teeny in the first place, hence the wank being teeny), AmbersSecretAdmirer is OMG SO MAD over ticket prices to a UK convention taking place over Halloween weekend, with James Marsters and David Boreanaz as headliners. Among the choice epithets she uses are "reprehensible" and "obscene."

And then she breaks out the CAPS LOCK KEY OF RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION and the multiple exclamation points of protest to demand that fans boycott the convention to demonstrate to those greedy con organizers that fans deserve more respect.

Cue a brief, exclamation-point filled exchange dealing with currency conversion rates and what constitutes reasonable con pricing, and no small amount of snark from Forksmoker.

I admit I put a couple of toes in (I'm Shaniezak), but I don't know if it justifies moving this to

i_wank as I tried not to get too hostile. I'll move it if people think I should.

Cut to today's new posts, and ASA's latest bit of fan-rebellion rhetoric:

HAH!!! So it begins. "The White Room" which is running for 3-days at the same time as the JM/DB event, is starting to get plenty of people signing up for it.

The three-day event costs £65 (inculding autogrpahs from all the stars) and has J. August Richards, Stephanie Romanaov and Christian Kane, amongst others.

The reason people are getting there tickets for this event? As I suspected, as a protest vote against the JM/DB event. We are smarter here in the UK, we know robbery when we see it.

JM has said this event is a gift to the fans. I've never seen sticking two fingers up at the fans as a gift. I call it an insult, as do many others it seems.

Greed does not prosper! May the revolution now commence!

Forksmoker's already responded, and has gone at it with ASA in a few other threads as well. There is potential for more splooge than the few brief creamy spurts seen so far.

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Gee, guess I'm not a real fan

pfeffermuse
2004-07-23 06:19 am UTC (link)

Even though I could afford the con prices, they seem awfully pricey, and frankly, I don't see the point in them anyway.

Why should I be all squeeful over getting an autograph and a picture with celebrity X, when s/he's not likely to remember the encounter a week from the event anyway?

For me, it's being a fan of a particular series/book/movie/other, and the characters, situations and worlds that were created because of them. The celebrity isn't the character I fell in love with. S/he's not endowed with some special powers, nor like my favorite TV characters is s/he ageless -- and I would rather remember them as they were in their prime and my own naivete than they are now.

Serve your ego, if you really must. Pay exorbitant prices (or don't). But repeat after me: the actor is not the character...The actor is not the character...The actor is not the character...and he won't remember you five seconds after he signs your stuffed Cthullu.

[/snarky]

Pepper

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Re: Gee, guess I'm not a real fan

rhi_silverflame
2004-07-23 06:40 am UTC (link)

More than half the times I go to cons, I'm just there to hang out with the people, and I don't really give a shit about the events. Occasionally I'll go and buy a one-day ticket (if they have them available) if there's someone I really want to see, but mostly it's about getting to hang out and party with the people I've chatted with online.

Granted, I've not gone to a whole bunch of cons because I'm broke, and with the Xena cons I have the luxury of living in L.A., where the big yearly event is held anyway. :) But I've always found that the real fun at them is the socializing.

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Re: Gee, guess I'm not a real fan

tami_brown
2004-07-23 06:56 am UTC (link)

And if its a con known for costumery (I think thats a word), people watching is fun. But yeah, its all about hanging out, meeting new people, and partying.

It's what I love about Dragon Con.....4 days of pretty much 24 hour partying.....there always seems to be something going on. And with this years rather lackluster guest list (although I am looking forward to seeing George Romero and Tom Savini and Bill Moseley), its the other events going on that are the big draw.

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Re: Gee, guess I'm not a real fan

janegraddell
2004-07-23 07:54 am UTC (link)

I love DragonCon. Some years there are guests I'm excited about seeing, like Chris Judge and Tony Amendola last year, but it's not the guest list that's the main attraction. We go no matter who's going to be there (although one friend is very excited about Julie Benz :)), and hang out and roleplay and play Looney Labs demos all night.

Although, speaking of money, it's looking like I might not make it this year, woe! I missed it year before last because I was pregnant, and it was a long, long haul to Chattacon.

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Re: Gee, guess I'm not a real fan

rhi_silverflame
2004-07-23 08:05 am UTC (link)

I went two years ago . . . drove all the way out from Los Angeles, and loved it. I hardly participated in any fan activities besides the "Once More With Feeling" screening and a few events in the Xena track room. The rest of the time, when I wasn't wandering the dealer room ogling things I couldn't afford to buy, I spent ~~drinking~~ hanging out with friends and people-watching.

Sadly I have not been able to afford going since, which really upsets me. DragonCon was probably the best con I've ever been to. (Which isn't hard, since about the only other ones I've been to were San Diego ComicCon and several Creation cons.)

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	iczer6 2004-07-23 07:04 am UTC (link)
	I think a poster hit it on the head when they pointed out that cons aren't a right you get when you become a fan. If you want to go scrimp and save maybe get some overtime, but don't carry on like the con people personally insulted you because you think it's too expensive. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	phosfate 2004-07-23 07:06 pm UTC (link)
	I'm amazed at how many people I've seen go to cons when they can't afford to feed themselves. It's. Just. A. Convention. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	janegraddell 2004-07-23 07:44 am UTC (link)
	And, you know, it's not like James Marsters and David Boreanaz are going to be sealed up in cryo-chambers and shot to the moon after the con is over. (Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2004-07-23 05:14 pm UTC (link)
	...demonstrate to those greedy con organizers. Amusing enough that those "greedy con organizers" are Marsters and Boreanaz and their respective management. They've cut out the middleman and are doing it themselves. (Reply to this)

	mediumdave 2004-07-23 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	Bah. Commercial cons, who needs 'em? (Reply to this)

	obsessedmuch 2004-07-24 07:43 am UTC (link)
	And heaven forbid that someone going to "The White Room" might actually prefer gasp Christian Kane and J.A.R. to DB and/or JM? Of course not. It's obviously just a protest. Gee, I hope no one tells the actors at "The White Room" that the con is full of people who didn't want to see them but couldn't afford to go to the other one. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	doyle 2004-07-24 06:40 pm UTC (link)
	JAR and Christian Kane would be amazing to see, but The White Room also has Jonathan Woodward. Holden! Knox! Tracy from Firefly! If I had the means to get to either event, there'd just be no contest. (Reply to this)(Parent)

kate74
2004-07-25 08:56 pm UTC (link)

I was tempted by The White Room, but sadly cash-free.

The JM/DB event is a huge rip-off but sadly there are people (some of them claiming to be sane) who are travelling over from the States just to be there. Did anyone tell them that the current exchange rate will require the re-mortgaging of their house just to buy a sandwich in London?

I smell another horrible fiasco in the vein of the David Boranaz Event in Brighton last year. Lost count of the disgruntled attendees for that one - it even ended up on a National consumer show ("Watchdog") for being a huge screw-up.

Hell, when they've been struggling actors a few more years and the squee brigade have moved on to other things, maybe we can book for a con for a fiver a head...

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