One thing I always enjoy during GenCon is meeting the media guests in my downtime. Is this no longer happening? I haven't seen any official announcements about it, nor any saying who they would be.
If there aren't any, I will be disappointed but it won't be a deal breaker for me. Just something I'd miss is all.
Thanks
I don't think it's an official policy that there will be no more media guests ever.
But there are no media guests this year.
You can still meet several content creators, novelists, artists, cosplayers, and songmongers, though, if you're interested in those types of experiences!
I sure do. I have met and talked to some great authors and artists in the past :)
i was was just hoping I'd get to get some more actors this year, but it's all good.
Authors and artist will be there, see the Experience Tab > Guest of Honor at top of page for list.
There's a rumor they might be bringing in Val Kilmer for an autograph session...
Do have one kinda media guest of honor showing to do autographs.
Matthew Mercer who is an animation voice actor will be attending.
Matthew Mercer Autograph Session #1 Thu 4:00 pm - Thu 5:00 pm 0/45 0.00 Matthew Mercer Autograph Session #2 Fri 10:00 am - Fri 11:00 am 15/45 0.00 Matthew Mercer Autograph Session #3 Fri 4:00 pm - Fri 6:00 pm 37/90 0.00 Matthew Mercer Autograph Session #4 Sat 11:00 am - Sat 12:00 pm 57/90 0.00 Matthew Mercer Autograph Session #5 Sat 4:00 pm - Sat 6:00 pm 65/90 0.00 Matthew Mercer Autograph Session #6 Sun 2:00 pm - Sun 3:00 pm 0/45 0.00
It is always cool to meet authors and artists at Gen Con. I found a couple of great books at Gen Con after meeting the writers last year.
That may be so rhone1.
But I'm old enough to remember when Gencon was in Milwaukee. The Media Guest were a strong draw for locals on Saturday who would buy a one day just to meet and get autographs. They didn't really show for the games or the rest of the convention. For Gencon is was a good source of income from a group of people who found Gencon not really their style. But still went for the Media stars.
To me, it feels more like Gencon is now days passing up another source to draw in locals from Indy who are not interested in the games or other stuff going on.
More than many other guest of honor they've had - Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon were at Gencon 2 years ago and, to me, that was like meeting George Takei or Jeri Ryan! I was waaay more excited meeting 2 of my favorite authors than pretty much anyone else (except the cast from the original Battlestar Galactica... )
This is extremely disappointing to me, especially since I passed up going last year, thus missing out on meeting Summer Glau. I was hoping someone of equal caliber would be there this year. It is the media guests that make the difference for me choosing GenCon over smaller, more gaming oriented cons. Maybe next year it will be Gary Con instead. At least that would save me some money. By some, I mean a lot. Lol
Don't get me wrong, I have gotten a few autographs before. I spent over an hour chatting with Star Wars actors one year because there was literally no one else in their booth area and I could actually have conversations with them.
But at something like Gen Con, aren't most of the opportunities to 'meet' someone going to be so brief as to not really count as a 'meeting'? If it's the few seconds you get at the front of the line before the next person is whisked through...what's the appeal? Again, not saying there isn't an appeal, I just don't see it. A meeting where the other person isn't even likely to remember it doesn't seem like a meeting to me.
Anyway, that said, hope you have fun. And certainly don't stop going to meet your favorite celebs because some dude like me doesn't get it :)
The appeal for me is just getting the chance to meet them for a little while, shake their hand and get an autograph. Not every moment of the con is spent playing the games I am interested in, so getting to do that, when sometimes those stars don't come to cons local to me, is an added bonus.
If not for GenCon, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet the Star Trek actors that I watched as a kid. Meeting some of my favorite authors and artists have been awesome too. But when it comes to fantasy and sci-fi, I think the media format is just as important to us fans.
But that's just my two gold pieces...
I'm going to be really bummed if there are no media guests. Honestly, I don't care about meeting authors or artists, I just want to meet people from my favorite shows and movies. The fact that there are no featured media guests this year is very upsetting to me. We always buy our tickets in advance and get our hotel rooms as soon as they open the housing up, and this year I feel like GenCon planners have kinda let me down.
for all the money for badges and getting the $2.00 ticket to get a autograph they can't bring someone in is pretty sad
I guess I need to read the forums more since a lot of what I am seeing here would have more than likely caused me to cancel my ticket and simply met friends I wanted to see from out of town.