Flipping through an unorganized box at a convention is a pain with people milling about. It's fine in a quiet store.

I'm not a fan of organized bins. Back when I would actually look through back issue bins at comic stores, I was always had a general idea of what I was looking for, so I would not want to dig through fifty long boxes to find a copy of Grendel #16 or Shade the Changing Man #27.

I can remember a couple of stores that always had people playing D&D or Magic cards in the store. It was little narrow store, maybe twelve feet wide and fifty feet deep, and every day the place was filled with loud malcontents playing games. They always had five or six different games going on and it was impossible to even walk to the back of the store where they had the new releases. They were playing D&D games on top of the back isssue bins, so you couldn't look through those.

Other stores had separate sections with tables for the gamers, but they were still loud and obnoxious.

I never understood why comic stores let people play games in them. They just take up space and they don't buy anything. Why can't they just do that shit in their own homes?

I couldn't agree more.

Yeah, the New York Comic Con is still very much focused on comics, as is the Boston Comic Con. The Rhode Island Comic Con, on the other hand, is more dedicated to general pop culture.

I never played card-based games but I imagine it was for foot traffic beyond the sheer profit angle. Many comic book stores would sit empty most of the time outside of release day each week, if not for the card players.

That being said, comic book shops were so much different before Magic: The Gathering was introduced. They tended to be neater and usually carried more inventory back in the day.

My local shop seems to have much more gaming traffic and business than comic, but it's a large store and the gaming area is never in the way of the comics.

We have a small local shop that sells comics and toys/collectibles but yeah the heart of the business seems to be Magic and other card games. Actually the shop recently moved and the owner said that he's looking to cut overhead and wants to focus mainly on comics and Magic while keeping a good majority of inventory to his eBay page.

Its been a long time since I've posted in here and I still haven't made it to a convention but would like to. Even if it was just to a smaller one.

Hey, I remembered to post early this year! The info's the same except for the date - which is Sunday, the 27th of January. The cost is now $20, which seems high to me - used to be $10. I plan on going because I like wandering around with the unwashed masses.

HeroesCon just sent an email confirming that this year’s show is canceled and they’ll be back in 2022

Sucks but I'm not surprised. I'm vaxxed and ready to go! Hopefully Fayetteville con still makes it in May.

My understanding is that the Fayetteville one is canceled too

Really? Last I saw it was moved from April to May. Otherwise. I have Joefest on the calendar in June.

Yeah, they pushed it back with the hopes of being able to run it but so far the special guests don't want to come and the capacity for indoor events still limited.

FYI, the Fayetteville show is this weekend. The venue added the stupid rule that no backpacks allowed unless they are the clear ones. This is going to suck for everyone

I'm fully vaccinated and still want people to stay the hell away from me.

What is the reason for the clear back packs?

The Fayettville con doesn't have any decent guests, so I'm going to pass on this one, but I'll attend the Raleigh Galaxy Con next month.

The reason is because the venue is requiring them to do so. I wonder how they are going to handle people going in with comic book boxes.

I'm still undecided about the Raleigh Galaxy Con. There are some cool guest but they charge an arm and a leg for autographs and photos.

The security measures at some of these venues are a bit silly. I went to a con in D.C. and had to go through the metal detectors. They had a policy of searching every purse and back back that people brought in. I had no bag but went through the metal detectors with a box that contained a full size metal Captain America shield. I had other somewhat large boxes with me as well. They set off the alarm going through the detectors, but they just said "Oh, that must be a shield", and then they waved me through without asking to look in the boxes.

When I was in Chicago, there was a long line to go through the security checkpoint. Then there was a line going the other way for people that had already gone through the check point and were in line to walk into the con. Both lines were separated by a simple velvet rope and poles. There was literally nothing to stop someone in the security check line to hand a weapon off to a person in the line that already went through the checkpoint.

The Galaxy Con got expensive. They were around $70 for a four day pass in 2019, then they jumped up to $115-120 for the same pass in 2020 and beyond. The autograph and photo op prices are about as high as anywhere else. Depending on the celebrity it may be worth it or not. Some a have more reasonable prices than others. Kevin Conroy was $40 for an autograph in 2019 and if you got two autos he would pose for a free selfie. Not a bad deal for those that are Batman fans. Shatner's a lot more expensive at $100 a shot, but is more well known and usually commands a long line.

The draw for me at the cons is the guest list and then the programming. if they don't have a decent guest list, then their programming usually lack as well and the con is not much more than a geeky flea market.

So people can't hide guns or other weapons in them?

But people are walking through with comic book boxes and other unclear containers. They could just hide weapons in them.

Because we unfortunately live in a world where troubled people just look for events with large gatherings.

I realize that, but just having clear bags or backpacks does very little if they can't be bothered to check unclear boxes, ignore the alarms going off on metal detectors, and make it easy to pass something to someone that has already gone through a checkpoint. One could easily get one of those 1:1 scale remote controlled R2D2 units through a security checkpoint with a weapon inside it similar to what those people used at the Boston Marathon. security would just look at the thing and think the Star Wars replica was cool and let it through. If you've ever seen the people that work security at these events; they just don't care or pay that much attention. when I went to C2E2 last year, you had to spend nearly an hour going through the security checkpoint, but it was a joke. as I mentioned above you could just hand a weapon to someone that had already gone through the checkpoint because there was nothing but a simple rope separating them from the unchecked and security wasn't really paying attention.

Went to Fayetteville today and it was packed. It was a good show and had a good time, and the clear bag wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be. But it was the most security I've ever gone through at a con before. They were pretty serious there: bag check, metal detector, hands in the air, emptying pockets etc

So of course this took a long time to get inside. They advertised early entry with pre-order tickets and we got there the line was wrapped around two or three sides of the building. So me and the friends I were with went and got some breakfast. Came back and there was still a small line at 11:00 but it moved pretty quickly

Did they look through things like comic book boxes or other boxes that looked like they had merchandise in them, or did they just check through backpacks and purses?