Tag: Convention

Derek’s SDCC 2022 Recap: Thursday

by Derek Kraneveldt

For my Pre-Con and Preview Night recap, head here!

I forgot just how exhausting SDCC can be. Maybe it’s just been awhile, or maybe I’m just really not as young as I was the last time I was in town (I wasn’t even in my 30’s then), but I feel dead tired already, and today (Thursday) is only the first full day of the convention!

But… I can sleep when I get back to Canada!

After turning in at about midnight (and naturally, rolling around for a bit), the alarm was set for 5:55AM this morning so I could head to the Welcome to Lumon website to attempt to snag a slot for the TV+ Severance offsite (press timing hasn’t quite worked out so far, and as a huge fan of the show I didn’t want to leave it up to chance). The website initially had some CAPTCHA issues (not just for me, as complaints echoed across twitter), but the CAPTCHA segment was quickly removed, and I just happened to refresh at the right moment and snagged a slot for 12PM. If you’re lucky enough to be on site in San Diego, more slots will open up at 6AM each day and will go very quickly — after booking my slot, I refreshed again to see what was still available, and every slot was already booked up. From the look of the Welcome to Lumon website to the confirmation email that I received, it was clear that this was going to be a high-quality experience.

I pretty much completely cut out caffeine eight or nine months ago, but needed something this morning to give me a bit of a kickstart. Luckily enough, the Hilton Bayfront hotel that we’re staying in has a Starbucks in it, and they even decked it out with some light decorations for Comic-Con!

Once I grabbed a beverage, it was time to head over to The Theatre Box for the William Shatner handprint ceremony (featuring new Captain Kirk, Paul Wesley) hosted by Legion M. This was a super neat experience, and seeing the joy on the faces of all of the Star Trek cosplayers and fans in attendance is sure to be a convention highlight. You can catch a couple of photos of the event below, and we’ll link a dedicated piece about the experience once it’s been published!

This was a fantastic way to start the day, and I couldn’t have been more excited for the Lumon Orientation experience that was coming up next. Severance is an absolutely phenomenal drama, and one that I (unfortunately) didn’t jump on until the insane word of mouth about the series was too much to ignore. It’s completely unique, and unlike anything I’ve really seen before — I cannot wait for Season Two.

As TV+ launched in November of 2019, this year’s SDCC really marks their first major appearance at the convention. The brand really came out in full force, with huge wraps on the outside of the Gaslamp Hard Rock Hotel, gigantic banners inside of the convention center, numerous panels, including dedicated panels for Severance, For All Mankind, Mythic Quest, and more (along with, of course, the Severance offsite itself).

my slot was for 12PM, and at that point, things were running decently behind. It was after 1PM by the time my ”orientation” finally began, but as a major fan of the show it was well worth the wait. The offsite itself was simply breathtaking — just yesterday I noted that this year’s House of the Dragon experience may have been second only to 2013’s Godzilla Encounter, but Severance’s ’Lumon Orientation” has to take the cake You can take a look at a couple of photos from the experience below, and we’ll be sure to link our full write up once it goes live! If you’re lucky enough to be in San Diego, you can try your luck for a reservation at 6AM each morning right here.

Eventually, I’m sure that I’ll make it to the expo hall floor — but not yet, as after Severance, it was time to check out the Audible Beach!

At SDCC 2019, Audible featured a huge offsite for the intriguing Stan Lee’s ‘Alliances: A Trick of Light’ offsite in 2019 (reminisce with Mikaela’s write-up of that experience right here). This year’s presence is much smaller, featuring a few expertly crafted sand sculptures themed for some of Audible’s biggest new releases like Moriarty: The Devil’s Game and Impact Winter, and a ”beach” where attendees can relax and recharge (their phones). Here are a couple of shots of the impressive designs, and a few more in our dedicated piece right here.

Severance was hosting a massive panel in Ballroom 20 at 4PM which may have been the programming that I was most excited for at this year’s SDCC. Prior to heading for the long Ballroom 20 line, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything yet for the day, nor had I had any liquids for hours — so… I paid $20USD for two cookies and two drinks before heading in the ballroom.

Patton Oswalt hosted the panel, noting that as a major fan of the show it felt as though he‘d won some sort of lottery. Panelists included series creator Dan Erickson (it was actually Dan’s first time at SDCC), series director Ben Stiller (also, somehow his first time at SDCC), Britt Lower (Helly, also first time, and she looked like she was going to cry at the audience’s reaction when she entered), Adam Scott (Mark), along with with Dichen Lachman (Ms. Casey), Jen Tullock (Devon), and Tramell Tillman (Milchick). The ballroom looked packed, which was super exciting (and a little surprising, as TV+ is an absolutely underrated service that almost nobody I know seems to subscribe to).

Erickson began the panel noting that when having a terrible office job, he simply wished that he could just fast forward eight hours and be done with it — this is how the idea of Severance was originally born.

Several neat tidbits were revealed during the panel — Mark, for instance, was originally the character that would have woken up at the beginning of the pilot rather than Helly; at one point, a detached pair of legs was set to run down a hallway (this was deemed a bit too weird); Erickson wrote the pilot over ten years ago, and Stiller read it over five years ago. Possibly the panel’s best reveal was that none of the cast was aware of the multicolored dance party lights that were installed in the Macrodata Refinement office until the scene was actually shot.

Mr. Milchick himself looked suspicious when asked if we’d see further into his character’s life, so I’m pretty sure (and pretty hopeful) that this will happen.

Interestingly enough, series director Ben Stiller noted that the Severance activation at the Hard Rock Hotel (look for our write-up on that soon) was built up from about 75% real props from the show — including the computers used for Macrodata Refinement.

The panelists dug pretty deep into the show, the thought behind it, and its many twists and turns, and it was just plain exciting to hear from some of the incredible minds that made it all happen. I won’t say too much as I don’t want to risk any spoilers, but let this serve as your reminder that Severance is one or the best dramas in recent memory, and it should absolutely be on your radar.

I was feeling pretty beat by this point, and wanted to head back to our hotel for a bit to work on some write-ups. I stopped by the Geekscape booth (again, #3919) to say hello, and then walked back over to the Hilton Bayfront. Once I arrived… I realized that there was a panel, Attack of the Show: Who Let Us In?, starting shortly that I’d really been looking forward to.

I weighed the pros and cons for a bit (fun panel vs. getting a jump-start on articles and resting a bit), and ultimately (thankfully) decided to go. The panel ended up being essentially a live (uncensored) episode of the show, made a lot of fun of Kevin Pereira, and was overall a total blast. I’m not sure if G4 has been as much of hit they were hoping for since its return last year, but I’m super glad that it again exists.

Matt and I grabbed a quick dinner (there was zero wait for a two person table at Spaghetti Factory, which was super surprising as it’s one of the closest restaurants to the convention center, not to mention most affordable). Throughout the dinner, I talked about how I was glad to not be going out that night as I was so damned tired, and because the next day had a Paper Girls screening that I was excited to attend. Once we returned to the hotel, I sat down and wrote for a few minutes… and then went against everything that I said at dinner and walked over to the IMDBoat.

I ran into Shaun again while there, met some of his friends, and had some delicious themed cocktails. It was a great way to cap the night, and I’m only 14% regretting it this morning.

That’s it for now — be sure to check back for more tomorrow!

Derek’s SDCC 2022 Recap: Pre-Con / Preview Night

by Derek Kraneveldt

What the heck is this? Every year that I attend SDCC, I do recaps of my experience. These are typically wordy, fun (I hope) reads, that give non-attendees a look at what a trip to San Diego Comic-Con may look like. I hope you enjoy!

…and we’re back.

It’s a little tough to believe that I’m sitting in a San Diego hotel while writing this. Naturally, the last time that I was in the city (accompanied for the first and possibly last time by my partner Mikaela) was all the way back in 2019 (you can see our SDCC 2019 content right here for a nice look back), and we had no idea what the world had coming for us just a handful of months down the road.

But we’re back. Thankfully, attendee safety seems like somewhat of a priority with strict always-on mask guidelines that many cosplayers are sure to hate, mandatory proof of vaccination or recent negative COVID-19 tests (which nets you a standard disposable wristband that definitely won’t be gross after several days in the California sun), and even security staff that will ensure con-goers are adhering to these rules.

Even with all of these guidelines in place, it’s hard not to be at least a little nervous. Sure, since things began to really open back up early this Spring, I’ve felt pretty comfortable venturing out for some fun again. I’d guess that I’ve been to over a dozen decent-to-large-sized concerts in the past few months, have returned to movie theatres regularly, have felt more comfortable with larger groups of friends, and overall things have felt pretty great (well, except for that time I got COVID, but that wasn’t due to any of those things).

A random, now terrifying crowd shot from SDCC 2019.

But this is San Diego Comic-Con, where (at least in the past) you’re shoulder to shoulder with what feels like every single other attendee for almost every moment you’re here (including when you’re outside in the Gaslamp District). Never in my life have I felt so incredibly close to so many people at once, and with the new BA.5 variant of COVID-19 now running rampant, being close to so many people once again, on days of little sleep, absolutely has me skittish. If I get sick, I can’t fly back to Canada for ten days, which sounds very hard and expensive, and I’m feeling more iffy just thinking about the possibility.

Maybe I (definitely) should have given it all more thought before flying in… but here we are, so let’s try to make the most of it.

Pre-Convention

I’m not yet sure just how messed up US airports are at this point (I’ll find out when I head to the San Diego airport on Monday), but Canadian airports are pretty screwed (to the point where one day recently, our largest airline, Air Canada delayed 70% of its flights). As such, I ended up at YVR preposterously early and had to sit around for hours for my 8AM Saturday flight to LAX.

Economy flights seem to have become even more nickel & dime-y since I was last in the air. In the past, I swear that you had the ability to choose almost any seat in the general economy area (aside from the few with an actual appropriate amount of leg room), and that checking in the very moment you could gave you an advantage, since more seats would still be readily available. This time around, my 6 foot, 3-inch frame was assigned a middle seat near the rear of the plane, and moving even one seat over in order to be in the aisle would have cost nearly $50. That felt new (and super lame).

Wanting to save more funds for the exorbitantly expensive ”Special SDCC” menus at the restaurants near the convention centre, I stuck with the middle seat, and naturally ended up next to another tall guy named Eric. We mostly kept to ourselves, but had a little bit of banter here and there — we came up with a strategy where an airline’s check in policy would also ask your height, and then seating would automatically be staggered between short and tall people in order to provide any amount of comfort. When departing the plane, I let him know that I hoped that he was able to sit next to someone shorter on his way back, and he did the same for me — fingers crossed, buddy.

After landing at LAX, I hopped on the FlyAway LAX bus to Van Nuys where I finally, after three years, reunited with Jonathan. At some point in the past few months it came up that I’d never had a Rueben sandwich before (I don’t think that they’re a common menu item up in Canada), so we’d already discussed that our first goal once I arrived in Los Angeles would be to change that fact. Jonathan, Heidi, and I ended up at Art’s Delicatessen — a popular sandwich joint that opened back in 1957, where I had a delicious (albeit expensive) introduction to the Rueben sandwich. Seriously, it was $26 USD for the sandwich and a small side, which is nearly $35 in Canadian dollars. Damn.

A poorly framed photo of the Art’s menu.

We spent much of the rest of the day preparing / inventorying items for the booth… and watching the new Netflix Resident Evil series. The series felt very so-bad-it’s-fantastic to start and slowly devolved from there into something all but nonsensical. There were certainly cool moments here and there, and a handful of great easter eggs for video game fans, but overall it was pretty rough.

That said, Jonathan spent much of the series yelling at the television and talking about how bad it was… but we still ripped through all eight episode in about two days.

https://youtu.be/uIdjcDTc9Vk

On Sunday morning, I had my first round of In-N-Out in nearly three years and it was just as tasty and fresh as I remembered it being. Those animal style fries are everything.

I’m home.

Matt finally showed up a few hours later, and it was phenomenal to be reunited with him as well. We all spent some time catching up and grabbing some Chinese food, and then spent much of the night watching Nathan for You and preparing mentally for the days to come.

Monday was mostly a day of hanging out (the Los Angeles heat, 36 degrees Celsius at one point in the day, made it fairly unbearable to do anything else), aside from picking up a small UHAUL trailer that would help us transport the booth (#3919, as always, if you’re at the show) and all of our merchandise to the convention centre.

This first recap is getting pretty lengthy already, so here’s a bit of a rapid fire on the rest of my pre-convention journey:

– We left early Tuesday morning to San Diego and I learned along the way that US Denny’s is just slightly rougher than Canadian Denny’s.

– Once we arrived at the convention centre, things devolved into chaos pretty quickly. Our plan was to park in the garage below the building in order to unload the booth, but no trailers were allowed in and we were instead routed around to the back of the building, and then further back, and then finally to the lot where all of the larger booths were being unloaded and brought to the convention center via forklift. The workers there acted like we didn’t belong (we didn’t) and seemed kind of angry when we weren’t using their forklift services to move our basically five boxes. One of the workers finally told us we could go in through a loading door, and told us “If they give you any trouble, tell them Jim sent you.” Of course, the security guard at the loading door wouldn’t let us in, and told us ”Well you better go talk to Jim then.” In the end, we had to walk down (booth in tow) the vehicle ramp into the underground parking, walk across the underground parking lot, take the elevator back up to the other side of the convention center, be told a few more times that we were in the wrong place, then be told that we needed to get our COVID wristband before we could dump our stuff, and then eventually we made it inside. I swear we’ve done this plenty of times before. The convention center also doesn’t turn on the air conditioning in the building during setup and that seems kind of mean for the people that are working inside all day (it’s so freaking hot in there).

– As soon as we hit the city, I was immediately enthralled with the spectacle. You’d think that this feeling would wear off after all of these years of attending, but especially after a three year break it’s simply amazing to be in this energy again. From the incredible work that goes into all of the hotel wraps (only to be removed a few days later), to the literal buildings that are being put together for amazing offsite events (again, only to be torn down a few days later), to the sheer size of the convention center, it’s simply so good to be back.

– Matt puts butter on Pop Tarts and it’s possibly the weirdest thing that I’ve ever heard.

– Again, for someone who seemed to hate the new Resident Evil series so much, Jonathan sure ripped through it quickly.

– Nathan For You is possibly the best television show ever made.

– COVID has changed Rockin’ Baha. The nacho / salsa bar is no more, which makes complete sense and they instead bring chips to the table, but the limitless supply of pineapple mango salsa is also gone, and instead you pay $2.50USD per minuscule portion. It’s delicious as ever, for sure, but during our post-setup lunch I was certainly more reserved in my pineapple mango salsa consumption than I would have been in the past. Our server, Ruby, has only been working at Rockin’ Baha for a few months, and hasn’t experienced an SDCC before. I feel bad for her.

@geekscape Geekscape headed back to #ComicCon! We do an #unboxing on the way and build the booth! #SanDiegoComicCon #singingtexttospeech #sdcc #comics #sdcc2022 #fyp ♬ Smoked out Phonk – TREVASPURA

After walking around the surprisingly-quiet Gaslamp District for a while (and grabbing a few supplies at Ralphs), Matt, Jonathan and I returned to our hotel (the Hilton Bayfront, which is thankfully just across the street from the convention center for an early night. I’m tired already!

Wednesday / Preview Night

Yep. Still tired, and we haven’t even done anything yet!

With not much planned until an early preview of a fantastic-sounding offsite activation for the new Netflix film The Gray Man, I wasn’t too sure what the first half of the day would look like.

Jonathan was already out for a November Project workout before I even woke up, and Matt was really worried that he would need nine hours to count shirts at the booth (again, #3919 if you’re in San Diego) so he dipped out pretty early too.

I decided to hang back, work on this recap, and just enjoy my last few hours of peace before SDCC 2022 finally arrived — that is, until El Chucho showed up to tear up the show floor well before it even opened (look for him on the Geekscape TikTok here).

I’ve been a big fan of G4 (well, and TechTV long before) since I was a young boy, so when Attack of the Show tweeted about a meetup / cosplay contest, I just had to head over. Of course, cosplay isn’t my thing, and it would have been way too late to set anything up anyways, but I absolutely wanted to see what was up.

Those that made it to the ’secret’ meetup spot were able to take part in a Kassem G hosted satellite segment that felt like a blast. You can take a look at pieces of the segment below! G4 is also running several panels throughout the week, including an Attack of the Show panel on Thursday at 6:45 (Room 6A), an XPlay panel on Friday at 6PM (Room 6A), and a special ’G4’s Return to SDCC’ panel on Saturday at 12PM (Room 25ABC).

Following the Attack of the Show fun (and still before the show floor opened), I was fortunate enough to be invited to a preview event for the fantastic-looking offsite activation for the new Netflix action thriller, The Gray Man. I’ve posted a couple of photos below, and you can head here for more!

The outside of the crashed train car. Inside is a short escape room style experience.

Since preview night is typically the easiest night to browse (due to the floor being the least crowded) I’d planned to head over to the convention centre after tackling The Gray Man activation. Instead, at the offsite I met a dude named Shaun, we connected over AEW, and decided to head over to HBO’s House of the Dragon activation instead.

The best offsite event that I’ve ever experienced at Comic-Con was 2013’s ’Godzilla Encounter’, and next up might just be this year’s House of the Dragon experience. Take a look at a couple of photos of the event below, and look for a larger piece about the offsite in the coming days! If you’re down in San Diego, the offsite opens tomorrow (Thursday) at 10AM at MLK Park.

My new pal Shaun on the new (old?) Iron Throne.
Rough quality, but this is really inside the event.

Seriously, House of the Dragon is a must-see if you’re at SDCC. Shaun and I finished up at the activation just before the show floor closed. He was headed to meet some friends at Rockin’ Baha (he had never been before, and yes I recommended the pineapple mango salsa), and I headed back to the hotel to get some writing done.

Matt returned to the room (bearing water, thanks Matt) and after what turned out to be a pretty long day, we didn’t feel like venturing out to the now overwhelming Gaslamp District. Thank goodness for Door Dash, as, as of this writing, Wingstop (which I’ve never had before) is currently on its way to our hotel room.

That’s it for now! Check back tomorrow for my recap of the first full day of SDCC!

Before Next Month’s SPIEL, We Take A Look At Current Trends In Boardgaming

by MonkeyMagic

You may or may not know that the modern boardgaming world is actually a massive industry. One of the best ways to see this demonstrated is at the planet’s biggest boardgame event – SPIEL. This event, held in the city of Essen in Germany, is an annual pilgrimage for both the companies and designers who make games, as well as the many geeks who play them. At last year’s event in October of 2018, 190,000 gamers roamed the 80,000 square metres of the fair to check out 1,150 exhibitors attending from over 50 countries to showcase their latest releases.

With such a large array of new games being released each year, it’s possible to detect trends in the ever evolving hobby. Now that nearly a year has passed since the last SPIEL, the dust has settled and one can step back and get a feel for the titles that have remained standing. By looking at the games released at the fair that have continued to capture the attention of players and find their way to the table we can spot some of the current memes in the gaming hobby that are still going strong as we approach SPIEL 2019 next month.

Asymmetrical Play

While not a new concept, some of the games making a big impact recently have this element as a dominant feature. In asymmetrical games, every player is given a ‘faction’ that has a distinct way of interacting with the game and the other players, often resulting in a unique approach to achieving victory with that faction.

Root

One of the hottest games in this genre would have to be Root. Following a successful international Kickstarter, this game saw its German language premiere in Essen. On first glance Root appears to be a fairly cute kid friendly animal game with some beautiful art from Kyle Ferrin showing animals such as birds, cats mice, rabbits and even a raccoon. However, don’t be fooled, under the hood this is essentially a war game. Each player controls a different faction of woodland folk vying for dominance of the forest. Players build buildings, recruit warriors, and engage in combat to control the various clearing on the board. Each of the four factions in the base game plays completely differently including how they move around the board, what kind of buildings they build, how they get more units on the board, and crucially, how they score points. While you can dive into this game without too much thought, play becomes so much more rewarding when you not only learn the intricacies of your own faction, but also how the other factions tick, allowing you to interfere with their plans while nurturing your own to fruition.

That desire to master all the factions, combined with deep but rewarding gameplay means that there is a lot of play here and Root has really stood the test of time. Since SPIEL in October it has seen a hugely successful Kickstarter for a second expansion with more than 20,000 backers pledging over 1.7 million dollars. It has also won a host of awards including a 2018 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year and 2019 UK Games Expo Best Board Game (Strategic Style).

Spirit Island

Another highly asymmetrical game sitting in the all time top 20 on boardgamegeek.com currently is Spirit Island. It already had a strong following from its 2017 release but also saw the German language version premier at the SPIEL. In this reversal of the traditional colonisation theme players are working together to support the indigenous people of an island being invaded by new world explorers. You each take on the role of a spirit and must synergise to beat back the colonists either by directly attacking them, empowering the natives to push them back or simply by instilling so much fear in them that they turn tail and abandon the island themselves. Different spirits will focus on different strategies and they all have a unique play style. This is a fairly deep game that rewards repeated plays as you learn the strategies and try out all the different spirits.

Mind Reading

Working with or against other players using limited communication, often non verbal or even borderline telepathic, seemed to be another theme that came through at the fair, and has shown no sign of dying out yet.

The Mind

In the co-operative game The Mind the players all try to synchronise their thoughts into one single hive mind. The premise is simple. There is a shuffled deck of 100 cards numbered from 1-100. Each round an increasing number of cards are dealt out to each player. All the team have to do is play those cards on to the table in ascending order. The catch is, you are not able to communicate with each other in any way. You need to go with your gut as to how long to wait before you play your card. Let’s say you have the 42. You will sit and wait for quite a while before putting it on the table to allow a player who is holding any of the 41 cards lower than yours to get them out first.  Of course if someone plays, say the 39, you are not going to delay much longer before tabling your 41. Play a card too early and the team loses a life. If the whole team manage to play all their cards then that Level is over and you move up to the next Level, with each player starting the round with one more card than in the last Level. If you ever make it all the way up to the final Level (10 in a three player game) then you have mastered the game. I’m yet to get beyond Level 5.

