Photos by Bobby Draper
Las Vegas nerds are often caught in a dead zone because of our promixity to Los Angeles and San Diego. Obviously LA gets just about all the entertainment and red carpets while San Diego becomes the center of nerdom every year in July with thee Comic Con. Rarely do nerdy events make their way to our home.
Lucky for us, several people have tried to change that in the last couple of years. The latest, Wizard World, just completed their first Las Vegas convention this past weekend. It was a rousing success if I say so myself. It would appear they are already planning their next Las Vegas event as their website already lists next year’s dates as March 18 – 20, 2016. I was very impressed with their line-up of celebrities, but to see them live and in person was even more amazing. Granted, there were several last minute cancellations that were extremely disappointing like Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun and Tom Felton. But very much in attendance were fan favorites Lou Ferrigno, Elvira (Cassandra Peterson), Michael Rooker and Robert Englund among many others.
The celebrities were of course a highlight, but witnessing and even partaking in tattoo alley was fantastic. Our very own Nerd Bobby added to his ink collection, as well friends Will, Alex and Jewlia. My personal favorite was Jewlia who got an Iron Giant tattoo based on Jason Edmiston‘s print. Gorgeous. Right across the way were our friends from Naked Vegas and Nerd Caves. They went above and beyond with their artistry with a Lady Deadpool, Starfire, Lara Croft and zombie.
Wizard World also had several areas set up for free fun like a video gaming section, a board/card game area and displays of live size classic Matchbox Cars. They had several live events and demonstrations as well. Two of my favorites were the artists teaching kids how to sketch and the cosplay competition. Speaking of which, I was a little worried that Las Vegas nerds wouldn’t show up in their best cosplay as most fans do in other cities. That’s not to say we don’t like to go overboard in Vegas, more that I thought we’d have more curious looky loos at the event that real Nerds. I was really impressed with the cosplay turnout. Everything from Hit-Girl, to zombies to Ghostbusters to Deadpools to my personal favorite, Disco Boba Fett.
And of course the vendors. What convention would be complete without toys, shirts, Pop-Vinyls, Legos, Ocarinas and much more.
All in all, I am thoroughly impressed with the professionalism displayed by Wizard World. We’ve had several nerdy start up conventions in Vegas that turned out to be a cluster. I look forward to seeing Wizard World grow with our fair city in years to come.
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