Emerald City Comic Con 2022 Recap

Hey, this is Josh Keaton and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Unleash the Geek

in You! Hello and welcome to Geekcast Radio!

This is episode 301. I'm of course TFJoneMike.

And this time around it is a Emerald City Comic

Con 2022 recap. I of course have Christopher

Morton with me here. Hello sir, how are you?

Huzzah, big guy! Oh boy, you sound older than

I do. Oh wait, you are older than I am. Yikes.

He's just had a birthday. Oh, that's true. That's

right. Happy bladed birthday. Super old. All

them gray hairs really do show, don't they? Oh

boy. And joining us for the first time in this

ECCCCCCCCCCC recap stuff is Matthew Crowder.

Hello, sir. Hello. I misspelled your name when

looking for you on Skype. I was thinking of the

other Crowder. No, this is more like sauerkraut

than yeah, I'm really fat and I crowd people

I'm really fat. I mean I do both but like like,

you know, yeah sad panda Womp womp. No that no.

No, don't you dare? Oh, yeah Matt's kind of anthropomorphic

persona is a panda. I fall over a lot and I like

to eat. That's all of us. I mean I could be a

giant robot that only weighs 2 ,000 tons. It

was either that or a manatee. I went with that

because it's Portland and who doesn't like a

big gay bear? Oh boy. All right, I have some

editing to do here. I'm just letting you know.

No, no, that's all. Oh, no, that's a keeper.

Yeah, that's a keeper. He wants to say that about

himself, and if that is his identity, I am not

cutting that out. I mean, you know. What will

my family think? Do they know? Oh, they probably

suspect. I might need to cut that out, but...

Oh, God. Well, as you can tell, folks, the explicit

tag that I've had on this podcast since its inception

in 2009 does just mean, you know, shit, fuck,

damn, whatever. It's also in you and do's and

don'ts because there is plenty of in you and

don'ts in the Pacific Northwest. Oh, yes. It's

a good thing we're not sponsored by Emerald City

Comic -Con because they would have really loved

the last X number of minutes of this show that

we had But last year We did actually did it in

person Yes, yes Chris said at the time I was

living in Vancouver, Washington Chris came over

and We did a in person. No, we didn't do it in

person. What's how am I thinking? We didn't do

it in person. It's always been room we were going

to talk about it in person yeah and then we were

just like yeah then we were just like yeah screw

it i mean granted you know last year the gas

prices weren't where they are now but i don't

know anyway emerald city comic con seattle washington

2022 did you both did i assume you both attended

all four days three Okay, we didn't we both work

Thursday those are busy days for us and the only

thing that happens on Thursdays are people that

go and buy exclusives They don't actually buy

anything of like art or anything like that. So

we didn't bother rushing up there So Friday to

Sunday, oh Boy, so what did you so we want to

approach us What were your all's plans for each

day? So Friday, what were the plans? For me,

Friday was to get stuff off my plate. Things

that I wanted to do, like I wanted to go get

some books signed by Chris Claremont and sent

off to CGC to get graded. Sometimes lines like

when we went to summer con it took me four hours

to get signed stuff by Kevin Eastman so I wanted

to do this on Friday and not Saturday just in

case the lines were really crazy and The lines

actually were managed very well. They didn't

stick out and block traffic or anything like

that He was very lovely to get like maybe five

minutes to talk to him And then you know shuffle

on He had a money manager at his booth He wasn't

fumbling around with stuff. He was interacting

and signing. That's what he was doing. Then you

shuffle over to his manager and hand him money.

Do all that. Then walk around. Less people are

there on Fridays, so try to get the lay of the

land. See what the hot item is and see if you

can pick one up or not. What was the hot item

that you wanted this year? For me, it was the

signings but t -shirts for people our size They

go pretty quick if they have them at all Go figure.

There's a lot of three X, four X, five X con

goers. I would not have ever thought that, you

know, but, uh, you kind of got to jump on, on

the t -shirts before all they have is extra small

or a medium. And, uh, yeah. So I got some t -shirts.

I think Chris got some t -shirts too. Yep. I

sure did. And then we, we did splurge on, uh,

we checked out. There's a lot of every con is

being bigger with dice. Dice has been a big thing

in Khan for the last several years. So they actually

took the bridge that to the main buildings that

the Khan is in, had big dice in there. The sky

bridge. And we went through some of the dice

there and we found this style of dice that's

hollow and metal. So when you have two dice in

your hand, they kind of have this ringing noise.

Really cool. Kind of like shung ching balls.

Yeah. So we ended up buying several of those

because they were just amazing. We wanted to

set for our D &D campaign. And of course, I made

great Christmas gifts at the point. The one thing

about this con in 2020 was really good is it

was the first of December. And it worked so well

because that became a gift buying con. And it

just people bought a lot of things for Christmas.

With this one falling down in August, one is

so much hotter. I really like December when it's

raining and cold and everybody wants to stay

indoors and it's nice. This hot con is terrible.

Next year they're going to push it back to the

original, which is March, mid -March. So that's

their tentative goal. And the idea of the layout

for these cons, now this is the last year this

con is in this section of the Washington Convention

Center. It's technically in four different buildings

around that area. Washington State, the shared

well, no because the Signings are in another

part of the building So they have another section

signing. So that's in the shared or no, there

was to share to the West Eastman Hotel, which

is just outside the Sheridan Hotel has four floors

the Washington Con main building has four and

they had one other building that's across the

street mad four floors And then miscellaneous

rooms over so the downside of this con is it's

really spread out over multiple blocks Get your

stairs in that's for sure Now next year right

next door all this is the new Convention Center

is six stories with a rooftop Park on it and

it's a lot of convention space and the plan is

to have this really launched the new Convention

Center off uh just like two blocks away so we're

going to see how that plays out that's kind of

reason why we are going to return to this so

we're going to have a lot more into why we would

not consider coming back to where it originally

is but you always make money at ecc but sometimes

you don't make as much as you want Yeah, that's

depending on booth space and what floor you're

on and if they're playing house music from the

pops Vending booths and driving everyone insane

Now pops which I know Mike you're you're you're

a big fan of the Funko pops. Oh, I should just

I need to hang up right now They were not there

they pulled out about three weeks before the

con I think it's less than that. Yeah, less than

maybe a couple of weeks. Yeah, they pulled their

booth out of there because they had a FunkoCon

they decided to put all their resources into

on Saturday only, which ended up being just a

cluster of lines and frustration. So FunkoCon

last time, obviously I didn't go to it, whatever,

but The funcon event last time had so many exclusives

and funcon 2 I think had eight total exclusives

now. Yeah One of the reasons why i'm a funco

fan is because the pops specifically Remind me

of the mighty mugs from 10 x x 11 years ago.

