summer of sonic USA

[segasage]

I have been thinking about a sonic convention in the U.S. anybody have ideas?

[Greg the Fancat]

Have it embrace all aspects of the Sonic franchise no matter what. Everything from SatAM to the modern games. Try to appeal to the fanbase as a whole.

Now what makes you bring this up about a Summer of Sonic USA?

[Badnik Zero]

I'm pretty interested in this idea, since I'm in the NJ-NY area and this would be a fine place to have one. Who'd come?

I think the main obstacle is not having a leader to set things in motion. Dread is the glue that holds SOS together.

I know Darkspeeds was talking about doing something like this. It'd be real funny if the American organizer was an Aussie.

I'm broke as all hell. I could probably afford... train fare. Don't know how a con would get started, but I'd volunteer in any way.

Edited January 22, 2010 by Cupcake Hedgehog

[Slingerland]

I already had SoS USA. It was just me and this one other guy.

We got really drunk and played Sonic 2. Good convention overall.

[Mick]

I already had SoS USA. It was just me and this one other guy.

We got really drunk and played Sonic 2. Good convention overall.

Haha! That must have been the best convention ever! Oh yes.

Now seriously... I dunno if there will be a U.S. one. It's going to take a lot of money and time to get one going. Perhaps it'll be possible in many years. Right now, I don't think so.

[Meow]

Canada gets shafted...AGAIN. Haha. If I really wanted to I could do exactly what Slingerland did, grab a friend and play a Sonic game and call it a convention. Only I won't be getting drunk because I don't drink, but my friend could I guess. Actually though I am surprised, there are quite a few fans at my college. I guess us Canadians love the blue hedgehog or some shit.

[Sean]

The US is just far too big to hold a Sonic convention to the same extent the UK can. There would also be disputes over the appropriate place at which it should be held due to its corners being too far apart.

[Mick]

Perhaps there could be two conventions in the U.S., one in Los Angeles and one in New York. And possibly two more... one Chicago and another in Orlando. Who knows! Anybody have loads of money to organize all of that? Didn't think so. The U.S. is too big and I really can't see an S.O.S. convention in the U.S. ever happening.

[AAUK]

The prospect of an SOS US is a continuing project I'm working on, there's nothing to stop you guys organising a meet up but it won't be an SOS without the head honcho's involvement!

[Badnik Mechanic]

The prospect of an SOS US is a continuing project I'm working on, there's nothing to stop you guys organising a meet up but it won't be an SOS without the head honcho's involvement!

World ex-cludo tive right there folks.

Thing with SOS the American adventure Is that I don't think the idea of one single location would ever work... Well it would, you'd get bodies in the door, but it would never feel like the sonic community on mass. A roadshow however... Or multiple versions... That may work.

[Arrow]

Surely the main issue is location?

You could start by figuring one out. Do a questionaire of people who'd go, with a list of Cities and they tick which they can easilly attend, can attend and couldn't attend.

[Roareye Black]

The issue is that America has never done anything to help itself. In England, we had several key meetups (Well before Sega invited us places too) that were just a group of Sonic fans meeting from all corners of England for a pint and a chat. The majority of the people who work for SoS are the very same people who were involved in these early meetups. The first was by AAUK, T-Bird and Dread in Nottingham, followed by the first VGL show with those three and myself. We then arranged a proper meetup in London and people like Mike Taylor, Elson Wong etc all came along and created something great.

America has never done this. Not once. This makes it impossible for us to judge which single city would be best to host the event. Asking people online is no guarantee of anything since everyone would inevitably say "I'D GO! YEAH!", but the majority of those same people would likely be the ones to pull an excuse from their rectum when the event day comes along. In England we had already established a group of people who got along well and were keen and happy to go out of their way to have a meetup. I suggest that American fans do this first and foremost if they really want to convince the guys in charge that an SoS USA would actually do well. You have to bear in mind the extreme amount of money involved and that Sega wouldn't pay for the UK team to fly over and stay either so it would require a team of people who have a clue and are genuinely interested in doing something for the event.

