Tag: Recap

Derek’s SDCC 2022 Recap: Friday

by Derek Kraneveldt

Check out my Preview Night recap here, and my Thursday recap right here!

Though I was out fairly late last night, I was feeling a bit better this morning than when I woke up on Thursday. My morning schedule was pretty light, so I took some time to work on write-ups and just… not move for awhile.

Around 10AM, I met Katie (and her partner Mark) in real life for the first time, which was very exciting! They were set to accompany me through a round of the House of the Dragon offsite. I was lucky enough to head through on Friday, but wanted to grab some better resolution photos than I was able to capture that night (the last few years of SDCC I’ve packed light, and have been equipped with only an iPhone, so this wasn’t entirely successful, but i’ll take what I can get).

With a bit of time until our reserved slot at the Dungeons & Dragons Tavern, I decided to just sit outside and soak up the energy for a bit. There’s so much joy and positivity throughout the massive crowds, and it’s absolutely something that we all needed after the past few years.

The tavern itself was very impressive — whatever bar or restaurant or whatever was underneath this transformation was completely unrecognizable. As you enter the tavern, small doorways show off classic D&D monsters such as the Mimic and… others (I’m not a big D&D guy) and at the end of a small hallway the tavern opens up to a massive space.

The experience takes about 15 minutes, includes a beverage (alcoholic or non), and finishes off in a big way. We’ll be sure to link our full write-up once published, but for now, take a look at a few photos below!

Katie, Mark, and I split up, and I hopped over to the IMDBoat for a quick snack before heading to Ballroom 20. I was sad to just miss the Paper Girls panel (but was excited to be headed to the premiere later that night).

This would mark For All Mankind’s first year at SDCC, and just as with the Severance panel on Thursday, the room was almost packed. I slipped in at just the right time, and somehow managed to make it in the first five rows of the room.

Featuring a huge group of panelists, including stars Joel Kinnaman, Jodi Balfour, Shantel VanSanten, Sonya Walger, Casey Johnson, Krys Marshall, Cynthy Wu, Coral Peña, Wrenn Schmidt, and Edi Gathegi, and executive producers Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Maril Davis, I was pretty stoked to get an inside look at the series. The questions the moderator asked in the panel felt a little less organic than I would have liked, but with powerful answers surrounding the ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ aspects of the series from Krys Marshall, and some of the original cast discussing just how much the characters that they play change between each season’s time jump (and how entirely realistic that change is as one ages) was absolutely fascinating stuff.

Krys notes the time jump is like opening a surprise box — with the jump in time being so long, it’s hard to have any expectations or ideas of just where their characters may be when the new season begins. This makes it incredibly hard to prepare for a new season, as the chances that you get your character right are almost zero. The creators also touched on just how important it was when creating this ’alternate timeline’, that the series’ female characters take their rightful place in society — this was echoed in the cast featured in the panel, which hosted just three male actors, and seven female.

Just like Severance, I firmly believe that For All Mankind is one of the best shows currently on television. The panel had lots of reveals and discussions about huge, spoilery moments that have occurred over the series’ three seasons. These moments are big and exciting and I won’t discuss them here as this is another series that it feels as though almost nobody is watching. Please watch it — you won’t regret it, and I’d like it to run for as long as possible. On that note, towards the end of the panel the team revealed that the show had officially been renewed for a fourth season (and iterated that the current arc has been planned for seven). The crowd, understandably, went wild.

There was also a dude in a For All Mankind cosplay, and he got a ”Hi, Bob” from the cast. Excellent stuff.

With a bit of time until the rooftop screening of the Paper Girls premiere, I thought that it was finally time to take a walk across the show floor. As always, exhibit halls A through G are filled with millions of feet of publishers, movie/television studios, vendors, towers of t-shirts, artists, and more, and taking a long walk through makes for a super fun (albeit often overwhelming) way to spend a couple of hours (and maybe pick up a new hobby).

The hall starts at row 100, and adds 100 incrementally all the way up to 5-thousand something. I made it to ~1500 before deciding I needed to take a break, and felt slightly sad that I didn’t have the convention stamina that I once did.

There’s a 14 foot tall, moving, LEGO Bowser on the floor, and its amazing.

I dumped my stuff at the hotel, and walked over to the Grand Hyatt to check out Paper Girls. The rooftop was decked out with 80’s flair like rainbow slinky’s, cassette-shaped branded cookies, neon signs, and more.

This was a super cool press line to be a part of — Paper Girls marks the first major starring roles for much of its young cast, so to see the sheer joy and excitement of the family members as Camryn, Riley, Sofia, and Fina walked the red (purple?) carpet was just so damned sweet. Creators Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang were also in attendance, and mostly, as a huge fan of Vaughan’s work… I just hope that Paper Girls fares better than Y: The Last Man did.

I hung around for the screening afterwards, as industry and some fans were treated to the first three episodes of the series (which begins on Prime Video on July 29). Of the three episodes that we saw, the third was definitely my favourite — the series kicks off fast and furious and features a super interesting tone, but I think that it works best when it slows down and really gives its characters, their thoughts and beliefs, and their fears, time to shine. I’m often made fun of for so thoroughly enjoying ’teenage drama’ (Life is Strange / Before the Storm is one of my favourite video games, and I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for The OC), so it makes a lot of sense why these pieces are my favourite.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but Sofia Rosinsky’s Mac gave me major Edward Furlong in Terminator 2 vibes.

Screening attendees were also treated to swag bags (naturally, Paper Girls branded paper delivery bags) filled with 80’s candies, a box of popcorn, a genius rolled-newspaper looking poster tube with a Paper Girls poster inside, one of the aforementioned cookies, and more. It was a fabulous event, and I was so happy to have taken part in it.

I haven’t watched the show for several years, but just in case this is the last one, following Paper Girls I popped by the Walking Dead Fan Celebration, which offered dancing zombies in incredible makeup, themed cocktails, numerous props from the show, photo ops, and even a t-shirt screen-printing station. Attendees looked like they were having a blast, and I heard so many incredibly in-depth The Walking Dead conversations taking place.

After this, I popped over to the IGN / The Callisto Protocol party at the Hard Rock Hotel. Here they had more themed drinks, a massive dance space with a great DJ, photo ops, and more. Here, I ran into Geekscape Games co-host Carlos!

Once the IGN event ended, it was time to head back to the hotel and wonder how much I would regret my choices when I had to wake up a few hours later…

That’s it for today! Check back tomorrow for more of the action from SDCC 2022!

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!

Mikaela’s Journey to SDCC 2019: Part VI

by Mikaela Maxwell

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! (I really hope you are hearing that announcers voice when saying Sunday 3 times in your head!) I hadn’t actually scheduled anything for Sunday, so I kinda figured it would just be a day of wandering the floor, lookin around, and not really having anything to write about. Welp, I was wrong.

Sunday did start off pretty chill, having a coffee in the lobby of the hotel so I could catch up on writing and not be distracted by wanting to hang with our posse. When I did decide to mosey over to the convention centre it was well past the early morning crush of standing in line for an hour to just get in the building. As I casually strolled in, I immediately started coming across the most amazing cosplay. I easily hung out in the lobby for a couple hours just snapping pics of all these amazing outfits. So keep an eye on our Instagram @geekscapeforever over the next couple months to see what I found, and here are a few of my favourites!

@fellowhermit As Faun from Pans Labyrinth
@claire.e.rose As Eleven from Stranger Things season 3
@cosplaymom99 as Carl Fredricksen from Up
@magnetomystique as Mystique from X-men

Once I’d had my fill of cosplay and Derek tracked me down, we decided to check out the harbour side area of the convention centre, to grab a street meat and enjoy the salty windy air, before it was time to go to the FX area to experience the newest American Horror Story activation. This visit with FX was a last minute gig for us so it hadn’t really been on my radar, but I am sooo glad I got to experience it. Hard to say what my top experience was, but this definitely falls into my top 3!

The FX set up was pretty sweet. It was all on the lawn between a hotel and the back of the convention centre, in these big white irregularly shaped structures that kind of formed a circular central area. In addition to American Horror Story they had an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia sunscreen station, which I didn’t use soon enough 🥵, an Archer oxygen bar, a Mayans temporary tattoo trailer, a Fox swing station, and a What We Do in the Shadows vampire house.

We sampled some flavoured oxygen, which allowed you to switch between various fruity smells for you to enjoy through the nasal prongs pumping O2 into your face. That was a weird experience! Derek wasn’t able to tell the difference at all and said it just smelled like plastic, so we’ve decided in addition to his colour blindness, he also has oxygen smell blindness.

We then headed into the American Horror Story: 1984 area, where you and 6 other people walk into a camp councillor’s office as the new recruits, and are greeted by the friendliest and most enthusiastic camp running guy you’ve ever met! The room is set up as the perfect picture of what I imagine a camp office would be in the 80’s, with a CB radio, a rolodex filled with marked business cards, a dart board on the wall and some mounted canoe paddles. Within moments, you start to hear another camp councillor over the radio panicking that something has gone horribly wrong out there in the woods.

The friendly old man leaves to solve the problem and we are left with a bubbly ditzy terrified camp councillor, sporting the perfectly crimped hair (in a side pony) and bubblegum pink lipstick. Shortly after we all run out into the woods, which is legit terrifying, it’s so hard to see anything, there are trees everywhere and I wanted to hold onto the stranger in front of me so I wouldn’t get lost in the forest (it’s mind boggling to me that they can create an atmosphere that feels so real and creepy that I was legit scared of getting separated from our group)!

Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for FX

As we are rounding a corner to get into the shelter of a cabin, a man with a balaclava emerged from the bushes and started heading our way. I don’t remember the last time I was so legitimately scared by something that I knew logically was all a ruse!? I’m pretty sure I tried to push past people so that I could be further away from him.

Once in the cabin we had to search for a key, and then were instructed to hide in a closet which turned into a long hallway, while the scary tall man continued to stalk toward us. As we ran down the hallway hands were coming out near the ground and grabbing onto our legs. Once at the end of the hall we managed to close a door and lock ourselves in another room as the masked man almost reached us. At which time lights flashed and a chain saw began to cut through the wall.

Turns out the lights flashing was actually a photo being taken, which managed to capture the back of my head as I both turned away from the lights to avoid what ever terror that was about, while nervously inspecting the closed door behind me sure that the masked man was about to burst in!

I can not give this activation enough praise! It was absolutely immersive, I was on edge (or terrified) the entire time and convinced that I was deep in some creepy camp woods. This experience has me well ready to get back into watching AHS when 1984 premieres this September .

Once we finally escaped from that horror, and took a minute to recovery and laugh our faces off, we headed over to the What We Do in the Shadows installation.

For Shadows you go through an elaborate door and enter into the living space of two Vampires. The space consists of dark Victorian era decorations, making up a bar area and two little living areas, with a photo opportunity in one corner. I’m not sure if the two Vampires in this place were actual characters from the show, but either way they were right on point with the shows humour! They were improvising like nobodies business with such amazing dry humour, working off of each other, as well as the visitors. Just standing around watching them bicker at each other was perfect! Once again I have another show to put on the list as a must watch!

We got out of FX shortly before their activation shut down for the day at 2pm, and finally it was time for me to try to walk the convention floor!

Almost as soon as we got in the building I wanted to escape. My previous experience of conventions has taught me that the final day of the show is usually a lot more chill than the rest of them. Oh how very wrong I was. We headed into artist alley, and I swear I couldn’t actually see any artists or their art cause there were so many freaking people!

We did manage to walk most of the show floor, but I really didn’t feel like I saw that much, and it definitely wasn’t very enjoyable. It’s so stressful trying to even move, and if you want to stop and look at something or god forbid change directions, well you better be ready for a trampling!

I managed to find my way back to Daniel Danger’s booth, where I got to meet the artist himself. He was so lovely and open, sharing with the people in the booth the meaning behind some of the quotes on his prints and what the art represents to him. He was willing to talk about mental health and some of the struggles he has faced. It was so amazing and refreshing to meet someone you admire, and have them be so kind, honest, and vulnerable. Honestly he is so talented and I am such a fan he had the opportunity to be snooty and above it all, but was the most approachable stranger I met all weekend.

Daniel Danger and I, with a backdrop of his amazing work!

