When you hear the words "Preview Night," what comes to mind? Maybe a special sneak peak? Something unique and different from the regular convention?
The San Diego Comic Con Preview Night was like that once.
My first Preview Night was 7 or 8 years ago and a small group of attendees were treated to a sneak peak at the Exhibit Floor. Also, a couple of vendors showed some of the special products they were going to sell during the main convention, but they were not available for purchase yet. We all had to wait until the following day. (Though I've heard that some Exhibitors were able to get their hands on those special product on Preview Night, but I've never been able to substantiate it.)
This year, Preview Night was, instead, a mini convention day. The experience was exactly the same as a regular Comic Con day, just with a fewer number of people. In short, there were long lines to get in as well as to get some of the Comic Con exclusives with the short 3-hour period.
In a way, attendees still had the opportunity to look around and find whether any popular vendors had moved (none that I was interested in) and whether there were new vendor booths to follow-up with later (I had already previewed it via the website's Exhibit Hall map two days before).
However, the sheer number of people on the Exhibit Floor was still numerous, as the photos above show. What my photos are missing are the extensive lines for many of these booths. Let's just not talk about the mess known as "The Funko Booth".
To be fair, there were exhibitors that offered Preview Night only exclusives, but a majority of the items offered (that I had seen) were available throughout the rest of the Convention.
During this year's Convention, I overheard and been part of a few conversations relating to the relevance of Preview Night. Some of the suggestions are:
1) Do away with Preview Night and make Wednesday a full day. There are enough attendees to make this worthwhile;
2) Keep Preview Night, but limit it to Press and Exhibitors only;
3) Keep Preview Night, but keep Exclusives for Attendees only, not Press or Exhibitors;
4) Keep Preview Night, but Exclusives for Press and Exhibitors only, not attendees.
Granted, the issuance of exclusive products are not under the direct control of the SDCC management team, so all of the above suggestions are just that. [Note: I disagree with both #3 & 4.] However, there seems to be a greater number of unhappy attendees who see exclusives being reserved and sold to Exhibitors before regular attendees have a true opportunity.
Some level of favoritism is to be expected: Exhibitors pay up to the geld for their space as well as have to pony up all set up, marketing and operational costs. General attendees, however, have spent their early mornings, time at work, or midnight vigils to obtain their passes as well as paid a pretty penny to travel from the far reaches of the world to sunny San Diego for the opportunity to experience the convention as well as have a fair shot at some of these rare collectibles.
I don't have an answer, but the frequency of the discussions seem to point towards the need for Preview Night to be re-examined.
For those who want to know, I did purchase a few items: I've begun treating Preview Night as a purchase day so I can spend more time Thu - Sun waiting in queues for panels I won't make, but more on that, and other 'True' Comic Con experiences, later.
My Preview Night acquisitions ;-)
Next time: Thursday ... Am I Really Here?
