7 years ago 7 years ago

A Look Back At Emerald City Comic Con 2016

by Guest Nerd 7 years ago7 years ago

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I told myself that I was only going to one convention this year. I’ve been looking forward to going to a convention in Austin, Texas in October so would be saving my convention money. I would even be abstaining from San Diego after going the past four years. That all changed when I found out Mondo was coming to ECCC. I left the task of acquiring tickets to the last minute but was able to get my press credential and find a reasonably priced Airbnb. With San Diego being the only Comic Con I’ve ever traveled for, I didn’t know what to expect from this convention in the Emerald City. I was pleasantly surprised during my visit and would definitely recommend making the effort to attend next year. Here are some of the highlights from my time this weekend in Seattle.

My first stop Friday after spending about 30 minutes trying to find a spot to park in downtown Seattle on a weekday was of course the Mondo booth. Mondo had been given a table in the interestingly named “The Block” upstairs. They had brought in Pacific Northwest native Tyler Stout to their booth Friday to do a rare signing for anyone with his unsigned prints. Everyone in line was very excited to meet Tyler and even more excited when we learned they were giving out free Guardians of the Galaxy or Labyrinth handbills from the vinyl release and Stout/Taylor show from 2013.

I chose a Quill handbill from the pile and chatted with Tyler for a minute as he signed my cherished Shaun of the Dead, Alien, and Age of Ultron prints. I packed them back up in my PVC tube and then hit the convention floor proper. I figured there would be some great booths and cosplay at ECCC and I was disappointed by neither. The cosplayers were out in full force with some very inventive and obscure characters. A personal favorite that I chased down for a picture after seeing them in the distance was someone dressed as Stupid Sexy Flanders from The Simpsons.

I hadn’t planned much to do on Friday besides the Stout signing as I didn’t know I would be attending that day originally. So I spent the rest of the day checking out all the vendors on the floor and trying not to spend all my money the first day. I called it a day around 6:30pm and went to my Airbnb with big plans for the morning.

As a collector of many things I’ve managed to fight off the call to buy many of the very addicting and plentiful Pop! line of figures from Funko. I’ve heard some pretty shocking stories of Funko lines at SDCC and even worse ones at their Funko Days event. But when I saw they would be selling an ECCC Exclusive flocked version of their Snoopy and Woodstock Pop! I thought why not give it a go.

I got into the general con floor line about 2 hours before doors opened and resigned myself to waiting in silence. To my surprise ECCC had hired a DJ and hype man to entertain the crowd. There was plenty of nerd EDM to wake us up while we waited. When the doors finally opened I quickly walked to where the Funko booth was and hastily got myself into what I hoped was their line. The thing about Comic Con lines is you just can never quite be sure how long they actually are and if you’re too far back to get/do what you want. This was running through my mind as I stared from a good distance at the booth.

As we were slowly shuffled into a more uniformed line I heard rumblings of only people with “Special Access” passses being allowed to purchase the small daily allotment of exclusives available that day. My fears were eventually put to rest when I got closer to the booth and could actually talk with Funko staff. That didn’t mean it wasn’t agony waiting for about 45 minutes in a crowded and seemingly forever backtracking line as that day’s exclusives were crossed off the board after selling out one by one. When it was finally my turn and all but one or two of the limited items were still available I let out a little internal cheer when Snoopy and his friend Woodstock still had a few copies in stock. It was a successful start to the day and I still had another 8 hours at the convention.

Landing an exclusive at a con is just about as good as it gets but I had some more great experiences during my remaining time at ECCC. They include stumbling upon the main stage panel for iZombie which I have actually not seen a minute of but rather enjoyed the good nature of the actors from the show, Rose McIver and David Anders. Another highlight was getting a chance to interview Mondo’s VP of Operations about their first time at the convention and plans for the rest of the year which I hope to share shortly.

Overall it is was a very enjoyable convention and one that I highly recommend. Below are some more photos that I took during my time at ECCC. On to the next Con.

Check out even more images from the weekend: