I spent all four days at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, this year doing panels, the vendor floor, Artist Alley, and checking out amazing cosplay. The event was bigger than ever this year, with more celebrities than I could keep up with, fandom-specific areas (Lorcana game, anyone?), and something for all ages on the main floor. Brendon Fraiser told some great stories (“I’m Chewbacca…“.) and I heard the Clone Wars panel got a little “spicy.” 

If you’re planning to go next year, here’s a little insight into how to plan your trip, what I loved, and what I hope changes a little for 2027. 

The 4-Day Breakdown: Pick Your Battle

MegaCon is not like anything else. There are more panels than Gandolf can shake his staff at, celebrities (each with their own schedule), games, speciality merchandise, and more. If you want to see it all, go all four days. If you can only make it one or two days, though, pick your quest:

• Thursday: Best for shopping and lower stress, but can have less going on in terms of panels and celebrity access.
• Friday: Balanced with decent crowds and access to panels and celebrity opps.
• Saturday: High-level chaos, biggest day for show-stopping cosplay. Expect high crowds, intense traffic, and a high-energy vibe all around.
• Sunday: Can be slower and it’s a good day for last-minute shopping, but not as much going on in terms of panels and celebrity stuff.

If crowds are the main villain in your story, avoid Saturday.

Navigation – Easier Than Previous Years

Vendor floor layout felt confusing at first, but once my brain understood what was going on, I realized it worked.

The biggest weak point on the floor this year was signage. We need more than just overhead aisle banners. End cap markers with “booths X – X” would be nice. They did this for Artist Alley and it helped a great deal when it came to returning to a booth later in the convention.

Pro tip: If you want to find a booth again, take photos like you’re documenting a crime scene:

• Item you’re interested in
• Booth name
• Booth number
• Aisle view

This helps me find my way back 90% of the time.

Navigating the rest of the convention relied on knowing which room the panel or event was in, and then it was just a matter of turning left or right when you left the vendor floor. East/West is straightforward in its layout, which is why I prefer it over the North/South concourse for MegaCon. It’s also easier for those with accessibility needs to get around. 

Panels: High Energy, Packed Rooms

Panels delivered this year, especially when the MCs understood the audience and how to control a crowd. My standout panels were: The Mummy reunion and Halloween Horror Nights. They both had great pacing and the MC knew how to run the show.

I did not attend The Lord of the Rings reunion panel or the special events celebrating the 25th anniversary, but the people who did attend couldn’t stop talking about it. I wish I had at least spent the money on the Second Breakfast. 

It would be an injustice to The Transformers panel if I didn’t mention Frank Welker doing his impression of a Beverly Hills watchdog…what made this so fun was that he did it next to the sign language interpreter.

Pro Tip: If there is an additional cost for sitting up close/early entry to a panel that is on your “must attend” list, go ahead and pay it. Otherwise, if they have open seating, get in line at least one hour ahead of time. This prevents you from missing out on something you want to see and avoids the disappointment of not getting in for open seating. It also opens you up for enjoying the convention more instead of standing in lines.

Vendor Floor: Massive, Fun, But Showing Growing Pains

We talked about the layout of the convention as a whole. Now, let’s dive into the vendor floor by itself. The vendor floor is where I live at conventions, and Megacon does it right; unfortunately, a few cracks in the execution are starting to show.

What worked:

• Nice selection
• Artist Alley expanded
• Appeared to be something for every fandom
• It wasn’t hard to find items that are trending in pop culture right now.

What didn’t:

• Way too many of the same 3D printed items (keypad clickers were at every booth that had 3D printed items)
• Drop shippers marking up obvious mass-produced items (or vendors claiming they made something when a quick Google search tells you they didn’t)
• Repetitive styles in Artist Alley

If you’re new to the convention, some of this probably won’t bother you. To someone who has been attending for over 13 years, it’s a weak point that’s becoming hard to ignore.

A shout-out to my favorite vendors. Paisley ‘n Polka Dots sold engraved high-quality tumblers, hats, and wallets.

Megs Mashables was in attendance, and I was really happy to get a Snurtle and a selfie with Meg herself. I love watching Meg’s TikTok videos when I should be sleeping at 1 AM.

The Quiet Room: The Biggest Miss This Year

Last year, the quiet room was run by a different organization and it was awesome. They had free fidgets, coloring, and plenty of room to support the crowds. They actually had two, one on each side of the convention.

This year, someone else took over and it was frustrating. On Friday, I went in tired and overwhelmed with a migraine starting to form. When I went into the room, they had colored glow cubes on each table and on the floor. They also hosted meditation and yoga classes throughout the day. It wasn’t a truly quiet and stimulation-free space. It had its own stimulations that made it feel less like a quiet space and more like just another environment at the convention.

Parking & Survival Tips

If you are driving, arrive one hour before the convention opens and be prepared to be in traffic an hour after it closes.

In 2027, MegaCon will be on the same side as this year, the East/West concourse (aka the “old side” to locals). Don’t park at the East/West garage unless you enjoy sitting in traffic. It will become your side quest for the evening.

The Destination Garage was pretty easy to get into, but getting out was a nightmare if you left with the crowds. My suggestion is to try for the North/South concourse lot and walk.

If you can swing it, even if you’re local, I strongly suggest getting a hotel and walking. This helps avoid the stress of the traffic and lets you enjoy the convention the longest without worrying about sitting in your car trying to get home.

Final Verdict: Planning for 2027

MegaCon 2026 was a success, with more celebrities than I could keep up with, panels for every fandom, and a vendor floor that made my credit card cry. The independent artists brought their strongest game and I walked away with more than one new addition to my collection. My favorite treasure from the convention is my new Apothecary Diaries acrylic stand of the “frog scene” (if you know you know) and the new friends I made with a few of the vendors. 

MegaCon 2027 will be May 20 – 23 at the Orange County Convention Center East/West concourse. I’m already planning my cosplays (and my hotel). See you there!

Disclaimer: GeekDad was given a media badge to attend this event.

With over 160,000 attendees this year and more guests than you can shake a lightsaber at, MegaCon has cemented its place in the hearts of geeks and fans. I’ve been attending MegaCon since 2002, and as someone who has watched it grow, it has been one heck of a ride. This year was full of reunions, Hollywood guests, and cosplay that was beyond incredible. Let’s get into why MegaCon 2025 was the con of my year. 

1. 1. Reunions Abound
      Jude Law and the rest of the cast of the Skeleton Crew, former Superman actors, Lethal Weapon (Mel Gibson and Danny Glover), and Twilight all had heartfelt reunions. The Superman panel was particularly intriguing, with the panel being asked the ever-important “trunks or no trunks” question. Surprisingly enough, most said trunks.
   2. Matthew Lillard
      Matthew Lillard is known for being a favorite among his fans for his personality and friendly nature with everyone. In his panel, he talked about how the Shaggy “walk” was created and demonstrated the process for the crowd. A funny part in the panel was when he started to demonstrate, only to see a Shaggy cosplayer leaving the panel. He called him out in his friendly way, “I’M ABOUT TO SHOW YOU HOW TO WALK!” There wasn’t a fan who met him that didn’t leave with a smile and a memory that would last a lifetime.
      
   3. Superman Of My Heart
      I’ve already mentioned the Superman reunion in number 1, but this is more of a personal moment. My husband has an autograph from every actor who has played Superman (live and animated) on TV. This year, Brandon Routh came to MegaCon, and this was his first time meeting a movie screen Superman actor. The wait was worth it because Brandon took a good five minutes with my husband and I was able to tell my own Superman story. Before we left, Brandon came from behind the table and gave me and my husband both tight, loving hugs. We walked away feeling like we could fly.
   4. Sooooo Many Panels
      This year, the convention was held at the Orange County Convention Center, North/South side. This is the newer part of the convention center area and MegaCon took up the entire thing. I like this side because it’s more spread out and there’s plenty of natural light. It also means more panels because of the extra space. My husband stuck to the Superman, Cosplay, and Paranormal panels, while I was interested in the theme park track. He learned about the haunted Florida side of things while I dove into the science of theme parks. This is usually a weekend we spend together, but thanks to the variety of panels and tight schedules, it was more of a “let’s meet at dinner and talk about our day” kind of experience (and we loved every minute of it).
      
   5. Cosplay
      There is always incredible cosplay at MegaCon and this year was no exception. Jinx from Arcane was the most popular of the anime costumes. Deadpool and Spider-Man were around with their usual gusto. Thanks to Matthew Lillard being in attendance, I saw quite a few Five-Nights-A-Freddy’s costumes. One Five-Nights-A-Freddy’s I learned, was made by a young boy who has been building costumes for the past three years on his own. Impressive! I made my red carpet debut with my husband as Jedi Belle and Jedi Beast. It was an interesting experience for someone with anxiety and fear of being the center of attention. Definitely something I’ll do again, but maybe next time on a Friday so it’s a little less intense.
   6. Artist Alley Brought Their A-Game
      The artists in Artist Alley brought their a-game with keychains (so many keychains), Ita bags, cups, and nails. That’s right, nails. Press on nails were popular this year at the con and I saw at least four or five artists selling their custom designs. One booth sold only press on nails and they were always busy.I bought a “They/Them” pronouns pin and a very niche but oh so funny “Never stop working on yourself” pin of the famous I-4 Eye-sore. The artist told me that people from out of state request that pin all the time, so I guess our little landmark has a following.
   7. Dapper Danielle and Friends
      You can’t have a convention in Orlando, Florida, without having some Disney influencers show up to walk you through the most magical place on Earth. Dapper Danielle brought a limited amount of exclusive keychains and pins, and she sold out by Friday. I was lucky to grab her Figment and Clarice keychains on Thursday. Dapper Danielle, along with Disney Dan, Bibbidi Bobbidi Beard, and Live LaughLem hosted a couple of panels over the weekend, talking about how to create Disney-centric content as well as a virtual walkthrough of Hollywood Studios. I was happy to hear that her book, I Love Disney’s Magic Kingdom: 100+ Surprising Facts, Magical Quizzes, Fan-Favorite Trivia, and More about Disney’s Magic Kingdom!, would be released soon.
      