What the hell that was So hasbro used to do they

still actually do them But they were these things

called mighty mugs and they were the arms could

move So not just the head, the head and the arms

could move and whatever else. So that's kind

of why I'm a fan of them, of the Pops specifically.

I am not a fan of what they are currently pushing

and producing between the NFTs and the sodas.

First of all, NFT, just get the... I want a physical

product. I don't want a digital picture that

my buddy Steve could just make me anyway. Like

I don't want to disrespect the artists that do

those digital arts, but Jesus I'm gonna disrespect

them You know so and the sodas this okay, so

years ago I Was in at the time in Louisville,

Kentucky in my in my local comic shop the great

escape and I saw something I had never seen before

I saw a duff can from the Simpsons that had just

a normal 52 card deck in it, but they were all,

it was a Simpsons themed deck. So think of buying

a Transformers Monopoly now, it's got Transformers

art all over it kind of thing. But it was one

of these kinds of cans. A Funko pop box, I can

see the figure inside. If I want to take it out

of the box, I can take it out of the box. If

I don't want to, I don't have to, but at least

I can still see it. These damn sodas, first of

all, they're even more deformed than the pops.

Second of all, you can't leave them in the can,

because you can't actually see the damn figure.

I don't want to turn this into a Funko Hate podcast.

I do, please. No, no. That can be done on Toycast.

You and I will have discussions later on that.

But OK, so Chris, what was your main goal for

Friday? Well, the one thing I have to point out

is the main reason Matt and I attend these times

is we work for a couple artists we've known for

a long time. Jimmy, or Vegas Genes we call him,

but Jimmy Stark, who does a lot of graphic arts,

visual for like DC characters, he does, his venoms

are amazing. But we usually help manage - Wanna

put a hat on something. Yeah, oh yeah, we kind

of messed them up last year. All the commissions

that he got, we kept having people do their house

pets, and he kind of hates us for that. And like

superhero formations. And we worked mostly with

him, and that's who we'll be working with in

Rose City Comic Con in the H1, H12 booth. The

other artist we get to deal with, um, we had

a phenomenal time. We knew him kind of by association.

We got to really get to know him for this con

was Eddie Nunes, who is the lead animator for

Human Revelation. Um, and, uh, he actually got

a little bit of time off from all the work Netflix

has been putting them through to actually make

it to the con and show a lot of his work. He

has a lot of great KD's Mutant Ninja Troll stuff.

All my awesome, beautiful pieces. that he has

drawn that is just incredible. And it was kind

of nice because on the tablecloth there you can

draw on them. And we were doing doodles between

the two of us along the tablecloth of our different

characters. I'll be doing my Morton Moose and

my other characters. And he was doing like Batman

and a few others. So it was a lot of fun doing

that. So that was my main goal is just assisting

both of them and making the con easy for them

and not overly stressful. So that was my whole

purpose. The secondary goal was I liked I like

to hit the panels. The panels for the past few

years have gotten a little bit weaker. Not the

one panel I really did love was from Amy Chu

and Janet Lee. Amy Chu you might know. She did

like she's a green hornet, red Sonya, poison

ivy, Deadpool. She's now the writer of the new

book three of the Dota Dragon Blood. She wrote

that whole season. Generally is done like sea

sirens and a few other comics that I followed

they did a whole panel of treating the character

character development and character creation

And it was really well done. They started very

basic the very level tier one stuff the place

was packed full of a lot of young artists and

writers and They were very inspired when though

I that's why I look back because I like to see

how they're encouraging the next generation of

our artists and writers They did a great panel

and there was one other panel that would did

that kind of Same scenario with a couple of other

writers and artists wasn't near as good as Amy

and Janet's uh, and i'd love to see more of that,

um even more panels specifically into the Drawing

of a character creation of a character versus

a writing of a character and character development

But they had a lot of panels there that were

more Yeah, there was a lot of meetups. There

was a lot feel safe in your skin Panels how to

cosplay who you want to be more, you know More

some of it was like more sexual based, you know

Being who you are kind of panels lbgdq. Yes And

as I'm not gonna, I'm not docking the movement

or nothing. I'm just doing these Comic Cons.

Sometimes that's just not what the Comic Con

I feel should be pointed at. This is about the

people who inspire, who is treated, who reads,

who supports art, stories, and history of areas

in that genre. And then the gaming community,

all that, that's fine. But... Some of these panels

just weren't in place and I was a little disappointed

seeing that kind of degradation of panels Throughout

the years and just got a little skimpier, but

I was glad I caught a couple of them this year

And I'm really happy I caught Amy's. I really

wish she'd be at Rose City, but she's not going

to be there because she's a Boston based gal

and she'll be hitting New York. So she won't

be at the next one. But those are some of my

main goals. I also get stickers for my cars.

Usually I'll try to pick up a few extra new decals

for my car to spiff up on. I picked up a Voltron

V. Oh, what else did I get? Oh, the zombie response

team sticker for my car. I know Matt picked up

one because he gets a new vehicle. He got a panda

and a little panda and something else. So those

are my main focus girls. I like doing that kind

of stuff and also know where we sat was in the

best area, but we were across the aisle from

Chris Claremont and Great little story. Here

we are Sunday morning. It's fairly quiet. People

haven't really rushed into the con yet because

Sunday is your big buy day. And so Matt's sitting

over with Eddie's booth. And so he gets up there,

grabs a Wonder Bar that's from Canada, walks

over to Chris Claremont, and we engage in conversation

by giving him a candy bar to eat. And we just

chatted it up there. It was really cool. I actually

have a few pictures on my Facebook about that.

I thought it was pretty neat. That's awesome.

