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2015-04-11 - Megacon Convention Report

Started by alxjhnsn,

19 posts in this topic

alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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Location: Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL

 

Venue: I don't know the square feet used, but you could hardly tell it was in the building unless you were in the convention itself. The place is BIG.

 

Size: I don't know how many people attended, but it seemed to be a good crowd.

 

Type of show: Mix of celebrities, dealers, and comic people. No gaming that I noticed.

 

Duration: Three Days (Fri/Sat/Sun)

 

Pros:

  • Badge pickup was quick and easy. I liked getting the QR code on my phone as opposed to printing a paper ticket and throwing it away.
  • There was a long line of Comic featured guest ranging from Katie Cook and Andy Price of MLP fame to Frank Cho of Milo Manara cover parody fame.
  • Lots of comic dealers

Cons:

  • The line to buy tickets to get celebrity autographs was ridiculous. Huge and unorganized.
  • Only one art dealer - Bechara Maalouf - sharing a booth though he had nice material with him.

 

Pictures: FB Album (open to the public)

 

Notes:

My family decided that we should go to Orlando to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I got to pick the weekend and I chose the one featuring MegaCon. I bought tickets for everyone for Saturday and one for me for Sunday in case I needed to go back and pick something up.

 

Because the emphasis was on Universal, we stayed near the park. The original hotel was the Holiday Inn and Suites, but they’d had a fire and could not provide us a room despite my reservation. We were bumped down the road to a Holiday Inn Express. Normally, that’s fine, but the HIE couldn’t give us non-smoking rooms. Uck! Turned out not to be so bad, but still…. :)

 

Thursday - The family got to Orlando on Thursday night and went straight to the hotel after their late flightl.

 

Meanwhile, I was on a business trip in Foxboro, MA. To get in the mood, I drove down to the Arctic Theater in West Warwick on Thursday to see Co-Creator Co-Creator is a biographical play depicting the life of Bill Finger, the unrecognized co-creator of Batman and nearly all the major characters in the series plus co-creator of Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and Wildcat. The play was really good. It’s based on Marc Tyler Nobleman’s book, Bill, the Boy Wonder. I was able to go on the night that Marc was there and got him to sign my copy of the book. It was a really good experience. You can see a few pictures from the theater and the Q&A from after the play in an album on my FB page.

 

Friday, I worked. They went on all the major rides at he Islands of Adventure Theme Parks including all the Harry Potter stuff. I’d bought them the Universal Express tickets (2x a regular one) and that was easily my best vacation decision ever. That pass allowed them to go on all the roller coasters in Islands of Adventure before I got there. That’s a lot of rides in one day.

 

I thought that my planned arrival at the hotel would be late enough that they’d be in bed (11:30pm), but they’d just gotten back from the park and City Walk when I got there about 11pm. I was surprised.

 

Saturday, we left the hotel for the Orlando County Convention Center in downtown Orlando. It was about $25 including tip from our hotel - not too bad. We walked in and were directed to the wrong convention. The OCCC is a big place. Really, really long. Megacon used a fraction of one end of the center. The total complex has over 7M sq. ft. which is about 5 times the size of Houston’s GRB. Comicpalooza does a good job of filling the GRB. Megacon vanished inside its building.

 

Wristband pickup was easy. They sent a text message with the QR code and gave me all the wristbands at once (4 for Sat, 1 for Sun).

 

There was a very large staging area / food court where we waited for the con to open. No seating to speak of except the floor, but the food vendors were working and there were a couple of other Points of Sale open.

 

The setup had three major areas:

  • The Dealer area was the point of entry to the show and the aisles were clearly marked with overhead signs.
  • The celebrity area was off to the far left (IIRC) and fenced off as they commonly are; it wasn’t really marked with signage, but it was obvious.
  • The Artist Alley area was not clearly marked. It was two long aisles, but the areas were marked with colored table skirts (white, black, red, whatever). I’m no Batman and I missed the connection especially nice many people had their own skirts

 

We walked in and stopped to say hi to Andy Price and Katie Cook. Katie is coming to Comicpalooza in a few week, but not Andy. :( We bought a couple of pieces from Katie - a sorting hat that says Squip for the daughter that did not make the trip and a watercolor of my wife’s favorite cat - Purrmoine. We then began a systematic walking of the aisles. There were a variety of vendors with interesting stuff and my youngest daughter searched for her favorite - Katy Keene. She found a motherlode at one table, but they were pretty expensive - humor, western, war, fashion, romance - those genres just weren’t saved very often.

 

We eventually found the Artist Alley tables. I was looking for three people to sign my Stan Sakai book and one of them was on AA. While walking it, I ran into my friend Thom Zahler and we chatted for a bit. He mentioned to my middle daughter that “her boyfriend was there.” He meant Cary Elwes of "The Princess Bride.” You should know that my girls are crazy about that movie and Cary. We’d bought tickets for a family photo op, but were told earlier in the week that he’d cancelled and the photo op money would be returned (it was). We were sad, but … So, we told Thom he was wrong and moved on down the aisle.

