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Not so much a con report as a con requiem
May. 30th, 2011 11:54 amI think we can mark it as official: Marcon is dying.
Attendance was miniscule. At least one major guest canceled (and I can't really blame him). Every panel we looked in on was pathetic--disorganized, unplanned, constantly running off topic because the (very few) panelists had no guidelines and hadn't met each other for even as much as five minutes before and there were no moderators in sight to help things along. Many of them actually said they'd been drafted or strong-armed at the last minute, or had lost other panelists. There was allegedly going to be an anime room again, but it never showed up.
Worst of all, Marcon continues to spiral down into the abyss of "we are misunderstood outsider boys", ignoring the fact that sf fandom now is becoming women's territory. The boys only club is dwindling into a tighter and tighter corner of "hard sf" which, given that increasing numbers of women have the temerity to be weapons geeks and ex-marines and suchlike, means people clinging to Star Wars and Larry Niven, to Ringo and Flint, to all the media that are frankly perniciously misogynist.
And, guess what? That means that the people with the money and the interest, the people who are spending that money going to cons, in a word the women, are going elsewhere. Funny how that works.
You want to revive yourself, Marcon? You want to see some of the numbers Ohayocon does? I know you do, because you've said so. Well, here's how you do it: kick out the "Midwest Anime Guys" who are a bunch of aging Eva fanboys and show a slew of shoujo and Jump titles--here's a hint, Crunchyroll has a lot of them for streaming; get some Stargate and Nu-Trek panels going; suck it up and get some Supernatural and Sherlock and Merlin panels going; remember that book fandom exists and talk about what's being published Right Now (outside the cozy circle of military wankers); talk about how the face of sf has changed, talk about genre mixing, talk about who's doing what kind of fandom these days; crank up a social justice or, since you're starting with some serious debt here, even social awareness track--we can talk about how Joss Whedon undercuts his allegedly strong women; get off your sorry heteronormative ass and talk about some queer issues, you're holding a con during the local Stonewall Festival for fuck's sake, there's passing trade to be had, here.
And, for pity's sake, require that any panel going forward has a moderator who solemnly swears to at least try to remember what the fuck everyone is there for.
So, yeah, that was my con weekend. Some pretty swag, one or two actually good artists (and the knitted Cthulu dolls were adorable), but aside from that? I think we're probably doing InConJunction next summer, instead.
Attendance was miniscule. At least one major guest canceled (and I can't really blame him). Every panel we looked in on was pathetic--disorganized, unplanned, constantly running off topic because the (very few) panelists had no guidelines and hadn't met each other for even as much as five minutes before and there were no moderators in sight to help things along. Many of them actually said they'd been drafted or strong-armed at the last minute, or had lost other panelists. There was allegedly going to be an anime room again, but it never showed up.
Worst of all, Marcon continues to spiral down into the abyss of "we are misunderstood outsider boys", ignoring the fact that sf fandom now is becoming women's territory. The boys only club is dwindling into a tighter and tighter corner of "hard sf" which, given that increasing numbers of women have the temerity to be weapons geeks and ex-marines and suchlike, means people clinging to Star Wars and Larry Niven, to Ringo and Flint, to all the media that are frankly perniciously misogynist.
And, guess what? That means that the people with the money and the interest, the people who are spending that money going to cons, in a word the women, are going elsewhere. Funny how that works.
You want to revive yourself, Marcon? You want to see some of the numbers Ohayocon does? I know you do, because you've said so. Well, here's how you do it: kick out the "Midwest Anime Guys" who are a bunch of aging Eva fanboys and show a slew of shoujo and Jump titles--here's a hint, Crunchyroll has a lot of them for streaming; get some Stargate and Nu-Trek panels going; suck it up and get some Supernatural and Sherlock and Merlin panels going; remember that book fandom exists and talk about what's being published Right Now (outside the cozy circle of military wankers); talk about how the face of sf has changed, talk about genre mixing, talk about who's doing what kind of fandom these days; crank up a social justice or, since you're starting with some serious debt here, even social awareness track--we can talk about how Joss Whedon undercuts his allegedly strong women; get off your sorry heteronormative ass and talk about some queer issues, you're holding a con during the local Stonewall Festival for fuck's sake, there's passing trade to be had, here.
And, for pity's sake, require that any panel going forward has a moderator who solemnly swears to at least try to remember what the fuck everyone is there for.
So, yeah, that was my con weekend. Some pretty swag, one or two actually good artists (and the knitted Cthulu dolls were adorable), but aside from that? I think we're probably doing InConJunction next summer, instead.
