Emerald City Comic Con 2016 Trip Report
Overall I had another successful Emerald City Comic Con. Would definitely go again.
The good
- There's a good range of panels for everyone. I mostly stopped by the comic arts ones, but also checked out some of the writing, marketing, and law panels. My favorite one is the Convention Horror Stories - if you attend, you must check this out at least once. It's a convention regular.
- Speaking of panels, good diversity on the panelists as well. Both males and females had good representation (unlike many other cons) and there's varying levels of experience on there.
- Massive artists alley and show floor. I spent several afternoons just looking around and there's a lot of talent on that floor.
- There is some amazing cosplay. Amazing.
- It's easy to get tickets and hotel. If you've ever tried to get to San Diego Comic Con, you know what I'm talking about.
- It's downtown Seattle. Take an extra day to check out downtown and the Seattle Center. Especially before the heat and humidity really hit.
The bad
- Celebrity and tv / movie presence was a bit weak. I thought the reedpop takeover would help with this, but it didn't... perhaps they had to pick who goes to which cons? It didn't start strong and then there were cancellations. I was looking forward to seeing the cast of Supergirl too - perhaps next con then!
- Some of the moderators should get a cheat sheet of topics to cover. I get that some moderators will just be better than others, but I saw a couple that were like deer in headlights.
- The cosplay is amazing, and so are the photographers. C'mon, you're not Ansel Adams, don't block up the entire intersection in the middle of the show floor for a couple of minutes and ask people to pose for you while you're fiddling with your camera. Meanwhile the line to get to the other side is backed up 8 or 9 deep.
The other stuff
- I finally studied the map and found the fastest path from one side of the convention center to the other. With panel rooms on both sides, that's the difference between making it to a panel or not.
- Surprised to find that librarians presenting how to do research for your fantasy world was standing room only. Also, it was an excellent panel.
- It's always fun when a panelist is geeking out over another panelist as much as the audience is.
- Tried out the BetaBotz board game preview and found the game fun, albeit didn't play enough to really know how the balance was. If you like negotiation games with a bit of building, it's worth checking out. They're doing a kickstarter soon.
- Every time I turn on the TV, it seems like USA is showing another episode of Law and Order.