It's it has been my gateway into the comic book

world I am friends with a lot of like professional

artists that have worked on like Deadpool and

and Red Hood and the outlaws and they're like

big names and how I became friends with them

is that I walked around the con with my backpack

filled with Red Bull and Jerky and like, uh,

granola bars. And I fed the artists because they

are stuck at their booth and they can't, they

can't ever leave. And so you feed them and they're

like, Oh my God, you are a lifesaver. And they

see you at another con and you feed them again.

And they're like, you know what? We should hang

out because you're awesome. Yeah, absolutely.

That's awesome. That's great. So I am looking

at the guest page on the Emerald City website,

and I will be talking about the Emerald City

website later on in this podcast. I am not a

fan of the Emerald City website. And there are

a lot of names here, a lot I recognize, a lot

I don't recognize, and that's all fine, good,

well, and great because you don't always have

to have, you know, your Tom Cruise's at conventions.

You can have, you know, up -and -comers and everything

else and all that but one thing I am noticed

scrolling through these photos because I'm not

actually clicking on any of the artists or any

of the guests pages I'm just on the main guest

page was this one of the first times that all

four animated voices of turtles was at the same

convent I'm like think so I'm like wait there's

Barry there's it was it was a big Deal that they

got all four of them. I know that. Oh, yeah I

mean, yeah like and because I'm going through

that I'm like, wait a minute. I see towns in

and I had scrolled past the art I'm like going

back there's Rob and I'm like, wow Absolutely

amazing obviously they've had they've got plenty

of other people here. Oh How can you not have

a comic convention without obviously Rob Paulson

there for turtles, but also He can double as

pinky because the brain was also there Maurice.

Yep. That was a huge panel on Sunday. It was

packed The the whole floor was cleared out like

we left early because there was nobody on the

floor because everybody in that con was in that

panel room Phil Lamar Let's see. Who else do

I see in here Rod Rice? Who's a great comic artist?

I love his stuff We should day was there Tom

welling was Rosenthal Rosenbaum wasn't there.

I know Erica the Lois Lois. Yeah, Erica Durant's.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep So there were a lot of good

amazing guests that you know, everybody would

would have known Obviously, you know Yeah, so

Some other ones as you point out like John Tim's

was there John King who did the last Ronan transformers

and Alex Sinclair who did Batman hush He had

a pretty long line for his I actually walked

by him and talked to him for a brief moment G

Willow Wilson. She doesn't get out very often

and she was there. Oh, yeah Now, with most comic

cons, when you have guest lists, you have your

A -listers and B -listers. Now, this is the first

comic con I've seen where there wasn't a lot

of big A -listers. Oh, God. There was like none.

None. And now our biggest... Or they canceled.

Or they canceled. Our biggest actors was like

Brendan Frasier showed up, Freddie Fritz Jr.,

Christopher, oh, shit, the Ninth Doctor. Well,

okay skin or whatever. Yeah, just didn't tend

to backed out. So they picked up another doctor

Cassandra Peterson who I grew up knowing as Elvira.

Yeah was there and I guess her panels really

fun Everybody talked very highly of her. She

was I I had to double like as I'm scrolling down

this this guest page I'm like I see the name

and the picture they chose to put of her on the

website. She's got red hair. I'm like, wait a

minute, is that? And then I'm like, yep, it says

Elvira. And I know obviously the Elvira thing

is just a persona and things like that. But normally

when people associate her name, if, and I'm saying

people in general here, folks, I'm not pointing

at anyone, but like most kids aren't going to

know who. The woman is that's behind Elvira.

They know the character of Elvira. If you're

doing parenting right. Okay, well, yes. But I'm

saying, in general, as a child of the 80s, I

did not know the person behind the man, you know,

the persona kind of thing. So, you know. It is

what it is. But yeah, no, I mean there it was

also announced like a week before ECC that she

was gonna be there like that was a surprise and

Annoyed a lot of people because she has a huge

cult following. Well, yeah, of course So if it

was only announced a week before the thing like

you should have enough like you want to sell

all the tickets You can especially at the prices

you see and we'll get into that later, too. Yes

boy look I don't want to sit here and put out

a negative podcast folks, but there are just

certain things about you see just That just like

I'm kind of glad I'm in the middle of nowhere,

Indiana right now anyway But you know you say

a Lister's and I just listed off all those people

who are a Lister's in my mind Well here you are

a comic book person true if these are comic cons.

Yeah, unfortunately, they are no longer comic

cons. They are culture cons. Yeah. And so they

want Hollywood in there. They want they want

Tom Cruise, they want all these big name actors

to show up. And for us, like we're like, Chris

Claremont, yeah, Jim Lee. Hell yeah. Oh, Easton.

Oh, please bring him back. Kevin Eastman. Like

we tried to get him to come to ECC because of

the four voice actors. Eddie Nunez is is good

friends with him. And we're like, we talked to

him at at SummerCon and told him about you and

everything like that. Like, please call him and

tell him to come so we can go like do dinner.

Like this would be awesome. The four turtle voices

and Kevin Eastman. That'd be epic. It didn't

it didn't happen. But like those are the type

of names that get me excited I could care less

that Brendan Frazier was there. Oh, yeah. No,

no, no, I Prince jr. No, thank you. Did you bring

your wife? No, don't care. Wait, which wife is

he on now? I don't even know Michelle Geller

Oh, oh, they're still married. I thought they

were okay. Well, anyway Yeah, I like I Mean for

me, you know, you know comic wise you're right

any of the comic names that are out there. Even

people like Phil Lamar. Phil Lamar is a self

-professed, and rightfully so, comic book fan.

Every interview you ever hear Phil Lamar on,

he will say he has been reading comics since

he was a kid. He's a fantastic Green Lantern

voice. Wow. Oh, absolutely. I'm really interested.

Even though it's not him, I'm really interested

to see what they do with Beware My Power. Yes,

the new animated film that's either out or coming

out. I don't remember It's coming out. Okay,

good But for me, I'm looking down here and I'm

just like, oh, okay. I Actually have one of his

books Olivia Remondelli Actually, I have a lot

of his books, but I actually have one of his

personal art books. He was selling Via socials

and whatever in his website and whatever else

his Journey through IDW's Transformers comics

and it's various covers and backgrounds and whatever

else and you know He he signed it and I have

it it's sitting over there on top of my turtle

van And yes, I do have a turtle van in my apartment

folks. No, it's not the real one sadly Because

that was that summer con I got some pictures.