   8. Nice Mix of Vendors
      There was a very nice mix of vendors this year. A vendors that took my money including Whirl and Twirl who raved about their painless headbands. I may have bought a few too many of them. I also nabbed a pair of cargo pants from Offset Shwa I had been eyeing since last year. I hit up my con favorite, The Legging Lass for a new dress and a skirt. My other purchase was from Advanced drink mix. They had an insulated shaker cup and a wide variety of hydration, energizing, and focusing drink mixes. If you bought the cup, you got free refills at the drink station for the entire con. My favorite flavor was sour gummy worm. I’ll be posting a full review of their drink mixes soon! I could easily have spent a lot more money on Ita bags, pins, and more but alas, my bank account said no. 
   9. Organization Is The Name of the Game
      MegaCon was insanely organized this year. With the exception of Artist Alley being a little chaotic in the layout, it was well set up, and it was easy to find my way around and back to places I wanted to check out later. They maximized the floor space with a good mix of vendors, artists, and food options. Getting your badge and through security was a breeze. Special thanks to the Orange County Sheriff’s office for being there in strong numbers to keep us all safe.
   10. Big Names, Big Games
       This year, we had some big names on the floor like Intel, Army, Navy, NASA, Disney, SeaWorld, Hasbro, and Enso rings. For some, this was their first time and they had a hack of a first impression. Intel had a computer building competition where you raced to beat the clock (or opponent) in building a computer the fastest. Army and Intel both had e-sport gaming areas for people to play and compete. It was cool to see this area of fandom represented on the convention floor.

Honorable Mentions

1. Zen Den
   There were two Zen Dens at the con this year. In previous years, we had a quiet room, but it was empty with a few chairs and no real “space,” if you know what I mean. This year, thanks to Guardians MH we had a nice, quiet space complete with fidgets, coloring, and earplugs. They also had free cold water. What told me they knew their stuff was when I saw the lemon juice packets and sour warheads. For those not in the know, sour helps calm anxiety attacks. It shocks your brain back into logic mode or something like that and essentially calms you down.

   This space was a favorite of mine. One of the rooms was close to the paranormal section, where my husband was most of the time on the South side and so I would go in there while he was in a panel and chill. The fidgets were free and they enforced the “quiet” rule.The group also had tables on both sides of the convention with free convention mental health kits. Each kit had a fidget, notebook with a pen, a coloring book, and cards with tips on handling your mental health at a convention. I could write an entire post about this group alone (and I just might, so stay tuned to GeekDad).

2. The Book Nook
   
   The Book Nook needs an honorable mention because it was the first year MegaCon did something like this. It was a special room, off to the side of the main panel room, that was for readers. It had a few vendors selling sprayed edge books, Kindle covers, book dragons, and more. They also had author signings and friendship bracelet activities throughout the con. It was easy to spot with there being a giant “Once Upon A Time…” book display right outside along with a Free Little Library.

Disclaimer: GeekDad was given a press badge into this event.

1. Know Your Must-Dos

Unfortunately, with a show of this size, it won’t be possible to do everything—not only are there thousands of individual exhibitors, but there will usually be multiple panels, screenings, and events going on at the same time. This year, I had to pick between a screening and preview of my beloved animated series “The Dragon Prince” and the biggest DC panel of the weekend. My general rule is, screenings will show up eventually, while event panels only happen once, so DC won the day.

2. Make A Game-Plan

Attending NYCC isn’t just a four-day thing for me—it’s a multi-week planning session. NYCC puts out its panel schedule about a month in advance and updates it occasionally in the countdown, so it helps to map out a schedule before you even set foot on the floor.

3. Come Early

This can be a challenge, especially if you’re coming from far away, but those lines can be mighty. Getting there before opening and helping to kick things off for the day is well worth it, as the odds are you’ll be able to make a bee-line for your first panel of the day.

4. Focus Your Shopping on Artist Alley

The floor is where you’ll find the majority of vendors, but it tends to be an odd mix of the biggest names with novelty booths and oddball tchotchkes. If you’re looking for comic finds like I am, Artist Alley has almost turned into a second con. This massive downstairs space is full of the top creators in the industry, joined by talented up-and-comers, selling their books and doing signings. It’s also a great chance to get in a conversation with your favorites.

5. Don’t Miss the Downstairs Panels

The big panels can usually be found in the adjoining five-floor building (which has been a godsend for relieving crowds) but downstairs near Artist Alley, you can still find a few conference rooms where some of the most interesting panels are held. This is where I attended a panel for the Ghost Machine line of comics, as well as a screening of the amazing short documentary about the JewCE comic con. It’s also the site of the Pride Lounge, which hosts wonderfully affirming events all through the event.

6. Bring Your Camera!

The cosplay game was STRONG this year! The highlight was probably a man dressed as Caine from The Amazing Digital Circus (who is a giant chattering mouth, for those who haven’t watched yet) but he was one of many whose cosplay defied belief. Most cosplayers are very enthusiastic about having their picture taken if asked, so these sightings are one of the best ways to create lasting memories.

7. Head Off the Beaten Path for Food

Convention food often gets a bad reputation for price and quality, but NYCC goes all out. While you’ll be able to find some decent stuff in the main food courts, I found the most interesting selections were actually along the back of the main show floor this year—with everything from gourmet empanadas to delicious fresh bento boxes. The con also hosts a parade of elite food trucks from around the city on the first floor, accessed from an enclosed exit.

8. Find Your Little Havens

This event can be overwhelming. As much as I love it, there are definitely times I need to get away for a few minutes and catch my breath. Finding quiet space in the massively busy Javits Center can be a challenge, but my favorites include spots on the fourth and fifth floors of the panel building, which are often fairly uncrowded and have a lot of sunshine and even some green space.

9. Stay Hydrated!

You’ll probably be spending a long day at the con, and while food at the con can definitely be worth it, you won’t want to be reliant fully on purchases for drinks. Unlike other major cons, NYCC is wonderfully flexible when it comes to bringing outside items like food and drink if they don’t violate policies. Bring a water bottle, or a sports drink or two, and keep your energy up. And when you want a midday treat, the smoothie stands and bars at the con are waiting!

10. Be Flexible

With an event this size, something is always going to be different from last year. These are my tips from 2024, and things definitely changed from my past coverage in 2023, and any well-made plan usually only lasts as long as first contact with an event that can frequently draw upwards of 100,000 people. The best thing about New York Comic Con is just how unpredictable and electric it feels at all times, and every year will bring some surprises. Roll with them, discover something new, and you might just find your new favorite spot here.

In all, New York Comic Con 2024 was another wonderful event filled with great opportunities for shopping, networking, and bonding with my fellow geeks—and I’m already counting down the days to 2025.

The Orlando Pen Show took place September 8th – 10th at the Florida Hotel in Orlando, FL. This was my first year attending, and I walked out after two days as a fountain pen addict.

Expectations

First, I had no idea what to expect. I saw on the website that there would be a handful of classes, some with additional fees for materials, and a vendor room. As I showed in my bullet journaling post, I enjoy writing and putting pen to paper. Digital is great, but handwriting is where my heart is. I was excited to see how many pen enthusiasts would be in attendance and what the selection of vendors would take from my wallet.

Considering the event was held at the Florida Hotel, located at the Florida Mall, I was expecting a nice setup. This is a popular tourist spot for its plethora of shops and unique food. The hotel itself has a restaurant, Chick-fil-A, and a Starbucks all in the lobby.

The signage and check-in was easy to find and I was able to get scanned in and into my class in no time. The crew working the show were friendly and happy to answer or explain anything about the show, including how the door prizes worked.

Classes

The only class I attended was Fountain Pens 101. I wish I had made the time to go to the follow-up class, but maybe next year.

Fountain Pens 101 was what got me hooked on fountain pens. The class cost $15 and included a beginner-friendly Platinum Preppy 03 pen as well as a collection of paper samples from Lighthouse Paper Co. We learned how to clean our new pen and the various kinds of ink we could load it with, the differences in paper, and much more. I quickly realized that the pen we were given did not like regular notebook paper, and I was determined to find a notebook it would work with before I left the show.

In the class, I met some amazing people who were more than happy to talk about pens and teach what they knew. One instructor gave out their cell phone number to the class in case anyone had questions afterward.

The class was the best $15 I spent at the show, but it was also the beginning of me spending much more.

Vendor Room

The classes were great, but the vendor room was where the action was.

Walking into the show, the vendors were nicely set up with plenty of space to move around. It wasn’t overcrowded but it was packed. Not everyone sold the same thing, so it was nice to see a mix of available options.

Something I wasn’t expecting was the cost of some of the pens at this show rivaled anything I’ve seen sold at the largest of conventions (including MegaCon). One vendor had a pen going for over $1,700, and they had marked it down to half that for the show attendees. 

It was nice to see so many people passionate about something and enjoying themselves (even if a lot of it was out of my price range in this lifetime).

There was plenty of items in my budget, and that’s where I got into trouble. 

Favorite Vendors

One of my favorite vendors was easily Stationery Universe. The young ladies were happy to talk about the various pens and inks they had available at the table. They also had hand-painted fountain pen converters—these hold ink for the pen if you are not using a pre-filled cartridge—that were beautifully done.

I purchased a few items from this booth including my first TWSBI Eco T (pronounced Twisby) pen and a Pilot Kakuno pen. I’ll cover the TWSBI Eco and the Kakuno more in-depth in my next fountain pens post, so stay tuned!

I also purchased my first bottle of ink, Poseidon by Laban. It’s a lovely light teal color and it has a pastel effect on the page. It also matches my TWSBI. I can see myself picking up more from this brand in the future. 

Another booth that was a favorite was Anderillium Handcrafted Inks. Their setup included fountain pen-friendly paper—yes, there is a special paper that works best for fountain pens—to try out the wide variety of inks they were selling. The packaging reminded me of little jam jars.

We talked for a bit, and they were kind enough to give me a bottle of Banded King Shoemaker Butterfly Blue and Vampire Squid Red to match my pens. I’ll be writing them up in a full review, so keep your eyes out on GeekDad for more.

