Re: SDCC 2013 Transformers Exclusives Revealed
Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 12:33 am
The problem with the "if you don't go to the convention, that's your choice, so live with the consequences" argument is that it comes across as somewhat ignorant considering the state of geekdom as it has been for many years now.
I can understand that argument if Transformers and other franchises only had a fan base in the US or even North America, but the fact is that they have a global fan base.
Yes, people traveling interstate still have to fork out a couple of hundred for accomodation (presuming they're not sharing) and maybe another hundred in travel, but your argument completely falls apart in when you get to international fans.
Sure, there are some international fans who can afford to go to it either every single year or on the odd year, but those fans are in the tiny minority.
It's one thing to save up for a trip that will cost a few thousand. However when you start talking about places like here in Australia for example, where you're looking at $4000 just for the airfares (forgetting accomodation and spending money), then such an argument really does stretch the limits of what constitutes a reasonable argument.
It doesn't help matters in the slightest that places like HTS wont do international shipping- leaving international fans to the mercy of the secondary market.
In short, there really needs to be either a an online outlet for fans unable to make the con, or even ideally an affiliation with other cons in other regions where exclusives could potentially be shared.
I can understand that argument if Transformers and other franchises only had a fan base in the US or even North America, but the fact is that they have a global fan base.
Yes, people traveling interstate still have to fork out a couple of hundred for accomodation (presuming they're not sharing) and maybe another hundred in travel, but your argument completely falls apart in when you get to international fans.
Sure, there are some international fans who can afford to go to it either every single year or on the odd year, but those fans are in the tiny minority.
It's one thing to save up for a trip that will cost a few thousand. However when you start talking about places like here in Australia for example, where you're looking at $4000 just for the airfares (forgetting accomodation and spending money), then such an argument really does stretch the limits of what constitutes a reasonable argument.
It doesn't help matters in the slightest that places like HTS wont do international shipping- leaving international fans to the mercy of the secondary market.
In short, there really needs to be either a an online outlet for fans unable to make the con, or even ideally an affiliation with other cons in other regions where exclusives could potentially be shared.