So we're doing #momocon next weekend in Atlanta.
Well, no.
We're doing #Wonderfest which is a Japanese handmade toy show. The first Wonder Festival in the US is inside Momocon.
This is a thread, I have things to say.
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Momocon is reporting that they expect 180,000 attendees over 4 days, with the bulk of those people coming on Saturday.
180,000 attendees is more people than I can conceive of.
Momocon has been very well advertised locally.
Well, no.
"locally" in this case meaning in metro Atlanta, not this far north.
But all through the metro there are momocon billboards and they're doing radio and print advertising.
It will be well attended.
But Wonderfestival has not been well advertised separately from momocon, and I'm convinced that folks who are attending momocon don't know it's happening.
This is going to create a weird dynamic, where people who are entirely unfamiliar with the art toy world are going to be discovering it for the first time.
Over and over again, tens of thousands of people, all day.
I don't think this will change things for us much, because the toys we make are made using similar techniques and materials to commercially produced toys. The toys we make are as sturdy and as tough as commercially produced toys. And they're priced in line with commercially produced toys.
(Well... Not *all* of them. Some of our toys are 3D printed, and some of what we're selling will be slightly more than commercially produced toys, but that's a non-issue.)
But for the folks who are making things in resin or 3D printed stuff, they're going to need to explain how handmade toys work, over and over again, and set expectations over and over again.
And the folks who are bringing higher-end art toys, sofubi and the like... well, they're going to be explaining and justifying their price points to an unfamiliar audience all weekend.
Hopefully, this is the only year that this is a problem, and future years will see more people who are already familiar with the score.