Another favorite vendor was Harold’s Bright Idea. They sold vintage and contemporary pens and other writing instruments. It was cool to look over the older pens and see how far we’ve come in terms of materials and styles. They were very friendly and happy to talk about anything on their table.

Finally, I learned a lot from Pourly Controlled’s table, where they sold pen blanks at a reasonable rate. For $20 you could get a quality tube of poured resin and then take it to any pen maker of your choosing to have a pen made (additional cost). If I had the money to get a custom pen, I’d have easily bought two or three of these from her. These went fast the first day, and by early the second day, it looked like more than half her stock was gone.

My New Addiction

I had only intended on going to the show for one day, but when I got home I realized I wanted more. I went to the second day and enjoyed myself immensely. I would have stayed longer than I did, but I had a commitment that afternoon that I couldn’t skip out on.

I visited Stationery Universe a second time and made a couple more purchases. They gave me a cool pen lanyard as a thank-you for stopping by a second time. My TWSBI didn’t work well when I got home the night before, so they were nice enough to have their “Nibmiester” get it working better.

This is also the day I picked up ink from Anemoia Mercantile. They had a gorgeous purple ink that I fell in love with. Sadly, they sold out before I discovered it. They also had a lovely green called Anemoia Borealis that was a show exclusive. Only 200 bottles were made for the show. It’s a shimmer ink with a neat sheen to it. (More on those terms in my fountain pens post.) I keep my Kakuno filled with this one.

End of the Day Thoughts

At the end of the day, I couldn’t be happier that I took the time to stop by the show. I admit, I felt a little silly going to a show dedicated to pens, but it’s something I enjoy and I told myself to take the leap and try it out. Now, I’m addicted to writing with fountain pens and I’ve even started to learn about glass dip pens! It’s a fun world that I’m glad this show introduced me to and welcomed me with open arms.

Pen Show Orlando returns in September 2025 and will be a four-day event instead of three! I’m looking forward to attending again and this time taking the time to attend more classes and make some new friends.

This past weekend I attended XOXO. XOXO was an experimental independent arts festival, or maybe a technology conference, or perhaps the fever dream of a terminally online collective, and this year’s—after a five-year delay due to the pandemic—was the last. The two organizers, Andy Baio and Andy McMillan, had ended each of the previous years by saying they weren’t sure if there would be another one, but 2020 was supposed to be the last hurrah, so it has been a long road to this final goodbye.

I’ve written about XOXO a few times before: some thoughts about attending in 2015 as well as some of the games I played that year, and then a Stack Overflow about some books from the 2018 festival, but I’ve actually been present at most of them. First launched via Kickstarter in 2012, XOXO started off small, with only 400 badges sold, and although I didn’t have an official badge, I stopped by to check out some portions that were open to the public, like a little market area. In 2013, I’d run a Kickstarter campaign for my weird board game Emperor’s New Clothes and wrangled a spot in the Tabletop lineup to show it off, which was a lot of fun. Eventually, starting in 2018, I volunteered to provide the tabletop games library for XOXO, curating a list of games that included many from people who were part of the community.

The list of guests at XOXO is pretty incredible—any given year there were several names of people whose work I had enjoyed, and also a lot of people that I didn’t know beforehand but were amazed by their work. Most of them are people who did some form of “making stuff on the internet” but that stuff ranged from websites to games to tools to toys. But unlike what you might expect from a tech-heavy conference, many of these didn’t have the feel of a TED Talk; instead, speakers were vulnerable and talked about what it’s like to burn out, about dealing with imposter syndrome, about being bombarded with harassment. Not that everything was negative, though: there were also people sharing dreams and getting excited about possibilities.

One of the best moves that the Andys (as the organizers are often referred to) made came in 2015 when they started a Slack for the event. They opened it up to attendees about three months before the actual festival, so that people could introduce themselves and start organizing into different channels based on geographical locations or interests. By the time people arrived in Portland in September, they had online friends they were looking forward to meeting in person. And when XOXO ended, the conversations continued in Slack. Each year after that, new attendees were added to the Slack, and the community grew.

And what a community! Another thing the Andys did was to require you to fill out a little questionnaire before you could buy a pass—it wasn’t terribly difficult, but it was meant to weed out people who primarily wanted to attend so they could sell something because that wasn’t the point of XOXO. They had a strict Code of Conduct and enforced it—if you misbehaved, you could get kicked out, and that went for the Slack too, which has a team of volunteer moderators. It made for a community that put a high value on respect and care for each other. It’s notable that this year’s XOXO had mask requirements for the indoor portions, but also had plenty of things set outdoors for COVID safety—precautions that are more and more rare these days, particularly at large events. In the past five years as I’ve felt like many of my online spaces (Facebook, Twitter) have become less and less tolerable, the XOXO Slack has been an example of what the internet can be like when the conversation isn’t driven by megalomaniacal billionaires.

I realize I haven’t even talked about the actual content of the festival, but it almost seems peripheral to the community (not to discount the amazing guests!). Some of this year’s speakers included Molly White, who has been tracking crypto and NFT scams on Web3 Is Going Great; Samantha Cole and Jason Koebler, co-founders of 404 Media which has been posting great long-form journalism in its first year; Ed Yong, who won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the pandemic at The Atlantic; Charlie Jane Anders, a founder of io9 and author who talked about finding joy and the importance of forgetting. Cabel Sasser, co-founder of Panic (which makes the Playdate and some cool videogames), told a story about a random discovery at a McDonald’s that culminated in probably the biggest collective gasp for the whole weekend. All of the conference talks will eventually be on XOXO’s YouTube channel and are definitely worth watching.

Aside from the talks, there were folks showing off new and upcoming video games, a gathering of tabletop designers with prototypes to play, and people sharing cool stories about things they made with code. BackerKit sponsored a tabletop game jam, where teams got together and built games, hacking some classic games and rolling dice to choose mechanics and themes. I worked with Jennifer Abele and Amelia Browning to create a haunted house game that, uh, ended up being like a mini Betrayal at House on the Hill. You probably won’t see it in stores anytime soon, but we had fun coming up with ideas and playtesting it a few times. There was a sideshow of internet-based projects, a books and zines store, and karaoke.

Every time I’ve attended, I’ve come away feeling charged up with renewed excitement, and the challenge is hanging onto that feeling long enough to put it to use. I’ve been writing for GeekDad for fifteen years now, and sometimes it seems like this format has been left behind. We never pivoted to video. We still rely on advertising, which requires more and more ads to make less and less money, which also tends to drive our content to be more toward reviews and away from other types of articles. One of the things the 404 Media folks said this weekend was that they really wanted to write for people instead of for machines, and it made me think about the way that we worked so hard to figure out how to make our posts more SEO-friendly, only to have that all fall apart when Google decided to start giving AI-based search results.

We used to have a better connection to our readers—we had comments sections where we could interact, but eventually had to close them because they were always full of spam. We met families at Maker Faire, at our panels at PAX, at our Gaming with GeekDad events at Gen Con. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to do any of those things. I don’t know exactly whether it’s possible to make our site more interesting and engaging to readers and still keep the lights on, but I’d love to try.

It’s hard to say goodbye to XOXO. The Slack is filled with mostly joking suggestions about what to do next: an OXOX festival in Portland, Maine, for instance. One local attendee and I have agreed that if nothing else, we’ll get together next year and spend a weekend assembling the LEGO Imperial Star Destroyer he has boxed up in his garage, and call that our mini XOXO. Now that there won’t be another big organized event, I think a lot of people are motivated to come up with other ways to stay connected—not just online, but to see each other in person, to share the things we’re making, and to keep nurturing this community that has sustained us through some pretty tough times so far.

For now, I have to return to the real world for a bit. There’s laundry to do, meals to plan, kids to drive to their activities. School started this week and we’re getting back into our fall routines. But I wanted to get some of these thoughts down for now, before I forget. I’m grateful to have experienced this strange, hard-to-define conference, and I hope some of it spills over into the rest of what I do.

Gen Con, the biggest tabletop games convention in North America, will be held this weekend in Indianapolis (starting tomorrow), and once again I’ll be missing it but still thinking about it. This year marks five years since the last time I attended (though it was canceled and delayed for a couple years because of the pandemic). Pictured above is me at the Lucas Oil Stadium during Gen Con 2019, before any of us had heard of COVID.

I’ve got some ambivalence about it: Gen Con was the big event I attended each year, because our family schedules just didn’t really allow for me to travel more frequently, so its absence has definitely been felt, particularly because I’m still on all of the email lists about new releases and publisher events and meeting schedules. I miss being able to see so many folks in the tabletop industry in person, and to be surrounded by people who just love board games as much as I do. I miss the opportunity to hang out with several of the other GeekDads, running around the exhibit hall during the day and then playing games late into the night. I miss hosting our Gaming with GeekDads events, meeting some of our readers and playing games with them. I miss playing suitcase Tetris.

I don’t miss the headache of trying to get a hotel room, though. The biggest thing still keeping me away, though, is that I’m still not sure I’m ready to risk COVID to attend a gaming convention. The fact that so many people behave as if it’s no longer a factor just makes it an even higher risk, because it means we’re not all in this together anymore. The precautions you take on your own are basically the only thing you can count on, because there isn’t a concerted effort to minimize the risk for the convention as a whole. Until something drastic changes, I’m not sure when I’ll finally feel ready to return.

I had also held out some hope that maybe Gen Con would finally decide to move to a different city—a few years back when Indianapolis passed some legislation that would be harmful to the LGBTQ+ community, there were calls for Gen Con to move, but the official response was that they were locked into a contract until 2023 and couldn’t afford to break that contract. Last year, they announced that they had re-upped until 2030, despite the fact that the Indiana legislature passed a slate of bills attacking LGBTQ+ folks, particularly trans youth. It’s becoming harder to square my desire for the tabletop hobby to be more welcoming and inclusive with traveling and spending my tourist dollars in a state that is so antagonistic to the very people I hope to play games with.

I understand that for publishers and vendors at Gen Con, this can be a tough decision, too: the number of sales they make at a big show like Gen Con may make up a significant portion of their yearly income. Though I’ve also heard anecdotally that it’s more and more expensive to get a booth at Gen Con, so it’s possible we may eventually reach a tipping point, but it will still be a while until there’s any other single event that’s anywhere as big.

