Oh Comicpalooza. I know it’s been over for two weeks now, but I kind of feel like my recap in the last post didn’t do it justice. It was lazily written and it only served to recap what I did, but not WHY I had such a blast, and why I hope to continue having a blast each year. I really didn’t give it the love that it deserves. So here’s a better recap of Comicpalooza, with FEELINGS. OH THE FEELS.
So for anyone who’s kept up with this blog, you’ll know that I’ve been to my share of geek-cons. I won’t claim to have been to TOO many, but I’d like to think I’ve been to enough that I have an idea of what’s a good geek-con and what’s not. San Diego Comic-Con is of course the biggest and best convention, hands down. It’s not every day that you can say “oh, no big deal, that’s just HUGH JACKMAN WALKING DOWN THE STREET.” It’s not to say that it doesn’t come with its own frustrations, but it’s seriously an incredibly stressful, overwhelming, and ridiculously AWESOME experience. Definitely a bucket list item for any geek out there.
That being said, I honestly feel like Comicpalooza is one of the best conventions I’ve been to. But where are all the big movie stars? Where are all the fancy sneak previews of big upcoming movies and video games? SCREW ALL THAT. The thing that sets Comicpalooza apart is that it has that perfect small-scale convention feel where it’s genuinely about the love of all things geeky and not as much about the big movie and comic book studios trying to pimp out their next product. Because if we had to be honest about San Diego Comic-Con, yes, it’s absolutely celebrating all things geeky, but it’s most DEFINITELY a giant promotional event. “Hey you, look, there’s a new movie coming out with Captain What’s-His-Face, come get a freebie and tell ERRRBODY about it!!” “Oh look, a free video game demo! Make sure you brag to all your friends that you got to play it first and buy the real thing later.” I’m not saying this is a bad thing by any means, but it’s unfair to compare Comicpalooza to something as rich with star power as SDCC.
Comicpalooza is about reinforcing a geek love or introducing a new interest. I’d never painted a figure before, but I had so much fun at the figurine painting table that I missed the first 20 minutes of John Barrowman’s panel. I’ve never seen the movie Gravity but I was absolutely fascinated by the Gravity panel where an astronaut and a NASA space debris scientist picked apart scenes of the movie and explained what REALLY would have happened in space. There were dalek races and they had booths showing off 3D printing workshops and robot building classes. Apparently one of our public libraries has a 3D printer that you can use FOR FREE. There’s a genuine kind of fun that you just don’t get at the big-name geek-cons, and Comicpalooza is absolutely brimming with it. I’m so incredibly proud to have a flourishing geek convention right here in my own backyard, and it can only get better from here on out.