I'll send them. There you go. So that's right

What did you guys, what were each of your goals

for Saturday? Chris, we'll start with you this

time. Saturday, since it becomes more of the

focus into ourselves on the booth, that was my

main focus. I caught one of the secondary panel

on Saturday, which was the other character creation

I wasn't super impressed with. And I saw another

voice acting one they had, you know, getting

into voice acting, which was pretty good. then

Jim Cummings had a he was there he had a Something

he was just there Saturday. I think I don't think

he was there any other days and he had a quick

panel about Introduction into art and into the

studio arts. He had a couple of the people up

there I don't get to see much of that con because

I had to get back to the booth because Supporting

our artists here so they can get away from the

booth once in a while So that's been with my

main focus is just maintaining the booths at

that time for Saturday What about you Matt pretty

much the same thing I do a little bit more gopher

in You know if the artists need me to go get

something like Hayes your Copic marker like dying

Do I need to go downstairs and find you a new

black or a gray? Uh, going like across the street

and getting food and drink so that we stay hydrated

because that is actually a huge pitfall for most

con goers. You don't realize that you're there

from 10 o 'clock, nine o 'clock in the morning

till seven o 'clock at night. And you've realized

that you haven't eaten or really drank anything.

Yeah. So I just want to keep everybody's blood

sugar up so that we don't start fighting behind

the booth, getting frustrated with not being

able to find prints because we start shuffling

things around. Um, so I also stay at the booth

and sell, but where Chris stays at the booth

and sells the entire time, I will leave and go

get things for four people. So, and this is obviously

probably a more pertinent question to the people

organizing this event. If and I don't know what

I assume and again you should never assume folks,

but I assume that These people that come to these

conventions, I'm talking about I'm not talking

about the the attendees I'm talking about the

guests and like they're not Paying to be there

right they are paid to be there Celebrities yes,

you have to pay them Base fee they have a number

in their head and they get paid that right then

the con makes money off of their signatures So

all those tickets that you buy to get Tom Welling's

signature, right? Those are to pay the con back

for the fee that they have already paid So if

they sell more tickets and they can make a profit

off of Tom Welling, right if they sell enough

tickets Okay because it seems Comic artists like

our writers like Chris Claremont Maybe Chris

Claremont gets paid to be there, but we don't

know he doesn't because he wasn't selling tickets

He at his booth was what if you wanted a CGC

signature you paid his agent $20 Because you

were getting them graded He was doing free signatures

on stuff if you weren't getting them graded So

I think it was just the the celebs that so My

point in asking that at all is because as a convention

person that runs the thing, you should be supplying

water to the people that are helping you put

on your convention. Like, I'm not saying that

it's... I'm not saying, Matt, oh my god, don't

ever do... No, it's great what you're doing.

I'm wondering why the convention itself... doesn't

do that for the panelists, for the guests, for

the booth people, you know what I mean? Because

it costs money. I understand that. And most of

these celebs, they have their own entourage,

or they have their own manager, and so that manager

should go get... Well, only a water or you know,

whatever. I'm just using Tom Welling. He I'm

sure he's a great person I'm not trying to make

about to be some you know person I'm just using

him as an example, but they come with entourages

and stuff like that to go do that Short story.

I did work. I volunteered one of my buddies put

on a con in Spokane. I volunteered to help with

that and That's basically what I did was run

around and hand out water bottles and stuff because

I talked to the artist. I was like, what do you

miss about cons, you know, 10 years ago? And

they were like, we used to be important. Like

we used to get at least a bagel and cream cheese.

Now we get nothing. We just show up, have a ball

and chain wrapped around our leg at the booth

and we sit there for like 12 hours. And so I

tried to alleviate that. by bringing them water,

bringing them food, trying to make them feel

like they were as important as Stan Lee and other

celebrities that we had. William Shatner. William

Shatner. And tried to make them feel just as

important. But big cons like that, they've lost

it. They don't care what the con was originally

supposed to be about, which was comics and creating

and art. Yeah, and I mean that's that's just

the way sadly that it is changed but just because

it is changed Doesn't mean you don't take care

of everyone that is a guest at your convention

or everyone That because what's the name of the

booth that you guys were helping out with Chris?

James Stark arts and then Eddie Nunez art I believe

is okay. Okay, so If they are you know, having

to pay for these tables at these cons, then something

in that contract or something in that purchase

should mean that the person or persons putting

on the convention should have people bringing

them at least water to hydrate them, because

the last thing anyone needs is anyone, you know,

Yeah. Being dehydrated and passing out in the

middle of a convention. 100 % agree. That's ridiculous

that that doesn't, like, no. Not, no, no. So,

alright. And then Sunday, what was going on Sunday?

Were you guys just cleaning up the booth and

packing it all in or were you guys doing other

stuff? Covering booths for hangovers. Oh boy.

Yeah. So our two resident artists, they're going

to love us telling the story. So Saturday night,

one of the few times that Matt and I decided

we wanted to check out the after hour stuff because

your cons technically in at seven, but there's

a lot of things going on. There's lots of parties

and continuing tournaments, gaming tournaments,

things like that that go on past till 12 o 'clock

at night. So we went over to the Sheridan. We

checked out the board game area. There was an

arcade up there So we're checking out some free

board games the arcade We checked out a few other

rooms that were doing some events there and of

course on that floor There was the one of the

big after -hour parties stranger danger Strangers

here We get up there. We're walking there. There's

a lot of people lots of people on cosplay. The

place is partially pretty full We noticed when

you walk in there there was a alcohol vendor

on the outside as soon as we get in there It's

just like stepping back into junior high. It's

a rave going on Music the lights people are all

crowded at this stage There's two alcohol vendors

in there selling alcohol But what's also in there

is a lot of underage cosplayers. I mean, a lot.

Now, ECC, I have to admit this was just screaming

of something happening. I mean, really, then

I did the whole Looney Tunes rotation door scenario.