We used to write a group post every year about the games we were looking forward to, and then some follow-ups about our favorite things about the convention. Today I spent some time scrolling through BoardGameGeek’s Gen Con preview, a list of 633 (as of this writing) titles that will be available to demo or buy at Gen Con—when I’m not attending, I don’t always pay as much attention to the emails about it, so I’m not up to speed on a lot of them. It’s a huge number of titles, and I’m sure it’s not comprehensive because there may be publishers who hadn’t submitted their games to be included. I was surprised by how many of them I’ve gotten to try at least once sometime in the past year, and there are a good number of them that I really need to sit down and write up.

There are several games that I wrote about when they were crowdfunded: Cascadia: Rolling, Nocturne, Terminus, Metrorunner, Stonespine Architects, Hello Kitty: Day at the Park. There are some expansions or sequels to games that I’ve enjoyed, and would definitely be looking up if I were there: Clank! Catacombs – Lairs and Lost Chambers, Planet Unknown: Supermoon, Bullet Palette and Bullet Paw, In the Footsteps of Marie Curie. And there were a couple on the list that I don’t know much about but sound really intriguing, like Gibberers, a game about creating a new language to communicate with aliens. I’d also love to try the Slay the Spire board game, which I didn’t back when it was on Kickstarter and am feeling a bit of FOMO about.

At any rate, I definitely have enough games right now that I should be writing about—to a degree, I feel like I never quite got back up to speed after Gen Con 2019 and am still playing catch-up—so it may be a good thing that I’m not going to come home next weekend with a pile of new games. Maybe seeing this list will give me the nudge I need to buckle down and share with you some of the games I’ve already played and have been enjoying.

In the meantime, if you’re attending Gen Con this year, have fun and be safe! And if, like me, you find yourself far from Indianapolis, may you find some people and some time to enjoy some board games at home!

This week, Airbnb introduced the “Icons” program, where you can request stays at one of 11 unique locations, such as the Ferrari Museum in Italy, or Prince’s Minneapolis Purple Rain house. One of the most intriguing of these Icons, and certainly the geekiest, has to be the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, from Marvel’s X-Men ’97 series. The mansion is even located in the same location from the series: Westchester, New York.

Hosted by X-Men member Jubilee, the Xavier Institute features such iconic locations as Cerebro, Hank McCoy’s lab, and the Danger Room. Each room in the mansion is designed to replicate the look of the animated X-Men ’97 series, with cel-shading throughout the decor. For a quick look, here’s influencer Stefania Sassano, taking a tour of the mansion:

@stefaniasassano

Calling all mutants! @airbnb has a new Icon! Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and it’s officially live to book! Attend orientation to unlock your X-gene and train like a mutant! Thank you to Airbnb for inviting me for a sneak preview! Now’s your chance to request your own stay at Xavier’s Institute! #airbnbpartner

♬ original sound – Stefania

There are four dorm rooms available to sleep in, at a cost of $97 per guest. You could choose to stay in Wolverine’s room, or even host Jubilee’s. Teen X-Man Jubilee’s room has an added feature unavailable in the other dorm rooms: an Arcade1Up 4-player X-Men arcade machine. Here’s a few pictures of Jubilee’s room:

That may be the only arcade machine at the Xavier Institute, but it’s not the only X-Men cabinet Arcade1Up makes. They recently released the Marvel vs Capcom 2 X-Men ’97 Edition Arcade Machine, available on Amazon and pre-loaded with eight of the best X-Men arcade games from the ’90s and early 2000s.

If you’re interested in staying at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, or any of the 10 other Icons locations, then head over to the Airbnb website to learn more. And if you’d like an X-Men arcade machine in your own home, then find out more details at the Arcade1Up website.

The 2024 GaryCon marks the 16th annual gathering of geeks to celebrate the life and works of Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons. This year, it sold out despite extensions to the ticket cap. With a sold-out event of over 2,500 attendees, one must consider whether it is worth the hassle to not only secure a ticket but to travel to the obscure location of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Let’s look at the pros and cons to help you decide whether GaryCon is your next ride-or-die convention.

What’s the Point?

Why does GaryCon exist? Simply put, it exists because people asked for it, and then showed up when it happened. The long version includes Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Luke Gygax seeing the outpouring of support after his father’s death, and inviting a bunch of nerds up to spend the day together. People made the trek, got together, and watched the D&D cartoon and the episode of Futurama in which Gygax makes a guest appearance. Those wonderful people wanted to repeat the experience in future years, so GaryCon was born.

What Does One Do?

As with any convention, there are many of the usual things to draw attendees in: panels, speakers, celebrity guests, merchant halls, autograph tables, and even cosplay contests. But beyond that, there are thousands of events over the course of a few days. Events include specific games to play, from board games to RPGs, tournaments to compete against other teams, forums and discussions, meet-and-greets, and more.

If you like Dungeons & Dragons, there are games to sign up for. And not just a few. Dozens upon dozens of games were scheduled on each day, including tables (or ballrooms of tables) set up for older editions of D&D. I was able to spend some time observing former GeekDad writer John Booth and his team as they played an original D&D tournament game. This year, there was also a tournament game for Descent Into Tsojcanth, which was also played at PAX East, and features a modified version of the upcoming Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth adventure from Quests of the Infinite Staircase.

In addition to the RPG tables, players can find dedicated events for murder mysteries, wargames, card games, board games, and countless other games people are inclined to bring, teach, and/or play with others. The best part is that events are scheduled through Tabletop.Events, which allows the host to specify whether any given game event is a learning event, a competitive event, or a casual event for players who already know how to play. Perhaps my favorite feature, though, is that if all the games you’re interested in playing are full, you can create your own event to host the game yourself. Once you put in the request, the team will do their best to find you a table, create an event, and allow others to sign up. And those who lead events or DM games get perks from the con for making the event better.

Who Goes to GaryCon?

At one panel for Dungeon Masters, Chris Perkins asked how many attendees were players in their usual game. A few people raised their hands. When he asked how many were the dungeon master or storyteller for their game, almost every hand went up. He mused on this, saying that it is a unique feature of GaryCon that it tends to draw more dungeon masters than players, whereas the reverse tends to be true in other conventions. That isn’t to say that the event is for dungeon masters, only that it tends to draw them more than players.

That said, there was a healthy attendance of young people, a laundry list of celebrities, and a number of senior team members from Wizards of the Coast. Vendors/merchants also made up a pretty sum of people, including hand-made goods vendors, game stores/retailers, and everything in between. Cosplayers from many genres were in attendance and were able to compete for prizes. In the end, there were all kinds of people of different ages, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, and interests.

Notable celebrity attendees included Vince Vaughn, The Big Show, Joe Manganiello, Ed Greenwood, Erol Otus, and Keith Baker. There are dozens more, but these are the ones I spotted personally. 

Who Makes GaryCon Happen?

In a nutshell: volunteers. Luke Gygax started GaryCon because people wanted it to happen. But the convention itself isn’t owned by a huge company. It is funded by ticket sales, and the showrunners who put work in all year long are enthusiastic volunteers rather than employees. When I thanked Luke for putting everything together, he humbly—and emphatically—requested that the gratitude and credit be forwarded to the countless volunteers who make the event happen.

What’s the Biggest Reason to Attend GaryCon?

After attending GaryCon and speaking with folks who have been attending for years, it became quickly clear what the draw for the event actually was: community. The people who care enough to fly to Chicago or Milwaukee and then drive an hour or so to the event are not your typical drop-in con attendees. It takes planning and forethought to organize lodging, food, transportation, and all the little pieces that make it possible to attend. So the people who show up tend to be more engaged and more inclined to connect with others. It’s a perfect punchbowl of passion, enthusiasm, and open-heartedness.

Bonus points for the location, though. Hosting the event in Lake Geneva meant I was able to participate in a tour of the town, see the TSR locations, and visit many other notable landmarks that helped shape the whole of geekdom. It was with some reverence and joy that I visited the home Gary Gygax wrote the first rules for D&D, and saw the small museums and shrines that exist around town to commemorate the birth of D&D and the life of Gary Gygax.

What’s the Biggest Reason to Avoid GaryCon?

The only reason I see for anyone to avoid GaryCon or to mark it off of your list of 2025 candidates is the sheer inconvenience (and resulting costs) of attending. Bus tours and historic locations aside, it is a right pain in the butt to get to the location. Once there, hotels aren’t always nearby. The Grand Geneva is a hotel and a venue, but it’s expensive. They own another hotel nearby, which also fills up quickly. My hotel was 30 minutes away, and the hotel didn’t provide a shuttle for guests going to GaryCon. The cost of flying to a nearby location, renting a car or taking a shuttle, having a hotel for the duration, and the tickets themselves are notable. Add to it the amount of time needed to travel to the town (and then to the location if you don’t get on-site lodging), and the cost of inconvenience can easily tip the scales in the direction of choosing another event.

TL;DR

GaryCon is a volunteer-driven convention to celebrate Gary Gygax’s legacy of a “life well played.” It’s hosted in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. If you’re looking for lots of chances to play games, build community, and learn from others, this is a great convention for you. If you aren’t prepared for difficult travel and lodging being a real possibility, it might be better to pass. Either way, I’m glad to see the Gygax family taking the opportunity to continue building the community Gary helped bring to life.

To learn more about the announcements Wizards of the Coast made at GaryCon XVI, check out this post.

At GaryCon 2024, Wizards of the Coast, Luke Gygax, and countless luminaries came together in a storm of news, excitement, and a few reveals. This writer had the opportunity to attend, at the invitation of Wizards of the Coast, and is here to summarize the highlights of the event, along with the updates and announcements provided during the press panel.

Note: For an evaluation of whether GaryCon is the convention for you, see our separate post.

Overview

The parts of the 50th-anniversary-meets-GaryCon covered in this article include the new tournament format for anniversary events, product releases, D&D Beyond updates, and updates to the release schedule for this year’s print publications.

