SMOF News, volume 3, issue 40

Pokeverse Expo didn't go well, Warhorn to be saved, and news in brief.

Pokeverse Expo Underdelivers

Pokeverse Expo was to have been a big new Pokémon convention for the Philippines. Held in Mandaluyong last weekend, attendees expecting an event stuffed with activities instead encountered something that is being compared to the Fyre Festival, or, for those with longer memories, the infamous DashCon.

IGN and Kotaku report that Pokeverse promised CCG tournaments and other Pokémon-branded activities, but little that was actually available directly connected with Pokémon. The convention was also plagued with late start times and other miscommunications.

Pokeverse has also been under fire for high ticket prices. A press release still available at POP! explains them this way:

The entrance fee is essential to cover the substantial costs associated with organizing the event, including venue rental, international headliner fees, flights, hotels, transport, setup, and logistics. The freebies, gifts, and opportunities that a ticket holder will receive during the expo will provide value that far exceeds the ticket cost. Additionally, the fee helps manage crowd control, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for families and children, who are a significant target audience of the event.

The headline guest, Veronica Taylor, would later say on X that she was not receiving an appearance fee.

The same press release lists some of Pokeverse’s “advisors”, which do not include anyone with experience running fan conventions. IGN has linked to an assertion that the main company behind it is an NFT business.

Warhorn Transfer Coming Soon

After previously announcing that Warhorn, a signup site widely used by gaming conventions, had had its shutdown date pushed back to September 30, its creator Brian Moseley has announced that an agreement is nearly complete to hand it over to a new maintainer. On June 1, he posted to Warhorn’s public Discord server:

hey folks, another quick update.

the ink is not dry yet, but I am finalizing an agreement to hand off Warhorn to an organization that will take good care of it and do right by you all.

I can't go into details about who the other party is or what the future will look like until the agreement is concluded. that said, I'm increasingly confident that Warhorn won't be going anywhere.

I hope this eases concerns about planning events over the next several months. stay tuned for more news as it happens

In Brief

• The Worldcon Heritage Organization is running an emergency fundraiser to try to buy the first Hugo trophy ever awarded, which will be auctioned June 7 (lot 95 in this catalog). Donations can be sent through Venmo to @worldcon_heritage. Donors should follow up with an email to president@worldconheritage.org giving their legal name, donation amount, mailing address if they would like a tax receipt, and whether they would like their donation refunded if WHO is unsuccessful in buying the trophy.

• The trial of Andrew Giaume and Thomas Dunbar for stealing a pallet of Magic: the Gathering cards from last year’s Gen Con has been delayed for a fourth time. The trial is now set for August 7, with a pretrial hearing August 1.

• Tampa Bay Comic Convention (Tampa, Florida, August 23-25) has added Kellen Goff as a guest.

• FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah, September 26-28) has added Patty Guggenheim, Caitlin Glass, Phil Lamar, Alyson Court, Adrian Hough, Lenore Zann, Matthew Waterson, Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, and Tira Sircar as guests.

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo (Portland, Oregon, September 27-29) has added Hong So Pak, Elizabeth Maleki, Richard Divizio, Carlos Pesina, and Daniel Pesina as guests.

• Spooky Empire (Charleston, South Carolina, October 11-13) has added Heather Langenkamp and Malcolm McDowell as guests.

Event Calendar

Weekend of June 7-9

• Robert E. Howard Days, Cross Plains, Texas, USA

• Cogs & Corsets (steampunk), Bloomington, Illinois, USA

• OttoCon III (gaming), Pleasant Valley, New York, USA

• SaltCON Summer (gaming), Layton, Utah, USA

• Be Excellent Festival of Games, Sylvania, Ohio, USA

• Bayou Wars 2024 (miniatures gaming), D’Iberville, Mississippi, USA

• SoCal Gaming Expo (video games), Ontario, California, USA

• North Texas RPG Con (vintage tabletop RPGs), Irving, Texas, USA

• Winsome Choose Some (Winsome boardgames), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• YUMiCON (anime), San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Anime Blues Con, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• AnimeCon 2024: The Future is Cow, Rijswijk, Netherlands

• Metropolis Superman Celebration, Metropolis, Illinois, USA

• Kauai Comic Con 3, Lihue, Hawaii, USA

• Oz Comic-Con: Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

• SWFL SpaceCon (media), Cape Coral, Florida, USA

• Sci-Fi Valley Con (media), Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA

• Fan Expo Dallas (media), Dallas, Texas, USA

• EM-Con (media), Nottingham, UK

• North Country Comic Con, Watertown, New York, USA

• Etna Comics 2024 (media), Catania, Italy

• Whinny City Pony Con 2024: Summer Camp (My Little Pony), Schaumburg, Illinois, USA