After much deliberation I picked a print for my self and went on my way. About ten minutes later while searching for a gift for Derek’s dad I realized Danger had done a print of Batman standing on top of a Blockbuster building and it would be the perfect gift for Derek’s dad. His dad is into comics and super heroes, and pretty much every conversation I’ve ever heard Derek and his dad have has started with ‘So have you seen (insert movie title here) yet?’, plus we are both huge fans of Danger, so this seemed like it would be the perfect meaningful gift.

“i’m sorry again for everything i’ve been”
By Daniel Danger on Instagram @tinymediaempire

We rushed back to the booth only to find that the spot where these prints had been was now filled by something else. Knowing there had only been 2 left I was sure we had missed our opportunity, but upon asking discovered they were sitting underneath the new print, PHEW! We asked him to write a note to Derek’s dad to which he agreed and then proceeded to write the most hilarious little love note from father to son. I’m stoked. What a great experience, and lovely gift. Maybe sometimes it is ok to meet your heroes 🙂 (Now we just have to cross our fingers that it makes it home on the plane!)

Shortly after that, SDCC 2019 came to an end. Our posse gathered at the Geekscape booth and took a final group shot before immediately heading to Old Spaghetti Factory for a much anticipated (by Matt and Derek) final meal! After which we broke down the booth, said goodbye to Gui and headed to the hotel for a much needed hot tubbin! What a time!

#GeekscapeForever. (Sorry Matt, I had to use the lifeless ventriloquist dummy photo, cause it’s just too good!)

Overall I had an amazing time at my first SDCC! The activations were amazing, everything felt like a spectacle, the floor was huge, the variety insane, the literal amount of different entertainment and products to consume were absolutely baffling. Some of these things were a double edged sword which left me with a little FOMO, such as being so I busy I didn’t end up getting to any panels, the crowds made wandering the floor less enjoyable, and getting your hands on many of the exclusive exciting SDCC products next to impossible. But the incredible experience of getting to see premieres while seated next to their stars, being immersed in the worlds of various tv shows, meeting new and interesting people, eating yummy food, and getting to meet and spend time with the Geekscape team, all of these far outweighed the drawbacks.

Thanks for following along with my journey. Keep an eye on the site for more in depth looks at a few of the things we got up to while at SDCC. And remember to follow @geekscapeforever on Instagram to catch some of the sweet cosplay we saw on this crazy journey!

Xoxo Mika!

Derek’s SDCC 2019 Recap: Thursday

by Derek Kraneveldt

If you missed recap of pre-convention or preview night, head here, and you can also check out my Prime Video Experience recap right here!

It’s the first full day of San Diego Comic-Con, and unfortunately it started with a bit of a frustration. I rolled out of bed to see a tweet from Mondo that their line policy (which based on my recap last night, they seem to have outgrown) was changing. Their previous system was essentially ‘we’re full, check back later,’ but as they announced this morning, but as of today, they’d instead be handing out timed tickets letting you know what time you could return to shop.

Mikaela had an event to cover first thing, so I ran over to the convention centre (which was not yet open) to try to get my hands on a ticket for the booth. At 12PM, Daniel Danger was set to be there to sign his new IT artwork, and as I currently have three Daniel Danger Mondo prints on my wall at home (and loved IT), I was hankering to get my hands on this too.

Convention staff guided us through the E doors, up the stairs, and essentially around half of the building to stand in a massive crowd. We were told that this would be the fastest way in, and that other doors wouldn’t open until this crowd was in. Once 9AM hit, (which is when the expo hall itself opened up) this crowd started being let in in chunks, and by about 9:15 I was headed down the escalator back towards the expo hall. As it turns out, they had also opened all of the other doors, much of the crowd was already inside, and door E turned out to be pretty much the slowest way into the building.

I went over to Mondo (on the other side of the expo hall) as fast as I could, and I was able to get a ticket… for 6:00 (the last block of the day). I assumed that IT would be long gone by then (only 225 available), and I was also set to be away from the convention centre for an event starting at 6. Thankfully Matt said that he’d take a look for me at that time. He’s basically my hero.

I then ran to room 6A, as my favourite panel at SDCC, the WWE/Mattel panel was set for 11:15. There was one panel before it, the Funko Funkast Live, which was actually a really fun time. I don’t collect Pop! figures because once I start I would never be able to stop, but the group had me laughing and showed off a ton of cool reveals. There’s even a cool looking mobile puzzle came called Funko Pop Blitz in the works, which I’ll definitely be checking out whenever it ends up releasing. Also, now I need to convince Mikaela that we can collect Pop! figures.

A lot of the front area of the panel room cleared out pretty quickly once Funko ended. I was able to move up pretty much in the center, just three rows back, and ended up with the best seat I’ve ever had for this panel, which I’ve been going to for years at this point.

The WWE/Mattel Panel always features a handful of WWE superstars, and some executives from Mattel. The presentation always starts with a bunch of new toy reveals, and then ends with a Q&A with the WWE superstars. I’m not really much of a toy guy, but it’s always fun to see the announcements, and it’s need to get to see the performers in an environment like this. This year, some of the most well received announcements included a new Chyna figure, which would mark her first in 19 years, and a brand new line of WWE / Masters of the Universe toys. These looked awesome (and super cheesy), and were introduced with a special video by Triple H. They showed off a few of the designs on screen, and then revealed a special, physical prototype figure for Kofi Kingston, who is apparently a huge MotU fan, and it seriously looked like he was going to cry for a long time after this announcement. The Q&A felt fairly standard to start, with cute kids talking about being inspired, and asking performers what inspired them. Then, a guy dressed as ‘Macho Manana’ grabbed the mic, and… well, it ended up being WWE Superstar Drake Maverick, who is in San Diego on a mission to track down R-Truth and the 24/7 Championship, and to win it back so he can finally consummate his marriage. It sounds silly, but it’s the absolute most entertaining thing in WWE right now.

Following the panel, I was lucky enough to snap a quick photo with Drake, who did not break character until he disappeared into another room (even yelling “I will consummate my marriage,” before disappearing entirely). It was a fantastic moment, and a great end to the very best WWE / Mattel panel that I’ve had to opportunity to attend.

He just never broke character and looked so sad the entire time.

Next up, I tracked down Mikaela, we grabbed a quick snack, and stopped at the hotel to drop some things off. She left almost right away to conduct an interview, and I stayed behind to catch up on some writing.

Shortly afterwards, I figured that it was probably a good time to peruse the show floor, as my next appointment wasn’t until 6 (and I needed to see how those IT prints were coming along), so I eventually wandered back to the convention centre to check out some of the show floor that I hadn’t visited yet. Mondo said that IT was probably still going to be in stock (phew), so I started making my way back to the Geekscape booth (#3919 if you’re in San Diego), and promote got distracted again trying to see what the Entertainment Earth and Mattel booths were like. As it turns out, they were capped. They’re always capped, and both the Slim Jim Macho Man doll and Mario Kart figures were sold out for the day anyways. Dang.

Things were (are always) pretty hectic on the show floor, so Mikaela and I decided to head out into the Gaslamp to see what we could see. As always, protesters were out in full force, and the conventiongoers were spilled out into the area by the hundreds, filling the streets still blocks away from the convention center. We caught the tail end of a Syfy drum line (I love that they do these things), and then wandered over behind the Omni hotel to take a look at the Detective Pikachu activation. The movie releases on digital in just a few days, so Warner Bros Home Entertainment is in San Diego showing off a few pieces of Ryme City. The activation starts in a Pikachu-ed our train car, before moving into other rooms, including Howard Clifford’s office, a small piece of the Ryme City market, and a room with a Pikachu photo-op. Take a look at some photos from the activation below!

Next up, we went over to the Panda Express pop-up, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. Now, I love me some Panda Express, but everyone here was just so energetic, the staff was freaking screaming out in excitement, there was a dancing Panda (and the playlist was all fire or heat related songs which I thought was so funny), and again, this store won’t exist in a week. It was all in celebration of a new limited time dish, the Sichuan Hot Chicken. They even created a character named Pep-Pep the Sichuan Wonderpepper, who is a a little fireball looking dude who is pretty cute. The place was fun, the line was less than 5 minutes long, and the place offered up free samples of this new and delicious chicken, as well as beverages. Thank you Panda Express!

We were both pretty exhausted at this point (long before this point, actually), but there was still more to do. Next up we were headed to the Oxford Social Club for an event revolving around upcoming EPIX series Pennyworth, which is set in “1960s London, where Bruce Wayne’s legendary butler, Alfred Pennyworth, forms a security company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s billionaire father.”

The event was held at the Oxford Social Club over at 435 Fifth St. The offsite is open to the public for Friday and Saturday from 10AM-7PM, and potential attendees will need to give a secret password to “access to the Velvet Rope, a high-society London lounge filled with gambling, drag, and cabaret performances, plus live music from the era. You’ll also find yourself inside a library that leads to an eerie poetry reading in the posh hidden headquarters of the Raven Society, as well as a dank dungeon where the membership’s darker deeds become clear.”

We went down some interestingly lit stairs which were guarded by some creepy looking… well, guards. I was actually wearing a Finn Balor shirt, and one of them even gave me a too sweet on my way in. Once inside, everything was styled like the 1960’s, even the cocktails that the servers were offering us (an Old Fashioned, renamed ‘The Alfred’, and another drink, called ‘The Esme’). Inside we were treated to musical performances, secret poetry readings (a guy was even hand-writing these poems for the event, and according to him his wrist was very tired). There was a library where ‘Raven Society’ members were giving attendees postcards, which they could fill out and address to their friends, and drop in a box to actually be mailed out, and also a torture chamber which made for a pretty neat photo op. Overall, the event was a fun way to be introduced to some of the themes of the show (and get a couple of cool photo-ops), and it definitely made me hopeful that the show will be picked up in Canada, as EPIX simply doesn’t exist there.

Following the Pennyworth event, a sleepy Mikaela headed back to the hotel (and even saw a DeLorean on the way), and I headed over to Seaport Village to meet up with Jonathan, Matt, and Gui for some food. Everyone else had pretty much already eaten when I arrived, and so everyone just sat around telling old convention stories and we laughed our asses off for something like an hour.

At this point, I was beat, and decided to call it a pretty early night. For Friday we were set to be up early (and probably out late), so it was important that I get a decent sleep as I’ve been simply exhausted so far. Matt and I returned to the hotel room, while Gui and Jonathan went elsewhere, and after a bit of chatting we all turned in pretty damned early.

Until tomorrow, this has been Thursday at SDCC!

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!

Derek’s Emerald City Comic-Con 2019 Recap: Saturday

by Derek Kraneveldt

After all of the crappy food that I put in my body yesterday (read about it here), I expected to wake up today feeling a whole lot worse than I actually did (I think the lengthy sit in the complexes hot tub must have helped)

I rose as the sun did, took an energizing shower, drank some energizing coffee, had a bit of a morning chat, and before long it was time to start the day.

Courtney is obsessed with Critical Role, so the plan for the morning was to wait in line to get for the Main Stage area, where the Critical Role panel (with the cast itself) was set to kick off the day. We planned to arrive about an hour before the panel began… but then I received a notification from the stellar Emerald City Comic-Con app letting us know that the room was already at capacity. I was pretty surprised at this to start (as the panel was over 90 minutes away at this point), but then I remembered that it’s Saturday, the convention’s busiest day, and that Critical Role is a freaking phenomenon that raised millions of dollars on Kickstarter in just a couple of hours just a few weeks back.

So instead we went to breakfast. We ended up at a greasy-spoon style diner near our accommodation called CJ’s Place, where I had a classic eggs benedict that was delicious, if not a bit too drenched in hollandaise sauce.

Then, a quick Lyft later we were at the convention centre, and Mikaela immediately left us and went full force in the courtyard to stock up on photos of many of the amazing cosplayers in the area. We didn’t have too much time to spare, however, as after the Critical Role incident this opening, we wanted to make sure we made it to the main stage long before the convention classic Twisted Toonz was to start.

We quickly perused the show floor, grabbing a few books along the way before finally making it down to the tabletop and video game section of the convention. I always really enjoy gaming demos at events like this, as it typically turns me on to neat gaming experiences that I might never even hear of otherwise, and getting to see a game in actually is obviously far more convincing than simply reading a box or looking at photos online. Last year’s ECCC sold me on a game called Grimm Forest, which I’ve only played a couple of times so far, but is a title that I see myself going back to for years.

This He-Man miniatures game made me want to start playing miniatures games.

