Chapter 269: Comic-Con Dynamics I

To be fair, as Alexander strolled along with Milla, he did see a lot more merits for what he had already listed out for Comic-Con or comic conventions in general.

He may have hi-jacked the whole thing to be Creed's Toy-Con and Product Con, with "Con" not necessarily meaning convention. Still, the prospects of comics in this event are so high.

It made it hard to imagine that it was even a niche.

Granted, his little side ambition was to make comic books a ubiquitous activity of everyday life and he has already done a lot of strides to grow the comic book industry from the niche that it had been.

Without a doubt, he could see a semblance of what society could be when comic books really become a pervading influence in it.

Minus the silly costumes and cosplay... the discourse, trades, and speculations that were happening is an interesting preview of what things might be.

With that recent dose of reality he just had though, Alexander drew his side ambition back a bit and saw the improbability of it.

Fortunately, it was just a little side ambition, and achieving it is just an added bonus to the real price that he was after.

Of course, he re-called considering costumes and cosplay to be "silly" again. Maybe Milla and Old Sullivan were right about him being contradictory. Maybe he's jinxed costumes to fail because he himself doesn't really appeal to it.

Well… wasn't that kind of an interesting thought?

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In any case, the Comic-Con stroll and immersion did go on and after a few panels or so, Milla can't help but have comments of confusion.

"Why are there so many of those skin-tight guys with pointy ears and why are there so many of those hooded guys alongside those black and white armored people? I know that the others are from Star Wars but why do they look like they don't get along with the other group? Are they Star Wars villains that I didn't know about?"

"That's the War-ers and the Trek-ers as I like to call them. Or maybe Starrers in general." Alexander just offhandedly brushed them off with that and advised Milla to do the same. "Taking part in it will get you nowhere since it's just a weird feud that happened because their favorite sci-fi entertainment has similar Star in its names and almost the same premise."

"Then, what about that Superman fellow and that American shield guy? Aren't they from different comic book companies?" Milla knew DC and Marvel because they are Creed's competition but other than that, she was moot. "Why do they look like they want to fight when they aren't even in the same universe?"

"The same with the War-ers and Trek-ers. It's a weird feud because their respective publishing favorites have completely rip-offish superhero line-ups as their core." Alexander explained it as that.

When he looked at this pointless feud and debates, maybe it is best that his little side ambition didn't come to fruition.

If comic books would become a pervading force in society... wouldn't that mean that these kinds of debates become intensified from the little isolated niche that they had come from?

Alexander wouldn't be surprised if the "Civil War" comic book storylines become full-blown civil wars if these passionate fans reach populous numbers.

Of course, that was all in jest but that didn't mean that it was improbable.

"Why are there no Creed against other people then?" Milla looked around and didn't really see Creed-costumed people fighting with other people. Maybe it is because Creed fans were all huddled in the Creed area that they had no time to pick fights.

"Well, there definitely is." Alexander said with some euphemism. "It's just not apparent as fan squabbles but hidden in plain sight."

Milla didn't know what he meant by that but she did get some clarity when they got to certain areas of this convention.

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Superman Toys. Batman Toys. Justice League Toys. Teen Titans Toys. Those were the toys that were available in the DC area.

Avengers Toys. Fantastic Four Toys. X-Men Toys. A lot of those were available in the Marvel-themed areas.

Normally, these would have just been toy designs that were offered with Marvel and DC characters.

However, they seem way better than what they previously looked. If anything, they looked like the detailed stuff that Creed Toys are known for.

Even Milla could tell the difference since she did compare and contrast toys before. She could say that the DC and Marvel toys in this convention were way better than they have been.

But didn't this also mean that this was bad for Creed? Milla was a Creed supporter through and through and she can't help but worry. "Isn't this bad, Alex?"

"It is... but not really." For Alexander, the lackluster Creed Costume takes much precedence over this.

"What do you mean not really? They copied your cool toys!" Milla was sure of it.

"It's not really about copying. Our toys just improved on what they were previously offering and they caught up." Alexander reasoned. "This was going to happen eventually. From what it looks like... Mattel and Marvel teamed up while Hasbro had DC. These four are more senior than Creed Comics and Toys combined, so it isn't surprising that they are able to do such a thing."

In fact, from what he remembered... these pairings did happen in the past timeline. This time around, his meddling butterfly self may have just spurned them to do so and also produced better products than they should have had.

"Is Creed Toys going to lose?" Milla was still worried.

"Hard to say. We aren't exactly trying to do business to determine who wins and who loses." Creed Toys may have ruffled these people's feathers but its prime initiative was just to do business and make money. "Grandpa and I are more on reaching sales quota to be cost-efficient and break-even. This new development needs to be factored in though."

Generally, Alexander doesn't really pay attention much to his peers in the business. He would just do his thing. If he surpassed Marvel and DC, then that was a bonus. If he riled up Hasbro and Mattel, that was interesting.

Still, with the still-fresh Creed Comics allegations, the whole Eisner meeting, and the BttF slandering... Alexander did adopt a more cautious outlook when it comes to the trends and methods of the competition.

It is good that they took this Comic-Con as a publicity platform as well... Creed can keep a close eye on them and try to predict what they'd be doing next.

If they would do their own thing and just make sales, then that would be fine.

If they'd do their own thing at the expense of trying to put Creed down, then they should expect to get what's coming for them.

Alexander found himself to be too passive at all that he's been thrown with so far. Maybe he'll play by their book and they'll know karma when it finally hits them.

This may not be a little side ambition anymore and just a straight-up goal that he'd make sure to accomplish.

"If it's there ambition to take Creed down, we will respond in kind."

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Of course, with every side ambition that comes to Alexander's mind, there are admirations from certain people that seem to go hand-in-hand with it.

Those with ambition are to be admired, after all.

Seeing that calculative glint in Alex's eyes and his untroubled expression, Milla's worries was appeased and was just wondering what he was planning for his enemies.

She had always admired Alex for this. After all, she knew that she wouldn't be able to do the things he does.

This did make her wonder whether she'll be admired at some point as well. She probably will when her ambition to become a star comes true.

Milla can't wait for that to finally happen. Maybe Alex would be the one admiring her... but she also knew that that was unlikely.

Still, it was fun to sink into interesting possibilities.