#he comes out and gives this amazing 30 minute chat. no moderators and no bullshit fan questions | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rottenbrainstuff · 2 months ago

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So it gets closer and closer to my city’s big comic expo, and they are announcing more and more guests, and…

I’ve been thinking about the guests they bring in these days, vs the earlier days of the show before they were bought out by Fan Expo.

In the early days, it was very much the nerd convention. There was a big focus on sci fi and fantasy, and then as the show got bigger, whatever pop culture stuff was big at the time: Walking Dead, Supernatural, Marvel shows, whatever. I’m looking at the guest roster for this year so far, and thinking about the one last year, and these days it’s all just….. generic 90s nostalgia. Old actors from random old movies and tv shows that would appeal to a normie audience approximately my age. Fantasy and sci fi? I mean there’s a couple Dr Who actors who will be there I guess?

And it’s not because oh well, bringing in more generic mainstream guests will bring in a larger mainstream crowd! Because that’s not what’s happening here. When I went last year, after not attending since before COVID, I was actually shocked at the decrease in attendance from what I was used to seeing, and the artist alley is literally half the size it used to be when I used to have a table.

Like. The convention itself is nerd shit. Normies don’t think it’s fun to pay admission to go and stand in long lineups and then shell out even more money for expensive autographs and photoshoots. Bringing generic guests won’t bring in a large generic audience. They simply will not be interested.

I dunno man. I miss the days when our convention was a smaller show run by people who were really passionate, and we got Star Trek cast reunions and all the lotr hobbits and John Rhys Davies giving a fascinating 40 minute lecture about astronomy instead of being forced to answer the same stupid boring fan questions about “what was it like to do x thing”.

But hey. If you are a fan of random 90s tv shows, you will enjoy our 2025 lineup!

#oh my fucking god though John Rhys Davies you guys #I am going to rant about that here #I have no clue what year he was even there the first time #circa 2010 ish or something #post lotr #I went to his panel. he was a popular dude but not one of the big names so he was in this comfy lecture hall style area #he comes out and gives this amazing 30 minute chat. no moderators and no bullshit fan questions #I can’t remember what exactly he talked about because it was so long ago #but it was like about astronomy and life and optimism and inspiration #and I remember being so glad my oldest kiddo was there with me and god a chance to hear this amazing talk #and it wasn’t about lotr or Indiana jones or whatever bullshit that I have already heard from the commentaries #I went away with such respect for this guy like wow what an intelligent and witty human being!#a couple years later he was at a show I was attending in a different city and I thought to myself #oh wow I will definitely go to his panel because fuck me he was such a cool guy #so I get to the panel and he goes out on the stage and he says:#hello! so I have been told I prattle on too much! so let’s go straight to the audience questions!#and he spent the entire time answering everyone’s stupid questions that everyone has already heard the answers to before.#no cool and inspiring lecture. just nerds asking him what it was like wearing all the makeup on lotr or whatever #I was so disappointed.

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