The gaming floors also hosted some Microsoft-sponsored gaming tournaments, classic arcade machines set to free-play mode (which looked very popular with the kids), a massive learn to play Magic: The Gathering area, and a room dedicated to a sponsored M:TG tournament. A phenomenal idea that I’ve not seen emulated yet at other conventions is the idea of a game ‘lending library’ — a huge area of the gaming floor was an area where you could check out board games and try them out with your friends. You couldn’t even buy them there; if you found a game that you liked, you’d have to hope that a booth in the main expo hall had it for sale. It’s an unreal idea, and as someone who typically carries a fairly small budget to events like these, is one that I’m sure many, many people appreciate.

We met back up with Mikaela and took a few more cosplay shots, and shortly after we arrived (and snapped a few cosplay shots ourselves), we were lucky enough to see a super cute real-life proposal between a decked-out looking Deadpool and a well-done Sailor Mars (she said yes)!

Mikaela had spent this entire time in the courtyard, and as tonight would be the Western Championships Of Cosplay, today was absolutely the day when the most impressive costumes would be out for show. She spent so much time here that by the time we arrived, her phone’s battery was already nearly empty, and as we made our way to the Hyatt Regency (where the main stage was located this year) to get in line for Twisted Toonz, she began a new quest to locate a lightning cable (which for some reason we’d left at the apartment).

As always, Twisted Toonz did not disappoint. This year’s group consisted of James Arnold Taylor, Vanessa Marshall, Jonny Cruz, Nolan North, and Ross Marquand for a hilarious reading of The Wizard of Oz. Seeing Ross Marquand sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow as John C. Reilly, or Ross again as John Malkovich playing Dorothy, or Nolan North reading Glynda as Jason Statham, or Jonny Cruz narrating the story as Morty from Rick and Morty had me (and the rest of the audience) in tears. It’s absolutely worth going through the backlog of these performances, as each and every one of them is completely wonderful. At the conclusion of the presentation, the group auctioned off a couple of signed scripts, with the proceeds going to charities like St. Jude’s hospital, and the SPCA. Two scripts sold for $900US, which I think is pretty unreal for an auction that was completely unexpected.

We were pretty hungry following the Twisted Toonz performance, and there wasn’t too much time remaining until we’d need to get in line for the insanely popular (and totally worth it) cosplay competition, so we walked a block over to the nearby Johnny Rocket’s for some burgers and fries. I’ve never eaten at a Johnny Rocket’s before, and the food simply felt like pretty standard burger fare. On the plus side, I was ID’ed when I ordered a beer, which made me feel young again, so that’s always nice.

All that was left was to get in line for the cosplay competition. We wanted to make sure that we made it with plenty of time to spare, as if there’s a single event that you’re going to attend at Emerald City Comic-Con, it needs to be this one. After about 90 minutes of uncomfortably cramped hanging out in line (not long at all in the grand scheme of comic book conventions), we finally made it inside the hall. The show kicked off with a presentation and reveal by Magic Wheelchair, which is an amazing organization that builds unbelievable costumes for kids in wheelchairs. I remember last year’s competition, when the group debuted an awesome Demogorgon costume, while this year’s costume was an incredible, giant R2-D2 unit that enveloped the wheelchair inside of it. Unfortunately, it looks like photos of the costume haven’t actually made it online just yet!

The competition is split between three categories: armor, needlework, and FX. Naturally, these cosplayers are the best of the best, so each and every cosplay was completely awe inspiring. From insane, hand carved ice dragon from Game of Thrones, a Green Goblin that looked like it could be in the next Spider-Man film, a beautiful cancer support-skinned Mercy from Overwatch, an amazing holiday-themed Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, that actually had laser-etched Jack Skellington faces across its velvet fabric, to an incredible 1800’s themed Princess Leia, to an unbelievable hand-dyed Jane Porter from Tarzan. The event was unbelievable, and the diversity of those on stage, spending hundreds upon hundreds of hours of effort in celebration of their fandom was totally inspiring, and almost makes me wish I could do something incredible like it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvFWCnaHvng/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=cv9scm0jiq9a

Naturally there could only be one big winner, and this year the $1500 grand prize (and entry into the finals at C2E2 in Chicago) went to Artemis Wild (who I also remember being a standout from last year), who built an outstanding Frost Lich Jaina, complete with a staff outfitted with programable lighting, and a skull on her shoulder that even produced its own smoke. Totally incredible, and again, absolutely worth the long wait in line.

Milly Craft Cosplay took third place in the needlework category with her Princess Celestia.

Following the competition, we ran into a few friends from Vancouver that had somehow eluded us all convention, and then decided it was time to head back home. Mikaela’s heavy focus on shooting and editing cosplay photos means that there won’t be a recap from her tonight, but be sure to look for a piece filled with the best cosplay we saw around the show to be published in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow marks the very last day of the show, and I’ll be using it to hit the Stranger Things panel first thing in the morning, and then simply walk around the rest of the show floor and absorb as much of the fandom as I can. Following the convention, we’ll be taking the drive back to Vancouver, so while I won’t have a recap for tomorrow, I just wanted to say just how rewarding this Emerald City Comic-Con experience has been. As my first and only convention prior to July’s SDCC, it’s a great reminder of just how cool it is to like the things we like, and how much fun it can be to get together and celebrate our passions.

Also, without this year’s ECCC, I would have never learned about BAKUGAN BRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWLLLLLL.

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me, and look for more ECCC coverage in the coming days!

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!

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

by Derek Kraneveldt

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.

BAKUGAN BRAAAAAWWWWWLLLLLL

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.

SDCC 2018: I Lost My Mind At The Amazing ‘Mr. Mercedes’ Offsite!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Before last year’s SDCC, I had never heard of Mr. Mercedes.

The property is a trilogy of novels written by Stephen King, and last year a ten-episode TV series premiered on the America-only Audience Network. The series had a big presence at last year’s Wired Cafe, and the premise intrigued me immediately, but I somehow forgot all about the series once I returned to Canada.

Last month I finally decided to give the series a shot (the only place that you can see it in Canada is through iTunes), and I quickly became obsessed. I binged all ten episodes in just a few days, and have been talking about it constantly to pretty much anyone that will listen to me every since. The series is an incredibly dark and horrifically disturbing look into the mind of the insane (yet very human) villain that is Brady Hartsfelt, and a depressed, retired detective named Bill Hodges who simply seems to be trying to find his place in a world that doesn’t need him anymore. Every episode of the series impressed the hell out of me, and many featured scenes so disturbing that they stuck with me for days. My fiancé even began watching the show while I was away in San Diego this week, and this was her initial response when I ask her how it was going:

I was beyond excited to see that Mr. Mercedes would be returning to San Diego for this year’s Comic-Con. Not only was the series again a sponsor of the always-appreciated Wired Cafe (and was plastered in giant form across the face and elevators of the Omni hotel), but there was also an amazing offsite even being hosted just a few blocks away.

I was lucky enough to attend the offsite on Friday morning, and now that the convention is over I can absolutely say that it was a highlight of this year’s trip. Everything present was an absolute dream for fans of the show, whether it was the augmented reality game played on your own (or supplied) phone, the scavenger hunt that would net you swag ranging from Mr. Mercedes pins to unique San Diego themed t-shirts, the lithograph photo booth that morphs your face into the show’s logo, the multiple sets built up with screen-used props from the show, the screening room, or the VR escape room – every piece of this event felt fully realized, and as soon as it came to an end, all that I wanted to do was go through it all again.

I started with the VR escape room. Essentially, you’re locked in Brady’s lair with a bomb and a countdown timer, and have a few moments (I’m not sure exactly how long, but it all went pretty quickly) to explore the area in order to find clues to disarm it. The entire time, Brady is mocking you (using that creepy, computery voice used in the show), telling you that you’re going to fail, and the like. You’ll move around the lair looking for things that stand out (happy face tennis ball, Brady’s brother’s fire truck, etc) and slowly figure out the eight character password). I ran out of time just as I figured out what the word was (and kind of felt a dummy for not realizing it sooner), the bomb went off, and I lost. If you managed to beat escape the room, you’d earn a t-shirt that states “I Escaped Brady’s Lair” before moving on to the next section.

There were several sets from the series that were rebuilt for the convention, including Finder’s Keepers Investigative Services, Brady’s hospital room, Supreme Electronics, and fittingly in the basement of the offsite’s location, Brady’s lair. The coolest part of all of these sets were that they were dressed using actual props from the show – the gravestones in Brady’s lair are his family’s actual gravestones, the rock memorializing the victim’s of the Mercedes attack is the actual rock from the show, the desk in Finder’s Keepers is Holly’s actual desk, and the journal in Brady’s lair is the actual on-camera journal from the show as well. I was simply enthralled with all of this, and spent so much time in every room just exploring everything that I could.

























Speaking of exploring, the Mr. Mercedes offsite also offered a pretty cool augmented reality game (as mentioned above). Outside of the building a QR code was posted that linked you to the app, and once inside there are 10 ‘tags’ hidden throughout the location. Point your phone’s camera at these tags, and augmented reality images of other significant items or props will pop up on your display, and you’ll even see bits of dialogue between Brady and Hodges. Pretty neat, and pretty different from anything I’d seen at one of these events before.



Inside of Finder’s Keepers, there was also a cool photo booth that ‘morphed’ your face with that of the Mr. Mercedes logo. You could email this to yourself, but it was also printed off on a neat 3D lenticular that changes the image depending on the angle you’re looking at it from. This quickly became one of my favourite pieces of swag from the entire convention.

After flowing through the basement and gawking at Brady’s lair for what felt like forever, we were taken into a connected screening room. Here we were shown a lengthy featurette showing us where the characters are as we come into season two, and it also discussed how the stakes will be set now that Brady is apparently brain-dead in a hospital bed. We were then treated to a striking scene that takes place in episode three of the upcoming season. Luckily I’d watched episodes one and two just a few days prior, because I’d have been left scratching my head otherwise, but with the context of the previous episodes I cannot freaking wait to see more.

Following the screening room, we were treated to some swag on our way to the exit (including an awesome SDCC-focussed t-shirt that says “I Lost My Mind In San Diego”). I had taken so long looking at all of the set pieces that there were only a few of us left at this point, and as we approached the exit doors our PR host kindly let us know that some of the cast was coming through the experience, and that we could come back around and check things out. Much of the cast had already made their way to the next section at this point, and I didn’t want to intrude (especially as this was likely one of their few times of mostly peace this entire week), but Justine Lupe (Holly) and director Jack Bender were hanging out in Finder’s Keepers, and when the super-nice PR guide asked if I wanted a photo with them I absolutely had to say yes. Jack’s episodes of Lost are pretty much my favourite episodes of TV ever, and to speak with him for a couple of minutes, and to get to tell him that (that same thing that he’s probably heard over, and over, and over again) felt important to me.


In any case, 1200 words later, you better believe that I had an amazing time at this offsite. The design and care that the team put into building this event was truly spectacular, and for a show that’s only available on one network they are pushing this thing hard. I think that Mr. Mercedes is one of the most criminally underrated shows currently on television, and I believed that this offsite must have put some eyes on the series.

Mr. Mercedes returns on August. 22 on the Audience Network.

https://youtu.be/79Px8KWEdMM

SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long- Winded SDCC Recap – Saturday

by Derek Kraneveldt

Well, today was far, far more relaxed than any other day of this year’s convention. We all turned in fairly early last night after laughing our asses off at Shane’s lack of ABBA knowledge and a myriad of other things (though by ‘early’, I mean that I finally stopped writing after midnight long after everyone else was asleep).

I woke up today just after 7 (to an empty hotel room, aside from Shane who was still fast asleep on the floor) feeling well rested and energetic. I wanted to be on the floor at show-open as a must-have Mondo print (Boris Pelcer’s Drive poster) was set to drop right away.

After the rough entry that I experienced on Thursday, things seemed to go far more smoothly this morning. When I arrived at the convention centre, there was already a door letting people in (to the centre, not to the exhibit hall floor) so I jumped in so that I could feel that sweet, sweet air conditioning. It didn’t really seem like anyone knew where to send me (as a press member, rather than an attendee or professional), so they just sent me through to the professional entrance… which worked out really well as I ended up on the show floor 15 minutes early.

Mondo somehow already had a huge line, and it was pretty clear that a lot of these people were working in groups to simply buy these super-limited edition screen prints in order to resell them.

