Anyone Else Hate Conventions?

[Heretick-Tock 462]

I've been to plenty of conventions in my life only to find that I didn't enjoy my time at a single one. Why, you ask? It's simple - the people.

And when I talk about conventions, I'm not insinuating anything political; I actually enjoy those since I'm  into looking after my community's well being. I'm talking about conventions based around media and pop culture.

Anime conventions, Anthrocon, Bronycon are all worthy mentions when talking about gatherings which I cannot stand. Every single one has attracted the worst of the worst; and the most intolerable of all are the ones who CANNOT like the show/game/movie without making sure they know more than everyone else. 

 

Two years ago at Tekkoshocon I was attacked by a girl who thought I looked like her favorite anime character. She was a solid 1/10 and completely lacking in common sense or decency, while throwing her arms around me and screaming "I LOVE YOU ONY-CHAN" (or however you spell it). I contacted security and they dragged her away kicking and screaming, only to have her do it again to A GUY WHO WASN'T EVEN IN THE CONVENTION CENTER. But it doesn't stop there, either, there were levels of pathetic which were reached that I didn't even know existed on this plane. 
There were creepy-ass pedophiles hitting on teenage girls, creepy-ass, forty-year-old nerds hitting on teenage girls (yes, there is a difference), and antisemitism towards me when I declined ham from a vendor.
Oh and I should throw in that Uncle Yo is by far the least funny "comedian" on the face of the earth.

Now, Bronycon wasn't nearly as bad but it still had a couple of REALLY bad apples. Luckily, I didn't have anything happen to me personally but I could see that there were plenty of others who would have rather saved their money than potentially see the community's ugly face. 
Tara Strong was cool, even though I only got to shake her hand.

Anthrocon... I'd rather not go too deep into this since there's so much I can say.

 

Here it is:

Gay guys hitting on me and not understanding what "no" means.

Creepy girls hitting on me and not understanding what "no" means.

Artists not getting the fact that I didn't want to purchase their art.
THE CONVENTION CENTER ISN'T ENOUGH, LET'S GO ANNOY ALL OF PITTSBURGH!
The whole "be a furry or get out" attitude.

Pittsburgh's hotels are overrun with the sound of sex at all times of the day.

People actually brag about their fursona.
Interrupting sporting events seems acceptable to furries. 

And much, much more.

Needless to say my experiences were horrible and I haven't been back since. 

 

Edited June 22, 2013 by Horus

[repsol rave 2,963]

this...this right here is the exact reason why i'm afraid to go to something like bronycon...i have heared lots and lots more stories like this one. but i must ask, if it's so bad, why do so many people still attend it?

[Heretick-Tock 462]

this...this right here is the exact reason why i'm afraid to go to something like bronycon...i have heared lots and lots more stories like this one. but i must ask, if it's so bad, why do so many people still attend it?

Bronycon isn't really that bad, not in comparison with other conventions. But let me warn you that if you want to make friends, you better have the money to buy their stuff. 

[Smarts 1,622]

I have never been to any conventions myself and considered going once, but after reading this I feel as though I don't really want to attend any.

[Page.Turner 940]

My very first convention was a furry convention. I was there with a group of friends and had the time of my life. We didn't stray from the con to go fursuit up around town and we aren't socially awkward. I met some pretty cool people there and made some really good new friends and overall I have to say it was a solid 8/10. Why not 10? Because I didn't have enough money to buy all the stuff I wanted

 

My latest and second convention was Anime North. There are no horror stories I can think of there... I had a fantastic time and my cosplay was adorable and when people asked for pictures it was in a very calm and collective way. There were rules to Anime North like you can't touch someone without their permission, so no random hugging could occur. And I wasn't hit on by strange, "ugly" people who don't understand 'no'.

 

TL;DR Everyone's experiences are different. This thread is simply a matter of opinion based off one person's experience.

[Heretick-Tock 462]

My very first convention was a furry convention. I was there with a group of friends and had the time of my life. We didn't stray from the con to go fursuit up around town and we aren't socially awkward. I met some pretty cool people there and made some really good new friends and overall I have to say it was a solid 8/10. Why not 10? Because I didn't have enough money to buy all the stuff I wanted

 

My latest and second convention was Anime North. There are no horror stories I can think of there... I had a fantastic time and my cosplay was adorable and when people asked for pictures it was in a very calm and collective way. There were rules to Anime North like you can't touch someone without their permission, so no random hugging could occur. And I wasn't hit on by strange, "ugly" people who don't understand 'no'.