Anniversary Tournaments

Right out the gate, the press group was invited to play a D&D one-shot facilitated by Wizards of the Coast’s staff. Senior developer Justice Armand was kind enough to DM the table I joined, and it was a delight from beginning to end. The adventure, titled Descent Into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is a modified version of a Gary Gygax original adventure. This version is designed for tournament play and is available for free on D&D Beyond.

This tournament was then played at both GaryCon and PAX East, with prizes on the line for the teams that completed the most objectives, disturbed the fewest friendly creatures, and other fun challenges. The trick here, I must note, is that players do not know what will gain or lose points or even whether they are on track to completing an objective. They also do not know their score during play. This encourages players to be an interesting combination of courageous and cautious.

Wizards announced that these types of tournament games will continue throughout the year. Each event will feature unique tournament games, so you don’t have to worry about getting spoilers from playing the previously released tournament adventures. WotC also encouraged players at the event to invite their friendly local game stores to put on events with the tournament games.

Product Releases

The press team was able to meet with Chris Perkins along with senior developers Amanda Hamon, Jason Tondro, and Justice Armon to discuss the projects each of these developers had been in charge of and will release this year. These products include Vecna, Eve of Ruin, The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977, and Quests from the Infinite Staircase. They further went on to discuss the upcoming releases of the second versions of the fifth edition’s core rulebooks, changes to the release schedule for D&D sourcebooks, new partner products, and expanding 3rd-party content on D&D Beyond.

Print Books and Updated Release Schedule

To reduce duplicated content here on the blog, commentary on most of the hard copy books will be reserved for the review process, but it should be noted that they will each be released early on D&D Beyond AND at your friendly local game store. This is a great update, because it encourages orders through game stores, helping to keep those resources to the community thriving. For each product, the pre-release is two weeks before the general release. I will note that this does not apply to non-sourcebooks such as The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977, which has a single release date of June 18th, but it applies to all sourcebooks through 2024, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide in 2025.

New Partner Products

Alongside books, WotC previewed new partner products, including the new D&D Converse shoes, the D&D LEGO Ideas (3745), and Reyn Spooner’s line of Hawaiian-style shirts inspired by the D&D abilities.

Converse

The Converse shoes made a physical appearance at GaryCon and were impressive. Not only do they have the classic design of Converse as a base but the D&D Converse shoes include customizable designs, allowing geeks to create bespoke shoes.

LEGO

As with other LEGO Ideas products, the D&D LEGO set features a LEGO interpretation of the IP being partnered with. The initial set (3745) includes minifigures, a dragon, several scenes, and a pile of monsters including an owlbear, a beholder, and a mimic. Also teased is a set coming later in the year with minifigures designed after iconic D&D characters.

Reyn Spooner

Dungeons & Dragons and Hawaiian shirts? Yes, that’s right. For those who don’t know, Gary Gygax (father of D&D) was famous for his Hawaiian shirt collection. In fact, every year at GaryCon, there is a celebratory photo taken of everyone wearing a Hawaiian shirt on the designated day. Reyn Spooner’s contribution to this tradition is a line of shirts illustrated not with palm trees, pineapples, and flamingoes but instead features illustrations of adventuring parties and scenes from the gameplay of Dungeons & Dragons.

Other Third-Party Products

Beyond the highlighted products, we also saw more examples of partnered content either already available or available soon. Beadle & Grimm’s will have a Platinum Edition of Vecna, Eve of Ruin. Wizkids has a new lineup of anniversary merch, including minis, stuffed animals, and bag hangs. Finally, Sirius Dice has dice cups, blind packs, and more for players to collect.

Expanded D&D Beyond Offerings

Starting with last week’s surprise digital release of Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts, the D&D Beyond team is expanding the material integrated into its offerings. Not only does this allow you to keep your digital collection in a more centralized place, it also enables you to use tools such as the Encounter Builder with these third-party sources without needing to recreate every monster stat block manually. We don’t currently know how far the team at D&DB will take this, but this writer is already concerned about the sudden influx of an extra 400 creatures that might not be balanced according to the standards that will be updated with the release of the revised Monster Manual later this year. Thankfully, if you don’t want to see these (or any other) options in D&D Beyond, it is possible to filter them out entirely.

TL;DR

Wizards of the Coast is turning their partner pipeline up a notch to help players celebrate the anniversary of (or to play) Dungeons & Dragons. A more rewarding release schedule, which incentivizes pre-orders and purchases through friendly local game stores, gives a boost to the backbone of the community. New products across the market make it easier than ever to express your player pride. It’s clear that 50 years into the game, and 10 years into 5e, the world’s greatest roleplaying game is thriving like never before.

If you want to learn more about GaryCon, check out: Is GaryCon the Convention for You?

MegaCon hit Orlando hard February 1st – 4th, 2024 with high-profile guests, amazing artists, and impressive panels to entertain and educate conventioneers of all ages. This massive four-day con was the mecca for geeks from all walks of life. With an estimated 190,000 people in attendance, it was the not-to-be-missed event of the year so far.

The MegaCon Orlando Convention Experience

The convention was held in the West Concourse this year, which is a switch from the North/South side where it has been the past several years. I was afraid it would be a tight fit in the older space but was proven wrong by the spacing of the vendor floor, the plethora of panel rooms, and the moving of the cosplayers to their own wing of the con outside of the regular vendor/celeb floor. Despite the estimated 190,000 crowd, MegaCon Orlando was well spaced out and didn’t feel nearly as crowded as it was. 

While everyone else was going gaga for Ewan McGregor and Tom Hiddleston, I was freaking out over three of my favorite content creators being in the same area. Jen Markham, The Panda Redd, and The Dapper Danielle were all in attendance in their own spaces at the con. Dapper Danielle was selling her art. Panda Redd was there as a guest for a comic book company. Jen Markham was a cosplay guest and had her husband Jeremy and Grogu at the table to help out with pictures and meeting fans (I regret not getting an autograph).

Favorite Parts Of MegaCon Orlando This Year

I’m not sure what it was about this year but I ran into more first-time MegaCon-goers than I have ever in previous years. It was a welcome change to see so many new faces and give tips and tricks to those who were a bit overwhelmed by all that was going on. Many of them had kids in tow.

My husband’s Beast from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (thank you Fun.com) was a hit on the first day of the convention and his Jedi Beast was a bigger hit. Matt Lanter from The Clone Wars saw him at the 501st Legion booth and threw out a few compliments for his cosplay. It’s suffice to say my husband’s day was made from that point on.

My husband barely managed to get into the Back to the Future reunion panel and the Stranger Things panels, but it was well worth the wait for both. He couldn’t stop talking about all he had learned and the excitement of hearing members of each cast talk about their experiences. He also got into The Clone Wars panel and as a thank you from the panelists, the entire audience got a lithograph with some beautiful art featuring the core characters. 

As for me, I randomly ran into The Panda Redd and that was cool. I didn’t expect to see him at the con and it made me all giddy. I also got all starstruck over Jen Markham when I finally had the courage to go say hi. She was as nice and humble as in her videos. 

While I did not get any celeb photo ops, I saw plenty of people who did and it was nice to see that all the ones I saw did not have that annoying plexiglass between the guest and the conventioneer.

Artist Alley was huge compared to previous years (it was almost the size of the vendor section) and showcased some impressive talent. I recognized a few people from previous years and it was nice to see an equal amount of newcomers.

The vendors were spaced out nicely for the crowd levels and there wasn’t a lot of one type of thing. There were just as many comic book vendors as Loungefly dealers and t-shirt vendors. MegaCon Orlando got a few bigger names like Enso rings and Gundham to show up as well. Gundham was probably the most popular of the booths. They had a few exclusives (including a Hello Kitty Gundham) and had a decent line each day of the event. I saw a lot of people with their bags in tow and when I found out how much you had to spend to get that bag, I realized they were the big money-making booth of the con.

Cosplay Abound

Cosplayers never fail to impress me at the conventions I attend and MegaCon Orlando is no different. The convention-goers brought their A-game each day and I enjoyed looking at the various levels of craftsmanship on display. My favorite was a simple cosplayer dressed as a yellow duck handing out free resin ducks to anyone who asked. I picked out a neon green duckie. 

Until 2005

MegaCon Orlando returns to the North/South side of the Orange County Convention Center February 6th – 9th 2025. I’m eager to see how they will top this year and compare it to how well it was set up and executed this year on the West Concourse. Despite the crowds growing every year (and parking prices going with it), I’m super excited to see how next year will go and this time, I’ll be dressing up myself for at least one day. The goal is for Jedi Beast to have his Belle. Stay tuned for a full build review as I get the pieces together and put my own twist on a “tale as old as time.”

Disclaimer: GeekDad was given a media pass into this event.

MegaCon returns to Orlando, Florida, this week from February 1st to the 4th, making it the first major convention of the year. Last year we had over 160,000 attendees and the numbers are estimated to only go up from there this year. With celebs like Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen (Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, respectively), as well as a slew of others (including a Princess Bride and Back to the Future reunion!), this is sure to be the year you don’t want to miss.

Where Is MegaCon 2024?

The convention is being held in the West Concourse of the Orange County Convention Center this year which is a change from the past three years. I’m interested to see how the slight change in venue will hold up to the con’s massive attendance. The North and South sides are newer and, in my opinion, feel much larger than the West Concourse. We will see how the change in venue up to the crowds and demand on internet, space, and food.

Quick Convention Tips

A few quick tips to make sure you get the most of your convention weekend:

1. Pay for parking before you arrive! The main lots are selling out fast so make sure to grab your spot before they are gone. The website says limited day-of parking will be available, but they won’t be announcing anything until closer to the con. 
2. Grab your autograph tickets before you hit the convention floor. Buying them online guarantees your spot in the autograph line and some celebs will not allow you in the line at all without an autograph ticket. 
3. Don’t forget about photo ops. This is another must grab before the convention. If you wait until the day you arrive, you risk losing out to others who are able to get on the con floor and to the photo ops booth before you. 
4. Download the app and favorite all your panels, signings, and photo op times. The app will alert you before something starts and if something has changed in time, location, or been outright canceled. 
5. Show up to panels at least 45 minutes early. The paranormal panels and celebrity panels especially will fill up fast. If you can, be at your panel room early or risk not getting in. 
6. Be aware of special panels. Some celebs, like Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, have pre-paid panel options allowing people to purchase a seat before the con. This means anyone who wants to get in on standby will be last to get in. Tom Hiddleston, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, the Back to the Future cast, and more are all available to pre-pay for a seat. Check the “Special Experience” page on MegaCon’s website for more information.

