Hey gals and pals I am sure a lot of you are aware of the vast conventions all around from Comic Conventions, Sci-Fi Conventions why even a JEM Convention based on the 80’s show “JEM” and the Holograms has taken off at full speed and I am curious if anyone thinks a Thundercats Convention could or should ever happen.
Funny that you mentioned it. It’s been a topic here among the team.The problem lies in finding funds to back such a venture. Believe me that if there is a Thundercats convention you’ll see lots of people and I personally would do my very best to make it. Hopefully if there’s any new series or movie coming out there will be interest in making a Con
I’m in agreement with Manny on this one. If there was more interest generated say to a new show or movie then I think we could see one, other than that Im not so sure we would. If we did I would go.
I’d make sure TCL has at least a table set up 
Frankly I think the problem would be picking a location that maximizes the # of people who could attend. I’d love for something like this to happen but I can’t help thinking it would be disappointing when not enough people showed up. Real life catches up to us too fast and unless it was in my own town or I had another good reason to be in teh town it was held in, even me the die hard fan that I am, would probably have to pass it up.
I agree. At the present time a ThunderCats convention would not be feasible for the following reasons:
1.) Money to pay the guests for their time.
2.) The attendence. The more popular the show or movie, the more likely people will come, and the Cats aren’t exactly what you’d call hot right now.
3.) Compared to Star Wars, Star Trek, and the Lord of the Rings, I don’t think the current T-Cats fan base is big enough to make for a profitable convention. We’ll have to wait for the property to become popular again before we see an increase in the number of fans. 8)
4). Where and when a T-Cats con would be held, and if the guests are free to come.:?
5). Most importantly, the price of admission. If convention organizers charge ridiculously high ticket prices and unaffordable con “packages”, no one will come no matter how badly they want to. 
It all ties in. :bengali:
How about an informal con - ie pick a larger con where one or more of the voice actors from Thundercats will be attending and arrange to meet other fans there.
No set-up costs, no hassle and just the price of admission - a win-win situation
Might be the answer until the fandom grows in size?
A informal con isn’t a bad idea. The price of admission would cover that as well as the rest of the larger convention, or individual tickets can be sold for the smaller informal event alone, thereby giving people a choice.
Chris here…
As much as I’d love to disagree with you, I think your comments here are spot on - unfortunately ThunderCats is not in the same popularity league as Star Trek, Star Wars, Tolkien, or even something like Transformers or Harry Potter. Whilst I think it deserves to be, nonetheless the harsh reality is that it isn’t, and as such (and coupled with the geographical hassles that Mark correctly raises) I think a whole convention devoted to nothing but ThunderCats probably wouldn’t attract more than a couple of hundred people at the most.
However, I think your best bet would be to have an informal con along the lines of what Archangel is talking about - now that I think could work very successfully!
Take care…
A “couple of hundred people at the most” is the best reason for an informal convention. They’re small, affordable, and, best of all, intimate; you wouldn’t have to deal with five or six thousand fans like you would at the Comic Book Convention in San Diego or an event thrown by Creation, Inc., and the size of an informal con would be perfect for a relaxed and casual meet-and-greet atmosphere. Granted, the dealers’ room (how can you have a con without one? :D) wouldn’t be the size of Wimbledon or Madison Square Garden, but that would make it less time-consuming for shoppers, though the variety of items being sold would be far less than at a much larger venue.:bengali:
Thundercats doesn’t have a big enough fan base to justify a con by itself, imho.
As part of a larger con, maybe. In fact, that was done in 2004, outside NYC. Four of the voice actors were there as part of a larger con. The cost wasn’t that bad. I might have been the tcats fan that traveled there from the farthest location (Michigan), but I have fandom friends out there anyway, and part of the trip was to meet up with them again. It was fun and I would probably do something similar again.
I didn’t see too many fans, outside the ones I knew I was going to meet there anyway.
But yeah, we drove (about 12 hours or so, give or take, one way) but if it were much farther and would involve flying, I’d have to sit it out. Flying was the biggest reason (besides them giving you no time to plan) I wasn’t on the S1V1 extra, either. California ain’t gonna compute here 
Yeah I remember that it was the Empire Fan Fest right? And Purrsia you were suppose to be on the extras on the TCat DVDs I didn’t know that?
Yeah, that was EFF. The main attraction was Star Wars, right? Seems like Mark Hamill was their guest of honor, but he’s not why I went.
And yes, I was one of several site masters who were emailed by the folks hired to put together the extras to fly out to Burbank, CA and film the S1V1 piece. They only gave me like, literally, 3 days notice plus I don’t fly so I had to say no! Seems like a lot of us based on the east coast or midwest had to turn them down, the lack of notice being the thing that nipped it the most for the others, I believe. Obviously, some people made it though Which is good I guess - they didn’t need two dozen of us showing up!
Celesta Johnston-Krantz was one of four people on the “ThunderCats Fans Speak Out” segment. She wrote about it on her “Cat Scratches” blog; she has it posted there now. It’s an eye-opener.:bengali:
I do think piggybacking on another convention is a good idea. Maybe Gen Con or something.
I just got back from Comic Con in San Diego and was thinking about this thread while I was there. I saw a few rooms (in the evenings) that were being used for fan based meetings, it was built right into the convention schedule.
I was thinking that if the cost wasn’t too exorbitant to book a room for a couple hours that we could hold a ThunderCats panel/fan meet at the convention. I know that our site admin Manny lives not far from the Con, and while it’s all the way on the West Coast, Comic Con is probably the best oppotunity for people to travel there as most of us geeks have more than one obsession related to comics, animation and movies.
The advantage would be that by having the TCats thing built right into the schedule, many fans who were just attending the con and don’t frequent the various fan sites could still participate. And with a bit of work we could probably get some help from sponsors?
I lean more toward doing this at Wizard World Chicago. The midwest is more centralized.
Or do them at a few different cons, different times of the year. That way, hopefully some of us will have the timing and location meet up with something doable for us. Obviously, you won’t be able to please everyone, but I’m sure if it could be done occassionally and at various places, many of us would get a chance to check one out.
LOL… says the guy from Illinois
The other thing to question is what sort of convention would attract the correct fanbase? There are anime conventions, sci-fi-conventions, comic conventions, gaming conventions, etc - what would be the ideal type?
Gen-Con seems like an ideal location as it’s a centralized convention, as are other one-off conventions that people fly to for other reasons. However, I’ve sort of noticed that not everybody fits under the same bubble in TC fandom, some of us are not into comics, some are not into gaming, some are not into anime.
All in all, I do have to say that when it comes to getting things done, the TC fan base is mediocre at getting excited about stuff, at best.