We walked in, saw it, or we immediately walked

out the next door. We're just like looped out

like, nope, we're not touching this with a thousand

foot pole. Am NOT being photographed and put

on the evening news as to stranger danger attacks

at the local comic book convention Because we

mean Chris have way too big of beards to not

be front and center of that I've got candy get

in my van So with that and that was a little

shaky yeah, we were a little little shocked about

that not the finest moment now While we're doing

all this, exploring the other bits of con and

everything, R2, rather than an artist, we're

meeting up with some other artists to talk about

some opportunities out there or kind of swap

war stories. They did this at a bar. Now, understanding

R2 artists, one's married, doesn't really get

out as much. The other one is a little bit younger,

also doesn't get out as much. They proceeded

to get themselves hammered. And we're talking

so hammered that nothing gets discussed. Nothing

gets discussed. Fights nearly break out. They

almost get in some serious trouble and they don't

end their party until two in the morning. You

notice we're supposed to be back at the con at

9 a .m. Bright -eyed bushy tell that I show up

bright -eyed bushy tell One of our two artists

returns not doing too bad. He actually moderated

himself But he can bounce back from a hangover

Pretty good. The other one did not not nearly

He he stumbled in around what one? Mm -hmm Yeah,

he buddy I hope you had a great time. But man,

you're a little bit older. You can't do that

no more You just just can't but the after -hour

parties it's fun the although they have the judging

of the Cosplay, I didn't want to touch base the

cosplay in this one was still One thing about

comic cons that you're gonna love is just looking

at the cosplay people watching Yeah people watch

it. It's one of the reason I love working the

booth Working with I get to watch all the cosplayers

walk through the con Now the the r2 units weren't

really big in this one, which i'm really surprised.

I didn't see more usually It's the multi -level.

Yeah, which kind of ruins that because I love

the r2d2 The whole robotics division wave all

these r2 units running around. It's always fun

Not much in this one, but there was still a lot

of fandom. There was a lot of eddie from stranger

things That became a big cosplay? Just cancel

Halloween. Cancel it. It's going to be a bunch

of Eddie's walking around. This is the precursor.

We know what every costume is going to be coming

up to the door. Cancel it. So I'm not a Stranger

Things person. Just not. Not that I dislike it.

I don't, I'm ambivalent to it, I don't really

have any whatever, whatever. So, you know, I

know nothing of this other than what I've seen

of people showing off a Funko Pop of the character.

Do parents actually allow their children to watch

this show? Because I assume this show is mainly

for geeks. They probably shouldn't let their

kids. Okay. Good. It's fine. It's like a horror

So I mean if you let them watch horror films,

you're gonna let them watch stranger things.

It's not like there's like Gratuitous nudity

or really hardcore violence. I mean there's slime

and stuff like that And I guess blood spray but

it's not like hey that kid's arms just got ripped

off like a fly so you know it's not like my mother

in 1986 when she was like oh nightmare on elm

street whichever part it was yeah like oh okay

you're watching this never sleep again okay cool

between and i know this is when did's 94 between

86 and 94 Will never have long nails again number

one Freddy Krueger number two nuclear man in

Superman 4 nope ever again not that I wanted

to have long nails in the first place, but Slightly

rational fear of yeah, no, so Yeah, I've never

been in so I'm just like the reason why I asked

that is because our key our parents actually

going to allow their children to dress up as

a character from a show that they won't even

let them, at least hopefully, you know, they

won't even let them watch the show in the first

place. He's gotten the memes. That's what's really

pushing the whole Eddie character, the heavy

metal 80s thing. There was a meme about one guy

protesting us, dressing up as that means like,

it's not a costume, it's a lifestyle. Trying

to hold a joke about it. I just rolled my eyes

so hard it was audible across the street Yeah,

I saw your your mic light up. I I didn't hear

anything. So I assume that was the noise of your

eyes rolling Yes, yeah pretty much but there's

a lot of other cosplay you know, there's a Some

great pieces that were wonderful lots of anime

big anime Yeah, there was a lot more anime at

ecc this year than I can remember at any other

one It was it felt more like a an anime con cosplay

than uh, like nerddom Yeah, a lot of mummy mummy

came back only because brendan fraser been there.

That's a lot of good mummy cosplay So and I saw

some other pieces now There's a couple that I

like watching come real the really odd fandom

like for me I love has been hotel and hell of

a boss and What this pop is created and there's

fandom out there at these cosplay the comic cons

for cosplaying for those characters Which I always

love seeing so that was kind of cool catching

those when I can walk by my table Very cool.

Very cool One of the drawbacks of ECC is that

it's on multiple levels. Most of the cosplayers

stay on level four where all the booths are.

Artist Alley is up on the sixth floor. Oh no!

So if you have a difficult costume to maneuver

in... um like the multi -part costumes or you

have like a huge ball gown and you're doing beauty

and the beast and your ball gown is just too

big to go up the escalator we don't get to see

those and that's really disappointing um That

we get to us to partake in at Rose City because

it's a one -floor con So every like we get to

see the droids roll by we get to see these ridiculously

huge awesome costumes that obviously took a really

long time to put together and You just don't

get that at ECC unless you go to the floor that

everybody's kind of hanging out on yeah, and

that's the thing like conventions if you have

a convention center or you have a this or that

or whatever. It needs to, like, it can be as

spread out as it wants to be, but it needs to

be... I don't know how old you are on that, but...

Sexability is very important. I'm 39. Oh, okay,

good. Then you should be old enough to get this

reference. Basically, instead of building wayside

school all the way into the sky with 30 floors

up... Yeah. Like it wasn't supposed to be. It

should be 30 classrooms all on one floor. Same

thing with conventions. It should be. It can

be as spread out as it wants to be. It can be

as big as a convention. It could be Samsung City

or Apple Park or whatever as long as it's on

one floor. Or you have really cool transitions

like Apple does in their videos. Anyway. All

right, where do we want to go next guys? Well,

you want to start pushing the wrap up the one

thing you want to touch bases is the horrible

website That most comic cons. I'm not just saying

ECC but most comic cons suffer from from late

updates I know they tried to do a lot of media

push on Facebook Honestly, the true solution

is getting a figurehead Getting a person to be

the representative of that con to be seen Hey,

here's a daily update of what we're doing and

making sure these little things are kept up on

and there's good Houston we have a problem Canceled

what what happened? I didn't know yeah, so the

Emerald City comic -con website You go to it

emeraldcitycomiccon .com all one word and it

brings you into the main page and it shows you

some I don't know if it's a I don't know what

the name of the halls are over there, but I'm

just gonna say a hall H type type looking venue

and it says eccc 2023 tickets on sale now There

is nothing on this main page of the website showing

you where to go to see anything based on the

current year's event that just happened August

18th to the 21st of 2022. And what I told Chris

off air before we started this was this buy tickets

thing should be one thing, one scroll down and

the recap for the current convention that just

ended should be the first thing you see. Yes.

