Showing posts with label conventions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conventions. Show all posts
Topics include:
-My day in cosplay.
-Hurricane Matthew brings the storm.
-The Cyanide and Happiness Sketch Jam.
-Scott Snyder shows up late for his panel.
-Sitting the in the Star Trek captain's chair.
-Acing Nickelodeon trivia.
-Delicious Five Guys Burgers.
-Showing off the free swag gathered.
Did you attend NYCC '16? What did you think about the event? Tell us about it below!
Topics include:
-Odd train delays.
-Having panels hosted off-site at Hammerstein Ballroom & MSG.
-Attending the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" panel.
-A surprise guest crashes the TMNT panel.
-The Shrine of the Silver Monkey Challenge.
-"Legends of the Hidden Temple" VR Experience.
-"Ash vs. Evil Dead" experience.
-Attending the "Humans" panel.
-Getting hopped up on Death Wish coffee.
-Showing off the free swag from the day.
-The Sonicboombox NYCC After-Party at Bowlmor.
-Concerns about Hurricane Matthew.
Did you attend NYCC '16? What did you think about the event? Tell us about it below!
Topics include:
-General first impressions of this year's setup.
-Comparison to other cons' first days.
-Trying out "Power Rangers Mega Battle."
-Having my brain waves turned into art.
-Meeting the cast of "Legends of the Hidden Temple."
-Attending the "Legends of the Hidden Temple" panel.
-Showing off random free swag from the show floor.
-A tour of the hotel room.
-My embarrassing mistake.
Did you attend NYCC '16? What did you think about the event? Tell us about it below!
New York Comic Con 10 Years Later: Becoming One of the Biggest Pop Culture Conventions in North America
- Sunday, October 18, 2015
It wasn't until the past couple of years that New York Comic Con stepped out of the shadow of its West Coast counterpart. Having only formed a decade ago, the small convention that gathered hundreds of geeks had a lot of catching up to do to match the now 45-year-old Comic-Con International in San Diego.
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| Fans crowd the Jacob Javits Center for New York Comic Con. Photo: Caitlin Dooley |
Taking place in the comic book, publishing, and media capital of the world, which is also home to some of our favorite superheroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man, DareDevil, and the Fantastic Four, it is not surprising that New York Comic Con (NYCC) has grown beyond its walls as fans tested its capacity. Around 167,000 fans packed into the Javits Center during the four-day pop-culture convention held on October 8–11, Forbes reported, topping last year's 151,000 attendees—an already huge record.
Attendance at NYCC began with only 12,000 at its inaugural event 10 years ago but reached six-digit attendance by 2011. It has since become the mecca of comics, video games, film, and television, bringing every fandom under one roof for a plethora of panels, screenings, and the Eastern Championship of Cosplay—the main event that tops off Saturday night.
"Ten years ago…we were in the basement of this lively building in one little hall," Lance Fensterman, ReedPOP's Global VP, told CNN. "We've kind of come out of the basement of the Javits Center just like our fans have come out of the basement…geek is mainstream."
NYCC's exponential growth forced ReedPOP to mimic San Diego and spiral its events out of the convention center and into nearby venues for the first time this year. Hammerstein Ballroom, located only a few blocks away, hosted a handful of large panels on Friday and Saturday, and The Walking Dead Fan Premiere—what used to be the largest panel on the Main Stage—was moved offsite to Madison Square Garden. Regular badges gave fans access to most offsite events, although special tickets were required for The Walking Dead premiere.
According to Fensterman, ticket demands for this year's convention quadrupled from 2014, far surpassing the number of VIP, 3-Day, 4-Day, and Saturday tickets available in the virtual queue when they went on sale in May. Once again, many fans were left disappointed and outraged when all passes sold out within hours and quickly popped up on third-party sites for over three times the price. As NYCC grows, ticket demand grows with it.
Major brands have also taken notice of the convention's growing popularity, taking full advantage of the demographic and marketing their products toward millennials. Six new brands were added to the list of sponsors this year, joining AT&T, who hosted the Main Stage panels that included Marvel's Jessica Jones premiere and Fox's X-Files revival. Progressive, which gave out storage lockers to attendees, had a team dressed as "Protector Girl" to hold fans' places in long lines. Pepsi offered their special "Pepsi Perfect" bottles from Back to the Future Part II to fans who dressed as Marty McFly or competed in a Wild Gunman contest.
