Emerald City Comic Con

Our Favourite Cosplay From Emerald City Comic-Con 2019!

by Mikaela MaxwellMarch 20, 2019

Cosplay is always my favourite thing about a convention, and this year’s Emerald City Comic Con absolutely did not disappoint! It doesn’t hurt that ECCC is home of the Western Championships Of Cosplay, which means that on Saturday lots of people are out in literally their finest outfits. I spent most of my weekend hanging around the outside courtyard area of the convention centre, in awe as so many amazing creations floated by. It was pretty neat to talk to people and take pictures of their costumes, only to see them a few hours later on stage competing in the cosplay competition. I am always baffled by the creativity and skill that goes into creating these masterpieces. It is quite amazing to see how people take a concept that is often designed for animation or movie magic, and somehow manage to create a physical version of it that is functional enough for them to walk around the convention, while still being true to form enough that people actually recognize who they are!

Here, I have compiled a few of my favourites from this year. This list is by no means exhaustive, and is not in any particular order. I could have added one million more but had to be a little reasonable, so keep an eye out on the @GeekscapeForever Instagram page for more! I am so grateful to all of the people who graciously took the time to stop and pose and share their information with me, so please take a scroll through and marvel at some ECCC cosplay gems!

Green Goblin, who competed in Saturday nights Western Championships Of Cosplay, by @vitaminjaydoherty, and Spiderman by @Vtk23

@Autumnreigncosplay as the Jester from Critical Role

@thetattoodprincess as a magnificent Princess Aurora

Mortal Combat’s Scorpion by @Eshelman.leatherworks

@Keirasera as Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon

@Nerdalertcosplay as Lord Zedd from Power Rangers

@corvidaecosplay as The Emerald City! So Clever!

@Imagicite_cosplay and @chandler.darling as the Queen of Hearts and Mad Hatter

@Telesto_cosplay as Queen Amidala, who competed in Saturday night’s Western Championships Of Cosplay

@corsi_morning_woodworking as an epic Snorlax

@Hattamarch as White Diamond from Steven Universe

@downen_creative_studios in her Athena inspired costume!

@Bhcosplay in his Skyrim Dragon Bone Armour

@emma_bumblebee and @zekeg15 as the cutest Ariel and Eric

@owa_dowa dressed her kid up as a super creepy Georgie… and we are loving it!

Unique dragon design created by @ladyduvessa

@tirameowsucosplay put an excellent feminine twist on The Witcher’s Geralt

Amazing Gray Fox from Metal Gear by @Diegator007

Thanks for checking out the cosplay I spotted at ECCC 2019! Keep an eye on @GeekscapeForever for even more Cosplay from various conventions, and stay tuned for all the epic cosplay that we discover at SDCC 2019 in July!

Featured image Princess Celestia by millyxcraft

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

by Mikaela MaxwellMarch 14, 2019

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!)

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*

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!

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

by Derek KraneveldtMarch 14, 2019

If you want a quiet, calm, and efficient convention experience… make sure that you go on the day that falls in the middle of the week.

Mikaela and I are so happy to be back in Seattle for another Emerald City Comic-Con (with our friends and Geekscape / Geekscape Games alumni Courtney and Jake), as six months after our last convention experience (our phenomenal first time at Seattle’s very own PAX West), we’ve been hankering to explore another show floor, experience some unbelievably cool cosplay, and spend way (way) too much freaking money.

Naturally, prior to hitting the convention itself, we had to make it to Seattle first. I typically like to soak up as much of each convention I attend as I possibly can (for those that were following along for last year’s ECCC, I even took a bus down to Seattle at five in the morning, with Mikaela meeting me in the city that evening because she had to work during the day), so Mikaela, Jake, and I set a completely reasonable departure time from Vancouver, BC of 7AM (actually Mikaela complained that this was far too early), grabbing some quick caffeinated beverages for the road before heading for the border. The weather was clear (a stark contrast to the somehow frequent snow, and almost everyday rain that we’re used to), traffic was light, and the border had absolutely no wait time, so aside from a quick exit to refuel the Kia Soul (which we didn’t fill up prior to departing purposefully as fuel is far, far cheaper in the US), we made it to Seattle in no time.

Courtney was not travelling with us as she lives in Washington, and she ended up slightly delayed due to traffic, so the three of us ate some freaking delicious sandwiches at a small cafe called The Blue Heron (after first parking at and deciding against a sketchy looking cafe near there) before meeting Courtney at our Airbnb. We spent a few minutes getting settled in our AirBnb after taking some time to obtain the door code (we were checking in pretty damned early, so this didn’t feel like a problem), and Courtney and Jake were kind enough to drive Mikaela and I over near the convention centre so that we could start our Emerald City journey (Courtney and Jake only had passes for Friday and Saturday, so they had planned to pick up some snacks and hang out at the Airbnb for the day).

