Silicon Valley Comic Con is on March 18th – 20th at the San Jose Convention Center, around the same time last year when Big Wow Comicfest was held and that’s no coincidence. In true Valley fashion, the Silicon Valley Comic Con acquired Big Wow Comicfest, partly for their history of running and planning comic conventions and because they needed to secure a date and venue for the 3 day event. Even though Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack is only lightly involved in the planning, you can bet that his sphere of influence will resonate throughout the entire event. From special guests to technology themed panels, SVCC wants to differentiate itself from every other comic con in the world. The big question is whether or not con-goers will buy into it.
Tag: cosplay
This past weekend in the spacious San Jose Convention Center, a unique convention took place that blew my socks off. Aptly named Heroes and Villains FanFest for the mission to bring together celebrity and artistic talent under one room for the fans. That’s why it’s called “FanFest” because the group that organized this event wanted to focus on the fans and not the talent invited to attend. It’s an interesting idea that is quite refreshing amidst the larger conventions that focus on either too many things or limit the celebrity interaction.
Heroes and Villains FanFest in San Jose is actually the first time this type of convention was held anywhere. The creators and organizers of this FanFest all were a part of Walker Stalker Con held in various cities. And their main mission was to somehow capture this idea of connecting fans with celebrities and providing a memorable experience. In my opinion, they did a great job and Heroes and Villains FanFest was one of the most fun and memorable experiences I’ve had at a convention in awhile. This was made in part by the amount of celebrities present such as Stephen Amell, John Barrmowman, Lord Mesa, Paul Blackthorne, Karen Gillan, and Hayley Atwell.
It’s amazing to me the popularity of pop culture conventions. Big cons, small cons, they’re all wildly successful. This past weekend I attended the smallest convention I’ve ever been to. In the heart of Campbell, CA, in a bustling Community Center, Campbell Con was born.
Can’t believe it’s already been a year since Comikaze 2014! This is one of our favorite cons, and for good reason – it’s well produced, draws a lot of celebrity and creator talent, tons of interesting panels, it’s affordable, easy to travel to, and SoCal cosplays come out in full force! We managed to snap some cosplay photos throughout the weekend and have created this galley to share with you. If you recognize or know any of these awesome cosplayers, please send them to this gallery!
Check out the full gallery after the jump!
San Diego Comic-Con 2015 just wrapped up, and we’re still trying to decompress and soak in all that we experienced. This was personally my favorite SDCC I’ve been through, for many reasons. I’ve chatted with other Shortboxed editors who went and these are some of our favorite moments from 2015 and we’re excited to give you a tiny glimpse of our con experience.
Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo reunion. During the second half of the Star Wars panel, JJ Abrams brought out the Holy Trinity of the original Star Wars cast – Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. When Ford came out, all of Hall H went into a frenzy and gave him a standing welcome. We were among the first on our feet!
Photo courtesy of ilpost.it
Lauren Cohan texting the cast of The Walking Dead. During The Walking Dead panel, one person was missing from the table – Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie. She was with her family at the time and couldn’t make it to Comic-Con, unfortunately. She texted the cast and asked Steven Yeun, who plays her lover Glen, to read it aloud. She apologized to Hall H for not being there with us – it was very personal and a nice way to thank the fans and give us something special. She ended the text by asking Steven to, “say something funny.”
A big part of any convention are the fans. These attendees pay their money to enter the convention floor and wait excruciatingly long in lines to get into panels and such. They are the heartbeat of the convention since without them, there wouldn’t be a show. A part of this group leveled up, in a way, and started to embody their favorite characters by constructing intricate costumes at these conventions. These costume players, or cosplayers, have added another dimension to the convention-going experience. And in this guide, as we countdown to San Diego Comic-Con, we’ll discuss some tips on dealing with these physical interpretations of our favorite characters.
Here we go!
We were lucky enough to make the trip up from San Francisco to the Pacific Northwest to attend Emerald City Comicon for the first time – and it was definitely worth it. Considered part of the “Big 3” of comic book conventions among San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic Con, it drew over 80,000 attendees from all over the country (and even overseas). It’s not just comic books, however, but all things comic book and pop culture related – dealers, panels, celebrities, gaming, creators, cosplay and more. We managed to soak all of it up, and had a blast!
We wanted to attend ECCC for several reasons, but mainly because we’ve never been before and we’ve been to nearly every California convention already. While our main focus is comic books (obviously), we still like to attend panels, meet celebrities, do some gaming and sometimes cosplay ourselves. If comic book conventions are buffets, we like to sample a bit of every dish.
In this recap and review, we touch on different aspects of the show: