My buddy and his wife have a small business selling comic books and vintage toys (mainly 70s - 90s) along with 80s memorabilia. I help them out and work small conventions with them in our area sometimes.
I got rid of my all my Disney Star Wars comics along with most of my comics from recent years since I mainly just read the older stuff now and added them to the comics we sale at our booth, and one time this girl who was dressed like Princess Leia and looked to be about 16 came to our booth and was looking over the Disney Star Wars comics and was raving about how excited she was for the Rey movie and how much she loved her character. I was polite and showed brought out some more comics for her to look at. She then asked me how I liked the sequels and I was very diplomatic and said that since I had been reading the EU since I was 12, I was really attached to that storyline so the sequels didn't do much for me.
She had never heard of the EU, but she thanked me and bought a massive stack of those comics. After she left my friend teased me and said he could see my eye twitching when she was praising Disney Star Wars.
I find it interesting how I can work a part time side business and understand that going after what the customers like or attacking/insulting customers is very bad for business. I could've told her exactly what I thought about what Disney has done to Star Wars and my beloved EU but I would've been out of a good chunk of money.
Also, check out small cons in your area if you ever have the chance. So much more fun than the large ones and you tend to have more actual hardcore fans. I used to want to go to the San Diego con but this vendor who had been going there for years said it used to cater to comic book readers but now it seems to cater normies and lefty politics.
The world would be a much more pleasant place if more people could learn the simple art of knowing when to keep their mouths shut.
It cracks me up when corporations are shocked when they lose business because they can’t shut up about politics. ESPN had a great channel for guys who like sports and for some reason they thought that lecturing about politics was the smart move
Funny how that happened after they were bought out by Disney.
Have you seen the recent videos on YouTube? It's FLOODED with OF "models" in cosplay promoting their "content" and -- I'm being serious -- selling "fan experiences" in their hotel rooms. They're absolutely everywhere, making it an Anime-themed "Red Light District."
It is all OF shit. I saw some TTRPG developer posting how he loses jobs because he insists on promoting cosplayer OFs and how he won't stop because "sex work is real work."
Pfft. LOL. Sometimes I really do believe these whores claiming to make $1m/ year. Dudes are sad.
It would explain the cosplay to porn pipeline.
Jesus. I went to SDCC in 2006 and it was still normal. I went down there again in 2015 and didn't attend the con, but they had a bunch of booths set up in empty lots downtown. That was a lot of fun because some of them had bars, one had a big zip line thing, there was a HITMAN themed thing where I got an official red tie...
Don't know if they still do that, but if they do I actually thought that was more fun than the convention itself.
Okay, so first of all, you're an idiot. Straight up.
I recommend you attend the Kathleen Kennedy School of Business to get your priorities right. 🙄
True. I need to do better
Be more specific. There's been too many.
I meant where they recently attacked JD Vance. Didn’t know they had other ones. What happened?
If you didn't know then you don't RPG so the details won't really be significant to you.
Let's just say that Paizo's entire history can be summed up as long string of repeatedly saying "fuck you, we're doing it anyway"; and about half the time it works out for them.
Yea, I’ve only done some D&D and a game my nephew came up with. That sucks that he treats customers like that
That's how they got started in the first place. D&D 4th edition was widely hated, so Paizo took advantage of the open source legal agreement and started publishing 3.5 rules with their made up lore. It wasn't woke back then, half-orcs and half-elves were explicitly stated to be mostly rape babies. Don't know much about Paizo's history between then, but yeah when they did 2nd edition they took the opportunity to sanitize the lore, dumb down the rules, and do their best to copy what Wizards of the Coast were doing.
I was stationed in San Diego, the CC was always Hollywood and “influencer” grift when I was there a decade ago. Guys would get fleeced worse than at strip clubs buying redundantly expensive drinks, meals, and some even gave girls their hotel rooms. The amount of attention seeking cosplayers and men simping was gag worthy then, I can only imagine how shitty it is in the day of onlyfans. I’ll have to check out smaller cons, just being in the vicinity of SDCC made me egregiously biased against all of them.
This guy was talking about in the 80s and 90s. I could see it being more comic book focused back then but yea it’s been bad for a long time. Guess they just want to cater to non fans lol
Good for you, OP. It's because you actually care about the source material and the customer's needs. The executives installed into these positions are far removed from both, hence a lot of modern day problems.
And they buy the IP just to change with with current year nonsense
An apt comparison is major league sports vs minor leagues. The big leagues have corporations and government masters, so they serve them. It's why the NFL which is overwhelming black is lecturing about diversity. Meanwhile minor league teams have to rely on the community to make money. It's why there are always promotions and community engagements.
Minor league baseball is fun to watch and you get to see big names sometimes. Would’ve been fun to have seen Jordan’s team in the 90s. Have you watched any USFL or whatever the merger is called now? Yea, the NFL should really shut up about race. Whenever I see that I’m like ok, you are making millions so go to the community you grew up in and try to make a difference
I tried watching some USFL two years ago but couldn't muster any interest in watching any team. I fell out of love with sports pretty hard, I barely watch the teams I grew up on. There is just so much political stuff around sports now, that it's difficult for me to fully engage.
I totally understand. I still watch the Rangers and Dallas Stars. They didn’t drink the kool aid like the NFL. I’ll always watch the Cowboys but don’t pay much attention to the rest of the league. WWE isn’t what it used to be but I think HHH is doing a good job. UFC isn’t bad at all. I agree with you about politics.
Sports used to be something that actually brought people together. My dad and I bonded through ESPN. Was such a great guy channel
I like the UFC because Dana White doesn't give a shit what his fighters say. You'll get Woodley answer every question with "Black Lives Matter" and Sean Strickland calling out faggot reporters, and White is just like they're grown-ups they can say whatever they want
Very true. And they cheered Hogan so that’s a plus for me. I’ll be a hulkamaniac til I die lol
I went to San Diego Comic Con a few years back around 2010 and liked it. Even then it was getting overly corporate and stale.
I remember a huge booth for the premier of The Walking Dead, and I bought signed artwork from a card artist for Magic the Gathering. Fun times.
Cool! I got to meet the pharaoh kid from Stargate at a con once and have always found some great books and comics.
Small cons are very relaxing. I loved the Seattle Retro Gaming Expo. It was so chill.
Absolutely! I always try to support them
Qrd
Quick rundown?
Yes
About the "Pathfinder Fiasco"
Someone there asked that JD Vance return his book since he is a “fascist” so a lot of people on the right have been returning their stuff
Damn, what a jackass. Glad I don't spend money on TT shit, too pozzed now