C2E2 Weekend 2011
C2E2 Floor Entrance
Well C2E2 is over and done with. But oh man, was it a blast! Aside from a short time at a comic/manga convention in Florida years ago, this was my first time at a true comic con. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I decided to go (almost) all in and purchase the weekend VIP package. (For $50 more I could have gotten the Chris Hemsworth private signing event, but honestly that wasn't such a big deal to me.)
Masters of the Universe Figure Display
I took off work Friday just so I could be there right when the convention floor opened. First things first I immediately made a rush to the line for wristbands that gave the wearer the ability to purchase the convention exclusive DC figures later in the day. After that I spent the majority of the time walking around the convention floor. It's both amazing and overwhelming all the awesome things they have there. I would start listing them, but it would take many many pages. Needless to say they had lots of cool toys, comics, apparel, and art.
Gaming was another large part of this convention. Both tabletop and video games were well represented. I took part in a beginners magic tournament Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I didn't do so well with that. But it was a great learning experience, and I still walked away with a couple promo cards.
I think my favorite part of the floor was the artists alley. Walking up and down the isles checking out the artwork and watching the artists sketch was just amazing. The talent there was breathtaking and incredibly inspirational. They were in large part the catalyst behind me starting my sketch a day journal here. I picked up a few prints for myself which can be seen here.
TAPS Ghosthunters Steve Gonsalves and Dustin Pari
The rest of my time that at the con was spent at various shows and panels. The Comedy Death Ray show Friday night was simply amazing. Patton Oswalt and the other comics brought out the best of their nerd centric material and had us all laughing our asses off. I wish everyone could have seen the guy next to me durning the show. He was SO into it. The panels I attended Saturday included a discussion of the animation industry by JJ Sedelmaier of Saturday Night Live cartoon fame, a Q&A with TAPS Ghosthunters Steve Gonsalves and Dustin Pari, and finally, my favorite, a live sketching session with a few of the awesome DC Comic artists Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke and Tyler Kirkham.
It was a fantastic weekend and there was still so much more I didn't get to see! I'm very much looking forward to next years show!
