This past Friday we asked the question: Are conventions dead? Hiro laid out the published cause of one convention company ending their run, which took up a whole 30 seconds. The rest of the segment was taken up with discussing people’s experience with conventions. And just to add to the stories, my last Con was in 2019, and I only went cause my bro had a table. Didn’t get to see any celebs.

But why are conventions dying, if at all. Hiro cited an article that has since been paywalled, but the key point was that they are a casualty of the Dark Times, the COVID era. People stopped going, and since the next years’ Con is funded from the one before, the money eventually dried up. Hiro also claims that since the “Virtual Con” thing happened–again, because of COVID–people stopped attending because they could see it remotely, and often without paying.

I have a couple of other theories, and I’ll share them here.

Bidenomics are still biting us in the @$$!

The economy may be turning around, but it’s doing it slowly. The Democratic party did everything they could to take the bottom out of the dollar. People, therefore, are focusing on just feeding their families over going on vacation, or shelling out hundreds of dollars to go to conventions.

This is also partly why we’re seeing less Gen-Z gamers than Gen-X or Millennial gamers. Which was another topic we discussed on Friday. Gen-Z in particular is having a hard time finding work, earning enough to get by, and raging at the system the previous generations put them in to.

I have a Gen-Z co-worker, and she backs up most of what I mentioned above.

But I think it’s more than that…

Nerd IPs are Dead.

#RIPStarWars. #RIPStarTrek. #RIPDoctorWho. #RIPDC. #RIPMarvel. #RIPLotR. #RIPPixar. #RIP[insert favorite IP from the past 50 years here].

Conventions are like a graveyard of the most beloved and money making IPs. No one wants to go dance on their graves, so they’re just staying home. While this is just a theory, I think it’s valid. Here’s another…

Lack of true celebrity appearances. Those are huge draws, as they’re the only way nerds like us can meet and talk to our favorite actors/actresses from the shows we love or loved as kids. But as the ones we love die off–name any Star Trek vet who’s dies in the past 5 years, for example–there are only a few to replace them, and few who know who the OG science fiction celebs still living actually are.

Does anyone want to go to a Con to see Anson Mount (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)? Or Morfydd Clark (The Rings of Power)? I know I don’t, because I don’t care about them the way I did about Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), or Jeri Ryan (also Star Trek, who I did see live in person at a Con), or Avery Brooks (again, Star Trek)–Star Trek is one of the reasons Conventions are a thing, by the way.

Point is, name a Sci Fi show from the 90s and 2000s and there are still celebrity appearances from those shows. Once they’re gone, the conventions will lose their biggest reason for people attendance. Then the money will dry up faster than a modern day Marvel movie box office run.

Other Topics Discussed This Live…

• Wednesday Netflix Review (spoiler free)
• The End of an Era: Dial-Up is Dead
• Gen-Z Just Stopped Buying Games
• Gamers Are Willing to Verify ID to Dodge Campers? (yeah right)
• Disney’s Gone Twisted: Twisted Wonderland Anime announced