Note to gossip mongers: the intent of this column is to have fun and get the word out that the date of the 2010 Toronto Comicon has been set. The following should not be taken as any slight against Wizard Entertainment or the Paradise Comics guys, who I think are awesome. Consider it a state of the union for Toronto conventions, outlining some of the weird things I’ve encountered at show over the years, in a FUN format. Emphasis on fun. Did you get the fun part? I hear rumors about any non-existent feud and I’m getting out my death ray. Furthermore, I know nothing about what they’re planning, so please stop emailing me people! I am not a Paradise insider! I just buy statues from them!

 

Dear Mr. Shamus,

Thank you for your interest in bringing your big show convention format to Toronto. I look forward to Toronto Comicon’s maiden voyage, March 26 – 28, 2010.

Toronto has a thriving and lively fan community, and I’m not the only one looking forward to a large-scale show in early spring. For we here in Toronto are desperate for a general interest show that truly caters to the attendees. We crave a show with the fun atmosphere of Anime North for our friends who aren’t into Anime. I’m writing this to assure you that Southern Ontario has an extremely active community with huge crossover among fans of comics, anime, videogames, tabletop games, science fiction, horror, and numerous sub-genres like steampunk that rally our huge cosplay and LARP groups…. But you probably already know we’re awesome, or else you wouldn’t have bought the Paradise show.

I’d like to take this opportunity to ask, on behalf of Toronto fandom, for you to hear our cries begging for a large fan-centered convention that isn’t just a giant shopping mall with a few underappreciated, overcrowded panel rooms. Please give us a con where there are things to do other than shop.

Please involve us, because we want to be involved! We don’t want money from you for our involvement. We want the opportunity to create fun activities with our friends. Happy fans spend more money than grouchy fans. Make us happy, Mr. Shamus! Make us happy!

Please think outside the panel/masquerade format and have showcase activities and events. There are those of us with lots of experience organizing and running active demos, fashion shows, charity events, etc, and we would love to be able to stage these at an event of this size. We’d also like a convention that works with us, instead of making us create our own fun off-site. Being off site means we’re not visiting the vendors, and some of us may not even buy a badge at all. You don’t even have to build it for us to come. Just give us the space to build it ourselves. We’re weird like that.

Please be cosplay friendly, with a clear code of conduct posted on your website, in your program book, and on site near badge pick up. Please have a system that creates a hope in hell of enforcing the code of conduct. We want to wear our costumes. We don’t want to be harassed and groped. Furthermore, please have areas where we can stop and pose for photos without blocking floor traffic.

Lots of cosplay means lots of female fans. Please make Toronto Comicon woman-friendly. Give us a voice and a place. Don’t cater so heavily to fanboys that you alienate us. Our money is as good as theirs. Be thoughtful about the erotic art vendors, and the rows of porn stars and wrestlers, because we’re not inherently offended by these things – there is just a right way and a wrong way to have this stuff represented. Those who want to be able to avoid more adult material should be able to, but those who want to showcase it and access it should have that right as well. We’re very porn-friendly in Canada, but we understand that it’s not appropriate in an area frequented by 8 year-olds, so a booth selling kids books shouldn’t be positioned across the aisle from someone selling Pilates for strippers DVDs.

Yes, we are Canada. We’re a separate country, not the 51st state. While we have many things in common with the US, the differences are meaningful and we’re protective of some of them. We have local artists and personalities that we enjoy seeing. We’ve been treated to their inclusion at the Paradise Toronto Comicon in a way that makes it financially possible for them to attend and turn a profit. While we understand things will change, it would be a shame if we lost that local love.

Moving on to other logistics, this next point is probably the most difficult thing I will ask, but please find a way to stop signings at dealer tables from creating lines that wrap around other vendors’ booths for hours! Fans are shy and most will not push through a line to look at a product, which means a signing at one booth means four booths nearby lose money.

Please don’t schedule the only DC Comics panel back-to-back with the Marvel Comics panel, in different rooms, at 5PM on Friday. We must work to pay for our attendance, and we want to attend both panels. The Big Two put on great shows in those hours, and bring out great talent. Since the name of the show is “Toronto Comicon”, please show the comics companies and their fans some love.

Please don’t make it ridiculously expensive to access your media guests. While fans are used to paying ever-increasing amounts for one-on-one photo signings, the most devoted fans are not necessarily the wealthiest, and they should be able to at least attend a Q&A panel without a fee over and above their convention admission.

Please have a friendly, attentive, and empowered media office, a clear screening process for accreditation, and dedicated media time for guests, even if it’s just a press conference. Please have a media code of conduct. Please do not make reporters approach guests on the floor without providing them with a list of who is open to being approached. Please offer media guests and MCs a wrangler even if you don’t think they’ll need one.

And finally – and I can’t believe I have to beg for this, but I do – please make sure the convention center monitors its washrooms. I have been in too many facilities this year where the floors and counters are covered in water, the toilet paper dispensers are empty, and at least one of the hand dryers is broken.

It’s unfortunate that Toronto Comicon will fall on the exact same weekend as PAX East in Boston, since it kills my dream of a viable gaming section of “Wizard World Toronto”… and it means I can’t go to PAX East. Maybe next year there won’t be this conflict, because Toronto would be well-served by a proper gaming convention, but we have no more space for another convention weekend!

And that’s probably the biggest reason many of us are holding our breath about Wizard’s Toronto Comicon: we’ve been burned before. We want Toronto Comicon to be good. We want it to be the true Northern geek Mecca we’ve been waiting for. But we’ve been promised things in the past and yet we still have the disappointing experiences over and over again… and gross washrooms. I’m extremely hung up on the gross washrooms. My Batwoman cape got soaked in urine, man. I’m still pissed.

Ooh. Bad pun.

Anyway, we’re here. Mr. Shamus, and we want to help make this a Toronto show instead of a stop on a tour. Take us up on the offer!

Sincerely,

Liana K

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