WCon 2018

WonderCon 2018

Anaheim Convention Center

March 23-25, 2018

Friday, March 23: Day 1

I left work early to drive down to Anaheim to attend the first day.  Now that I have a few cons under my belt, I strategize for each day based on whatever special events or panels are planned during the weekend.  Fridays for me are the art shopping days: days when I visit the booths of the artists I follow on Instagram to obtain whatever I've had my eye on, or exclusives offered just for the weekend.  I also like to tell them that I appreciate their work, and sometimes have a question for them, although I don't know much about the art except that I really like it so I don't have much to say other than "I love your work".

Yes, I bought more than this.

Pictured, counter-clockwise from the tippy top:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer full TV series score + film score from the motion picture, from La-La Land Records; Black Panther "On the Prowl" by Maurice Abril; Buffy / Hamilton "Slay" by Karen Hallion; The Evolution of Luke Skywalker by Jeff Victor; Coco 25 cent wonder by Patrick Ballesteros; "The Little Wonderful Woman" Golden Book by Joey Spiotto; Rice Cooker pin by Genevieve Santos; Captain EO by Jeff Pina.

I saw on Twitter that tickets would be distributed for a sneak screening of "A Quiet Place" at three times: 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30.  I didn't know how this would work, but made sure to get in line at about 2:30 when I saw there was already a long one forming.  We were moved to the regular queue area, and people around me were receiving different information from different sources, so I decided to just wait to see what they would tell us at 3:30.  The only thing I found out that was definite was that the movie would be shown at the AMC Theater in Downtown Disney.  When the line started to move, I think they distributed 75 tickets, including a limit of 2 per each person in line.  This might have been fine if the people telling people they couldn't sit down were watching people cutting the line instead.  The not-sitting-down policy was ridiculous because we weren't in an aisle where anything else was going on, and we were all waiting for at least an hour, and there was plenty of space for our entire line to sit down.  Also, they didn't enforce it for everyone the entire time).  I was about 20 people from the front for the second wave at 4:30.  Luckily for me, I had chatted with the gal next to me and she agreed to save my place in line while I used the facilities.  Thank you!   I even made sure the guy in back of me would also vouch for me just so I had my bases covered.  At the 4:30 distribution, I got my wristband, and I happily went on my way to finish my last purchases of the day.  One of the last purchases?  Cupcakes from my favorite cupcake truck:  My Delight!

Clockwise from top:
Carrot cake; peanut butter;
snickerdoodle; breakfast (my fave!)

Happiness in hand, I walked back to my car to drop off my goodies, eat one of the cupcakes, and take the shuttle to the resort.  I'm glad I did that, because bag check would have been a pain.

When I got to the theater at about 6:00, there were already several people in line.  I was told that they over-distributed in case some people just picked up 2 wristbands for the heck of it and didn't actually show up.  So if everyone got in line, the last 30 people in line would not be able to see the movie.  I arrived early enough to get in, and we were given vouchers for free popcorn and a drink.  Nice!  I sat in front of some reserved seating for Paramount folks, but I didn't recognize any of them, and they didn't do anything special but take up seats that other people at the Con could have sat.  We were instructed not to film and that they had infrared technology to catch folks filming and whomever was caught filming would be kicked out.  The usher guard people stood watching the audience for the whole movie.  At least, they stood there.  I was too engrossed in the movie to see if they were watching us.  My thoughts about the movie will be in a separate post.

Afterward, I walked back to the shuttle pickup area, trying to walk as quickly as possible so I could miss the post-fireworks crowd.  Success!  I had a good sleep when I finally got home.  My legs were worn out after the day of standing and walking.

Saturday, May 24: Day 2

I arrived prior to opening time on Saturday, and when I got in line, I realized I was behind someone cosplaying as Sadness from "Inside Out".  I told her that she was my favorite character, but she didn't seem very chatty (she IS Sadness, after all), so I didn't have the nerve to ask to get a picture with her.  She looked perfect, though!  

Saturday is my day to attend panels and check out stuff that I missed on Friday.  I only had one panel that was a must on my list, so I mostly walked around the different booths.  Joey, one of the artists I talked to the previous day, tweeted that a figurine of his work was on sale at the Loot Crate booth, so I walked over there and purchased it.  The gal who sold it to me said that the artist would sign it.  She was right!

Joey Spiotti and the figurine of his Buffy piece
Love Spike with the blanket!

There was a droid-building club, because, of course!

Chopper between R2s

Shiny R2

I'm calling him Boba Fett R2

They're everywhere!

WALL-E rolled up to me and said "EVE"
I told him I wasn't Eve, I'm Sherry.