Now in comparison, and I know How long is ECCC

been around? More than 20 years? Yeah. Then they

should know better, okay? And I know technically

they're not a part of Comic -Con International

like San Diego, okay? But... You go to Comic

-Con's website and... There is all like, you

know, contact, forums, career, you know, there's

all like I can click on sending Comic -Con's

badge and I can look at various things from the

current year convention that happened this year.

Like, why doesn't Emerald City do that? Like,

why don't they on their main page? Like, I mean,

come on, everything is about March 2 to the 5th

of next year. It's not, they're in massive, they

need to, you're right. The links need to be changed

because all the guest lists on there right now

is all this year. It was all 2022. But yet they're,

they're indicating up top that it's the 23 by

tickets. And they need to see, there's no guest

list yet. They haven't started on 2023 yet. It's

still in one slate. Yeah. And yeah. And it's

not even like, like did the website Was it different

than what I'm currently seeing before the convention

before the garbage? It's not garbage. It's still

clickable. And this is not the ECC's problem.

This is go right back to it. Repop. Repop owns

ECC. Repop for now. They also own New York Comic

Con. C2E2. The worst of Comic Cons we found this

year was C2E2 in Chicago. By the way, yeah MCM

Comic Con They deal not one which that's the

one that's in the controversy right now, right

Matt? Yeah, I just got a post from one of my

friends that said CBCS lost all the comic books

That they took from from that con They have been

misplaced great The signed comics that are supposed

to be getting graded people's, you know retirement

funds or wannabe retirement funds are missing

Well, that's not good, but it's okay. They're

looking into it Of course they are a massive

investigation, you know Mar -a -Lago style Sorry,

sorry. Sorry. Don't want to don't want to go

that route. Don't don't bite into the orange

folks. Just Well, so repop also runs all the

pack events pack Australia pack East pack unplug

pack West so they have a big And they also do

row city, right? Yes. Yeah, so they are big Chunk

of the comic cons up here in the northwest except

for summer con which is in Washington State Tacoma

Which by the way second year con was phenomenal

It's not a second year con that was our second

year there I heard that they had other ones precursor

that it was probably kind of like how Rose was

where it was in a double tree in and Like we

just didn't hear about it until two years ago.

It was the second one at the fairgrounds. Yes

Yeah, so but very good. It's an upcoming con

very good But this does come back to read pop

repop is the company that should be organizing

these events In much greater detail. I think

one of the again one of the biggest failures

is the fact they don't have a figurehead to help

lead someone charismatic to lead the interest

in these cons and it's just such a small little

task to do to put someone in that role to help

lead You know, this is what we're doing for this

con. This is what I'm representing. I'm doing

this con here. You know, come to here, see these

people. This is who we're trying to get. This

is who we got. Unfortunately, this person we

don't have anymore. But, you know, we're going

to pull like we lost David Tennant, but we're

going to pull the other doctrine. We get more

information off of their Facebook page than their

own website that they make. Yeah. Oh, no. Which

is ridiculous. Oh, geez. So webmasters fail or

we're hitting almost all the comic cons of that

fail on that part Really? You've got you have

the avenue facebook is just a tool. Don't make

it your key information guide Yeah, it's a tool.

That's all it needs to be used for keep the main

guide You need to have live updates have someone

come on there do weekly shows if you want 10

minutes shows live, too. Yeah They need more

of that to help keep the interest going. This

is a big thing. I know at this pre -COVID scenario,

there's still a lot of changes, a lot of feelings

on, you know, should they actually have news

articles saying, why should we have Comic Cons

anymore? They're just blah, blah, blah. Guys,

COVID's nothing to us. COVID is a joke because

we've been dealing with confund for so long.

We know how to get around it. Yeah. You bring

a bucket of hand sanitizer and just bathe in

it. That should be the next thing at the Emerald

City Comic -Con 2023. Just have a - Dunk -foof?

Yeah, a dunk -foof. Just filled with hand sanitizer

instead of water? Or any kind of soap. It doesn't

matter as long as it, you know, is 99%, you know,

whatever, you know. You know, it's like 99 %

kills antibacterial and germs. Like, you know,

whatever it says on those things. So, I have

never really been a congoer. Number one, the

reason why is because I don't do well in crowded

places before 2019 and even now. My whole life,

I'm just... I need space. I can't deal with...

I just can't deal with crowds. And then obviously,

you know, with me being disabled and having cerebral

palsy and brain damage and all that, I rely on

supplemental security income to, you know, whatever.

But like, so I've never actually had the money

to go to a con. A few times my mom was like,

oh, we should go or all this or whenever. The

last convention I remember actively, okay, technically

not the last. I was BotCon 2016 adjacent because

I went to the Stan Bush and Vince DiCola show

at BotCon 2016, but that wasn't anywhere near

the convention center. It was down at 4th Street

Live in Louisville. So technically it wasn't

anywhere near Quilkas. 4th Street Live is the

entertainment district for Louisville for music

and for this and for that and for everything

else. So, but before that, I think the last convention

I had been at was... the Boston Budweiser Expo

in 1986 when I got a picture with David Asselhoff

when I was six years old. Ooh girl. You mean

boy. But yeah. But seriously, it's just one of

those things where I sat here, was it 2011 or

2012? Probably San Diego 2012. I sat here on

Skype with Radio Free Cybertron, a Transformers

podcast that's been around before podcasting

in 1999. And we were gonna do a six hour live

stream, audio live stream of just reacting to

everything that was announced in 2012 at San

Diego Comic Con. I was the only person out of

I think the four or five of us that sat there

for all six hours because I can sit here for

hours on end talking to people. Through my microphone

on a podcast over my computer versus doing anything

with anybody in person Well, I mean you have

lasted an hour so far and haven't hung up on

me and Chris so my hats off to you Well, you

know you and I haven't had a private discussion

on Funko yet. So that's A different show on a

different day, you know, so for me it's Again,

I feel like I'm Casey Jones. He's claustrophobic.