Chevrolet, which has been a ReedPOP partner since 2011, collaborated with the American Cancer Society to create a special T-shirt designed by comic artist Amy Reeder for their Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign. Chevrolet donated $5 for each photo taken with their special Pink Camaro on the convention floor using the #IDRIVEFOR hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.
If you were unable to attend the convention, Courtyard by Marriott and Twitch sponsored a livestream via #NYCCLive and held a booth to film interviews with guests. General Mills' Honey Nut Cheerios also sponsored a morning recap livestream.
With easy access to a large crowd of young consumers, NYCC has become a major investment for companies to make a viral impact on the social media-savvy crowd, all the while creating a large economic impact for the city.
Though San Diego Comic Con has long since established itself as the front runner of some of the biggest pop culture announcements, NYCC has been persistent in becoming the new destination for film and television companies. Large banners hung throughout the TV-centric convention while panels for upcoming shows roared with excitement.
Earlier this summer, ReedPOP held its second annual Special Edition: NYC, a smaller comic-focused convention at Pier 94. Only a small fraction of the size of NYCC, Special Edition gave fans a close and intimate experience with the comics and their creators.
ReedPOP announced next year's New York Comic Con is scheduled for October 6–9, 2016 at the Javits Center. New York Super Week is set to begin on October 3rd.
Did you attend New York Comic Con 2015 and have a great story to tell?
Let us know in the comments below!
Fanboys Anonymous would like to thank TV Store Online for being one of our sponsors for New York Comic Con 2015, providing us with some awesome Legends of the Hidden Temple shirts so our people not only could find each other easier in the sea of people on the busiest day of the convention but also could take some group photos and have some fun during our down time.
Halloween is coming up, and if you're looking for something to spice up your costume, TV Store Online has so much apparel to choose from in the geek culture spectrum, including TV shows, movies, music, comics, games and more.
If you want to pick up one of these shirts specifically, you can find them here. My suggestion: pick the Silver Snakes. I could use another teammate to earn me a pendant so those temple guards don't get us!
Stay tuned for more updates, photos, videos and so on from New York Comic Con 2015 and the Fanboys Anonymous team.
Various members of Fanboys Anonymous will be attending New York Comic Con 2015 at the Javits Center this October 8-11. We'll be recording an upcoming episode of the Group Meeting podcast as well as filming some stuff on the floors with cosplayers, vendors, artists, conducting interviews and more.
If you would like to schedule an interview or participate in our footage in some fashion, leave a comment below or reach out to us through our contact form and we'll try to set some things up!
Fanboys Anonymous will once again be coming to the Too Many Games convention, but this time around, instead of just having a table, we will be presenting a special panel!
Join us on June 26, 2015 from 6:50 pm–7:40 pm at Panel 3 for Fanboys Anonymous: Addicted to Geek Culture where we will be discussing everything from the stigma of the word "fanboy" to the things that we're personally obsessed with, how addictive fandom in general can be, and the positives and negatives of having such a devoted fan base behind the things we love.
There will be time for a Q&A session where you can speak your mind as well as pick our brains about anything you want!
About Too Many Games
Where: Greater Philadelphia Expo Center — 100 Station Ave, Oaks, PA 19456Some come out, see what the convention has to offer, pick up some games or artwork or whatever you're into and make sure not to miss our panel!
When: June 26–28, 2015 | Friday (2 pm–10 pm), Saturday (10 am–7 pm), Sunday (10 am–5 pm)
Website: Visit http://toomanygames.com/ for information on purchasing tickets and more
Description: TooManyGames is the longest running gaming convention in the Philadelphia area and is held every June at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. The 2015 TooManyGames convention will be held June 26 through 28. In 2014 attendance numbered over 5,000 attendees. Due to a strong guest list, increased sponsorships, ticket sales trends, and vendor response we are projecting 7,000 to 10,000 attendees in 2015.
History: TooManyGames (then known as the East Coast Gaming Expo) was formed in 2004 as an event focused on bringing classic gamers together to have a special occasion dedicated to classic game playing and collecting. TooManyGames' debut convention was held in September 2004 at the Inn at Reading in Reading, Pennsylvania with over 700 people attending to play, purchase, and enjoy classic video games.