I had a little bit of time before lining up for the panel, and got in the line to meet the cover artist of this year's program, Dan Jurgens.  I love his drawing of Superman, which he had in print form to purchase, but since he was already signing my program, I figured I would get a different piece.  He graciously agreed to pose for a picture.

Mr. Jurgens with the print I bought

I wasn't able to get the signatures of the inker and colorist of the program because they all had to go to a panel, and I wasn't going to that one.

Instead, I queued up for the Warner Bros panel for "Ready Player One".  We didn't see much more than a trailer and very little behind the scenes statements from Spielberg and others.  They really didn't want to give much away, but the visuals looked outstanding!

The panel was author of the book Ernest Cline, screenwriter Zak Penn, and cast members Ben Mendelsohn (Sorrento), Tye Sheridan (Parzival), Olivia Cooke (Art3mis), Lena Waithe (Aech), Philip Zhao (Sho), and Win Morisaki (Daito).  

Full panel

 Ernest Cline

Zhao and Morisaki

Waithe and Mendelsohn

Sheridan, Cooke and Waithe

Cline and Penn

Highlights:

• Question: What is your favorite video game?
• OC: I don't play video games.  Does Tamagotchi count?
• Q: What was your first direction by Steven Spielberg?
• TS: He wanted me to walk like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever".  When he asked me to walk, he turned on "Stayin' Alive" (TS bops his head back and forth), struts over to me with the phone, and says, "Like that."
• Q: I heard that a lot of celebrity visitors came to the set.
• ZP told a story about George Lucas coming to the set with his daughter and showing her all of the digital cameras.  GL said to Steven, "I thought you were never going to film anything in digital?"  Steven:  "George, that ended a long time ago, and you still keep asking that question!"
• OC talked about Tom Cruise visiting the set the day she had was dressed in the bodysuit with the ping pong balls for the CGI, and she wanted to hide from Tom because of what she was wearing, and she was sweating because they had just done a take. But Steven said, "Olivia, come on over and meet Tom Cruise!"  
• OC talked about the fact that LW's character is very tall, and she and TS kept forgetting not to look in her eyes, but to look up at the ball hanging above her.  LW:  "I was telling them, you're staring at my chest!"
• Ben Mendelsohn is hilarious and said that he agreed to be a villain again because they pay him extra money to do so.
• WM had an interpreter with him, and when the moderator was asking the video game question, he asked him to answer, too.  Win speaks English well, though.
• This was Philip Zhao's first film.
• EC said that he was starstruck for the first several times he spoke to Spielberg about the film, and geeked out about everything he said.
• Q:  I need to know: with this movie using different elements of Spielberg's other films, did he ever say, "Well, when we were doing 'JAWS', this happened?"
• ALL:  YES!!!

I'm sure I"m forgetting a bunch of stuff, but that was a fun panel.  I do remember that they were all asked about their favorite Spielberg movie, but I can't remember the answers.  Oh, yeah, OC likes "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom".  Another person said, "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade".  I know there were other movies mentioned that had nothing to do with Indy.

I wanted to get a couple of con-exclusive comic books, so I did that before meeting up with Dodie and her friends.  We walked around and they talked to people they knew at the different booths.  One of them used to work with an artist whose work is up above, and the other is friends with the guys from La-La Land Records, so that's cool.   This walk-around time gave me more time to look at the cosplay around us.   

Two Doctors!

As we were leaving, I saw this, and pointed it out to my companions.  We tried to catch up and guessed who it was:  Lego Wicked Witch?  Lego Gandalf?  Lego Tin Man? 

All we knew for sure was LEGO.

Then LEGO cosplayer caught up with his friend, and we got our answer.

LEGO Gimli and LEGO Gandalf

Dodie and friends had dinner reservations at Tortilla Jo's and invited me to join them, so I drove us all  to Downtown Disney.  We walked around afterward and somehow I refrained from buying more art at Wonderground.  Dodie's friend loves Disneyland popcorn, but doesn't have a pass, so Dodie and I went into the Park to get her a souvenir tub and popcorn. 

 I love being able to just go in for 10 minutes
 for necessities!

I said goodbye to my companions and went home.  Here is some of what I bought on Saturday.

Not a big art day, but still some.

Pictured, clockwise from top right:  Buffy figurine by Joey Spiotti froom Loot Crate; Gloomy Bear plush; WonderCon program; Superman #150 by Dan Jurgens; Unicorn heart pin and Mermaid art by Faheema from Unicorn Crafts; Supergirl #19 variant; Ariel and Eric wedding Funko Pop.

I didn't attend the Sunday of the Con because I needed to be elsewhere.  I'm glad my heart wasn't set on the panels I had planned, but I was still sorry to miss the last day.