While The Mind came out earlier in the year the buzz that had already been created meant that it still hot at the SPIEL and both it and the expansion that launched there, Level 13, sold outduring the show.

Fuji

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the exhibition halls another game from the same designer was being premiered. In Fuji the team of players are trying to move their pawns across a series of tiles to all escape the island before being consumed by lava. Each player secretly rolls a set of dice which have different coloured numbers on them. Each tile they want to move to has different dice requirements. You can only successfully move there if you meet those requirements better than your neighbours. The rub is again that you can’t just discuss this. While in Fuji you are allowed some communication, you are not allowed to discuss the specifics of the dice you have, only suggest how strong or weak your collection of dice are for the requirements of a given card. Again in this game you will only succeed if the team all get into the same head space. You can talk about being ‘fairly weak’, ‘quite strong’, ‘very strong’ and so on. Our group felt that both our effectiveness and our enjoyment was enhanced if we adopted the ‘bear scale’ – if I tell my team that my dice are “as strong as an adolescent bear with a hunting knife” on one spot, but as weak as a ‘”baby bear still in nappies” on another, then they have a reasonable idea how I am positioned. This game has probably hit the table more times since the SPIEL than any other game we picked up.

Other honourable mentions from the fair requiring you to get into someone else’s head include the ingenious competitive deduction game Cryptid and the team based game Shadows: Amsterdam where you play in real time giving non verbal picture based clues to your team mate.

Unique Games

A new genre of games emerged for the first time in 2018, the unique game, where every single copy of the game differs from the next.

KeyForge

You know that little niche game Magic: The Gathering, the one that has been on the go for 26 years and made Hasbro $2.45 billion in net revenue last year? Well it’s designer, Richard Garfield (featured in Geekscape 519) had a brand new card game to show the world last year, and there was a premier at SPIEL, just days before its full worldwide release. That game was KeyForge. The core gameplay has similarities to Magic: The Gathering, with two players putting creatures on the table that then attack the other players creatures. There are some interesting fundamental changes including the main goal of collecting Aember rather than dealing damage, and the way players pick one of their three ‘suits’ and then play and activate all cards in that suit, and only that suit, for that turn. But what really makes this game stand out are the unique decks. Unlike in Magic there is no deck building, players buy one or more pre-constructed decks which cannot be modified in any way, but every single deck in the world will be completely unique. Using procedural generation to ensure that all decks have an appropriate mix of different card types and a reasonable balance of three of the ‘suits’ (as well as a procedurally generated name) there are more than 104,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible decks. This intriguing concept results in a focus on getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of your own individual deck and the resulting fresh perspective combined with solid central gameplay has kept KeyForge alive, with one expansion out already and a third one set to release in time for SPIEL 2019.

Discover: Lands Unknown

Also showcasing at the fair was another unique game by another high profile designer, Corey Konieczka, famous for titles like Star Wars: Rebellion, Battlestar Galactica and Eldritch Horror. Discover: Lands Unknown is a co-operative game in which players find themselves stranded in the wilderness and must team up to find food, water and tools with a view to their ultimate goal of surviving. Published by the same company as KeyForge similar technology has been used to ensure every copy of this game is also unique. While one game might be set in the desert another might be in the frozen tundra or the jungle. In addition the combination of items and encounters is also unique to each box. Although this game generated a lot of buzz at SPIEL, subsequent reception has been a little lukewarm. While this game itself may not still be getting played in a few years time, more unique games will almost certainly be around the corner and that alone is an exciting prospect.

Roll and Write

Everyone has heard of the great granddaddy of roll and write games Yahtzee, and although it has been around since at least 1956, this genre as a whole has suddenly exploded in the last twelve months, while SPIEL 2018 being a clear indicator of the year that changed.

That’s Pretty Clever

Like Yahtzee, the central mechanic of a roll and write game involves rolling a set of dice and then taking the results of those dice and writing them down in some way to maximise your score. Looking at That’s Pretty Clever, one of the biggest successes, in more detail is probably a great place to start. This was another title that was available earlier in the year, but really took off at the SPIEL. It now has multiple awards nominations as well as successful mobile OS ports. On your turn your roll six different dice, pick one of them to use on one of five corresponding coloured areas on your score pad and write the result in the appropriate box. Each coloured area works differently either scoring points in some way, or giving you power- ups to use later in the game. You then roll the remaining dice and pick another result, and repeat. Crucially all other players are involved during your turn (and vice versa) as whatever dice you don’t use they get to use for their score pad. The game strikes a great balance with quick and intuitive play but also meaningful choices.

Rolling Ranch

Elsewhere in the halls, a pre-release version of Rolling Ranch was available to play. In this game each player is building a farm – putting up fences and building while placing animals within the enclosures. This time only two dice are rolled and all players use the same results to write on their farm pad. However the combination of numbers and icons on each die means that there are multiple possible ways to use the outcome of the roll and each player makes their own decision. The simultaneous use of the same die roll means that there is no down time with all players active all the time. While fairly simple in terms of choices there are just enough there to hold the interest on repeat plays.

Yet another new roll and write release was Railroad Ink, available in Blue and Red versions. It has a similar shared dice result mechanic with 4 to 6 dice being rolled for everyone to use each turn, all of which show different road or rail sections. The goal is to use the results to build a transport network on the dry wipe grid in front of you, scoring points for connecting exits, entering the middle of the grid and having the longest routes, while losing points for dead ends.

Welcome To…

Elsewhere in the same hall was a roll and write game with no rolling. Welcome To… uses what is essentially a roll and write mechanic, complete with disposable player score pads and multiple different scoring options, but replaces the dice with a deck of cards. Again there is a shared pool of results to use from across three cards flipped each round, meaning play is simultaneous. Players are building houses in a suburban neighbourhood, and deciding when to add features like fences and pools. While this game lacks the physical neatness of other games that only have dice, a handful of pens and a scoring pad, it makes up for it by, for me, having both the deepest and most rewarding gameplay as well as the strongest theme of all the roll and write games I played at Essen.

What Next?

With all these games going strong almost a year down the line there is no sign of the associated mechanisms losing their buzz. In fact Root, Spirit Island, The Mind, That’s Pretty Clever and Welcome To.. all have expansions in the pipeline. We will see many of these at SPIEL 2019 in just over a month, but what will be more interesting to look out for in Essen will be the discovery of the next step in ongoing evolution of boardgames.

Derek’s SDCC 2019 Recap: Pre-Con / Preview Night!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Tuesday

I can’t believe it’s already SDCC week.

At times, it feels like it was just yesterday that I was Lime-ing around San Diego with Matt Kelly, eating Rockin’ Baha with the Geekscape crew (that sweet, sweet mango salsa), being insanely impressed with offsides like Purge City or Mr. Mercedes, or running into the likes of Xavier Woods and Becky Lynch during Rocket League’s fantastic third birthday party.

Other times, it’s crazy to think just how long it’s been, and how much Geekscape has changed over the past year. The Geekscape Games podcast was a huge part of my life, and it ended very suddenly last Fall, leaving me in a spot where I just didn’t know what to do next. After a bit of a break and some time to recuperate (and figure out how to both live without my longtime co-hosts apply what I’d learned over Geekscape Games’ four year run to something else), in May I finally launched a brand new show called Xbox Game Passengers, which has myself and a guest discussing a single randomly-selected game on Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service. As of this writing we’re six episodes in (with a couple of E3 specials for good measure), and we’ve played some absolute gems like What Remains Of Edith Finch (which certified non-gamer Matt Kelly actually joined me for), along with a few titles that left something to be desired, like MotoGP17. Xbox Game Passengers has been a challenging and incredibly rewarding experience so far, and I can’t wait to see where it brings me a year from now.

Today, Geekscape also launched a brand new, redesigned website. Our last redesign was about four years ago, and we (and the web itself) has changed a lot since then. We’ve shifted our focus from things like news, to original content like podcasts, and this new design puts a much bigger emphasis on the shows that we’re doing, and its far simpler layout helps browsers see what’s new on the site much, much more easily. It brings with it some changes that I’d been hoping for for some time (higher resolution featured images, yes!), and I think that there’s absolutely no better time for a Geekscape reboot, than when some of the team is together in San Diego. Please, take a look around the site (and forgive some of the odd looking featured images for now, I’ll fix them when I can), and let us know what you think!

When the alarm rang this morning at 1:45AM, I was incredibly sleepy, rather grumpy, but also so excited. Mikaela, who you may have heard on Geekscape Games or Xbox Game Passengers, who handles our @GeekscapeForever Instagram page (where you’ll find all sorts of sick cosplay photos from the different events and conventions that we’ve visited), who has a casual column where she, as a semi-novice gamer, tackles game reviews from her own perspective, and who is my long time fiancé, headed to San Diego with me for the very first time. She’s super excited, nervous, and overwhelmed all at the same time, and I can’t wait for her to see and understand just what keeps me coming back to relive this insanely exhausting experience each and every year. I’m really excited to see what kind of experiences she has while here with me.

So we made our way to the airport parking (some weird valet style thing that didn’t seem to have any employees around so I really hope we still have a car when we get back), took a shuttle to the terminal itself, and prepared ourselves for the long 25 minute flight to Seattle where we would have a couple of hours of layover before our final flight to San Diego. Thankfully, our bags were checked so we didn’t have to worry about them at all, and so during our layover time we grabbed some snacks and took some time to check out the new Geekscape.

Some beautiful views even before we left the ground.
I think that Desmond forgot to push the button.

While waiting for our connecting flight, Jonathan published a yearly pre-SDCC podcast, this year a one-on-one with Matt Kelly. These episodes are always a favourite of mine to listen to, as everyone on them is typically super comfortable with each other, and it ends up just being an hour or so of ridiculous jokes. This year is no exception — the episode is hilarious, and… it feels like the pair barely talked about the actual convention. Mikaela and I listened to the show on the plane, and absolutely got a few looks as we burst out laughing multiple times over the course of the episode.

We landed, barely waited for luggage, and grabbed a Lyft from Oscar, whose car was filled with candy and bubble gum. Like every cup holder, every nook and cranny of every door was filled with candy. We didn’t eat any, but I appreciated it.

Insane wraps everywhere.

Finally, it was time to reunite. Somehow, Mikaela, John, Matt, and I all arrived at the Grand Hyatt within about 10 minutes of each other. We exchanged some quick hellos, and before long it was time to head to the convention centre to grab our badges for the week, and to get ready to build the booth.

The first step in getting ready… was to get some delicious food in us. My favourite restaurant (of the few that I’ve actually been to) in San Diego is called Rockin’ Baha. It’s a seafood / Mexican joint that has a phenomenal salsa bar with a ton of different varieties, but their mango salsa is simply amazing. I could eat the stuff forever. Today, I also had queso for apparently the first time in my life, and it might be a new favourite.

Once we ate, we finally made it inside the expo hall in order to assemble our booth. This is my seventh time to SDCC, and it never gets old walking around the floor early and seeing all of the intricate booths being set up. It’s amazing to see that work that is put in both inside of the convention centre, and the whole Gaslamp District around it, just for this five day period. It’s essentially unfathomable to imagine just how much money these studios and production companies are spending to put on these insane events just for a few days. It’s amazing, and I appreciate it so much, but I definitely don’t understand it.

Building the booth constitutes of bringing a ton of items for actually building the booth, and crap that Jonathan doesn’t want anymore (giveaways woo!) to our designated are (booth #3919), building our backdrop and table, organizing t-shirts, and then walking around and looking at all of the cool stuff that nobody else will see until late the next day. It’s warm as hell in there, as it doesn’t seem like the air conditioning is actually turned on until the next day, but it’s definitely worth it. Also, I typically get first pick of the crap that Jonathan doesn’t want, and I’ve definitely scored some sweet merch over the years by sorting through these boxes and boxes or refuse.

It was getting slightly late, and I was getting pretty tired (as I was up at 1AM the night before), but I still wanted to hit up the FYE Pop-Up shop over at Horton Plaza. Matt, myself, and the hosts of the Fright School podcast (who we met up with slightly before) walked over to check out the store. You can check out some photos of what the store has on offer right here, but in short, the place is just chock-full of mostly inexpensive collectibles that are just so freaking cool. The shop is open through X, but a lot of the stuff goes really quickly, so if you’re in the area, I’d recommend heading their ASAP. I asked about sizes on a couple of shirts, and was basically told that whatever was out was what they had, so there were a couple of things that I could didn’t get, but I definitely bought an amazing Stranger Things shirt, as well as the soundtrack to season three… on cassette. I will never be able to play this, but it’s going to look super cool next to my New Coke.

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at a neat barcade called Coin-Op GameRoom that I’d somehow missed for the past seven years. They had a good soundtrack, neat games, decent food, and were playing Willow, old WCW wrestling, Bob Ross, and The Karate Kid, all at the same time. It was a nice, chill way to end the night.

We stopped at Ralph’s on the way back to the hotel to grab some water and snacks for the week ahead (mostly coconut water, which I discovered last year, and which saved me from feeling terrible and dehydrated most days), and then stumbled our way back to the hotel to turn in for the night.

Next up is Preview Night (and day, as Mikaela and I will be checking out Amazon Prime’s incredible sounding offsite activation in the early afternoon), and while as I’m prepared as I can be, it’s hard to ever feel ready for an event like this!

Wednesday

I was really happy to have had a good night’s sleep.

Much to Mikaela’s dismay, people in the hotel room began to stir as early as 5AM. I was up and showered shortly after 7, and as nothing has really started yet, had a bit of a chill morning. Mikaela slept in a bit, and I worked on some articles in the chill, air conditioned room.

After relaxing in the hotel room for awhile, Matt, Mikaela, and I decided to walk around the Gaslamp to check out some of the in-progress activations. NBC has a fantastic presence with Superstore (a show that I’d not actually heard of before) taking over the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel, The Good Place taking over Mary Jane’s restaurant (and turning it into the Interdimensional Hole Of Pancakes), among with a neat little Seinfeld activation that has you doing trivia in exchange for a coin that you can use in a themed vending machine filled with Seinfeld merch (including Junior Mints), along with a fresh build of the precinct from Brooklyn 99.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment also had some neat in-progress activations, including a piece of Rhyme City (and a huge Pikachu) for Detective Pikachu, and a miniature version of Chilladelphia for Shazam.

We also took out some Bird scooters briefly so that we could get around more quickly. It’s definitely for the best, but the scooters are much more limited this year in just where they can go, and if you head into an area that you shouldn’t be in, the scooter loses all power and is manual only. I also accidentally added $20USD to my Bird account… so it ended up being a pretty expensive ride. Mikaela did ride as well, however, and was totally terrified, so maybe it’s still worth it.

At noon, Mikaela and I checked out the Amazon Prime Experience, which hosts activations for upcoming Amazon Prime series The Boys, Carnival Row, and season four of The Expanse. I’ve posted some photos taken at the offsite below, and look for a full article with video of the three activations on Geekscape shortly!

The tower was cool, and the performances on it were even cooler.

The Amazon Prime Experience is located at MLK and 1st, and is one of the coolest offsite activations that I’ve been to. There are always a number of incredible offsite events, but these three activations feel like neat, mature, interactive theatre, and it’d be impossible not to have a huge smile on your face the entire time you’re taking part. The area itself is huge (60,000 square feet, actually), and the ‘Tower’ area in the centre shows some cool clips from the upcoming series, and also features a number of different performances throughout the day. While we were eating some lunch (some Carl’s Jr. provided by Amazon, which we were very thankful for), someone came by and asked if we’d ever been wronged by a Supe. A few minutes later, essentially an anti-supe support group started, with a number of group members describing how they’d been wronged, from things as simple as refusing an autograph to a child, to giving their mother herpes. It was super interesting. In any case, the offsite is open from 9-5 Thursday through Sunday, and the content inside is well worth the wait.

We were very thankful for the Carl’s Jr.

Following the Prime Video experience, we took some time to head back to FYE (as Mikaela hadn’t seen it yet), and, naturally, ended up grabbing two additional Stranger Things shirts, and shortly afterwards it was actually time to split up. Mikaela was headed inside of the convention centre (she had some Mondos to score, and was also going to try to hit up Entertainment Earth for that sweet Macho Man / Slim Jim exclusive figure), while I was set to preview the Nintendo lounge at the Marriot.

Mikaela’s covered (and super limited) Mondo Batman screenprint

Oddly enough, this was actually my first time at the Nintendo lounge. It’s almost always present in the Marriot, but I’ve always figured that it’s not really worth standing in line for, as I was already going to buy all of the games that they were showing off. This year, with the first full Pokémon game for Switch, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 on offer, it would have been tough to skip out on this.

Once I went inside, I immediately regretted not taking the time in year’s past. Within minutes I was playing a demo for freaking Pokémon Sword and Shield, and though it’s been years since I’ve really played Pokémon, I immediately felt at home with the game, and I immediately fell in love with it. This Switch reimagining felt absolutely fresh, and I simply cannot wait to get my hands on more of this game. As far as I know, this was the same demo shown off at E3, and had your character working their way through a water gym, and showed off both the new Dynamax functionality, as well as a myriad of new Pokémon.

I also played a (again, E3) demo of Luigi’s Mansion 3, and it mostly made me wonder how the hell I missed out on Luigi’s Mansion 2. The puzzle-y levels were a ton of fun, the vacuum mechanics felt far better than I remember them being, and the game just felt completely different from anything else that I’ve played as of late. This is another game that wasn’t really on my radar at all, but will now be a purchase on day one. It’s just so much freaking fun.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening demo really showed off the game’s unique new art style, which often has a sort of tilt-shift look. Around the demo stations, there were also some super-cute miniatures that it was just impossible not to take pictures of. Link’s Awakening looks like an impressive remake, and as I was just three years old when Link’s Awakening came out (though I did play it later), I really don’t remember it that well.

The lounge also featured a few cool photo-ops (including Luigi’s Mansion and Pokemon), and was also showing off some sick looking Target Exclusive Mario Kart Hot Wheels, and also a sweet (literally) Nintendo X Sugarfina booth, which featured a bunch of different Nintendo themed, high end and totally freaking delicious candies. I had seen Sugarfina stores in some local malls before, but hadn’t tasted the stuff… and I’m pretty much hooked already and I can’t wait to have more and it’s Nintendo themed so it’s even better.

Once I’d played everything that the Nintendo booth had to offer, I sauntered over to the convention centre. Preview night runs from 6-9 PM, and it was sometime after 7 at this point, so I knew that I didn’t have all that much time to walk around. I walked over to Mondo at 435, where she had been hovering around the ‘capped’ line that seemingly capped before the show even opened (damn exhibitors). She was told over and over that the line wouldn’t re-open, but after standing around the line (because she wasn’t allowed in it) for well over two hours, the line opened back up, and somehow the Batman screenprint that Mikaela was stoked for, and the Jaws tiki mug that Matt wanted were still in stock.

She had made a not-line friend, and there were a couple of other things that I wanted to check out on the floor, so I left her with intentions of returning soon (I didn’t).

I wandered over to Entertainment Earth, as I thought that they were set to carry both the WWE Macho Man Randy Savage / Slim Jim exclusive, along with the Silver/Gold Mario Kart 8 statues. It turns out they had neither (and the line was capped anyways), so I then went over to Mattel which actually had both, not that it did me any good, as their line was capped as well and Macho Man was already sold out for the day.

You will be mine.

I made a quick stop at the TNT Snowpiercer booth to receive one of the coolest pieces of swag announced so far this year, which is a protein bar made with cricket protein which totally makes sense based on the source material. I ended up with a couple of the bars, and absolutely plan to eat one, and plan to keep one forever.

Matt then sent me a message that WWE superstar Drake Maverick just walked by the booth, and so instead of going back to Mikaela, I just kind of searched around for WWE superstar Drake Maverick. He and superstar R-Truth have the absolute most entertaining storylines in WWE right now, and I just wanted to find him to thank him for the laughs. I never did, but you bet I looked.

The show floor closed, and Matt, Mikaela, Jon, and I made our annual trip to Lolita’s Mexican Restaurant. The line was long, the restaurant was too warm, and Matt’s entire order was wrong, but it was still a good time.

Naturally, we took Bird scooters back to the hotel. This was partially because we didn’t want to walk anymore, but also because they’re super fun!

That’s it for Preview Night! Tomorrow will mark the first full day of the convention. I’m most excited to see the WWE / Mattel panel in the morning (and fully believe that the 24/7 championship will change hands during this event), and also the offsite event for upcoming series Pennyworth.

Thanks for reading this far, and I hope you’ll check out all our other coverage, follow us on Instagram, and come back tomorrow to read my Thursday recap!

Mikaela’s Journey To SDCC 2019: Part I

by Mikaela Maxwell

It’s been a few years now of watching Derek prep for SDCC, helping to pack up his belongings, and hiding secret love notes for him to find throughout his week away.

Derek and Matt getting some scoots in at SDCC 2018

The past couple of years, I’ve begun to dip my toe in the Geekscape waters… well, more like wade in all the way to my lady bits! I’ve been playing some games, doing some writing, jumping on podcasts, and most importantly turning our @GeekscapeForever insta into a cosplay dream scene. Last year I was able to funnel the on-site Geekscapist’s experiences at SDCC onto our Instagram page from afar.

Sweet cosplay spotted at SDCC 2018

But this year is a game changer. This year I’m diving in head first!