MegaCon 2024 Predictions

I’ve been covering MegaCon for at least 10 years and every year it only gets better. The paranormal panels are slated to be the next big thing to hit the convention as well as the growing presence of YouTubers, cosplayers, and internet celebrities. Of the ones in attendance this year, Jen Markham is at the top of my list of must-meet internet celebs along with Dapper Danielle, whom I’ve met at the past two conventions.

I’m also looking forward to the numerous vendors and artists in attendance to see what they bring to the convention floor. In the past, I’ve picked up some pretty cool convention souvenirs including my favorite haul, my leather turtle shell backpack.

Stay tuned for a full convention recap after the con!

Running from early September through the end of October, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights is an autumnal tradition for many fright fans. With a rotating selection of haunted houses based on new and classic Universal properties (as well as a number of unique selections outside of existing IP), specialty Scare Zones throughout the park, and even Halloween-themed shows and entertainment, it’s a fearful feast for the senses!

This year Universal Orlando hosts 10 terrifying haunted attractions. You can escape Vecna’s curse in the Stranger Things haunt, experience a terrifying tie-in with the recent release The Exorcist: Believer, flee from the Clickers from HBO’s The Last of Us, and check in with your favorite murderous doll in Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count. There’s also Universal Monster: Unmasked, featuring the iconic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the Invisible Man.

If none of your favorite franchises are represented above, perhaps you’d be more inclined to explore the chaotic carnival of Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins or the dark magic of Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate. You can even take a portal into the past to follow Delta Blues man Pinestraw Spruce as he barters his soul for fame and glory (The Darkest Deal), investigate a Colonial-era village of moon-worshipers (Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings), or creep through a 1950s campground overrun by maniacal yetis (YETI: Campground Kills). Any (and all) would be an excellent choice for the true horror aficionado.

Sadly, the older I get, the longer that 8-hour drive to central Florida seems to stretch, meaning I won’t be able to make it down to Universal Orlando to revel with my fellow fiends. The good news, at least, is that I can still purchase much of the exclusive merchandise released for Halloween Horror Nights 2023.

Ranging from $3.99 tote bags to $90 specialty apparel, this year’s haul has something for everyone—especially that spooky friend on your holiday gift list or your resident monster movie maven in need of a Halloween pick-me-up.

Stranger Things fans will find treasures from the perfectly collectible Hellfire Club shot glass ($6.99) to the totally retro Surfer Boy Pizza visor ($17.99) to cosplay-worthy denim jackets ($80 for the Hellfire Club jacket and $90 for its hooded counterpart). And followers of the evergreen Child’s Play series can deck themselves out with Chucky-themed hand fans ($18), crop sweaters ($37), and a newly added button-down camp shirt ($70).

For me, though, it’s always the haunt-specific merch that becomes the most sought-after. There’s the requisite collection of t-shirts (all around the $30 price point), of course, and the pricier but more functional hoodie collection ($60 for your basic models, but the mineral-washed 2023 Scare Zone hooded sweatshirt is a bit more at $65).

Then there’s this year’s clear winner, the Halloween Horror Nights 2023 Creepy Curiosities long-sleeve flannel. This uniquely weathered design boasts the Halloween Horror Nights spirit board logo on the back complete with a terrifying skull that warns “Never Go Alone.” This bad boy will set you back $75, but it represents exactly the kind of specialty merch I always salivate over when I find myself crawling the parks. I have to brag that Universal sent me one of these flannels, and it’s become a staple of my Halloween wardrobe—which, for the record, lasts all year and not just through the month of October.

With buttons and stickers and glassware and apparel—and also wooden wick candles, a fact that continues to delight and amuse me—the Halloween Horror Nights 2023 collection from Universal Studios Orlando is a veritable treasure trove for the supernaturally inclined. So check out the official online shop to stock up for all your spooky seasonal needs. You’ll be glad you did.

And while I won’t “see you in the fog” this Halloween season at HHN, know that I’m there with you in spirit. And isn’t the spirit what it’s all about?

A Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights 2023 Creepy Curiosities long-sleeve flannel shirt and a Chucky-themed scented candle were provided for the purposes of this review, but Universal Studios had no control over its content or influence on my opinions. That Chucky candle smells like Fruity Pebbles… which somehow seems weirdly appropriate.

Amid the announcement of the new pastel Joy-Cons and an unexpected sequel to gonzo multiplayer game 1-2 Switch, you may have missed an important third Nintendo news item this week; registration is now open for Nintendo Live 2023.

Taking place at the Seattle Convention Center on September 1st-4th, this all-ages celebration of all things Nintendo will include gameplay opportunities (for titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Pikmin 4), meet-and-greets and photo ops featuring some of your favorite Nintendo characters and scenes, live musical performances, gaming tournaments, and a special Nintendo pop-up store. Best of all, tickets are free, but there is a catch.

Space is limited, and you’ll need to register for your chance to attend by June 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, tickets will be awarded via a random drawing.

All you need to register is to be at least 18 years old and to have a Nintendo Account. While individuals can register, families and friend groups of up to six people can all register together—though, if you are registering for a group of two or more, each member of the group must have a Nintendo Account that is linked to the same Nintendo Account Family Group. (Yes, this means that younger kids can still attend, as those under 13 can have a parent or guardian create a children’s Nintendo Account as part of their Nintendo Account Family Group.)

Additional information concerning registration, tournament qualification, and a special opportunity for those attending PAX West can be found at the official Nintendo Live 2023 event site.

It’s important to note that things like this have previously been limited to Japan, with 2023 marking the first time Nintendo Live has ever come stateside. Even I, as far away as I live from the pacific northwest, am tempted to throw my hat in the ring for tickets because Nintendo Live 2023 promises to be a fan event like no other.

Part One of the series discusses our preparations for Gen Con and the lessons we learned.

The First Half of Gen Con

As many single day passes as I saw throughout Gen Con, I can’t imagine only going for one day. Four days wasn’t enough to see everything, much less do everything. Here’s what we did for the first half of the trip.

Day 0 – Travel and Vaccine Proof

Our travel day began at 2 AM on August 3. We got up, drove to the nearest airport (not a short distance), and boarded our first flight to Seattle at 4:30 AM. Our next flight wouldn’t be for four more hours, so we had the opportunity to have some tasty Beecher’s for breakfast sandwiches and coffee, and then people watched. We were some of the first to our gate, so we had a fantastic opportunity to people-watch as the gate filled slowly with nerds. As the crowd gathered, the atmosphere became electric. Geeks of all shapes and sizes congregated, waiting with unabashed excitement to get to Indianapolis. The four-hour flight was long, but I was prepared with a phone charger and the Kindle app on my phone. I had initially hoped to sleep, but the buzzing excitement from myself and nearly everyone else on the plane prevented that.

Once we landed, our ride got us quickly to the hotel where we unloaded our gear and immediately headed to the convention center. Despite the convention not officially starting until the next day, we wanted to be fully prepared with our wristbands. We got in line for the Vaccination Verification Station, and what a line it was! We managed to traverse the entire perimeter of the second floor of the convention center. Twice. It was a good way to see some things that we never would actually make it back to, despite having the desire to. Thankfully, the line moved quickly and everyone was in good spirits.

Once we made it to the front of the line and through the serpentine line in the room itself, verification took only a few seconds. Our wristbands were applied, to be left on throughout the weekend. We made our way back downstairs and outside with the intent of finding some food, only to note that it was just past 10 PM and most restaurants had just closed. We did discover, however, a nearby Steak ‘n’ Shake, and headed in for food. I’d never eaten there, and, while it was good, the service was pretty slow. We finally ate around 11 PM and got back to the hotel in time to shower and climb in bed by midnight.

Day 1 – Wow, That’s a Lot of People

The first day of con, I needed to stop by and pick up a few things as a GeekDad, so we got up early and headed to the convention center at 8 AM, well before the 10 AM start time. Turns out, that was a good idea anyhow because once I finished in the press room, the lines were already long and the crowd was gathering outside the exhibit hall. Everyone was happy and friendly with each other, but they were super anxious to get in and get going as well. We paused outside to admire the gigantic inflatable Urbanmech, too.

We stopped by customer service and gave them my old badge since having two was sort of silly, and discovered at the end of the customer service desk line was a separate desk with free coupon books and empty swag bags. This is a MUST. Get a bag and a coupon book for each person in your party. Not only will your bags never quite be enough, but they’re really cool looking and make for good organizing on your way home. The coupon books frequently have freebies listed in them and are masterful marketing. The lesson I learned by the end of the con with the coupon books: go through the books separately, pull out the coupons you want, write down the booth numbers, and then hide the coupon book from yourself. The pull of the clever marketing may otherwise be too strong, as it was for me. The same goes for the full page spread in the Gen Con program guide of all the con-branded stuff in different booths. If there’s something you want from that spread though, get it as early as you can. They sell out.

Instead of merging with the crowd or getting in the official Gen Con swag booth line, we went into the gaming hall which was still fairly empty at the time and wandered a bit. We saw Avalon Hill’s enormous space and Catalyst Game Labs’ Battletech area, and picked up some “generic” tickets that we’d ultimately fail to use.

Once the main exhibit hall opened, we tried our best to stick to a fairly reasonable zig-zag pattern starting with the 100 aisle, but we also skipped around a little knowing that there were a few people we wanted to say hi to. We got in the Catalyst line hoping to score one of the two hundred Battletech Alpha Strike boxes that made it to the con for sale, but about seven people in front of us, they announced the last one sold. Groans went up, but we were happy to get into the booth at all and ended up purchasing a few novels once we learned that five authors would be signing the next day.