Interestingly enough, the entrance procedure for ECCC has changed this year, with the main entrance now being on the opposite side of the convention center (on a street fittingly titled Convention Place), and with the typical convention entrance on Pike street instead becoming an exit only. This seemed to be causing some confusion with convention regulars, even though ECCC sent out multiple and frequent emails addressing the changes. Another major change to this year’s offerings is the movement of the ECCC Main Stage, where some of the biggest entertainment guests at the show are hosted for interviews, reunions, demonstrations, and other escapades. In prior years a large area of the main expo hall would be curtained off for the main stage, where as this year that space has been reclaimed for additional booths, and the main stage (along with photo opportunities and autograph areas) has moved just a couple of blocks away to the nearby Hyatt Regency hotel. Based on some of the feedback (mostly Twitter) I’ve seen about these changes, it seems as though these changes are a little controversial, but I think that moving the main stage to a dedicated location, rather than a hard-to-secure curtain in the middle of the busiest area of the convention can only be a positive move, and the removal of the insanely busy Pike St. entrance felt incredibly decongested, and far less confusing for everyone in the area. It also left more room for the ‘Free Hip-Hop’ dudes to try to pawn CD’s off on people, but I still think that the changes are a net positive.

We finally hit the show floor after staring at the convention exclusives forever — we ended up grabbing the exclusive glow-in-the-dark cover first issue of the Stranger Things comic from Dark Horse Comics, but couldn’t decide on any of the subtle and well-designed ECCC-themed shirts at that point so only picked up the one item. As I mentioned above, Thursday is the freaking day to go to this thing. The massive main convention hall wasn’t crowded at all, the temperature was perfect (often at a packed convention, the air will flip between sickeningly cold and blisteringly warm as the air conditioning system struggles to keep up with the mass of patrons), you could walk through the small aisles at a leisurely pace without needing to worry about being in anyone’s way, and the floor was so quiet that you could simply speak at a regular volume and not worry about being heard — this was a welcome calm that can’t even be felt at far smaller conventions like Fan Expo Vancouver.

The first, adorable thing that we saw when hitting the show floor.

The first booth that caught our eye was the massive Bakugan: Battle Planet area. I remember seeing a press release about it a few weeks back, but largely ignored it as I only really remember Bakugan as a kid’s anime series and toy line from years back. I had no idea until it was explained to me by a booth employee, but apparently Bakugan actually disappeared a number of years back before being recently revived as a new anime and TCG by Spinmaster Toys. Long story short, an hour had passed and we were still at the Bakugan booth – we had a quick explanation of how to play, and then ended up playing an entire game, asking questions to various coaches along the way. Mikaela kicked my ass, was invited into an eight-person tournament (she said no unfortunately) and we watched some more experienced players start a match before eventually moving on. The game is a mix of skill, strategy, and luck, as players craft a deck around their three Bakugan (each being a different colour or type, with the cards in the deck needing to correspond with those colours) and battling it out by rolling the spherical Bakugan figures towards each other in the play area. The Bakugan will ideally spring open, attaching magnetically to a ‘core’, a small hexagonal piece that gives your Bakugan either a power or damage bonus, and the Bakugan with the highest power (labelled BP) wins. The loser has to discard (typically useful) cards equivalent to the winner’s total damage, and you lose the game once your deck is empty. The game felt totally all-ages friendly, and after an hour at the booth all that I really wanted to do was play more. Well, and to buy some.

It was also by far the liveliest booth at the convention. Even after we had left the area and were perusing the other aisles of booths, every few minutes you could hear uproarious cheering or sounds of surprise from the booth, and at random times an entire crowd yelling “BAKUGAN BRAAAAAAAWLLLLLLL” at the top of their lungs as higher level players would enter a tiny UFC-style cage to duke it out. It was absolutely charming, and I can’t wait to see the action at the booth this weekend once the convention centre really fills up.

