DCON?

Discussion in 'Muton's Minute' started by leili, Sep 7, 2015.

  1. spatula007

    spatula007 Comment King

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    DCON?
    This being my first DCon, I don't have the previous years to compare to, but it was an amazing experience.

    I got a ton of toys that I was looking forward to and some random ones that were pleasant surprises. Plus prints, books and a cookie.

    More importantly, I saw a ton of friends and finally got to meet a good number that I only knew through Instagram. Everyone was super friendly and incredibly nice. It was slightly surreal to see so many people in the flesh for once...it was like being starstruck in a sense. "I know you! That's what your voice sounds like?" Stuff like that.

    I traveled out alone but never felt lonely, thanks to all of the kind folks.

    DCon was killer!
     
  2. animator

    animator Mr. Freshly Smacked Ass Staff Member

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    DCON?
    Maybe you weren't at Dcon but want some good stuff we had at our booth...This Friday.
     
  3. eatinburgers

    eatinburgers Fresh Meat

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    DCON?
    Gargamel had my favorite booth again this year. Not just because of their stuff but because they seem to drag out all their old junk they don't want and thats what interests me. They also bring along Butanohana stuff which is cool.
     
  4. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    DCON?
    From a collector standpoint I can see D-Con being a great event. I have a slightly different view as a vendor.

    I wasn't planning to sell Friday but did, because I was there setting up anyways, and other vendors were kind of scaring me, talking about the amount of shit that would be releasing Saturday. I sold about 2/3 of my stuff Friday and then packed it up to have some left for Saturday. I'm so glad I sold Friday, Saturday was kind of a ghost town. Now maybe everyone from Friday would have come around Saturday instead, but there was so much Saturday, maybe they would have been tapped before they got the chance.

    Medicom shipped out a whole cargo boat of shit, seriously probably had 300-400k of inventory, and you also have Funko and Mondo as well. On top of these big dawgs, you have so many Sofubi brands with hardcore followings, in the morning I was across from Itokin and there was a major line, I didn't even see the line for the other japanese guys but it was probably even longer. At 12 I had a small lotto, fortunately it took 5 minutes and was right next to the Pus lotto which was also going on at the same time as PK, Gargamel, and Retroband.

    I heard from several smaller guys that sales on Saturday were abysmal, an example, Fairy Cookies had Zollmen on the table no one even seemed to notice. I went over there at probably 4 on Saturday and picked up a set of zombies (the last colorway that Zollmen will ever release), they also had a bunch of mad barons left.

    Like everyone has mentioned, I tried to get around the floor, but feel like I missed half of the booths. I don't think I will do D-Con again. It's great to see everyone and to hang, but it's just not worth the anxiety in preparation and the cost of travel, booth. There isn't enough money to go around, and with the gigantic vendors taking over it's becoming more like a comic con.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2018
  5. toothaction

    toothaction Team Tsubu Staff Member

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    DCON?
    Happen to notice if they were offering up any micros this year? I just remembered that I'm a few colors behind on ol' Thrashman.
     
  6. animator

    animator Mr. Freshly Smacked Ass Staff Member

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    DCON?
    Excellent points Joe. I agree with everything you said. At our little booth, Megan and I put all the toy releases we had out on display Friday. Lots of people were asking questions about everything. I told people release times for Saturday. Based on the amount of interest, I thought everything would be a great success. Then on Saturday there seemed to be a lot less interest. With a lot of the same points you mentioned, too many other toys, overspending, larger booth competition, and people not finding the booth.

    In general our booth was successful, we learned a lot and have a good plan for next year. We partnered with toys we like, and wanted to draw, and it payed off. I can understand if we had a flight attached to our bill, and if we were producing our own toys that the success would not be there. It would be tough to break even with these bills. Especially, when a lot of artists are used to having online sales that sell out in minutes.


     
  7. 3wing

    3wing Addicted

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    DCON?
    I wish i could have supported alot more artists.
    It was good to see everyone. maybe it's time to do a toy show somewhere else?

    <3
     
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  8. toothaction

    toothaction Team Tsubu Staff Member

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    DCON?
    [​IMG]
    Midway between the coasts!
     
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  9. Anti Social Andy

    Anti Social Andy Die-Cast

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    DCON?
    What a genius idea! . . . an equal pain in the ass for both the Californians and New Yorkers alike! :thumbsup:

    Maybe piss 'em off even more and have it in Europe . . . or even better the UK, where virtually no one gives a fuck! :D

    Easter Island . . . THAT's the core demographic right there!
     
  10. eckotyper

    eckotyper Post Pimp

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    DCON?
    might i suggest... splitting a booth? i get the idea of not enough money to go around, its a lot to compete with... I thought about this a lot... and im sure its not the best answer... but was wondering if possibly 2-3 artists should share booth costs and booth time. 3 artists would be able to make a Friday, Sat, Sunday event. just 1 event, artist a day. it all sounds good in hindsight... but maybe someone doesnt want to wait til sunday... it can be rough.

