/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

[Anonymous No.9792013]

>When small conventions in small towns try charging as much for badges as some of the biggest conventions in the country

Why do small cons shoot themselves in the foot like this? I get that they need more money to expand and that being in usually smaller towns far away from big cities with big conventions that a lot of people will suck it up and pay the $70+, but Christ. What in god's name makes them think that they can charge as much as some of the biggest cons in the country? There's a big difference in what you're getting.

Has cgl ever been to any small cons like this? What was it like?

[Anonymous No.9792059]

>>9792013
Which con? If it’s a Wizard World con they are just overcharging because someone got smart and realized they can price gouge if they make a traveling “con” circuit to areas that have a decent population and no large cons in town

[Anonymous No.9792062]

>>9792059
thats actually a pretty good idea.

[Anonymous No.9792065]

Animecon Arkansas is like that. The basic one day tickets are normal priced but when it gets closer to the con the price for a weekend pass increases sharply. Also if I'm remembering correctly they had a "swag bag" that was like $100?
It's not a very good convention either...it has pretty much the same vendors and panels every year.

[Anonymous No.9792066]

>>9792062
right? I’ve had the misfortune of being dragged to one by a well meaning family member and it was just a big warehouse with nothing but overpriced taobao resellers and a few lines where you had to pay even more to see the c-list guests they brought in. The tickets were $50+ for one day iirc, too.

The bizarre part was that it was packed with people. Mostly normies looking to get that ~con~ experience and lots of teens you could tell wanted to go to a con but couldn’t afford to travel.

[Anonymous No.9792084]

>>9792013
They feel like they can trap their locals into thinking it's fine with the logic that by the time small town folk try to spend enough money to travel to big cons and book hotels there that it's cheaper stay at home and pay the same entry fees for what they want you to think is "the same experience".

What you're saying (by lowering prices) makes sense if they want to bring in folks from bigger cities and the coasts, although it's mostly greed/failure of staff and low quality people that make these cons not worth attending even at low prices.

The old Con Review thread had a few of these but Oklahoma cons are really guilty of this imho.

[Anonymous No.9792195]

>>9792084
Oklahoma here. Will vouch, the Oklahoma cons are EXTREMELY guilty of this.
There are 2 anime cons in OK--Tokyo in Tulsa (the worse of the 2) and Izumicon (generally the better of the 2, but still not great. Was recently bought out and the new site's a trainwreck)
Both are small conventions, but charge $70 for the weekend despite their small size. They never have worthwhile guests, dealeer's rooms and artists alleys are tiny and usually have less than 5 actually good artists, and just have nothing to do in general. You'll likely see less than 5 good cosplays throughout the whole con, and the congoers are generally young autists. Tokyo in Tulsa especially has received a lot of criticism for unmanaged lines, lack of interesting panels, and of course, the exorbitant cost they charge despite being such a small con that hasn't shown any signs of significant growth. As for Izumicon, last year an ice storm hit the weekend it was supposed to happen and several guests/panelist/dealers/artists cancelled, which shrunk an already low congoer attendance. Lots of people felt ripped off about how much they paid to be there, but as far as I know, received no refund. They got bought out, but if the new site is any indicator of how it'll be run from now on, it's still not gonna be great--definitely not worth the $70 badge. But lots of people will pay anyways because they don't wanna save their money and drive to Dallas for a decent convention.

[Anonymous No.9792199]

>>9792084
They should lower prices because it's a lower quality con. Prices probably won't attract people from bigger cities with bigger cons anyways, a better convention will--and these cons just aren't that.

[Anonymous No.9792204]

I go to a pretty dinky local con near me and it costs $30 for a weekend pass.
It's... slightly over priced.
I'm hoping since it's at a community college that has now merged with a really big state college which has a nice campus (and hotels nearby) it will eventually expand and be a little more worth it.

[Anonymous No.9792222]

Seishuncon. It's quite easily the most boring and bland convention in the state and they still had the gall to charge $40 this year. I ghosted the year before because i thought $20 wasn't worth it and then was fucking floored at the boost in price they had this year. Not to mention that parking was $30 on top of it. I don't know many people who went to the con and actually bought a badge.

[Anonymous No.9792229]

>>9792195
At least last year TnT had Baby, bit now they're back to no name guests.

[Anonymous No.9794447]

Brony conventions typically have prices that high for the weekend of at least $60. They never get that big in attendance that's not Bronycon. They include limited sponsorship badges with the top alicorn level tier go as high as $2000.