I bought the Drive print, but there was something else that I wasn’t expecting. Mondo released another, surprise Jurassic Park print by an artist that Mikaela really loves (and so do I) named Daniel Danger. Daniel did the Crimson Peak piece that I picked up a couple of years ago, as well as The Shape of Water print that I’d be trying to pick up later in the day. This Jurassic Park print was just as gorgeous, was super limited to 125 pieces, and was signed as well. I wasn’t going to buy it, until the employee at Mondo confirmed that it was in fact Daniel Danger, and was so freaking limited. Mikaela was at work, so she was unable to talk me out of it, so I picked that one up as well.

Every time I buy something, I freak out about spending money irresponsibly and Mikaela has to talk me off a ledge, and this time was no different. She’s really a saint for putting up with my bullshit for this long.

Following my purchase, I carefully returned the prints to the Geekscape booth, which was terrifying as the show floor opened, was flooded, and the prints were loose and would have been so easy to damage. Matt put them aside, and I went on a hunt to find some appropriate poster tubes and after what seemed like forever I managed to find some. I returned to the Geekscape booth, rolled the prints, and set off again. During my travels, I found the creepy as fuck tooth kid from the criminally underrated Channel Zero, Deadpool’s hilarious animatronic band, some classic protesters (and hilarious parody protesters), and more!

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While I was on the floor, Shane attended an Aquabats concert (and band that I’d never heard of until I met him, and a band that I’m pretty sure nobody in Canada knows about), and he looked so incredibly happy it the photos that he shared. Seeing a smile that big, and the genuine on his face absolutely warmed my heart. After missing last year’s event, I’m glad he looks like he’s having such a great time.

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Courtney and I grabbed a quick bite (and a couple of beverages) at the Wired Cafe before I returned to the convention centre for the Expanding Sea of Thieves panel. There was a huge line for this, far longer than I would have anticipated, and I was pretty worried that I wasn’t going to get in. I actually think the line was cut off just a few people after me, so I really lucked out, as the panel was interesting as hell for fans of the game. The panel opened with an epic new video of the upcoming skeleton crews, which showed them preparing for battle, and showed the ship diving under the ocean before the Cursed Sails splash appears. The crew then celebrated the myriad of Pirate Legends that were present in the room (a lot of them somehow had t-shirts with their GamerTags on their backs), before diving into the comic book and novel that are in the works. The novel is called Athena’s Fortune, and will be about some of the first pirates’ journey to the Sea of Thieves. The team noted that there are also references to some real players in the book, and that this is really the start of an expanded universe that will soon be referenced in the game.

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I’ll hopefully have a dedicated article up about this panel in the next few days, but watching this team so passionately talk about the game and their plans for its future made me so excited to be a player. I’ve loved this world since the very first time that I played the beta, and I cannot wait to see what it evolves into. The crew even gave out some time-limited Perfect Dark inspired DLC, which I was not expecting, but which I cannot wait to see in game. Amazing.

Following this panel, I essentially ran back to Mondo to join the giant line for Daniel Danger’s The Shape of Water print that was set to drop at 3PM. The line was pretty long (and was capped immediately after I got in it), but after about an hour it was my turn to pick up the print. Mikaela talked me off the ledge again, and I simply cannot wait to put this beautiful art up on our walls.

I brought the prints back to the hotel, and then it was time for another amazing event. I’d been invited to a wine-tasting event in celebration of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Emmy-nominated series StarTalk. Shane and Courtney were coming with me, and Shane decided that as it was a ‘wine tasting’, people would be dressed up, and that we should do the same. Shane put on the second bold suit that I’d seen him wear this week, and I brought nothing like that, but put on jeans and a button-up. We very warmly walked the numerous blocks to the event’s location, took the elevator up to the rooftop bar, and very quickly realized that everyone else was wearing shorts and t-shirts. Damnit, Shane.

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The event itself was awesome. There was delicious food, bourbon, wine, and beer available. Once the sun dropped below some nearby buildings things cooled off immensely, and it was also one of the only parties that I’d been to this week that was not PACKED (the invitation said intimate, and I really appreciate how chill it was), and the only event where the music was at a volume appropriate enough to still have a conversation. It was great to be at an event with these friends that I don’t see very often and actually be able to speak, instead of just look at each other (or nod like you heard what they said). Neal seemed like a super nice guy, and was happy to chat with attendees and to take photos. There was an adorable lady there that looked as though she was going to cry the entire time that she was in Neal’s presence, and I’m super glad they were able to spend some time together. I also saw WWE’s Cathy Kelly there, which was pretty rad as I’m a big fan of her onscreen presence. We watched Neal play a giant game of Jenga with a Nat Geo (which airs StarTalk) exec, which was pretty impressive as the game went on as long as it possibly could, with Neal finally losing in the end. A huge thanks to National Geographic for hosting this super memorable event!

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Following the wine tasting, Courtney, Shane, Matt, and I went to Panda Express at the Horton Plaza. We made it just in time to order before they closed, and while it was slim pickins’ in terms of food choices, they still had their to die for orange chicken. I was so wonderful that Matt had two orders of it.

There was a memorial toast planned for Jon Schnepp at the Grand Hyatt, so we all made a stop there to check things out. Shortly after, video came from Hall H showing Kevin Smith’s moment of silence / tribute to Jon, which was super touching. Schnepp was always a huge part of Comic-Con (I feel like especially for Geekscape, as Jon’s booth has been right beside ours for years), and its awesome for someone like Smith to use their limited panel time to remember that he’s been lost.

Gui has been trying to get me to go to some country music bar for what seems like hours at this point, so I’m not sure if I’ll end up there, or end up just falling asleep, but it’s absolutely crazy to think that when I wake up tomorrow, this will essentially be over for another year.

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Tomorrow is likely to be a very relaxed day of walking the floor before packing up after the show closes, so I’m not completely sure if another recap will be necessary. In any case, if you’ve come this far, I truly thank you for reading along. I began writing these pieces as a means to remember what I’d seen, heard, attended, and accomplished at these events, and it turns out that some people like reading what I’ve been up to as well!

So, if tomorrow is interesting, I’ll see you then, and if not… we’ll see you at PAX West next month!

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

by Mikaela Maxwell

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.

I can’t wait to make my own cosplay!

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!

I want every book.

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 – Sunday

by Derek Kraneveldt

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened? That’s what I was trying to tell myself as Mikaela and I woke up this morning. It felt as though we’d only just arrived in Seattle, and like Emerald City Comic-Con had only just begun – when in actuality, it was just a matter of hours before we’d be making the drive back to Vancouver and back to our real lives (and bills and jobs).

We prettied ourselves up for the day and then packed up what felt like a million bags. As we left our AirBnb for the last time (we brought our bags down to the car and left it parked there until we were ready to leave the collection, thankfully our host was cool with this), I realized just how much we’d lucked out on the location. Sure, it was a little outside of what we were comfortable spending (or what we could comfortably afford), but it took so much weight off of our shoulders to be a miniscule five minute walk away from the convention centre, rather than having to drive into the city each day to search for expensive, needle-in-a-haystack parking. Being so close to the convention centre simply allowed us more time at the convention itself, which (aside from the Szechuan sauce) was the whole reason we were there, of course.

After grabbing some tasty sandwiches from a local cafe, we (finally) made our way up to Artist’s Alley. The area has its own freaking floor at ECCC, and I honestly have never seen another Artist’s Alley that comes even close in size. It was freaking massive, spanning two and a half giant rooms. Almost every booth was packed with people, and we spent almost two hours just looking at all of the amazing art on display. It wasn’t long before Mikaela found numerous prints that she absolutely fell in love with, and after we browsed the entire Artist’s Alley Floor, we went back to buy some. Up to this point, aside from food we hadn’t actually purchased anything at the convention… today would definitely be different.

Following Artist’s Alley, Mikaela spent some time seeking out some standout cosplayers. She’s already posted a number of these images to the GeekscapeForever Instagram account, but a gallery of all of the images taken (along with Mikaela’s thoughts on the convention as a whole) should pop up within the next couple of days. There was an unbelievable amount of intensely high-quality cosplay at ECCC, and I still think that (as I mentioned yesterday) the Western Championships of Cosplay competition was one of the coolest things I’ve seen at any convention – the sheer amount of time that these artists put into their work is beyond mind-blowing.

The hours were flying by at this point – we waited in a huge line to grab some delicious pizza from the convention centre cafeteria, and then proceeded to spend more (and more) money on the show floor. Mikaela ended up buying the Planned Parenthood benefit book from A Wave Blue World (which I mentioned yesterday), a comic by a local artist that had some gorgeous watercolour-style artwork, several miniature pop-art style prints, a cool print of a narwhal (her favourite animal) and an 11×17 print from what turned out to be a Vancouver-local artist. I’ve been pretty successful at not buying anything (or is it just not being able to afford anything) at the last batch of conventions that I’ve visited – I’m not sure if it was just Mikaela egging me on or if my willpower simply disappeared today (or if not having to carry things back across several flights like at SDCC was just super attractive), but after wanting to pick up Skybound’s Superfight for years, and being so impressed with demo we’d received of The Grimm Forest board game… I ended up walking away with both of them (and I can’t freaking wait to give them a try).

Mikaela’s haul. We’re going to need some new frames!

From there, we did a bit more wandering and a little more cosplay watching, and before we knew it it was (sadly) time to make our way back to the car. Time flies when you’re having fun is a statement that is at its truest at comic book conventions. No lie.

I made us stop pretty quickly so I could taste that sweet, sweet Szechuan sauce one last time, and the rest of the drive back to Vancouver was pretty uneventful. We spent much of the ride gushing about how much fun we’d had, how organized the entire convention felt (like really freaking organized and smooth) and just how much we’re looking forward to the next one. Of course, just before heading over the border we made a quick stop at Buffalo Wild Wings (which is way tastier than anything we have up in Canada), before waiting in the border line for almost an hour.

New games! Who has played either of these?

We finally arrived home, walked in the door, threw our junk on the ground, and instantly went to bed (at like 9PM). We were beat, and Mikaela had school in the morning. Our trip to ECCC was finished.

The trip itself couldn’t have happened at a better time either. Mikaela has been doing some damned intense schooling over the past couple of months, and my day job has been extra busy (and extra stressful) for some time as well. It’d been quite some time since we’d been able to just spend a decent amount of quality time together, and the trip to Seattle for Emeral City Comic-Con gave us just that. As busy and intense as these events can be, it felt relaxing and refreshing for us to be able to share that intensity together. Thanks for that, Emerald City!

That’s another one in the books… and now it’s just four months until San Diego. Time to start getting ready!

Thanks for tagging along, look for more coverage (and cosplay) in the coming days, and let us know what you’d like to see more of at our next convention!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf2TSIUAbtb/?taken-by=geekscapeforever

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.

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!

SDCC 2016: Nick Presents: Women In Animation Panel Recap!

by The_acz

While it was overshadowed Friday night by other big events like the Sonic 25th Anniversary party, The Nick hosted Women in Animation Panel at Comic Con was easily one of the biggest highlights of the connvention.

Hosted by Nick and Moderated by Variety’s Laura Prudom, this panel featured an amazing panel of women including Lauren Faust (MLP:FIM, Super Best Friends Forever) Mary Harrington (Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life), Vanessa Coffey (Rugrats, Doug), Rikke Asbjoern (Pinky Malinky), Margaret Dean (Women in Animation), and Maija Burnett (CalArts). During the panel, these women brought some great insight into the world of animation and their struggles, and I’m here to give you an abridged version of it.

WIA Panelists

The panel started with a quick introduction of all the panelists and then proceeded to talk about how different the animation field was when they entered the business. They talked about how most shows were being made to just sell products or were aimed towards only a specific gender or demographic. They talked about the struggle to get original cartoons made and how Nick helped usher in the creator driven era in animation where shows were no longer about selling a product or catering to a specific age or gender, but instead telling fun stories that both kid and adults can appreciate.

WIA Panel 2

Next, they moved on to talk a bit about Lauren Faust and her experiences with the industry. She talked about how her first job outside of school was getting the amazing opportunity to animate for films like Cats Don’t Dance and The Iron Giant. She also touched on other subjects like when she tried pitching her possible toy line Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls, but was instead rejected by Hasbro in favor of the offer to help them reboot and breathe new life into the My Little Pony franchise. In the end she ended up accepting the job, and the rest is just about history as the MLP brand is one of the companies biggest staples now because of Faust and her crew.

