The Overly-Devoted

[Igorina]

So, I know a guy. He writes comic books.

He does well enough.

As a friend, I have acted as his minion for various small, medium, and large-ish conventions. I get drinks, makes sure he makes his panels, take recordings and pictures for his website and do general work so he can interact with other professionals and his fanbase.

Portions of his fanbase can be...very devoted to the shared universe he writes for. He gets cornered for upcoming spoilers, harrangued for other people's continuity errors, and critiqued for plotlines.

They have interrupted private conversations, and business conversations.

For a while I never paid much attention to the overly-devoted; I had other things to do (i.e. where are the extra copies of Issue #1?! Where is the extra Sharpie?), and my friend is adept at handling and diverting the worst of them.

Then some of the overly-devoted started following me about! They were trying to find out where my friend was through me. They started asking me where he was when I was off-duty. *twitch*

Off-duty is my time to relax, drink, costume as I please, and flirt; all of which is unprofessional to do while I'm being a minion.

I informed him of what was happening. He was quite shocked that some of his overly-devoted could even muster up the gumption to approach me.

So far they leave me alone when I tell them I'm off-duty, but I worry it's only a matter of time until that won't work.

[AccountingDrone]

Welcome to the world of fenminnions =)

It can get fairly bad, one Balticon that my friend and I went to where a particular author was GOH our room was her unofficial hiding place. We had a wonderful private invite only afternoon party for about 15 people and her so she could de-stress and get some decent food in peace [we are all long term fen and friends]

Assorted happenings a the con - fen following her into the ladies room, fen not wanting to leave the room after a panel ended, fen trying to join the table at a private dinner in one of the restaurants at the hotel, fen knocking at the door to her room at 2 am

[Andara Bledin]

Ugh. Obsessed fen can be the worst.

I know of one comic artist (he's fairly well-known) who has a cadre of obsessive fangirls who actively block anyone that isn't in their clique from getting sketches or otherwise interacting with him. It's pretty scary, really.

^-.-^

[Mytical]

Yeah, sorry to hear that . One of the unfortunate risks of being a Minion is you can get associated with whoever you are a minion for . The sc's and ew's think that 'celebrities' should have no life outside catering to their whims.

I still so want to be a proper minion and do things like that at conventions and such though. Sadly most of the people I would be willing to Minion for A) Can't afford a minion B) Don't know I exist OR C) are not interested.

[AccountingDrone]

Yeah, sorry to hear that . One of the unfortunate risks of being a Minion is you can get associated with whoever you are a minion for . The sc's and ew's think that 'celebrities' should have no life outside catering to their whims.

I still so want to be a proper minion and do things like that at conventions and such though. Sadly most of the people I would be willing to Minion for A) Can't afford a minion B) Don't know I exist OR C) are not interested.

Ah, I am a volunteer minion, no pay involved at all =) I always figure that I am going to be at the con anyway, and attending those particular panels and parties =)

[Mytical]

Volunteer Minion is all good, IF you can afford to go to the cons. If I go, sure I will volunteer, but most of the time attending cons is out of my budget.

[Mikkel]

I can't understand that. I mean, here is this guy, I love his imagination, I look forward to his strip every day, he make my life a brighter place. Therefore I'll harass him and his helpers at the con!
What do they think will happen? At the very least the artist may stop going to cons. He may even stop the strip.

[Igorina]

I'm kind of a volunteer minion; my friend pays me in comic books. He's also pretty good about paying for a meal or two during the con, but I still pay for my room and membership.

[Sapphire Silk]

A friend of mine owns a well known role playing game company. He spends a good part of every year on the road at conventions, promoting the line. He's a great guy, and likes his customers (which is why he gave up a VERY well paying day job to be a game designer), but he does get frustrated with some of the more obnoxious fans.

In years past, I helped out at the booth, and saw a lot of the behaviors: rules lawyers who want to argue passionately that a rule re-write was WRONG! and should be changed to their way of doing things (it's an RPG, change the rules any way you like. It's your game), or who just want to go home and brag that they talked to Author X. Then there's the obviously Aspie's who just don't know when to let someone else have a turn.

We had one fellow who, while nice enough, was very overbearing and hard to shake because he'd written for the company in the past (actually a pretty good writer). Every day someone would have to "throw themselves on the grenade," so everyone else could get some peace.

The good old days. I miss 'em.

[Andara Bledin]

We had one fellow who, while nice enough, was very overbearing and hard to shake because he'd written for the company in the past (actually a pretty good writer). Every day someone would have to "throw themselves on the grenade," so everyone else could get some peace.

I have a friend like that. He's a nice guy, but he talks, and talks, and talks, and talks, and will follow people around to keep talking at them, and all the while he gets louder and louder until you tell him to turn it down, then he gets quiet for a bit, until it creeps up and up again, and you have to go through it all all over again.

^-.-^

[Igorina]

On occasion I get a bad vibe from some of my friend's fanbase, nothing concrete, but they feel off.

When I have mentioned this to my friend his response is that at any of his panels he figures that at least two of the audience members are potential serial killers.

[Plaidman]

Wish I was great at art, or stories, or comics, or something to warrent fangirls. That be pretty sweat life really. I don't get why people hate it so much. Bunch of people love you for what your great at? What's so bad about that. Oi.

[Igorina]

I don't get why people hate it Bunch of people love you for what your great at? What's so bad about that. Oi.

Because there are people who say 'love' and mean obsession, or means to their own ends.

And because there are married folks who take their vows seriously and find the desparate attention/recognition seeking actions on the part of their fanbase as insulting.

[Andara Bledin]

Bunch of people love you for what your great at? What's so bad about that. Oi.

Ask Rebecca Schaeffer. Or John Lennon.

^-.-^

[Argabarga]

I have a friend like that. He's a nice guy, but he talks, and talks, and talks, and talks, and will follow people around to keep talking at them, and all the while he gets louder and louder until you tell him to turn it down, then he gets quiet for a bit, until it creeps up and up again, and you have to go through it all all over again.

^-.-^

I also knew a guy like that, only he was a magnitude worse, he was so sure you wanted to hear his story that excusing yourself to go the the bathroom, even when it was legit, only resulted in him trying to follow you into the facilities so he could keep talking while you did your thing....

Then he wondered where all the hostility was coming from