scamcon '17

[davemerrill]

this outfit is putting on a Sailor Moon cruise and a Sailor Moon cafe and a bunch of branded fan events without, as far as I can see, bothering to go through the formality of actually contracting with the owners of Sailor Moon.

http://angrygoatproductions.com/

They seem to really be pitching for the gullible fan who has a lot of extra cash lying around. Last summer they advertised a 'cosplay train' from LA to the SDCC and if anybody actually bought tickets, they didn't talk about it much on social media. This year they're pitching a Harry Potter LARP on a train and the "American Cosplay Awards" at an LA event and a couple of cruises. It all looks to me like somebody interned at a travel agency and left with some industry contacts and some Sailor Moon clip art. Watch for this one to crash and burn and sink and derail later this year!

Edited to add a blog post with more Angry Goat Information: http://scarlet-rhapsody.com/?p=8815

Comments

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

Why Angry Goat? I mean, sure, you gotta call a company SOMETHING but that's not really an inviting name to see attached to... anything.

Craft Beer? Yes. Indy record company? Probably. Crazy fringe political movement? duh. But something attached to trying to attract teens and tweens and college age kids flush (maybe) with money? nuuhh.

I assume wanting to ride the coattails (Goat tails? HAW!) of an old busted internet meme?

Mind, I could be down for an "Anime Train mini-con" deal, couple of days on a train talking and watching anime. I have no idea how you get enough sleeping space and open function area on a train to make it work.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

the more I read about this outfit, the less professional and more like a gang of "let's put on a show" kids it seems.

They had announced a SM cafe at a specific venue, fans called the venue, venue had no idea what the fans were talking about, AG claimed the venue cancelled the event "because of the phone calls." Because that's a thing that would happen, a venue would cancel because patrons were interested in the event?

It starts to smell like the antics of the guy I knew who claimed Jim Shooter was his uncle but begged everyone to not mention it to Jim Shooter, because family reasons, and not because he was a pathological liar. AG was asking people to not contact the venue. There's no reason to do that, if you actually have a contract with the venue. If you don't have a contract with the venue, if you've been dreaming big dreams and getting way ahead of yourself in promoting your event without doing the actual work of nailing down venues, then you won't want anyone to actually check up on what you're failing to get done.

And that's just one of their slate of events! One part of a galaxy of train rides and cruises and ballroom dances and cosplay awards, all promoted by people who have zero experience running any sort of event. It's less of a 'scam' and more of a 'delusion'.

When I was 10 we decided to put on a haunted house and we spent half a day talking about how great it was going to be and making signs. Did not spend any time actually, you know, building a haunted house. Because that shit is hard. Making the signs is easy and fun.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

I think the good thing is, in our connected world shit like this gets found out pretty quick. There'll always be people tricked by these scams because the 'want to believe' is stronger than wisdom and common sense.

What I expect? The guy in charge will fold this tent, blame haters and some unseen upper person, loudly swear HE knew something was wrong but was forbidden to do anything about it and it's all not his fault boo hoo hooo...

And he'll try again with a different name.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

In the UK there's a tiny number of carriages in preservation where the furniture isn't fixed to the floor; dunno what there is in the US but presumably if you were made of money you could hire one of those, set up a projector, and be infuriated by every irregularity in the track... er...

I see they (allegedly) do a Harry Potter train and cruise, but they've filed the serial numbers off those.