In 2005, TooManyGames began expanding the show by including a large selection of classic and modern arcade games, incorporating more tournaments as well as hosting one of our region's first video game concerts. As TooManyGames has continued to grow and incorporate new features it has expanded from its original 5,000 square feet to now encompass over 100,000 square feet of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center's convention space.
TooManyGames will continue to drive innovation and expansion with their convention through continuously making new partnerships with people and companies whose focus is on making gamers happy.
Hours before the doors to the second annual Special Edition: NYC (SENYC) comics-only convention opened, a crowd full of comic book enthusiasts, masked villains, and caped crusaders had already begun to form, and once again New York City got a glimpse of spandex-clad superheroes/heroines and their villains far off their respective comic book pages.
SENYC took place at Pier 94 on June 6 and 7 and gave attendees something that New York Comic Con (NYCC) hasn't for years: an intimate experience to celebrate comics and interact with their creators. ReedPOP's impressive line-up of creators included Amy Reeder (Rocket Girl), Brenden Fletcher (Batgirl), Mark Texeria (Ghost Rider), Greg Pak (Batman/Superman), and Jason Latour (Spider-Gwen).
ReedPOP had announced on June 3 that they had reclaimed NYCC tickets from scalpers and added them to the allotment sold at SENYC, so when the convention began at 10 a.m. fans wasted no time forming a line reminiscent to that seen when entering the larger pop-culture convention. Organizers soon capped the line to discourage it from encompassing the entire entrance. Tickets were set to go back on sale an hour later, but no one seemed to budge.
The convention floor of Pier 94 was dark as fans hovered over various comics tables. Most of the crowd gathered around the rows of Artist Alley to get up close and personal with their favorite creators. Unlike NYCC, the convention's panels were small and easy to get into, but that didn't mean they were any less interesting. Marvel's "Next Big Thing" panel kicked off the convention; it was held by Brian Michael Bendis (All-New X-Men), Marguerite Bennett (A-Force), Peter David (Spider-Man 2099), and Charles Soule (Inhumans: Attilan Rising). During the panel, Bendis put rumors to rest as he confirmed that his new Iron Man series will star Tony Stark and will not be a reboot. Big things were announced for this fall with Cosplay variants featuring cosplayers on comic book covers, shot by Judy Stephens of Marvel.
Other panels covered topics specifically geared toward indie creators and those trying to break into the industry, including how storytellers develop their ideas into narratives and the business behind comics from checks to contracts.
Of course, no comics convention would be complete without the cosplayers—and there were no shortage of excellent participants at SENYC. View the photos below.
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| The Flash Cosplay | DC Comics group |
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| DC Comics photoshoot |
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| Ms. Marvel Cosplay | Spider-Gwen and Spidey |
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| Atlantis Cosplay - Siryn Cosplay and Saraphina | Mera and Aquaman |
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| Gravity Falls | Hawkman and Hawkgirl |
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| Mera Cosplay - Saraphina | Scarecrow |
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| Gotham City Cosplay | Metropolis Cosplay |
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| Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen | Gambit and Rogue Cosplay |
The experience overall was relaxing compared to NYCC and its overwhelming 130,000 attendees. SENYC's dim lighting and casual atmosphere made it feel like a basement hangout for geeks as we talked and read comics.
Did you enjoy Special Edition: NYC?
Had a favorite experience you'd like to share? We'd love to hear about it!
Let us know in the comments below.
Since Fanboys Anonymous revolves around the various different aspects of geek culture, any opportunity that we get to embrace our inner nerd is relished. One of the best places to do that, of course, is at a convention, and our latest endeavor in that regard was the Atlantic City Boardwalk Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts and last minute booking problems and so forth prevented us from being able to go the full four days, but we were thankfully still able to attend on Friday.
As far as the size of the convention, it's naturally bigger than your normal upstarts as it is held in the Atlantic City Convention Center instead of a small community center or the more warehouse-type buildings. However, don't let that intimidate you. In no way is this anywhere near as big as something like New York Comic Con in comparison. This is the perfect size for a starter convention to attend to get a basic idea of how these go, where you have enough time to visit all of the different attractions and attend several panels as well. To give you a basic rundown of some of the things we were able to do, take a look at the sections below.