WIA Panel 3

After that, they went to talk about upcoming and aspiring animators that they try to help every day. They mentioned how great it is that a lot of women are finally getting their chance to have their own shows made and how positive the reception to them has been. Steven Universe and Star Vs. the Forces of Evil were some examples of how positive reception to female creator driven shows have been. They then showed off a short animation by that Rikke Asbjoern helped with called My Friend Pancake. The short centered around a young girl who was friends with a giant cat that seems to be a bit timid. It was a funny and cute short that showed off the talents of upcoming female animators.

 

Finally, Rikke talked a bit about one of Nick’s upcoming new shows, Pinky Malinky. She talked about how she’s had the idea for this show forever and that as she continued to grow and learn about animation, so did Pinky. She seemed very excited to finally be able to talk and show people the show. They then showed us a couple of small clips of the show as well as some stills. After that, they ended the panel by telling people to help them with a cause called Women in Animation 50/50 which is an initiative to get women animation creatives up from 20% to 50% by the year 2025. If you’d like to help with this cause, check it out right here!

WIA Panel 5

WIA Panel 6

In the end, I can’t say enough good things about this panel. It’s a real shame if you weren’t able to attend the panel if you were at the convention, but hopefully my abridged recap of it helped convince you. Did you enjoy the write-up? Tell me in the comments below!

WIA Panel 1

SDCC 2016: From Pac-man To Mario Panel Recap!

by The_acz

As mentioned earlier today in my interview with him, Pat Contri (Pat the NES Punk) hosted his first ever comic con panel this year, and he even brought some guests along.

The panel consisted of Pat himself, His friend Ian Ferguson, James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd), Andre Meadows (Black Nerd Comedy), and Pixel Dan. Overall, a nice well rounded group of people to give an abridged version, but fun take on the history of video games. They even had a great turnout as they completely packed the room and even had to turn away some people (whoa!, that’s crazy).

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The start of the panel didn’t necessarily start where most people expected it to. While most VG history articles, videos, etc usually like starting around the Atari era, Pat & co. decided to take a different approach and start at the very VERY  beginning of games. They talked about how Ralph Baer (may he rest in peace) and how he is one of the most important and commonly overlooked influencer who helped get games where they are today. They also touched upon the creation of Pong, the rise of the pong consoles, and of course the age of Atari. They even had a really fun video that talked all about the fall of Atari and the infamous video game crash of 1983.

Next, they went on to talk about the Nintendo age and how they single handedly saved the market in the U.S from becoming completely dead and obsolete. After that, they went on to talk about the console wars and their own personal experiences growing up with either Nintendo or Sega, and how people around them acted. Then they talked a bit about the mid to late 90’s with the introduction of the PlayStation , rise of PC gaming, and how it was to see Atari and Sega finally drop out of the console war.

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Finally, they talked about the present day and the rise of retro games and nostalgia. They talked about how surreal it was to see something like the NES Mini coming out and how a lot of indie games like Shovel Knight are very much inspired by the developers having that nostalgia for playing those kinds of games when they were younger. After that they took a quick Q&A, and just like that, the panel was over. GAME OVER (I’m so sorry, please forgive me.) There was this really cool guy that came dressed up as a Tiger Electronic though.

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Man, I really need to get a better phone. These photos are pretty blurry.

What do you think of the panel? Where you there for it? Did you enjoy it? Tell us in the comments below!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – The Race of His Life

by jake108

We’re back with our final recap of The Flash season 2. It’s been quite a season, and it would be an understatement to say that season one set the bar high for the rest of the series. Season two parallels this same sentiment and goes one step further and hints at another major Flash comic book event. More on that after the jump!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Earth Prime

During this episode, it was revealed that the Earth portrayed in CW’s The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow is the nexus between the infinite earth’s. This would theoretically make the Earth’s portrayed in any DC cinematic renditions to be just one of many Earth’s.

CP Flash

Before his defeat, Zoom’s plan was to set off a sort of bomb that would send a transdimensional ripple across the infinite Earths and destroy them. Had his plan worked, Zoom would then conquer Earth Prime and rule it as the fastest man alive. Unfortunately for him, his plan didn’t fly so well.

Zoom

Zoom was handed his first defeat, and one that would transform him forever. Fans of the comics will see some similarities that may lead them to believe that Zoom lives on, just in another form. Earlier this season, we were introduced to Time Wraiths, a kind of police that puts speedsters into check to prevent them from ruining timelines and other Earth’s. As the Time Wraith’s took Zolomon away, his body seemed to disintegrate. This transformation seemed to resemble that of Black Flash.

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I believe it’s entirely possible we’ll see Zolomon again, most likely in this more sinister form.

Earth-3

The identity of the man in the iron mask was finally revealed, and it’s something that we’ve talked about multiple times in the past. Now that we have an established Jay Garrick, and an established Earth-3, we can finally connect The Flash to Legends of Tomorrow in a more concrete way.

 

JSA The Flash 223

At the end of the Legends of Tomorrow season finale, the Legends were visited by Rex Tyler, aka Hourman. Hourman, if you don’t know, is a member of the Justice Society of America. The JSA was mentioned by name at the end of the episode. What’s even better is that Jay Garrick may also be a member of the JSA.

Jay Garrick

Jay Garrick turned out to be Henry Allen’s Earth-3 doppleganger. After Zolomon failed at taking Garrick’s speed, his stole his identity and locked up him in a cell where he remained after being rescued by the Flash.

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Seeing this was a bit overwhelming, understandably so, but the presence of a seasoned speedster may be just what Barry needs. Zolomon’s helmet, which resembles “hope” was adopted by Garrick and will carry on it’s meaning. Garrick took Wells and Jesse back to Earth-2, where they will presumably help him get to Earth-3. I’m certain we’ll see him back in some capacity throughout the series, and hopefully in a much larger capacity in Legends of Tomorrow.

Flashpoint

The Flashpoint Paradox is a well-documented story arc involving the Flash. After Barry rescues his mother and prevents her from ever being killed, the entire world has Barry knew it ceased to exist. This sounds closest to what happened last night. While I doubt the changes will be permanent, it will be very interesting seeing how things play out early into Season 3.

You can watch The Flashpoint Paradox on Netflix instant streaming, or buy it here.

Flash 223

Looking back at it now, this entire season has really been moving past losing his mom. Everything from the Comic-Con trailer I discussed a couple of weeks back, to having Barry recite what seemed to be a common theme this season. Every time Barry scored a victory, he still loss in some way. It’s been like that since season one and this trend seemed to ultimately break him, and snap back to his somewhat selfish state he had at the end of last season. Yes, everyone gave him their blessing to change the timeline, but Barry ultimately chose to keep everything intact, which is what Henry Allen wanted for his son. After losing Henry, Barry snapped and pushed the button. The consequences for his actions will hopefully reverberate onto Season three. In any case, if he’s going to want to put the timeline back to normal, he’s going to need a ton of help from the Speedforce.

With that, it’s going to be a very long summer. However, I will still continue with news from all things DCTV. We’re bound to hear more about The Flash sooner than we think! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ – Destiny

by jake108

What an episode! I was beginning to wonder what Legends of Tomorrow had in store for the three remaining episodes a couple of weeks ago. Now that it has been revealed who the real villains are, the stakes couldn’t be higher. On top of that, we got word of a possible, and perhaps, eventual future. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Time Masters

The Time Masters have always been a sort of villain since the start of the show. However, up until now, we’ve thought that the Time Masters only wanted to apprehend Rip Hunter for messing with the timeline. Tonight, we found out that answer was only a half true.

Destiny

As it turns out, the Time Masters wanted Rip and his crew to visit all of these time periods and aid Vandal Savage in assuming power over the world. Everything from the United States winning the Cold War, to killing Rip’s family was carefully planned out, thus taking away any free well the Legends crew thought they had.

Destiny

In an attempt to change destiny, the crew decides to engage the time masters at the Vanishing Point, which is in another dimension. Doing so, they’ve managed to destroy a device that allows the Time Masters to peer into the future, thus taking their power over the timeline away.

Captain Cold

DC's Legends of Tomorrow -- "Destiny"-- Image LGN115a_0040b.jpg -- Pictured: Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart/Captain Cold -- Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW -- © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — “Destiny”– Image LGN115a_0040b.jpg — Pictured: Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart/Captain Cold — Photo: Cate Cameron/The CW — © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Is he gone? I doubt it. What we know is that Rip saw Palmer dissolve, but that doesn’t mean he necessarily died. Another possibility is that, since it wasn’t Ray Palmer, perhaps the event was changed so that no one dissolves. We’ll have to find out what happens to Cold in next week’s episode, but something tells me he’s due for a major role next episode.

Thanagarian Invasion

egends of Tomorrow 115 thanagarian

The Thanagarian Invasion was a popular story arc in the Justice League Animated Series in episodes 50-52. In what spanned over three episodes, we saw Thanagarians invading Earth in droves so that they could destroy the planet altogether. All of this was a ploy to provide a straight path to another alien race they were warring with. The event was also the root cause in deciding the open up Justice League membership to many others. In any case, should this invasion ever to come pass, it’s going to take everyone to fight back. Who knows, maybe that’s what Legends season two is going to take on.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Monument Point

by jake108

We’re back with another recap of tonight’s Arrow! Monument Point wasn’t just an episode that was actively setting the stage for a Darhk vs. Arrow bout. It also served as a pivotal point for Team Arrow, which is something they’re probably going to remember for the rest of their lives. So without further ado…

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Monument Point

What may come as a surprise to some, Monument Point has served as a plot device in DC lore, previous to appearing in Arrow tonight. Unfortunately for the city itself, it’s no stranger to disaster.

Arrow 421

In tonight’s episode, Team Arrow, I mean Felicity, managed to reroute a nuclear missile so that it would hit 20 miles east of his destination. This destination turned out to be Havencroft, which is a suburb of Monument Point. While Monument Point may be safe from widespread destruction, those living in the city are still in danger of fallout and radiation. It’s quite possible that this disaster will not be ignored by larger entities and may play as a pivotal factor in the next season of Arrow.

All the Best Cowboys…

Daddy issues are frequent in this show, and have been since Oliver watched his dad commit suicide right in front of him. This week, we got a few of doses of daddy-drama when Donna, Felicity’s mom, confronted Lance regarding his lie about knowing the Black Canary’s true identity. After a few stern words, Lance revised his report stating that he knew, and cooperated with his daughter’s heroics. While this may jeopardize his reinstatement in the police force, Lance can at least rest easy knowing he made Donna happy.

Arrow 421 fel and dad

The second dose came when Felicity was forced to contact her father to help save the world. While Noah regarded the whole affair as making up for missed bonding time, Felicity kept their interactions strictly professional. There’s no telling as to what Noah will become after this ordeal. Who knows? Maybe he’ll go live out at that cabin the woods, or rent another cabin somewhere near by. I hear there’s a cabin near Central City that recently went back on the market.

]

The third dose came when Thea had a run in with her father. Merlyn explained that the only reason why he’s working with Darhk was, of course, to perserve his life, as well as his daughter’s life. To be fair, had Oliver not taking the mantle of Ra’s Al Ghul away from Merlyn, he’d probably be utilizing the League of Assassins to take down HIVE. Still, doesn’t Merlyn have a few loyalists still? Don’t be surprised if they show up at the end of this season.

Darhk

Darhk wasn’t in much of this episode. However, in the bit he was in, he looked fierce. It’s been properly stated that the reason why Darhk wanted nuclear annihilation, besides being able to rebuild afterward, was because his power thrives on the death of others. Nuclear bombs, of course, are the quickest way to kill people. Since one bomb went off, killings tens of thousands, we can assume that Darhk is mighty powerful right about now.

Arrow 421

There’s really no telling as to what Oliver is going to do now that Darhk is more powerful than he has been all season. Maybe we’ll get another couple of flashbacks as to how he was able to survive that magical situation on Lian-Yu. The two arcs have to be connected somehow, and I’m sure Oliver will probably have one last thing up his sleeve that doesn’t involve learning magic in some back room at a casino.

A.R.G.U.S

A.R.G.U.S. was seen at the tail end of this episode helping out Team Arrow. Most of the agents, including the head of A.R.G.U.S. herself, helped by fending off a number of HIVE soldiers. Their presence here is meaningful because it explains why no one is helping out at Central City.

