WonderCon 2015

I don't even know where to start with WonderCon. I originally was supposed to go on Saturday, but something came up with my husband's airsoft team and they ended up going to an out of town game that day, so we switched our badges to Sunday. I wasn't particularly thrilled about going on Easter, I knew my kids would be bummed about missing the Easter bunny, but we thought that Sunday might be easier to travel on and were hoping that the convention would be less crowded that day.

Traveling there was easier, we made pretty good time, so that was nice. As far as the convention not being crowded....nope. It was pretty full. The first year we went to WonderCon, we did it on a whim and went on a Sunday, but that was before they started doing on Easter weekend. It wasn't really crowded and the vendors were trying to get rid of their stuff, so everything was deeply discounted. It wasn't like that at all this time. I'd been telling my husband for months that they'd been marketing WonderCon as the new SDCC, but he didn't believe me. He did once we got there though. There was not a lot of room for movement on the floor, and since we brought the kids with us, they got cranky fast, so the leisurely looking at booths was pretty nonexistent this time. We also didn't get to check out any panels for that reason. Security was different this year too, but I heard that was because of some things that had happened on Saturday. When we got there, we had to pass through a security checkpoint and show them our papers/badges before we could even get near the convention doors. I actually didn't mind, I think they should be doing that more often. I guess so many people had tried to push through to see the cosplayers, plus all those guys with the yellow signs (you know who I'm talking about) caused such a commotion....but that's been a long time coming, so good for WonderCon for finally protecting its patrons from that harassment (and yes, I do think the people with the yellow signs are bullies. not for their religious beliefs, but for how they present them to others). Will something similar be done at SDCC this year? I guess we'll find out in July.

On to our adventures though. One of the things my family and I did get to do though, was go to a screening for Cosplay Dreams 3D, which was neat. I received an email a few days before the event asking if I wanted a complimentary ticket, and they were nice enough to let me bring me my husband and kids along as well. The movie covered all aspects of cosplay, from people who just do cons, to the career cosplayers (think Yaya Han), to LARPers...I mean everyone. I was excited to see some people that I follow on Instagram in the movie (Traci Hines of Adorkable Apparel and Leo Zombie). There were a few technical glitches, but overall it was great. If you get a chance to catch the movie while its making its way around the convention circuit this year, I highly recommend it.

Chris Hardwick was there on Sunday, and we were going to try and catch his panel, but it ran the same time as the movie. He was doing a signing at the Nerdist booth later in the day though, but by the time we learned about it, the line had been capped. So we did what everyone else tried to do, and take pictures while walking by. He had a ton of security around him, but I think they were more for his girlfriend's protection than his own. Loot Crate had the booth right across from Nerdist, and they were so very kind in letting all of us hang out in their booth and try to sneak pictures of Chris Hardwick. I did the super shameful parent thing and used my son as a prop. I took a million pictures of him before the crowd parted just right for me to get a clear shot of Chris in the background. 

This picture actually has my son's full face in it, but I'm still a little iffy about showing my kids on here.

We did make it to the Nerdist booth eventually though; got to meet Jessica Chobot and had her sign things and took a picture with her. Then we went to the Geek and Sundry booth that was right next to it and spun the wheel. We all ended up with a deck of Magic cards, except my husband who won like, the whole core set for this year. My husband is always the lucky the one when it comes to games where you have to spin wheels or throw rings or balls at things lol. 

I didn't get to take a whole bunch of photos since I was constantly trying to keep my kids from being whisked away in the sea of people, so that sucked. But the day was fun. I got to buy all the issues of the Lumberjanes that I've been missing (except number seven, darn it) and got the WonderCon shirt for the year that has Batgirl on it. My husband bought Superfight, my son bought some super scary looking Five Nights at Freddy's posters and my daughter bought another Pikachu (we can start a farm with all the Pikas we have). 

Can't wait to see this game. If its like Superfight, it should get pretty interesting.

I got to meet the creator of those awesome Con*Quest journals and she was just the sweetest! I didn't get to talk to her too long because there was this guy there that was talking about all the stuff she could be doing with her journals. I don't know if it was a legit business meeting or if he was just being a critic, but I felt bad for interrupting either way. I'm hoping that maybe she'll do another giveaway with me, if you guys would be interested in that. 

There was also a preview of the movie San Andreas, which if you live in California you know is the big fault line that runs through most of the state (my city is very close to it, or on it, I don't quite remember) and is the cause of most of our earthquakes. Well, yeah, its a movie about an earthquake, and it doesn't just do damage to our state, its felt across the US. It scared my son a little, apparently they haven't covered earthquakes in science yet at his school- oops. And I learned that part of the movie was filmed here in my city, so that's cool. 

After we were done with the convention, we ate at the food trucks that were outside the convention center.  My kids got their massive corn dogs and tater tots from The Viking Truck, and they were not your regular corn dogs! I think they were brats or something, my kids didn't like them, so they just ate the tater tots. My husband ate at  Burger Monster. They had a burger called the Rexxar (which is a WoW character) and I thought that was cool. I ate at Spudrunners, and it was delicious! I had a pulled pork grilled cheese and fries and it made me tummy so happy.

Aside from the crowds, I had a nice time at WonderCon. As usual, the cosplayers didn't disappoint (I think looking at their costumes is becoming one of my favorite things about conventions) and the people at the booths I did get to look at were super friendly. Maybe next year I'll get to check out some of the panels (I don't think I've ever gone to a panel at WonderCon. Maybe I should make a convention bucket list and make that number one). 

Did you attend WonderCon this year? What did you think about it?