Coventional Wisdom: AWA 2017 - page 1 (Patreon)

Okay, a quick confession before we start: these comics have actually been finished for DAYS now, I just never had time to sit down, write the comments, and post the things.  Heck, I technically STILL don't have time, today's Far Out There is already two hours late.  But yeah, at long last, here we go!

Back when I first started going to cons, the At-Door Registration lines were always murder.  If you didn't pre-reg, you just had to write off the whole first half of the first day 'cos you were spending ALL of it standing in line.  But then something strange happened and the distribution of line length shifted.  I dunno if it just took a while for word to get out that you COULD pre-reg or what, but the Pre-Registration Lines started getting longer and longer and loooooooonger, while At-Door got shorter and shorter.  Eventually, all the hip, experienced con veterans started telling everyone that the SMART thing to do was to not even bother with Pre-Reg.  Whatever $15 or $20 you'd save was MORE than made up for in the speed of just walking right up to the Registration Table while all those chumps who paid in advance stood in THEIR line.  And then an even FUNNIER thing happened, and the situation reversed itself.  I mean, I can only go my what I've witnessed in person, obviously, but the past few cons I've been at had an At-Door Reg line that was waaaaaaaay longer and slower moving than the Pre-Reg one.  I guess SOME of that could be written off as advances in technology, since now Pre-Reg can just scan the cone on your smartphone instead of having to check IDs and look up info manually, but that only goes so far.  AWA's Reg line in particular was INSANE on Friday, filling up the whole lobby space behind the designated line section AND even stretching back onto the balcony over the hotel lobby.  And from what I could tell, it was ALL people buying their badges right there.  You know, the line that's supposed to be SO much faster because nobody does it anymore.  I can only guess that everybody who went around bragging about what a shortcut it was ruined it for themselves.  Hey, whatever.  That just means I'll get through MY line that much faster.  Thanks, guys!

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