    I hope maybe you will can figure something out though. we do love you there Joe. I'm kinda glad you did sales friday because i got to grab a item I was after with no anxiety about possibly missing it. your lotto was held well. I dug your booth location as yes, I was able to pay attention to your lotto and what was going on with the Pus queue. I figured you had sold out and that's why you chose not to run anything Sunday. I know my idea truly need to have more thought put into it. but the skeleton of 3 artists, one taking the booth each day and sharing those costs 3 days, sounds good on paper. lol

    Also... VIP hour was the shit. especially if you werent in real head or a crazy long line as it opened. it was nice to be able to walk around and get some purchases done, all while there being next to no attendees in the building.
     
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  11. jvles

    jvles Toy Prince

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    DCON?
    They had 3 mini dokuromans clear blue, clear green, and one other color, along with a micro mitari chan in i think the zodiac teal
     
  12. toothaction

    toothaction Team Tsubu Staff Member

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    DCON?
    ^ Thanks!
     
  13. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    DCON?
    I probably sold 90 percent of stuff. I had enough I could fit it all in my suitcase so my wife and I went to Disney in Sunday. In my experience there are hardly any sales on sunday. We wanted to go Friday night but since we did the con we just switched days.

    I mean dcon booths aren’t that much I think it was 600. Saving 300 isn’t a big deal in comparison to flights and hotel, plus I hate ubering everywhere so insist on renting a car. I’d be curious to hear from the guys like Toby who had a Sunday event how it went. I’ve split booths in the past and it’s ok. Anymore I just don’t want to be in someone else’s way and want to be in a position I can operate freely, not held to a time slot.
    I hear you Neal a new low key convention would be be cool, maybe check out 5 points next year before it grows too much.
     
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  14. Waterbear

    Waterbear Line of Credit

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    DCON?

    I have heard the same from several people. Friday was insane and sellers held back lots of stock they could have easily sold and cut off sales thinking Saturday would be the same way. It wasn't at all. Saturday was slow and Sunday was a ghost town. Sucks that toy makers who were trying to look out for fans kind of screwed themselves but hindsight and all that. I was a little disappointed hearing friends of mine were trying to enter lottos but some people limited entries and wristbands so they couldn't even get a chance to enter then when the lottos happened in a few cases not even enough people showed up to buy many toys at all. Not sure what the point of limiting entries is but it looks like it may have backfired a bit.

    I'm glad it was an incredible event for fans but it sucks that it was tough for a lot of the smaller toy makers. No idea what the fix would be though. Maybe an event held somewhere that would be incredibly cheap to fly and stay for a couple of days.
     
  15. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    DCON?
    Everyone I talked to said next year they are just selling everything preview night. Next year, Friday will be all out war!

    Just have to play it by ear. Mori has said he’s out, even if just someone like Medicom decided not to come back, the money would probably distribute a lot differently and maybe help the smaller booths.
     
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  16. eckotyper

    eckotyper Post Pimp

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    DCON?
    i dont know where these new push for real head came from.. i enjoy the sculpts but over the last decade only owned maybe 4-5 toys from Mori. I remember when he did a booth with skulltoys at NYCC, I walked up to him and was watching him paint and rub toys in person. there was no crazy line down the convention row and along the wall. shit has changed in a matter of 5 years. the toys are just as good as they were back then too. I get why he would want to be done after the drama i heard little bits about.
     
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  17. xSuicide Squadx

    xSuicide Squadx Super Deformed

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    DCON?
    @JoeMan Lulu was slow after Friday, too. A lot of artists and booths I talked to were super slow. Even someone like Candie Bolton, who’d killed it the last couple years, was extremely saddened by this year, and artists we carried that usually sell great sat on shelves. And I do agree that booths like Medicom made it crazy as shit to compete with from an artist standpoint. One the flip side, though, it made it pretty damn easy to get a hold of the toys I was lookin’ for.

    I think the size and the mixed up distribution of booths was too much and too complicated for a lot of people. It would’ve been a lot better and easier if all toy related booths and artists were hosted on one side/area, a la The Block at NYCC. The Con itself was rad, but I feel like it got too big for no reason. Like, it only got bigger because Ben wanted to *make* it bigger. There was a pretty fuckin’ big booth for “Disney pins,” which in theory makes sense, given the general area, but it simply didn’t have its place for DCon, in my opinion. It’s definitely slowly turning into the new SDCC, even more so that they’ve introduced panels and booths like Funko. As far as I’m concerned, DCon has gone from a passion project for collectors, to a cash cow. I hope something new and a little more specific comes along soon.
     
