Chic, IL Lucasfilm Sues Gen Con

Sweet.

Story here

 

"...because GenCon 'has been unjustly enriched' by all these actions."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

<breathe>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Sadly it is not enough to put those crooks out of business. It is something though.

Hopefully LFL wins and much lolling can ensue.

 

Is anyone really going to care that Gen-Con ripped off a bunch of terminally ill children? I'm sure that the Gen Con staff was going to sink it back into the economy through conspicuous consumption, thus strengthening the economy through free-market expansion...so those kids would have gotten something, as would all of us.

D'
"This message was approved by the Ron Paul for President RESOLution."

 

I wonder what, if anything, this portends for Celebration V. I hope they can still have one in 2009 since that is the rumored year.

 

I think it would be safe to say that GenCon will not be handling C5 if there is one.

 

TheForce.Net is reporting that Gen Con LLC has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection as a result of the lawsuit. They had a link to an notice of that, but it seems to be down currently.

Phil

 

Yeah, that's actually a bit of money for a corporation that probably has little to no capital and relies almost solely on its name as a provider of a service. Who's going to want to deal/invest with a bunch of scum that rip off kid's charities (at worst) or have such clumsy accounting that it looks like they ripped off a kid's charity (at best).
The quick move to file bankruptcy just means that whoever got the loot is going to most likely get away with it since GenCon is probably not a lot more than a rented office and some computer equipment. It'll be interesting to see if they can stay afloat. Let's hope not.

D'

 

Here's the press release from the Gen Con website.

Phil

 

Let 'em burn!

 

Yeah, it'd be nice to see some of the larger costume & gaming groups put some organized pressure on the big advertisers. That would of course necessitate an organized social conscious amongst the leaders of those groups.

Anybody got any addresses?

D'

 

There is no consciousness, social or otherwise, in any of those groups so it is a lost cause.

 

Yeah, I was kidding. I'm sure GenCon has the leadership of such groups in their pocket with free kitsch, hotel rooms and the all alluring..."meaningless responsibility".

And why boycott an event for moral reasons when you might miss out on some limited edition resin bust of a B-grade actor? You gotta have priorities.

D'

 

I'm curious...will the Chapter 11 have any affect on the national convention scene? They had a west coast GenCon for a few years out in SoCal, I recall, and then the big Indy show...but I recall those being almost strictly gaming shows with celebrity guests awkwardly grafted onto them.

 

Actually, I hate to admit this, but I'm a lawyer and in my job I see companies file for bankruptcy all the time. When Gencon will most likely do is simply reorganize under a different name and continue to do crappy conventions across the US. We can count on Lucasfilm having nothing to do with them however.

 

They're trying to make it appear (at least in that announcement) as if this is just a small bump in the road for them until they can "reorganize", and that none of the currently scheduled programs will suffer. Since the name "GenCon" is probably the most valuable thing the company owns it'll be interesting to see what happens. I'd guess Vinyl is right, the name will probably be sold to someone else and GenCon will be "under new management". It could mean that we'll see different companies get to compete for running the various cons that GenCon had, with the new GenCon being one of the competitors. Or it could just mean the new GenCon is actually the old GenCon with all the same Jaggovs running it, only without all the debt they got out from under.

Vinyl is right about one other thing...you should never admit that you're a lawyer. I'm sorry, but you're out of my will.

D'

 

Too bad, VCJ, I hear Bosh had you down for his collection of limited edition anatomically-correct David Hasselhoff action figures.

-Haz
"Putting the 'fun' back in masturfunbation."

 

I'll sue you for saying that. LOL. No seriously, I imagine the GenCon name will no longer exist after this and they will simply reorganize under some other name and most of the same, if not all of the same people, will be running it. That is one scummy company that takes money from Make a Wish Foundation.

 

I really think, as I believe Bosh does, that geeks need to take a stand and not accept these shenanigans from various con organizers. Just ONE year skip going to Gen-Con or something related to Creation Entertainment and speak in the ONLY language these jerk-offs understand, the language of money.

 

Does Gencon have anything to do with Wizard that comes through Chicago once a year or is that a completely different bunch?

 

WizardWorld = Wizard Entertainment
GenCon = The guy who used to own Wizards of the Coast

Easy to mix up, but different owners.

D'

 

Thanks for the analysis, VCJ, and you can have my anatomically-correct David Hasselhoff doll if you want it when I die, which will be whenever my wife finds my anatomically-correct David Hasselhoff doll, I expect.

So it looks like what happens will be a new company with the scummy GenCon crew, along with probably someone else (Wizard? Creation?) buying the GenCon name & assets to continue that con with the same brand. That's my guess, anyway, cause I think the GenCon name does have value in the marketplace, even if a small subset realizes it's attached to scumbags who steal money from sick kids (allegedly--don't sue me please).

Goat, I am totally with you--I wish fans would wake up and stop supporting the big ugly corporate cons, but I think most fans just don't care enough to get the difference, and are sincerely, honestly dazzled by the prospect of seeing B- to Z-list celebs sitting behind a table and pretending to be happy. I think we represent a small segment of smart fans who actually pay attention to how these events are run, want them to be great, AND are willing to vote with our dollars.

I still dream of running a very cool, very grass-roots, very different kind of fan event someday. There was a guy looking seriously into it here in Orlando but he stopped getting back to me. There's also a few smallish cons here where I could probably step in to try and get some influence to shape them in my perfect con image, but I just haven't had the time/energy/inclination yet.

I wonder if MrShiny has any insights...I think he used to work GenCon pretty regularly.

 

Yes, I have game mastered at Gen Con Indy every year since 1985, the final 2 Gen Con So Cal's and volunteered at C3 and C4.

This doesn't surprise me. I am still shocked that they publicly refer to Make-A-Wish as their "top creditor." When exactly did this charity agree to "lend" them money?

Peter made his fortune because of Magic: The Gathering. Right idea, right time, and not his creation. He hasn't seemed to do anything before or since that has really done well. See the Salon article by John Tynes about the collapse of Wizards of the Coast.

I've been one of those crying for basic improvements in management on the Gen Con forums, but the standard response is that Gen Con LLC is doing things the best way possible (never mind other owners of Gen Con did it better with less resources).

They lack customer focus, and seem aimed at not losing money instead of making it.

That they ended up losing a ton it seems at a con that seemed about as well attended as it could be shows they lack serious planning skills. If C4 did loose that much money, they should have seen it on paper before they ever signed the contested agreement with LFL.

There is money and good will in the Gen Con name. I suspect someone will buy it, probably Hasbro or some other big player. It was best as a marketing expense rather than a profit center.