I'm what? What'd you say? Claustrophobic. So

it's that, and it's cost for me. So speaking

of cost. You might have actually enjoyed this

one. I know you're a Transformers guy. Do you

follow the comic books? Yeah. There was several

comic book artists there that did Transformers

That you probably would have been yeah, I live

your remandelle earlier. Yeah Yeah, I know we

have over on the pull bag which has been oh god

that shows almost ten years old will be ten years

old next March We have covered of the phase two

books of IDW, which basically starts with the

death of Optimus Prime, goes into more than meets

the eye and robots in disguise, which then turned

into Lost Light and Optimus Prime. We have covered

all of phase two. So in the last 10 years, we

have covered, I want to say a good 40 to 50 %

of IDW's Transformers stuff. Okay. So yeah, no,

absolutely. So yeah, these, these Prices, man.

I guess it's not bad. So the four -day ticket

is $130. That's not bad if you're just one person.

But if you're a whole family or if you're at

least husband and wife or best friends or whatever,

I mean, obviously, each person is going to pay

for their own price of their own ticket. But

let's just say, for example, let's say this is

a convention where it's a family thing. you know,

you could take the kids to go see SpongeBob or

something. Family of four at $130 each. That's,

for four days it's not bad, but for four people

is a little crazy. The day tickets aren't so

bad. Thursday is $30, Friday is $50, Saturday

is $60, and Sunday is $50. So that's not that

bad if it like for me if there's like it Well,

let's just say and in some weird world and I'm

not saying who no one knows because they haven't

announced who's gonna be at 2023 yet, but let's

just say I Don't know this will never happen.

But let's just say all four turtles are gonna

be there on the Saturday and Somebody else I

may want to see less is gonna be there on a Sunday.

I'll buy the Saturday ticket and that's fine

for me but for other people like you guys or

like anyone else that may want to go to more

than just one day, I think a four -day ticket

at $130 for one person isn't bad. No, before

me helping out artists and stuff like that, I

paid those prices. I mean it's no different for

people in California to go to like Disneyland

and stuff and just walk around like if you don't

do the rides and stuff I mean there's it's it's

entertaining especially if you do all the things

like the after parties and and all that stuff

Your ticket gets you into all those events And

even though it's again if it's you know, cuz

we're all geeks and whatever else but if we wanted

the Wish there was a four -day celebrity VIP

ticket, but that's that is what it is because

that would be a whole lot of money But the celebrity

VIP ticket is the most expensive at three hundred

and fifteen dollars It's a fast pass. Yeah Yeah

for for like people like like yourself that don't

do crowds and don't like people claustrophobia

That's I mean you're gonna pay for it. But yeah,

yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know Not saying

not to again, you know Everybody whether they're

putting on the con or whether they attending

the con for us that go to the things that buy

the tickets Pay the money, you know and some

of those Like C2e2 just had a really bad experience.

I'm sure you've seen the headlines with the quadruple

staples but Those guys were using their VIP fast

passes to get to the front of those lines to

buy a hundred issues of that cop of that book

So they're ridiculous. They are paying for their

VIP by being able to cut in front of everybody

That's waiting in line to get those exclusives

turn around and sell those on eBay to pay for

their VIP ticket That's disgusting Yep, one of

my really good friends has paid for their con

tickets by winning the raffle ticket for the

Funko pop booth when it was at ECC and they would

go to that Funko pop booth buy a couple of limited

edition Funko pops for box price and turn around

and sell them on eBay and that covered their

ticket and then they were able to enjoy the rest

of the con and you know all they had to do was

wait in line for maybe an hour to get to Funko's.

I mean, you know, that kind of thing happens

all the time. It isn't like that's been going

on longer than Funko has been doing. Oh, for

sure. Exclusives in general. Yeah, but I mean,

there's a huge difference. So my buddy Michael

Wilson, Pecan Court Michael on Twitter, Pecan,

CT Michael, all in one all one word. He used

to when he would go to BotCon and he would go

with his wife and his children. Or when he would

just go with his wife before they had kids He

obviously would get the Primus package and she

would get the Primus package, which means They

could essentially pay for their trip By selling

one of the full -on Packages all all the exclusives

whatever but he did that after he got home Front

like say but he lives in Illinois some or no,

he lives, you know, he's in northwest, Indiana.

Anyway, let's just say you know he's he's in

northwest indiana let's just say bot cons in

la or vegas or i don't think it's ever been in

vegas but let's just say it's somewhere that

he has to fly somewhere they have to fly somewhere

you know one of those bot con full exclusive

packages can net you like you know people are

talking about the has lab unicorn now where it

was Six hundred bucks to fund the thing to get

it for just one person whereas now the aftermarket

on that thing Fifteen hundred two thousand dollars

plus. Yeah, we're just one. I mean obviously

that's one giant toy, but my point in saying

this is He would wait to recoup his costs after

he got home like you know what I mean, it wouldn't

be yeah, like you're saying with You know buying

up all of these things it's like somebody running

into target getting several different ones of

the same target exclusive funko pop and Going

home and selling them online to meet like no

don't do that Scalping is bad folks What you're

talking about you know, dealing with crowds,

touch base here a little bit. We know one of

the biggest cons in the United States is Comic

-Con. Back in 2015 was one of the peak years,

near 170 ,000 people. Last year, this past year,

or this in 2020, it was just over 135 ,000 for

attendance. Now, Emerald City comes up there

near as the second. So in 2019, there were about

98 ,000 when I researched it. There were near

100 ,000 break. Of course, in 2020, they were

canceled. And they came back in 2021 with a limited

release, which was like 48 ,000 tickets. So the

ballpark 50 ,000 people there. This year, they're

expected the attendance was only around 70 ,000.

It's still a big shy away from the pre -pandemic

levels. But for some reason, it just seems so

much busier last year than it did this year.