This year Mikaela is on scene at SDCC, taking it all in for the first time ever, and documenting every step of the way for the world to watch on @GeekscapeForever.

I am so incredibly excited… and nervous… and stoked about all the incredible things that are about to happen!

My journey started with a 2 AM wake up call from Derek, after sleeping a grand total of 3.5 hours, and a trek out to the airport with a Grumpasaurus Rex at my side! (Apparently Derek got even less sleep than I did, zero hours, and was not up to his usual perky standards!)

So excited to be taking off on our adventure, who needs a full night’s sleep!?

Despite our lack of sleep and moderate ability to function, we arrived at the airport and got off the ground without a hitch! I was once again reminded of how lucky we are to live on the west coast, watching a ferry float by as we began our flight toward Seattle. And on the next flight we got to fly right next to a mountain top poking through the clouds, so freaking beautiful! I have to remember how freaking fortunate we are to be on this amazing adventure when we are standing in yet another line a couple days from now!

Maybe Mt. Rainier?

On our flight from Seattle we listened to the pre-SDCC 2019 edition of the Geekscape podcast, and oh man was it ever funny, and not SDCC related at all! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud so much while jammed into a giant flying air sausage with a bunch of other humans. It was also super cute to watch Derek get increasingly excited as we simultaneously got closer to San Diego and got closer to him seeing his friends after so long. I’m excited to see Jonathan again, to meet the rest of this posse that Derek loves so much, and to experience this amazing event that has such a huge impact on his life!

It’s funny – I’ve been so focused on prepping for doing the work we’ve come here to do, and figuring out what I want to check out, who I want meet, visiting people etc., that it never really hit me that we were actually just going on a sweet adventure to another part of the world as well! That is until we walked out of the airport and up to a sidewalk lined with freaking palm trees! Oh Hiiii California, we are in you!! So now I’m just getting extra excited. What a freaking adventure this week is gonna be!

San Diego is pretty amazing as soon as you step off the plane

We arrived at our hotel, which is basically 2 doors down from the convention centre and I felt like a small town poor girl showing up at a super fancy place where I didn’t belong, but was so thrilled to be there! Our hotel has amazing views of all the activities that are being put assembled around the convention centre and it’s pretty freaking great! And to top off the hotel experience somehow Jonathan, Matt, and Derek and I somehow all managed to arrive, from all over the place, there within minutes of each other!?

As quickly as we assembled, we peaced outta the hotel room and headed over to the convention centre to put together the booth. First though we had to stop off at ROCKIN BAJA For the infamous mango salsa! Honestly, it totally lived up to its hype and I would eat it any day! While there we also met up with Gui, another Geekscapist! This is my first time meeting Gui and Matt and I can see why Derek loves these people. These are truly his people, and all three of them are lovely!

The boys in their happy place… now where’s that mango salsa!?

After eating we truly went to set up the booth. Walking into the convention centre was pretty insane. I’ve been to a few different conventions now, though none of them at this scale, and I’ve never been behind the scenes on it before. It was super neat to walk into the chaos of hundreds of giant booths being madly assembled in a rush to be ready for Wednesday. It’s so crazy to have the curtain pulled back and see that all of this comes together just like anything else, with hard work and man power.

Setting up our booth was fun, I got to figure out how to put up the back drop, and meet a couple friends of Matt’s who came to help out. At one point we realized that the table cloth had been forgotten in LA. But then Gui and I came up with the great idea of covering the entire table in Geekscape post cards and the table top ended up looking soooo badass. So if you’re around come on by and check it out at booth 3919, just don’t set anything down on it cause you’ll never be able to find it again 😂

Oh… what booth is this again!?

After getting the booth half set up, sweating sooo much, and deciding the rest could be done tomorrow, we split up and Derek went to track down a sweet Stranger Things Soundtrack cassette tape At the FYE shop. Meanwhile Jon, Gui, and I finished the sweet table top and headed out to meet up with everyone else for dinner. We ended up at the Coin-Op Game Room for dins and drinks and loud conversation. Then split off again to do a couple errands before rendezvousing back at the hotel. What a freaking day.

It’s been a pretty crazy, unbelievable, overwhelming day. My heart feels full and my body feels tired and we haven’t even started yet!? And I am so ready to see what tomorrow brings!

Mikaela’s Emerald City Comic-Con 2019 Recap – Thursday

by Mikaela Maxwell

This year marks my second Emerald City Comic-Con (ECCC), my first repeat con, and my fourth total convention… So at this point I have enough experience to be so stoked, and to anticipate high levels of exhaustion, but am still naive enough to be totally blown away and overwhelmed by the experience. It’s a pretty good place to be, and I feel pretty danged lucky to be living this life right about now.

Our ECCC trip started early this morning when we rolled our tired butts outta bed to get on the road and make it to Seattle for a soft ten. Derek did the driving, Jake held it down in the back seat, and I napped on and off… did I mention how lucky I am?! What a dream! Once we were settled into our AirBnb (which had the cutest freaking Pug in the yard) we made our way to the convention centre. We easily made our way in and were surprised at how freaking chill it is! It turns out that Thursday is the best day for avoiding crowds! Last year I was in school and had to rush down after class on Friday just to get a couple of days in, but this year we get to do the whole four days, and I’m hoping that we will be able to go on the first day every time we do anything ever, because it is so slow and relaxed, the perfect way to start a convention!

We found our way to the main floor and were immediately swept up into a game of Bakugan. I had never heard of it before, but apparently they were around in the early 2000’s and are making a comeback. It was legit a lot of fun, mostly because you get to play with these little plastic creatures that roll up into balls and then explode and dictate what happens that turn! It’s also a card game, which I had an easier time getting on board with since I have become an avid player of Keyforge: Call of the Archons! Because it was such a chill day I was lucky to have one of the employee guys at my side helping me figure out what to do for most of the game, which was suuuper helpful. Man, I wish I could just have an expert at my side answering my questions for all of life’s tasks! I ended up with a surprise win too which was a real thrill, and I thoroughly enjoyed rubbing it in Derek’s face!

The Bakugan guys asked if we would like to join a tournament which I immediately said no to, and in turn immediately regretted when we heard a roar of excitement go up from the crowd and watched two people step into a caged ring with a table in it to commence the tourney! It was a pretty awesome spectacle to watch all this people screaming and yelling about Bakugan Brawls as this guys battled. It was super fun even to just watch!

Yeah, Derek really wants to pick it up now…

After this we decided to just explore the main show floor. I figured this would be a great day to do it as there wasn’t 4,000,000 people in the place. Turns out even without the crowds we did not make it through one whole floor before we had to call it a day, I was flabbergasted. However I thoroughly enjoyed feeling un-rushed and just pausing to look at whatever struck our interest.

For the first time I went out of my way to grab something from the convention’s specific merchandise booth. I am a huge Stranger Things fan and this year ECCC will be hosting some of the Stranger Things cast, and there is an ECCC exclusive cover for the first edition of the Stranger Things comic. I was super anxious about getting a copy of the comic before they ran out so I made us take a pit stop to grab it part way through the day. I am so friggin excited about it, and am totally gonna frame it to display in our house. It’s also kinda poetic, since at the first convention I ever went to (Fan Expo Vancouver a few years back) one of the most special things I bought was a comic with a commissioned cover where the artist drew a classic Eleven from Stranger Things (I also made Derek an epic Eleven halloween costume, so I might be a bit of a fan!)

Such a cool cover!

We continued to walk around, looking at comics, games, art, and spending way to much time reading the back of so many amazing looking books. I ended up buying myself a book, Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller, but it was sooo hard to choose! There was a lady with red hair, who’s name I wish I knew so I could give her internet props right here, at the Harper-Collins booth who literally knew sooo much about every book and was so helpful and informative, and I can’t wait to start the book I picked! I also got a free book with my purchase, and a Neil Gaiman bag which is pretty much the bomb, especially since I am on a real Neil Gaiman kick right now (If you haven’t read The Ocean at the End of the Lane stop right now and go find it. So. Good…. Also Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book are stellar stories by this great man!)

We got sucked into a booth by a man holding out his hand and saying something that I didn’t quite understand. I mostly just felt awkward and shook his hand, but then he asked if we read comics, and when I said we mostly didn’t he decided that his might be the one for us. I know this sounds pushy and off putting but it was actually great, he instructed us to open the series he was selling and see if it spoke to us. Immediately I knew that it wasn’t my style, even though I would have liked it to be, I just wasn’t drawn in by it, which he totally picked up on and was not offended by. He then opened up another book for us and immediately I was invested. The book is called Rosalynd, and it’s a graphic novel written in a diary style from the perspective of a young girl who will grow up to be a vampire hunter. Between the three of us I’m pretty sure it became blaring obvious that I didn’t want to put this book down. Without even consulting me Derek asked to purchase it and the gent who were were talking to, who happened to be both author and illustrator, promptly signed it for me! I’m stoked! As we walked away Derek informed me that this person, Stephan Franck, was a supervising animator on The Iron Giant. I was floored, and extra stoked!

In my wanderings today I found so many different things that I want to read. It was really hard to not buy everything, and even harder to have all these conversations with people who are so proudly discussing with you their heart’s work, and then having to make the decision to walk away even though you are so interested, just not rich enough for all the things. I am glad I have the rest of the weekend to decide on some of the things I feel torn over not buying. There was a really interesting erotic graphic novel that I was super stoked on, and I’m pretty sure if I’m still thinking about it by Sunday it is going to be coming home with me! I’m also hoping to bring home at least one print, although I found a whole bunch today that I really like, and we haven’t even ATTEMPTED Artist Alley yet, so wish me luck in narrowing it down to just one! Last year there were a couple of prints I snagged that I totally love and have proudly displayed on our kitchen wall, it was pretty cool to see the same artists having booths here this year.

We also stumbled across Laika’s The Missing Link characters, which was super cool! We had some Monster Energy Java samples, found a both repping Pet Semetery, that literally had nothing but a few employee who were googling just what the heck Pet Semetary was and handing out little branded flashlights… it was a bit odd.

Once we decided to make our way out we quickly hopped into the Jelly Belly BeanBoozled booth to take the gross flavoured vs good flavoured Jelly Belly challenge. I literally ate 3 jelly beans that were supposed to be either dirty dishwasher or birthday cake and they all tasted the exact same amount of sugary sweetness and not gross at all… I’m pretty sure I was just enjoying the dirty dishwasher flavour *hangs head in shame*

In case you can’t handle your bean.

We then took a Lyft over to a Japanese grocery store, which was super neat (and where we bought a peach-flavoured Coca-Cola), where we met our friends and then headed back to our AirBnb. Now, remember how I talked about feeling lucky? Picture this: our friends literally went grocery shopping (and more importantly beverage shopping) for all of us today, and after arriving at home they made dinner for us while we worked on writing. How freaking amazing is that?!

All in all this day has been pretty freaking amazing. I feel so happy and absolutely fortunate to be able to enjoy this experience, and so frigging grateful to the people around me who have helped make this day super lovely. Special shout out to Derek for not only introducing me to this magical geeky life, but for also taking every opportunity to encourage me and spoil me as much as he can. I can’t to wait to see what the rest of this weekend brings!

Such a neat sight, at such a cool convention centre!

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 168 – PAX West Day 2

by Derek Kraneveldt

Courtney, Mikaela, Derek, and Jake break down what they saw and played during the second day of PAX West!

THIS EPISODE:

Derek was in awe of Bless Unleashed, Courtney died of Dysentery (or at least learned about it), Mikaela fell in love with Damnview: Built From Nothing, while Jake fought Nazis in Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics. Plus, we all had a blast at Bethesda Gameplay Days.

The group chats about these games, topics, and more:

Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics
You Have Dysentery – Meaningful Gaming in Education
Bless Unleashed
Damnview: Built From Nothing
Makeup Talk Forever
Bethesda Gameplay Days
Rage 2
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
Cantankerous Cats
Chessex
Gris

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/168-pax-west-2018-day-2

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM 

Outro – Everything Is Going To Be Okay

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Fan Expo Vancouver Recap: Cosplay, Twisted Toonz, Personal Growth, And More!

by Mikaela Maxwell

Since meeting Derek, I’ve heard a myriad of tales of the wonders of the convention world, especially his years at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). It’s always seemed so neat to me; so many new things being demonstrated, new experiences to be had, SO much magical art, and a huge variety of people dressing up as their favourite characters. Listening to Derek talk about all the incredible games he has tried (long before they’d been released to the public), experiences he has been immersed in, and cosplay, all the cosplay… I knew I had to give this a try for myself.

This is surprisingly not my first convention! Well actually Fan Expo Vancouver was, in 2016. Last year Derek and I took his Dad (Rob) to Fan Expo Vancouver for the weekend. Now usually Derek, Rob, and I hanging out equates to me asking what everyone wants to do, everyone refusing to make a decision, and then me throwing my hands in the air and creating an impromptu itinerary to keep us busy. So that weekend together was a bit of a change as we were 100% out of my element, and I was going eagerly into their territory of geek fandom. EEP!

Fan Expo Vancouver 2016 was a great weekend. I was a little bit shocked by the number of people, and lack of breathing room (which I still hear is nothing compared to SDCC, or even Seattle’s Emerald City Comic-Con), but adjusted to that pretty quickly (who needs personal space?!). I was waaaaay out of my comfort zone, but super proud of myself for sticking it out. I wanted to look at every single booth, which meant I was forced to talk to vendors, and this turned out to be great. I met local artists and talked to people about their passion projects. I found an artist that I really liked and bought his whole series of comics along with a custom cover that features Eleven from Stranger Things. Someone helped me pick a few new graphic novels (I think that’s what they were, you know the ones where it’s like a comic book but way more pages and like real book covers) based on artwork I liked and previous books from Derek’s collection that I had enjoyed. I wish I could remember the name of that booth – that guy was super helpful, and made me feel like I wasn’t a total loser for being totally unsure of myself in the situation. I even bought a physical copy of the best comic that I’ve read so far called Wytches, a book I had already read the digital version of but wanted the physical one cause it is my favourite art. I literally have a Wytches Mondo print (from good ‘ol SDCC) hanging in our entry way so it’s the first thing you see when walking into our house.

For me the most notable aspect of Fan Expo Vancouver 2016 was the cosplay! The cosplay was REMARKABLE. I could not believe the intricacy, detail, and sheer size of these amazing costumes. As a person whose favourite holiday is Halloween, who wants every party to be a costume party, and who uses any excuse to wear a moustache… I guess its not really surprising that this was the most exciting part for me. I remember walking down a hallway and literally not being able to look straight ahead of me, I was rubber necking all over the place. On all sides there were people wearing the most amazing outfits. Some were riding solo, others were in groups, there were adults and kids and men and women, all just putting so much energy into expressing themselves through the recreation of so many different characters. I have never in my life asked the question ‘What is that one?’ so many times. Derek spent most of that weekend whispering character names into my ear, and then having to explain their backstory as I had no idea who they were most of the time anyways. It. Was. Great.

Old school Mika Moustache

We were also able to sit in on a couple of how-to Cosplay panels, which were soooo interesting. My favourite was listening to Andy Rae go through the basics of how she came up with, designed, and created one of her cosplay characters (I believe it was like a badass Snow White). I came away from Fan Expo Vancouver 2016 feeling totally inspired and freaking stoked about this new world I had stumbled into. I wish I could say I had my own cosplay put together this year, but I still haven’t found the courage/money/artistic-excellence required to make it happen… yet.

Needless to say, this year I couldn’t wait to see the cosplay, and Fan Expo 2017 did not disappoint! Literally on the sky-train down to the convention centre a family of four got on with a tiny Batman and the most legit tiny Wonder Woman I have ever seen. My heart melted and I got so excited!

Now let me paint the picture a little for you. Fan Expo is a Friday to Sunday event. I didn’t get to go on Friday as I had to work night shifts on Thursday and Friday night, so during the day on Friday while Derek was there to kick off the start of the event, I was tossing and turning trying not to think about it so I could get a good nigh… day’s sleep. This also meant that I got home from work at 8:15 on Saturday morning and needed to power nap and paint my face with makeup so I could hopefully trick people into thinking I was a normal human and not a night shift zombie (dang I am just realizing now I shoulda just gone as the zombie #MissedOpportunity). Normally any of the days surrounding night shifts are off limits. I know that I need sleep to be able to function on a normal human level, but the situation could not be helped, and there was no way I was missing out on any more of this convention than absolutely necessary. So, with the help of a little caffeine, we ventured out and managed to get there by noon!

The first thing we did (other than gawk at the amazing cosplayers all around us) was go to a Q&A panel with Nolan North (voice actor of Nathan Drake from Uncharted among a million other things) and Troy Baker (voice actor of Nathan Drake’s brother Sam Drake from Uncharted 4, among a million other things). Side note: Holy crap I just remembered those things all by myself, like literally out of my head, and actually know what I am referring to and their relevance!

Luckily I had watched Derek play Uncharted 4 for a while so I actually kinda knew what we were getting into and why we cared. That game is beautiful, and looks like so much fun (regardless of what Shane thinks)! It would likely take a little too much coordination for me to play at this point, as you can tell from my gaming experience detailed in my Super Mario Odyssey piece. It turns out these guys have voice acted as soo many characters in sooo many different franchises. It also turns out that they are hilarious.

Nolan and Troy walked into the packed Meeting Room 2, stating that they weren’t a big enough deal to get slotted into Meeting Room 1, and away we went. They were briefly introduced and right away launched into questions from the audience. It was super neat to hear lots of different types of questions from people who were clearly huge fans of these guys. It was also neat to see them call out some of the fans to show off their great cosplay. The guys played off of each other really well, and you could tell they were friends and really enjoyed working together. They had the room cracking up with almost every question asked, no matter what the topic. Now I don’t remember most of the specifics, it turns out that inspirational quote about how people don’t remember what you said but how you made them feel… whelp, it’s totally true. The two things that stand out in my mind about this panel, aside from feeling genuinely entertained the whole time, were: when I almost cried, and that it turns out I didn’t actually know how video games were made… like at all.

I did not expect to get emotional listening to some guys talk about how they were the voice for animated characters. Yeah, I was wrong. There was a question about one of the characters Troy has voiced, regarding something to do with how the character had been received (I believe the character was Kanji from the Persona series). Of course I know nothing about what this person was referring to, or the exact words of Troy’s response, but it was something along the lines of the power of accepting yourself and your sexuality and embracing your unique qualities etc. etc…. I was blown away that in the midst of having no idea what these people were talking about I could be so moved by someone’s attitude towards peoples’ rights to their bodies and the beauty of being your genuine self.

Also I don’t really understand why they are called ‘Voice Actors’. Like I get that they are the voice of the character, but I didn’t know that they are actually the body of the character as well?! My mind was serious amounts of blown. I’ll explain my vague understanding, just in case there is anyone else out there who has been living under a rock like I have. These guys legit broke it down for us. Turns out when the character is running, jumping, turning their head, crouching, falling, being thrown by an explosion, basically doing anything in the game, this is ALL actually done by the “voice” actor (or sometimes a stunt person). The actor will don one of those green suits with all the electrodes or something built in, and be placed in a big open room, then recorded from a million different cameras to capture every angle. Then they do all of these moves in this open space, and the animated character will be adapted to their body movements for the game. MIND BLOWN. Now that I am typing it out, it makes sense, it’s just like any CG movie effect. But somehow, I had never connected the dots that they would use the same technology for video games. I literally thought it was like an animated movie… wait is this how Pixar makes their movies too? Oh god I don’t know what’s real anymore.

We then went into my most anticipated panel of the entire event, the Celebrity Cosplayer Panel with LeeAnna Vamp, Holly Wolf, Karli Woods, and Riki Lecotey. I’ve gotta say that their Cosplay was definitely on point. I even knew who most of them were dressed up as! There was a bad ass Lady Beetle Juice and Lydia Deetz; this combo was definitely one of my top five for the expo, but I sadly didn’t get a picture. As well there was someone from X-Men (Derek says it was Rogue), and I’m not really sure what Riki was cause she is tiny and I could barely see her, but her top hat was pretty rad and apparently she rehabilitates baby squirrels in her real life, so I’m officially a big fan. They went on to discuss the basics of what it takes to use social media effectively as a professional cosplayer. There was a lot of information shared, but the biggest tips I remember are: to use whatever the newest feature is on that network (ie: Instagram’s stories, Facebook Live etc.), don’t put text on your Facebook photos cause they will get buried, and don’t put a link to another social network in your Facebook post, instead put it in the comments so again Facebook is less likely to bury it.

Once they were done with social media talk, there were just three minutes left for the audience to ask question (waah-waah). A few questions were asked, most noteably one about how someone who isn’t skinny can make it in a world where most of the higher profile women fit into the thin-waist-big-boobs category. And the answer was a solid inspirational quote type of situation. All in all, I feel like I would have appreciated a lot more of the how-to type of panel in relation to the physical costumes, but I can definitely see the value in knowing the ins and outs of using social media (especially if you’re already cosplaying and not just looking to get into it).

Going into this weekend, the big Geekscape project that I wanted to do involved taking pictures of cosplayers and interviewing them about cosplay generally. However, walking into the chaos of Saturday on almost zero sleep and even less confidence I definitely lost my nerve. I wandered around staring at all these amazing creations and passionate people, and basically just shrivelled up inside myself.

I took one picture all of Saturday (of an amazing Jupiter Jones cosplay). I got up the nerve to ask her a few questions, as soon as we started talking I immediately forgot how words worked and forgot the short list of questions I had prepared. Luckily for me she was super approachable and really excited to talk about her look. It also turns out she is a nurse (like me) and so we got to chat about that a bit too. I felt good about this interaction, but still totally self-conscious and awkward.