 

TL;DR Everyone's experiences are different. This thread is simply a matter of opinion based off one person's experience.

 

Your experience was obviously better than mine and I congratulate you from staying away from the dark side. Then again, Anime North has had a good reputation as a convention. I'm going to guess that you didn't head out to Anthrocon for the furry convention either?

[Dark Qiviut 22,378]

I only went to one fandom convention: BronyCon Summer 2012. It was fantastic, and I had a great time talking to so many fantastic people: Calpain, Nicole Oliver, PixelKitties, Braeburnd, a brony who flew from Indonesia to attend, BronyCon the Documentary media people, Final Draft, Rina-chan, CDTA (a brony offsite), the World's Oldest Brony, Brony Thank You Fund vendor, etc. I continued around, paid what I wanted and need, not pay things that were too expensive. Despite the annoying flaws to get autographs and the poorly done sound system in the Mane Hall, it was a fantastic convention.

 

Basically, it's this. There are conventions where you'll have fun 99% of the time and some where you can have pains in the asses half the time. That said, never use the annoyances to ruin your enjoyment, because conventions have so much to offer. BronyCon Summer 2012 did.

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

I've been to many conventions, mostly Comic Cons (and then mostly the one in Baltimore), and while there are some annoyances and turn offs here and there, I agree with @@Dark Qiviut: you shouldn't let the fear of that stuff keep you from going.

 

Bronycon 2013 will be my first Brony convention, and I is excite.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

BronyCon of summer 2012 is the only convention I've ever attended. While there were people there that rubbed me the wrong way, and there were some people that were quite rude, I don't need all of both hands to count the number of such people I encountered. As someone who was at the time extremely introverted and loathed crowds, I never felt at all uncomfortable there and the experience even helped me to become more social in everyday life. No way I would have missed going for anything. The positive experiences I had there far outweighed any of the negative, and the negative ones weren't even that bad. The location sucked though. It was in New Jersey (which is bad enough) and the convention center itself looked pretty ghetto in the halls. Some organizational issues also had people standing in some extremely long lines outside for a long time, and on the second day it had people lined up outside for hours for no reason because of some last minute changes of plan. Some people called BronyCon 2012 "LineCon" as a result.

 

Again, that's the only convention I've ever been to. Without attending a few more I can't comment on the convention scene overall. All I can say is that last year's BronyCon turned out quite well in my experience, aside from a few logistical inefficiencies. My interactions with other con-goers was quite pleasant and exceeded expectations.

 

There was a small-time convention held near Virginia Beach last year that I attended but I hesitate to call it that given its size. Some guys rented a very large room at a library and we may have had around 100-120 people show up - about the size of the first BronyCon. It sat on the line of being a convention and a large meetup to me; I've been to meetups with that kind of turnout before, just not so organized. That "con" seemed more awkward and exclusive, with most people attending doing so with a few friends they dragged along and keeping to themselves, pretty much brushing off others they encountered. Some people were fairly rude to strangers. I felt completely isolated there. Since it was fairly close to home and didn't cost much to get in, I bailed early. Felt like a waste of time being there. I know the small turnout made each jerk seem worse than he would have at any larger (or actual) convention. Even so, I probably wouldn't go to that thing again if they held another one this year, no matter how many people were slated to attend.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

I have never been to a convention before so I am unsure what I should expect from it. I am sure that each pony has a different experience and I would not wish that mine would be discounted as false if it does not appear to match the experiences of another.

[Shanks 10,816]

That sucks, the only convention I have ever been to was Comiccon many years ago and my experience was fairly positive but I know that these conventions can sometimes bring out the crazies who can be tough to avoid at times. I wouldn't let it get to me myself but even so I don't really blame you for feeling that way with those kind of experiences.

[Lady Leopardess 393]

You're of course , entitled to your own opinion. However I'd like to bring up the fact that in any group, any time there is a number of people there will always be bad people. If you've ever worked retail/food service I"m sure you've had terrible customers because you can't work with the public and not run into bad people. That's just the way it is.

 

I personally have lots of fun at conventions and 98% of the time experience nice and/or neutral people.