Arrow 421 argus

Zoom has the city under siege with a meta-human army at his command, but I’m sure SWAT has it covered.

Anarky

Anarky made another appearance this episode, just when I was beginning to forget about him. He’s still hellbent on taking down Darhk, and may prove to be a vital asset to Team Arrow down the line when it’s time to take Darhk down.

Arrow 421 Anarky

Remember, Anarky has been involved in each of Team Arrow’s attempts at taking Darhk down. The last time he was involved, Anarky had kidnapped Darhk’s family, leaving Darhk vulnerable for Team Arrow to come in and find his weak point.

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i23uTEFzX6g

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – The Runaway Dinosaur

by jake108

Kevin Smith is synonymous with the definition of geekdom in many of our vocabularies. It’s not uncommon to come across some that don’t generally like him or his work, and that’s fine, but I think he deserves a round of applause for guiding what seemed to be the most unique and hardest episodes to direct in the series. The Runaway Dinosaur closed a story thread that had been swinging in the wind for the entirety of the series; And that of course, was Barry coming to peace with making the decision to not save his mother at the end of the first season. So without further ado, let’s get to it!

Nora Allen

Nora Allen’s death was the driving force behind the first season. Of course, the big baddie last season was Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash, but it was Thawne’s action in killing Nora Allen that set off the events that would unfold into Barry Allen becoming a hero and defeating his nemesis for the first time. At the end of the first season, we saw Barry had a chance to save his mother and change history as we knew it. This would also mean that Barry’s life up until that point would be drastically different. For instance, he would have never lived with Joe, never would have grown up with Iris, and he would not be the same person he was in that instance.

The Flash 221 Jow

When Barry made the decision not to save his mother, partly because his future self chimed in with his two cents, Barry had to live with it. His guilt, which was stacked on already losing Ronnie Raymond to the singularity, was evident from the start of this season. You can even get a feeling for how Barry was feeling during this Comic-Con trailer for season two:

I just feel like I made a mistake. I should’ve saved my mom.

Now, after visiting and talking to Speedforce incarnate, Barry seems to be at peace with his decision. It also helped talking to a Speedfroce version of his mother, who was also in communication with his real mother.

The Flash 221 book

Now, feeling fulfilled, we were properly introduced to a new and improved Barry Allen. It’s going to be a blast seeing this new version of The Flash in the next couple of weeks, and next season.

The Speedforce

Last week, I went a little in depth as to where a speedster goes when they transcend our reality. However, in the show, the Speedforce seemed to take on a persona that seems to be immortal and omniscient.

The Flash 221 Joe

There isn’t much to discuss here other than that the Speedforce will probably making appearances in one way or another from now on. It’s also inspired Barry to take on what he sees as his true calling. Strangely, seeing Barry like this remindes me of Season Six Jack in LOST. 

Jesse Quick

Jesse Quick seemingly has some sort of speedster-like powers. This comes after being hit by Barry’s leftover energy, and having some form of energy transferred over to her from Barry.

The Flash 220

What’s eerie here, and perhaps means nothing at all, is that this scene was remeniscent of a scene in Episode 20 of Season 1. In this scene, Iris visits Barry in the hospital, some time after Barry is struck by lightning. When Iris lays her hand onto Barry’s, the same shock is present, only, this lightning here is blue.

The Flash 220

Zoom Gets to Bring Friends

At the end of the episode, Zoom revealed his army from Earth-2, and possibly other Earths as well. We won’t know for sure unless there’s some evidence presented inferring they’re all from Earth-2.

The Flash 220

Some of these villains will look familiar for comic readers, and it’s very exciting to see villains being utilized from deep within DC lore. I can’t wait for next week’s episode!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUKi7JnVt-w

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Lucha Underground’ – No Mas

by Josh Jackson

Now that we’re in the middle of the second season of Lucha Underground, and some of the long running storylines are starting to approach their turning points, what better time to begin running recaps of each episode? As tension continues to rise between many of its performers, this week mostly dealt with handing out more of the seven ancient Aztec medallions that make up the Gift of the Gods championship. With Cage, Texano and Aerostar each securing their medallions last week, three more would be awarded to the winners of tonight’s matches, while one from last week would be put up for grabs. The bout between Sexy Star and Mariposa in our main event however, is about more than just a reward, because Sexy is looking to finally cast out her fears by facing her abductor in a No Mas match. With two monsters vying for supremacy, winning the title, (and the chance to fight for the Lucha Underground Championship), might be more of a curse than a blessing.

The show starts with Dario checking on his newly repaired ceiling that his brother Matanza, and his opponent, Mil Muertes, crashed through at the end of their no contest brawl from two weeks ago. Catrina walks in to what used to be her office, and the two have a war of words regarding who had who beat. While Catrina accuses Dario of fearing Mil, he refutes this by saying his brother will put an end to him The two agree to settle whether or not her stone or his key is the most powerful by having a rematch under Mil’s signature match type, Grave Consequences. Except this time, one grave won’t be enough, promising four coffins around the ring, and renaming the match a Graver Consequences match, scheduled for next week.

Their first brawl was a no nonsense fight that ended with a bit of nonsense, but in the best way possible. Since we didn’t have a clear winner decided when the two monsters crashed through Dario’s ceiling, here’s hoping we have something much more decisive while being just as brutal.

1st match: The Mack vs. Marty the Moth for an Aztec Medallion

This match was all about The Mack, while continuing the ongoing rivalry between him and Sexy Star vs. Marty and his sister, Mariposa. While Marty got in a little offense, (while looking as creepy as possible as Melissa Santos introduced him to the ring), it only took a few minutes before The Mack won with two stunners, the second of which was modified from a Fireman’s Carry position. A fun match that was much too short given the history between these two, which might be explained by their re-appearance in the main event.

Lucha Underground No Mas Screen 3

Backstage:

In the locker room, we see King Cuerno getting ready for his Gift of the Gods opportunity after a long absence. There, he is approached by Catrina, who promises that Sinestro de la Muerte, the last surviving member of the Disciples of Death, will turn the hunter into the prey. Cuerno brushes her off, saying that he will make death itself his most prized trophy of all. He walks away before we see Catrina look into the camera with a red glow in her eyes, further hinting at her supernatural background.

Elsewhere, Sexy Star walks into Dario’s office, and sits down with a nervous expression. While admitting that the two haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, Cuerto says he sympathizes with Sexy, because he recognizes the look in her eyes. Recounting the story of his childhood from earlier in the season, where his “evil bitch”, of a mother abused him and Matanza until the brothers said, “no mas,” and killed her, the company’s promoter encouraged her to beat Mariposa until she couldn’t help to cry out the same words and permanently lose the fear in her eyes. But when she quits, don’t stop hurting her until she can’t hurt you again. Wait… Is the promoter essentially telling Sexy to kill Mariposa? What are we going to do with the medallion if the winner is in prison?

2nd match: King Cuerno vs. Sinestro de la Muerte (accompanied by Catrina) for an Aztec Medallion

Unfortunately, Cuerno’s return to The Temple wasn’t much to speak of. After teasing an Arrow From The Depths Of Hell, Catrina came up from behind him and clocked him with her rock, giving Sinestro the opening he needed to steal the win. The bigger story was the look on Cuerno’s face as the two walked away. Now that he was cheated out of his shot at the Gift of the Gods championship, will he make death itself his next target like he promised? I’m counting on it, but let’s hope Sinestro gets some more character in the coming weeks. The Disciples haven’t had much room to grow since their debut, so I’m hoping that will change now that one of the three has gone solo.

King Cuerno

Backstage:

Mascarita Sagrada is seen curling weights that are bigger than he is before Famous B approaches him. Apparently his only client, the manager promises big things for Sagrada’s future, starting with a shot at an Aztec Medallion against one of the winners from last week. I’ll give you a guess as to who it could be, but let’s just say that if Mascarita wants to be famous, there are better ways to do it than by being torn apart.

Back in Dario’s office, Chavo Guerrero storms in and demands to know why he isn’t fighting for one of the Medallions. Annoyed, Cueto keeps going through his paperwork while saying Chavo has disappointed at every turn, blowing every opportunity he’s been given. Promising to seize his own opportunity, Chavo storms out, obviously with something in mind.

3rd match: Mascarita Sagrada vs. Cage with Cage’s Aztec Medallion on the line

Well, this went about the way you would expect it to go. No matter how much you can curl, nothing can prepare you for a machine like Cage. Sagrada got in a minute of offense, using his speed and small size to get the better of his much larger foe for a time. Then just like that, Cage put a stop to the rally. He blamed Famous B for what was about to happen and performed what could only be described as an F5, except Cage let him go in the air while the poor mini wrestler spun in the air twice before landing. A short three seconds later, and that was that.

After the match, Famous B came in the ring to check on his client, while him and Cage argued over the match. As this went on, Chavo made good on the “stealing” portion of the Guerrero family mantra, and ran off with Cage’s Aztec Medallion. Of all the people he could have taken one from, did it really have to be Cage? I’ll be there for the funeral.

Lucha Underground No Mas Screen 2

Main Event: Sexy Star vs. Mariposa in a No Mas match for an Aztec Medallion

With the story being told up to this point, this matched needed to go to a higher level of brutality to really sell the idea that Sexy was finally going to pay back her abuser. On that front, it completely delivered. As you can probably guess, a “No Mas” match is the same as an “I Quit” match, except in Spanish… In other words, the only way a person can win is by forcing their opponent to be beaten down to the point where they yell out those two humiliating words.

What started off as a standard wrestling match upped the ante pretty quickly, featuring mask tearing, chairs getting hit with chairs, chairs getting smashed into vaginas. The action spilled into the crowd and onto Dario’s office before eventually leading to the scaffolding, where Sexy was visibly bleeding under her mask. After going back and forth with a tense back and forth sequence, the two climbed back down to the crowd. This is where Marty made his return, grinding Sexy’s face into a fence until The Mack ran out to make the save.

Eventually finding their way back to the ringside area, the two luchadores continued to brawl, leading to a sick spot where Mariposa stopped a headscissor attempt and began swinging Sexy’s head into the announcers table. As the two eventually rolled back into the ring, Marty tried to intervene again before The Mack fought him off. Mariposa put Sexy into a submission hold, which led to an emphatic, “Fuck you Mariposa!”, when the ref asked if she quit. Vampiro and Sexy were both swearing left and right at this point, which put an exclamation point on the savagery of the match, (especially since that kind of language typically doesn’t fly on the network, so kudos to El Rey letting them add that touch to the story they were telling).

The finish came when Sexy worked her way out of Mariposa’s submission hold and transitioned into an armbar. Once she locked it in completely, Mariposa had no way out and was finally forced to yell, “No mas,” leading to Sexy’s victory. As if taking Dario’s advice from earlier, Sexy refused to let the hold go and put her fear back into Mariposa before The Mack delivered her hard earned Aztec Medallion as the crowd chanted that she deserved it. This closed out the show in an incredible way, delivering a type of match we’re not used to seeing female performers compete in. It was just as violent as they needed it to be, with tense spots that took them all throughout the temple. My only real complaint is that it’s getting harder and harder to buy Mariposa as this terrifying threat, since all she seems to do is lose since she debuted. Has she even won a match?

Lucha Underground No Mas Screen 1

Overall, the show itself was mostly uneventful from a storyline perspective, outside of seemingly resolving Sexy Star’s issues with the Moth Tribe. What I am looking forward to however, are the future angles they seem to be setting up. How will King Cuerno react to being screwed out of his shot at regaining the Gift of the Gods title? Will there be a Chavo Guerrero left when Cage catches up to him? And most importantly, who will come out on top when Mil Muertes and Matanza clash for a second time in their Graver Concequences match? I’m thinking next week will be a can’t miss episode.

What were your highlights of this week’s episode? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to check back next week as we continue to follow season 2 of Lucha Underground.

Lucha Underground airs every Wednesday night at 8 PM on the El Rey Network, and is available for purchase on iTunes.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Genesis

by jake108

Tonight’s episode of Arrow moved us one step closer to a final resolution between Damien Darhk and Team Arrow. While the episode seemed to move alone steadily, it was nice not having to flashback to Lian-Yu. Also, it would be nice to at least see Oliver talk to Constantine once in a while!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

The Diggles

After many years of searching for the man who killed his little brother, John Diggle came to the realization that he had to do it himself. It was the right choice, especially after Andy kept coming at Diggle and threatening his family. Still, it’s probably going to be a little difficult if this whole event ever comes up in conversation with Diggle’s nephew.