We then went to a panel called Twisted Toonz where a few voice actors Maurice LaMarche (The Brain), Rob Paulsen (Pinky), Jennifer Hale (Lady Shepherd from Mass Effect), Troy Baker, Nolan North & Veronica Taylor (Ash from Pokémon) were assigned various well known characters/celebrities to impersonate while reading scenes from The Princess Bride. It was pretty freaking hilarious. I spent most the time not being able to follow what was happening, but cracking up at their impressive impersonations.

https://youtu.be/o6-tPoKi7xA

Going into Sunday morning I knew if I wanted to earn my right to represent Geekscape, and walk away feeling satisfied with having pushed myself out of my comfort zone, I needed to step up my game.

I’m happy to report: I did it!

Sunday morning we arrived and hung out in the lobby for a while allowing me to approach people and talk to them about their cosplay. After a while I found my footing and got in the groove of it. Not once did I remember all of the questions I wanted to ask, but was able to get varying little bits of insight from everyone. It was super interesting to hear about how people got into it and what inspires them to do cosplay. I ended up talking to a lot of people who were cosplaying for the first time, which was pretty neat. I also get to talk to a guy dressed as the guitar guy from Mad Max: Fury Road, which is one of my all-time favourite movies. It was pretty neat – I won’t go into detail here, but hopefully I can get that article up in the next few days!

We went to Sketch Duel between Jae Lee and Eric Vedder, which was kind of a big deal. They were given a character (someone from Game of Thrones whose name I don’t remember) (editor’s note: Daenerys) with a modification (zombie) and each had to do their version of it while the audience sat there and asked them questions. It was pretty neat, and totally crazy that these people can just sit there chatting AND creating amazing art like it’s just no thing. The best part was at the end audience members got to win the sketches! (I was one number away from winning and just a little bit bitter about it).

Next up was a panel with the cast of iZombie, which Derek is super into and I have yet to actually watch even though it’s on Netflix (oops!). It was also pretty entertaining. I don’t remember anyone’s names, but they all played off of each other very well and were super into engaging with the crowd for the Q&A. The best part was when everyone sang Happy Birthday to one of the guys, and then at the end Rose McIver (the main character of the show) got all the people who were dressed in her character, Liv Moore, cosplay to come up on stage for a group photo. There were so many. It was great.

We then spent the rest of the day walking the floor, talking to artists, talking to cosplayers, taking pictures of people, and looking at all the things. Derek surprised me with a painting he bought for me while I was caught up in conversation with someone (the artist has an amazing Etsy shop here). We legimately did not leave until the show floor closed.

All in all it was a great weekend. There was so much packed into these two short days, and I walked away once again feeling inspired and excited about so many new things. I am so proud of myself for finding my lady balls and talking to all the people. I felt awkard and scared and I did it anyways… and I think it turned out pretty well. I gotta give a shout out to Derek for totally supporting me in embracing this and opening his Geekscape arms to me; as well as reminding me that I am awesome when I wanted to run away from everything. I am really looking forward to putting together my piece about cosplayers, and hope that you are too!

Wow. That was a lot of things to talk about. If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read about my experience! I had a great time and can’t wait for the next convention!

Shout out to the photo-bomber in the background.

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 118 – ‘While At SDCC 2017 We Forgot To Come Up With A Title’

by GeekscapeStaff

Join Derek, Courtney and MATT KELLY(?!) as they discuss the last week at San Diego Comic Con 2017!

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This Week:

Our Tremendous Trio recant their adventures at San Diego Comic Con 2017. They DO talk about video games at some point, and we never do find out the bathroom story. 

Check Out The Horror Movie Night Podcast!

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We Recap The First Ever East L.A. Comic-Con!

by Melissa Sanchez

It was 11:06am and already 92 degrees out as a horde of people wrapped around the corner of Cesar Chavez Ave. on a Saturday morning. To most passerbys, one would assume the line was for some sort of event a neighboring church was having, but in fact the crowd of both young and old were in line to enter the first ever East LA Comic Con.

An idea in works for well over a year from Peter J. Mellini, the owner of Nostalgic Books and Comics in San Gabriel Valley, this event was meant to showcase the talent and culture of the community of East Los Angeles. With well known cons like SDCC and WonderCon, and smaller cons popping up every day it seems, what makes East LA Comic-Con any different? Boasting a large Latino demographic in East LA, this freshman convention aimed to spotlight the vendors and talent, as well as bring out the attendees that make up a fair portion of this community. Represented were your expected comic book vendors, local artists, a few rare sellers of collectibles and something that is not common at most comic conventions, a modest Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling) presence.

There were three rooms attendees could enter to visit vendors; two small narrow rooms and one larger more spacious square room. For someone in a wheelchair like myself, it was difficult to navigate especially because some areas had steps which made my browsing limited. I often found myself very sardine-like (but to be honest we all feel this way at every con, right?!) or head on with a stroller trying to make my way through the aisles. While most of the staff and attendees were polite, I don’t think much thought and preparation was put into accessibility and crowd control. The event capped after I was let in and people had to wait until others exited before more could be allowed entrance. I’m not sure was the capacity for El Gallo Plaza where the event was held is, but I heard well over 3,000 people showed up for the free event throughout the day.

The artwork and merchandise itself as stated before was not typical of what you would see at most comic conventions. Very heavily Latino influenced, one could find anything from a print of Darth Vader in a Zoot Suit to Frida Kahlo drawn as a Chola caricature. Holding a presence at the convention was Lil’ Libros, a company who sells bilingual children’s books with tales of infamous Latino icons like Zapata, Frida Kahlo and La Llorona. A big hit though were cosplayers Monkey Monsters Cosplay, aka Han Cholo, Princess Loca and Artudito. The family is infamous for their Star Wars cosplay with a Cholo twist. As for general cosplaying, I didn’t see many when I was there, but I did spot a Wreck-It-Ralph, Pikachu, Deadpool and a Ghostbuster. Though definitely a unique experience, I also would have liked to seen more variety. All in all it took me less than 45 mins to go through the whole convention, and I took my time!

I give East LA Comic Con an “A” for effort, the intent was there but it lacked tangibility. Again the addition of more vendors and panels would have strengthened this — I know a lot of vendors and artists were turned away because of space, which is understandable, but the amount present felt a little underwhelming. Panels were announced to have taken place during the day but were cancelled last minute, which would have been a nice and interesting atmosphere. A bigger space and accessibility next year is a necessity and an actual vendor list and booth/table numbers would have been helpful instead of just randomly stumbling across vendors.

For first time convention goers I do think this was a great small community based event to attend, especially for those who know nothing about this world; and making it free is guaranteed to draw in more curious minds which is a smart play on Mr. Mellini’s part. But for experienced con goers like myself I felt the event was a bit lackluster and can only hope they learn from this year and make next year better by moving it to a bigger space and including more diversity. And if we’re lucky, maybe Geekscape’s own El Chucho will make an appearance at next year’s con!

Monster (Mania) Mash: The First Ever Horror Movie Night Convention!

by Saintmort

I’ve been podcasting for nearly as long as I’ve known what podcasting was. In the mid-2000’s, I discovered podcasts through a brand new show (just 5 episodes deep) called Geekscape. I recall watching Jonathan and guest Scott Culver sitting on a couch talking movies and pop punk. At that moment, a voice inside myself began screaming “I want to do this”.

I created and took part in various podcasts to mixed success; Below the Radar Radio, BTR TV, The Saint Mort Show (in two different variations) and Reddit Horror Club. While making Reddit Horror Club, I felt my first ping of genuine success. People were listening and talking about what we were doing — it was while making this show that the idea of combining with Geekscape to create Horror Movie Night came to light.

This weekend, a year and a half after HMN’s birth, we ran our first ever convention booth (thanks in part to our amazing Patreon donators).

Thanks to Jonathan and the Geekscape booth at SDCC, I already had some solid convention experience under my belt. I knew what to expect, how to set up a booth and how to draw a crowd, so I went into the convention full of… CONfidence (yes I went there).

There were a lot of rough patches leading to our convention debut. Family issues lead to Adam having to bow out for the weekend, we had to find a power source in order to screen the DVD I had created of our best moments, and due to a bad address confusing a GPS Scott and his wife Meghan got lost and their 6.5 hour drive from Ohio to New Jersey became a 9 hour trip. Finally, only a little later than planned, I was able to hug my podcasting friend/cohost and finally meet his wife.

Friday was a short day (5pm-10pm). I wish there were some exciting things to call out on this first night but mostly Scott and I just talked to fans. At 10pm we  got to bed as quickly as we could for the busy Saturday that was ahead of us. The highlight of that night was seeing a con attendee with this awesome Phantasm ball. Looking at this fucking thing!

After what can only be called a questionably decent night’s sleep (Meghan and Scott on the couches in my dirty basement and me in my freezing bedroom), we woke up early for day two. We packed lunches, grabbed a quick breakfast, redesigned our booth and prepared for a very very long day.

Scott and I manned the booth all day. We tag-teamed talking to fans (old and new) and handled out business cards for the podcast. We also began distributing flyers for our live podcast event later that evening. We were baffled by the amount of people who, upon hearing we were discussing Jason Takes Manhattan, told us that it was their favorite Friday the 13th film.

We met some incredible cosplayers (Photos will be at the bottom of the article) that made us geek-out. We met a MASSIVE man doing a great Jason cosplay.  He “attacked” Scott and Meghan and actually slimed Scott’s shirt with all of his Jason goo. Some other cosplay highlights included children cosplaying as the killers from Motel Hell,  Blade from Puppet Master, an homage to one of the most iconic Friday The 13th deaths and the crown jewel of the weekend … someone cosplayed as Frankenhooker.

From 9am until 6pm we talked and shook hands and Scott sold albums of both of his musical projects (Survivor Girl and Consol Crash). At 6pm we jumped into my car and begin driving to Burlington, NJ to perform the first ever Horror Movie Night Live taping.

The live event was surreal. We entered Brickwall Tavern and immediately loved the venue. It was a former fire station transformed into a beautiful bar/dining hall/concert venue. It was the perfect place for our bizarre comedic podcast. We had originally wanted to do our live show at the convention itself but were declined. Since we refuse to take no for an answer, we found our own venue. I couldn’t be happier with the home of the first live taping.

Inside the building, I saw some of my best friends, some of my internet friends  (including the beloved ‘Scapist BigYanks), and new friends that we had made at the convention earlier that afternoon.

At 7:30, full of nerves and a surprisingly delicious chicken cutlet; I walked onto the stage. I introduced myself and Scott, and the recordings began.

For our first episode we were joined by punk rock supervillain Johnny Neutrino and his henchman/luchador bodyguard to discuss Jason Takes Manhattan. I scanned the room and saw faces smiling and laughing as well as some faces that were conversing with other faces at their tables not paying attention to us at all. At times it felt like a weird out of body experience. I was on stage talking, but mentally I could see myself on the stage. Suddenly, 45 minutes had passed and episode 1 was in the can.

We took a brief 10 minute break so I had time to thank Johnny for his contributions to the show, and we began to mentally prepare ourselves for the second taping.

We returned to the stage and began to discuss 1991’s Freddy’s Dead. We were joined by local comic Eddie Gallagher and hip-hop artist/horror host The Bone Pounder. At this point the nervousness had worn off for Scott and I, and we were in prime condition for discussing one of the more controversial movies among horror fans. Some people (myself) love this movie while others (the rest of the panel) despise it. The discussion was filled laughs, at least one uncomfortable gasp, and a loud applause as we wrapped things up. It was everything I could have dreamed.

The evening didn’t end with the podcast though. We decided to throw an unofficial “after-party” and booked two bands. My friends in Only On Weekends and Danger Club performed to the bar while crowds sang and danced to their sweet pop-punk sounds. It is even possible that I may have jumped on stage and joined Danger Club while they covered 3 Small Words from Josie and the Pussycats (secretly the greatest movie ever).

It was midnight when I began driving home. I drove quickly since I needed to return to the convention for the final day and thanks to outdated traditions was about to lose an hour of sleep.

Sunday was the slowest day at the convention. Scott and Meghan left to return to Ohio so I was joined by one of my best friends Stephanie. We sold a shirt or two and talked to a few more new fans (including a dude with a baller Spookies t-shirt).  Once we ran out of business cards around 4pm we began to pack my car and departed Monster Mania full of memories and plans for what the next year will hold for us.

All of my life I wanted to make a difference in some way. I wanted to make movies, not particularly because I had a knack for storytelling, but because I loved the feeling I got when a movie really connected with me. I wanted to create something that truly connected with other people in the same way, and I found that in podcasting.

When you’re at a convention like Monster Mania you are able to see that you are making that connection with people. Horror Movie Night in less than two years has become something I always loved… Geekscape, my own Geekscape. For years I wanted to be Geekscape. I wanted people to connect with me and laugh at my jokes the same way I did with Jonathan week after week. I was so obsessed with that goal that I continually created carbon copies of Geekscape, and walked in Jonathan’s footsteps hoping that people would feel the same connection. But I was being an imposter, and people can smell an imposter from a mile away.

Horror Movie Night was supposed to be the fun side project with my friends, and instead I created my own path. Horror Movie Night is a part of Geekscape, and we always will be. We love Jonathan and it’d have to be an irresistible offer for us to ever walk away from Jonathan and the team. But we have also managed to become our own entity that exists outside that bubble. We have a community of our own… a community within a community.

Conventions like Monster Mania are amazing places where community is just forged deeper. Perhaps that why I love them so much. Monster Mania is worth your time. Do not miss it next year, we certainly won’t.

Enjoy some of the excellent cosplaying that awaits you there.

‘Salute To Supernatural’ Was An Incredible Fan Experience! Here’s What You Missed!

by Melissa Sanchez

This past weekend was Creation Entertainment’s Salute to Supernatural convention at the Pasadena Convention Center. The weekend consisted of exclusive panels with cast members, photo ops, a concert, and tons of official Supernatural merchandise for sale. Though I was unable to attend all three days, I did make it out on Sunday, the last day of the event (and arguably the best).

Sunday morning began with Coffee with the Kostermans, offering attendees a preview of the upcoming 10 episode series and an exclusive Q&A with the show creators. Those who wanted to wake up bright and early were able to enjoy this event and get a glimpse of what the Supernatural fandom is really like. VIP ticket holders were also treated to a private panel with Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles (Sam and Dean) that morning, while the main convention opened its doors later on that day. Programming for Sunday began at 2pm, but I arrived early to scope out the scene. Upon entering the convention center and checking in, I headed to the vendors area to see all the available merchandise for sale. Though small, the vendor’s area had a decent amount of official and unique merchandise sure to please any Supernatural fan. There were Funko Pops of the boys along with buttons, magnets, T-shirts, and more. Some vendors offered custom jewelry related to the show like angel wing earrings and character specific charm bracelets. I even snagged myself Castiel’s grace! (A necklace that glowed like angel grace from the show). People took pictures with life size cardboard cutouts of Dean and Sam as well as a pretty cool looking custom made Castiel puppet. Also cool was a 13” replica diecast of Dean’s 1967 Chevy Impala that too could be yours for the low price of $70. After I picked up my grace and did a double walk through of the vendor’s area, I made my way to the theatre since the programming was about to begin.

Castiel
Yep. Pretty lifelike.

Around 2:15pm Rob Benedict (Chuck) came out with his band Louden Swain and Master of Ceremonies Richard Speight Jr. (Trickster/Gabriel). The band treated the attendees to a mini concert with Speight occasionally taking on lead vocals. Fans cheered as the Los Angeles rock band played loudly and frontman Benedict ran around the room. Speight and Benedict then proceeded to sing to the crowd the rules and regulations of the convention to the tune of My Generation. After a fun energetic few songs it was time for the first guest of the day.

With the recent announcement of his upcoming role on The Walking Dead, Jeffrey Dean Morgan aka John Winchester was welcomed to the stage with a roar of applause. He expressed how excited he was to be there before taking fan questions from the audience. Morgan played the character of John Winchester, Sam and Dean’s dad in the first two seasons of Supernatural. He spoke about how much John meant to him being one of his first big opportunities acting and crediting it and his role of Denny Duquette on Grey’s Anatomy as really launching his career. However not before inviting a fan onstage who got cut off from asking her question at the Las Vegas convention. JDM talked about his upcoming role of villain Negan on The Walking Dead and said that when his agent asked if he was interested in auditioning for the role Jeffrey asked “Is it for fucking Negan?” and his agent said he didn’t know.  He then went on to say  “It is fucking Negan! I’m fucking doing it!” A fan then asked him what he thought Supernatural would be like if John Winchester hadn’t been killed off and was still on the show today? Morgan felt the show would be drastically different saying “It’d be like The Waltons” as he laughed, only to then follow by stating the crowd was probably too young to even know of the 70’s drama. On the subject of his favorite episode, Morgan stated it was Shadow (Season 1, Ep. 16), where father and sons come together and the audience’s introduction to the yellow-eyed demon Azazel who kills John’s wife/Sam and Dean’s mom Mary Winchester was his favorite. Fans continued to ask him more questions like “What was your favorite scene?” and “Would he do more conventions in the future?” Morgan spoke about how he would want to play Negan (The Walking Dead) or The Comedian (Watchmen) in the Supernatural world before his TV sons came out and crashed the stage to greet Morgan with a hug.

Louden Swain rocking out!
Louden Swain rocking out!

A sea of camera and phone lights and screams erupted as Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles took the stage. They bid Morgan a fond ado and then took their seats preparing themselves for the next hour of questions and story telling. Long lines of fans formed on both sides of the room with mostly females anxiously awaiting to get the chance to ask the TV brothers their questions. Ackles and Padalecki answered things like “What was the most emotional scene you had to film?” and “What was the sexiest scene to film?” in which Jensen replied Baby, episode 4 from this past season which is told entirely from the impala’s perspective. Jared answered a question about how his hair has changed over the seasons and Jensen joked “Yeah Jared, did you want to go from skater boy to fashionista?!”. Both spoke about their biggest fears, with Padalecki telling the audience he was afraid of snakes and bears while Ackles expressed not being able to get to his family in a time of crisis is his biggest fear. More creative questions were asked like “How would Sam and Dean handle themselves if they were in a horror movie?”, more specifically the remake horror movies each men starred in  2009, Friday the 13th and My Bloody Valentine. Jared exclaimed “Jason would be dead!” if Sam Winchester was in Friday the 13th, while Jensen said if Dean was in a tunnel and ran into a man with an ax Dean would blow his head off. They also joked they would end the zombies on The Walking Dead.

Fans continued with asking the guys what their favorite season finales were. Padalecki cited the episode Sacrifice at the end of Season 8 in which Sam and Dean finish the trials to close the gates of hell and Sam has to make a huge decision. Ackles chose the episode Swan Song (Season 5, Ep. 22) where Chuck tells the history of the Impala and Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) uses Dean as a vessel, as well as the season 9 finale Do You Believe in Miracles? where Dean deals with The Mark of Cain and we find out more about Metatron. The duo talked about the use of contact lenses in the beginning the series used for demon eyes versus now using CGI to create those same effects.

Cutout

Each of the men spoke about parenthood including the joys and difficulties of being a dad. Jensen told a story to the crowd about how a friend of his sent him a meme that said “Guns don’t kill people, dads with pretty little girls do.” and how he looked at it and said “Yup!” (Ackles has a 2-yr-old daughter). Padalecki recently becoming public with his deals of depression and creating his Always Keep Fighting campaign that assists others with mental health issues, said he hoped his children would never give bullies’ negativity worth and value.  When asked if the boys could be any other character on the show who would they be, both answered Cas being that Misha Collins’ schedule isn’t as demanding as the two main stars, with Jared adding Rowena (Ruth Connell) as well so that he could give Mark Sheppard (Crowley) a hard time. Another creative question from a fan was “If there was a Supernatural theme park, what would it consist of?” Jensen insisted that the roller coaster cars be modeled after his character’s infamous Impala and there also be a nutcracker stage where you can get your nuts cracked. Jared said there would have to be lots of salt circles and joked that a Crowley impersonator would be walking around talking nonstop in which that experience would be called “hell”. One of the last questions was “If each were not an actor, what would they be?” Padalecki said he would probably be an engineer while Ackles said he would have went to college and got a degree if he wasn’t acting. The duo’s panel closed with them bringing out Cain (Timothy Omundson) to answer who his favorite guest star was. Louden Swain played as the crowd left the theatre while Jensen Ackles sang on the first song.

Mark Sheppard closed the evening taking questions from fans and talking about his character Crowley.  He even went out into the crowd and interacted with the fans while taking questions. Sheppard spoke about fan fiction and what happened between Dean and Crowley during their bromance in Season 10, as well as what’s in store for Crowley in the future. Louden Swain then took the stage to end the night by singing “It’s the end of the con as we know it.” to R.E.M.’s It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).

Though small and lacking a good amount of vendors, Salute to Supernatural is a must do event for any diehard fan! It allows the audience to get more up close and personal to the cast versus a larger convention like Comic Con. Next year’s convention returns to the Burbank Marriott in Burbank, CA and Jared, Jensen, Misha, Mark and Osric are already confirmed.

For more information on Creation Entertainment’s Salute to Supernatural, head here.

Supernatural airs on Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

‘Supernatural’ Fan In Pasadena? The Official ‘Supernatural’ Convention Returns Next Weekend!

by Melissa Sanchez

It’s that time of year again! No I’m not talking about stuffing your face with turkey or even standing in line at your local Best Buy to get the latest cool gadget released for the holidays (though that’s all cool too). It’s time to get out your salt and lighters and wear those trench coats as Creation Entertainment‘s Salute to Supernatural once again rolls around. The cult TV show is currently in its 11th season and follows brothers Sam and Dean as they rid the world of demons, vampires, witches and all things that go bump in the night.