Next up on the Con Agenda:  Whedon Con

LA Comic Con 2016 - Day 2

LA Comic Con 2016 - Day 2

Saturday, October 29, 2016

I left my house later than I originally planned because I woke up late due to staying up late the night before.  Why was I up so late?   Because I was planning for Saturday.  I still arrived at about 10:00 a.m., though.  

The first thing on my agenda was to get my autograph from Cary Elwes.  The night before, I had gone to the autograph sales/redemption booth to ask what I was supposed to do today.  They told me to just bring my scannable document to the celebrity's autograph booth.  They had told me which booth number to go to, but I forgot.  I couldn't find his name anywhere, either.  I checked the app (yes, I finally downloaded it last night), and looked for table #14.  Why couldn't I find it?  I saw a long line, but that was for Adam West (!).  I saw another long line, but it was for Kevin Conroy. Batman abounds here, folks, which is why I was wearing my Batman v. Superman shirt and my bat hairclip.  Anyway, I found table #13 and table #15 (Julie Newmar), and, through my awesome powers of deduction, figured that the table between them with the curtains around it must be #14.  I asked people at the back of the line if they were there to meet Cary Elwes.  They said that they thought so, because they have the same awesome powers of deduction.  I got in line.  A lady and her son soon got behind me and asked me the same question that I asked the other folks.  We all marveled at our awesome powers of deduction. 

 She asked if I'd ever done this before, and I said that it was different when I went to Dallas Comic Con.  She had a little yellow card with CE's picture on it, and I told her I didn't get one last night because they told me that my ticket would be scanned at the table.  She suggested I talk to a Staff member, so I did.  That person wasn't completely sure, but told me to go back to the redemption booth and ask another staff member there if I could find one near the front of the line.  The nice lady in line offered to save my place, but I didn't want to impose since I knew the sales line was really long. I talked to a staff member that was close to the booth and she said that she "was told that you have to redeem your ticket before you get in line for the autograph".  AUGH!  So I got in the long redemption line, which was not as long as the long sales line.  The actual process took about a minute so I don't know why the line hadn't been moving faster than it should.  So I had my book, "As You Wish" by Cary Elwes, my little yellow card with his face, and went back to the line.  The woman I befriended earlier was closer to the front of the line and I said hi, and asked if I could still get in line with her.  The line had just started moving a few minutes before I arrived, so I was lucky.  She happily obliged, and even let me stand in front of her because it was my original place in line.  There are very nice people in this world!  

My Golden Ticket

She asked me to ask someone leaving the table if they were allowed to take a selfie.  The first girl, whom was beaming, said that she didn't ask so she didn't know.  Some guy said that there was a fee for the selfie.   My new friend said that she already paid for the photo op with CE, which was $5.00 more than what the guy told us.  By the time I spoke to the handler, he told me it was $10.00 less than what the guy told us.  I decided to splurge for the selfie because I had done much walking back and forth and felt I deserved it at this point.  Everyone that we saw leaving the table was really really happy.  I wondered what the heck went on back there behind the curtain.  We got little peeks at him when he stood by the portion where the curtains separated.  Such fangirls.  

I was sad that I had to give my little yellow card to the man, but was smart enough to take a picture of it beforehand, since I figured it said "Treat as Cash" and we don't get to keep the cash when we spend it, so why would they let us keep the little card? I told the man my name so he could spell it out for CE on a post-it note.  Then it was time.  Time to meet The Dread Pirate Roberts himself.  I tried not to lose my mind.

CE asked my name and shook my hand.  The helper guy tried to take our picture with my phone.  I always have to tell people how to use it and they almost always don't follow my directions. He was one of those people.  So we posed three times without him actually taking a picture.  I was trying to tell him NOT to press the green circle, but he did.  CE finally said loudly, "DON"T PUSH THE GREEN CIRCLE!" and I tried not to laugh too much, but you know me and my giggles.  He then signed my book "To Sherry / As You Wish", and I thanked him.  He called me "Sweetheart" as he thanked me and I almost died.  He then gave me a big hug and I said I loved him and thank you and left.  AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!  I walked up to my new friend and smiled very widely and she giggled.  No wonder everyone was so happy!  He's completely swoonworthy.

Squeeeeee!

I shopped around and found the Ariel POP that was missing from my collection.  How could I not have one of her in mermaid form?!  They also had Anger from Inside Out, as well as Gudetama with a bacon towel. That's right.  Bacon.  Towel.  I did see Sadness at another booth, but didn't want to get in line for just one.  Maybe tomorrow.   

Saturday Loot.  Cary Elwes touched that book!

