Emerald City ComiCon
So a couple weekends ago we went up to Seattle for the ECCC. This is a long post, with a bunch of pictures, so I'm gonna save your page and put this under a cut.
So after making it up to Seattle and checking in to the hotel, we went to the first of three Half-Price Books and met up with DarthParadox and Nightsinger. Got to see the (beautiful) hotel they're having their wedding reception in and eat at their nightclub/restaurant. Can't wait to see them again at their wedding in a couple months. Then we went to their new house (which is amazing, BTW) and hung out for a bit there, played some games. Then we went back to the hotel and crashed for the con the next day.
The con itself was a ton of fun, and it was wayyyyy busier than last year. We got to the convention center probably a good half hour before 10 when it opened, and there were *thousands* of people waiting in line. Even though we had already purchased tickets, we still had to wait through the entire line to get to the booth where we could exchange them for our passes. Once we finally got in, we went to get a con exclusive for Melissa, a print from a comic artist featuring one of his characters as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (Melissa's favorite movie):
We also picked up the con exclusive Monsters & Dames sketchbook, featuring awesome artwork by a bunch of the artists who were there, including David Mack and Georges Jeanty (from Buffy: Season 8 comics).
After rushing to get the limited exclusives before they ran out, we just wandered around the show for a while, checking everything out. Tried to get as much free stuff as possible, a bunch of places had samples and such as promotional material. Also we all bought buttons from the Hero Initiative because they had a promotion going where one person each day spotted wearing the button would win a huge prize package. We had also signed up for a text-messaging thing where random people would get texted every hour and win free stuff, and I got a text about an hour in and got a free Watchmen T-Shirt (which would have been cooler had they not ended up giving away most of them towards the end of the con and Melissa and Kelly both got one too).
After lunch we tried to go to the Jewel Staite panel, but as Melissa mentioned in her journal, there were wayyy too many people waiting in line and the room got completely full before we got in. I wish they would have planned better and maybe shifted her to a bigger room or something, but oh well. Ended up starting to collect signatures on a bunch of stuff we brought with us, which we were planning on waiting until Sunday to do but decided to go ahead and get some of them done already. While waiting in line for one of the signatures, a lady came up and pointed at me saying "You! You're the one!" I was really worried for a second, cuz I thought I had accidentally done something wrong and was really in trouble. Then she said I was the winner because of my Hero Initiative button. So I ended up getting a free backpack full of everything the Hero Initiative has put out as a fundraiser.
(Click for blog post about it)
Nothing could really top that, and the day was almost over, so we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. Went to the second Half-Price books, and just relaxed for the evening. Got to swim in the heated outdoor swimming pool, which was nice.
Sunday I really wanted to play a game of Munchkin. There was a game of Munchkin Booty (pirate-themed) pretty much just starting when we got there around 10:30, so I played in that while Melissa and Kelly alternately watched me and walked around some. I didn't win due to some bad rounds at the beginning, but I was in about 3rd place at the end. Got the 2009 Munchkin Silver Piece and a bunch of bookmarks for playing, through. Then we went and collected the last of our signatures. Ate lunch, got in line for our picture with Jewel Staite (posted in Melissa's LJ), and then rushed downstairs to get in line for the Wil Wheaton panel. Standing room only, and we were standing in the back, but at least we got in. Had a lot of fun listening to him talk and answer questions, then we went back to the main show to get our photo of us with Jewel so she could autograph it. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for a whole hour after that, and by the time it finally was Jewel had just left for the day. So that was another big disappointment. But Melissa bought a couple of David Mack prints to make up for it, so overall it was a good time. Stopped by the last HPB on the way home, and got home exhausted but happy. Tons of fun, and we can't wait to go again next year.
Also, throughout the con, we got some cool famous artists to draw pictures on some blank Munchkin cards we had. Here's what we got:
[IMAGE FORTHCOMING]
Link to Melissa's LJ about it
Link to Kelly's LJ about it
...and now I've journaled again and filled my quota for the year.
