When a con stinks: Fandom Con

Over the years, we’ve reported on many a convention disaster, and as we approach the Too Many Cons stage once again, we have a real stinker: Fandom Con, held April 10 – 12, in San Jose, CA. 

We knew this was a bad show when the word started popping up in our Reddit feeds, and over the last few days complaints have spread on Threads, Facebook and YouTube. It wasn’t a complete meltdown of guests getting stiffed (that we’ve heard of yet) or a ball pit – more just a badly run show with very few guests that over promised and wayyyyyy under delivered. What makes it worse is that the previous editions of the show also had a bad reputation and people just…forgot.

For 2026, it was so bad that many vendors came the first day and never even came back for the weekend. 

For one thing, the show was held, not in the air conditioned part of the San Jose Convention Center, but South Hall, a sort of tented over 80,000 sq foot quonset hut. Not that this isn’t part of the convention center, but it is not as temperature controlled as the building, and there was no bathroom – people had to go outside to go, then make their way back in. Not a deal breaker but not great. 

But there was much more. This Reddit thread has plenty of vivid details. A summary:

• Badges were given out without lanyards – or with leftover lanyards from the show two years (OK thrifty but…poor form.)
• Artist alley was only about 25 artists, and those who were there seemed unhappy, audibly complaining about poor staff communication and being misled about expected turnout
• AI art was clearly on sale
• One Redditor went just to see a voice actor from Frieren – who dropped out with only a quiet announcement on their website the day before
• There was a disco area on the main floor that was half the size of Artist Alley – and it was silent the whole time, aside from one individual sitting there wearing headphones
• Registration staff knew nothing and couldn’t reach anyone who did
• Friday guests were left standing while the show runner walked off mid-promise to get them set up
• Only a few dealers actually showed up “and that includes two 3D-printed dragon guys and one of those mass-produced crochet flower/trinket stalls. Another 4 or 5 booths were advertising other conventions and one was selling AT&T, lol.”  
• Apparently there were no comics at this supposed “con for all fandoms.”
• Saturday was even worse attendance than Friday; most vendors closed their booths early
• As if all this was not bad enough, there was an unusual heavy rain that weekend, and a Food Fest outside was cancelled due to weather
• There was nothing to do. “We were done browsing everything with taking our time after an hour,” said one FB commenter.
• The general vibe was empty and sad – and balloon decor did nothing to improve the mood.Apologies to one Redditor for stealing this, but a picture is worth a thousand words:

  

And so on and on. Just a bad con, with none of the fun that was promised. Social media seems to have really taken this one to heart with tons of videos showing just how sad it was – as this dealer’s video shows, they were promised 10,000 people and a lot fewer than that showed up. 

Here’s an even more brutal total takedown on YouTube, calling it “ScamCon”:

And a smattering more. 

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DXE89bGvYod/

FandomCon San Jose is the worst convention I’ve ever been to, and I went to the last Rainfurrest.

I had originally planned to stay for the last day (today) to try and break even with travel expenses, but after feeling so defeated and seeing other artists pack up… I’m out

#fandomcon #artistalley

[image or embed]

— Oomles @ HC, FWA! (@oomles.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 1:01 PM

 And this one is sad:

Hey guys, I won't be coming on the third day, but thank you to everyone that stopped by 🥹#inari_rambles

— inari ☆ (@calamariinari.bsky.social) 2026-04-11T23:42:39.300Z

It was a terrible show. I didn't make back my table cost (only table cost!!) after 2 days, so I won't be tabling at this one ever again. I'll accept it as a personal loss. For anyone wanting to give fandomcon a third chance, please don't

— inari ☆ (@calamariinari.bsky.social) 2026-04-11T23:42:39.301Z

As we noted recently, it feels like we’ve reached Con Saturation again, and there are more reports coming in of poorly conceived or poorly run events. While this does tend to self-correct – people stop going to crappy cons – many people get ripped off along the way, both vendors and attendees. 

While it in no way absolved the Fandom Con organizers, the Bay Area is a tough area to put on cons and comic cons. While I can’t speak to the specifics of San Jose, San Francisco just lost its biggest comic-con, with Fan Expo SF being cancelled:

To our San Francisco Community,

Thank you.

For the past five years, you’ve made FAN EXPO at the Moscone Center something truly special. From incredible cosplay to unforgettable fan moments, this community has been the heart of it all.

As we looked ahead, we weren’t able to secure dates that meet the experience we’re committed to delivering. Because of that, we’ve made the difficult decision not to move forward with FAN EXPO San Francisco.

This isn’t goodbye to the fandom, it’s a shift. While we’ll miss gathering in San Francisco, we’ll continue celebrating with fans across our events. If you’ve ever thought about experiencing another event with an awesome group of fans, we’d love to see you.

Thank you for everything you’ve brought to this community.

We hope to see you again soon.

The FAN EXPO Team

We’ve always heard that the Moscone Center (where FXSF was held) was clearly not interested in a big consumer event – that’s one of the reasons why WonderCon left the Bay Area many years ago. It’s a very expensive city to begin with, and the tech money has just inflated everything, as we all know. That they wouldn’t give FXSF adequate dates is in line with everything I’ve heard over the years. 

Based on comments I saw on socials, it sounds like FXSF was popular with the local comics community – which to my knowledge doesn’t really have a big comic con or even APE (Alternative Press Expo) to gather at. From being one of the original birthplaces of the American comics scene to barely any comics events is just the way of the world. 

(BTW, Bay Area locals feel free to correct me in the comments.)

At Any rate, Fandom Con promises other shows – a whole slate of them, including, bizarrely, Fandom Con in New York at the non-existent New York Convention Center (It’s called the Javits Center.)

Yah, I would steer clear of this outfit.