I went to a booth where the folks had "V" stuff on display, and they were dressed like the Visitors.  I told them it was my favorite mini-series, and they told me that they were part of a costuming club, and they happen to really like "V".  They agreed to take a selfie with me.  I love that they had props of the alien baby and the mice that the Visitors would eat.

Visitors

Visitor Baby starting early with his solid food

I started to walk around more then got a notification from my app that my panel was scheduled to start.  Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, the voices of Pinky and The Brain, respectively, were there and I was delighted to hear them speak. 

•  Maurice told us not to write in "The Brain" on our presidential ballots because he's from Canada and wanted our votes to actually be meaningful. 
•  They talked about how much they love working together and that when they are guests together at cons, they always have at least one night to go to dinner.  At dinner, as they talk to their server, they eventually both start to talk like Pinky and the Brain, and the server freaks out with recognition.  
• They were hilarious together. Rob is particularly great at ad libbing, which I've known since I occasionally listen to his podcast.  Maurice likes to recommend that we tweet things.  My favorite was "hashtag blessed screw you" which was from a prior conversation with one of their friends. 
• They said that the Animaniacs Funko POP is going like hotcakes, and they're not supposed to be released until Tuesday.  (I looked for them later, but didn't find them.  WANT!!!!!).  
• Rob said that the reason Animaniacs is loved so much is because they didn't talk down to the kids.  They had their humor, which sometimes went over the kids' heads, but when those same kids grew up, they understood it and loved it all over again on a different level.  Yup.  This is why I loved Bugs Bunny and always will.
• They ended the panel with Maurice singing the Super Chicken theme song (Hi, Dodie!), and Rob singing "The Countries of the World" as Yakko.  He apologized to the ASL interpreter and thanked her for being such a good sport.  Wow.  That was awesome.

  

  Yakko/Pinky and the Brain

I went to the cafeteria near the other halls because the eateries near South Hall were crazy long and the food trucks outside didn't interest me.  I thought of going into the Rock n Roll Half Expo because, you know, I needed to walk around even more!  But no, I went back to the con and decided to just get in line for the Batman 66 reunion. Before going up to Room 408, though, I tried to find the woman dressed as Ariel in her tarp.  I got excited when I found her, and she agreed to have her picture taken.  Her costume was perfect!

Yes, she's using a dinglehopper

And she has a snarfblatt!
She's awesome.  

I went to room 408 and saw people in line. I was told that they had VIP seats, and that I could just sit in on the panel before the Batman 66, and could stay.  Only the folks in the VIP seats would need to leave since their seats were reserved.  This time slot was a toss-up for me because I could either see some of the cast from "The Flash" at the Hot Topic main stage, or see this one, for "Stranger Things".  Well, this one had seats, and the person from The Flash I'd love to see is Grant Gustin, but he was at the EW Pop Fest today.  Such a busy weekend!  So I stayed for "Stranger Things".

The panel started about 15 minutes late, and we wondered if our star was having trouble getting through the crazy line outside.  The panel interviewer said that 20,000 people were outside and we were the lucky folks.  20K!?!  I didn't see all of those people when I peeked outside, but I wasn't looking at the ticket line.  I'm glad that I got a multi-day pass and picked up my badge on Friday morning.

The panel for "Stranger Things" was Shannon Purser, who plays Barb.  (If you plan on seeing this show--and you should, because it's outstanding--go to the next paragraph, because spoilers lie herein).  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXSPOILERS!!!!!!XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

OK, so Barb:  

• Shannon said that this is her first film job, and was working at a movie theater before she landed the role.  
• She apologized to us because she got the text while she was watching a movie with her mom and stayed in the theater as they both quietly got excited.  
• She said that they wanted her to audition for Carol, but she told them that she was better suited for Barb because she's just like her, reading books and dealing with her friends.  
• She wants to call the Duffer Bros every day to ask them, "Am I dead?" because she honestly doesn't know.  She was told that "things didn't look so good for Barb" when she filmed the scene in the UpsideDown pool.  
• She said that she finally quit her job at the movie theater because she was starting to get recognized a lot and it was weird because a couple waited for her to get off her shift and talked to her in the parking lot so they could get pictures.  She is also now getting acting jobs, like the Archie comics show coming up on the WB, entitled "Riverdale".  
• When asked what Superhero she'd like to play, she said, with apologies to Anna Kendrick, that she would be an awesome Squirrel Girl.  (I think I may need to read this comic).  
• She is amazed by the cosplay that she saw within a couple of weeks of the first airing of ST, and was happy to see her character represented.  "Rock those Mom jeans!"
• She was really personable and seemed like a very sweet person and I want to be her friend, probably just like everyone else does.  
  

