more angry goat

[davemerrill]

Nerd & Tie has a round up on the exciting world of fandom train rides, fandom cruises, fandom cosplay expos, fandom Sailor Moon Cafes, you name it, it's the exciting world of Angry Goat Productions who apparently have yet to actually produce anything other than websites and bad press.

from the article:
So earlier this week we were pointed towards a supposed scam warning on Facebook about Angry Goat Productions‘s “Sailor Moon and Pop Up Cafe Exhibit.” The Pop Up cafe is supposed to be a part of an event called Cosplay Unplugged Los Angeles (CULA), but for many this is raising red flags.

The more I’ve dug into this and organizer Ray Jelley though, the more confusing the maze has gotten. Are people getting scammed by Angry Goat Productions, or is this simply a case of Angry Goat Productions being really bad at this.

Update: Angry Goat quietly cancels their Sailor Moon events.

Despite promises that tickets would be going on sale soon and that a new venue was being booked, it appears that at least all of the Sailor Moon themed events have now been cancelled. Of course, as we suspected, there were no official announcements made — but the events quietly disappeared from the Angry Goat Productions’ Facebook page and website.

I can't really say "score one for the good guys" here, because it looks like this outfit was, and still is, doomed from the start. Still, it's made for entertaining reading, and some hopefully cautionary examples for future Angry Goats angry enough to want to start their own fan events.

Comments

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

You would think in our modern connected world this guy would not even get a chance, not even more than one 'swing' before the universe would drop on his head like a c-level OAV from the late '80s.

Yet, he continues, somehow, some odd way.

OTOH one of my Star Trek group was a king con artist, producing much more talk than actual action and nobody (except me, and my action was just to never ever trust him in any way) ever called him on it.

Some got the knack I guess.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I really have a soft spot for these kinds of Fans With Plans dreamers, it really takes me back to being 13 and shooting the breeze with fellow nerds about the awesome things we're going to do when we're grown up, crossed with the attention-hungry yarn-spinning that that one kid always does to try to impress everybody, and that everybody falls for once, and then you learn to roll your eyes and say 'whatever, man.'

That this guy is a grown ass adult is the amazing part. Well, it's not that amazing. There's a never ending parade of eyeballs looking at his web site, every time he slaps a new fandom onto his vaporware event he gets a new demographic of easily impressed suckers, he gets to feel like a big shot, and then the whole thing vanishes in a puff of smoke and he moves on to the next target.

At some point one of these transactions will go through by accident and somebody will be on the hook for a couple of hundred bucks, just enough cash to piss somebody off enough to make trouble for him, and his life will become very interesting. Until then, it's all roses and dreams!

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

One of the things I'm unsure about. Has he collected money for any of these fantasy events? How is it he's not been sued?

I mean good lord, advertising an event at a place he hasn't booked...isn't that bad for the hotels/convention centers/whatever? People would usually blame the sites, at least some people.

I suspect he does a LOT more ranting that vanishes after an hour or so, blaming the haters for not believing in his awesome skillz. Blink and it's gone. Yet HE isn't.

*sigh* This is where I say I'm too old for this s**t. :)

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I don't believe any money has ever been collected for any of these events; everybody who bought a ticket for the train ride that got cancelled had their money returned. Or, at least, the potential charge on their credit card never went through.

I guess that's a benefit of doing everything using a third-party online billing service, you can cancel at any point and nobody actually loses any money.

That's why I say at some point one of these fantasy event transactions will accidentally wind up being charged to somebody's credit card, and when that happens, that somebody will sit up and take notice, and it won't be good for Angry Goat.