WonderCon 2016

I checked out WonderCon this past weekend.  It’s a kickoff to getting ready for the big one, San Diego Comic-Con International.  Actually, Comic-Con is difficult to get tickets to and it isn’t as close as Los Angeles.  So it made sense to go to the Los Angeles Convention Center and see WonderCon.  It was the first time I had attended something like this, well a comic convention so to speak.  Now you may wonder how a comic book convention fits into a travel blog, but I see it as an adventure.  Travel is  about exploring new places, right?  Well this convention was a new experience and I wanted to try it.

My daughter Halley and I decided to take the train into town and waited on the platform as the Gold Line pulled in.  The light rail system took us to Union Station and then we caught the subway the rest of the way.  It’s a great way to get to the Convention Center.

I had no idea what to expect.  Would we be shunted into some long queue?  But we had no trouble getting in and collecting our badges and lanyards.  There weren’t any lines to speak of and things moved along smoothly.  I’ve never been to the San Diego Comic-Con but I’ve been told that lines are the order of the day.  WonderCon was very easy to navigate.

Okay, first let me confess that this isn’t my first pop culture convention.  I’ve been to almost all the Star Wars Celebration Conventions and a few lesser cons in between.  Of course there’s the odd photography expo in there too.  I didn’t go to this as a novice.

We attended a few panels which also were easy to get into.  (That means no lines, no special overflow rooms)  Ashley Eckstein with her company, Her Universe, was gearing up for Comic-Con and the annual Geek Couture Fashion show.  We attended her panel during which she explained how it was going to work this year.

We also found time to visit the exhibitors’ hall and mingle with the cosplay folks.  As you can see there were a few people already in attendance.  The image below is from an area called Artists’ Alley where we stopped to buy a print.

I had to do a double take when I walked by this Tony Stark (Iron Man to those of you who may not know).  This guy had Stark down pat. 

So whether you wander to faraway places or just to your local convention center, I hope you have fun.  We certainly did.  So much so that next year I think I’ll get a three-day pass and maybe stay at a hotel.  What’s that?  Cosplay, you ask?  Well I won’t rule it out!