Taking place this year at the Pasadena Convention Center on November 13-15th, the three day event brings us everything Supernatural with exclusive panels, costume parades, karaoke, auctions, meet and greets and more. Who doesn’t want a chance to take a picture sandwiched between some of the best looking demon hunters on TV?! All the major players will be there including the Winchester Bros (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) and everyone’s favorite angel Castiel (Misha Collins), as well as fan favorites Crowley (Mark Sheppard), Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) and The Trickster/Gabriel (Richard Speight Jr.), with the latter also doubling as Master of Ceremonies.

Supernatural fans can enjoy a karaoke party Friday night with Young John Winchester (Matt Cohen), Chuck (Rob Benedict)  and The Trickster (Speight). Fans are encouraged to dress up for this fun filled event but it’s not mandatory. On Saturday night after your day of meeting with like minded SN diehards and attending Misha’s always entertaining panel, check out Louden Swain (musical act featuring Benedict). You never know who might drop in for a song or two, as some of the cast have participated in the past. There will also be plenty of vendors with Supernatural merch and memorabilia so don’t forget your wallets! Sam and Dean will take the stage Sunday which no doubt is the most popular day of the convention, but perhaps more exciting than the brother’s appearance is that of their TV dad played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who is set to make an appearance Sunday as well. Also set to appear are Ruth Connell (Rowena), Kathryn Newton (Claire Novak), Kim Rhodes (Sheriff Jody Mills), Travis Aaron Wade (Cole Trenton) and Briana Buckmaster (Sheriff Donna Hanscum).

Whether you’re a newbie hunter or seasoned pro,if you love Supernatural this is one event you don’t wanna miss! I know I won’t! We’ll see you there!

For more information visit www.creationent.com. Tickets for Salute to Supernatural start at $30 and can be purchased at the door on day of the event. Supernatural airs on Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

4"x6" Post Card Template
4″x6″ Post Card Template

The Saint Mort Show Episode 134: One Slash Wonders Panel (Live at TanoshiiCon 2015)

by Saintmort

The final TanoshiiCon Panel finally sees the light of day. In this final panel Scott and I discuss One Slash Wonders. We break down various films that deserved Sequels but never got them and why.

If you’re curious where I’ve been I’ve been working on my new podcast Horror Movie Club. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Reddit and Geekscape.net!

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Anime Expo 2015 Announces New Guests!

by Megan Haley

The Anime Expo 2015 guest list is rapidly growing approaching the upcoming convention. Taking place over the July 4th weekend (July 2-5), this marks the 23rd year for the Southern California convention. As the current largest anime, manga and Japanese Culture convention in North America, AX never fails to bring in some of the biggest names in Japanese culture and voice acting for panels, signings and events.

In their most recent press release, Anime Expo has announced the latest set of guests attending the convention. From voice actors, to influential manga creators and animation artists, this year’s lineup is looking to offer something for every attendee.

Check out all the new additions below and keep on the lookout for more news as it’s released at Geekscape.net and Anime-Expo.org.

Julietta Suzuki-Creator of Kamisama Kiss

Julietta Suzuki’s debut manga Hoshi ni Naru Hi (The Day One Becomes a Star) appeared in the 2004 Hana to Yume Plus. Her other books include Akuma to Dolce (The Devil and Sweets), Karakuri Odette, and Kamisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita), which is published by VIZ Media.

In partnership with VIZ Media, we are so excited to have Suzuki-sensei attend Anime Expo this year! She will be participating in a panel, as well as autograph sessions throughout the weekend.

 

Satelight’s Thomas Romain and LeSean Thomas (Cannon Busters)

Joining the AX 2015 guest line-up, Thomas Romain of Satelight is best known for his mechanical design on Space Dandy, and LeSean Thomas, recently spearheaded the Cannon Busters: The Animated Series Pilot Kickstarter.Together, LeSean Thomas and Thomas Romain will present a panel with updates about Cannon Busters, including a first-look at the project and Q&A. They will also both be participating in autograph sessions throughout the weekend.

 

Welcoming voice actresses, Sandy Fox and Cristina Vee

Joining Anime Expo 2015, Sandy Fox (Chibi Usa in Sailor Moon, Kyoko in Akira, Lady Aska in Magic Knight Rayearth) and Cristina Vee (Homura in Madoka Magica and Morgiana in Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic) will both be participating in Q&A panels and autograph sessions.

Will you be hitting up Anime Expo this year? Who are you excited to hear? Anime Expo hits the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 2nd-5th, 2015

AnimeExpo

Stan Lee’s Comikaze Is Almost Here, And Here’s What We’re Looking Forward To!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Stan Lee’s Comikaze is finally right around the corner (better get those tickets quickly, it’s TOMORROW)! A myriad of Geekscape writers will be in attendance at the expo, and of course we couldn’t be more excited to hang out with you at the Geekscape Booth (that’d be Booth #1110)!

As the 3-day event has something for all sorts of different tastes, we thought that we’d make a list of our own personal highlights from the schedule! Here are the panels that each of us are looking forward to at next weekend’s Comikaze 2014!

If you’re attending the expo, be sure to visit us at Booth #1110, where we’ll have tons of shirts available (including the awesome new baseball t’s) and also an EXCLUSIVE print celebrating the return on Jonathan’s Own Super Action Man. We’ll be there all weekend! Now read on!

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Kelsie Hernandez

It’s that Comikaze time of year again! And with each Comikaze, we get to see more awesome guests and more awesome panels to get excited for! Here are some of the panels that I’m looking forward to.

On Saturday morning, the iconic Adam West will be on the Hot Topic main stage to talk all things Batman, and help celebrate Batman’s 75th Anniversary! (10:30am – Hot Topic Main Stage)

Later on in the afternoon, Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman are bringing Hollywood Babble-On Smodcast live to Comikaze for Fatman on Batman: A tribute to Batman ’66! (1:30pm – Room 408AB)

Another one I’m looking forward to is Constantine: An Introduction, this gives Comikaze attendees a chance to meet the creators and get a sneak peak into the new series. (3:00pm – Hot Topic Main Stage)

On Sunday morning, there’s a spotlight panel on Jewel Staite, of Firefly and Stargate. (10:30am – Hot Topic Main Stage.

And shortly after, I might try to see the Comikaze Guest of Honor panel with John Barrowman, the star of Doctor Who, Arrow, Torchwood and so much more. (11:30am – 304ABC)

Juan Carlos Marquez

With Comikazee fast approaching, I find myself conflicted in trying to schedule my weekend in order to get in as much coverage as humanly possible. Right off the bat, it seems like the Hot Topic Main Stage will be the place to hang around all day Saturday–with the one and only Adam West kicking things off, followed by Rob Liefeld, and the folks behind NBC’s Constantine! Aside from the Main Stage action, I plan on checking out the Golden Age of Gaming panel in Room 301B and the Original Intellivision Game Designers Panel in Room 303AB. Of course, there’s no way I can miss our fearless leader in Geekscape’s Panel this Friday in Room 306AB at 6 P.M.

And since you lovely people will be there, stop by the Geekscape booth (#1110) and snag yourself some sweet Geekscape T-shirts and get an EXCLUSIVE Super Action Man print!

Jake Lopez

Comikaze is back and what better way to spend your Halloween then at the convention center celebrating all things geek! For those of you searching for a convention without the hassle or enormity of SDCC, Comikaze looks like the place to go. Honestly, looking over the programming schedule makes this year seem like one of the most laid-back stress-free conventions I’ve seen. And it’s not like there’s any shortage f sights to see. On Friday, panelists will screen a Batman Fan Film, “The Great Mistake of Dr. Miles”, which is of course followed by a Q&A with the creators in room 404AB at 4:00 PM. Afterwards, you should go check out Geekscape Live! in 306AB at 6:00 PM. *nudge nudge*

Saturday, I plan on hitting the sneak preview of the documentary “Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show”. I’m sure to find interviews with the likes of Damon Lindelof and Joss Whedon regarding television interesting. Afterward, I’m hoping to make it to the Dragon Ball Z – The Fall of Men panel in 304 ABC (1:00 PM). If you don’t know already, this particular DBZ installment is fan made and it looks fantastic. If for some reason I can’t make it to that, I plan at being in room 308AB at 1:30 PM for Spider-Man: The Animated Series 20th Anniversary. Need I say more?

On Sunday, one of the bigger panels will be taking place in 406AB at 10:00 AM with an early screening of “Gotham” episode 107. The screening is followed up by Executive Producer Danny Cannon.

I only wish I had more time to see some of the events Comikaze has to offer! The schedule is packed!

Derek Kraneveldt

I am so, so sad that I won’t be attending Comikaze this year. Last year’s convention weekend was by far one of the highlights of my year, both because of the chance to see all of my Geekscape friends and colleagues once more, but also because everything that Comikaze had to offer was beyond stellar.

This year, the guests are even better, the panel schedule has grown exponentially, and Geekscape is going live on the show floor. I’m almost debating jumping on a plane tomorrow and heading down, and here’s what I would be most interested in seeing:

Friday:

4:00 – 404AB – (BATMAN FAN FILM) THE GREAT MISTAKE OF DR. MILES

See the convention premier of 1960’s Batman fan film “The Great Mistake of Dr. Miles”, followed by Q&A and discussion with the cast and crew. The panel will conclude with a special announcement about the future of the project.

5:00 – 404AB – THE KAIJU KINGDOM LIVE PODCAST! – GODZILLA’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY/GAMERA’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Join a discussion about Godzilla 60th Anniversary and Gamera’s 50th Anniversary.

6:00 – 306AB – GEEKSCAPE LIVE! WITH SPECIAL GUESTS!

It’s freaking Geekscape, but LIVE. How the hell could I not show up to this?

Saturday:

9:00 – Hot Topic Main Stage – UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH STAN LEE, POWERED BY WEEV

Get intimate with Stan Lee and learn about all of the new projects he’s working on at POW! Entertainment.

10:30 – Hot Topic Main Stage – SPOTLIGHT: ADAM WEST

TV’s most prolific Batman joins us to talk all things Batman, and help celebrate Batman’s 75th Anniversary!

1:30 – 308AB – SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Spider-Man: The Animated Series introduced a whole generation to the famous web-slinger in the first of his adventures for TV that captured the true spirit of the original comic book.

2:30 – 308AB – RANDOM ENCOUNTERS’ VIDEO GAME MUSICALS

Watch your favorite games and series become Broadway show-stoppers, from an Arkham Asylum rock-opera to a Tim Burton-style Pac-Man musical! WARNING: This show contains catchy songs, nerdy humor and the dreaded Marshmallow Zone. Singalongs are welcome.

4:30 – Screening Room – THE ROOM

Join film-creator Tommy Wiseau at a special screening of his cult classic film!

Sunday

10:00 – 308AB – PUBLICIZING YOUR PROJECT

You’ve got a new comic, a new webseries, a new novel, a new TV show or movie? That’s great. But pretty meaningless if you and your friends are the only ones who know about it. How do you get the word out? Facebook and webpage, sure. That’s what everyone’s doing. What can you do to cut through the clutter and get your stuff actually seen, actually talked about, actually out there so people can see it, read it, watch it, buy it? People who have been getting projects seen dating back to “Star Wars” will give you advice on how you can do it for your project.

12:00 – 308AB – LION FORGE COMICS & IDW PUBLISHING: DIGITAL TO PRINT AND BEYOND!

Lion Forge Comics & IDW Publishing: Digital to Print and Beyond! Lion Forge Editor-In-Chief Shannon Eric Denton discusses Lion Forge titles Airwolf vs. Knight Rider, Miami Vice, Chavo Guerrero, Rampage Jackson, Andre the Giant, Care Bears, Saved By The Bell, Saber Riders & the Star Sheriffs, Punky Brewster and more! Join Shannon and the Lion Forge creative teams as they discuss these properties along with their recently announced print- partnership with IDW Publishing!

1:00 – 308AB – HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN NOVEL: FROM THE FIRST IDEA TO PUBLISHING AND WHAT YOU NEED TO SELL YOUR WORK TO TV AND FILM

Join the Winner Twins while they teach you how to create your own novel step by step, from building your universe to overcoming writer’s block to the different paths to publishing. The Winner Twins will be joined by bestselling author, and renowned actor, Richard Hatch, of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fame, and Steven-Elliot Altman, author of such novels as DEPRIVERS and BATMAN: FEAR ITSELF.

I’m barely scratching the surface here. There is so much that I’d like to see at this year’s Comikaze, and that’s not even mentioning the show floor, where I’d be bound to spend far, far, far too much money on things that I love.

Also, I’m really, really going to miss Lawry’s Carvery!

Are you hitting up Comikaze this year? What are you most looking forward to? Sound out below!

Comikaze_cropped

Stan Lee’s Comikaze Approaches, And The Comic Book Guests Are Unreal!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Of all the cool things that I was able to do last year, going to Stan Lee’s Comikaze was definitely one of the highlights. Yep, San Diego Comic-Con was incredible, but due to its sheer size and massive attendance, it becomes nothing but a line convention at times, and beyond stressful at others.

Comikaze, on the other hand, is nothing but fun. It’s huge, but not unbearably so. Tons (and) tons of people go, but you still have the freedom to move around the well-spaced show floor and not feel like you’re in a tin of sardines. Panels (even popular ones) are actually attendable without waiting in line for 24 hours, and just like SDCC, the guests are stellar (oh, and don’t even get my started on the nearby Lawry’s Carvery).

I’m a comic book guy, so the guest list that I’m always the most excited about is definitely the comic book pros. This year’s comic book guest list is stacking up to be nothing less than stellar. Some of the highlights include:

Brian Michael Bendis
Rob Liefeld
John Romita Jr.
Joe Jusko
Len Wein
Jim Lee
Peter David
Kevin Smith
J. Scott Campbell
Greg Horn
Whilce Portacio

But that’s just a fraction of who’s attending, and again, that’s just comic book guests. Here’s the full list. Tickets for Comikaze are available now, but special VIP options are going fast!

We’ll be sharing our Comikaze plans soon, but for now, be sure to let us know who you’re excited to see!

Comikaze

The Saint Mort Show Episode 098: Tony and Rosemary Tuski of RetroCon

by Saintmort

Next weekend I’ll be attending RetroCon in Oaks, PA so to prepare I sat down and spoke to Rosemary and Tony Tuski who founded the convention. We talked about the history of the convention as well as horror movies, toys and all things 80s. For more information check out their website at www.retrocons.com

The song playing during the intro is I Am The Living Dead by Harley Poe off their album Satan, Sex and No Regrets.

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The Saint Mort Show Episode 094: Paul Ray of Ashen Phoenix

by Saintmort

This week I sat down with Ashen Phoenix founder Paul Ray and we discussed what its like professionally attending comic conventions, why the internet would produce the worst wrestling writers and why Fantastic Four is almost undeniably going to be terrible.

The intro music contains the song Ocean City Windshield Punch by Facts . 

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Geekscape TV: Shane’s A Pretty Pony. Watch Him Compile His ‘My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic’ Rarity Cosplay!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Here at Geekscape, we’ve been working hard to bring you plenty of quality content for our new YouTube channel, Geekscape TV.

So far, you’ve seen The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened? director Jon Schnepp detail his top 5 Superman stories, Jonathan playing some real life Mario Kart at SXSW, Stan Lee talking Marvel vs. DC (and more),  Lou Ferrigno playing Flappy Bird, of course Hero of the Prophecy, and much more!

We’ve got plenty more coming down the pipeline, but today we want to show you something very special. Our resident My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic super fan (or Brony, whatever you want to call him), Shane O’Hare was just in California for this year’s WonderCon, and he put together an excellent Rarity cosplay. Watch him detail his outfit, awkwardly hit on Nicole, and show off his finished product below!

Bronies and Cosplayers, how did Shane do? Don’t forget to subscribe to GeekscapeTV on Youtube, because we’ve got plenty more where this came from!

A First Timer’s Convention Experience: Fan Expo Vancouver 2014

by Derek Kraneveldt

This is the awesome story of my first convention adventure at this year’s Fan Expo Vancouver! Yay, more Pop! figures!

So, since this was my first expo or convention ever, I was pretty ecstatic for the whole experience. I’d heard tales of (my boyfriend) Derek’s many experiences at other conventions like San Diego Comic-Con, Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, and Emerald City Comic-Con and I was obviously pretty envious! I decided I really wanted to attend one of these functions for myself and possibly even cosplay if I could gather up enough courage. Thankfully, Derek looked up some conventions that were close by and came up with Fan Expo Vancouver, which was very convenient since it was just a ferry ride away and rather affordable. I was super excited at this point, but also frustrated since it was about 3 months away (I’m not the most patient person in the world and I enjoy doing fun things so yeah, frustration) but this also gave me more time to get a costume together.

Thankfully, I got my costume all finished in time and I felt like I actually did a pretty good job. I was really quite proud of what I came up with (and very rarely have I been proud of something I made), so I was pretty confident and excited to wear my costume at the expo.

Me on costume day.
Me on costume day.

Since Derek and I live on an island, we had to take a ferry over to Vancouver, which I personally find quite peaceful, beautiful, relaxing and lovely (and long and annoying). Mostly, I was just excited to be heading out on an adventure with my boyfriend. The weather was wonderful the first day and I was just praying that it would stay that way throughout the weekend…it wasn’t quite as nice the following days, but it didn’t ruin any fun, that’s for sure. After the ferry, both Derek and I were rushing out of the harbour to get onto our bus that would take us pretty much right up to our hotel. Thanks to Derek’s horrible travelling skills we got a little lost and walked a couple extra blocks than we would’ve had to otherwise, but eventually we arrived at the hotel. We were a little early to check in, but we were able to leave our bags so that we could go out and explore some of Vancouver’s many restaurants. Some delicious, fresh Ramen noodles was our first meal there, and after that we had some time to check out the mall and get another good, long walk in. You see, I’m kind of lazy and don’t get much exercise these days, so this, for me, was pretty rough. Derek however, runs all the time and is just super cool like that so he had a fine time. We got back to the hotel and checked in. It wasn’t amazing, we had to climb pretty well about eleven floors to get to our room, (the elevator was out of service) though, that meant a cheaper stay for us, plus the room was actually very nice and cozy. Also, being on the top floor, we had an awesome view of downtown Vancouver.

We were nearing Fan Expo floor opening, and I was already trying to imagine what it would be like. All the people dressed up, the super awesome celebrities, and (hopefully) all the cool Pop! figures, and Totoro things and Minecraft things and… yeah, I was into buying things, that’s for sure.

So, we arrived. The Convention Centre was beautiful. It was clean and gigantic. It had some wonderful tile work, and interesting wood art hanging from the crazy high ceilings. Now that I think of it, I should’ve taken pictures! Damn. Anyways, it was a sweet building, and to me, fit perfectly for a convention. Once we got down to the show floor entrance area, Derek headed over to the special Press table to get his pass, while I headed down to get my super fresh Fan Expo shirt, bag with the Assassins Creed guy on it, lanyard and wristband. I was pretty pumped at this point, but decided to wait a half hour so that I could walk into the expo with Derek for my first experience. (since I got the premium pass I could go in 2 hours earlier, but we got to the convention centre a little later so that I wouldn’t have to wait so long for Derek to be allowed in).

My premium pass.
My premium pass.

Then, we were in. The first thing I could smell was the wonderful little mini donut stand, that sat right there at the entrance just drawing you in with that lovely donuty smell… but I wasn’t really all that interested in food at that point. I could already see a few of the booths. From what I could see, they were covered in merchandise. So much colour and busyness, it drew me right in. I was ready to spend lots of dough right then and there! Derek was smart though and suggested that we take a look at all the booths first, keeping in mind the things you wanted the most and to watch the pricing, because you could literally find a toy at one booth that seemed a pretty decent price, only to find the same one at another booth for much cheaper. I saw a Sailor Mercury figurine for fifty-something at one of the first booths I saw, but then saw the exact same one for about forty-something. That’s probably the first big lesson about conventions that stuck with me.

As we were zigzagging through, dodging people, wings, huge horns, armor, wigs, and weapons, I saw many many things I was eager to purchase (I wanted that little Totoro backpack so badly, I tell ya). I saw some gorgeous artwork done by people I had never heard of before. There’s so much hidden talent, I was amazed! It was really fun to flip through portfolios and just let my eyes wander. I ended up buying a beautiful print of a griffin. I was so excited to get it up on my wall at home and it actually motivated me to get back into drawing and possibly painting.

After exploring the booths rather thoroughly, I had decided we check out a Cosplay Panel to have some sit down time, but also because Cosplay is something I really want to get into. Unfortunately the panel wasn’t all that well organized and most of it was improv, but it was interesting to hear what the panelists had to say about their Cosplaying adventures, on making the costumes, and also wearing them. When the panel was over, it was the end of the first day. Though I was a little sad the first day was already over, I was super excited for the next day, being the longest day, with the most people and cosplayers! I as well was going to be dressing up, as San Princess Mononoke. I felt both nervous and ecstatic at the thought of what the next day could bring.

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That night, we went out on the town to find some dinner. After walking up and down Robson Street, like 28 times it felt like, we both finally decided on this cool little Mongolian BBQ restaurant. It was pretty awesome. The chef dude was right at the front window just showing off his fresh cooking skills. The process was pretty neat as well. It was somewhat of a buffet like style. You would get one bowl and you could fill it with your choice of meat, veggies, noodles and a massive selection of sauces, and when you were finished filling it, you would just leave your bowl with your table number underneath it on a little counter by the chef. When he had finished cooking it, one of the waitresses would bring it back up to you. It was a lovely meal, and was actually quite healthy too. I really enjoyed it and was so happy to be out with Derek exploring new foods.

After, we got back up to our hotel room we watched a little South Park and then went to sleep, not too late, to make sure we had enough energy for the next day.