Honestly, today we didn’t do that much, and it felt like an absolutely calming and relaxing way to ease into this convention (feelings not typically felt at a convention of this size). We leisurely walked aisle by aisle, adoring some of the beautiful art (Spoke Art Gallery at Booth 1133 cannot be missed), becoming distracted looking at board games that we had never heard of (and trying our best not to buy them until we had seen everything that the convention has to offer), only picking up a few cool books — Mikaela has been obsessed with reading novels lately, and picked up an intriguing-sounding book from HarperCollins called Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller, which also included a cool Neil Gaiman-themed tote bag and another free book as a convention special, while I also grabbed her a graphic novel called Rosalynd by Dark Planet Comics’ Stephan Franck, which is an origin story for Rosalynd “Sledge” Van Helsing, told from the perspective of her childhood journal. We also played Jelly Belly’s ‘Bean-Boozled’ on our way out, and Mikaela oddly enough seemed to like the flavour ‘Dirty Dishwasher’. There were also artists making gigantic artpieces entirely out of jellybeans, which was absolutely stunning to watch.

We met back up with Jake and Courtney, and the duo prepared us all an incredibly cheap and super delicious meal of Ramen and Sashimi while Mikaela and I worked on our write-ups for the day. We chatted, had a few beverages, and played a couple of the of the too-many games that all of us brought with us, like Courtney’s still-unplayed PAX purchase Cantankerous Cats, and the new sequel to the always-fun party favourite Monikers, fittingly titled More Monikers. I also definitely yelled out BAKUGAN BRAWWWWWWLLLLL a few too many times (even though we didn’t actually buy it, so we couldn’t even play Bakugan).

Cantankerous Cats feels charming, but also the rules seem kind of tough.

Tomorrow I expect the just-empty aisles to be packed with people, and for today’s calmness to be all but forgotten as 98’000 people descend upon the Washington State Convention Centre over the next few days. That said, tomorrow should start with a full night of sleep and without a four hour drive, and as we’ve only explored one floor of ECCC in the nearly six hours that we attended it today, I can’t wait to see one of America’s very best Artist’s Alleys, the fantastic gaming areas, the upcoming ECCC Western Championships of Cosplay, and so, so much more.

Thanks for reading about today’s adventures, and I look forward to sharing more of my journey tomorrow.

Emerald City Comic-Con Was An Overwhelmingly Beautiful Celebration Of Art, Fandom, And So Much More!

by Mikaela MaxwellMarch 15, 2018

This year’s Emerald City Comic-Con was by far the biggest convention (or event in general) that I have ever been to, and it was pretty amazing… and overwhelming… and so freaking exciting! Due to constant studying on how to help save lives better (I’m an Emergency Room Nurse currently doing some pretty intense additional schooling and certifications) I was only able to make it to the show floor for Saturday and Sunday, which was a super bummer, but still so worth it to make the mini trek down to Seattle. I definitely hope that I get to attend again in the future, and spend all four days at the convention centre!

This was my journey to and at Emerald City Comic-Con 2018. I hope that you enjoy it!

Mid afternoon on Friday I hurried out of the hospital and started my mini-roadtrip to meet up with Derek in Seattle. I have to say, this was actually an unexpected treat! I spend a lot of time transiting/driving, and have come to love listening to an audiobook while commuting. This time around I just wasn’t feeling my current book, so I listened to an episode of Geekscape Games, and then turned on a 90’s pop playlist that had recently been recommended to me (by Derek). This immediately led to a very animated and prolonged Careoke dance-sesh. It. Was. Great. I used to dance in the car all the time, and for some reason have fallen out of the habit, which I see now is an obvious mistake. I wasn’t even sad that I got stuck on an exit for half an hour trying to get into town, I just kept right on singing. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you can grab the playlist yourself right here.

I also stopped for a lil’ McDonald’s snack along the way so I could try this much anticipated Szechuan sauce. Spoiler alert, its just meh and Derek is wrong.

On a super cute side note I rolled up to our Airbnb to find that Derek had been standing outside waiting for me for half an hour. Ridiculous. Heart. Melt.

By the time I got into town Friday the convention was shut down for the night. But we had gotten an invite to a sweet lil’ partay, put on by Skybound Entertainment to celebrate The Walking Dead’s 15th anniversary, so we decided to head over there right away. I was pretty excited… and a little bit nervous. The venue was super rad — the space was beautiful, all exposed brick and wood beams, featuring a photo booth, yummy snacks, and bar featuring various The Walking Dead themed cocktails, and wine bottles that moved (in augmented reality, of course)! It was super neat, there were quite a few people there, and according to Derek there seemed to be a good amount of artists, and writers, and other important people that other folks may have recognized. I was pretty stoked when I spotted a cosplayer I had discovered at Fan Expo Vancouver, and can’t even imagine how star struck I woulda been if I had recognized half the people in there. This party is also where I discovered instagram stories, which is pretty neat once you get the hang of it, you can check out @geekscapeforever on Instagram if you want to see what we’ve been up to. (Hint hint: go follow us already!)

