The Montreal/Quebec Local Fans Banter Thread

[Kristal]

Originally Posted by Protoman

I hated that guy, he tried to convince me to trade his bootleg oversized Robot Masters Rogue (The blue BW Snarl repaint) valued at like... $5 for my TFcon 2006 Exclusive Anarchy bust, value at NOT EVEN WORTH MENTIONING

TBH I wouldn't even trade a bloody bag of chips for a 'special' bootleg. The guy seems like a butt to me.

Also the TRU isn't open yet, but they are stocking up X_X I wish I knew the date they open at! (All it says is that it will "open soon".)

[pulsedragon20]

Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

The only changing factor is if you ARE Chinese. But even then, it's still not a walk in the park.

Right now, I have English, French, Cantonese, and a workable understanding of Japanese and Mandarin... I really should learn the latter two properly one of these days.

You know Cantonese like me!...though I can't speak that well anymore, I blame watching too many Transformers episodes over and over again (jokes)

[SMOG]

Originally Posted by Protoman

Not the Fort Max guy, he was chill. It was the guy across with the TMNT toys and the busted ass TFs

That guy, yeah... I did not like his vibe at all. Very pushy, and didn't seem to know his stuff.

Originally Posted by Abraxys

LOL that guy kept looking at me like i was going to steal something. I know I look really greek, but cmon dude, way to earn my business. I just moved along.

I think he was like that with everyone. I was rummaging around in his box of loose, busted up mixed toys, and suddenly I hear like this little "...quarante-cinq dollars..." practically whispered in my ear. Dude was lurking like RIGHT behind me, and I don't remember what I had in my hand at that moment, but it was not worth even a quarter of that. I saw him doing that to others as well... just kind of sneaking up behind people and throwing inflated prices at them.

Originally Posted by Protoman

I hated that guy, he tried to convince me to trade his bootleg oversized Robot Masters Rogue (The blue BW Snarl repaint) valued at like... $5 for my TFcon 2006 Exclusive Anarchy bust, value at NOT EVEN WORTH MENTIONING

SERIOUSLY? I like those oversized Robotmasters figures quite a bit actually, but even so, I wouldn't pay more than $10 for one (pushing it).

Well, he didn't win many fans with us, did he?

zmog

[SMOG]

Originally Posted by Undrave

Yeah I am francophone. I could HEAR the tone well but pronouncing it correctly was kinda tricky. And then there is the 'j' and 'q' consonent (in pinyin) that are so ridiculously similar, I think it's like...a millimeter difference in tongue placement in the mouth, but it makes a world of difference

Yeah, in french and chinese both, when somebody points out the difference in "tone" on a vowel sound, I usually CAN hear the difference... it's just that it falls into that range of variance that is acceptable in english, so it's really hard to rewire my brain to perceive those things as being important.

Of course in french, as much as some people insist on it, it's not usually important... it just sounds like you have an accent, which I will always have since I'm not a native. I consider having a leftover accent of your mother tongue perfectly acceptable. In chinese though, getting that tone wrong can often totally change the meaning of the word.

zmog

[Protoman]

Let me lay this out

November 2003, Fan Expo decides to go outside it's normally SDCC sized success in Toronto and go to the 2nd biggest cultural city in Canada. They come to Montreal.

They do a 2 floor set up, bring in tons of guests, Pat Lee and half of Dreamwave, Star Trek, the works (Think Montreal Comic Con today, but slightly BIGGER in scale)

......... it bombed. No one came, no one payed for anything. Dealers suffered, it was a mess.

Fan Expo pulled out and never came back. Now those who know me, know the whole story behind this province and when it comes to "nerd culture" conventions but when we failed Fan Expo, it showed how much of a danger this place can be for big companies......... now I don't want to point fingers, but........ my bilingual upbringing from my French as FUCK father (See my last name, don't get more French then that) and my Anglo mom. I got both sides of the coin growing up so I know today more then ever why Cons just don't work on a huge scale here.

Now I know you can say "Well hey there is Montreal Comic Con".

