Production Rationale II

Fortunately, Milla was quick to recover from the disappointment as Charlie toys probably wouldn't define matter much.

"Besides, it may be fun to own the only Charlie toy in existence. Plus, I have that shotgun-strapped lady that you gave me for my birthday as well." Milla seems to have seen the bright side of it. "They're the only ones made so doesn't it mean that they are more valuable?"

"If you think about it that way, then yeah." Alexander agreed to not dive into the issue further but also with that sentiment of rarity as well.

In any case, Cybertronian Toys would always sell well regardless of the human component of its story. So, it should be fine.

------

With that covered, the ToyCon-esque areas of these Creed zone had to be left alone as there were still other things that Milla wanted to go to.

"Alex, why is that whole picture thing done that way?" The girl's next attraction to focus on happens to be the Photo Booth as she commented. "Doesn't the photographer have tricks to make those letters appear even without that kind of background?"

"You're right on photographer tricks. It must be something you picked up from your photoshoot gig."

"Yeah, I learned a lot." Milla seems genuinely happy from that experience as she always smiles a lot whenever that topic is brought up.

"As for why we used that set background and not the photographer tricks... it is to save time, to save cost, and fit this convention's four-day timeline." Editing was a complicated endeavor in this day and age. Taking a picture in a simulated set is much easier than doctoring an entire picture.

Milla didn't really know much about photographer tricks other than it appears in magazines when pictures are plastered with words but she did know it would still take time.

"Wouldn't processing a picture also be long anyway? Even now, I still haven't heard about that back-to-school apparel magazine that I was a part of."

"Advertisement magazines generally take long to prepare so there's not much comparison. Even more so if it's themed with back-to-school."

"Besides, there is still the mail option for this photo booth and the option to pick it up from the photo studio of the person who is doing the photo-taking job." Alexander explained. "People who go to this convention tend to put more importance on these kinds of things and going the extra mile for gimmicky photos. Making these kinds of arrangements agreeable to them."

"Oh." Milla just set it at that. Stuff was still confusing to a little girl like her but it was just interesting to see Alex talk a lot more words.

"You called it gimmicky though... even if you were the one who planned the whole thing. Isn't that the same as calling costumes silly?" Little Milica found this interesting too. "You are contradictory as grandpa Sullivan says you are."

In light of that comment, Alexander just focused on his intentions. "Silly or gimmicky as I think they might be. There's no denying that it works or should have achieved a degree of effect that I wanted it to have."

Truth be told, the [Creed Comics Cover Page] photo booth may be over-the-top but it was something that he found amusing to implement.

Instead of the usual "background" trick to fool people into thinking that the picture was taken right by the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramid of Giza... he adapted it as an illusion of state and not an illusion of place.

Instead of tricking other people into thinking that they went on some enviable vacation, it was a trick of being part of a Creed Comics-esque cover showcase that they see their beloved Creed characters to always be in.

This is the kind of thing that Alexander finds unnecessary but catering to his fan's whimsy and aspirations should be fine once in a while.

Like the Creed Surveys and Popularity Posters, fostering relationships and inclusivity is still something that Creed is still facilitating to its very best.

This entire Comic-Con could be considered fanservice after all and he just wanted to give back a bit.

Of course, there's no denying the "evil" capitalist that Alexander himself has become... and the hidden intent to put the Creed Costumes booth beside that Photo Booth is still about business.

Still, as "genius" as he considered that arrangement to be, Alexander has qualms about the costumes themselves.

Even as he put the Creed Costumes team to give more effort in it... there's no denying that the costumes being processed out of the Costumes booth are a tad lackluster.

It may be because Alexander had seen the absurdly detailed cosplays of the future... but there were a lot of things that he was dissatisfied with when it came to the finished products.

Simply put, it kind of feels like how anime fans would react when they see their favorite characters have live-action adaptations.

No matter how hard the adapted characters try to emulate, there will always be something lacking from it.

He may just be nitpicky but even with just a cursory glance at the costume booth's performance at this convention... he could tell that there really wasn't much market to it. Granted that there people buying, but it seems to be a droll market than how he expected it to be.

It also probably didn't help that a lot of Comic-Con goers had the creativity to make their own costumes themselves.

That passionate motivation and effort are probably what makes their costumes much more appealing than buying them as something ready-made.

Maybe that was the beauty of costumes and cosplay.

Maybe he and his grandfather were just being greedy in capitalizing on that experience.

Whatever the case was... Alexander was pretty sure that this is somewhat their second L when it came to a costume endeavor. Even a lot of things weren't sure yet.

Last year's costume authorization was a bust and this new hands-on approach seems just encroaching and desperate.

It was clear that the whole Costume thing had to be rethought and re-strategized.

The reality of life is that not everything is a winner and his rapid success might have clouded how he usually takes the more rational decisions when doing things.

If one looked at the pros and cons of it, commercializing costumes seems much more trouble than it's worth. Maybe it was his boosted ego that pushed him to believe that he could make a miracle out of it.

Fortunately, this Comic-Con was a platform or more preferably a testing platform for these Creed products.

The true mass production and market dissemination are still months away for this lackluster costume thing to do considerable damage.

In a way, this SDCC splash and Comic-Con hype marketing were useful and as insightful in many ways.

---

"Something on your mind again, Alex." Milla seems to just know the timings right when it came to whether he was on or off his thoughtful pauses.

"Just a reality dose." Alexander didn't want to divulge any further than that. "Shall we continue with you enjoying yourself?"

"Okay." Milla took that offer and drag Alexander to explore what the rest of the Creed area was offering.

There were still the Creed T-shirts and merchandise to dive into his "mastermind's rationale", "organizer's rationale" or the whole "production rationale" in it.

However, he had already gotten prior insights on those endeavors and it was quite positive.

Those T-shirts and accessories and themed merchandise were generally doing well and had a lot of development options from what he's observed. In fact, he and his grandfather had already mapped up a lot of development options for these endeavors

It wasn't as worrying as his dim as he is considering Creed Costumes to be.

----

In any case, the stroll in the Creed area did end but the buddy-system-ed duo did plan to move on to the non-Creed area for whatever interesting things it might offer.

Alexander could find it to be a beneficial tour as well and it should make his first visit to Comic-Con to be worthwhile. He hadn't really wanted to put much heed to the rest of this Comic-Con but perhaps this exploration could have something more to take away from it.

The entire Creed Costumes bit had been quite worrying but enlightening. Since it was this Comic-Con showcase that finally made him see some light… maybe the rest of the convention has some more lessons to offer.

Or maybe, just maybe… he'll let himself be caught up in the environment of the whole thing and relax a bit. He's had a lot of "production rationalizing" for quite a while and it should be good to ease up and enjoy. Not that would it ever happen though.