Ahoy geeks, Jimmie here! I am sitting back, and enjoying my early “Black Friday” haul with my family tonight. Earlier this evening I was reflecting on some things that covid put the breaks on this year, and it was a fairly long list. One thing that stuck out was that there were no major conventions that were put on for people to attend.
Sure, they had alot of cool virtual cons, that were free to attend online, and this was a huge plus. It got me asking one question that I am sure has been posed by others in the geek community: do we need in person cons with the advent of the virtual conventions? My answer is a resounding YES WE DO, DAMN IT!
Do you want to get stuck in that line during a pandemic?
I know what some of you are saying right now, “We are in the middle of a pandemic! Why would you put your life in danger?”. While I can understand the health concerns, and I do know people that have been impacted by covid, I would still go to an in person convention myself. I mean, take the proper precautions (wearing your mask and sanitize your hands) you should be okay, am I right?
Pandemic aside, the recent virtual cons allowed folks to watch panels from the comfort of the porcelain throne (or wherever you watch your Youtube videos), and check out the Q & A’s. The catch here is you had to be a part of a promotion to have the “privilege” of submitting a question in advance for the panel to answer. What kind of crap is that!? That truly did suck since you did not have the option of asking your question front and center in the hall. That is part of the fun of making it to a convention! Ask your question, in person, to the celeb/artist/costumer (I refuse to use the term cosplayer. You did not create the character or develop their story) and get a smart-ass answer!
Afraid of their being too many people at a live con? Fear not, for I have an easy solution: limited attendance. It has worked for Disney quite well at Disneyworld (max park attendance is at 35%), so it for sure can work for the folks at SDCC. You can easily social distance people into oblivion while having a fun little convention for the brave (or fool hardy).
Get your con merch in person, and *bam* no having to F5 your way to disappointment.
You like con merch? Sure, we all do (don’t lie damn it, you have a room full of the stuff like the rest of us)! The nice thing about the virtual cons we had this year is you could easily order exclusives online, and have them shipped. Oh, but wait, did it sell out while it was sitting in the cart? That sure does suck. If you were in person, like normal, you would have the instant gratification of having your sweaty hands on your fav bot or stuffie encased in a plexiglass tomb to be put on display!
Lastly, and not leastly, are the costumes people make to show off at the cons. I am sure you can get some geek to cook up a powerpoint for everyone to attach their costume photoshoots too, but it is fun to see all the hardwork people put into their gear in person. How can you not like the 18,000 Deadpool’s and their variant outfits prancing around any given convention!?
Yes, they really are that annoying.
I cannot wait to get this year over with, and get back to going to cons like normal. Understandably, some geeks are not keen to going just yet, but no problem. We’ll post some awesome pics for you!
Did I nail it? Or did I miss something? Let us know in the comments below, and on our good ol’ Facebook page!