Oscar has been doing Montreal Comic-Con from before you had hair on your balls (or for the ladies....... well you know). He saw Fan Expo's jump into a million dollar company in 2008 and decided to take a gamble and emulate that. The shift from comics and dealer room went into the "museum" style of convention. People pay to SEE stuff (guests and cosplay) rather then BUY stuff (Dealer room merch and comics).

Now if Oscar did this back in 2003 when Fan Expo bombed, he would had died out too. But recent BIG nerd culture in the mainstream has made it even for the most harden of Quebecers to ignore and thus in 2013, something like Montreal Comic-Con can survive and do well (not SUPER WELL, it costs a hell of a lot, but Oscar does ok, this IS Montreal after all)

[dabra_dmp]

I see so that's why you think botcon couldn't survive here.

[Abraxys]

Its very strange how much business Ontario gets and how little montreal gets. Its definetly the communities, but im curious why people here just dont spend money on these things. This is also apparent by the lack of toy shops we have here. I guess people here love clothes (ie Carrefour's huge transition over the last few years) more than fun? Id love to open up a comic/toy store but its gonna burn to the ground for sure

[Protoman]

Originally Posted by dabra_dmp

I see so that's why you think botcon couldn't survive here.

Within TFcon staff, he jokingly said what if we did it in Montreal one year....... let's just say it would be a disaster.

Originally Posted by Abraxys

Its very strange how much business Ontario gets and how little montreal gets. Its definetly the communities, but im curious why people here just dont spend money on these things. This is also apparent by the lack of toy shops we have here. I guess people here love clothes (ie Carrefour's huge transition over the last few years) more than fun? Id love to open up a comic/toy store but its gonna burn to the ground for sure

It's not strange and it's no mystery.

French people grew up with a specific kind of childhood culture. A culture vastly different from our own. We were raised in Montreal, but leave the island and learn what the rest of this province is like....... it will shock you, it's a god damn boring mess. Yes I know some of you off the island will want to fight me over it, but I am sorry, you have been eating shit your whole life, here is a piece of chocolate, take a bite, it's what I have been eating my whole life.

The problem stems from Franco culture has no deep connection with any of this nerd Anglo culture like we do. Sure it's different now, but that's due to big budget movies. I mean shit, what was X-Men and Spiderman to a francophone ages 5-21 before the first Marvel movies in early 2000. The nerd culture only saw a MILD boom from Francos due to it.

I worked behind the scenes for conventions since 1998, always had TONS of doubles of Transformers, but never dared to sell at shows cause of how bad the turn out was seeing from friends like PlasticJunky (Roberto Porco), Toy Wars (Steve) and Legends (the other Steve).

It was not till the 2007 movie when even the most separatist and Goldarak/Passe-Partout raised Franco had a craving for a robot that turned into a truck. An explosion happened and it would be stupid for me not to ignore it.

But as big as an explosion as it is...... it's still nothing compared to outside this province.

I do the 3 day Montreal Comic Con, I am happy if I make 1000 bucks. I do a one day show in Toronto. 1.7k EASY.

I can go on and on, but it is what it is. Maybe it will fix itself within 10 years with internet culture totally weeding out the dark ages franco culture had to go through during the 80s and 90s.

[Hhai]

I grew up in Granby. I liked transformers as toys when I was young but my favorite TV shows were Robin et Stella, Inimagimo, les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or, Sous le Signe des Mousquetaires... and I don't feel at all like I grew up in a "dark ages" or "boring" culture. Quebec is a quite different market for sure, and it has a lot to do with the langage of course, but also for our preference towards fantasy and historical stuff rather than sci-fi stuff. Amos Daragon, Harry Potter an al. will always be more popular here than TFs, super-heroes and sci-fi shows.

In my opinion, when a business tries to enter a new market and fail, only the business is to blame, not the culture.

[Hhai]

Hey, and even franco-ontarian culture is vastly different from both franco-quebecois and anglo cultures. My best friend who is from a french family from Ottawa grew up with Club Dorothée, Bioman, Ranma 1/2 and Les Chevaliers du Zodiaques, all quite unknown elsewhere in Canada.