Ron Weasley Made Me Sad (Fan Expo Story)

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I've been lucky so far. Years ago, I was line for the autographs of Adam West and Frank Gorshin, who were at the same table at Mid-Ohio Con. I bought a repro of the movie lobby card from West, and had him sign it. Super nice, and chatted with him for a few minutes. He kind of jokingly hit on Cindy a bit. We moved on down to Gorshin and he was equally nice, and a bit more chatty. I asked him if he could sign the same piece Adam had, and he said sure, and knocked off his autograph fee by half. I did not ask him to do that. As we walked away, his handler berated him for doing so. These handlers/agents cause a LOT of these problems.

Chris

[MIB41]

We moved on down to Gorshin and he was equally nice, and a bit more chatty. I asked him if he could sign the same piece Adam had, and he said sure, and knocked off his autograph fee by half. I did not ask him to do that. As we walked away, his handler berated him for doing so. These handlers/agents cause a LOT of these problems.

Chris

That's the God's truth Chris. We've had some celebrities who will never make it to Wonderfest, like Adam West, because their agents are simply too difficult to deal with. Plus the new norm with many celebrities is to have financial guarantees agreed to upfront, which carries an enormous risk to the show if that celebrity doesn't get a good turn out. The people running the convention are on the hook to pay out the difference if the celebs don't collect a minimum amount. That's why you have agents looming over them like hawks to scrap every last dime. It's too bad someone like Dateline doesn't go into one of these big Comic-Con shows to examine the commerce between show, personality, and the consumer. It would most likely give the industry a very BIG black eye.

[Brazoo]

I once saw a "fan" walk up to Will Eisner, a 80+ year-old comic legend, with a pile of 20 comics for him to sign. Eisner was too classy to say anything or charge for his autograph, but you could see it really cause him physical discomfort to sign so many things like that. And you could tell from the attitude of the "fan" that all that this was just a cash grab and it was all going up on eBay the next day. Eisner didn't even draw the comics this guy was asking him to sign, it was some issue of Spawn that was dedicated to Eisner.

It's likely that 90% of fans at conventions are decent, respectable, sensitive people, who only want a moment of time with their beloved celebrity and a quick autograph - but there's absolutely that 10% of greedy, classless, scum out there putting a dark cloud on fandom for everyone.

I think that's why celebrities need to charge. I think that's why certain celebrities need handlers and harsh rules, and I think some of the celebrities feel taken advantage of when they find out some autograph they supposedly gave to a fan is really some eBay dealer's cash grab.

[VintageMike]

As a frequent attendee I feel for the author, but you have to know what you are getting into. The whole thing is fueled by demand, so as long as the demand is there, this will continue. Basically I was pretty happy with my last Wizard World Experience.
For my "VIP" ticket, I got to to go first for the photo op/auto line for the person I chose, go an awesome, posed photo which was ready minutes after it was taken, a nice clean, legible autograph on a my photo signed to me and guaranteed seating on the person's panel. They also had to no problem if you chatted with someone while they signed your photo I felt it was $125 well-spent. My last bad experience was actually with a store. They had several levels of tickets and I thought I was safe buying the third level as it was till "limited. By the time I got up to the talent I was told there would be no personalization of photos and the photo op was a rushed table op. One of the signatures was so rushed it's practically illegible.
Basically while these things have become somewhat of a cattle call, organization is everything. Also I feel like people discount the opportunities that did not exist when we were growing up. Right now for example if you went to certain cons you get say currents stars of "Arrow". Unless you had the rare mall signing stuff like that wasn't available back in the day.

[palitoy]

Most celebs get downright chummy when you want something personalized. I have never minded paying for an autograph although some prices turn me off.

[Hedji]

I always get mine personalized, and when possible, try to get them to do a movie quote.

Yeah, it's a rip off. But it's hardly surprising.

I too have had really good luck, but I've only been autograph hunting for the past decade or so, so I never enjoyed the days when they didn't charge.

The best con to go to is the Niagara Falls one, but it's always the same as Mego Meet weekend. It's just the right size.

Incidentally, I was lucky enough last weekend, just days before her flight with NASA, to meet Nichelle Nichols at a tiny Con in Rochester. No line, just walked right up. Normally, pictures with her are I think $60, but her handler invited me to get next to her so they could snap a photo for her facebook feed. So, your mileage may vary. It was pretty cool to be in costume as Batman, gingerly helping Lt. Uhura stand to her feet.

[Mego Magyar]

Last weekend New Hampshire had it's ComicCon, unfortunately I couldn't go but I know someone that did who is a big Star Wars fan. Billy Dee Williams was there and after waiting in line for a while he got up to the table and BDW was charging $50.00 for an autograph. The guy didn't get one, he was with his kid and a friend for his kid and someone else and it would have been over $200 for everyone to get autographs.

I still wish I could have gone because Dawn Wells, Larry Wilcox and Noah Hathaway were also there and I bet they weren't charging that much for autographs.

[JRT!]

I stopped collecting autographs years ago. At the time I had set myself limits to what I would pay,30 bucks if I was in the US,20 quid if I was in the UK. Of course,these days thos limits would have to be changed,lol. I go to Comic Con every year,have done for the last 15 years. Four years ago I also sarted going to NYCC,and will of course be going again this year. I was even gonna get a signed pic of Billie Piper as she's one of my fave companions on Dr.Who,but was very disappointed when I found out she was charging 65 bucks for it. I understand that,but still disappointed.

I've had mostly good experiences with celebs at various cons,but won't name the bad ones of course,lol. One of the better ones was just a few years ago at Comic Con. I noticed Marina Sirtis from ST TNG sitting alone at her table at the Lightspeed Fine Art booth,so I ducked the crowd who were at the other tables and had a nice long chat with her. Didn't get an autograph,since I have that several times already,nor did I take a pic. We just talked and she took her clothes off. Great fun and a great lady,even though I've heard she can be.....not so great as well,on her bad days I guess.

I used to collect autographs by snail mail,and almost always got a reply,sometimes even a hand written note. That's how I got my ST,SW,and Dr.Who collections. Some others I got in person at cons,KISS I got by going by the record company in this country when they were on tour and asked if they could get me a signed pic of the band,and the day after they'd been here I could go and pick that up. Did the same with Pet Shop Boys. ABBA I wrote to,way back when,lol.

I don't do photo ops,don't care who it is. Will take pics at a persons table though. Will even consider paying up to 50 bucks for someone's auto,but that's about it.

It used to be fun,but ever since it became big business,the fun kinda went away,and only occasionally does the fun return,like with Marina. I still enjoy going to the cons though,I'm just not there for the panels or people's autographs anymore.

J-R!

[Gorn Captain]

Now that's a great picture!

[Brazoo]

Fantastic!

[Hedji]

Thanks, fellas. It was one of those surreal moments.