So after making it up to Seattle and checking in to the hotel, we went to the first of three Half-Price Books and met up with DarthParadox and Nightsinger. Got to see the (beautiful) hotel they're having their wedding reception in and eat at their nightclub/restaurant. Can't wait to see them again at their wedding in a couple months. Then we went to their new house (which is amazing, BTW) and hung out for a bit there, played some games. Then we went back to the hotel and crashed for the con the next day.
The con itself was a ton of fun, and it was wayyyyy busier than last year. We got to the convention center probably a good half hour before 10 when it opened, and there were *thousands* of people waiting in line. Even though we had already purchased tickets, we still had to wait through the entire line to get to the booth where we could exchange them for our passes. Once we finally got in, we went to get a con exclusive for Melissa, a print from a comic artist featuring one of his characters as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (Melissa's favorite movie):
We also picked up the con exclusive Monsters & Dames sketchbook, featuring awesome artwork by a bunch of the artists who were there, including David Mack and Georges Jeanty (from Buffy: Season 8 comics).
After rushing to get the limited exclusives before they ran out, we just wandered around the show for a while, checking everything out. Tried to get as much free stuff as possible, a bunch of places had samples and such as promotional material. Also we all bought buttons from the Hero Initiative because they had a promotion going where one person each day spotted wearing the button would win a huge prize package. We had also signed up for a text-messaging thing where random people would get texted every hour and win free stuff, and I got a text about an hour in and got a free Watchmen T-Shirt (which would have been cooler had they not ended up giving away most of them towards the end of the con and Melissa and Kelly both got one too).
After lunch we tried to go to the Jewel Staite panel, but as Melissa mentioned in her journal, there were wayyy too many people waiting in line and the room got completely full before we got in. I wish they would have planned better and maybe shifted her to a bigger room or something, but oh well. Ended up starting to collect signatures on a bunch of stuff we brought with us, which we were planning on waiting until Sunday to do but decided to go ahead and get some of them done already. While waiting in line for one of the signatures, a lady came up and pointed at me saying "You! You're the one!" I was really worried for a second, cuz I thought I had accidentally done something wrong and was really in trouble. Then she said I was the winner because of my Hero Initiative button. So I ended up getting a free backpack full of everything the Hero Initiative has put out as a fundraiser.
(Click for blog post about it)
Nothing could really top that, and the day was almost over, so we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. Went to the second Half-Price books, and just relaxed for the evening. Got to swim in the heated outdoor swimming pool, which was nice.
Sunday I really wanted to play a game of Munchkin. There was a game of Munchkin Booty (pirate-themed) pretty much just starting when we got there around 10:30, so I played in that while Melissa and Kelly alternately watched me and walked around some. I didn't win due to some bad rounds at the beginning, but I was in about 3rd place at the end. Got the 2009 Munchkin Silver Piece and a bunch of bookmarks for playing, through. Then we went and collected the last of our signatures. Ate lunch, got in line for our picture with Jewel Staite (posted in Melissa's LJ), and then rushed downstairs to get in line for the Wil Wheaton panel. Standing room only, and we were standing in the back, but at least we got in. Had a lot of fun listening to him talk and answer questions, then we went back to the main show to get our photo of us with Jewel so she could autograph it. Unfortunately it wasn't ready for a whole hour after that, and by the time it finally was Jewel had just left for the day. So that was another big disappointment. But Melissa bought a couple of David Mack prints to make up for it, so overall it was a good time. Stopped by the last HPB on the way home, and got home exhausted but happy. Tons of fun, and we can't wait to go again next year.
Also, throughout the con, we got some cool famous artists to draw pictures on some blank Munchkin cards we had. Here's what we got:
[IMAGE FORTHCOMING]
Link to Melissa's LJ about it
Link to Kelly's LJ about it
...and now I've journaled again and filled my quota for the year.