It was saturday! The day I decided I would dress up. I was nervous I’m not gonna lie, yet I was very pleased with my costume and was rather confident in it! Derek didn’t dress up unfortunately, but hey, he’s still super awesome.

We both wanted to have a good breakfast that morning, so we decided on waffles…or something like that anyways. Derek using one of his many cool apps, found a little place nearby called Waffles n’ Berries. There we had two wonderful, pretty much gourmet, Belgian waffles. Probably the best we’d both ever had.

Eventually we made it back to Fan Expo once again. It was pretty chilly on the way there, and unfortunately Princess Mononoke doesn’t really wear a big sweater or jacket of some sort, so I had to suck it up and play the part. I’m sure she doesn’t fear the cold so why would I?

Saturday was definitely the best day. There were so many more Cosplayers and just so many more people altogether which made it a little claustrophobic, but also all the more exciting. Derek and I both went around again to check up on the merchandise, to see what needed buying, hehe. I actually had several people ask to take pictures with me too, even after being there for just an hour! I’m not gonna lie, I was really hoping at least one person would ask for a picture. After a couple hours of looking around together, we decided we should split up for a bit since he wanted to flip through comic boxes and I was busy trying to pick out earrings for pretty well 20 minutes at that point. Apparently we agreed on meeting up again at the mini donuts, but of course I didn’t get the whole message or something so I ended up waiting upstairs (also, Derek’s signal was crap so that didn’t help) We did find each other eventually though and that’s when we decided we would check out the Sailor Moon Salute panel.

The Sailor Moon panel.
The Sailor Moon panel.

Neither of us were quite sure what it was going to be, but I’ve always liked Sailor Moon and thought it’d be interesting to see and nice to sit down and relax for a while. It ended up being pretty fun and quite touching. This very devoted Sailor Moon cosplaying fan who was hosting the solute gave us a little dance he learned from watching many of the Sailor Moon musicals, which I had no idea existed, and sang along to the Japanese lyrics as well! That was a fun way to start off, but then they had this big burly guy step up onto the platform. He talked about this little 7 year old girl named Dawn who was a huge fan of Sailor Moon. He talked about how she had passed away from stage 3 cancer and her only wish was to see the famous Sailor Moon team, which thankfully she did get to meet. It was tough to hear, but it was a beautiful thing that team did for little Dawn. It’s remarkable to see such devoted fans so invested in what they love. Even if it’s just an anime, a show, a book, it can mean so much to them, they found beauty in the little things, it’s quite inspiring. So that was definitely a great thing to see and was a cool experience.

After the panel, we settled for a little more merchandise/comic book hunting until we both found ourselves famished and ready to chow down. That’s when we headed over to a food court that was conveniently placed just across the road from the Convention Centre. Derek saw Fat Burger right away which reminded him of one of his many food adventures during SDCC. while I was aiming towards something more like some good ol’ barbecue pork and noodles! (I love noodles). The food court was so full of Fan Expo goers though, it took an annoyingly long amount of time for Derek to get his burger, I was pretty well finished with my noodles by the time he found me. Once Derek was finished and we were both stocked up on energy, we set back to examine the paraphernalia and books some more and spent the next few hours doing that!

That evening we planned to see the Masquerade, where the cosplayers (who signed up for it) got to show off their hard work. It was impressive to see what people came up with, even some of the younger ones! I managed to get a few videos but with it pretty much at full zoom the quality wasn’t spectacular. Then, when the masquerade portion was finished with, the judges left to go do their deciding and left us with these kind of horrible “singers” who sang renditions of popular/geeky music. Derek and I sat there for probably at least an hour hoping it would soon come to an end, but I decided I had enough (and also felt like I possibly might hurl suddenly) and could care less about the results at that point, I mean, it doesn’t really matter who wins right? It’s the costumes themselves that are fan-tastic!

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By that time, another Fan Expo day had come and gone, Derek and I left in search of some food, ‘cause at that time it had actually been quite a while since we had last eaten. Fresh Slice Pizza is where we ended up having dinner. I was still all dressed up and felt kind of awkward, and I could tell Derek wasn’t really enjoying his “fresh” cold pizza, however, it was still quite a memorable moment. And I myself, didn’t really have a problem with the pizza (mine was delicious).

We climbed up our eleven stories once again to settle down and get some of our things packed. We decided we’d take a sea plane back home (a twenty minute ride rather than an hour and a half ferry ride) on the last day to give us more time at the expo and still make it back in time for Easter dinner. It was kind of a bummer, the weekend felt like it flew by and it sucked because I don’t remember the last time I’ve had that much fun. I also didn’t dress up the last day cause I wanted to be super comfortable (and didn’t necessarily want to wear my costume on the plane) because there were still a few more things I wanted to check out at the booths, and I wanted to explore the artist alley a little more thoroughly before leaving. I’m pretty sure I ended up spending more that day than any of the other two haha. In the beginning I didn’t even think there was much more I needed (wanted), but with me, I guess there always is.

The last few hours flew by and before I knew it we were on our super terrifying, turbulence filled sea plane ride back to our wee island. Though I was upset it was all over, I was happy with how it all worked out and definitely happy with all my purchases! (my horse mask in particular, and the last three Adventure Time Pop! Figures I needed for my collection!)

I had the time of my life at Fan Expo and already miss it so much! I was in awe at just how much stuff was there and the amazing art that a lot of artists had to show. There were so many dedicated fans there, such as the man who was really into his Sailor Moon stuff. I appreciate your commitment! And I’d like to thank those people who took photos with me, I just felt really special.

Also, I want to thank my lovely boyfriend, Derek, for encouraging me to dress up and just for making the whole amazing Fan Expo weekend come together! I want to go to so many more now and build up my costume making skills! I’m undoubtably going to go to a convention in the States! I WILL, ONE DAY!

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We Had A Blast At Last Weekend’s Fan Expo Vancouver: Here’s Our Recap!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Last weekend marked a HUGE start to a jam-packed convention season, with WonderCon in Anaheim, Sakuracon in Seattle, and Fan Expo in Vancouver all running concurrently from Friday through Sunday.

As I’ll be heading down to San Diego for Comic-Con in July, another trip across the border wasn’t in the cards for me this month (I’m located on Vancouver Island, Canada, if you weren’t already aware). So, I hopped on a ferry, grabbed a bus, and ended up here: the Vancouver Convention Centre. My ever-growing-in-geekiness girlfriend joined me for this one, as she’s never been to a convention before, and was super interested after hearing my many stories from last year’s SDCC and Stan Lee’s Comikaze. She even cosplayed (which you’ll learn all about in her special guest post which should be up in the next day or two).

Source: VancouverConventionCentre.com
Source: VancouverConventionCentre.com

I don’t spend much time in Vancouver, so I’d never actually had the pleasure of seeing its convention centre before. The building was absolutely incredible, to the level of possibly being the nicest building that I’ve ever entered. Seriously, check out the photo gallery on the building’s official website, and you’ll see what I mean.

Of course, I wasn’t here for the building. I was here to see what Fan Expo Vancouver’s 162,000 sq. ft of booths, exhibitors, artists, guests, panels, and more had to offer.

There were also a few specific single issues that I planned on hunting down:

1) The very first issue of Y: The Last Man, especially since series artist and Vancouver native Pia Guerra had a table in artist’s alley. – I failed on this front… apparently there wasn’t a single retailer on the show floor that had a copy. Y is my favourite comic book series, and so this is an issue that I’ve wanted for years.

2) The first issue of Vol 1. of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Spidey has been my favourite hero since I was a small child, but this is the series that got me really into comics. I’ve always wanted a copy of the first issue, and artist Mark Bagley was also at the convention. Sadly, I failed here too.

3) Saga chapter one. I read the first issue digitally before adding the book to my physical pull list. Of course, at the point chapter one was impossible to find a first print of. I succeeded here, got a great deal on the issue, and it was signed by artist Fiona Staples too.

Tickets for the Expo went on sale a couple of months before the show opened, and for such a well put together event, I was quite impressed with the price of entry. A pass for the entire weekend ran just $69, while a ‘premium’ pass was $99 and included a t-shirt, bag, collectible badge, and lanyard, along with entry through an exclusive entrance (which exited right by the mini-donut stand) and entry two hours before regular ticket holders. Have kids? They got in for free with your ticket purchase. Very cool.

The shirt included with the premium pass.
The shirt included with the premium pass.

Once we picked up our tickets, we walked through the premium (and press, apparently) entrance and were welcomed by a spacious, well laid out show floor. The celebrity autograph and photo op area were wide open, meaning that even if you weren’t interested in paying an autograph fee, you could still get a glimpse of any of the many celebrities in attendance. Those lines got very long, very fast, which meant that there was plenty of room to peruse through the 98+ exhibitor booths (and that’s not including artist’s alley). The aisles were wide, and even at the expo’s busiest times (read: the entirety of Saturday), you had room to move, which is more than you could expect from SDCC and Comikaze. I loved this aspect, as there was never a moment of Fan Expo that wasn’t calm, relaxed, and fun (or maybe it’s just Canadian), while the other aforementioned cons can be outright confusing and overwhelming at (most) times.

Interested in looking at the layout or seeing what events Fan Expo had to offer? Click here for the official schedule.

I spent the majority of the first day following my ecstatic girlfriend while she obsessed over Pop! figures (her newest addiction), studied each and every item at each an every booth (or at least what seemed like it), and excitedly talked to nearly every artist in artist’s alley. It was awesome to see, and reminded me of the perplexed awe that I felt both at my first convention (Emerald City Comic-Con in 2009), and especially last year at my first SDCC.

Once the show floor closed for the night, we walked around Vancouver’s famous Robson street in search of a neat dining experience unlike one that we’d find on Vancouver Island. We ended up at a Mongolian BBQ, which boasted a ridiculously affordable healthy meal that basically had us filling a dish with vegetables, meats and sauces in whatever portions we desired, before the restaurant’s chef cooked it up in front of you. The food was delicious, and more than filling, all for under $10.

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Photo via Tripadvisor

The next morning we left our hotel, grabbed some delicious (especially since I’d never had one before) Belgian waffles from a small cafe fittingly titled Waffles N’ Berries, and then headed back to the show floor. Today, we (of course) spent a lot of time on the floor (I did the lion’s share of my book hunting… and failing, today), but also decided to see what Fan Expo’s panels had to offer. Hayley donned the cosplay garb that she’d been working on for the last month (again, look for a guest post about that soon), and it looked great, and a ton of people asked her for photos, so while she was absurdly nervous while dressing up, she was nothing but confident when she arrived.

First we went to a Sailor Moon 20th anniversary panel. This one wasn’t my idea, as I’ve never really read (or watched) anything from the Sailor Moon universe. I’m very glad that I attended it however, as it was one of the best examples of fan community and passion that I’ve ever witnessed.  The panel started with the somber announcement of the passing of a 7 year old Sailor Moon superfan named Dawn. Dawn was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, and one of her final wishes was to be visited by the Sailor Moon team. Here’s the video of the visit:

Post by Anime Evolution.

Dawn passed away just a few weeks before Fan Expo. It was extremely heartbreaking to see the group member, who was a full grown man who looked as though he could easily take me in a fight (not that it would be particularly hard), break into tears and simply find himself too overwhelmed to continue speaking. It brought the entire room to tears, and was truly an inspirational moment of realization of just what fandom and community mean.

The multimedia panel continued with video clips from the multitude of Sailor Moon musicals (which I didn’t know existed, but they actually looked pretty cool), and the little known revelation that a new musical is in the works. Then we were shown some godawful footage from Toon Maker’s version of Sailor Moon. It was an animated/live-action hybrid, and it almost existed, here’s the video:

During the video, the room filled with Sailor Moon fans and cosplayers gasped and laughed at the worst imaginable version of the thing that they loved so much. It was pretty hilarious, but also extremely scary that something so bad nearly existed.

After the panel we grabbed some lunch (FatBurger, naturally) and went back to the show floor. This time we met WolfCop (check out the hilarious trailer here), and then split up for a bit so Hayley could look for more Pop! figures and so I could flip through long boxes. Good fun.

Before the show closed, we headed up to Ballroom A, where the Fan Expo’s first Masquerade was being held. This was essentially a cosplay contest with a hilarious MC, and for the most part it was a fantastic way to see some of the convention’s best costumes. Costumers walked the stage for the better part of 90 minutes (including the opening children’s group, which was ridiculously cute). There were some amazing costumes here, and I wish that I’d had a better camera on me at the time to snap some photos of them. The were just two issues that I had with the Masquerade; first being that a substantial portion of the entrants didn’t show up (why the hell would you sign up if you weren’t planning to make it), and second being that following the final entrant walking the stage, the judges left to talk about who should win… and then they didn’t return for over an hour. We actually left before the judges returned, as the room was reduced to non-performers heading onstage to sing terrible renditions of hit songs.

We were pretty tired that night from a 12+ hour stint at the Convention Centre, so instead of searching from another unique restaurant, we grabbed a few slices of pizza from a nearby Fresh Slice… which was possibly the worst pizza that I’ve ever had in my life. It came out of the ‘hot case’ ice cold, and I’m not overly sure that these doughy pieces of trash were ever blessed by heat.

The third and final day of the expo arrived, and we took it pretty easy this time around. We split up again so Hayley could look at more collectibles and I could yet again flip through longboxes. Being Easter Sunday, the floor wasn’t nearly as busy at this time, so I used the opportunity to go and meet The Walking Dead co-creator and original artist Tony Moore. Being a huge The Walking Dead fan, I obviously love his work, and Tony had for sale a variety of gorgeous TWD and non-TWD prints, and some incredible decked out sketch covers like the one below. I very nearly picked up one of these covers, but it was $600 I thought better put towards my San Diego trip.

I instead picked up a great print (though my first choice was sold out), and also got to grab a quick photo (see below). We chatted about the television series for a few minutes, and essentially agreed on the fact that the show does a lot of things right, but also does a lot of things wrong. He was really nice and approachable, and getting to meet and chat with Tony was probably the highlight of the convention for me.

Aside from looking at a lot of expensive comics that afternoon (I very nearly picked up a 9.9 CGC copy of The Walking Dead #1, but then realized that I just cleared my Visa, and I definitely don’t need to max it out again so soon), we did our rounds a few more times, grabbed some more mini donuts, and checked out more phenomenal cosplay. The show floor closed one last time, so we hopped on a sea plane back to Vancouver Island (which was much bumpier than usual), and went for Easter dinner.

Overall, Fan Expo Vancouver was a stellar and affordable convention, and was an absolutely fan-tastic (ha) time. If you’re anywhere near the west coast of Canada next April, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend my weekend there. I did snap a few cosplay photos (among others) during the weekend, so check those out below, and let us know what you think!

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View from the hotel.

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Looking For A Convention In Massachusetts? How About The Pop Culture Expo?

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Image Meet & Greet has just announced the first annual Pop Culture Expo, which will debut at the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington Mass. Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25.

The expo is a celebration in all forms of popular culture including a Comic Con and Collectibles Extravaganza, Cosplay, Costume and Videogame Competitions for Cash Prizes, Celebrity Guests, Panels, Autographs, Screenings, Animation and Anime, plus 150 vendors of Vintage and Modern Toys, Comic Books and Pop Cultural Artifacts.

Image CEO Gary Sohmers will even debut an interest ion variation to the standard autograph signing called a “Video Op,” where video will capture the signing of your autograph for authentication and to allow the fan to be in the video with the celebrity when they sign the autograph.

IMAGE has kept admission tickets low, ($25 online for a 2-day pass), prides itself on intimate panel rooms, and promises complimentary hotel shuttles,  FREE PARKING around the venue and shuttles to take people back and forth from the far ends of the lots as well.

Cash and prizes will be awarded in Cosplay Contests including their unique “Create-A-New-Superhero” categories, Video Game Tournaments and have levels of entry for all ages! Other events include VIP Package Breakfasts and Dinners with the Stars (8 seats open at each celebrity table), as well as a Party with the Stars available to anyone who purchases a vip ticket.

Plenty of fantastic guests have already confirmed attendance, including:

Pete Best (The Beatles)
Kristin Nairn (Game of Thrones)
Esme Bianco (Game of Thrones)
John Ratzenberger (Cheers, Pixar)
Alaina Huffman (Supernatural, Smallville, SGU)
Billy West (Futurama, Ren & Stimpy)
Mark Goddard (Lost In Space)
Maria Kannelis (Celebrity Apprentice, WWE)
Jon Provost (Lassie)
Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, The Crow)
Rae Dawn Chong (DIsney’s Whiz Kid of Riverton)
Deep Roy (Willie Wonka, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr. Who)
Tom Wayland (Pokemon)
Leah Cevoli (Robot Chicken)
Rachel Robinson (Final Fantasy)
Christopher Bevins (Dragonball Z)
Mike C. Manning (Disney’s Cloud 9)
Danielle Mackey (King of The Nerds)
Chris Farlow (Out of Time)
Artist Ken Kelly (Kiss, Vampirella)
Artist Roger Kastel (Jaws, Star Wars)
Animator Bill Plympton (Premieres “Cheatin’”)
Author Laurie Jacobson (Haunted Hollywood)
Parker Stevenson (Hardy Boys, Baywatch)
Artists Karen Gosselin, Paul Carricks, Beverly Coniglio and Nina Gelfent
Comix Artists Skip Williamson,  Gary Hallgren and Howard Cruse
Comic Artists Rusty Gilligan, Jim Taylor, Rob Taylor and Don Higgins
Kadrolsha Ona – Queen of the Paranormal
Mr. Puppet Bob Abdou

Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? For more info, head here!

Essen Recap: The BoardGame Geek Convention – Part II

by MonkeyMagic

So you join us fresh from Essen Part I. If you have not been there first this may not make much sense.

FRIDAY

Day two of the fair started with another early morning tactical table grab. This time we went for Kohle & Kolonie. It looked like a heavy game we could sink our teeth into. All about coal mining. As soon as the rules started we knew it was going to be our kind of game. We only played a partial game but got a good feel for it. It is a complex and heavy game. Not in so much as the rules are very complex, but the interplay of mechanics makes it a nice challenge to see just how to best play. Reminded me a little of a classic by the name of Brass. I didn’t buy a copy immediately due to fear it might hurt my head just a little too much. Went top of my shortlist though.

We managed to get a couple of other quick games in before it was time to head over and demo for Portal Games. Two of us were on shift at once demoing the previously mentioned Theseus as well as their other new release Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy. The latter is a fun family building card game where you all try and develop the most well renowned family by facilitating your family members having children, marrying of these children to different characters, buying property, holding social functions and so on. It is an enjoyable game with a strong narrative. When teaching I saw a number of players making little stories as they went. “We are poor so have to marry the shoemaker”, “the bakers daughter is very fertile and so we have an extra child”, “his wife dies in childbirth, no problem, he will get married again”. The character art also works well. It was always interesting to watch all the guys crane across to get a better look every time the attractive and mysterious “Pirates Daughter” was placed on the table. There would always be some disappointment when one of the other players took her as a bride.

It was a fairly intense but still enjoyable 4 hours of demoing running up until the doors closed for the day.

... in a big ass hall
… in a big ass hall

As it was Friday night we decided to go out for dinner. One of the traditional locations is The Mexican, no idea what it is actually called. After a couple of games of Donburiko we were ready to go. When we arrived it wasn’t looking good. It was very busy and we were 8 people. More importantly cocktail happy hour was about to end. We managed to shoehorn ourselves onto an undersized table some friends were leaving and maximised our cocktail order about 3 mins before half price cocktails was over. This meant two pint of cocktail per person. Excellent. Cocktails arrived and we placed our food order. Then disaster struck, the kitchen was too busy to take any more orders. We had about a litre of cocktail to drink each and no food. We could not leave, but it was almost 10pm, we needed food. In the end we managed to get two sharing platters between the 8 of us. There were some hungry tums after that.

As the evening went on the conversation deteriorated. After the great story of the friend who ordered a thousand chicken nuggets at McDonalds, we moved onto to the popular dinner table topic of “Most Embarrassing Shit”. This was not about the turd whose shape and consistency one was most ashamed of, but the most embarrassing circumstances in which one had laid a devil cigar. Favourites included the one that plopped out of the bottom of the bus while everyone was loading their luggage at the station, the chap out in the forest who knocked on the door of a nearby house to find it was a show home and so peeled the cellophane off the pan but discovered that there was no water plumbed in to dispose of his good work and had to simply re-wrap the toilet with a gift inside, and the turd that wouldn’t come in the airplane toilet so had to be sucked back into the gentleman’s body in time for landing after which his friends had to leave him at the airport to allow him the time needed to get the task completed. Next one of the larger gents in our group managed to convince pretty much all of us that he could beat two of the more lithe chaps in a 25m sprint. Sadly this was subsequently proved to be incorrect in a sprint across the wet central town square of Essen.

When we got back to the hotel it was late and we were not at our mental pinnacle. Two of us tried to master the fairly hefty Cornish Smuggler. We struggled through what was probably a very reasonable rulebook and played a few rounds. After a spell I realised I had backed myself into an untenable position with no way to sell the goods I had smuggled across half of Cornwall and no money left to make a different play. With our brains aching we decided to call it quits while we still could. Despite this the two of us decided to play Lost Legacy in the room. It is based on a game we know very well called Love Letter that plays in about 2 minutes. Reading through the rules it all sounded good, although the fact I fell asleep briefly and dropped my card as my companion drew his first card was a bad omen. Then, after scrutinising them for a while he declared that he could not legally play either card. Soundly beaten by the fatal alcohol+fatigue+Essen combo we gave up.

SATURDAY

The must play table dash this morning was Amerigo, designed by Stefan Feld, the man responsible for the classic that is In the Year of the Dragon. It had some clever mechanics and we all enjoyed it as a good solid effort, but nobody was totally wowed.