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  18. xSuicide Squadx

    xSuicide Squadx Super Deformed

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    DCON?
    Also, from what I understand, this is Mori's last DCon because he can't handle the hype, hysteria and flipping. He's got a big enough flipper market in Japan as it is, but he announces his events and sales just a few days before they happen. It doesn't give enough people time to oranize and go on these flipper tirades. This didn't come directly from Mori to me, so it could very easily be speculation, or just flat out bullshit. But I can totally see that being the reason, and I don't blame him.

    In 2013, Amy and me boxed up a ton of old RxH adults and fighters, plenty of older releases, and promoted it as "Shit's About to Get RealxHead" and we sold I think three or four the entire con. I have no idea where his sudden jump in interest has come from either, but I am glad he's been able to continuously have massive output and creativity. That dude lives and breathes his toys, and it's super admirable. I like Mori a lot.
     
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  19. Donkeykonk

    Donkeykonk Toy Prince

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    DCON?
    I’d be very interested to see how things would change if medicom left. For me, medicom was the only large/expensive booth that I had any interest in. I really wanted everything shelterbank had there, but they are just too expensive for me. If I bought any one of his toys, I would have only had enough money left to buy a couple smaller toys, so I didn’t. But I could see other buyers getting caught up in the hype factor of medicom, and just spending all their money there.
     
  20. Donkeykonk

    Donkeykonk Toy Prince

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    DCON?
    That sucks to hear lulu was slow past Friday. I hope it was worth it enough that you guys return next year. Once lulu stopped going to SDCC, I stopped going to SDCC. I’ll stop going to Dcon if it happens again... Of course I enjoy so many other booths, but Lulubell is the one company that makes the effort to go to these events worth it for me. I wish more people were Grody Shogun fanatics like me..
     
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  21. xSuicide Squadx

    xSuicide Squadx Super Deformed

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    DCON?
    Thanks, @Donkeykonk! Amy really does go so above and beyond for everyone, collectors and artists alike, that we really do try to make every Con appearance super worth it for everyone involved. I think we'll continue to come out, but I'd really like to see a lot more fine tuning happen. This year wasn't exactly bad, but experiencing it for the first time in the new area and center, I feel like A LOT could have been done differently/better.

    As far as expensive vendors, there definitely was for me, as well. I have no idea what Shelterbank's prices were, but I was very interested in obtaining somethin' from their Medicom offerings, but didn't want to endure that chaos. The ease, selection and fantastic price points of Splurrt, Paul Kaiju, Headlock Studio and The Hundreds made my attendee experience fly nicely. Hell, even Rich's new system for pre - conceived lottery line placements went over better, although it took a while to get through the high number of fans(naturally). There was a lot of other toys I saw post convention, like Zollmen Galtan and Draculazer Serpentoid that I didn't know where to find them.
     
  22. jvles

    jvles Toy Prince

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    DCON?
    As an attendee I was definitely strapped for cash with all the various toy makers being there, as well as some of the bigger booths and their prices. I didn't attend friday, only saturday, so i don't know who released things preview night. I know that Saturday there was a lot of releases from the big guys such as mvh, rxh/pd, pushead,ggml, itokin, pk which could take away business from the smaller booths.

    I know it sucks to say but could general interest in sofubi just be dying? This doesn't include the toy makers who have a loyal fanbase or are in the hype spotlight atm like realxhead, skullbrain in general is also not as active as it used to be.
     
  23. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    DCON?
    Maybe, I did feel based on my own sales, things peaked a few years ago. But they have been ramping up again maybe in the past half year. Hard to gauge the truth, insta visibility keep increasing but most are just there for the oddity and spectacle, not to buy. I think it’s just a matter of now the dust has settled people who just joined in are figuring out what they like, and there are some guys who maybe sold well when there was a mass hysteria are losing customers who are stopping with the buying mindlessly mentality and focusing on the things they have found they like. Some of it is hype, some of it is luck. I’m fortunate to have figures in the stables like Cadaver kid, and cinema monster that at this point are established and will probably always sell decently.
     
  24. badteethcomics

    badteethcomics Post Pimp

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    DCON?
    Looks like the sofvi bubble finally burst at DCON '18..

    We all got into these toys because they are unique and interesting.. not so unique any more. Sure the old heads can say "well we have been collecting since 2007.." fair point, but things were never this saturated back then. The early days were still fairly scarce when it came to product. Now it feels like there are just too many variations of toys being produced too frequently and we are all starting to feel the weight of it.
     
  25. patrickvaz

    patrickvaz Addicted

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    DCON?
    I feel like a whole lot of stuff happened and I have a whole lot of stuff to say, but I’ll just leave these for now:
    -I scored a Galtan!
    -I can’t wait to get back to Baltimore City!
     

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