Thank you for a great panel, Shannon!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Then it was time for the Batman 66 Reunion.  The announcer asked us to start singing the theme song.  I gladly obliged, as this was how I got my mom to turn on the TV when it was Bat Time every day when I was a kid and watched it in syndication.  "Nananananananananananananananana BATMAN!!!!"    

• The panel moderators were Ralph Garmon from KLOS and Kevin Smith.  One guy in the audience was dressed like Kevin, and stood up later to ask a question.  Kevin told him he was a handsome man.  
• Reunion attendees were Lee Meriwether, Burt Ward, and Adam West.  I was on the left side of the room, which is where they all entered.  
• Adam had a short cane battle with an audience member.  Yeah, Adam uses a cane now, but he's still as hilarious as ever. 
• I got all emotional as I looked at the three of them on stage, because it brought back my childhood.  Adam thanked us all for our fandom and letting it influence us creatively, morally, or however it influenced us to keep proliferating our love for the Dynamic Duo. 
• They talked about their latest collaboration, "Return of the Caped Crusaders", which will be available on DVD on November 1, 2016, upon which AW, BW and Julie Newmar provided the voices. 
• I don't know why JN wasn't part of this panel.  Maybe they didn't think we could handle 2 Catwomen at the same time?  
• AW & BW have great chemistry and bantered a lot, which made LM cry with laughter.  She said that when she auditioned, she thought she'd never get it once she saw all of the beautiful, voluptuous women that showed up for the part.  But they called her that same day to tell her she got the part.  I have no idea how she thinks that other women are more beautiful than her. She's still gorgeous.  Has she looked in a mirror?!
  
•  AW said that as soon as they were told that the series was canceled, he started taking stuff home little by little, and he has lots of memorabilia, including Burt's tights.  He also has every single script from the series, with his handwritten notes.  Wow.  He said that he was offered a million dollars for it last year, and Ralph told him to rip up the check because he actually doesn't have that kind of money.  AW told the audience that Ralph has a huge Batman memorabilia collection.  
• BW said that there was much daily discussion about the tights not fitting right, "mine being too small in the crotch, Adam's being too big...they had to pack a towel in his."

  

  Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Fanboy, and Silent Bob

• Someone asked Adam what he thought of the other incarnations/actors playing Batman.  AW:  "I don't care."
• Burt told his story about one of the first days on the set where he got into the prop car, and there was a Batman next to him, but it wasn't Adam.  It was a stuntman.  Burt asked why he was there, and the stuntman said that this was a dangerous stunt, and they didn't want to hurt their star.  Burt asked if he had his own stuntman.  Yes.  He asked the director, "Why isn't he over here?  Why is he over there, drinking coffee with Adam West?"  He was told that it was because the stuntman didn't look like Burt and they couldn't use him in the shot.  Burt said incredulously, "You hired the guy to be my stuntman and he doesn't even look like me?!"  So he ended up doing the stunt himself, and it was, indeed, dangerous.  He ended up having a pinky finger pulled out of the joint, and was required to wait about 7 hours before they would take him to the hospital because the crew needed to get the shot before they'd let him go.  He ended up with 4 injuries that week.  Yes, he was required to go back to the set and keep doing his own stunts.  
• Someone asked Kevin if he had asked the Batman cast to appear on his show, because it is set at a comic book convention.  Kevin said that the cast had already agreed to be on the new TV series, "Mallrats". 
• Pretty sure Adam West smiled at me as he looked around the room because he looked in my direction and I couldn't stop grinning, so he grinned back.  I might be wrong, but if I am, don't tell me.  Let me have my moment with Batman.

Yeah, so that was awesome.

There was still some time to watch some of Dominic Purcell's interview on the Hot Topic main stage, so I weaved my way through the crowds to get to South Hall.

• On the Legends of Tomorrow / Supergirl crossover episode, Heat Wave hits on Supergirl.
• He talked about Prison Break Season 6, and how Lincoln has been doing since Michael's death.  
• Awww, he called Wentworth his "buddy".  WENT!!!  I love that they're friends in real life, which is why they work with each other so much.
• He pointed out the guys in the audience that were dressed as Heat Wave and Captain Cold.
• He never read a comic book before he got cast in "The Flash", and therefore had no idea who The Flash was.
• We were treated to a clip of an action sequence from Prison Break, as well as the official trailer to season 6.
• This was Dominic's first con.  I'm hoping that he can get Wentworth to join him next time, and that I can see them and try not to lose my mind.
• 
  
  

I took one more lap around the floor, and bought the chocolate that I didn't buy yesterday.  I also got cute light saber earrings that are made of LEGO (all in the pic above with the Funko POP).  I also found yet another piece of art that I liked.  I told the artist that I was obsessed with it and bought it.  There is other stuff on her Instagram account that I like, so I'm following her now.  I received a free postcard for buying a bigger print. 

