WonderCon 2019 Exclusives Portal Changes
by Transmute Jun
WonderCon made a big change in 2018 when it announced the Exclusives Portal, which was essentially an online lottery for autographs at the show. This system was generally successful, although there were issues with people not showing up to claim their winning wristbands, leading to empty spots in the autograph lines while superfans were left out in the cold. These problems intensified at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) last year, where a similar system was implemented.
For 2019, a major change has been made to the Exclusives Portal to address these issues. Every attendee is allocated credits for each day of the convention that they are attending. Fans can allocate these credits to lottery slots. It is possible to add all credits to one exclusive signing, or to spread them across multiple signings. It is also now possible to delete signings from your interest list and reallocate credits, if your schedule changes before the portal closes.
For WonderCon 2019, each attendee gets 3 credits for Friday and Sunday, and 4 credits for Saturday. Attendees will be able to see their unused credits in the upper left corner of the Exclusives Portal screen. To access the Exclusives Portal, fans must login to their Member ID accounts and click on the Exclusives tab.
This new system should improve many of the issues noted in 2018. With limited credits, fans will only be able to enter a limited number of signings every day, rather than entering everything just because they can. This means that attendees will allocate their credits to the exclusives that truly interest them, and there is a much smaller chance that these attendees will be no-shows in picking up winning wristbands. Additionally, since attendees will spread out their entries, there should be fewer entries in each drawing, making it more likely that interested fans will be allocated a coveted lottery spot.
While the announcement regarding the Exclusives Portal was made only for WonderCon 2019, it is extremely likely that this system will also be in use at SDCC this year. Stay tuned to the FoCC Blog, where we will cover the lottery in action for WonderCon 2019, to get a better idea of the implications for SDCC this coming July.
The WonderCon Exclusives Portal closes on March 19, so attendees should make sure to enter the lotteries before that time!
What do you think of the new Exclusives credits for WonderCon 2019? Join the conversation on the FoCC forums!