Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's not bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's ot bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

Yeah but that's risky, because if it's to new it will alienate hardcore fans,but if it's the same old same old, the fans who are willing to go every year are still a guaranteed check, and as long as it's a steady guarantee and they break even at least, the club won't change, because it's secure.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's ot bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

Yeah but that's risky, because if it's to new it will alienate hardcore fans,but if it's the same old same old, the fans who are willing to go every year are still a guaranteed check, and as long as it's a steady guarantee and they break even at least, the club won't change, because it's secure.

I'm not sure it would be so risky. Like you say, the guaranteed checks are guaranteed checks. The people who go every year tend to emphasize the social benefits and "experience of being at Botcon" rather than the product itself, or the advertising strategies that market that product.

But folks like us? I think if they want to broaden their base of attendees, they really need to implement at least some incremental change and experimentation.

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's ot bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

Yeah but that's risky, because if it's to new it will alienate hardcore fans,but if it's the same old same old, the fans who are willing to go every year are still a guaranteed check, and as long as it's a steady guarantee and they break even at least, the club won't change, because it's secure.

I'm not sure it would be so risky. Like you say, the guaranteed checks are guaranteed checks. The people who go every year tend to emphasize the social benefits and "experience of being at Botcon" rather than the product itself, or the advertising strategies that market that product.

But folks like us? I think if they want to broaden their base of attendees, they really need to implement at least some incremental change and experimentation.

The people who go place emphasis the social gathering, however that's not what botcon's necessarily about in a capitalist sense you know. Botcon gets most of it's money back in sales, how the sales go about doesn't matter whether people are buying the privilege to be part of the social event, the toys or the personalities. However Something I think needs to happen is botcon needs to settle. The traveling circus is fun sure,but a set time and place would help stabilize it fiscally. The one thing I wish would happen, and I know this would upset people in the midwest and south. However I think there need to be a Botcon East, and Botcon West. because people like me on the coast, specifically the west coast, there's absolutely no convention for us this side of SDCC.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:However I think there need to be a Botcon East, and Botcon West. because people like me on the coast, specifically the west coast, there's absolutely no convention for us this side of SDCC.

A thousand times this. Have your California show, heck do Pasadena every year if you want to, it seems to make them money. Then rotate it around the East Coast and Midwest; see what works and what doesn't.

Maybe TF Con running two shows a year now will kick them in the pants a bit to do the same. Maybe.

Imma let you finish, but I need to share this reminder about Alpha Bravo.

Va'al wrote:

How can you not love him.



He's so majestic.



He's so selfless.



He's so stylish.



And a great team worker.

Alpha Bravo is the Chewbacca of Combiner wars, AKA the true hero.

ScottyP wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:However I think there need to be a Botcon East, and Botcon West. because people like me on the coast, specifically the west coast, there's absolutely no convention for us this side of SDCC.

A thousand times this. Have your California show, heck do Pasadena every year if you want to, it seems to make them money. Then rotate it around the East Coast and Midwest; see what works and what doesn't.

Maybe TF Con running two shows a year now will kick them in the pants a bit to do the same. Maybe.

Anyhow, I can only hope this would happen though knowing the club, if they do two conventions, that'd probably cause some friction in regards to exclusives, what's going to happen at the show, booking, what have you. But if that does happen they should be treated like two separate conventions. maybe two sets of toys, or just the average count divided by two; whatever, guests based on proximity and scheduling, and the vent based on locale. If they wanted to do the traveling circus, they could literally have it where there's two cons have charter maps, this one goes Pasadena, Seattle, Portland, Tucson; this one goes Chicago, Houston, New York, Atlanta, etc.

Two shows a year is kind of a pipe dream. You guys said it yourselves, the the returning customers are likely to remain so. I hardly think showing off the other figures is going to matter much. It hasn't to my girl and I for the last decade. She doesn't give a damn about Transformers at all. It's those friends we've made that bring us back every year. Would I like to know all the toys? Probably. I much prefer being pleasantly surprised. If I'm not, then I simply wouldn't buy them. That's if I didn't collect all their figures. No one is forcing my hand there. That's all on me. I agree that some things are dated but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

Sarcasm aside, I understand what you're saying. Capitalism doesn't adhere to any rule other than trying to make a profit though. Obviously this works for them. They're clearly not changing the strategy. We've all had ten years to get over it. I'm gonna go to Botcon and have a great time with great people even if I hate every last figure this year. I'm gonna be a club member and hope they produce stuff I like. If not, I'll live. They're only toys. It's a gamble, take it or leave it. Even better/cheaper, make friends with folks who attend. Have them grab stuff you want. I'd offer but my hands are already full. I lost my point. It's a hobby about toys. Shouldn't that be a fun thing?

Flux Convoy wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

Sarcasm aside, I understand what you're saying. Capitalism doesn't adhere to any rule other than trying to make a profit though. Obviously this works for them. They're clearly not changing the strategy. We've all had ten years to get over it. I'm gonna go to Botcon and have a great time with great people even if I hate every last figure this year. I'm gonna be a club member and hope they produce stuff I like. If not, I'll live. They're only toys. It's a gamble, take it or leave it. Even better/cheaper, make friends with folks who attend. Have them grab stuff you want. I'd offer but my hands are already full. I lost my point. It's a hobby about toys. Shouldn't that be a fun thing?

I'm glad you understood it was sarcasm in jest

Thing is, you're going to go anyway. You're a guaranteed revenue stream to the Club. The question isn't about how to keep attendance the same, it's about how to grow the convention so the Club can make more money, put out more figures, and generally keep this whole thing going for longer. Keeping everything the same isn't the way to do that, necessarily.

I'd definitely argue that they're producing more. The sub and the additional figures. They're producing twenty plus figures per year now.

Flux Convoy wrote:I'd definitely argue that they're producing more. The sub and the additional figures. They're producing twenty plus figures per year now.

I think you're missing my point...

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

Sarcasm aside, I understand what you're saying. Capitalism doesn't adhere to any rule other than trying to make a profit though. Obviously this works for them. They're clearly not changing the strategy. We've all had ten years to get over it. I'm gonna go to Botcon and have a great time with great people even if I hate every last figure this year. I'm gonna be a club member and hope they produce stuff I like. If not, I'll live. They're only toys. It's a gamble, take it or leave it. Even better/cheaper, make friends with folks who attend. Have them grab stuff you want. I'd offer but my hands are already full. I lost my point. It's a hobby about toys. Shouldn't that be a fun thing?

I'm glad you understood it was sarcasm in jest

Thing is, you're going to go anyway. You're a guaranteed revenue stream to the Club. The question isn't about how to keep attendance the same, it's about how to grow the convention so the Club can make more money, put out more figures, and generally keep this whole thing going for longer. Keeping everything the same isn't the way to do that, necessarily.

Yep, the problem with the club is how stagnant it is. Even if the club is making enough to break even or better, they're still depending mostly on older hardcore fans. Eventually those fans will either get frustrated with the club's lack of ingenuity, or how tedious they've been for the decade plus, either way with the clubs dependency on this small sector of fans; because lets face it, there are more people like me and megatronus, than say you or seibertron, and when that fan base starts to dwindle, the club will start hurting.

Va'al wrote:Imma let you finish, but I need to share this reminder about Alpha Bravo.

Va'al wrote:

How can you not love him.



He's so majestic.



He's so selfless.



He's so stylish.



And a great team worker.

Alpha Bravo for President.

Counterpunch wrote:Alpha Bravo for President.

Alpha Bravo - Always ready to lend a hand.