Arrow 420 Diggles

The death of Andy signifies Diggle’s transformation. This was also marked by the contrasting views Lyla had when Diggle came back injured from his encounter with Andy. Diggle came close to reverting back to his own self by putting himself in danger without thinking of any repercussions that may follow his death. However, by the end of the episode, it was clear Diggle has changed for the better.

Magic 101

This episode also saw Oliver attempting to learn magic to combat Darhk’s abilities. During his training session, Oliver fought Deathstroke, Darhk, and other past enemies from Lian-Yu. This was a pretty cool segment, and it was nice seeing the Deathstroke suit dusted off.

Arrow 420 Mt

During this training session, we also learned that the reason why Darhk chose Star City as his base of operations was because of the existence of a magical “nexus”, similar to the one found on Lian-Yu. It’s assumed that this is where Darhk gets his powers, using that totem to channel his magical abilities. By the end of the episode, we found that two can play that game:

 

Thea

After taking some time off from the team while Oliver left to Hub City, Thea found herself in a bad situation in which she was drugged and kidnapped to a shelter under Star City. The shelter is of course operated by HIVE, and we’ve seen a glimpse of this place earlier this season. The dome is powered and its air is filtered by plants. HIVE was obviously thinking long term here, as they should be.

Arrow 420

As for Oliver’s ex-political advisor, he’s clearly under the control of HIVE, presumably not by choice. He mentioned that he was taking “vitamins” given to him by Ruvé Adams, Darhk’s wife. Of course, we know that this pills are used to take control of people, turning them into agents of HIVE. We saw this happen to Andy Diggle, and there’s no word yet on if the effects can be reversed.

Genesis

Finally, we caught wind of Darhk’s endgame. It’s assumed that Darhk plans on nuking the world and rebuilding his own in the future. His endgame is peculiar because it affects the entire world. You would think that Vandal Savage would have something to say about this.

Arrow 420 Darhk

If you remember more than a few weeks back, Damien Darhk appeared in a Legends of Tomorrow episode. In it, Darhk was seen trying to buy nuclear weapons. It’s clear now that nuking the planet has been in Darhk’s head for a few decades, if not longer. His yearn to control the planet also falls in line with his teachings within the League of Assassins, and it’s also probably what got him cast out of the league entirely, paving way to the Ra’s Al Ghul we saw last season.

Hub City

Lastly, but certainly not least, I wanted to expand a little on Hub City. The city is patrolled by The Question. Question is an expert martial artist, vigilante, sometimes conspiracy theorist, and a master detective. If he looks familiar to you, much of his persona was borrowed to create Rorschach of Watchmen.

Arrow Question

The city also pays homage to Ted Kord, also known as the Blue Beetle. Kord Industries has also been featured repeatedly on Arrow.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7cTJ3EeFGc

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – Rupture

by jake108

We’re back with another recap for The Flash! After a few ups and downs, I wholeheartedly believe that tonight, we were dealt one of the best episodes of the series. This episode, we saw a Barry Allen without speed. While it may not be the first time we’ve had an episode  where Barry struggles to live without his speed, we haven’t seen an episode where things truly become dire right in front of a helpless Barry. If Grant Gustin hasn’t solidified his role as Barry Allen for you, I don’t know what it’s going to take for that happen. Let’s get on with the recap!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Caitlin

Caitlin continues to have one of the most underrated and interesting character arcs this season. Let me reiterate by saying that we first found Caitlin working at a STAR Labs competitor at the start of this season. She was apprehensive at the notion of even returning to STAR Labs, let alone become part of the team again. This was completely understandable since she lost Ronnie at the end of season one. Now, having ben kidnapped by Zoom, Caitlin is continually being exposed to “the darkness.”

The Flash 220 Caitlin

Now, I’m not going to jump the shark and come right out and say Caitlin will assume her role as Killer Frost, but what I think we can expect in the third season is a darker Caitlin. You can’t be next to Zoom, especially for these next few days that can be described as the darkest days Central City has had, and expect to be completely fine afterward.

Iris

This episode marked Iris revealing her feelings about Barry. While there have been hints here and there over the course of the first season and this one, this marked an important step in developing their relationship out further. As long as it doesn’t feel forced, and as long as Iris doesn’t get the Felicity treatment, I’m fully on board.

The Flash 220 BarryIris

Last season, Iris felt like an accessory. She was the daughter, she was the love-interest; And after Eddie died, she had to rediscover herself. In doing so, she had to forge her own path into becoming part of Team Flash. At the time, Barry was involved with Patty, eliminating her role as the love-interest for the time being. So as long as she keeps her identity and doesn’t revert back to what she was in the first season, I think we can expect a great dynamic to be added in season three of The Flash.

Cisco and Dante

The Flash 220 Cisco

The brotherly love was strong with this episode. Cisco has been repeatedly made to feel left out of his own family, and Dante wasn’t helping the cause. Their relationship was on full display when Cisco met up with Dante at the bar, but for viewers who are new to the show or don’t quite remember their relationship from season one, a full transition took effect. Who knew all you need to repair a relationship with an estranged family member is an evil doppleganger from another Earth trying to kill you both?

Barry

In dramatic fashion, it would appear Barry got his speed back, but not without disappearing into the Speed Force. Seeing this transition was hard to watch, depending on how invested you are in the show. But regardless, it was very cool seeing this happen. As to where Barry went, he’s probably lost in the Speed Force, and he’s going to need some rescuing. There have been multiple interpretations as to where this place is, and/or how it happens. In the Justice League animated series, Wally West runs so fast, in trying to defeat a merged Brainiac and Lex Luthor, that he becomes one with the Speed Force and needs the rest of the League to help get him out.

In another instance, specifically in Young Justice, Wally is again subject to becoming part of the Speed Force.

Now, how would I imagine Barry gets out? Well, it’ll be up to Team Flash. However, I would love it if Jesse and Wally use speedster-like powers to tap into the Speed Force and save Barry.

Another thing I’d like to point out is the possibility at an answer as to what exactly that time wraith was a few episodes back. If you remember, Barry went back in time to have Eobard Thawne teach him how to get faster. During that trip, a time wraith chased Barry around and nearly killed him.

The Flash 220 Time Wraith

If you look closely, this time wraith is wearing Flash’s cowl, but no suit. The body also looks charred. Could it be possible that this time wraith was born when Barry entered the Speed Force? If so, it would make sense that all that would be left of Barry is a charred body and the cowl. After all, when Zoom went into STAR Labs, he only picked up Barry’s suit, which was missing the cowl.

The Flash 220

Jesse and Wally

I believe we have just witnessed the origins of Jesse Quick and Kid Flash and I could not be more excited. The wave that knocked the two over was probably Barry, in Speed Force form, I guess you could say. In the comics, there have been multiple instances where a speedster becomes one with the Speed Force. In one comic arc in particular, Barry turns into the lighting that strikes him at his origin, making him the Flash. Seeing what happened to Jesse and Wally was reminiscent of that.

The Flash 220 Wally

I would say the chances of seeing two speedsters helping Barry out in the coming episodes are pretty high. Since they were hit by the result of Barry getting his powers back, it’s hard to say just how fast they’ll be, but we can assume they won’t be as fast as Barry. Here’s to hoping seeing them in action in the penultimate episode this season!

Who’s in the Mask?!

Things are starting to ramp up to another big reveal at the end of this season. One, if not the most mysterious story threads this season has been the identity of the man in the mask being held in Zoom’s lair. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I believe the man in the mask is the real Jay Garrick. However, what’s key here is that this Jay Garrick is that of Barry’s father’s doppleganger.

The Flash 214

A major hint was dropped tonight when Barry visited his father at his far-away cabin. During their conversation, Henry informed Barry that his mother’s maiden name was Garrick. How this version of Jay Garrick will relate to Hunter Zolomon is yet to be seen. However, one theory would suggest that they’re step-brothers, or brothers. We’ll just have to wait and see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyTi8qkw7rY

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – Versus Zoom

by jake108

It’s been a long hiatus, but we’re finally back with another episode of The Flash. This episode provided some much need answers as to some lingering questions, mostly dealing with Zoom’s identity. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Hunter Zolomon

Zoom is indeed Hunter Zolomon. Zolomon made the mistake of showing Caitlin his doppleganger in an earlier episode this season. Since the start of the season, we here at Geekscape have been speculating Jay Garrick’s ties to Zoom. I wrote about it early on in the season, and today, we found out exactly what the whole business was with Jay Garrick dying a few episodes back.

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The way Zolomon explained it was that the Garrick we saw die was a time remnant. We saw another example of this earlier this season when the Reverse-Flash came back in time. Zolomon somehow convinced his time remnant to be a part of Zolomon’s grand scheme in stealing the Flash’s speed. Zolomon initially says the remnant agreed to the plan because it was so good. It’s also entirely possible that he was holding his remnant hostage the entire time. As for who’s in the mask, Zoom remarks, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

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In this episode, we also saw that Zolomon’s father fought, presumably, in the War of the Americas. This was an odd detraction from what Garrick said at the start of the season, saying his Grandfather fought in the war, and not his father. Was Zoom lying? Was there a bit of retcon? We’re going to have to keep watching to find out.

Keystone City

Keystone City made an appearance this episode, and it wasn’t in suspended animation! However, it does look a little dire in Keystone. It’s nice to know that this place exists and will probably show up again in the future. Still, at least we know that there is at least ONE pizza shop in the city.

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Keystone City is home to both Wally West Flash and Jay Garrick. There isn’t much more significance other than that. However, it would be cool if Wally moved to Keystone, should he ever get his own set of speedster powers.

Supergirl

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If you watched closely, you saw Flash temporarily vanish from Central City and reappear shortly after before heading back to STAR Labs. After getting back, Barry questioned Cisco, asking stuff like how long he was gone and what was happening. That brief moment of absence was spent on Supergirl’s Earth, whatever Earth that is.

Vibe

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Cisco finally broke down what has been stopping him from exploring his powers. The bottom line was that he was afraid of becoming a villain. After a solid pep talk from Barry, Cisco decided to use his powers to open a breach to Earth 2. While Barry and Cisco are partially to blame for Wally’s capture, hopefully the ordeal pushes Cisco to continue on the path of realizing his true potential.

Flashpoint Easter Egg

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For those of you who have read the Flashpoint comics, or have seen the movie, you may have noticed a fun little easter egg in Zoom’s creation. When the particle accelerator blew up on Earth-2, Zolomon was in the midst of electroshock treatments. This origin is similar to how Barry got his powers back on another Earth.

Who’s in the Mask?!

Well, it seems we have three solid candidates as to who’s wearing the mask. Before, it was easy to guess that it may be another variation of Jay Garrick or Hunter Zolomon. Perhaps an older Jay Garrick is also in the cards. Regardless, whoever is in the mask knows a tap code used during wartime, specifically for POW’s. First, those who would know that means of communication would be an older Jay Garrick who fought in the war or Zolomon’s father.

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The third, perhaps more convoluted is Wally West of another Earth. If we are to take the events that happened on another Earth, it’s possible that like Earth-2, there is another Earth where Barry does not become the Flash. Perhaps instead, there is another Earth where Wally West is the Flash and that’s why Zoom kidnapped him away from Earth-1. In any case, this will build up until the season finale and may have repercussions on the series itself.

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Eleven-Fifty-Nine

by jake108

We’re back with another Arrow recap! With The Flash on hiatus, we were forced to leave it up to Arrow to deliver the goods, and they did not disappoint. Rather than waiting to find out who’s in the grave until the end of the season, we got a bitter send off to a character that, not only progressed the most this season, but was also the most pure of Team Arrow. Let’s get to it.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Damien Darhk

While we don’t exactly know what the ring was for, Darhk was able to persuade Merlyn and other baddies to essentially bring him a totem and break him out of Iron Heights. Since a full riot ensured at Iron Heights, we can only assume that more prisoners than just Darhk’s men had an opportunity to get out. And since Darhk was locked up with seemingly normal inmates, we can also assume that no Meta’s got out in the riot.

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Merlyn’s service to Darhk was ultimately disappointing. By now, being the former Ra’s Al Ghul, you would think that Merlyn adores power above anything else. I don’t really understand why he didn’t take the totem for himself, unless he’s planing some kind of coup in the future. So, with Darhk’s rise to power, Team Arrow was dealt a major blow by losing one of their own. But more on that later.