[Homura Akemi 974]

I have been to Equestria LA 2 times and Anime Expo 3 times (going on 4 times). I admit before going to my first pony convention I was a little concerned that there would be creepy guys and such. It ended up being the exact opposite. I made lots of new friends and met a special somepony of my own who we are now celebrating 6 months together. I even met up with an old friend and now our friendship is closer and stronger after meeting at the cons. While I understand much of your points, I am sorry you had such experiences. I wish you would have found them as enjoyable as I did but you have a right to not continue going if you wish.

Edited August 3, 2013 by Dismajo

[Vinyl Scratch (Filly)™ 936]

Well I've never been to a convention before; but I will be attending my first in about 6 days "Q-Con" which is an anime and gaming convention held in Northern Ireland. My friends have already been to it and said it was great! But because of the size of Northern Ireland we only ever attract 2,000 odd people; which is quite a lot but compared to conventions like comic con, it's pretty damned small.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,205]

You mentioned Anthrocon, I agree. It's more of a "business" con, where artists,writers etcetera go to get their name out there more, it's all for advertisement. A lot of big cons are like that.

 

Which is why I tend to stick to local cons.....like Furnal Equinox, Condition,Camp Feral, CANterlot,

 

I've also run a couple MLP panels at these cons, we even hada couple members of the target audience for the show in the crowd....and even she agrees with a lot of the bronies on stuff about the show and merchandise.

[SoarinBlue 202]

Cons tend to attract the weirdest and creepiest fans, which is why I will never, ever go to one.  Especially after all the stories I heard about Spaghetticon

[Lost 1,410]

I feel as though conventions are probably best enjoyed as a group of friends rather than trying to go at them solo.

 

I've never been to a show convention (unless you count the Gadget Show convention), but i would love to go, it seems asthough the best ones are over in the states though

[Zoraxe 546]

This thread is a bit old, but whatever...

 

Ive read enough about conventions to know that they attract certain types of people sometimes, non-the-less I have been to a brony convention and would like to go to more. And I happened to not run into any such people. But yeah, ive heard of convention creepers.

 

Im not planning on going to any big convention except for Bronycon hopefully oneday (im not going to travel all the way to Anthrocon, but I can see myself going to a local furry con), but I imagine most con creeps can be avoided in most circumstances.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Zoraxe

[Dark Horn 430]

Sort of makes me not want to go to any conventions, but I wasn't planning on it either. Sounds like the girl was intoxicated.

 

Captain Obvious says, "You're welcome for that wonderful analysis."

[Yes-Man 597]

While I've never been to a convention, I'm almost sure they're not that bad, at least not in the grand scheme of things.

I'm sure those bad things are just in the minority, like everything else in the world.

I'm happy to stay I'm still dead-set on going to BronyCon someday.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I've been to AnimeNext four times, Connecticon twice, New York Comic Con twice, Anime Expo when it was in New York, and Wizard World in Philadelphia. Never had a bad experience once. To anyone who's reluctant to go to a con because of these horror stories, don't let them dissuade you. Every time I go, I have an absolute blast.

[Discordian 6,015]

Be less sexy and creepy people will stop hitting on you!

 

No but seriously, if it's a culture the internet is into then you're most definitely going to have a high chance of running into the very people that make the internet miserable in certain places. Never been to a con myself, never had the money or when I did games were more important. The only reason I'd ever really go is if I was going with friends because by myself I'd just be in a crowd of people I don't know or care about and I don't do well with people I don't already know in crowds. I've walked around Seattle enough to stop caring about people who try to get your attention because all they want is money or to get you to sign up for something that you don't, nor should have to, care about but they'll tell you otherwise by making it sound like a bad thing if you refuse.

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Come to Anime Central in Chicago, it seems like a pretty chill con. People were very respectful of each other cosplaying, the vendors were nice, and it was overall a very civil and fun event. Then again I only spent one day there, so I might've missed something. 

 

Other than that I haven't been to really any pop-cultural cons (ACen was my first and only). I've been to conventions for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and I've been to AirVenture (which is LIKE a convention...I'm actually going to BronyCon instead this year). 

 

So I guess on the topic of cons, YMMV.

 

With that said, I am so fucking pumped for BronyCon. Gonna have a blast.

Edited July 17, 2013 by AtomicBassCannon

[Ihei 712]

I'm a very lame person, so I've actually never been to a convention. GEE, I wish. But by your experiences, I guess I might not go, maybe so, maybe. But at the same time I heard some good reviews and look forward to going.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I never really been to a convention, so I wouldn't really understand and connect any of my own experiences to other people.

I feel pretty bad for anyone who has had a bad experience at conventions, maybe I'll give it a try.