Boba Fett Boba postcard with Vader Eating Sushi print

I did see a paper-cut silhouette that I liked of Ariel.  The artist had a really intricate one of Edward Scissorhands, too.  Had I wanted other ones, I would have bought the deal for 3 of them, but I didn't.  I figured if it was there the next day, I'd think about it again.

I went home, exhausted but happy about the amazing day.  I'm writing this the next day, and decided to stay home.  It's raining outside and I was going to take the Metro (lots of traffic and road closures due to the Rock n Roll Half Marathon, the Clippers game, and the con), and I wasn't interested in any of the panels besides the one with Chris Hardwick, and that was too early for me to attend.  

Final thoughts:

• They have really got to get their act together and give the "staff" the correct information.  
• Staff should also be told where they're actually sitting at the moment so that they don't send someone to the opposite corner of the room from where they're supposed to go.
• Staff should make sure that the people in the long line have the appropriate tickets in their hands before they stand there for an hour and being turned away when they finally get to the front of the line.
• Signs should be visible so that people are not required to use their awesome powers of deduction.
• For all of the emphasis on the website and the app, they should have included the instructions about redeeming autograph tickets on both formats.  
• I never saw Optimus Prime again.  Bummer.
• I didn't see anyone selling the cool plastic covers for the artwork like the ones that I bought in Dallas.  I might not have been so hesitant about buying stuff and walking with it in the rain had those been available.  
• The lanyards were way cheap and I worried that I would lose my badge, so I used my Mockingjay double feature lanyard instead.
• The official merchandise wasn't that exciting, so I didn't get any.  It would have been cool to have some Con Exclusive comic books or shopping bags big enough for the popular 11X17 artwork size that many of the artists sell.

Overheard:

• Girl: "He said that I was 'scantily clad' whenever I dress up.  That means that I look nice, right?" Boy: "No, it means that you're dressed whore-ish."  Girl:  Oh my God!  I thought it was a compliment!"  Boy:  "No. Wow, your vocabulary is...just...amazing."
• Girl at Dominic Purcell panel, as he's talking about Michael's death on "Prison Break", which happened in season 5, and occurred over a year ago:  "Spoilers!"  Dominic kept talking.  Girl:  "Oh my gosh!  What are they doing?!"  Then she and her companion left the area.  (I'm glad she wasn't at the Stranger Things panel is all I'm saying here, because she's clearly behind on her TV shows).
• Mom to her young boy: "Oh, you're kidding me!  How could you let them get those seats?" Boy: "I was just letting her go in front of me."  Mom (who sent her son to go get seats instead of doing it herself): "You need to be more aggressive when you want something.  I keep telling you that."  Sherry, with her inside voice, wishing Mom would go away for a minute so she could compliment the kid: "I'm really glad that your kid isn't growing up to be the a$$hole that you want him to be."

Everyone at the con was generally very polite, asking if they could take pictures of the cosplayers before doing so.  Fanboys and Fangirls are just content when they're amongst their own kind, you know?

I had a great time, and I hope that a friend or two can join me next year!

Thanks for the Comikaze, Stan Lee!

PusherPix 10/29/16

PusherPix
Saturday, October 29, 2016

Lots of cool stuff happened today, but here's my favorite moment: meeting The Dread Pirate Roberts himself, Cary Elwes.

LA Comic Con 2016 - Day 1

Comikaze - Los Angeles Comic Con 2016

Day 1 - Friday, October 28

LA Comic Con, also known as Comikaze, is here!  I took a walk at my break time and headed over to the Convention Center to pick up my credentials.  Since it was still early in the day, there was no line, and I was out of there and back at work pretty quickly.  I don't know why the security guards wouldn't let us in the main door since there was absolutely no line and they were ready with the line stanchions, but whatevs.  On the way there and back, I spied a Batman and a Kylo Ren.

Friday is a shopping day only, as well as a day to gawk at the Cosplayers.  I don't normally take a picture of the Cosplay, but if I see Optimus Prime again tomorrow, I'll likely ask to take a picture of him.  They did have some lifesize models on display for photo ops, kinda.  They also had some famous cars from movies.

Herbie!

Those Iron Men Guys

Hulk Is Big

I went to the information booth to ask how the autograph sessions will work tomorrow because I pre-ordered a book and autograph.  Girl told me to download the app for the con, which received lower than average reviews from Android users.  Yeah, it probably would help more than she would. She also didn't know who I was talking about and proceeded to spell his name with a K instead of a C-a-r-e-y.  OK, maybe she doesn't know who he is, but it really didn't matter when she didn't even know where she actually was, judging from the direction she was pointing for me to go.  I wandered around aimlessly for about 2 minutes before giving up and going back to shopping until I found the Autograph redemption booth, clear on the opposite end of the floor.