Weekend of June 14-16

• YetiCon, The Blue Mountains, Ontario, Canada

• Pyrkon, Poznań, Poland

• 4th Street Fantasy, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Just added: Cosplay World, Richmond, Virginia, USA

• CastleCon 13 (anthropomorphic), Horb, Germany

• Arcon 40 (gaming), Oslo, Norway

• Game Con Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

• Spielfest Wien (gaming), Vienna, Austria

• Board Game Fest, Chavdar, Bulgaria

• NordCon (gaming), Hamburg, Germany

• Q-Con 2024 (gaming), Belfast, UK

• Gameloops 2024 (boardgames), Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

• Medway Gaming Festival (video games), Chatham, UK

• Card Party 2 (Pokémon CCG), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Wie.MAI.KAI (anime), Flörsheim am Main, Germany

• Anime Marathon, Königslutter am Elm, Germany

• AnimeCon UK, Birmingham, UK

• Finn-Con@MDC (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• Indonesia Anime Con, BSD City, Indonesia

• Desucon 2024 (anime), Lahti, Finland

• OMG!con 2024 (anime), Owensboro, Kentucky, USA

• Heroes Convention (comics), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Space Coast Comic Con, Cocoa, Florida, USA

• Forest City Comicon, London, Ontario, Canada

• Fan Expo Boston (media), Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Weekend of June 21-23

• LibertyCon 36, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

• Soonercon, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

• Narrativity 2024: Romancing the Muse (storytelling in literary sf), Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Cosplay America, Cary, North Carolina, USA

• Origins Game Fair 2024, Columbus, Ohio, USA

• MoonCityCon 2024 (gaming), Springfield, Missouri, USA

• SunnyCon Anime Expo, St. James Park, UK

• Black Hills Con (anime), Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

• Anime Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Hazard Con (anime), Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

• JAFAX (anime), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• Bold Matsuri (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• Anime El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA

• SugoiPopCon 2024 (anime), Fishkill, New York, USA

• AnimeSHOW 2024, Bratislava, Slovakia

• ExpOtaku Zaragoza 2024 (anime), Zaragoza, Spain

• Mississippi Comic Convention, Jackson, Mississippi, USA

• Greater Austin Comic Convention, Cedar Park, Texas, USA

• Rail City Fan Fest (media), Saint Albans, Vermont, USA

Weekend of June 28-30

• Festival Fantazie, Chotěboř, Czech Republic

• PortConMaine 2024: Let's Eat!, Portland, Maine, USA

• The Town That Never Was (steampunk), Telford, UK

• Paris est Ludique! (gaming), Paris, France

• DexLite 2024 (gaming), Morristown, New Jersey, USA

• RAGECON 2024 (gaming), Sparks, Nevada, USA

• Too Many Games (video gaming), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• AkaiCon 10th Track (anime), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA

• DoKomi (anime), Düsseldorf , Germany

• Anime Festival Orlando 2024, Orlando, Florida, USA

• OCon (media), Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

• Nickel City Comic Con, Buffalo, New York, USA

• Hershey Comic Con, Grantville, Pennsylvania, USA

• Comic Con Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

• TrekFest 39 (Star Trek), Riverside, Iowa, USA

• Rebel Scum Con (Star Wars), Allen, Texas, USA

• X-Files Fan Fest 2024, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

Weekend of July 5-7

• Yanecon R (61st Japanese national sf convention), Chino, Japan

• Finncon 2024 (Finnish national sf convention), Jyväskylä, Finland

• Westercon 76, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

• InConJunction 43: Metal and Bolts and Gears, Oh My!, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• XXXVII Semana Negra, Gijón, Spain

• Festival Fantazie, Chotěboř, Czech Republic

• Play On Con, Columbiana, Alabama, USA

• CONvergence 2024: Everyone's Invited, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• BayCon 2024: Pure Imagination, Santa Clara, California, USA

• Little Island FurCon: Bloom & Gloom (anthropomorphic), Singapore

• Anthrocon 2024 (anthropomorphic), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• KantCon (gaming), Overland Park, Kansas, USA

• EBBG Con (gaming), Oakland, California, USA

• Dice Tower East (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA

• ShepparCon ‘24: It Will Be Rad! (gaming), Shepperton, UK

• BA-CON Year 3 (anime), Houston, Texas, USA

• Anime Midwest, Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Anime Expo LA, Los Angeles, California, USA

• TomoFair Utrecht (anime), Utrecht, Netherlands

• Anime ID, Boise, Idaho, USA

• Kogan Con 2024 (anime), Grand Haven, Michigan, USA

• Metrocon (media), Tampa, Florida, USA

• Comiccon de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

• LeakyCon (media), Portland, Oregon, USA

• London Film & Comic Con, London, UK

• Fan Expo Denver (media), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Avalon Expo 12/Summer (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

Coda

• Poozeum (BBC News)

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