Why don’t producers bring their work to Comic-Con?

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LaundryGuy101
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I always wondered why producers never got a both at a comic-con. I mean it seems like a no brainer to me. Hot superheroine babes at a con full of happy geeks. The only people to ever go to a con as far as I can remember was Cross The Line films and they did a great job. They had their actresses in full costume and everything.
Dazzle1
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LaundryGuy101 wrote:
5 years ago
I always wondered why producers never got a both at a comic-con. I mean it seems like a no brainer to me. Hot superheroine babes at a con full of happy geeks. The only people to ever go to a con as far as I can remember was Cross The Line films and they did a great job. They had their actresses in full costume and everything.
You would have to ask them, But if you read a recent AP story, it has become very PC.
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batgirl1969
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I would LOVE that!!!
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Mr. X
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We had a booth for 2 years. First off its really expensive to go. Transport everyone. Get hotel rooms. Bring your tables etc. And of course bring swag to sell. The booths are expensive. Plus the show hassles you on adult content. One year they had an adult section. The next year we were across the aisle from Stan Lee who kept chatting with Ultra Woman. But we got few sales and it wasn't worth the money to go. Also few sign ups for the site. We didn't see any spike of sign ups during or after the show.

Also we had a problem the second year with a few people complaining Ultra Woman was too scantily dressed and we were "exploiting women". So I doubt in today's environment the show would allow any kind of "our kind" of product if there are people hyper sensitive about cosplay girls.
clyde11
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Well, it seems like simple math. It's a venue for mainstream comics and comic based media. It's not a venue for adult material.
Every comic-con I have ever been to, people go as couples, some bring their kids. That is not the audience an adult themed superheroine
producer is going after.
I remember going one year and you had all of the usual cosplayers there. All the ladies were, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl etc..,
or my personal favorite, The Phoenix. (I wish more producers would use that costume)
The one day there was a young woman with an athletic build dressed as Black Cat. ( I still have dreams about here )
The fan boys were following her around asking for pictures or just sneaking a snapshot from a distance.
Later I was at a snack bar sitting at a table when Black Cat and her friend (not in costume) just happened to sit down about
8 feet away from me. As soon she put her food down on the table and stood still for a moment, about three or four camera flashes went
off. She then shook her head, sat down and I heard her say to her friend..."I'm never doing this again".
The next day it was an awesome looking Power Girl. She stopped to pose for a photographer who was working for the comic-con itself when about
ten other people, mostly guys, also stopped to take her picture. She got flustered and stormed off. I watched her walk straight out of the exit
doors. I have no idea if she ever came back.

Point being, there is a general defensiveness toward what many perceive as a climate of exploitation female characters in comics, movies or cosplay.
Look at the controversy over the Amazon costumes in Justice League, or the people who were appalled over Karen Gillan's costume in Jumanji.
Look how Black Canary's and The Huntress' costumes were redesigned for Arrow.
Now imagine setting up a comic-con booth where the main product is voyeuristic material featuring women in sexy, revealing, form fitting costumes.
The result would be what Mr X described above.
It doesn't even have to be adult themed. Just present anything that may possibly result in a man looking at a woman in a sexual manner and
get ready for the shit storm of everyone who is offended...but not really effected.
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dajinx1
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I did it a few years ago at New York Comic Con. It was a lot of fun and we had a great experience but the reason I haven't set up a booth there again recently is that it has gotten too expensive, easily over a $1000 when you include the booth rental and everything else. I'll go as a fan and save that money for producing more videos.

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shevek
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Hey folks, has anyone checked the Heroineburgh ongoing update thread?
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28834

I update it every time we do a photo shoot, filming day, Comicon appearance, or have other interesting information.
And we have been at five Comic Cons so far in our area: four times at Steel City and once at Three Rivers. Check our Con photos on the thread!
It would be too expensive to travel to other cities and everyone is just too busy to do it anyway (I work on weekends myself).

And yes like DaJinx (whom I respect a lot for his hard work and dedication..plus that photo is super cute!) says....it's pretty expensive to get a booth at a Con, and all told it can indeed run you into around $800-1000 (especially when you consider showing your movies there by renting the hall for a couple hours) even if you're in Artists' Alley. There's also not much that you can sell other than your downloads. We made T-shirts with all the heroines, and we sponsored 8-bit fridge magnets of the characters but hardly anyone buys them. We gave out over 800 stickers at each Con, but as Mr X has noted, there was almost no uptick at all in online video sales, nor did the Con attendees flock to our movie theater premieres. I'm hoping that at least they didn't throw them away and there are hundreds of Heroineburgh stickers in various houses where comic book culture lives.