Either it was spread out more or they stayed

on their floors that we didn't see them on the

sixth floor. And then again, that's, you know,

ticket sales and estimate. There is no actual

number saying this number of people walked into

the con. Yeah, they don't scan tickets or anything

like that Now do you think now? Emerald City

has always been spread out over six floors Well,

no every year he grew it was on the main building

the Washington State con and then it's was a

Washington con building the TCC building which

is the another con building next to it and then

it was 20 415 the Sheridan and Hostel started

picking up like the magic tournaments on the

lower levels. By 2018 they were in those three

buildings and there was another hotel outside

that did a lot of the registration input. So

you went to one building to get your tickets

or pre -check and then you went to the con. Okay

because I'm thinking like I've already said having

it on six floors might have Well, it would be

hell for you because it's also you can't just

get on one Elevator on the first floor and go

to whatever floor you want You have to go in

this elevator go up to the third floor Then you

have to go over to the other side of that building

to get in the next elevator to go up two floors

It's a man. Yeah, it's and that's And that's

my point in saying this is maybe they need to

think of changing up. And you said something

about changing the venue, Chris. They are. So

they're building a new one. It's a new one. It's

going to be done by March. It's one bit. Well,

it's two buildings. It's really nice because

the road goes underneath it. The second building

is actually a parking garage built in the convention,

which this one clearly doesn't have. which is

really nice. You're expanding the parking for

it. And they actually have trucks in our ramps

to go up to the second and third level to the

main show floors where they can bring in heavy

equipment and easily unloaded into the floor.

So there's a lot of potential in this. I think

it's six stories building. The first floor is

really just retail shops. It's mainly what's

designed for. So there's a lot. There's a lot

of permanent restaurants. That was the other

thing this year, the subway, there was a subway

on the outside of ECC and one on the inside this

year. They were close, which was really weird.

That's usually a big moneymaker, but both of

them were close. That's ridiculous. So new building.

We'll see how the new layout goes. We're definitely

interested in going back to check it out. But

right now like our focus here in a couple of

weeks is gonna be roast any comic -con and then

that will work Matt and I will end our comic

-con run for the year Our artists will continue.

They're gonna be hitting Las Vegas summer con

which Amazing Las Vegas. I believe it's called

and then he's gonna try to do New York Last year

in New York. I don't know if you saw any of the

videos or any of the stories. It was a ghost

town A lot of people didn't show up. A lot of

artists didn't show up. So even though all their

artist alleys are completely sold out, he's going

to show up and hopefully be able to snag a table

because people randomly don't show up for cons,

even though they've paid for tables. Yeah. And

I mean, you know, I said this last year, I'll

say it this year. I mean, we're still in the

age of COVID. It hasn't gone away completely.

And it's just one of those things where, I don't

know, even with my claustrophobia and my other

physical disabilities, I just don't know if I

would want to be going to a convention. It could

be a hole in the wall on the beach. You know

what I mean? It doesn't matter. I just don't

think I would want to do that. Just me personally,

and this is whatever. I don't know. I mean, I'm

glad that people are enjoying it. I'm glad that,

you know, you guys are going, you guys are helping

out with the people that you're helping out with

and everything else. On a scale of zero to five,

what would you rate this year's ECECC? Two? Yeah.

I'd have to say the coordination from the staff

on our booth positions on how things were at

and just the overall enthusiasm 2 2 2 and a half

going to 3 but definitely not one of our better

cons This is probably one of the worst DCCs that

I've ever been a part of. Oh damn that sucks.

Yeah So good no good just It really seemed like

the guest list was invited by someone of like

the early 90s of a certain gender and single.

Oh, boy. Yeah. Oh, boy. All right. Well, yeah.

Before I let you guys go, before we close this

out, tell us all about Rose City that's coming

up. When is it and where is it? All that stuff.

Rose City will be coming up September 9th through

the 11th in the Oregon Convention Center in downtown

Portland. You're going to be seeing a lot of

good people coming through this year for Rose

City. Anthony Rapp from Discovery. Billy D. Williams

is showing. We're all excited about that. Frodo,

Elijah Wood is showing up. The, oh, let's see.

Trying to think of the top of my head. LeVar

Burton. Which this is one of the things in the

last couple years. We have not seen a lot of

Star Trek folks Show up these cons Like will

we and all that used to be big mean for all the

comic cons that has scaled back a little bit

So this is nice seeing LeVar Burton actually

make the attempt to come back out here and and

mix in with the people Rainn Wilson from the

office is pretty popular Sean Austin for his

little best friend Am a little I kind of wish

I'm asking if it ever got to him that Jamie Farr

and Loretta Swift from mash They've been hitting

all the East Coast comic -con East Coast comic

-cons Come out to the West Coast, please because

mash is my favorite show and I'd love to see

you at one of these As far as comic book guests

go the biggest name that I am excited for is

Bendis Brian Michael Bendis will be there. He

is actually doing a panel. I am not a writer

at all. I am dyslexic. I hate writing. I hate

English in general. It's been one of the most

fascinating panels that I could care less about,

but was super involved in. I listened to every

word that he spoke. So if you do go to Rose City,

I highly, highly, highly recommend going to Bendis'

panel. on whatever topic he wants to fucking

talk about. Very cool, very cool. All right.

Anything else either one of you want to say before

I run through the closing? No, that's it. We're

hoping if you can support the Comic Con, support

your local comic artist. It's very important

that you help them create the work that we can

enjoy many, many years from now. Don't buy Funko.

Oh. You said your piece we will talk later That's

gonna do it for us here on geek cast radio coming

up next I believe Later on in September my buddy

Terry Smith from music talks podcast is gonna

drop back by and we're going to be talking about

Blackstone Cherries live from the Royal Albert

Hall y 'all concert that they put on so they

released that on DVD digital all that all that

stuff so concert DVD so we're going to talk about

that next time here on Geocast Radio after that

I have no clue what the heck's going on with

this show it's usually reserved for our big stuff

like I said in episode 300 last time Matt where

can people find you online if they so choose

to do so sir Oh to send me the the hate mail

from Funko. Oh Just Facebook I don't really have

much of an online present currently so I just

I pretty much just do Facebook Okay, what about

you Chris? Of course, you'll always find me as

indeed podcast calm You see a show from their

past shows that we've done or email indeed podcast

at gmail .com Alright, I'm of course at TF2andMike

on Twitter. You can follow at GeekCastRadio on

Twitter for all the other network updates. I

am on Facebook. My link tree is most likely going

to be in the episode post because I just signed

up. I'm like, ooh, I can have all my links in

one place. I don't have to worry about any, like

I don't have to make sure this link's there.

Make sure that... Anyway, so unleash the geek

in you and we will catch you next time here on

GeekCastRadio. Yay!