Awesomecon 2016
by Eric Henson on 06/12/16
Last year, I enjoyed the one day I spent at Awesomecon so much, that I decided to go for all 3 days this year. I also bought a VIP pass, to give me front of the line privilege, and allow me into the hall 30 minutes early on Saturday and Sunday. The VIP status was well worth the money! The other thing I did differently was to book a hotel room in the city, so I didn't have to go home every night. This was a really good idea, but added significantly to the overall cost. The lines were far more insane than last year, but they also had 2 guests who were bigger draws than any in the past. Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman were on tap to be present on Sunday only (and man did they pull in the lines =P). Every year, in addition to the regular VIP badges, they offer "guest specific" VIP badges for some of the guests. These give the attendee a free autograph and photo-op with the celebrity, and offer front of the line privilege to said autograph, photo-ops, and Q&A sessions if applicable. I upgraded to the Jenna Coleman VIP when it became available, mostly because she's my favorite companion from Dr. Who. They had a cool one for both Capaldi and Coleman, but it was way too expensive for my taste, and I just don't like Capaldi enough to spend that kind of money to meet him. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a great actor, but I knew the lines would be horrendous, and of the two, I'd rather meet Jenna.
I spent the day Friday getting to know some people in the line (I have a bad habit of showing up very early, but with lines thousands of people long, this can be a good thing). I walked the convention floor, taking pictures and checking out booths. I checked the guest area to try to plan out who I wanted to get autographs from, and when to do so. Most of the celebrities were not there on Friday (there were several other cons going on around the country that kept them away on Friday). I did see one that I met last year, and was very surprised that he remembered me. I had to get another picture with him, and an autograph. If you ever have the chance to meet him, say hi. He's a great guy and is really friendly. Mr. Ming Chen of Comic Book Men fame @mingchen37. If you do meet him, be ready to discuss comics, or pop culture. You will not be disappointed!
I took another pic with him on Sunday. I'd realised I had not yet taken the timet to meet Jeremy London of Party of Five and Mallrats fame. I asked what it would cost to get a pic with him and Ming...well, Ming jumped in for free. We even joked that if you get a photo with Jeremy, you'd get a Ming for free =P. At that point on Sunday, they'd have been willing to try most anything to distract some of the lines for Capaldi photo-ops to the other booths. Jeremy was a really cool guy too, and I'm glad I got a cool pic with him.
Last year, I missed any of the panels and other parts of the con that were not on the exhibit floor. This was mostly due to the fact that I was unable to figure out how to get off the exhibit floor and get back in. They fixed the issues this year, and it was very well marked and easy to go between the different levels. I still didn’t make it off the exhibit floor much. Next year, I need to do fewer photo-ops, so I can make some panel discussions. The only one I attended this year was a special one Friday night, with Kevin Smith as the guest. If you’ve never seen him in person, you are missing out. His show went for 2.5 hours, and he had us rolling through most of the night. He talked about JJ Abrams, his daughter, Star Wars, Mallrats 2, Dogma 2, and lots of other things. In answering the question of one fan, he gave us a 15 minute inspirational speech. The seating was cramped, and the night was late, but it was totally worth it!
It was also fun to watch his poor sign language interpreters try to figure out how to translate some of his off-color comments into ASL.
The next two days were a blur of seeing lost of really cool cosplay, taking pictures, playing video games, buying cool merchandise, and getting some awesome pics with celebrities. Two of my favorites were Ron Pearlman and Summer Glau. I am starting to get a bit of a complex though. Last year, I got a photo with John Reese-Davies, and discovered that I'm bigger than he is. I'd expected to look small compared to Ron Perlman....but I'm not....I make him look smaller than he is =P
Ron was really cool, and I was happy to see that he had a Beauty and the Beast picture availble for autographs, as well as Hell boy and one or two other roles he'd played.
I got Summer Glau to autograph the professional shot I got with her. This was the first time I'd set it so I could get the photo of me with the celebrity autographed. I'm glad I did, cause the picture was cool.
The t-shirt I had in both was from @teeturtle (www.teeturtle.com). They have some really fun designs. I enjoyed meeting Summer enough, that I went to her booth on Sunday to get this picture autographed, and got a selfie with her. I'd asked if I could have a hug when she came out from behind the table, and well.....her assistant thought the two of us hugging was cute enough to make it the selfie-style picture with her. This picture made the whole con worth it for me.
I should have blogged while the con was going (I could have made long posts for all 3 days). Instead, I'm going to end the blog post here, and encourage you to look at the rest of the photos on my awesomecon 2016 photo page http://www.icewlf.com/AwesomeCon2016.html
I'm looking forward to next year. I'll actually leave with just one more photo, cause I loved the outfit, and the handmade toothless. Handmade by @IndigoMagnolia (https://www.etsy.com/shop/indigomagnolia)
