Sonicfox Withdraws From Convention Over Ai-generated Poster

WHO:

Kotaku - Dominique “SonicFox” McLean, a fighting game professional, was invited as a special guest to Nexcon 2026.

IGN - SonicFox is a multi-game fighting game specialist with multiple championships across different titles.

Kotaku - Ninjutsu Entertainment organizes Nexcon; Ty Bailey is one of the company’s founders, and he said he and his business partner worked on the convention.

IGN - The promotional poster depicted SonicFox’s furry avatar and the likenesses of other special guests.

IGN - Members of the fighting game community supported SonicFox’s decision; one commenter said, “Using AI to help promote an event that gathers creators and artists is pretty crazy.”

WHAT:

Kotaku - SonicFox terminated their contract with Nexcon and withdrew from the convention after discovering promotional material depicting their likeness generated with AI.

Kotaku - SonicFox posted, “Update: Contract terminated and no longer attending! :3”

IGN - A concerned fan shared Nexcon’s AI-generated promotional poster on Twitter/X.

IGN - Nexcon removed all mention of SonicFox from its website after the cancellation.

Kotaku - Ty Bailey posted a video taking responsibility for using generative AI to make the flyer and asking SonicFox to reconsider.

Kotaku - Bailey said, “We’re not gonna stop the con, but we definitely need you SonicFox,” and added, “And I really hope you can come out here still.”

Kotaku - SonicFox replied, “I’m a forgiving person and I can hear the remorse in your voice so I forgive you,” but said they would not attend and suggested the contract money be used to hire artists, adding, “maybe next year I’ll reconsider.”

IGN - The convention was scheduled to host SonicFox alongside other notable guests.

WHERE:

Kotaku - Nexcon is a gaming, anime, and creator-focused convention held in Norman, Oklahoma.

IGN - Norman, Oklahoma, is the convention’s location; IGN describes it as the home of the Sooners.

WHEN:

Kotaku - SonicFox posted their objection and cancellation announcement on October 20, 2026.

Kotaku - Ty Bailey posted his response on October 21, 2026.

IGN - Nexcon was scheduled for November 14 - 15 in Norman, Oklahoma.

WHY:

Kotaku - SonicFox said they refused to have their likeness generated by AI, calling it “Incredibly disrespectful.”

Kotaku - Bailey said he and his business partner used generative AI because convention work left them with no money to hire artists; he said they also had full-time jobs of 40+ hours a week, lacked convention-running experience, and had difficulty finding artists after they had begun using AI.

IGN - The poster used generative AI on artwork depicting SonicFox’s avatar and other guests; IGN reported that artwork used by SonicFox is often created by furry-community artists and that feeding it into AI without consent uses their work to train future models.

HOW:

Kotaku - The promotional flyer included AI-generated depictions of SonicFox and other creators scheduled to attend.

IGN - Organizers generated the poster by feeding artwork of SonicFox’s mascot character into AI.

(UPDATED October 22, 2026 13:20 UTC)

Fighting game champion Dominique “SonicFox” McLean has withdrawn from Nexcon after discovering the convention used AI-generated artwork depicting their avatar. SonicFox called the use of their likeness “incredibly disrespectful” and terminated their contract. The poster also featured other guests, and organizers created it by feeding artwork of SonicFox’s mascot character into an AI system. Nexcon, a gaming and anime convention in Norman, Oklahoma, removed SonicFox from its website after the cancellation. Organizer Ty Bailey took responsibility, saying he and his business partner turned to AI because they couldn’t afford artists and had limited experience running conventions. He asked SonicFox to reconsider, but SonicFox said they forgave him while still declining to attend. They suggested using the contract money to hire artists and said they might reconsider next year. The fighting game community supported the decision. Nexcon is scheduled for November 14 - 15.