It's because people find it hard to take conspiracy theorists who don't do any research seriously. Not an attack, just the truth.

 

This one is not. My business partner and I got tired of the waiting and had to act - and even though we received polite e-mails asking us to wait, we COULDN'T due to some important deadlines that we'd already put off while waiting for a reply. We're out. I'll be a regular guest and be fine with it, but we did not rescind our cancellation.

 

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA loos like FunPub was taking a bath with all the cancellations, and pleaded with Hasbro to reverse it.

Damage is done man, screw Botcon. Won't go again. Sorry.

 

I know some people here want any chance to slam on FP - But you just sound silly when you don't know what you are talking about.

They get maybe a dozen artist tables. Assuming the cost is around $200 each (I'm not even sure - I don't buy artist's tables) that's $2400. And that's if all of them cancelled.

On the other hand, they sell thousands of attendee packages, most Primus at over $300 each. They sell thousands of at show exclusives - 3 different models, average price is $200-300 for a complete set. All that should bring in well over 1 million dollars in revenue.

You really thing they would take a bath over Artist's Alley? Really?

 

Well, having said that, I would also say that the sales numbers you just quoted are the "best case scenario" for FunPub, meaning those are the numbers required to generate a certain profit margin that is acceptable to them.

Nobody is implying that this year's Botcon will be a ghost town, but there are a few factors in play here:

- The credit card fiasco burned a lot of members, and many of them cancelled plans to attend Botcon because of it.

- The Botcon website has been shut down for over a month, meaning that there haven't been additional registrants in that time. The site is still down, and the event is only three weeks away.

- Even before they shut down the site because of the credit card issue, all indications are that sales were slow due to the mostly lackluster response to the attendee figures this year.

- Some people/artists have already cancelled their tables after finding out about the Hasbro Fan Art ban, and even though it's been lifted, not everybody is coming back.


So, even though I'm sure Botcon will still have plenty of people attending, all of the factors above will surely knock a serious dent into their profit margin this year.

 

Well said my friend.

 

I can't believe that they went as far as a fan-art ban in the first place... it's ridiculous. I understand the IP infringement concerns, but Hasbro has got to remember that BotCon is a fan convention, not simply a trade fair for Hasbro. Once you start cracking down on things as intrinsic to fan communities as fan art, you're really undermining a big sense of the goodwill between your company and the fanbase.

zmog

 

We had two cancellations. One has not cancelled. One still has. Now. This may have affected any last minute registrations (as we always have a lot of those)... But no. We did not plead. Our position has always been the same on this issue.

 

I think Botcon will be fine this year, people's plans were already set for the most part. Sure, some plans changed but even then many of those plans merely shifted from people having a table to just being an attendee. I think the inability to sell Primus packages may hurt attendance and with the capitol tied up in 2500 or so 6 figure sets (7 if you count the attendee "freebie", so give or take 17,500 figures) I'm sure that's a bigger blow to the bottom line...IIRC the last update we got was 70% sell through. The bigger "tell" will be how attendance looks NEXT year, so hopefully FP will be able to dazzle the masses and bring some of those lapsed / disgruntled / 'insert other reason they didn't renew - may not attend" customers back.

 

?

You're saying you were against the fans on this?

 

Man .... there's not a single post Pete can make (positive or negative) that won't be read in a negative light, right?

We should be better than this.

-airfox

 

We have held same position BotCon has had for 18 years...

 

For what it's worth, I feel sorry for you Pete. You're a good guy stuck in a terrible situation, that you have 0 control over. Even worse, you have to play damage control.

 

This is true Pete is a great guy and try's his damnest and get no respect

 

https://twitter.com/#!/BotCon/status/188344673964785664

 

I don't think that's what he's saying at all, especially considering Botcon has always allowed fan art, especially since It was said from the beginning that these decrees came from Hasbro.

 

Pete is LYING! Get your pitchforks gentlemen!!!

 

Just giving you a hard time Pete ... not that it's really needed ... I'm really glad the ban was reversed. I don't think FunPub wanted this at all.

 

Thats not what I meant. I meant an "official" statement or e-mail confirming that things that have always been alowed in previus Botcons would not be allowed in Botcon 2012. I dont mean the terms and conditions. I mean an "official" advisment that those terms and conditions would be enforced in 2012. I want a name to tag these threats to. Put his name and e-mail address out there. Lets hold him accountable to his words instead of letting fan sites be his voice...

 

I dont know Pete yet. I only know Brian Savage and Angie. And TFW2005 is not the official Funpub or Hasbro website. Pete needs to put this stuff on the official website and not assume all dealers are fan site users.

 

Im not disputing your sources. Im disputing the fact that no offical statement is being released. I dont like seeing Funpub use the fan sites and it's journalists to distrubute this crap under the table. This "ban" should have been posted on Funpub/Hasbro websites before the fan sites even knew about it. Or is it not "official" enough to do that ? Could it be an intimidation scare tactic ? Are they scared to put out an "official" statement due to possible legal issues ? They did dupe people who already paid. And those people based their choice to buy dealers tables on documented evidence from previous Botcons that allowed 3rd party sales.