Roareye Black.

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

It wouldn't really matter where the location is. Put it in a key city or area and it will be an enormous success either way simply because of the sheer volume of Sonic fans in the United States as opposed to the UK. The USA is a lot bigger, sure, and it's for that exact reason a convention would work wonders. Put it in the East Coast and you'll more or less cover the span of the UK and you can damn well bet there is just as much fans, if not more, on the United States East Coast than there is in the UK. Same way for the west coast - doesn't matter where you put it, the amount of Sonic fans is still proportional to the size of the country, in other words, A LOT.

I know I'd go.

Edited January 22, 2010 by nUcLeArEnVoY

[Arrow]

Put it in the East Coast and you'll more or less cover the span of the UK

I don't think you realise how small the UK is.

Also, how many of the people at SOS last year only went because it was in their home city? I'm going to bet on a LARGE percentage. Almost 8 Million people call London home.

Edited January 22, 2010 by Arrow

[BaronSFel001]

It ought to be somewhere in the region of the District of Columbia. I mean, anyone who has not been there is going to want to visit the nation's capital sometime, right? Not in the city proper, of course, because finding space would be a challenge and the space rental fees would be much higher. However, for such a thing to even get started, there would need to be at least some form of backing from Sega of America (I know, it is technically the U.S. offices of Sega West now) in order to make it viable for success, like how Sega Europe has supported the promotional events run by TSS. If we get that, it would probably not take many resources on everyone's part, just dedication. Anyone care to try and open communications?

[Legendary Emerald]

Every year since the first SoS this has been brought up. It's NOT going to happen. There is no one in America who has enough clout in the fandom to do this and expect people to take him seriously. Dreadknux and the guys have been around forever, and earned our respect in a way some rich kid and a whim cannot.

Location is also a HUGE issue. I laugh at the people trying to downplay that.

[Nemain]

Also, how many of the people at SOS last year only went because it was in their home city? I'm going to bet on a LARGE percentage. Almost 8 Million people call London home.

Spot on with how large London is. When you consider the London commuter belt (broadly, those around 1-2 hours away from central London), you're looking at more like 15 million with easy access to London. Even outside this the VAST majority of the country is less than 4 hours from either Birmingham or London by train and pretty much everyone bar the remotest Scottish islands can reach London in 12 hours with planes and trains combined. The simple fact is that nearly everyone in the UK is concentrated within 300 miles (5 hours max) of London, you're only talking about a tenth of the population in the extremes. In the US, especially when you consider Canada as well, you're talking huge population centres potentially thousands of miles apart, there is no one generally populated bit like the UK. The problem with the US is the coastal trend for dense population centres. Even if you have a convention in a central state, it is still hundreds of miles both sides have to travel.

It may work out better to have regional SoS conventions rather than one big one due to the scale of the USA but as Roareye said, you will need to find the time and place to gather people willing to put time (and their own money) into it to make it work out. Another thing is that you cannot easily appreciate the work it takes unless you have done it yourself - It's not an easy thing to put together something like SoS. There is no reason you guys could not pull one together... It's just a lot harder due to the sheer scale of your country and the lack of any of the original founders of SoS in person to help organise it.

Edited January 22, 2010 by Nemain

[BlazingTales]

*POST*

You have a point there, but the US is bigger. Every US Sonic fan you meet online can potentially live a few thousand miles away, whereas in the UK it's only a few hours of driving. It would be hard to find a good, mutual host city because of this.

[Slingerland]

America has never done this. Not once.

Roareye, you should probably take into account how big the United States is compared to your home country. Let's post this image again:

Seriously. Us "meeting up" like how you guys do in England is impossible.