The rest of the day was spent walking through the exhibit hall, talking to vendors (I particularly enjoyed chatting with small businesses) and tracking down pins for the Pin Bazaar, which is an annual pin collecting event at Gen Con. I somehow agreed to collect pins for two of us, which in hindsight was maybe not the best of plans, as it did lead to the majority of our going over budget. The lesson learned here is to look at the Pin Bazaar pins in the Program Guide, decide with your group who wants what, write the booth numbers down, and don’t worry about collecting every single one. Similar to the coupon book strategy, this will really save you money in the long run. You can combine your pin proofs of purchase as a group later if you all agree to it.

We stayed Thursday until the exhibit hall closed at 5 PM, then took an Uber back to our hotel and climbed into our friend’s truck to find dinner. We found a place nearby that touted the regional specialty of a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, so we went and enjoyed sampling Hoosier country cuisine. We’ve decided next time, we’ll try the same dish but at a different place, and so a tradition was born. When we got back to the room, we were all exhausted, so instead of managing to pull out any games we all just fell into our beds and slept.

Day 2 – Early to Rise, Late to Bed

The next morning, we added another friend to the mix and headed to the convention center closer to 10 AM. We immediately started walking the exhibit hall, thinking we would pick up where we left off, but I had Important Business of Importance on my calendar for noon, so we only made it one or two more aisles. At noon, I was honored to spend some time with Randall Bills from Catalyst Game Labs to talk about all their new and exciting upcoming and recent releases. I’m still a little starry eyed.

Blinded by excitement and overwhelmed by all the shiny things, we all forgot to eat before my interview with Catalyst Game Labs, so once that was over we were super hungry and parched. We headed out to the food trucks and ate, guzzled our bottles of water, and headed back in to wander a tiny bit more before another interview. Once that was over, most of us were peopled out. We decided to head back to the hotel, order some pizza, and play a game of Battletech Alpha Strike that had been graciously set aside for me. Expect a review on that closer to its store release in November.

We laughed uproariously and enjoyed the company of each other and the other gamers in the lobby well into the evening, but we were all ready for bed when the game was over.

The second half of our trip will appear in Part 3 of this series.

The Highlight Is Still the Dangerous Lagoon

Not a whole lot has changed since my first trip to the aquarium, a year after its 2013 opening. Located at the base of Toronto’s CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is a single large building that houses a deceptively large amount of exhibit space. They really use every square inch of the building. Instead of being locked away behind closed doors, even the infrastructure and system controls are on view.

There are multiple exhibits, including some that feature fish native to Canada’s oceans and the Great Lakes. One of these had something new—a three-clawed lobster! The approach is educational and kid-friendly, with glass that’s low enough that the little ones can see all the creatures.

There are some great viewing areas, including a multi-floor tank, Planet Jellies, and the Shoreline Gallery at the top of Ray Bay where stingrays can be touched by guests.

But the highlight for most visitors is Dangerous Lagoon. This attraction is a 760,000-gallon tank, with viewing overhead and on both sides, as you ride North America’s longest moving sidewalk. Dangerous Lagoon is populated with a wide variety of species including sawfish, tiger sharks, green sea turtles, and stingrays. There is something about having a tiger shark keeping pace with you as the moving sidewalk slowing winds through the exhibit, then accelerating and gliding overhead.

You are free to take a repeat ride through the lagoon if you didn’t get enough sharks on the first pass.

Covid Protocols

Naturally, if you’re going to be visiting the aquarium, you’ll want to know about Covid-19 protocols.

Like all attractions in Ontario, adults need to show proof of double-vaccination to gain entry. Tickets are timed to prevent crowding—the preferred method is to order online, but you are able to buy tickets in person for the next available time slot. There are physical distancing reminders everywhere on the floors. However, Ripley’s took a different approach to interactive exhibits than the Royal Ontario Museum (which I wrote about several weeks ago). Where the ROM basically shut down interactive exhibits, the aquarium still has them all open but has installed hand sanitizer stations at each of the exhibits.

So there is more hands-on stuff for younger kids to do, so long as you’re okay with them having that physical contact.

Cost

Ripley’s Aquarium isn’t cheap, especially if you’re bringing a family. Admission prices range from $43 (Cdn) for ages 14 and up, down to $12.50 for 3 to 5 year-olds, with youths and seniors paying $29. Considering that this isn’t an all-day attraction—more likely an hour or two—that’s a bit on the steep side. But worth it…

Note, you do also have to escape through the gift store on your way out and that may end up adding to your expenditure. If you plan ahead a bit, there are discounts available through various attraction booking systems like Toronto CityPASS. The boys and I used one of these to knock 40% off our ticket prices.

As part of a recent trip into Toronto, I stepped out for several public outings—the first crowds I’ve been in for a year and a half. If you don’t count grocery stores… The first was to the ROM’s Great Whales: Up Close and Personal exhibit. If you’re interested, you can read about that one here. The second was to Toronto’s Immersive Van Gogh exhibit.

What Is Immersive Van Gogh?

The company running this show describes it as “art that moves.” Basically, it’s a huge exhibition hall (large enough that at one point they were doing it as a drive-in show with cars) where the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh are projected on the walls, floors, and ceiling. It literally surrounds you. The paintings aren’t static. Instead, elements have been animated and set to a soundtrack.

Technical Details

The technology needed to bring this show to life is pretty impressive. For the Toronto show, the stats are 600,000 cubic feet of projections, 90,000,000 pixels, and 60,600 frames of video.

What Was It Like?

In short, the show was pretty trippy. To me, the experience felt a bit like “laser Floyd” at a planetarium, but with art.

There are chairs available at the entrance that you can bring in to be seated through the show. Some people chose to sit on the floor and a few were lying down. I believe it ran around 40 minutes, so I was happy to have the chair. The big show is taking place on the walls in 360-degrees, but there are also complimentary projections on the floors. At one point we were maybe 20 feet from a wall, and I couldn’t see any sign of pixelation. The colors were bright, the details sharp, the animations suited the paintings, the music complemented the action, and it completely lived up to the “immersive” billing.

When the show is over, you walk out and through a gift gallery. A very extensively stocked gift gallery… If you ever wished you had any of Van Gogh’s better-known paintings in tee-shirt, poster, keychain, phone case, or teacup form factor, you’ll be pretty happy with it. There is also a cafe set up outside the gift shop, with coffee and pastries.

Do You Need to Be a Van Gogh Fan to Enjoy the Exhibit?

No. I’m more a music guy than an art guy. I’m aware of Van Gogh. I remember something about him cutting off an ear. I recognized The Starry Night and Sunflowers. However, despite my limited exposure, I thoroughly enjoyed the show as entertainment, while also gaining a deeper appreciation for the painter’s work. On the other hand, my wife is a big Van Gogh fan—she’s the one who insisted on going to the exhibit. She absolutely loved it.

What About Kids?

My kids weren’t with us on this trip. There were a number of young families there and there seemed to be enough going on to keep the kids entertained. It can get a little dark/intense and loud for short durations, but I didn’t see or hear any young kids who were upset. My daughter would have enjoyed it, but I suspect our teenage gamer boys would have lost interest—there were zero explosions…

Is It Safe (With the Covid-19 Situation)?

The Toronto setup seems very safe. You have to go through the usual screening and masking up before entry. The space itself is huge and tickets are timed to prevent crowding. In addition, the floor is painted with well-spaced circles to make it easy for people to stay safely socially distanced.

Would I See It Again?

I’m not sure I would pay to see this specific exhibit a second time, but the experience was solid. I’d do it again with a different artist featured.

Where and How Much?

As mentioned, we caught the show in Toronto. It’s located at 1 Yonge Street. Ticket prices range from $34.99 to $44.99 (Cdn), depending on the time of day.

Is It Showing Anywhere Else, Including U.S. Cities?

Obviously, not everyone who might be interested in the exhibit happens to live in Toronto. However, Immersive Van Gogh is currently running in a number of U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Check the website for locations, exhibit times, and ticket prices.

After a year in which all vacations were canceled and travel pretty much shut down (I know, first world problems), it was nice to be able to start making some short trips this summer. One of our stops was Toronto. And when in Toronto, a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is always in order. It’s right on the subway line, so it couldn’t be easier to reach. We were able to see old favorites, including the dinosaurs, along with the new Great Wales: Up Close and Personal exhibit.

ROM general admission rates are currently $23.00 (Cdn) for adults and $14.00 for kids aged 4-14. Admission plus the Great Wales exhibit is $35.00 for adults and $21.00 for children. The ROM also offers youth, student, and senior rates.

Great Whales: Up Close and Personal

The ROM always has a featured exhibition or two in addition to its regular offerings. They are an additional cost for admission, but any that I’ve seen have been well worth paying a little extra for. I wrote about one of these, called Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants From Gondwana, way back in 2021. The great whales exhibit was something we’d been really looking forward to. Whenever we go to Provincetown, we’re sure to stop at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, which has a program focused on whale rescues.

The centerpiece of the ROM’s whale exhibit is a blue whale skeleton, one of nine blue whales that died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2014. There are also skeletons of other whales, including a North Atlantic right whale and a sperm whale on display, along with specimens showing the evolution of whales from land mammals to ocean-dwellers. Everything about whales, from how they sleep to how they eat, is shown. I had never seen krill in person before and was surprised at how large they are—for some reason I had always assumed that they are barely visible… The image of sperm whales sleeping while suspended vertically in the water was another mind-blower.

Organs such as the brain are on display, as is the world’s first and only preserved blue whale heart. That was something to see, and the comparison showing the amount of blood pumped by the whale’s heart compared to that of other creatures like humans was fascinating.

There are also sections that outline conservation efforts.

In all, we spent maybe 45 minutes in this specific exhibit, including the time spent watching several video presentations. It was definitely worth the extra cost. And, of course, there is the whale-themed gift gallery on the way out.

Safety

We can’t talk about visiting an attraction these days without talking about safety. The ROM was limiting admissions and booking tickets by time slots to reduce crowding. This seemed to be working well. We were there on a weekday and there was nothing approaching a crowd. Masks are required. In nearly four hours there I only encountered one person who had pulled his mask down below his nose—that’s a much lower ratio than I see in grocery stores and other public spaces.

