A HASCON Perspective: Solid First Event But Not Without Some Miscommunication and Confusion



Providence, RI -- Today marks the end of Hasbro's first ever convention, HASCON. The great people at Hasbro granted us here at DailySuperHero.com two press credentials to cover their Marvel and Star Wars offerings and now that the doors have closed I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts on how the event went.

First of all, I came to HASCON with very low expectations and this is not being said to be disrespectful to Hasbro. I figured to keep my excitement level and expectations low because I had no clue what to expect when I made it to the show floor.

Prior to my arrival, I was disappointed with the lack of communication Hasbro provided press attendees. I've been press for San Diego Comic-Con, Disney's D23 Expo and many other of the biggest pop culture conventions and events and the only other event where there was this much lack of press communication is for Wizard World's conventions. There was maybe one or two emails when it came to communication and one of them was how to pick up our press credentials. I was only contacted by Hasbro's Transformers reps for a meet-and-great interview, however, a scheduling conflict arose and that meeting did not pan out even though we do not cover Transformers here on the website. There was zero contact from any of Hasbro's Marvel or Star Wars people which was a big letdown and disappointment for me since that was the reason for our attendance here in the first place.

When we arrived at the convention center, Friday, we made our way over to the press entrance and got onto the show floor approximately an hour before the doors opened to the general attendees. A huge shout out for Hasbro for making this happen! This is something I would hope San Diego Comic-Con would do as well because I can run around and take booth photos/video without having to fight around crowds of people also trying to take photos and look at displays.

Of course Hasbro brought some HASCON exclusives with them and they originally said the limit was four per item, per person. I needed to grab some for some friends but the line was tremendously long and then I found out Hasbro walked back on the four per person, per item promise and reduced to to two per person, per item just about 15 minutes after the doors officially opened. Not cool to those who were already in line and promised four of each. And please note, toward the end of the day on Sunday, Hasbro still had plenty of HASCON exclusives left (per a Hasbro rep) and could have easily sold more had they stuck to their initial promise of four per item, per person. These will be available on HasbroToyShop.com at some point in the coming weeks, also per a Hasbro rep.

Getting back to Hasbro's communication, there was a big discrepancy between their program guide, app and website. For example, their Star Wars Black Series panel was originally set for 2pm on Sunday, per the program guide. Yet, it was listed as starting at 2:15pm on their app and 3:15pm on the HASCON website. This panel was promised to have new figure reveals, in its panel description, and when it ended there were no new reveals at all. Several attendees could be heard complaining about this and I too was annoyed by not only the start time confusion but by the broken promise of new figure reveals which never happened.

I will give Hasbro props for having a fun and interactive show floor for kids. You could see the biggest smiles and hear screams of joy throughout the day from different corners of the show floor, so there was definitely enjoyment in the air during the weekend. The movie prop displays, as well as the figure displays, throughout the floor were well lit and spaced out well to prevent over-crowding in those areas.

Overall, it seemed to be a success for Hasbro's first ever convention and several of the crew members working the event seemed to convey how Hasbro higher-ups were happy with the turnout and reception. Perhaps 2018 will bring HASCON 2, but Hasbro will need to address some of the problems they faced over this weekend to make a much better event moving forward.

Written by Daniel Wolf, DailySuperHero.com Founder & Publisher


Our HASCON coverage posts:
HASCON 2017: BLACK PANTHER Movie Figures Revealed

HASCON 2017: See Some of the New Star Wars Black Series Figures

HASCON 2017: Tons of New Marvel Legends Figures Revealed

HASCON 2017: Close Up Photos of Captain America, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Black Panther and Thor Movie Costumes

HASCON 2017: First Look at Newly Revealed Marvel Legends Figures

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Black Series Wave 2 Figure Photos From HASCON

HASCON 2017: First Look at the Return of the Star Wars Vintage Collection Figures

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