[SefHighwind]

I'd have to agree. Yes, it would be awesome to have a SoS in the states, especially for those who wish they could go to the U.K, but because of the size of our country it just wouldn't work out well at all. Ya, you could go out and ask people if they would go, but the majority of the people who say yes aren't really thinking about the cost to be able to support this. By the time the event happens so many people would back out because they aren't willing to pay to fly or drive to the state in question. The only ones who would attend are those who are about an hour or two away from the area by car.

Now if the event was a regional thing, then it might work a bit better, but then you still have to find people to fork over the money to hold such an event.

[RainbowLizard]

Lol no offense but

Every year since the first SoS this has been brought up. It's NOT going to happen. There is no one in America who has enough clout in the fandom to do this and expect people to take him seriously. Dreadknux and the guys have been around forever, and earned our respect in a way some rich kid and a whim cannot.

Location is also a HUGE issue. I laugh at the people trying to downplay that.

'OMG YOUR TRYING TO SUPERSEDE DREADKNUX GET OUT' much? lolz.

[Arrow]

In evidence of the "it would never work as well as it does here" trend, I'm a member of a roller coaster enthusiast community who are based in the UK, much like SSMB is based in the UK but has worldwide members. The UK meetups often attract 30-50 individuals, but attempts to bring the meetups Stateside so far hasn't attracted more than a handful of individuals. Interested US individuals are so spread out that finding a park to hold the event just isn't possible. There is not a US equivalent, either, despite there being numerous US based roller coaster communities none have managed meetups as successful as UK groups do.

Our dense population here makes it far, far easier to find people locally with common interests.

I have a close friend who lives in Virginia, and there are more people in London ALONE than there are in the entire State.

[AuroraRedwinters]

Maybe it could start out with each state having their own "Sonic" chapter that meets once or twice a year at different locations within the state?

So let's say you live in Florida; (like myself) one meeting could be in Miami, and the next could be Tampa, then Jacksonville, etc. That way it isn't concentrated in one area. (Unless you live somewhere like Montana)

If it were to go to a regional or national level, then there are group discounts that could be taken advantage of with air, bus, or train transportation. (along with hotel) Or could carpool and save money and blast Sonic remixes through the car speakers all the way over.

[Roareye Black]

Also, how many of the people at SOS last year only went because it was in their home city? I'm going to bet on a LARGE percentage. Almost 8 Million people call London home.

I disagree with the large percentage. A majority is not being denied, but myself and Dread certainly don't call it home, nor does T-Bird or Elson or Hannah Echidna or the coach from Germany... we had alot of people completely outside of London attend the event. Hell T-Bird has been involved in the standard Sonic community meetups (And even arranged one) despite being a good 5 hours away from London by train. It took us 7 hours to drive to him. He's not close by. So while America is more vast, it is NOT impossible to actually arrange an event. The problem is that people expect to create an event like SoS on day one, and it just doesn't work that way. It certainly didn't in England, and as you say the population is closer together here. The first meetup had 3 people. The second had four. The third had 8-10. The fourth had 15ish. You see my point now? America hasn't even bothered to do a community meetup with a few people from a few locations, regardless of size. If there really that many fans over there that really crave a meetup such as this, surely they would have had at least a State-wide meetup somewhere in the last 19 years? I know a State tends to be bigger than England, but hell you guys haven't even tried. And yet you want an event that gathers 500 people done in the click of your fingers? It won't happen without the effort of people actually trying to get together as it is.

Roareye, you should probably take into account how big the United States is compared to your home country. Let's post this image again:

Seriously. Us "meeting up" like how you guys do in England is impossible.