Super cool bottle, made even cooler in AR!

Saturday morning I woke up to Derek podcasting. One thing I love about this convention is that it doesn’t open until TEN! Which means I can get my beauty sleep! And it means Derek can get on that Wrestling Podcast! (#DoubleCountOut You are probably already checking it out, but if not, now is the time when you take a little gander over on the iTunes or where ever you get your podcasts and take a listen! — unless you aren’t into wrestling, cause then you wont understand what they are talking about, and it probably wont make much sense or be very fun to listen to… unless you just like listening to the sounds of young men’s voices, then it’ll still be a treat!)

Upon getting to the convention centre we entered a line up to go upstairs, and this line up was simply magical. Like people just kept coming out of nowhere. Then funneling into this teeny line, where literally one dude was checking if you had a badge and letting you get onto an escalator to ascend into the madness. Somehow, I don’t know how, this process actually moved pretty pretty pretty quickly. Like we weren’t at a stand still for more than 30 seconds, ever!

At my request we went to see a Cosplay panel Saturday morning, about the basics of getting into cosplay. I was a little apprehensive when it started, as I’ve previously had some kinda meh experiences at panels, but it actually turned out to be really useful and informative! They talked about how to budget for building cosplay, and their various experiences of starting it themselves. There were 5 different young women there, who all had different cosplay styles and had been doing it for varying amounts of time. It was great to listen to people talk about something they are so passionate about, and to see how inclusive this community can be.

We also had a bunch of time to walk around the show floor on Saturday. I thought I knew what I was getting into with this, but I was mistaken. Now, the conventions I have been to in the past have evidently been on the smaller side of things. The first place we went was the main show floor, which was one of many levels (through several buildings), each strategically housing certain things such as the cosplay centre, the photo op and autograph area, the gaming floor where you could experience new board games or set up a round of DnD or Magic: The Gathering, and way, way more. We started walking around the show floor and I was immediately overwhelmed. There were just so many things, and even more people. And then around the corner there was more show floor, and through the doorway even more, and across the hallway, you guessed it, even more…

But it was an overwhelm in the most wonderful way. I have never in a singular place, experienced so many different kinds of beautiful, curious, interesting things and people! One of my most favourite aspects of being at a convention is looking at all of the art. There are so many different kinds of artists, creating so many different and wonderful pieces of art, from books, to postcards and magnets, to canvas paintings and prints, to leather work and jewelry, and so so so much more. Each booth is filled with treasures of every variety, and most of the time the artist who created this brilliance is sitting right there just waiting for you to ask them about their work! How often in life do we get an opportunity like that, to just openly admire the hardworking these people are doing and talk to them about these things which they are so very passionate about?! I went into this convention knowing that I would want to buy a print or two. I like the idea of taking a piece of this experience home with me, and a beautiful piece of art is a great way to do it, especially if its fairly affordable print! On Saturday we ended up walking past this beautiful painting of a women letting her breath go underwater and I knew I wanted to be able to look at that every day. But I didn’t want to make a decision without knowing all of my options, so I waited until the next day, after meandering through Artist’s Alley (forever, because it’s huge and has its own floor) to find my way back to that booth and take home my own copy of that beauty.

Some of my haul… time to buy some frames!

While exploring the show floor we had the opportunity to demo a couple of games at the Skybound Games booth. It was great fun! At first I was intimidated by the demo guys wanting to get you into a game, but actually this might be my new favourite way to buy a game! We literally got to play a few rounds of a game I had never heard of (which it turns out had just released after a successful Kickstarter campaign), and I walked away trying to adjust my budget so I could bring it home. Who am I kidding, budgeting is not my strength, a week later and my third day of eating Kraft Dinner is telling me I didn’t do a very good job of budgeting… But my super fun games day is telling me it was totes worth it! We ended up picking up The Grimm Forest and Superfight.

The Grimm Forest is kind of like a mashup of every fairytale woven into your memory and a little bit of Settlers of Catan. I was super stoked to bring this one home. You are descendants of the 3 ( or 4) little pigs competing to build your houses, while constantly being thrown off track by monsters and big meanies. It’s great fun, and can be played in under an hour, which in my books is a huge plus (because there is usually a WWE Pay Per-View to get to when people come over)! Superfight feels kind of like a mashup between Cards Against Humanity (but seemly less dirty so far) and Exploding Kittens, with a dash of… whatever games makes you tell a story about characters! You literally pick cards and have to combine a character with a ‘super power’ and then explain why it would win in a fight against the other person’s character… I will admit I was a bit of a sore loser at this one. There are also so many different expansion packs for this one (and even an expansion pack subscription program), so I am sure we will add on to it in the future. I am looking forward to playing it in a group with more people, and more adult beverages, I am pretty certain hilarity will ensue.