We had another good day getting in quite a few reasonable titles. Just after a game of L’Aéropostale we saw our 3rd chair-destruction-by-overweight-gamer. Comedy value was added by the fact that despite not actually being that massive they did a great beached whale number on the floor, I think more due to low IQ than high BMI. They need to get stronger chairs next year. Or scales at the door.

The highlight of Saturday at the fair was SOS Titanic. A co-operative game where you try and evacuate the passengers off the Titanic onto the lifeboats before it sinks. It has a Solitaire/Patience mechanic at it’s centre with each passenger represnted by a card that you have to line up on the deck of the Titanic. It has some really nice touches that make decisions tough but avoids the one player dictator problem some co-ops can have. It is also beautifully presented with a ring bound book representing the Titanic that sinks as you flip the pages with the progress of the game.

Back at the ranch we played Northern Pacific. A game we have had to class as Broken AND Genius at the same time. There is a map with a rail network across America and the train will make it’s way from one side of the board to the other without ever doubling back. On your turn you can do one of two things – place one of your cubes in a city the train has not yet been to, or chose which city the train goes to next from its current location. Every time it reaches a city with a cube in it each player gets their cube back and one more from the supply. The player with the most cubes when the train has completed its E to W journey wins. Unless no one has more cubes than they started with in which case the game wins! Crucially each city will accommodate one less cube than there are players. Consequently someone will always be left out. So if players 1, 2, and 3 load up a city that the train can go to next, player 4 will move the train to one of it’s other possible destinations, meaning all the other players have made a cube loss. So when player 1 places in A, player 2 might decide to join them or might decide place in city B. Player 3 must decide whether to join in the fun in A or B. Or maybe they will speculate on C, the common location the train could go to next after A or B. And so on. On the one hand it feels like there is no game and there will be a solvable “best move” each turn, on the other each situation seems different and one player can suddenly change the landscape completely with a single cube placement. Despite the concern that we were the ones being played, I have tabled this three times and it has been played 4-5 times in a row each time. The fact in plays in 10-15 minutes helps this, but it is very addictive.

We then had a game of what we call Wobbly Ship, officially know as Riff Raff. Why describe it when a video speaks a thousand words.

Finally we played the catchily titled Geistesblitz 5 vor 12. Place a selection of 8 wooden items on the table – a ghost, a mirror, an owl and so on. Flip a card. First player to grab the item from the card that matches one of those on the table, same item and same colour, wins the card. Get it wrong and you lose a card. Simple. But…

– If there is no exact match then you must grab the item which has neither it’s colour nor it’s likeness on the card.
And then add the advanced rules
– If there is a ghost with a clock grab nothing but shout the time on the clock
– If there is an item reflected in a mirror grab that item regardless of colour
– If there is an owl on the card shout the correct item rather than grabbing it
– If there is a mirror and an owl shout the colour of the item in the mirror
Stand back while your brain melts.

Geistesblitz 5 vor 12
Geistesblitz 5 vor 12

Need sleep.

SUNDAY

 As we entered the final day I still had a certain emptiness. While there had been some excellent filler and party type games I was still looking for my Game Of The Show. A classic 90-120 minute medium to heavy weight game that I might continue to play for years to come. Each Essen should have at least one.

Our last great hope was Nations. We had been too slow to get a table Saturday morning so got in extra early and sprinted right there. Having secured a table we were then lucky enough to be taught by one of the game designers.

This is an epic 40-60 mins per player civ game, a bit like Civilization the computer game. You build up your empire by buying different cards from a common board and placing them on your own board. There are the key commodities of grain, stone and money, which have different uses. There are also tracks for books (knowledge), military strength and stability. Each track has its own rewards and opens up various options. How much you have of any of these variables is determined by the cards you buy for your board and in some cases which cards you deploy workers to. And of course there are VPs, both earned during game and at end game scoring.

Nations
Nations

Initially it sounds pretty simple; the rules are pretty elegant, if a bit solitaire. But it’s not. Other player actions are crucial. You are frequently in direct competition on the three tracks, with absolute score on any track often much less important than position relative to other players. Also you frequently really want 2 or 3 cards from the common pool and will agonise over which one might still be there by the time it gets round to your turn again. One player’s move can often have a huge impact on your plans.

At last. Game of the Show. Several copies were bought and I felt satisfied. So far it has stood the test of time. Mission accomplished I felt free to wander the halls aimlessly. We then stumbled across a free table. It was a slightly odd setup being a shop booth, rather than a publisher booth, but it had a single gaming table tacked on to the edge. And what was laid out but Coal Baron. Or in German “Glück Auf”. Sounds a bit like “F**k Off”, which is enough to be mildy entertaining to our childish brains. More importatntly it was one of the few remaining games on my list to try. As icing on the cake a charming and pretty young lady was waiting to teach us.

It’s a game about mining. Expand your mine, mine your coal, obtain orders for different kinds of coal, fulfil you orders. After we had got over our excitement at the little lift in the middle of each player board that actually slides up and down, accessing different levels, we got stuck in. What a great game. Simple, intuitive, and fast paced but with plenty of interaction and tough choices. My number two big box game of the show. What a day!

As time was ruuning out it was important to complete the Essen experience by visiting the visiting the Geek section. Yes, even as a bunch of geeks travelling across Europe to a boardgame convention, there is a subsection even we find too Geek. The cosplayers and LARPers. In one part of the hall you can find massive arrays of weapons for sale, both foam and metal, stunning armour, booths selling mead for the drinking, pixie ears and so on. And some pretty intense costumes.

The rubber armoury
The rubber armoury

Skaven I believe [image - JPWatts]
Skaven I believe [image – JPWatts]

And so we played a couple more games before we exited the hall for the last time and made our way to the car for the long drive back to Paris.

Once again our journey took us through godforsaken Belgium where we bookended our weeks awful diet with another MacD’s. It did however bring us a sweet reward from the petrol station were we found some neat little limited edition Lego cars to bring home for the children. As we struggled to stay awake in the dark we had plenty of time for post match analysis of this year’s Essen.

It is always hard to judge the games in the bigger scheme of things until they have had time to settle in to their place in the wider pantheon of boardgames. Some years produce classics that still have a place many gamers all time top 10’s. For example 2007 gave us In the Year of the Dragon and 2008 Tinners’ Trail both of which still have a warm place in many of our hearts. Will Nations be viewed through rose tinted spectacles in the brave new world of 2019? Over all the impression was that, yes, this had been a good year for games. From fillers like Donburiko and Pick-a-Polar Bear to the bigger boxes of Nations and Coal Baron. We both felt satisfied that our games booty would get some good mileage in the future. The experience in the fair each day had also been good. The new halls worked fine and, with the exception of awkwardly placed toilets, the layout seemed to work. We also felt as though, unlike some previous years, we spent very little time wandering around unable to get a table when we wanted to. The group size worked out well too. Eight is a good number as two groups of 4 is the ideal split (a lot of games will not take 5 or more players). Although we got into a habit of sticking in the same 4s for the whole show, this was partly due to taste in games and beer-game priorities, and we did manage to mix it up a bit. Maybe most importantly the company was good and there was a lot of laughing. We laughed while playing games, laughed with good games, laughed at bad games, laughed between games and laughed at plenty of really bad chat. And there were some really embarrassing shit stories. Probably the only thing missing was sleep.

Within a few days of getting back I had already booked us 4 rooms for 2014…

I had to fit the left hand tower of 25 games in my suitacse
I had to fit the left hand tower of 25 games in my suitacse

Essen Recap: The BoardGame Geek Convention – Part I

by MonkeyMagic

Essen. You know, probably the biggest gathering of geeks in the whole world? Every October in the industrial town of Essen in Germany? No?

For boardgamegeeks, this is it. Over a period of four days 156,000 visitors come to see 828 exhibitors across 48,000 square metres of exhibition space. Officially titled Internationale
Spieltage SPIEL’13, it is generally just referred to as Essen.

This was my 7th year and I thought I would share the experience.

WEDNESDAY

So we had a crew of eight of us going this year. Seven from sunny Glasgow in Scotland plus Colin from gay Paris. I flew over to Paris early with the family as Colin and I planned to road trip from there to Germany. The rest of the gang flew into Amsterdam and drove their way in too.

Essen survival kit
Essen survival kit

First order of business – sort out the suitcase. Inevitably many games will be purchased and it is crucial to maximise suitcase size and minimise the unnecessary clutter that you put in it. A few years ago I inadvertently did such a good job that I forgot all my clothes other than spare underwear (thankfully), and the clothes I was wearing of course.

Crucial equipment – small quantity of clothing, lots of bubble wrap, baggies for game bits, luggage scales, and loads of snacks including compulsory mallow and Monster Munch. Oh, and a print out of my list and map. The list is the collection of games I am interested in playing, collated by hours spent pouring over the 552 games that have made it to the Boardgamegeek Essen 2013 list. And a map of the halls, all the better to find them with.

Having dropped my family at the airport we were off – road trip. Our 5 days of shitty food started with a McDonalds as we made it through the travesty that is Belgium; hideous roads. For some reason we thought it would be an appropraite homage to German music to relive our industrial music past en route. Ministry, Lard, Sheep on Drugs, Front 242, Revolting Cocks, Warlock Pinchers and so on..

We made pretty good time and decided to head straight to the fair. Officially it doesn’t open until Thursday but as we were demoing for Portal Publishing we knew we could get in during the setup day.

Now would probably be a good time to explain how Essen works. I have never been to any other geek cons for comparison but I suspect some of it is pretty similar and some of it not. The central premise is that game publishers bring their new games and we play them. That simple. Each publisher has a booth, size obviously dependent on budget; from sharing half a table with another publisher to having a collection of 20 or so tables like so (shown in the quiet before the doors opened)…

Before the storm
Before the storm

Us geeks then roam around the halls, we jump onto a table with a game that interests us when a seat comes up, we get taught how to play the game by the booth staff, and then we play. And that is Essen. Pretty much anyway, there are of course a lot of stalls that are essentially board games shops. And a small minority of stalls that differ from these two standard models.

So where were we? Wednesday. The fair is not open yet but you can go in. On previous years this has been slightly pointless. All the publishers are busy setting up and are not ready to teach, and nobody is supposed to sell anything. We were keen this year for two reasons. One, the halls had moved. For the last six years it had been the same halls that were in use, and generally the publishers were in the same place. So you get to know your way around; where to find your favourite publishers, how to shortcut between hall 9 and hall 2, where the hotdog stands are, where the toilets are. Crucial survival information. This year, due to refurbishments, everything had moved so a chance for re-orientation a day early was very welcome. Secondly we wanted to pick up some of our pre-orders to play that night. So we completed aforesaid missions and cruised around a bit.

We even managed to get a couple of games in. Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice, which was a fun light wrestling game, but ultimately a bit disappointing, and Donburiko which is officially ‘Genius’. At times in our group we opt for a simple binary rating system ‘Genius’ or ‘Broken’. Sometimes a game will start of as Genius but get a verdict of Broken before the end of our first play. Or move from Genius to Broken and back to Genius. You get the idea. Donburiko was consistently Genius. One of the nice chaps from Japon games taught us this. The game designer in fact (a common Essen bonus). It’s simple mechanic – add a card to a row (the numbers of rows equals the number of players) or pick up a row. However for a small fee you can play cards face down. Numbered cards in each row are totalled. If you manage to pick up a pile worth 6 you end the round early and everyone else still in gets nothing. Under 6 and you score your total, over 6 and you are ‘bust’ and must pay the bank a fee. There are minus cards and “make all minus cards positive” cards. When you see a pile with one hidden card you have to decide; was it the perfect 6 the other player was setting up for themselves and so you must take it, or is it a trap and you will be bust. I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me! This has had quite a bit of play since the fair and remains universally popular.

So we took our loot and headed off to find the other 6 gentlemen travellers from our party. They had not been idle while we were working hard and we found them enjoying German food and beverages in the pub. Having reconvened it was time to participate in the other important Essen pastime. Playing boardgames. But in the hotel, and with beer.

The traditional structure of a day in Essen, for me anyway, is as follows. Get up around 7:30 am. With difficulty. Get ready. Go to the bakery round the corner from the hotel and buy an Apfelberliner, a Franzbroetchen and a cup of tea. Drive to the halls. Enter before the doors open with an exhibitor pass earned by demoing. Grab a table for one of your must-play games. Play. Find another table. Play. Grab some low quality fast food for lunch, probably a hotdog. Play. Repeat until the doors close, punctuated by wandering round the halls and maybe buying some stuff. Go back to the hotel, decide whether to have dodgy hotel pizza for dinner to maximise gaming time, or to go out for dinner. Drink beer. Play the games people have bought. Drink beer. Play. Drink beer. Play. Admit defeat at around 5am and go to bed. Start again in two and a half hours.

Theseus [image - Scorn The Great]
Theseus [image – Maciej Mutwil: Portal Games]

This year we had offered to demo for Portal Publishing, run by Ignacy Trzewiczek. A bunch of us basically work their stall teaching their new games and in exchange get passes to get into the halls early, as well as usually have a good time in the process. We weren’t demoing until Friday but had picked up a copy of Theseus to learn so thought it wise to make a start. We were slightly hampered by one of the four of us having spent the afternoon in the pub, and feared he would crash and burn. But after a pizza he perked up and it all came good. Thesues is a tactical game with factions moving around a space station trying to kill each other and collect data. You choose from Marines, Scientists, Aliens and Greys. The movemens of your units through the rooms is strictly defined. They move a number of rooms equal to the number of units in the room it starts in. Each room has different special actions and more importantly each faction plays cards into all the rooms, often setting up traps. I have played this game quite a few times now and it continues to reveal new facets. The more you play the better you can see the strategic choices in the game and the strengths and weaknesses of different factions. While the ‘mancala’ movement seems chaotic and uncontrollable at first, you start to see how you can plan several moves ahead, and even better force you opponent to move to certain locations to mess them up.

We played a couple of Japon brand games next, before finishing the night with a game of Coup. This is a game from a previous Essen where players have hidden identity cards that allow them to take different actions. Mainly focused around taking money from the bank or other players, and then saving up to kill other players. It is all about bluffing, or less politely, lying. You can claim to have any card you like, possibly changing your claim from one turn to the next. But others can call you on it. If they are right you lose a life, if they are wrong then they are the ones who lose a life. All the lying, cheating and backstabbing suits our group nicely. This year they added the Reformation expansion. This adds factions that you can change, or be forced to change, between. Catholics and Protestants. Perfect for us chaps from the sectarian city of Glasgow. Genius.

And so to bed.

THURSDAY

The official Day 1 of the fair. Our reconnaissance had paid off and we used our passes to get in early and run straight to our chosen game – A Study in Emerald. This was selected as not only were we keen to try it, but we also knew copies were in limited supply so it might sell out. It was this years release from ‘celebrity’ designer Martin Wallace who has a fairly solid back catalogue. Thematically it’s a strange mix of Sherlock Holmes meets Cthulhu. It was fun to play but a slightly unusual hidden factions mechanic left us a little uncertain. No purchase was made. We moved on to have our first freeform cruise of the fair.

Did I tell you it is massive. 156,000 people. Comic-Con 130,000. Comikaze 45,000. E3 48,200. In Germany boardgaming is a very popular family pastime. The majority of attendees are Germans, teenagers, old folk, families with young children, just pretty regular folk. For Germans anyway. There is of course a strong Geek contingent. Boardgame obsessives like myself who travel to the Mecca of gaming from literally all over the world. While we will roam all over, you will find us disproportionately crowding round the smaller publishers at the back of the halls. So it gets busy. Walking about can be tough, and it always helps to know the shortcuts through the courtyards, especially to the toilets.

Lots of tiny people...
Lots of tiny people…

Having said that we did pretty well and never spent to long waiting for a table. Flicking through the rules for the end game conditions to work out which table will finish next sometimes helps here.

Later on Thursday we experienced a classic cultural stereotype at one of the French publisher stalls. We saw a couple of free tables for a game we wanted to check out. Having dashed over and secured it we looked for someone to explain the game. Should be no problem, there were loads of guys in staff T-shirts around. We approached one and politely asked. Sorry, no. He had been working all morning and was going to eat some lunch. Actually no, not just him, all the staff, about 8 of them had decided to simultaneously down tools and stop doing any work on their stall while everything stopped for lunch. Only the French.

Our group of 8 was split into 4 and 4 for most of the fair, very few games play 8. As 4 of us sat playing we got a text in from the others guys. “Game of the show Suburban Dispute, Hall 2 D105”. Wow! We had been looking for a great game so made haste there after we had finished up. The artwork looked cheesy but the man dressed as an Italian Gangster style seemed nice. The concept sounded like it could be fun – try to annoy your neighbours while you amass wealth and develop your home. The rules seemed a little simple at first but things were obvioulsy just about to get interesting. Except they weren’t. Half way through the second round I realised. C***s! We had been conned. On your turn draw a card, it tells you some “amusing” and unpleasant thing you can do to your neighbour, pick another player (who is usually unaffected by the fact that you “tipped over their bins” or defiled them in some other unspeakable way), roll the dice. If you succeed gain the points stated on the card. That’s it. Probably the worst game I have ever played in my entire life. The kind of game you might make at nursery school. If you were a bit special.

Ultimately we managed to play 10 games during the day on Thursday. The best being a light filler called Pick-a-Polar Bear (or Dog or Pig). You lay out a grid of cards and then in a massive free-for-all everyone simultaneously picks cards off the table to add to their hand in sequence. Each card must be the same or one different from the one below. For example sunglasses on or off, one hand or two, big or small. A great fun 20 minute game.

Pick-a-Polar Bear
Pick-a-Polar Bear

And so we retired for dinner. Dodgy take away fish that night I think. We got a couple more big games in at the hotel before playing One Night Werewolf. Some of you will have played the classic party game Werewolf, this is similar but works for less players, needs no moderator, and is arguably funnier.

There are a selection of role cards, one is assigned to each player and they secretly look at the them, two are left unknown face down in the middle of the table. The 10 min timer is started, or even better the free phone app with a dedicated soundtrack. You are all villagers, but up to two of you are secretly werewolves. Each is faction is trying to kill the other. A couple of villagers have a special ability. Either to secretly look at another player’s card [Seer], or to secretly swap cards with another player, taking over their role [Thief]. Once the secret shenanigans are over everyone opens their eyes and discusses which player should be killed – werewolves try to get a villager voted and vice versa. Claims and accusations fly around the table. “I am the Seer and I saw Nick’s card and he is a villager”. “You cant be because I am the Seer and I saw Colin was a villager, so you must both be werewolves.” “No, you must be a werewolf”. “Then what about the Thief, who was the Theif”…. “So maybe the Thief card is in the middle of the table this round.” “Or maybe the Thief stole a card from a werewolf but does not want to admit it as they are now on the werewolf team.”. So many entertaining logic and false logic arguments to be had. But before you get your head clear the timer runs out and you all point at someone. Whoevere gets the most votes is killed. See if they were a werewolf or a villager and see who won. One of the guys managed to break the game to hilarious effect by refusing to believe anything anybody said as he swore blind someone (ie a Thief or a Seer) had touched his card. Eventually a werewolf “admitted” to it, convincing him to kill his fellow villagers. Doh. Of course, nobody had moved his card.

And on that note it was time for some sleep.

One Night Werewolf [image – akidelic]
One Night Werewolf [image – akidelic]

Look for further adventures in Part II on Wednesday. Tune in for coal mining, most embarassing shit, fat men breaking chairs, game of the show, coal mining again, and more …..

The Saint Mort Show Episode 073: “Making a Movie on a Low Budget” Panel

by Saintmort

This is the first of three podcasts recorded at Tanoshiicon. My roommate and co-writer Jeff Shropshire co-hosted all three panels but our guests on this first panel were Steph and Tim from Episode 59.

This episode contains Unique New York by Batten Down the Hatches from Chords for Cures Volume 2.

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If you really like the show get Matt something nice off his AmazonWishList

Subscribe to Us on iTunes

 

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The Saint Mort Show Episode 071 – TanoshiiCon

by Saintmort

This Saturday (3/1/14) The Saint Mort Show will have 3 panels at TanoshiiCon so to prepare I sat down with some of the people behind West Chester University’s first Convention. 

This episode contains Ocean City Windshield Punch by Facts.

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If you really like the show get Matt something nice off his AmazonWishList

Subscribe to Us on iTunes

 

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HawaiiCon Valentine’s Day Sale Is Today 2/13 and Tomorrow 2/14!

by Kari Lane

Back in September I interviewed one of the founders of HawaiiCon, GB Hajim, about this new and fun convention! Tickets, tours and hotel bookings are now available and from 2/13-2/14 there is a special sale on passes!

HawaiiCon Valentine’s Day Sale!

What better way to treat your most favorite fan in the galaxy than to take them to the most exclusive convention – HawaiiCon! On February 13th & 14th only via this special link ( http://goo.gl/PtQ0Fi ) you can get a free companion pass with the purchase of a pass with hotel package. HawaiiCon is scheduled for September 12, 13, and 14, 2014 right on the beach at the Hapuna Beach Prince Resort.

The list of celebrities is unprecedented for a first year convention: Most of the cast of Stargate: Atlantis are scheduled to appear for a 10 year reunion, Claudia Christian and Patricia Tallman from Babylon 5, Richard Hatch, Michael Hogan and Kate Vernon from Battlestar Galactica, Esme Bianco from Game of Thrones, and voice actress Cree Summer (Drawn Together). Super genre writer-producer Jane Espenson will be on panels and running a writing workshop. For an extra special event, HawaiiCon will be hosting the 78th birthday bash of Walter Koenig, the original Chekov from Star Trek with some special guests. Panelists and workshop experts include world renown Mars mission scientist Bobak Ferdowski, Hawaiian cultural experts, cosplay designers, robotics teams, astronomers, and aerospace experts.