It is not impossible. The whole Coastal side of the state pictured (And no, not Australia lol) could have a meetup surely? That's actually less in terms of total travel than England. Or even attempt a State-wide meetup? Tread softly, meetup little by little. But nobody can be bothered to do the first meetup, you guys just expect to jump straight to meetup 10, or even a full blown convention for you? To get a convention like that too be successful in America would require a smaller space and a tour of different areas. This would require a dedicated team to travel across America, which eliminates it being the Americans (Who've done nothing thus far), and eliminates the Brits unless we get it as a paid job. Sega wouldn't pay us for a fan convention. And if they did or if they hired professionals to do the jobs, they'd want some money back somehow due to how expensive it will be, and the whole event would become a lot more commercial. Thus not making it a fan convention.

Lol no offense but

'OMG YOUR TRYING TO SUPERSEDE DREADKNUX GET OUT' much? lolz.

Lol no offense but

'OMG YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT GET OUT' much? lolz.

Seriously, the Summer of Sonic was invented and built from the ground up by Dreadknux. AAUK then came along and assisted as a lead project manager with Dreadknux to make the convention physically possible. However despite these facts this has not so much to do with one person than the fact that SoS has a dedicated team behind it, which I fail to see happening in America. And if you wanted an American to supercede Dreadknux for head honcho, who do you have? The most you have is a gingernut arsewipe who doesn't even understand the freedom of information act properly and spouts bullshit across his pages to piss people off and get those "all important" page hits. Trust me, he wouldn't give a toss enough to give you a good convention. Sega couldn't trust him to organise something with their creative property and be safe in the knowledge that their plans for the show wouldn't be leaked out the second they began to mouth the words. He would just use the convention to stick his middle fingers up and SEGA and shout "I HAVE MY RIGHTS! FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT! <post editted - inflammatory - T>

[Arrow]

I disagree with the large percentage. A majority is not being denied, but myself and Dread certainly don't call it home, nor does T-Bird or Elson or Hannah Echidna or the coach from Germany... we had alot of people completely outside of London attend the event. Hell T-Bird has been involved in the standard Sonic community meetups (And even arranged one) despite being a good 5 hours away from London by train. It took us 7 hours to drive to him. He's not close by. So while America is more vast, it is NOT impossible to actually arrange an event. The problem is that people expect to create an event like SoS on day one, and it just doesn't work that way. It certainly didn't in England, and as you say the population is closer together here. The first meetup had 3 people. The second had four. The third had 8-10. The fourth had 15ish. You see my point now? America hasn't even bothered to do a community meetup with a few people from a few locations, regardless of size. If there really that many fans over there that really crave a meetup such as this, surely they would have had at least a State-wide meetup somewhere in the last 19 years? I know a State tends to be bigger than England, but hell you guys haven't even tried. And yet you want an event that gathers 500 people done in the click of your fingers? It won't happen without the effort of people actually trying to get together as it is.

Whilst I'm sure you don't mean to, you're inevitably implying that the yanks here are too stupid or lazy to organise such an event, or even consider doing it, by claiming that it has fuck all to do with location.

I agree that if there were individuals of high profile and who were willing to set about organising such an event, it would help. But even organising SMALL events in the US would be a nightmare and like it has been pointed out, such small events are required to grow the confidence that a massive one would work. A massive, well established event is going to attract people from furhter away, but that does not change the fact that most of the individuals at SOS live close by.

You seriously have no idea. And whilst I'm only hypothesising some of the reasons why such gatherings in the US don't seem to work (which like I have pointed out, are not restricted to the Sonic fandom), the fact of the matter is - they don't work as easilly as they do here, they just don't.

Those initial meetups were, undoubtably, made up of people who were probably quite close friends online and they undoubtably lived fairly close by. From that, it's easy to get the ball rolling. The chances of any who Americans who meet though the Sonic fandom being close enough to meet up for the day is rediculously low.

ALSO, what the fuck would they do with themselves? People here "met up for a pint". Well thats fantastic, as long as you're over 21 and have someone to drive you home... What else did people do? Faff about in a city? Cross that off the list too.

EDIT: Apologies, cuz I kept editing, and I realise you started replying when I was doing so. Sorry about that.

Edited January 22, 2010 by Arrow