 

At the end of the aisle, what did we see? Yep, you guessed it Cary Elwes’ booth! I had some happy daughters (and wife). So, we abandoned our original plan and jumped into his (not very long) line. Cary is one of the nicest celebrities you will meet. He divides his booth space into two parts - line and visit area. His goal is to give everyone some quality time by limiting the people in the booth at any one time to those with whom he is speaking and those buying stuff at this table. It’s a really nice experience. He hugged the girls. Elizabeth cried (again - just like at Comicpalooza) and he gave her a long hug. When Kathy started to take a pic - he held up his hand and said, “No, this is a private moment.” We all laughed. We tried to go buy tickets to his photo op, but the situation at that area was uncontrolled chaos.

 

I believe that I found Mike Maihack after this, but maybe a little before. He committed to creating a water color of Batgirl and Supergirl - click to embiggen:

6jbrNeBY_2004151108211.jpg

 

We broke for lunch and walked over to the attached Rosen Center Hotel and had an excellent meal. We also picked up a slice of cheese cake, a slice of chocolate cage, and two Diet Cokes. Why? Well, Katie and Andy had a sign saying something like “We want cake.” and because like Elizabeth Katie and her booth mate don’t like Pepsi and that’s what the OCCC serves.

 

We got a good laugh when we delivered and I understand that the cake was consumed during their panel.

 

At that point, I started collecting autographs from the big names. The list:

  • Andy Price - MLP artist; always friendly. I chatted with him while the girls were dealing with Katie for art.
  • Katie Cook - MLP writer; always friendly and does the best con sketches - water colors on a small card for $10. If she can fit it on the card, she’ll do it.
  • Dan Parent - now sporting a beard so he looks less like Phil Dunphy on Modern Family. He did a commission for Rebecca that featured her teaching Veronica to ride a horse. So they met for the first time.
  • Thom Zahler - of Love and Capes which if you haven’t read you should; he also writes for the MLP franchise and has a new book - Long Distance - due soon
  • Allan Bellman - one of the last Golden Age artists - bright, friendly, and working hard at his booth. I bought a print along with getting his autograph. He put a Cap sketch on the page with the autograph.
  • Gene Gonzales - signed my Sakai tribute book. I really like the Legion commissions that he does
  • Joe Pekar - I honestly don’t know much about him or his work. Sorry.
  • Nick Bradshaw - Another really friendly guy whose work I enjoy
  • Tim Townsend - an inker of some note and a frequenter of this board - good guy
  • Frank Cho - spoke to Frank briefly as we were heading out about his recent popularity with the Milo Manara cover spoof; he like me is bamboozled by the attention.
  • Amanda Conner - Loved her Supergirl in Wednesday’s Comics, but so does she. She’s kept the whole story. Drat!. We did have a nice visit. The line was no where as long as at Boston Comic Con.
  • Chuck Dixon - I’ve read a lot of his comics over the years and stopped by to tell him so.
  • Sergio Cariello - Sharing a booth with Chuck Good artist.
  • Ed McGuinness - Enjoyed his take on Superman, but couldn’t pull the trigger on a pre-con commission. I may regret that at some point.
  • Darwin Cooke - Had a great visit as he signed my Sakai book and the spiral notecard book. Got to visit with his bride before that and she’s a good conversationalist.
  • Michael Dooney - Kathy’s favorite comic artist, I think. She talks about his work. I may have to get him to do something for her.
  • Mark Dos Santos - Signed my Sakai book and visited. Good guy.
  • J. M. Dragunes - does his own comic in a style that resembles that of Jeremy Bastian. We spoke for a long time and Rebecca bought crocheted Voldemort and Dumbledore figures from his wife. Don’t tell her, but we got her Harry, Ron, and Hermoine for her birthday. I bought Joe’s comic; it’s okay, but rough. Then again who isn’t when they are starting? I think he has promise.
  • Bob Layton - I’ve greatly enjoyed his work and visiting with him at shows.

 

Sunday and Monday were a lot like Friday except that I was there. I'm not writing a theme park review so just let me say:

  • Universal Express is worth the money
  • After Easter (Spring Break) and before June is a great time to go (good weather and small crowds)
  • The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Diagon Alley in Universal Studios Florida, the Hogwarts Express, and Hogsmeade at the Islands of Adventure) is amazing.

 

That's about it for this trip. I'm sure that I've forgotten something, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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Next up is Comicpalooza followed by Fan Expo's Dallas Comic Con.

 

Not sure if there will be others this year though Alamo City Comic Con is just down the road and I like San Antonio. We will see.

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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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I've driven past that place numerous times on my vacations in Orlando. Looks huge!

 

Great report, thanks for sharing. :applause:

Terry it is immense. Megacon was a drop in the bucket of what it can handle and Megacon is big.

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malvin

malvin

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Glad to do it.

 

It costs a lot less to read my con reports than to go to one (airfare, hotel, meals, tickets, photo ops, autographs) and buy collectables (art, comics). :)

 

That may be the case, but reading it doesn't let me own any OA, which is why most of us are here!

 

Malvin

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Doc McCoy

Doc McCoy

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I've driven past that place numerous times on my vacations in Orlando. Looks huge!

 

Great report, thanks for sharing. :applause:

Terry it is immense. Megacon was a drop in the bucket of what it can handle and Megacon is big.

 

That's true. I used to go over to cover the PGA Merchandise shows there when I was with Golf Channel and they would use two halls. It's a ridiculously large building and it seems like they are always looking to expand it further.

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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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I used to go over to cover the PGA Merchandise shows there when I was with Golf Channel and they would use two halls. It's a ridiculously large building and it seems like they are always looking to expand it further.

Doc, ever meet a golf writer from Houston named Melanie Hauser?

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