Oh man, I feel like I am talking so much already, but there were so many good things, and I have so much to say!

I also had the opportunity to visit the Espionage Cosmetics booth, which specializes in nerdy nail decals, and got to try some on! There were so many different styles of nail art, most of which I was a little clueless to, but the lovely lady at this booth helped by pointing out what a few of them were! She also applied one for me, and it was so simple and easy, but glammed me up so much! I walked away with a little sample and can’t wait to have days off so I can give them a go! (Though I probably won’t be sharing photos of that, cause I have chapped nurses hands!). Their demo station also had glitter available so they could add a little sparkle to the bearded gents who were in attendance. I think this may have been the first time in my life I almost wished for facial hair! I tried to convince Derek to try it, but as you can probably guess, he was having none of that! Lame.

We got to watch a Twisted Toonz, which I had seen before at the convention we went to in Vancouver. It is actually pretty hilarious. A bunch of voice actors (I don’t know why they are called voice actors, they also do the body moving stuff, but they do video games and their characters are animated so I guess you don’t get to call them actors?) get together and read from a script, but each of them takes on a different celebrity (or character’s) accent for each scene. We literally had to stand for an hour and a half just watching giant screens from the back of the room packed with thousands of people, but it was so worth it! They were reading from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and it was hilarious. I feel like I need to go back and rewatch that movie, I just could not believe how inappropriate some of the lines were!

https://youtu.be/-XUluDsQkk4

I don’t know if anyone has noticed the activity on our Instagram feed @GEEKSCAPEFOREVER, but it has been taken over lately by yours truly, and that means so many many photos of amazing ECCC cosplay! Which leads me to, Saturday night and my most anticipated event… The ECCC Western Championships of Cosplay!

https://instagram.com/p/BgAISGWgL-U/

We stood in line an hour and a half before the event started, which meant lining up outside in the cold (which actually wasn’t that cold considering its the beginning of March). It also meant a very whiney Mikaela who did not bring a sweater with her, but it was soooo worth it! There was a crowd of over 2000 people and we managed to get pretty great seats (although not great enough for pictures). I can not even put into words how amazed I was with these costumes. There was someone who had made the Doof Warrior outfit, and musical transportation platform from Mad Max: Fury Road (WTF?! so Amazing, and totally one of my favourite movies/characters!). There was also an amazing Dark Pit with movable wings from Kid Icarus: Uprising, and even giant guy who was dressed as an even more giant guy (some sort of Brute from Halo, according to Derek), and I couldn’t even believe this was real life. This competition was definitely one of my ECCC highlights, and if I get to go again, I hope I am able to grab some photos so I can share it with y’all.

https://instagram.com/p/Bf6zjMFAT2M/

Saturday night after dinner, I tried to stay awake to take advantage of being out and about and young and hip and… I fell asleep before midnight, and before even getting into bed.

Sunday I was determined to see the rest of all of the floors. I was super invested in checking out autographs or photo ops, but I ventured over to the cosplay areas and checked out the gaming area options. Then wandered through Artist Alley with my jaw on the floor as I tried to take in all of the crazy beauty. It was so neat to walk past booths and see people sketching or colouring or whatever, just making their art right there in front of everyone. It definitely brought me back to the budgeting thing, and wish I was better at it, so I could bring home more beautiful things. I picked out some post cards, and found a neat print of a Narwal ( which I had to have.), and walked away sadly from at least 5 prints that I wish I could look at every day. I also nabbed a little independent comic with super beautiful art, and even found the perfect Mother’s Day present!

We also went to check out the Cosplay floor, which had some handy booths for makeup touch ups and demos, as well as places where you could fix your outfits. There were a few Cosplayers who had their own booths, and a green screen set up for photos. The lighting in this area was not great, so I didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked, but it was super nice to see a place set up for the people from this part of the community.

