September 21st-23rd 2018
Wizard World Austin
Austin Convention Center
“What a weekend!” To say the least. Wizard World having been established at their Austin location for 8 years in a row, is a con that you don’t want to miss. WW has been a known convention series that has been spread out throughout the United States having many shows all over with exclusive guests that you often find only available through them.
This year Sir Nick Justice and the Drop the Spotlight crew traveled in covering the convention from everything such as guests, cosplays, layout, and more!
Convention Hall:
With the Austin convention center being one of the larger centers available the con inside was one of the most comfortable conventions we have been too. The number of Booths and vendors was reminiscent of a smaller convention (such as Greater Austin CC) but was far more spread out for maximum walkthrough. With major headliners such as David Tennant, Perer Cappaldi, Zachary Levi, Lou Ferrigno, and much more – you would expect out the door lines to wait in all day.
But not this convention, each celebrity had more than enough space for lines to be formed in (except for Rob Liefeld who had an awkward side line). These lines from experience were only if about 20 minutes and each guest was extremely welcoming to the Fans. They had all types of guests that ranged from Leave it to beaver, to Hercules, musicians, and of course – Voice actors.
Each vendor/artist were nearly lined up with double sided rows of artists and plenty of room to walk between isles to really be able to experience each booth. The cosplay section was a square like layout which felt a bit enclosed but still movable. The video game section was medium sized allowing VR play, console, and computer gaming for the guests to enjoy. Only section that felt super out of place was the VIP resting area which was to the back side of the main stage in public. I think had it been closer to the corner or outside of the whole layout would have felt less awkward for any VIP looking to relax and take a seat. Otherwise it would have been a good vendors booth setup there.
Guests:
There was an array of diverse entertainment that each celebrity guest brought to the table. Lou Ferrigno shared amazing answers in our video interview with him about the Hulk standing up top stop bullying, the Whimsical answers Sam Jones provided in his ER story, and getting to know Kevin Sorbo in the life after Hercules in his new book. There were musical performances many fans witnessed with Thomas Ian Nicholas, David Alpay, and Ryan Cabrera. Seeing a cosplay fan doing an awesome Kamehameha wave in front of Mike Mcfarland, and meeting Jerry Mathers of Leave it to Beaver with many fans who he was happy to meet.
Cosplay/Conclusion:
The amount of people cosplaying at this year’s convention seemed a bit less than compared to last year. Friday there was only about 20 people dressed up that I saw vs on Saturdays attendance where it was about a 1:4 ration of those dressed to not dressed in cosplay. Friday the “Deadpool” of the convention was Captain America with at least 4 being present. Saturday had no repeat of cosplays that stuck out other than maybe 3 shazam and a few fans all wearing different generations of Dr. Who attire.
Overall this convention will join my list of having a special place in my heart to automatically attend for multiple reasons such as convenience of how much closer to San Antonio it is, the ease of getting in and out parking/convention, fantastic guests with unforgettable moments, as well as being in a comfortable environment to walk around and not feel hot, packed, or stressed