I openly state that Heroineburgh caters to both female empowerment *and* the male gaze at the same time, but then again, we are also clearly PG-13 and our series is probably more "mainstream" targeted than any of the series on this forum, so we don't have the problem with adult content or anyone saying we're exploitative, because we're not. And that's great. One of our actresses did mention that she felt she was occasionally being eyed up, but she was the only one. Everyone else just had a ton of fun portraying their characters at the Cons (I think it helps when there are several actresses appearing together, as they can help support each other's efforts) and the photo takers were respectful. Our actresses also took a fair amount of photos with kids - both boys and girls - so there was a certain projection of positivity with the heroines acting as great role models.

And that's the reason why we're at the Cons - because we want to have a connection to, and a representation for, the regional audience who lives in the city that the series represents: Pittsburgh. We want to have a presence in our own city and we do. It's also helpful to be at the Con to make connections with artists, new potential actors, and other opportunities for networking and promotion (for example, one of our actresses connected with a talent agency as a result of being at the Con with us).

We have something in common with the MCU and Lucasfilm: neither of those huge companies had a presence at SDCC this year because they had nothing new to promote. Neither do we (until our next episodes come out in November) so we won't be at the summer Con in August. Instead, we'll re-sign up for a vending booth at the December Con instead.

Maybe I'll finally run into batgirl1969 :) Oh, and batgirl, you might like to know that Becky - who plays Lunessa in EP 7 - is bowing out of the production after her next filming for EP 13 in August...but we'll have a new actress named Ariana who is going to take her place in the Lunessa costume!

Spectrina (Erika), Fianna (Emily), Lunessa (Becky), and Etherea (Maura) from Episodes 5-7 pose together for the crowd.
Spectrina_Fianna_Lunessa_and_Etherea_EPs5_6_and_7.jpg
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X-Machina (Stephanie T) and Dysphoria (Stephanie W) are arch-enemies onscreen in Episode 8 but have fun portraying their characters together at the Con.
X-Machina_and_Dysphoria_episode8.jpg
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The evil nemesis Olivia Queen the Quingpin (Mandy) with her heroine counterparts Darbouka (Tiffany) and Jinniyya (Kristin) right after we screened Episode 10.
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Judah
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I try to attend atleast 5-8 Cons per year. All depends on timing and scheduling but if there is an artist or celebrity I really want to meet and get an autograph I will do my hardest to make it. I once drove 15 straight hours to Dallas to meet Mark Hammill. Took lots of Monsters, Reb Bulls, and coffee.

@Da Jinx I gotta hand it to you for trying at NYCCC. That is the most crowded Con I have ever seen, matched only by Rhode Island. I often wondered with such a crowd how anyone can sell or promote anything. Ofcourse Marvel, DC, CGC, and big corporations pay huge amounts to the Con for better and larger space. Rhode Island is in such a cramped space and every inch is utilized its a wonder any of the vendors can make a profit.

I agree with what the others have said. People complaining about scantily dressed heroines and all. I once assisted an artist in a booth at a Con and by the end of the Con he had just broke even. No profit or anything and the juice was not worth the squeeze. And to add insult to injury the price for booth space seems to go up every year. Now there are popular Cons where you are almost guaranteed profit, like Dragon Con but good luck getting the invite.


The only producer I have seen work a Con is Anastasia Pierce at Phoenix a couple of years ago. It would be nice to see producers here do the con scene but I completely understand if they do not due to pricing and all.
saxman314
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I think several of them go to kink events, which makes more sense.
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Many companies with adult/xxx superheroine in peril content go to adult events. Cory Chase is at this year's Exxxotica Expo. It makes more sense for adult companies to attend adult expos. It is more appropriate.
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MAV6666
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Besides comic-con, aren't there other con's that apply to this genre? I just remembered the controversial (though not to me) Logan Cross brought a bunch of his girls like Kristina Hess and Kristin Ige and some of his dude villains to wonder con (pic attached). I wonder if he was aiming to get funding or just raise awareness. Would that convention still apply to current producers in this genre or has this one also skewed too PC?

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MightyHypnotic
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It costs a lot of money to get a booth at these cons now.
If you're not selling anything then I would guess you are doing it for awareness or ego. I don't have a problem with either of those reasons but I personally wouldn't waste time doing it UNLESS I was totally G rated.

I believe the year Logan went he was still doing YouTube friendly content.
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