I spent a couple hours on Sunday searching for and photographing some of the most amazing cosplay. The convention centre in Seattle is a beautiful building and has this great little courtyard that was the perfect back drop for so many photos, which you can see on instagram by @geekscapeforever and so many other people. We managed to get out there before the rain started, and still got some great photos inside once everyone was escaping the rain. Every time we go to a convention I am amazed by the amount of time and talent people put into these outfits, and ECCC did not disappoint. Go check out our Instagram and you will see what I am talking about.

https://instagram.com/p/BgMfJgQnDe0/

One thing that I became aware of at ECCC was the amount of respect and kindness the people of this community show each other. This convention even had a beer garden in the same building as the main show floor (!!!), but even with this awesome feature, I did not notice any drunk or belligerent people over the entire weekend! At most big events that host thousands of people there are usually a few rotten eggs in the bunch, and I am sure they existed here as well, but I never came across them. It was so lovely to be surrounded by people who are so accepting and kind towards each other. To be in a place where children and elderly and everyone in between are able to exist and make space for each other (metaphorically, not physically, that place was packed!) was pretty magical.

Thank you Emerald City Comic Con for putting on an amazing event.

I am so happy to have found this super interesting, beautiful, artistic, amazing culture of people, and I can’t wait to venture into this community again in the future.

Derek’s Emerald City Comic-Con Recap – Friday

by Derek KraneveldtMarch 2, 2018

Emerald City Comic Con might just be my favourite convention.

Sure, I haven’t quite been to enough to call it conclusive (just 5 San Diego’s, numerous Fan Expo Vancouver’s, two previous visits to Emerald City, a pop into PAX West, and a Comikaze), but I’ll be damned if Reedpop hasn’t put on the most well organized, best laid-out convention around.

My first trip to Emerald City was with my family way back when I was in high school (I was just invited to my 10 year reunion, so I need to get thin and successful real fast). It was my first convention ever – I was absolutely fascinated with everything that was on offer, and by all of the incredible people I’d be able to see or meet. I was big into Hellboy at the time, and I thought that picking up a numbered, convention exclusive Hellboy drinking Starbucks print, and having it signed by Mike Mignola on the spot was the coolest thing I’d ever do. Turns out I’ve done a ton of cool shit since then, but that print is definitely still framed and in my house today as a full grown adult.

I don’t remember all that much about that first trip down to Seattle. I believe the convention was just on Friday and Saturday at the time (it’s since expanded to four days), but I’d never been to an event like it, and it’s incredible to see just how much the show floor, the caliber of entertainment, and pop culture celebration as a whole has grown in the past decade.

This year’s trip began with a damned early start, and the first multi-hour bus ride of my life. Thursday at Emerald City was a no-go, as I had to work (doing stuff nothing like this, unfortunately) and Mikaela was stuck in school. As it turns out, school also runs on Fridays, so while I ended up with the day off, Mikaela won’t be joining me until later tonight. It also means that she had to drive me a half hour to the bus station (I didn’t want to miss out on another day of the convention if it wasn’t necessary) at 5:00 am! Thanks, Mikaela!

The bus ride itself was fairly uneventful. I caught up on the Raw and Smackdown that I didn’t have time to watch this week (in preparation for recording Geekscape’s Double Count Out Podcast tomorrow morning), and was also able to finish the first Witcher audiobook, Blood of Elves (I’ve been on a bit of a Witcher kick the past few weeks, which you can hear all about on the last and next Geekscape Games Podcast). All of the passenger’s had to get out of the bus at the USA/Canada border in order to have their passports looked at (along with filling out a custom’s form), and while I’ve never had an issue with a border guard (pretty much say that you’re going to a comic book convention and they’ll no longer see you as a threat), today’s guard seemed pretty intimidating and I was pretty sure I was going to get interrogated. One of the folks in line ahead of me checked one of the boxes incorrectly on his customs form, and the guard proceeded to as “Why are you lying to me?” repeatedly. Once it was my turn, I let him know that I was headed to Seattle for a comic book convention, to which he responded “You see Black Panther yet?”. We chatted about the movie for a couple of moments and then he let me through.

A couple of hours into the bus ride (which, after wrestling, gave me a great opportunity to gander at the Washington countryside, which looks a lot like the British Columbia countryside) I began to realize that while there was slightly more leg room over a standard coach flight, it was certainly no more comfortable. After ignoring the discomfort for a time, and feeling the pain in my ass build and build and built, the last hour of the journey had me shifting slightly approximately every 10 seconds, while trying not to disturb the sleeping lady occupying the seat beside me, who currently had her face buried into the seat in front of her, which couldn’t have been very comfortable either.

Eventually, the ride ended. I was somewhere in downtown Seattle, two kilometres from the Convention Center, and I was hungry AF (nothing was open when I went to the bus station, so I’d now been awake for over six hours without food or beverage). I needed to find some food as soon as possible, and there was only one kind of food I desired: after a horrendously limited release last Fall, McDonald’s this week rolled 20 million packets of its legendary Szechuan Sauce to all of its stores in the United States.