Cosplayers
It's always fun to see what people are dressed up as at conventions, since they're celebrating the characters we love. As expected, the top choice seemed to be Harley Quinn, and believe me when I say the three below are just a fraction of the ones that were roaming the floor. Costumes ranged from the more serious and darker ones to silly renditions of cartoon characters and even more than one version of Where's Waldo? which is totally cheating and not fair.
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| Suicide Squad Harley Quinn | "Bitches of Cosplay" |
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| Supergirl | Robin |
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| The Super Mario Bros |
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| The Twins - Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch |
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| Captain America | Deadpool Family |
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| Erza Scarlet Casey Jones | Steven Stone |
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| Garnet | Lex Luthor |
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| Found him! |
Stan Lee Museum
A neat little section is what they refer to as "The Stan Lee Museum," which basically houses all sorts of miscellaneous treasures from over the years that involve the man himself and his creations. There are a dozen or so glass cases filled with special drawings, signed memorabilia, and odd trinkets, but what immediately stands out is the collection of Iron Man statues. You pretty much can't be around that area and not notice Iron Monger and the bright glowing lights of the Arc Reactor chestpieces.
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| Iron Man armor busts | Iron Man Mark V Armor |
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| Different versions of Iron Man armor |
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| Iron Man armor War Machine bust | Marvel Cinematic Universe Props Display Case |
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| Pingo Doce with Guarana Kick | Peter Parker's Diploma | The Orb (Power Stone) |
The Garage
If the Marvel movie props aren't necessarily your thing, but you still enjoy checking out some of the iconic pieces of superhero film history, there is also a section dedicated to automobiles dubbed "The Garage." You could get your picture taken alongside The General Lee from Dukes of Hazard, the Ecto-1a from Ghostbusters II, and of course, multiple different Batmobiles!
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| Tumbler Batmobile from Batman Begins | Batpod from The Dark Knight |
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| The Batmobile from Tim Burton's Batman | The DeLorean from Back to the Future |
Panels and Celebrities
We didn't partake in the autograph and photo sessions, but we were able to check out a few names along the way during our rounds.
Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash's secret weapon for finding out what every piece of memorabilia or history is worth—Rob Bruce from Comic Book Men—was a really fun chat and is a very down to Earth, cool guy. Here's hoping we'll be able to get him on one of our podcasts soon!
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| Head of Fanboys Anonymous Tony Mango (left) and Comic Book Men's Robert Bruce (right) |
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Definitely a highlight of the day, though, was being able to sit in on Michael Rooker's panel. It was a lighthearted affair filled with tons of jokes. Rooker, of course, was his usual self, prompting the first question of the Q&A session to be: "Are you as big of an asshole as you portray in your movies?"He filled the audience in on some of the backstage info about filming Mallrats and Guardians of the Galaxy as well as his more troubled background that forged him into the badass that he is, including a story of when he walked down a street and saw everyone locking their car doors, which just made him want to become The Hulk and toss their cars around.
Michael then gave out four special figurines that he would sign and number later on, with the final one going to a little kid dressed up as Yondu, showing that despite his rough exterior, the guy's got a soft spot deep down as well.
Merchandise and Vendors
Speaking for myself and myself alone, when I go to conventions, I don't care as much about what's for sale compared to much of the other stuff. This is a force of habit of just being tight with my money, so I don't get as much of a joy of looking around at what I'm not going to purchase. However, as with any convention, there's plenty of different vendors out there for you to find a multitude of things that you would want in your collection. Whether you're a collector of T-shirts, toys, artwork and specialty-made crafts, or pretty much anything else you can name, you'll be able to find it.
Below is an example of one thing that did stand out to me, though. Superhero Jewelry had a wide assortment of very cool looking rings as well as other things, such as below:
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| DC Comics ring replicas |
If you've got the time, head on over to ACBC for the remaining two days this Saturday and Sunday and geek out with your fellow Fanboys, pick up some swag, buy some merchandise of your favorite characters, and take some pictures with the celebrities that you're fond of. For more information, visit http://www.doacbc.com.