I love seeing the artwork at the cons. There are a ton of talented artists out there, some of whom I follow on Instagram and were unfortunately at other cons across the country this weekend.   But I did get to go see J at SuperEmoFriends, because I've been wanting this one since he first posted.

I also found an artist new (to me), Mauricio Abril, and had a difficult time deciding on one piece, so I got 3 5x7s instead.  

Another one that I found had something really cute that I intend to give as a gift, but I might go back to him later this weekend for other stuff.  I received a sticker for spending a certain amount.   Wolverine is adorable!  Here he is juxtaposed with the cool artist business cards that I collected from my favorites. 

Remember my baby vampire, Vamplet?  She came with a bottle that had red liquid which seemed to disappear when the bottle was tilted.  Anyway, her artist was there and she has a book and other plush there.  She didn't have a card, but I was allowed to take a picture of her work.  I'm debating whether or not I want to buy anything, though.

The one artist that saved me money was Sean Danconia.  He had a piece that included Hello Kitty Gloomy Bear and I really wanted to buy a copy, but he only had Artist Proofs and they were large.  He offered to sell it to me at half price, but I couldn't justify getting it because I wouldn't have the wall space and a piece that big would stand out and totally not match my decor.  But look at it!  

#lacomicon #lacomiccon2016 Tonight 5pm it begins!!!...#stanLee #stanleecomikaze #comikaze #stanleeslosangelescomiccon #comicon Please join us - SupaPop Studio - at Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comicon Oct 28-30th for an incredible weekend of art, anime, comics and more. Booth 1310 right near the main entrance. Los Angeles Convention Center! See you there true believers! #anime #art #popart #gothic #gothiclolita #harajuku #neopop #streetArt #spiderman #jamesbond #vampire #halloween #lupin #kawaii #hellokitty #cosplay #astroboy #seandanconia @supapopcity @supapopstudios #supapop #manga #danconia #jackhsu #lupin3rd

A photo posted by Sean Danconia (昇龍) (@danconia) on Oct 28, 2016 at 8:15pm PDT

I had asked a co-worker if she'd like me to look for anything for her since she was sadly not able to attend this year.  She asked me to look for Ash from Army of Darkness. I have no idea who that is, but I found him!  Right next to a new Ariel Funko Pop that had just been released this week.  Well, of course I got both of them, don't be silly.  I also bought the Hot Topic Exclusive Ariel which looks like this new one but is sparkly.  She also has a keychain version.  Yup. Got that, too.  Also, they had a Gudetama which is my new silly obsession.  I mean it's an egg.  It's lazy.  I love him.  I got in line to spin the wheel and received a Hot Topic sticker.

Pop! -o-rama

After going to the Autograph booth to get ACTUAL information about tomorrow's autograph session, I walked back to the office. Oy.  That walk hurt because my feet were already aching.  I don't know how much it's going to hurt tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Next up:  Day 2

Stay Gold

Dallas Comic Con Fan Days

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Irving Convention Center

Irving, TX

Sunday at Comic Con, despite the shorter day, had a lot in store for us!

Celebrity Q&A with C. Thomas Howell

CTH's panel was in a smaller room than the ones I attended the previous day.  It was nice and intimate, and I was on the aisle in the 3rd row.  He walked in with the interviewer.  CTH was wearing sexy mirrored aviator sunglasses, but he took them off before I could get a picture of him wearing them.  His dad is a stuntman, and his family is full of stunt people.  He's pretty much the only actor out of the bunch.  He happened to be on set when someone asked him to read from a script and then was asked to interview with Steven Spielberg.  One catch: he needed to know how to smoke cigarettes.  So his dad taught him how to pack the cigarettes, how to hold a cigarette, and how to smoke, which he learned in the car on the drive to the interview.  His interview went well, but when he was asked to smoke, he had sat on his pack of cigarettes, so he had trouble lighting a bent one.  They gave him the part.  This was the interview for "E.T."  Steven Spielberg was really smart and had a trailer set up that had all kinds of video games inside.  He told the cast of boys that they would only be allowed to play in the trailer once they finished their work that day.  CTH said that all the guys had their lines ready every day so that they could play.  He said that he learned a lot from Rutger Hauer, whom said that he "doesn't play bad guys."  This kind of freaked out CTH because of Hauer's many iconic villainous roles, but he understood later on when he played the villain in "The Hitcher".  When talking about "Red Dawn", he said that Patrick Swayze told him that it would be their last movie together (this was their 3rd).  Swayze just knew that three was enough for Hollywood, and they never worked together again, although they stayed close.  CTH said that Swayze excelled at everything he did, but the one thing that CTH was better at than Swayze was riding a horse.  Swayze was jealous of CTH's horsemanship, especially when they filmed the sequence in "Red Dawn" where he shoots while riding a horse and the horse rears up.  CTH said that wasn't planned, and the horse did it on his own, but pretended like he meant to do that when everyone praised him. Also, he said, "Wolverines!" during the panel, which made us cheer.  He said that the cast of "The Outsiders" was isolated in a hotel in Tulsa because people went crazy when they heard that the book was adapted into a film script.  People still found them, though, and tried to be with them.  I love that he mentioned "Secret Admirer".  Someone asked him about "Soul Man", and he said that it would be really difficult to get done today, because it's really tough to get a movie done with a white man playing blackface, unless he's Robert Downey, Jr.   It was a great Q&A!  I was only annoyed by one woman whom, after CTH answered her questions, still talked to him like they were having their own Q&A session.  No follow-up questions, lady!  Ugh.  Everyone was very respectful, though.  Is it wrong that I loved that he was able to curse all over the place because of the intimacy of the room?  BTW, CTH, your secret is safe with me!  ;)