It turns out that there’s a McDonald’s just a couple of blocks away from the convention centre, and when I arrived I was surprised to see that it wasn’t even all that busy. This may have been my first time in a US McDonald’s, and I definitely observed a few major differences compared to the locations above the border. First, the menu had way more choices, and everything was way way cheaper. Second, the staff was far friendlier than any McDonald’s that I’ve ever been to in Canada. Third, I could not for the life of me find any ketchup, and the line became pretty long so I couldn’t ask for any and ended up eating dry-ass fries. Fourth, the fries did not taste as good by a long shot – I don’t know if they were just old or what, but they were barely salted and left a lot to be desired… even for McDonald’s.

Lastly, they had Szechuan Sauce. I received two packets of the limited edition nectar with my order of Chicken McNuggets, though I consumed only one just in case this location was sold out by the time Mikaela arrived. I have to say… it was pretty fucking delicious. It was kind of tangy and salty, all at the same time. As someone who hasn’t (as far as I know) consumed any variety of Szechuan sauce before, I really didn’t know what to expect. All I know now is that I want more.

It was definitely worth the three plus hour bus ride down to Seattle just to receive two packets of Szechuan sauce.

Oh right! I came for a convention!

While in the McDonald’s I used the Emerald City Comic-Con app to take a look at the schedule for the day, and mark off a few items that I may have been interested in. I have to say that the ECCC app has been super impressive thus far – it includes a food guide, full panel and guest guide, makes it super easy to mark off panels or events that tickle your fancy, and you can even set reminders beforehand so you have ample time to get to where you need to go. Throughout the day I received push notifications letting me know that certain panels were now full or standing room only, that signings had been filled, lines had been capped, and the like. This just added to the organized vibe that I was getting from the convention, and something similar could do absolute wonders for an event like SDCC.

I finally made it to the convention centre, and was surprised to see how much ECCC had grown since my last visit just a few years ago. There are now events in three separate buildings, and on every floor of the convention centre itself. The autograph / photo op area is not even near the main convention centre floor (not even in the same building, in fact), which was definitely a surprise to me (I have to imagine that a lot of photo ops are “oh shit, it’s X, let’s go!” moments).

My first stop was the Convention Horror Stories panel, where Katie Cook (Star Wars ABC-3P0, Nothing Special) and Jim Zub (Avengers, Dungeons & Dragons) talked about the craziest moments (and mostly craziest fans) that they’ve experienced in all of their years on the convention circuit. Cook talked about meeting (and blowing the meeting) Jeff Bone for the first time and then never talking to him again out of embarrassment (Smith’s Bone was a huge inspiration to her), along with the first Furry she ever met, who brought an overstuffed books of thoughts on My Little Pony, detailing just how each character should act, along with ideas for future stories. He also asked her for a dirty commission… which she didn’t do.

Zub had a hilarious tale about a Winter Soldier fan in Tokyo who screamed and wailed and fell to the floor when she saw the Winter Soldier commission that he did for her, along with an inspiring aside about just how fortunate they are to be in the line of work that they’re in.

The panel itself was gut-wrenchingly hilarious. It was by far the funniest panel I’ve ever been to (at any convention), and as this seems to be an ECCC tradition, I’d definitely try to make it in next year (it became standing room only pretty quickly, so get there early). Seriously, those stories just sound lame when I try to synopsize them, but watching the duo act out these moments had me laughing harder than I’ve laughed in some time.

Yeah, the horror stories panel was standing room only by the time I arrived.

Once the panel ended, I decided to walk the show floor for a bit, before checking out voice actor / writer / director / Solid Snake David Hayter at SyfyWire’s neat (and streaming) stage setup, where constant 15-45 minute interviews with actors, writers, artists, and creators were taking place all day.

Walking this floor felt fantastic. The Washington State Convention Centre has numerous levels, split here for gaming, community meet ups and events, artist’s alley, the main show floor, and even a beer garden, and this means that each area of the main show floor feels very focussed. Because of the huge square footage of the location, it’s easy to walk around for hours looking at all of the content (and shit to buy), but you also have an opportunity to take your time – each aisle felt large enough that you could look at what a booth had to offer without blocking the pathway for someone else (something I’ve never felt at SDCC).