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We can expect Darhk to retake his position at HIVE. With his wife in office, we can also expect Star City is in some serious danger. Darhk has successfully infiltrated the city and now all that’s left between him and Star City’s ultimate destruction is one pissed off Oliver Queen.

Andy Diggle

Andy’s character arc over this last episode kept us thinking whether or not he would betray the team. This suspense was kept up until the very end. Oliver and Diggle once again got into it over Oliver’s accusations. Since Oliver rushed in by himself, against Laurel’s advice, Diggle was more inclined to stick by his brother’s side.

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The betrayal will ultimately make the bond between Oliver and Diggle stronger, if they survive what’s coming. As far as Andy is concerned, we can expect to see his character resolution at the end of this season. Will he betray Darhk? Will he assume a higher position in HIVE? It’s hard to gauge exactly what Andy is getting out of this. Either he’s doing this for self-preservation, or a boatload of money. Either way, any potential relationship with his brother is pretty much shot.

Felicity

Honestly, this episode was much better without having to deal with any Felicity-Oliver relationship drama. It is my sincere hope that they put that drama on hold for the remainder of the season. It makes sense to do so, mainly because Team Arrow is going to be hellbent on capturing or ending Damien Darhk.

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As we saw in the last flash-forward, Felicity was in the limo with Oliver, upset, and quite vengeful. It seems with Laruel’s death that the collective heart of Team Arrow will be filled with darkness for the remainder of the season. It will be a nice juxtaposition between the tone set earlier in the season, and the remainder.

Oliver

I wouldn’t be surprised if Oliver goes back to killing this season. Midway through the episode, he told Diggle that people don’t change, and that the darkness that made him who he was over the five years on Lian-Yu changed him forever. Diggle proclaimed that people “evolve” and move past it. But for Oliver, and what seems like the rest of Team Arrow, the events that happened last night will change all of them.

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Yes, with her dying breaths, Laurel blessed the ‘Olicity’ relationship, but I really hope Oliver puts that on the back-burner until his business with Darhk is done.

Laurel Lance

At first, she picked up the mantle of Black Canary to honor her sister, to get closer to Oliver, and to protect the city in ways that would eventually make her father proud. She fought crime and super villains and based her self-worth off of it. Ultimately, the Laurel we saw develop this season changed her reasoning over why she fights for the city.

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Like Oliver, Laurel fought to protect the city for herself. By doing this, she became Oliver’s equivalent. Sure, she didn’t have a horrible past, or any stay on Lian-Yu, but she did lose her sister a few times, overcame alcoholism and her pill addiction, and became one of the strongest pillars of Team Arrow. Without her, it’s hard to tell how the team will stand. We won’t have to wait long.

While I’m sure this isn’t the last that we’ll see Laurel in the Arrowverse, she will be missed as a regular on the show.

 

That’s all for this week! Check back for a Legends of Tomorrow recap!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Broken Hearts

by jake108

Arrow is back this week with familiar faces and an old enemy. Overall, I liked this week’s episode, even the courtroom procedural aspect. So let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Damien Darhk

It was odd that he didn’t speak for the entire episode. Instead, he often peered at Oliver, lustfully, I might add. I mean, look at him!

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Darhk seems to have had an alternate identity set up so that he could evade the court system and flee the country. However, what he wasn’t counting on was Captain Lance’s testimony. Still, being the Darhk he is, we saw him enact what looked like to be Plan C: Another mystical artifact that will presumably give him powers. We can’t say we didn’t see this coming, but the fact that he had the ring in his mouth for who knows how long may provide some insight as to why he didn’t really say anything.

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Darhk seems like he is in control, even in a prison cell, so there’s really no telling what this ring can do. Still, I think he’s going to require a little bit more help than just putting a ring on. Who knows? Maybe he’ll be able to control guards with it or something.

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Also, keep in mind that Darhk is in Iron Heights Prison, a prison with a wing that houses meta-humans that Team Flash captures.

Cupid

Arrowverse’s very own Harley Quinn made another appearance tonight and reminded us of the good ‘ol superior Suicide Squad days. Let’s all take a breath and reminisce.

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Cupid presumably escaped Taskforce X, aka the Suicide Squad, around the time Amanda Waller died. Or maybe Waller lost track of her and kept it on the down low and was ultimately killed before letting anyone know. The Squad was off the books, so it could be that it’s just taken Cupid a pretty long time to make her way back to Star City to preach her “love is dead” message to its citizens.

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Because she showed up, Olicity fans were treated to a fake wedding between Oliver and Felicity…Well, “fake” depending on who you ask. I’m glad Cupid didn’t go the way of Amanda Waller and Deadshot (RIP), so it’s nice knowing that she has the potential of coming back sooner or later. I honestly wouldn’t mind if she became a member of the Legends of Tomorrow next season.

Oliver and Felicity

Oliver made one last ditch effort to win Felicity over with his vows and was fooled into thinking he had an impact. We found out, along with him, that Felicity in fact did not fall for it and refuses to be in a relationship with Oliver. It would also seem as if she’s having second thoughts about being part of Team Arrow in general.

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If she does indeed take a break, it would be fair to assume that break wouldn’t last for very long. As we all know, a death in the Arrow family is incoming, we just don’t know who yet.

Who’s in the Grave?!

Ah, back to our weekly segment of “Who’s in the Grave?!”. So let’s take a look at who’s likely this week.

Captain Lance testified in court against Damien Darhk. While it looks like Ghost activity has died down since Darhk’s capture, it doesn’t change the fact that HIVE is still being controlled by Malcolm Merelyn. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I don’t believe Darhk is going to be the one to take the life of whoever Team Arrow is mourning at the end of this season. Merelyn has an equal opportunity of being the one to murder someone in the Team Arrow family.

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Darhk will probably make one last stand to try to regain power before being either killed or apprehended by Oliver and dumped on his Lian-Yu prison island. Then hopefully we can get a spin-off series where Deathstroke and Darhk live together on an island filled with mysterious artifacts and portals to hell.

Felicity still remains to be a likely candidate, regardless of us seeing her in the car with Oliver post grave scene. It’s not impossible to believe that Oliver would imagine Felicity sitting next to him and talking to him post-death. I mean, how many times has Shado come back to talk with Oliver?

Still, I think the key players here are Lance, Felicity, and yes, Donna. My money is still on Donna by the way.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – Trajectory

by jake108

We’re back with another episode of The Flash! That break wasn’t so bad, was it? While we did wait as patiently as we could over the last three weeks, it was nice seeing Team Flash finally connect the dots and see the correlation between Zoom and Jay Garrick. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

Trajectory

Even when Zoom’s not around, he’s still screwing things up for Team Flash. A few weeks back, when Caitlin was still developing a serum to help Jay/Zoom gain more speed and stop his cells from decaying, she asked a friend of hers at Mercury Labs for help. Mercury Labs has shown up in the show before and it’s understandable that Caitlin would use contacts there for help. What she didn’t expect was her colleague taking the Velocity-9 herself.

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Trajectory is an interesting case because through her, we are able to sort of peer into the beginnings of Jay/Zoom. If taking the Velocity drugs has the same, or nearly the same effects on everyone, then we can assume Jay/Zoom went under some kind of transition. The transition we saw tonight presumably started with a sort of split-personality disorder, where the other personality craved the Velocity serum. This turned the subject into a sort of speed junkie that only craved the serum. While Zoom had been masquerading as Jay during the duration of his stay at STAR labs, he may have told a number of half-truths. For instance, when he confessed to Caitlin that he was indeed a speed junkie, he could’ve been telling the truth. The fact of the matter is Jay said he was a chemist on Earth-2 and was actively looking for ways to increase his speed. His addiction only grew and thus, Zoom was born. We’ll get to more on that a little ways down…

Trajectory vanished as she ran from Flash at the end of their fight. Either she became one with the Speedforce, or she simply disintegrated. Still, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Trajectory.

Jesse Quick

We got one step closer to seeing Jesse Quick tonight. While she was injected with a pure form of Velocity-9, it was said that they were able to get the serum out of her bloodstream and get her back to good health. Afterwards, there was no clear sign that she had speedster powers, but maybe it’ll take some time to take effect.

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I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Jesse return to Central City just in time to help out Team Flash in battling Zoom.

Opal City

After learning just what her father did in an effort to protect her, Jesse decided it was time that she move on and live life on her own. The interesting thing here is that she purchased a bus ticket to Opal City. This city isn’t known for much, other than playing host to generations of Starman.

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Using his intelligence and wealth, Ted Knight developed a rod that granted him the power of flight, concentrated blasts of radiation, and the ability to defy gravity. The first iteration of Starman was a part of the Justice Society of America.

Zoom

We know Velocity-9 can have an effect where a split-personality can take over the user completely. Knowing this, there’s a slight possibility that Jay Garrick didn’t know he was Zoom. This would be a more tragic route for the Jay Garrick character. Since Jay was already a speedster, I would think his Zoom personality would come around slower, and more powerful.

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However, it’s also possible that he knew all along and was playing Team Flash for fools. What we do know is that Zoom is dying. This is something we all saw coming, if you’ve been keeping up with the recaps.

 

That’s it for this week! As always, thank you all for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ – Night of the Hawk

by jake108

Note: Check out our recap of last week’s Legends of Tomorrow!

It was only a matter of time before Legends of Tomorrow was going to leave us too. Fortunately, it didn’t leave before giving us a solid episode which also doubles as a callback to the classic horror genre. Thanks, Joe Dante! This week, we were also treated to a pretty good cliffhanger. Unfortunately for us, we’ll have to wait until March 31 to see what becomes of the rest of the team.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Nth Metal

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Nth metal made another appearance tonight in the form of a meteor. As we all know, Nth metal comes outer space. In the comics, Nth metal is very common on the world of Thanagar. Tonight, we also learned that it can mutate humans into what looked like to be more Hawk than man.  It’s also what gives Hawkgirl and Hawkman their powers. A few articles back, I briefly went over the history of Nth Metal, and how it can potentially tie into the show on a deeper level.

The knife came into being when Carter Hall, then Prince Khufu of ancient Egypt, found a crashed Thanagarian ship with a very hawk-like theme. Both Nabu and Teth Adam were with Khufu when he found it. If those last two names sound familiar to you, they should. Eventually, Nabu becomes the power source of Doctor Fate and Teth Adam becomes the Black Adam. In the crashed ship, they find nth metal and create a few tools from it, including the mace and the deadly knife used in the double murder. Among other things created was the Claw of Horus. Again, sound familiar? The Staff of Horus was used by Savage at the end of this episode. It was said by Hall that if Savage got a hold of the staff, he would be nearly impossible to beat. Using information based off the comics, we can assume nth metal exists in this universe, and Savage is currently using it to his advantage.

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You can read more about the Nth Metal and its ties to Doctor Fate here.

Sara Lance

Sara caught feelings, seemingly for the first time since being revived from the Lazarus Pit. This makes a lot of sense, especially since she came back with a demon inhabiting her body.  Aside from that, we have to note that as of right now in Arrow, Nyssa has not heard from Sara since the revival. That’s unfortunate due to the fact that the two were once a couple.

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However, after a kiss shared in the 1950’s, it would look like Sara has made one more step to becoming normal again…Well as normal as you can get when you’re a time-traveling assassin.

Captain Cold & Heat Wave

Cold was distant this week, and that’s understandable. This week danced around what we saw at the end of last week’s episode. We don’t have a definitive answer yet as to what happened to Heat Wave. Yes, Captain Cold fired his gun, and yes, the falling out between them two was pretty big. Still, I think there’s only two ways this can go:

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It’s possible Captain Cold made a deal with Heat Wave and the plan all along was to have Mick turn rogue on everyone and send Mick off with something stolen off the Wave Rider. Then, once Cold could get away from the team, he would eventually meet up with Mick and the two would reap the benefits of whatever they stole.

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Then there’s the obvious theory that Cold simply didn’t kill him and instead abandon him for the time being. In this theory, we could assume that Mick is now just wandering wherever and whenever he was left. However, there’s a new theory as what becomes of Heat Wave.

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We know Chronos has been hunting the Legends. A new theory suggests that was subsequently picked up by the time masters, equipped him with a ship and weapons, and sent him after the Legends. It’s farfetched, I know, but it would be a neat twist.

That’s all for this week! See you all at the end of the month!