This past weekend I attended WonderCon in Anaheim, California. As the kid sibling of San Diego Comic Con, WonderCon has all of the great vendors you can expect from larger cons without the steep price of SDCC. Unfortunately, being located right across from Disneyland means that the parking is just as unbearable as a large convention for those of us who opted to drive. Nevertheless, I still had a great time. Here’s a breakdown of my con experience:
Friday
Friday I did something that I generally don’t do at conventions; I wandered the exhibition hall. Normally I’m the type to pick out a few vendors I want to visit beforehand and make a beeline for those booths so that I can spend the majority of my time attending panels. But we’re all entitled to a shopping day every now and then, right? While there were tons of goodies as far as the eye could see, my top two favorites at every con are Dark Horse Comics and Espionage Cosmetics. Because Firefly. And makeup. And Firefly makeup. Top it all off with some Dippin’ Dots and oodles upon oodles of awesome cosplay to gawk at and you had one happy Critique Geek.
Thorin and Peter Pan!
Saturday
Saturdays tend to be the biggest days of any con. WonderCon was no exception. Once I got my rear to the arena, I stayed there for both the Warner Brothers and Fox Theatrical panels. The Warner Brothers panel covered the upcoming films Edge of Tomorrow, Into the Storm (Richard Armitage, y’all), and, of course, Godzilla. We finally got to see what Godzilla looks like! Most importantly, though, I was in the same room as Richard Armitage.
Look, it’s a Dylan O’Brien!
The Fox panel previewed a whole slew of films, including How to Train Your Dragon: Riders of Berk, The Maze Runner, Secret Service, Rise of Planet of the Apes, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. While there was really no new information revealed about either Apes or X-Men at the panel, I’m okay witht this because I was in the same room as Gary Oldman. And Andy Serkis… at the same time!
Commissioner James Sirius Gordon and GOLLUM.
During the Q&A portion of the Apes panel, a fan asked Serkis to call him a filthy hobbit. This sent the audience into a crazy case of the giggles. In his normal voice, Andy said “You’re a filthy hobbit.” After pretending like he didn’t understand the request, he continued in his Gollum voice “Or did you mean like this, precious?” The sound in the arena was deafening.
Next up for me was the Showrunners panel because I want to be Jane Espenson when I grow up. After having attended the panel and heard all of the industry advice, I still want to be Jane Espenson when I grow up.
The last panel of the day for me was the OneRing.Net Hobbit: There and Back Again presentation. It’s always nice being in a room with professionals who still totally geek out as much as the rest of us do. While I felt this panel was a bit lacking overall in content, it’s always nice to be in a room full of Ringers.
The night ended with the masquerade, where cosplayers showed off their handmade costumes and performed small skits (Usually just a series of poses, though there was definitely some dancing – Ariel vogued. ARIEL VOGUED.).
Sunday
Sunday = fun day? You bet! After some more shopping (because reasons), I headed over to the Whedonverse panel with Zack Whedon, Georges Jeanty, and Christos Gage. Audience members got to preview some pretty cool artwork for the upcoming Spike comic as well as discuss all things Buffy and Serenity. Zach Whedon mentioned that he hoped someone would pick up the Serenity storyline after his planned comics end. I totally volunteer as tribute.
While I had originally planned to go to the Battlestar Galactica panel afterwards, I instead took advantage of the Zach Whedon and Georges Jeanty signing. I regret nothing.
Okay, okay. It’s time for the part you really want to hear about…
The Cosplay
I had two absolute favorites in the entire convention. Really, the key to my heart is to cosplay as either Scarlet Witch or Loki, so…
Like seriously, no further explanation needed. Incidentally, you can follow Scarlet Witch (Alicia) at @VertVixen on Twitter. You’ll find Loki at @Loki_hates_you. Now go follow them right now.
And, cosplay collage!
Click to enlarge.
Overall, WonderCon was pretty great other than terrible parking and one instance of geek snobbery that I witnessed (more on that later). I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be adding WonderCon to my regular con rotation.
