Jan 15 2009
Convention Profile: TwiCon 2009 (and no, Robert won’t be there)
Twilight conventions are on the rise. No sooner had I posted about Creation’s Salute to Twilight convention, someone told me about TwiCon, which is being held at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel (that’s Texas ya’ll), July 30 - August 2. According to the organizers:
“TwiCon 2009 is the premiere unofficial conference for Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight saga! The event will feature a Twilight movie screening, live Twilight inspired band performances, Volturi Masque Ball, opportunities to meet Twilight cast, dozens of breakout sessions, panels, workshops and more, as well as a Vendor Hall where dozens of vendors will be set up for your shopping pleasure. We will also have the Artists’ Alley, where you can display fan made art and goods.”
I’ll be honest here, I’m not really into this fandom. I like my vampires and all (I consider myself a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan - I even met Nicholas Brendon once), but I think I live outside the female age range that this appeals to. And to be frank, this convention sounds like every other fandom convention out there. They even have the Twilight inspired bands, just like the Harry Potter fandom does (that’s “Wizard Rock” for those not in the know).
There is a decent guest line up, although it is very similar to Creation’s Twilight convention. Currently scheduled to appear is Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), and Mike Welch (Mike Newton).
I’m sure you’ve noticed the complete lack of Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) and Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) on either Creation’s guest list, or TwiCon’s guest list. I’m guessing they can’t be bothered to attend something like this. What’s the problem kids, too famous to mingle with us regular folk already?
What is it with some of these actors not being able to spare a weekend to greet the fans who put money in their pockets?
Anyway…
Shockingly, this convention isn’t any cheaper than Creation’s Salute to Twilight, and Creation is notorious for requiring your first born child as payment for a full weekend at their cons. It’ll cost you $255.00 to attend TwiCon for the weekend.
Are these people smoking crack? What is the average demographic for fans of this book and movie series? Fifteen? Sixteen? I dunno about you, but when I was sixteen, I didn’t have $255 to spend on anything, much less a single weekend at a convention. Am I missing something here?
If you actually want to know more about convention, you can check out the official website.
I will say that ALL conventions post that line about no guarantees on guests. Pretty much every guest has a line in their contract that says they can cancel for any range of work obligations.
Oh yeah, their pricing scheme is outrageous, but considering they took over the same hotel as A-kon it’s not surprising. A-kon’s attendance is in the 15K area, while Twicon is a lot more modest in their goals. They are planning for a maximum attendance of 2.5K (though I think that might be a bit high all things considered.
On the note of Edward and Bella’s (lack of) attendance, I have to say I don’t blame them. From everything I’ve heard Twilight fans can be pretty intense/invasive/freaking nuts, and I don’t think I’d want to be locked in a hotel with them for a whole weekend either. It might be personal safety motivating them.
Not a valid excuse, in my opinion, Vikki. Let’s face it, actors from so many fandoms attend conventions many many times a year. I can promise that Twilight fans have nothing on some of the fans from other more established fandoms. If other celebs who are much more famous and command much bigger paychecks can hang with the fans for a weekend, so can they.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. I think that they’re aiming too high for the first convention. They really should have started on a smaller scale and then worked their way up the ladder. Heck, do just ONE convention where the pricing is reasonable. I’m not paying that much money for a convention that hasn’t proven itself. Sure, they can promise a handful of stars, but what about how the convention is executed? There’s a lot of ways to screw this stuff up and so far they’ve really aimed high. Not only do they expect us to pony up $225 for the cover price (even with the payment plan), but we have to pay for hotel, food, & travel. That’s not even taking into consideration souviniers & such. If they’d established themself with one good convention result they would have gotten cheaper rates all around, from both the convention hall and the stars. (Hint hint, stars will charge more this way b/c they don’t know if it will prove to be good marketing for them to show up.) Then I’ve heard that they’re planning on providing a meal for each attendee at some point? BAD IDEA. Food allergies, religious restrictions, spoiled food, choking…. there’s a lot of ways that it could go wrong. Not to mention that it’s way too expensive and cutting it out could have lowered the price by at least $50 per ticket.
I’ll wait until it’s proven itself, just like so many others are. I can’t afford to go and my parents can’t afford to give me the money to go. It’s bad times for pricey things like this. I just wish that the con-heads used their brains. Cheaper prices mean more attendees. More attendees mean cheaper rates from the con hall. Cheaper rates means that you can do more for future conventions.
Eddy’s Girl, you are so true to what you are saying, I would love to go to the convention as it is it’s almost $650 for the room for the weekend then they want $225 per person plus food…..if it were $175 for the tickets that would not be too bad…..I am coming from Canada so this little journey could cost me over $1000!!!
really is it really worth it?……I think I should cancel my reservations.
The people over the conventions need to understand that most of the fans of Twilight are young and can’t spend so much money for only one weekend. I am from North Florida and the only convention close to me is the one in Orlando,Fl. The prices are cheaper than the other conventions. You have the choice of going for the whole weekend or just one day. I believe the Saturday pass is $35.
you get to do everything that happens on Saturday but the concerts.
that cost you $20. Its a great price but is it worth the drive and not
being able to meet the cast you really want?So far the only cast members that will be coming is Peter, Kellen, Jackson & one more guest.
They are trying to get Taylor to join the guest list.
Why don’t they speak with the fans before making a convention.
listen to what they would like to see/do at one of these things.
I would go to any of them to meet with Kristin. She became one of
my favorite actress since she spot in Twilight. Plays Bella very well
and can not wait to see how she plays the insane parts of Bella.
Ohh… now they’re saying that only a few of us can get signatures! They were saying we’d each get a free signature and now they’re saying that only 65 people can get a signature at each signing? And we can only get 2 signatures each (one we have to pay for)? That’s so not what they were saying to us so many months ago! Why should that have changed? Shouldn’t they have nailed that into place before any of this started?
Yeah this thing is total BS! I’ve been argueing with these B’s for a while. I’m SO regretting purchasing a pass but there’s nothing I can do about it now, there’s no refunds. I’ve been in their forum letting them know how pissed I am. Their excuse for all the F ups is that I should have went to a chat room and spoke to the costumers. RIGHT!!! Because the costumers are supposed to know more than the people hosting the event. Feel free to check out the bashing at the twicon forum it’s titled ’so screwed up”. Expect to hear lots from me cause I’m not letting it go anytime soon.
If you hate it so much, then sell your tickets on EBay and don’t go. Sounds like you’ve had a bad attitude from the beginning. Did you buy a ticket just so you could gripe about it?
@ Kitty
Not sure who your comment was directed at, but as the person who wrote the entry, I’d like to point out that I did NOT buy a ticket and never had any plans of going.
My experience so far with Twicon has been awful and the person I’m going with has had an even worse experience and we haven’t even made to the event yet. This is my and hers first time going to any convention and it has definitely made us never want to go to any convention ever again. If they couldn’t handle it they shouldn’t have hosted it. We have every right to be angry for all the mess ups and failure to handle things. My attitude started when I realized nobody wanted to do their job. This website is supposed to be a place for people to go to get information about conventions and if I have helped anybody not make the same mistake I did then I’m happy, I wouldn’t wish this headache on anybody. Everybody on this page is “griping” about something with Twicon. So if you don’t want to read that kinda stuff then this isn’t the page for you. But it looks to me like you just wanted to start something so I’m deleting this page from my history cause I don’t wanna argue. Bye to everybody, this website has been helpful.