I spent a considerable time in the board game area of the floor – Skybound Games was showing off Grimm Forest, and it looked like a freaking blast. There were a ton of local game creators showing off their wares as well. I could definitely see myself going home with a few new board games once Mikaela can check them out as well, but today I just watched from a distance and noted a few booths that I wanted to check out again. Speaking of Skybound, their booth was also showing off mobile hit Summoners War, as Skybound and GAMEVIL have just announced a partnership to expand the series beyond just a mobile game, and… holy crap that game looks cool. I definitely downloaded it as soon as my phone hit wifi, though I haven’t had an opportunity to play just yet.

I spun a prize wheel at Warner Bros.’ tiny is-this-even-a-real-booth booth in an attempt to win a neat Tomb Raider bag (I didn’t… dang), and then decided to head back to the Syfy Wire area to ensure that I had a good seat for freaking David Hayter. Prior to Hayter’s interview, I saw a more-interesting-than-expected interview with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic artist Andy Price, Stormlight Archive author Brandon Sanderson, and even Adventure Time‘s Finn himself, Jeremy Shada (along with Marceline actress too). It seemed like most of the seats were taken up by Adventure Time fans, as the seats cleared pretty quickly following Shada’s session. This was fine with me, as it made for prime seating for Hayter’s interview.

Hayter chatted about Metal Gear, of course. Noting that he had finished every title in the series that he’d worked on aside from possibly Portable Ops. He spoke of his Black Widow script many, many years ago, and a few of the ways he didn’t think his origin script would work all of these years later. Over the 30 minute period we heard a ton of Solid Snake snippets, and I have to say that I was in (Outer) freaking heaven. Hearing Hayter talk about how much fun it was to create this character and work on this series, and just how special he knew the series would be from the start was truly a joy to listen to. I’ve been a fan of Hayter’s work since I was a small child, and sitting ten feet away from him while he talked about working on Metal Gear, X-Men, Watchmen, an upcoming project with John Carpenter, and more, was beyond a dream come true.

Once the interview ended, I perused a few more booths and decided it was time to head over to my accommodation for the weekend in order to get to work (on this, mostly). On my way out, I ended up at a Nintendo booth that showcased a huge blow up Kirby, along with staff offering demos of upcoming Switch title Kirby Star Allies. The game felt like classic Kirby, but with an always active 4-player multiplayer feel (or CPU players, if you don’t have friends) and the 10+ minute demo absolutely has me rearing to play the full game. It looks and feels like classic Kirby, but with a ton of new mechanics, too. Instead of simply sucking up your enemies to gain their powers, you can ‘heart’ the enemies to make them your friends! Then they’ll help you through the levels (again, either as a CPU character or real life friends), and as each enemy has different abilities, you can also mix powers to better take care of your actual opponents. The game comes out on March 16th, so you still have almost two weeks to find some friends to play with!

A few years ago my dad and I ended up in some seedy motel way, way out of town when we came for ECCC (after our original hotel was cancelled for whatever reason), and the weekend consisted of a 40+ minute drive to the convention centre each morning, expensive parking, and barely sleeping through the night due to the constant barking dogs and yelling humans seemingly just outside out door.

This year, Mikaela and I ended up in a nice one bedroom AirBnb less than a 10 minute walk from the convention centre. We parked in an underground spot today, and we’ll drive out on Sunday, and other than that we’ll be walking to the convention centre in less than ten minutes. It’s a huge weight off of our shoulders to know that we’re a quick stroll away if we forget anything or need to drop anything off. Much of the time at events like this I won’t really buy anything (not for a lack of wanting to) because I won’t be able to drop anything off for up to a dozen hours, and carrying expensive, often damageable goods through an overcrowded convention floor sounds infinitely stressful.

We’re staying in an old (like probably 100+ year) apartment building, and it seems pretty neat so far. There was chocolate on the table, beer in the fridge (with a distinct note to help ourselves), and a some great, huge windows with a ton of natural lighting.

Mikaela eventually showed up, put on some makeup, and we took a quick Lyft to Skybound Entertainment’s 15th Anniversary Party at a neat venue called 1927 Events. There we had some tasty (TASTY) food, some The Walking Dead themed cocktails, played in the photo booth, and checked out the unreal augmented reality wine labels (via app Living Wine Labels) present on the special Walking Dead wine that was featured. A huge thanks to Skybound for hosting us!

The labels came alive through augmented reality. Pretty fancy.

Overall, it was a great first day at Emerald City Comic Con, and I can’t wait for tomorrow (when Mikaela will actually be able to see the convention, and we’ll see ECCC’s always amazing cosplay competition). Check back tomorrow for a (hopefully shorter) Saturday recap!