Celebrity Q&A with Bonnie Wright

Angela was at the Shawn & Aaron Ashmore Q&A while I was at CTH, but we met up for this one.  Bonnie Wright is now a documentary producer.  How old am I?  Most of the questions she was asked were about her time on the Harry Potter films.  She said that the other kids playing the Weasley family acted like she was their real little sister, and they were all like family.  When asked, though, whose death affected her the most in the movies, she did not mention Fred.  She said it was because he teased her too much.  Her favorite spell was Reducto, because it would make things break and explode.  

Autographs

I wanted to get my picture with the Outsiders signed by both of them, because I had lost my mind by that point.  I told C Thomas Howell that I was really happy when I saw him on the season premiere of "Sleepy Hollow", but then he died.  He said, "Yeah, I've been getting a lot about that this weekend.  I'm going to try to get a part where I don't die."  Angela asked him to sign with something other than black ink because the background of the picture is dark.  He asked which color.  I said, "Stay gold, Ponyboy."  So he wrote "Stay Gold" in what else?  GOLD.  

Angela and I both got autographs from Ralph Macchio.  He saw the photo of us, and said, "I remember you."  I asked, "Because I said 'Ohmigosh!"?  He said yes.  I couldn't even talk anymore, because OHMIGOSH, he's the damn Karate Kid, and he remembered me from the day before.

Then we just stood there for awhile, and I told Angela that I really wanted a picture of CTH with his sunglasses (they were on his table).  She somehow got me to get the nerve to go back to his table, and she told the volunteer that I forgot to pay for a selfie as part of my package with the autograph.  Thanks for treating me to that, Ang!  I asked CTH if I could get the picture with him wearing his sunglasses, and he was happy to oblige.  He even took THREE pictures with us!  One with just me, then a CTH sandwich, then with just Angela.  It was soooo sweet of him!  Also, he hugged me and said my name, and I might just take him away from my best friend Mich because she's married now and I'm not.  (CTH was her crush when we were growing up and I loved Scott Baio).

Ponyboy Sandwich

With Angela

Hi, Sexy Shade man!

Angela wanted an autograph with Michael Rooker, but he wasn't there yet and it was taking a long time, so we met the Ashmore twins.  She got a great "Sexy Sandwich" picture with the 2 of them.  She also got an autograph from Bonnie Wright.  I asked Ms. Wright if she was wearing jewelry from her parents' designs, and all of her jewelry was from them.  Angela had her sign it to her daughter so that she can have it later.  Sweet.  Michael Rooker finally arrived, and I reminded him that we bumped butts.  He kept calling us "baby".  Unsurprisingly, I'm good with that.  I came thisclose to getting his autograph to commemorate the moments we shared, but I already did enough damage to my pocketbook due to those Outsider boys.

I forgot to write in the post for Saturday that Angela got an autograph from Steve Blum.  I know him from Star Wars Rebels and attended the Rebels panel at Star Wars Celebration.  He did a voiceover recording for her that combined 2 shows of which hubby Ryan is a fan.  So cool.  

All that was left was shopping, and we got some mash-up artwork from David Wong.  I also got a pair of Star Wars earring to wear in December.  :)  

Well, that was fun.  It wasn't crazy like San Diego CC, and I'm glad for that.  It kind of eases me into maybe going to another con out here in So Cal.  

Thank you, Ryan and Angela, for the fun!