Pictured above is a culmination of the merch items that I picked up at Wondercon this past weekend (I’m a sucker for music/movie/superhero crossovers, I think their wittiness tugs at my nerd-for-nuance heartstrings).
For those of you that are new to the world of conventions (especially those of the Comic Con/Wondercon kind) these type of social gatherings are particularly tailored to lovers near and far of everything under the sun in relation to Pop culture. Various companies ranging from Walt Disney Animation Studios to the creators of Bioshock are found there and their followers are also occurring in abundance. Wondercon this year happened the Easter weekend of April 3rd-5th at the Anaheim Convention Center, basically down the street from Downtown Disney!
If that doesn’t convince you to attend Wondercon, the panels definitely will. As a veteran to Comic Con (I’ve been attending since I was 15, I am now 24) panels definitely became a big component as to why these conventions are really popular. Fans will spend an insurmountable amount of time to fall in line for panels of various big box office movies/television shows such as Marvel’s: The Avengers or HBO’s Game of Thrones just to see the actors that portray these characters for an hour of honest conversation. Now, the panels at Wondercon are not as highly anticipated as the ones at Comic Con, but that really didn’t stop me from seeing all my favorite panels this year. The panels that I attended were all at the top of my list in terms of current watchings. They included: CW’s The Flash, CW’S iZombie, and BBC America’s Orphan Black. Here are a few sad looking snapshots at the panels (taken from my Instagram) :
And after going to panels doesn’t seem to suit your liking, buying cute stuff should definitely be at the top of your convention attending game. At these conventions there is a place dedicated to celebrating the art of popular entertainment in purchasing form and it is named The Exhibit Hall. In each of the exhibit halls (both at Wondercon and Comic Con) there is a place called Artists’ Alley where freelance artists showcase what they love about popular art and even put their own fantastic art on display. Exhibitors that stood out the most to me were: Sharodactyl, Whositswhatsits, Bellzi Plushie, and Graphitti shirt designs, and MinionMe (I am biased because I belong to the fandoms of cute squishy things/Disney things/The Flash things).
Overall, what I’m trying to convey here is my love for these type of conventions. I fell in love with these conventions not only because I get to see exclusive content from all my favorite comics, movies, and television shows but the feeling it gives me is so much more. The fact that these type of events have such an ephemeral quality to them and that for a temporary moment, the landscape is transformed in the best way possible. What used to be an empty plaza is now a promenade filled with food trucks where the extraordinary can happen, where you can witness Ursula and Korra sharing a corndog and sweet potato fries. It’s little happenings that are out of the ordinary that make me giddy, like when you used to wake up really early on Saturday mornings in lieu of seeing your favorite TV show (shoutout to One Saturday Morning for airing Pepper Ann, do they still do that? Let me know!)
**In addition, landed a new job at S.T.A.R Labs, it was smashing!
Catch Ya Later,
-Kathy
katcurates.wordpress.com 