Comic & gaming cons

Ticking off my bucket list of cons.

Things I have learnt from attending these all cons:

• Be willing to walk a little further out for food to avoid long lines and crowds, also plan out where you are eating so you do not waste time researching on the day. Most likely, wherever you want to eat in the area will have long lines. 

• Bring battery pack, water and snacks. Most panels have lines and people are willing to wait hours beforehand just to make sure they get in.  So look after yourself.

• If you are travelling out of state for a con, just a little stay further out so you don't have to wake up early to wait in long lines for breakfast, and will most likely save on accommodation. 

• Bring a jacket and eye drops, most panels blast their air-con in the room and will dry out your eyes. 

PAX West

This was my very first convention in North America. 

• Attended 2017 (Full weekend) and 2018 (Monday).

• The biggest differences I saw was the lack of good panels on the on Monday compared the weekend. So I ended up walking around trying to fill in time. I understand people want to pack up and fly out, but at the rate their weekend tickets, it would be nice to have engaging panels for the Monday for balance. Monday attendance are most likely people who missed on weekend tickets and still wanted to go. 

• Panels for the weekend was top-notch, engaging topics and involved the audience pretty well - sounding was also good.

• They had volunteers/helpers to assist killing time in the line. 

• Great thing about gaming is that it changes every year. I rarely remember seeing something I saw previous year was there the current year. 

• Overall, I would go back again if I was able to get my hands on weekend tickets. 

Emerald City Comic Con

• Panels were a little bit of a mess and not really engaging, it's usually takes about 3 strikes before I give on something. The first panel of the day I attended was creating a cosplay costume - the presenters were late, someone had to run out to buy hot glue (which delayed things even more), the microphone/sounding wasn't set up well and the camera was shaky. I was about 20mins in and just left, this ultimately made me not want to go wait in another line or attend another panel. 

• The artists are really talented, which I liked more than San Diego Comic Con.

• Overall, I'd only go back if I have nothing to do that weekend or had guest in town to take around.

Ace Comic Con - Seattle

This con came out of nowhere, I'm glad I went but the what a shitty experience leading up to the event.

• Many guests that were headlining cancelled, apparently they have a reputation for doing this. 

• Due to guests cancelling, it impacted my VIP package. I had to manually change over the tickets or get a refund, which was a huge change eg. I originally had access to 2 panels, now it was just 1 panel.
  So if you got the refund, there was a chance you would just simply miss out on the next available VIP package, as it could just sell out by the time you got to the change. There was no priority for people who were impacted.

• Social media and email support were very selective in what and who they replied too. 

• I was told no SRL or cameras with attached lenses unless you were the media, yet I saw plenty of people who were not the media bring SRLs.

• The only good to come from this con was you were guaranteed seats at panels, if you paid VIP. But would be out of the price range for most teenagers and families. 

• Photo ops - Had some structure but overall felt messy. Delays, rushed, crammed people and you could just tell the guests were overworked/tired. I felt bad for taking a photo with Sebastian Stan in the end. 

• Overall, if this came back to Seattle, I would not go again - too many red flags leading up to the event. This is probably the reason why they go all over the country so people "forget".  

San Diego Comic Con

This con was the ultimate dream, so happy we got selected to go!

• They kept guests under wraps so you had an idea who was going to be there but at the same time you did not.

• Was pretty bummed to find out very late that Brooklyn Nine-Nine was there (2018) for the Thursday. If I knew earlier I would have adjusted to take an extra day off to attend.  

• Marvel not attending in 2018 most likely gave me more opportunity to attend panels in Hall H.  Long lines were expected but based on hearing people's previous years' experience, they noticed the decrease in waiting time. 

• Fair line system for panels.

• Surprised I did not pick up as much merch as I wanted too. 

• Overall, would go again just to see the difference that Marvel makes to the next Comic Con.