Interactive elements of exhibits have been shut down and replaced where possible with QR codes (bring your phone or tablet). Having videos play is not quite the same for kids, but it’s better than nothing. There are frequent reminders to maintain physical distancing, including one-way routes through exhibits. These were less successful, at least when it came to the younger crowd. We frequently encountered clusters of young kids running in packs, as often as not going the wrong way…

Well Worth the Visit

The bottom line? If you’re visiting Toronto—with kids or without—the ROM remains a must-see, and the Great Whales: Up Close and Personal exhibit is worth paying extra for. And if you live in or around Toronto and haven’t been able to visit the museum for a few years, the timed entries mean it’s a lot less crowded, so you can take the time to get reacquainted.

Great Whales: Up Close and Personal runs until March 20, 2022.

Our featured convention this weekend is Albuquerque Comic Con. The event runs this Friday, June 25th through Sunday, June 27th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This year’s convention features over 40 celebrity and creator guests from comics, film, television, pro wrestling, cosplay, digital entertainment, and more. The full schedule of activities can be found HERE, including sensory-sensitive events for kids, after-hours parties, panels, workshops, photo ops, and more.

COVID protocols for this year’s Albuquerque Comic Con include limiting attendance to 7,500 convention-goers each day. Read the full COVID FAQ HERE.

Purchase tickets to Albuquerque Comic Con 2021 HERE.

Other conventions taking place this weekend include:

Dallas Comic Show Saturday Special 2021: Lewisville, TX. Saturday, June 26th.

COVID protocols are not detailed on the Dallas Comic Show website.

Purchase tickets to Dallas Comic Show Saturday Special HERE.

Milwaukee Comic Con 2021: West Allis, WI. Saturday, June 26th.

Masks are required at Milwaukee Comic Con.

Tickets are available at the door. Adults are $8. Kids 12 and under are free.

Mississippi Comic Con 2021: Jackson, MS. Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th.

Masks are encouraged, but not generally required, though some guests may require masks at their booth and during photo ops.

Purchase tickets to Mississippi Comic Con 2021 HERE.

Supernova Comic-Con & Gaming Expo – Sydney 2021: Perth, Australia. Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th.

COVID protocols are not listed on the Supernova Comic-Con & Gaming Expo website.

Purchase tickets to Supernova Comic-Con & Gaming Expo – Sydney 2021 HERE.

Lodi Comic Con 2021: Lodi, CA. Sunday, June 27th.

Masks are required and social distancing will be in effect at Lodi Comic Con.

Purchase tickets to Lodi Comic Con 2021 HERE.

PortConMaine 2021: South Portland, ME. Thursday, June 24th through Sunday, June 27th.

Note: While not exclusively an anime convention, anime is a heavily featured part of PortConMaine, so much that I decided to include it here rather than under the Geek Culture Conventions heading.

Masks are required at PortConMaine 2021. View the full COVID policy HERE.

Register for PortConMaine 2021 HERE.

WasabiCon’s Geek Marketplace 2021: St. Augustine, FL. Saturday, June 26th.

Masks are required at WasabiCon Geek Marketplace.

Purchase tickets to WasabiCon Geek Marketplace 2021 HERE.

Houston Horror Film Fest 2021: Houston, TX. Friday, June 25th through Sunday, June 27th.

Masks will be required and capacity limited at Houston Horror Film Fest 2021.

Purchase tickets to Houston Horror Film Fest 2021 HERE.

Midwest Haunters Convention 2021: Milwaukee, WI. Friday, June 25th through Sunday, June 27th.

COVID policies are not detailed on the Midwest Haunters Convention website.

Purchase tickets to Midwest Haunters Convention HERE.

Villicon 2021: Orlando, FL. Saturday, June 26th.

COVID protocols are not detailed on the Villicon website.

Purchase tickets to Villicon 2021 HERE.

Joe Fest 2021: Augusta, GA. Friday, June 25th through Sunday, June 27th.

COVID protocols are not listed on the Joe Fest website.

Purchase Joe Fest 2021 tickets HERE.

Collect-A-Con 2021: Frisco, TX. Saturday, June 25th and Sunday, June 27th.

COVID protocols are not listed on the Collect-A-Con website.

Buy tickets to Collect-A-Con 2021 HERE.

LibertyCon 2021: Virtual Convention. Friday, June 25th through Sunday, June 27th.

View the LibertyCon 2021 online programming schedule HERE.

Oddities & Curiosities New Orleans 2021: New Orleans, LA. Saturday, June 26th.

Oddities & Curiosity’s COVID protocols vary by the city where the event is held. View the COVID FAQ HERE.

Purchase tickets to Oddities & Curiosities New Orleans 2021 HERE.

If you are a convention organizer who would like to have your event featured in an upcoming Convention Connection—including but not limited to interviews, ticket giveaways, and more—email joey@geekdad.com. 

In collaboration with the Walt Disney Archives, MoPop is opening the Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume exhibition on June 5th. The exhibit brings over 70 original pieces from 19 designers ranging in history from Julie Andrews’ original Mary Poppins traveling dress to several costumes from 2019’s Dumbo.

Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume is packed full of so many amazing costumes, and every costume on display provides information from the designers on how it was made, its inspiration, materials, etc. If you are a fan of Disney or just costume design and costuming in general, this is the exhibit for you!

The first area visitors walk through in the exhibit is the Cinderella Workshop. It is the biggest “set” of costumes on display and features ten Cinderella pieces from multiple designers, movies, and shows. I loved seeing variations on the same character or dress by different designers in different eras and reading about their ideas and inspiration for their take on a character.

In a similar vein, there are also both Julie Andrews’ and Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins dresses, various iterations of Cruella De Vil, and characters from multiple Oz films. 

In addition to the rows of costumes on display (and true to the exhibit’s name), there are six Heroes vs Villains displays spread around the exhibit floor featuring famous battles like Gaston vs Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Queen Narissa vs Giselle from Enchanted. These displays are all behind glass with character-specific notes on either side of the display so that you are looking at the character you’re reading about from the perspective of their opponent.

As a costume and prop designer and fabricator, one of my favorite things about any costume display is getting to see and read about how certain things were made, or even trying to unravel the mystery of how something was made. Probably my single favorite thing about any of the costumes on display is the dress by Jeffrey Kurland worn by Athena (Raffey Cassidy) in Tomorrowland. The pattern on the dress is beautiful even at a glance, but when viewed up close, you can see that it is actually theorems based on the golden ratio printed onto the fabric! And the fabric itself does this really gorgeous thing depending on the lighting, from looking like a flat fabric to being shiny and almost looking electrifying!

Also, artists tend to be very self-critical, and sometimes seeing the behind-the-scenes magic on a world-famous award-winning costume can help with some of that anxiety. For example, I have to admit I was both shocked and relieved to see how many of these beautiful dresses have painted on details that look like embroidery on screen. And a couple of them even had smudges! Everyone makes mistakes, or, as the late great Bob Ross put it, has happy accidents. Sometimes we need that reminder.

One room of the exhibit features a wall of enlarged images of design boards from many of the designers and costumes featured in the exhibit, which is also a wonderful peek behind the curtains. Seeing the design process, swatches, and notes really help visitors get into the minds of the designers and get an even deeper understanding of some of the costumes.

At the end of the day, designing and making props is really what brings me the most joy, and so I was very pleasantly surprised to find this display showing the process of making the (clearly not actually wearable) glass slipper from 2015’s Cinderella. Iteration is a huge part of prop making, both with and without machine aids (and I’m pretty sure the foam version of the slipper was machined based on some of the visible texture), and I always love seeing that process. I’m still trying to guess at exactly how they made that final, beautiful slipper! (Continue on to the video below to get a glimpse of the slipper in all its shiny, reflective glory.)

The exhibit also features two interactive experiences. The first, “Getting Into Character,” was not on during our preview, so I can’t comment on it, but it is meant to allow visitors to explore materials, colors, textures, and forms that a costume designer uses in making costumes. The second, “Magic Mirror,” is a fun touchless mirror that allows visitors to “try on” a bunch of costumes. Here are a few of my try-ons—I haven’t decided if my favorite was being Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Flynn from Tron!

Finally, we made a quick walkthrough of most of the exhibit to give readers a quick, almost in-person, experience as either an enticing preview or as a way to enjoy some of the experience if you can’t make it in person.

Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume opens tomorrow, June 5th, and runs through April 17, 2022. Get your tickets now! In addition to the exhibit, MoPop is also hosting several virtual events (panels, workshops, and move watch-alongs) tied to the exhibit in the upcoming weeks. More details can be found on the MoPop site!

My wife and I have walked the High Line elevated park on visits to New York several times, and quite enjoyed the experience. A group located in St. Thomas, Ontario (about thirty minutes from where we live in London) clearly feel the same way, and they had a big, old elevated railway bridge to work with. That has resulted in the St. Thomas Elevated Park, built on a repurposed rail bridge dating from 1929.

The St. Thomas Elevated Park is built on the deck of the Michigan Central Railway bridge. My family has driven beneath this imposing bridge (its concrete piers stand as high as 109 feet) countless times on our way to the beach at Port Stanley. Recently, we began to notice sculptures appearing on the top of the bridge. It was time to investigate.

The bridge portion of the Elevated Park is 30 feet wide and 850 feet long, and there is a considerable expanse of hiking trail extending beyond that. The view is pretty spectacular from that height, but the really impressive sight is what the volunteers in this small community have achieved. The bridge surface has been covered with a wooden walkway with safety railings. Benches and planters abound, as do large, colorful metal sculptures. It has a seriously urban feel to it. Stepping onto the St. Thomas Elevated Park, it’s easy to forget that you’re in largely rural Southwestern Ontario.

One bonus was that although there were a few people enjoying the views, compared to the High Line, the St. Thomas Elevated Park is relaxingly devoid of crowds.

If you happen to be in the area (once travel is a thing again)—perhaps dropping a student off at London’s Western University or visiting the Lake Erie beaches of Port Stanley—it’s well worth ducking off the road for a few minutes to walk up onto the bridge. It’s a work in progress, and we saw anchors in place for additional structures that are obviously in the pipeline.

To learn more about the St. Thomas Elevated Park (including how to get there), visit the website.