I know I'm gonna hear it but I think I a lot of this has to do with the location. I used to love trying to guess where Botcon was going to be held. All over the US.....Now if I pick California or Florida I have about an 90% chance of guessing right.....
I am very happy for those fans whom have enjoyed having the convention so close but give others a chance, give other dealers, local dealers a chance to attend and setup. Fresh blood!!! I have said it before and I will say it again. I plan on going where ever they have it but I think I am in the minority on this.

 

Since I live in CA (although not in San Diego), I'm not the best person to respond. I certainly don't have the impression that you're the minority, as I see TONS of complaining every time CA is so much as suggested, let alone actually chosen for a given year (FL, quite bluntly, has only ever been used once, and so that's hardly a fair inclusion. It's being on a far edge of the country notwithstanding).

IMHO, part of the problem is that, unlike many other conventions that are in the same place every year (SDCC, for example), BotCon has created an expectation of being held in different locations all the time. Now that this expectation is being denied, people are understandably frustrated.

Like I said, I'm not the best person to say, since I'd obviously be happy if it were in CA every year. That said, I do wonder if BotCon would do more folks a favor by simply selecting ONE location (wherever that would be) and making it known to all that THAT is where people need to expect to save up and go.

I don't think that will ever happen, mind you. Just a thought.

 

Sometimes I think we look forward more to the at-convention exclusives over the Box Set. This year's set makes me wonder if the at-con 2-packs and 3-pack will be better/more sought after?

 

I've had the pleasure of having the convention close to me several times, once in my backyard. I understand it is nice to have it close but here is my main concern. Speaking from a collecting point of view the dealers room is very important to me. The main reason I go is to look for new acquisitions. New dealers mean better opportunities to find what I'm looking for. The same dealers over and over again produce less variety. To me the panels and to a lesser degree the convention figures are second. If it were not for hanging with people I only get to see once a year I probably would not be going this year. But once again, those numbers are dropping. Several people whom have gone for years are not coming. Now I cannot say for sure its the location but a new venue couldn't hurt.

 

Dealers do (as I understand it) have more trouble getting to CA than to other venues. But you're right in suggesting that, even if a single, central location were chosen, the dealers would likely just be the same ones all the time.

All that said, I do think the numbers dropping (at least, that's how it seems. None of us know actual numbers. At best, we see percentages, and those are muddy since we don't know what they're even percentages of) have more to do with the fact that the toys have generated a lukewarm (at best) response, and less to do with the location (although I do think that San Diego's distance... and the proximity of this year's BotCon to SDCC... is a factor).


(As an aside, to date, that BotCon that was in Kentucky was the one BotCon outside of CA that I've been able to attend thus far)

 

True that on SDCC. I guess they got a great deal on the space, why else would you compete with one of the biggest if not the biggest Conventions out there! I also agree with your point of view on the numbers and the convention set. I cannot say I am in love with this set by any stretch of the imagination and that should factor in to the low numbers. But the numbers in general can be skewed as you have mentioned so it's kinda a mood point to throw out percentages like they do. I can say I sold 50% of my collection but if you did not know how big it was it would not mean that much to you. I also agree if the non-attending sets sell out, they will shift the amount of attending to non if it suits them, it only makes sense as they are trying to sell everything. In all I think they do a great job but could use some tweaking IMHO.

 

It definitely is a little odd to have Botcon and SDCC so close together. For me personally it is a dream come true, since I get to go to both cons, but it does make the budgeting a little tough. Both cons can get expensive very quickly.

I'm looking forward to more announcements on Botcon, ie. more exclusive reveals, more guests, additional programming, etc.

 

since we are getting closer to this, im thinking of attending sat and sunday, is there an actual schedule that is followed each day? or do you guys go all 4 days?

 

There will be a schedule, it will come out closer to the con, and if you bought the Primus set, you will get a name tag that has the convention schedule of events on the back of the name tag, it's a very useful touch.

I will probably be going on Friday and Saturday. Would love to go Sunday as well, but not sure that I'll be able to do that. One thing I'd love to experience this year is the hotel room-to-room dealing, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to hang out that late in the day.