More info about tickets, tours and hotel bookings are available via www.hawaiicon.com

Follow HawaiiCon on FaceBook at: facebook.com/HawaiiCon and Twitter: @HawaiiCon

valentineAD

Long Beach Comic Con: Things We Can’t Wait To See!

by GeekscapeStaff

Long Beach Comic Con is this weekend at the Long Beach Convention Center and we’re gonna be there checking things out and poking around! Okay, so maybe it isn’t the massive juggernaut that San Diego Comic Con is… but if you know where to look there are some really cool things to discover!

Here are our suggestions on what to see while you’re there!

Kari

This will be my second year attending Long Beach Comic and Horror Con and I enjoyed the panels I saw last year.

Saturday

This year I am interested in Location Location Location (Saturday, 1PM, Room 102B). This panel will have authors disusing how the setting can affect the mood of a story. Often the location of a story is taken for granted but it can play a pretty integral part so I am interested in what these experts have to say.

The 80s/90s cartoons were the best cartoons ever (quality and story) thus I must attend the panel Disney Afternoon (Saturday, 3PM, Room 102B). The panelists worked on such amazing shows such as Gargoyles, Animaniacs, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, and more!

Gargoyles

Continuing with the nostalgia theme, there is The Truth Is Out There: Conspiracies, Ghosts & Aliens With Dean Haglund (Saturday, 4PM, Room 102B). I like horror/spooky panels and it would be fun to see him in person (I have been re-watching the X-Files on Netflix).

Sunday

I love doing crafts and am looking forward to Star Wars Origami (Sunday, 12PM, Room 103B/C). I think it will be fun to make Star Wars characters and who knows, maybe it will be a good holiday gift inspiration.

Lastly, I want to check out From Fear To Fiction (Sunday, 3PM, Room 103B/C) where they will be talking about how to channel your fears into something creative.

SJ Borger

Well, as a fan of the Doctor, I am most excited about the live simulcast of the 50th Anniversary episode, “The Day of the Doctor” on Saturday. Long Beach Comic Con will be showing it, plus all the pre-show hoopla (including a recently announced special from the YouTube channel The Nerdist) and I can hardly wait!

day-of-the-doctor-Copy

Not that that’s the only thing; there’s almost too much happening on Saturday. I may go into geek-overload! Right after the Doctor Who special, there’s a Q&A with John Kricfalusi, who created Ren & Stimpy, at 2 there’s the Beyond Clichés panel, about creating strong and dynamic female characters in comics and video games (yay!); then at 3 p.m. it’s the Disney Afternoon panel, with animators and talent from the Disney studios, and at 5 p.m. it’s Scott Lobdell vs. Marv Wolfman panel, and who wouldn’t want to listen to those two industry giants chat?

I honestly don’t know when I’m going to have time to hit the exhibit floor!

Jonathan

Saturday

1pm – JOHN KRICFALUSI
This is a must attend. I mean, really. The cartoonist who created The Ren & Stimpy Show! He’s pretty much responsible for most of my humor in Middle School (I know… I’m old)… so how could I possible miss this? This’ll be a great Q&A!

2pm – ROBOTECH INDUSTRY PANEL
Harmony Gold’s Tommy Yune was one of my guests on the Kaiju VS Men in Suits panel at Comikaze so I know the guy is legit and very entertaining to listen to! Steve Yun joins him as they showcase all the latest live action and animated Robotech productions! This’ll be great!

6pm – MARK WAID SPOTLIGHT
This one will be a highlight for me. From fan to editor to legendary writer and creator, Mark Waid is synonymous with incredible comics. I can’t wait to hear the man talk and just soak in the knowledge!

The man himself, Mark Waid!
The man himself, Mark Waid!

Sunday

12pm KEVIN EASTMAN PANEL
Formore Geekscape guest himself… and creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, publisher of Heavy Metal just to name a few of his projects! As great as he was on Geekscape, I know I can’t pass up an opportunity to hear Kevin speak some more!

Guests

Lance Henriksen – Booth #313

Guys, anyone who hasn’t read Lance’s autobiography ‘Not Bad For a Human‘ is seriously missing out. It’s an incredibly fascinating read and Lance has led an incredible life. Shit. I just want to shake his hand!

Jim Mahfood – Booth #1512

From Clerks to Tank Girl to his own gallery pieces, Jim’s one of my favorite artists. I love his insane style, met him at NYCC and can’t wait to have him on the show. I’ll use this opportunity to invite him, what do ya say!?!

Darick Robertson – Booth #1709

Another artist fave… and awesome music fan! Darick did a signing at the Geekscape SDCC booth and we should get him on the show finally. I mean, who doesn’t love his work on Hitman and The Boys?!?

Tone Rodriguez – Booth #1612

Mr. Rodriguez did the incredible cover for Super Action Man and has been a long friend of Geekscape. Absolutely I have to drop by and pay him a visit. Or maybe S.A.M. should…

Derek

I unfortunately won’t be attending this year’s Long Beach Comic Con as I’m stuck in Canada until at least the new year, but I’m insanely jealous of the Geekscape writers that are lucky enough to be going.

Looking at the schedule, it’s easy to see why LBCC is a convention that’s in a continuous, rapid state of growth: the programming is simply excellent, and it’s bound to draw in thousands upon thousands of new attendees this year.

Had I been lucky enough to attend, here are the panels that I’d be most looking forward to (and their descriptions, of course):

Saturday

1:00PM – Room 103BC: Star Wars Origami With Chris Alexander – Come on by and learn step by step how to make some of your favourite Star Wars characters out of paper.

2:00PM – Room 102C: IDW: The Panel of Doom – IDW’s annual panel extravaganza is back! Come hear what IDW Marketing guy Dirk Wood and IDW Senior Editor and Grand Poobah of Big Books Scott Dunbier have coming your way! Surprises, Hi-jinx, Q&A and Fun! Come armed with questions, you just may get a prize or two!

5:00PM – Room 102C: Boom! Comics – What’s Next For The Independent Publisher? – From Movies and television to comics and more, Boom! is making a name for itself in the industry! What do they have up there sleeve for 2014? Come find out!

6:00PM – Room 104A: Mark Waid Spotlight – What is in the mind of Mark Waid? Come find out how Mark comes up with his great ideas and stories for some of the most iconic comic characters in the industry.

Sunday

12:00PM – Room 104A: Kevin Eastman Panel – He co-created one of the most enduring comics in the last 20 years! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Heavy Metal, and The Other Dead, just to name a few of the projects he has going on. Get inside the mind of Kevin Eastman as he opens up about the past, and future projects!

2:00PM – Room 102B: How To Get More Freelance Work – How can writers, artists, and other freelancers market themselves better? Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, join us to discuss the freelance world with Steven L. Sears (comic writer/creator and writer/ producer for three decades of TV series, including Xena: Warrior Princess), Brooks Wachtel (artist and Emmy-award winning animation writer), Christian Gossett (artist, writer, director, creator of The Red Star graphic novels, concept designer for George Lucas), Sarah Gaydos (Editor of comics like Young Justice, Batman Beyond Unlimited, and Star Trek), and Shaene Siders (writer for movies, games, and comics like Discovery Channel’s Megalodon and Prehistoric Sharks).

4:00PM – Room 102B: The Writer’s Journey: Breaking Into Comic Book and Hollywood Scriptwriting – The old days of sending in unsolicited pitches to big comic book companies in the hopes of getting hired are dead and gone. If you are an unpublished writer with dreams of making it in the comic book industry, and you don’t know how or where to begin, this is the panel for you. Join Hollywood screenwriter/graphic novel producers Brandon M. Easton (ThunderCats [2011] , Transformers: Armada, Shadowlaw), Geoffrey Thorne (In the Heat of the Night, Ben 10, TNT’s Leverage, Star Trek: Titan, Genre 19) and Jonathan Callan (Ben 10: Omniverse, Generator Rex, Slugterrainea, The Prisoner Webcomic) as they share insider information, publishing secrets and the professional realities on how to develop your ideas into a viable comics proposal.

That, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much to see and do at the Long Beach Horror and Comic Con, and I’m sorry that I can’t be there. I hope that all of you that do attend have an absolute blast, and be sure to look out for Jonathan, Kari, and SJ while you’re perusing the floor!

Eastman

Banner Photo Credit: FlashFloodMedia

The Stan Lee’s Comikaze Panels We’re Most Looking Forward To!

by GeekscapeStaff

Stan Lee’s Comikaze is finally right around the corner (better get those tickets quickly)! A myriad of Geekscape writers will be in attendance at the expo, and of course we couldn’t be more excited to hang out with you at the Geekscape Booth (that’d be Booth #610)!

As the 3-day event has something for all sorts of different tastes, we thought that we’d make a list of our own personal highlights from the schedule! Here are the panels that each of us are looking forward to at next weekend’s Comikaze 2013!

If you’re attending the expo, be sure to visit us at Booth #610, where we’ll have tons of shirts available and some freebies (and lonely Shane O’Hare would love to talk to you)! We’ll be there all weekend! Now read on!

Juan Carlos Marquez

Any sci-fi-loving kid who grew up in the 80’s knew the drill on Saturdays; you started the morning flipping between CBS, NBC, and ABC, but then you tuned in to Channel 5 (KTLA) and watched the Family Film Festival with Tom Hatten. It was during this afternoon routine in which I was introduced to the glory of Godzilla. I fell in love with way the giant Japanese lizard monster tore apart miniature cities, yet helped defend the poorly-dubbed humans from the likes of Mothra, Rodan, and Mecha Godzilla.

Sunday’s panel, ‘Giant Kaiju Monsters Vs. Men in Suits Attack Japan (And Hollywood)!’ is an absolute can’t-miss for me, especially seeing that George Krstic is going to take part in the panel discussion (as well as our very own Jonathan London). I was a huge fan of Megas XLR and I can’t wait to hear his thoughts on what appears to be the renaissance of the giant monster movie genre.

Godzilla

The panel takes place on Sunday, November 3rd at 2:30 in room 306AB! Here’s the description:

Everyone loves Godzilla, Power Rangers, Ultra-Man, Rodan, Kamen Rider and Giant Robots! And recently, Hollywood has gotten in on the act with Kaiju and Giant Robot films like Pacific Rim and next summer’s Godzilla film. Are these Japanese mainstays the next big thing in American pop-culture (or is it just another Hollywood trend)? Join a panel of working Hollywood professionals for an in-depth discussion on the past, present, future and Americanization of Kaiju and Japanese Men in Suit properties. These properties have long since taken over Japan. Are we next!?!

Participants: Jonathan London (Host of Geekscape!), F.J. DeSanto (Frank Miller’s The Spirit, Cyborg 009, Insurgent), George Krstic (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Action Pack, Megas XLR), Robert Burnett (Free Enterprise, Femme Fatales), Tommy Yune (Robotech)

S.J. Borger

I’ve never been to Comikaze before, though I’ve lived in Los Angeles for years. The panels this year look amazing (especially the panels that our own awesome, glorious leader Jonathan London* is a part of).

The panels span an eclectic and wildly interesting set of topics—I could barely decide between some of them. That being, said, I narrowed it down from ‘all of them!’ since I couldn’t seem to find a handy TARDIS or a Time Turner anywhere.

My (current, to be updated at any time) list of must-see panels:

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Panel: because, well, the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special—and the mysterious ‘special guests.”  Such a tease, Comikaze, such a tease! – Friday, 4PM, Room 306AB.

The Nerdist Writer’s Panel: Comic Book Edition; I’m a fan of The Nerdist podcast and comic books, so this was basically a done deal. I hope Ben Blacker doesn’t think I’m stalking him, though, since I just realized I’m attending ALL of his panels if I can. – Saturday, 10:30AM, 304ABC.

Icon: Bruce Campbell. I shouldn’t even have to explain this. – Saturday, 1PM, Hot Topic Main Stage.

Blizzard Storytelling: From the corruption of Kerrigan to managing to (by the skin of their teeth) write in Panda Bears and Aliens as beings consistent with their world, Blizzard Entertainment is one of the foremost storytellers of our digital age.  I’m looking forward to insights from the minds behind the stories. – Saturday, 3PM, Room 306AB.

In Defense Of: A panel defending the truly ludicrous choices sometimes made in comics, gaming and film (the ones that made you cock your head and say ‘Wait, what? How? Why would you do that?’…for example, all of GI Joe: Retaliation). – Saturday, 4PM, Room 301A.

The Thrilling Adventure Hour: Enough said. Seriously, I’d watch Acker, Blacker, Paul F Tompkins, Marc Evan Jackson, Joshua Malina, Busy Philips and Mark Gagliardi read from the phone book. If they could find one, I guess. It’s not really a great saying, anymore, is it? So um…I’d watch them read from the ITunes user agreement. – Saturday, 5:30PM, Room 308AB.

That works better.

Writing Genre TV: A panel of writers from hit shows like The Walking Dead, Warehouse 13, Alphas, Justified and Once Upon a Time In Wonderland discuss what it’s like to work in genre TV. – Sunday, 3:30PM, Room 306AB.

Zombies! Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Too Alive To Ask! Zombie science, history, fiction and fact. Where else would I be on a Sunday? – Sunday, 4PM, Room 304ABC.

* I take cash or paypal, Jonathan.**

** You’ll take a pass to Comikaze is what you’ll take! – Jonathan

anyone have one of these that I can borrow?
anyone have one of these that I can borrow?

Shane O’Hare

This is my FIRST Comikaze convention. I’ve been a huge fan of the expo and organizaiton (DJing their Comic Con party didn’t have anything to with that praise :P) and have always wanted to go. This year, the planets aligned perfectly and I was able to get off work to join in on the fun!

This being my first trip to Comikaze I really want to check out the booths and the main floor, I love seeing how cons other than SDCC stack up. I also really can’t wait to get to work at our very own Geekscape booth (booth 610) as well!

The Pacific Rim (Friday, 2PM, Room 306AB) and Sharknado (Friday, 4:30, Hot Topic Main Stage) panels on day one are a must see. The Lion Forge panels (Saved By The Bell is Saturday, 11AM, Room 306AB, Knight Rider, Airwolf, Miami Vice & More on Sunday, 12PM, Room 301A) are also a must attend as all their newest books are top notch and I am super excited for all of them.

Come Sunday I find myself stuck in a conundrum. Do I stay at Comikaze or head on down to Anaheim and join the Mega 64 Boyz for their annual Gamedays meetup at Disneyland? Decisions…decisions.

Either way, I am very excited to be attending Comikaze, especially since it’s in LA! My sister better get the couch ready cause baby brudda is coming for a visit!

Kari Lane

This will be my second year attending Comikaze, and there are definitely a few panels/films that I’m really excited to see!

I’m looking forward to the Geek Girls: Sexism Within the Geek Subculture (Friday, 1:30PM, Room 301B) panel because it has been a fairly common discussion topic lately. The Adapting Sherlock Holmes (Friday, 3:30PM, Room 301B) panel sounds cool since I just recently started watching the show (yes, I’m a little behind on some shows because I generally don’t watch live TV and have to rely on Netflix.) The Dollar Baby Film Festival (Saturday, 9AM, Screening Room 411) on Saturday also sounds awesome because it will be short films based on Stephen King stories and I love good horror stories. There’s a Grimm Fairy Tales Animated Pilot (Saturday, 11:30AM, Room 308AB)I am really excited about because I saw their presentation at the Long Beach Comic Con and I’m stoked to see their final product. And, of course, Weird Al will be at Comikaze this year. I’ve seen him in concert at least three times and he never fails to entertain. 🙂 I’m also curious to see Sweethearts of the Galaxy (Sunday, 10AM, Room 304ABC) because I interviewed those two lovely ladies not so long ago and their show seems really fun. There’s also several horror panels I wouldn’t miss such as a Ghosts, Bigfoot and Beyond: Paranormal TV (Sunday, 1PM, Room 304ABC) because who doesn’t enjoy a little paranormal in their life?! And last, but not least, there will be a screening of Legend of the Red Reaper (Sunday, 2:30PM, Screening Room 411) which I have been hearing about for quite some time so I’m really looking forward to seeing it!

legend_of_the_red_reaper

Derek Kraneveldt

I absolutely cannot wait to get back down to Los Angeles and head to Comikaze! Of course I’m beyond excited to see all of my fellow writers again (and to meet some new ones too), and also participate in my very first 5K. The whole reason that I’m going down is for the expo however, and here’s what I’m most looking forward to:

It’s called Stan Lee’s Comikaze, so of course I need to meet Stan at some point. I picked up a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (first appearance of the black suit) at SDCC, and I would love to have him sign it. That being said, getting a photo with Stan the Man would literally make my life, as I’ve idolized the guy since before I could speak! He did say good morning to me at SDCC, but I need more!

I was a big fan of Pacific Rim, so as Shane said up above, the From Robots to Monsters: A Look Into Pacific Rim and Godzilla (Friday, 2PM, Room 306AB) panel is a must see for me. I’m also looking forward to the Full Time Creative on a Part Time Schedule (Friday, 2:30PM, Room 301B) discussion should be an interesting one. Between a full-time day job and my work for Geekscape, I find a hard time doing any of the creative writing that I used to love doing. Maybe this panel will offer some tips on how to find the time?

Later that day, I’ll be headed to the Making A Comic Step-By-Step (Friday, 4PM, Room 304ABC). This should go hand-in-hand with the previous panel, as it’s something that I’ve been interest in for as long as I can remember, but have simply never found the time to do. I’ll also want to check out the Fangasm: The Interns Reunite (Friday, 7PM, Hot Topic Main Stage) as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the show (which ends tonight) and I’m sure that there’ll be plenty of laughs at the panel.

All that stuff, and that’s just the first day! I’m also looking forward to:

-The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened? – (Saturday, 2PM, Room 304ABC).
–Inspector Spacetime: The Panel – (Saturday, 6PM, Room 304ABC)
-The Writer’s Journey: Breaking Into Comic Book and Hollywood Scriptwriting – (Sunday, 10AM, Room 306AB)
-Meet The Actor’s From ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ – (Sunday, 11:30AM, Room 306AB)
-So You Wanna Start A Podcast – (Sunday, 5PM, Room 308AB)

I’m sure that I’ll find even more to attend once I get to the expo, but these are the events that immediately stood out to me!

It's my mission to meet this guy.
It’s my mission to meet this guy.

Our very own Jonathan London will also be hosting (and participating in) a few of Comikaze’s most prestigious panels. You know you’ll want to be in attendance for those. The panels are:

– Icon: Edward James Olmos – (Friday, 5:30PM, Hot Topic Main Stage)

The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning, Academy Award-nominated legend talks to the Comikaze crowd about his many appearances in some of the biggest and most recognizable of film and television projects.

– Lion Forge Comics Presents: Saved By The Bell – (Saturday, 11AM, Room 306AB)

It’s time to return to Bayside High! Host Jonathan London will take you on a nostalgic look at the world of Saved by the Bell and he’s bringing along some special guests to help him out. Mr. Belding himself, Dennis Haskins, will be one board to reminisce on the iconic shows past history. Joining America’s favorite principal are writer Joelle Sellner and artist Chynna Clugston who’ll be helming Saved by the Bell’s future with an exclusive look into the new comic coming from Lion Forge Comics.

 

Participants: Jonathan London (Geekscape), Dennis Haskins (Saved By The Bell), Joelle Sellner (SBTB Comic, Jackie Chan Adventures, Teen Titans, Wonderous), Chynna Clagston (Blue Monday, Queen Bee), Adam Staffaroni (editor)

– Lion Forge Comics Presents Knight Rider, Airwolf, Miami Vice, and Much Much More! – (Sunday, 12PM, Room 301A)

Lion Forge Comics has been hard at work bringing you the best titles in comics and you have a chance to hear first-hand from its creative team about its plans for some of your favorite TV shows from the 80s and other  Lion Forge Projects. Also get an exclusive first look at our new project with writer Cullen Bunn (Sixth Gun & Deadpool). This is not your average boring publisher panel filled with press releases and boring home movies. Excitement, Adventure, Giveaways and more Surprises await you at the Lion Forge Comics panel!

 

Participants: Geoff Thorne (Leverage, Ben10), Brandon Easton (Thundercats, Shadowlaw), Jonathan London (Geekscape), David Gorden (Catalyst Prime: Accel, Catalyst Prime: Quincredible), Jason Johnson (Wetworks), Lorenzo Lizana (Rampage Jackson: Street Soldier), Carl Reed (Miami Vice)

– Giant Kaiju Monsters Vs. Men In Suits Attack Japan (And Hollywood)! – (Sunday, 2PM, Room 306AB)

Everyone loves Godzilla, Power Rangers, Ultra-Man, Rodan, Kamen Rider and Giant Robots! And recently, Hollywood has gotten in on the act with Kaiju and Giant Robot films like Pacific Rim and next summer’s Godzilla film. Are these Japanese mainstays the next big thing in American pop-culture (or is it just another Hollywood trend)? Join a panel of working Hollywood professionals for an in-depth discussion on the past, present, future and Americanization of Kaiju and Japanese Men in Suit properties. These properties have long since taken over Japan. Are we next!?!

 

Participants: Jonathan London (Host of Geekscape!), F.J. DeSanto (Frank Miller’s The Spirit, Cyborg 009, Insurgent), George Krstic (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Action Pack, Megas XLR), Robert Burnett (Free Enterprise, Femme Fatales), Tommy Yune (Robotech).

Now it’s your turn! Be sure to let us know what you’re excited to see at next week’s Comikaze! You can find the programming schedule here, and head here if you haven’t bought your tickets yet!

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