Rose City Comic Con 2022 Recap

Hey, Tara Strong here and you're listening to

the Geekcast Radio Network. You're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Unleash the Geek

in You. Also joining us as usual is his compatriot

in convention going, that super fan of FunCo,

it's Matt Crowder. Hello. Hello. Ouch. Let's

just add he's a Justin Bieber fan as well. I

mean, if you're gonna go that route. I hate you

all. I mean, you know. Canada does put out good

things and now Nickelback. We're finally getting

a new album after five years. So yay Nickelback

Don't hate just because they sell out They don't

sell out they buy in don't you know? Hey, I buy

their CDs. They're pleasant to listen to uh -huh.

I'm no music expert, but I find it pleasing.

Yes, we can have a whole podcast about San Quentin

later. I haven't even heard it yet. What? Oh,

wow. OK. Like I said, I'm no music aficionado.

And I've been busy doing con things. Yes, yes.

You've been busy doing con things. So Rose City

Comic Con 2022. You both attended It was from

September 9th to the 11th, is that right? Yep.

Wow, I can't remember. I just pulled that out

of my ass people. I only looked at the date like

once And yeah, once again, I like their website

a lot better than ECCC but that main page like

You just finished your con for this year. And

I know advertisements for next year are the thing.

But come on. However, at least their website.

I'm getting this out of the way now, so I don't

complain about it later. At least their website

is much better in order to figure out what is

where and whatever else. So we've got several

different. We've got about five different things

I'm going to ask these guys. And starting off,

let's start with Matt this time. What is your

history with Rose City Comic Con? Day one. This

year was the 10th anniversary of Rose City Comic

Con and it was held in the basement of the DoubleTree

Inn over by Lloyd Center and I went to it and

have been going ever since. Why wasn't it just

held in Lloyd Center? Is that too expensive?

Oh, that was probably way too expensive. And

way too open to get stabbed. Really? It's that

kind of convention. Yikes. Yeah. Yeah. Boy. That

first one was great, though. Like they sold out

and the fire marshal was there for three days

doing head counts because it was so popular.

It was disgusting inside because there was no

ventilation and way too many people. And there

was like Sweat dripping down the walls. It was

so gross, but it was a fun con So yeah history

on us. So it was September 8th and 9th. It was

a two -day con in 2012 The square footage they

had for that was 17 ,000 feet. That's it with

attendance Estimated at 4100 people Wow Yikes

It was literally in the basement of somebody's

mom's house practically I mean Double tree in

So it was tiny now Would you jump up to the next

one which was September 20th and 21st in 2013?

It was that was the first time they realized

it was so popular They moved it to the Oregon

Convention Center, but they only used if I remember

half. Yes the force base Yes, but it went from

a 17 ,000 square feet to a hundred and twenty

thousand square feet the attendance jumped up

to eighteen thousand So a little hit on the first

one they didn't have too many big name stars

for the first one But this one actually picked

up every Brooks Billy West showed up Don DiMaggio

Alex Cruz He actually picked up some names and

Immediately a second year. They got steam they

got going by third year now the square footage

didn't change They kept the half auditorium about

a hundred twenty thousand attendance soared over

to twenty six thousand But this is where will

Wheaton showed up And you got a lot of other

name people Was a Barry Gordon I'm telling you

some these other ones Oh, Derek Wang Jeremy Shada

But will wait was the big draw that was your

your push and he actually ends up doing the con

for multiple years after that But the intended

just from there just steadily went up there They

they went into the three quarter con actually

the whole floor the following year at two hundred

and ten thousand square feet soared about thirty

five thousand people then the 240 ,000 now the

240 is literally the whole con floor plus the

side rooms and the main halls up top. And that

was in the 2016 at 42 ,000. And then out of nowhere,

we jumped up to 64 ,000 people in the 2017, 2018,

2019. And 2019 capped at about 75 ,000 people.

Holy crap. And there wasn't one until this year

or last year. It crashes. Yeah, um and the following

year they capped out of 45 000 is what they sold

the tickets out Probably close to this what this

year's con is going to be it's about 45 000 people

really not much Less than what emerald city was

at a capped even though in the service much more

spread out. Yeah, um And mostly had a lot of

returning people versus road city didn't have

a lot of three -day passes They actually focused

more on day passes. So that's what they sold

a lot of Very cool. Very cool. All right. So

did you guys go to all the days? Always. Okay.

Well, now we just don't go to the con for the

last several, half these cons, we've worked the

con. So we're in a booth working and actually

doing stuff. So whose booth were you at this

time? James, our artist from Vegas that we did

ECC with, he really likes the Northwest, so whenever

there's any kind of con, no matter how small,

he will find the excuse to use it to, oh, it's

a business trip, and he'll come out and visit.

That's always nice. All right, so Friday, Saturday,

who are the big draws? Because we've got a whole

ton of guests that showed up this year. Um, really,

uh, if you're looking at lines, the only person

that really had an enormous line was the, the

writer of, uh, Sonara Chronicles. Oh, Cherry

Brooks. Yeah. Pretty good line. His line was

huge, but if you looked over in the celebrity

area, it seemed very small for what it. Normally

is it's usually a madhouse in the celebrity area

of people walking around taking pictures Trying

to wait in line to get signatures and really

it was very manageable I'm reading good. Oh,

so there's about three celebrities that actually

had lines Billy Dee Williams had a pretty good

line Then Levar Burton had a pretty good line

and then of course Rainn Wilson from the office.

He probably had the biggest line I saw there.

More people were there to see him than most any

of the other people. I mean, we have Elijah Wood

there, but I haven't seen people lining up for

him as much or Anthony Rapp. It was the other

Star Trek person there. Wilson, something with

the crew as it was on Star Trek Discovery. Yeah,

right there explains why Sean Austin was there.

Yeah, moderate line. I mean, a lot of people

liked him, but The guy from Breaking Bad and

dot what is it moth Gideon from Mandalorian?

Oh, yes. Yes. Yes I'm trying to blank on his

name John Carlo Esposito. Yes. I just pulled

that out of my brain Yeah, actually a pretty

good. I'm told he had a panel that was really

funny And people liked him. He was at Emerald

City Comic Con as well, and he had a pretty good

panel up there Yeah, very cool. Very cool. I'm

really surprised some of these people like you

have Not I don't want to say half but you have

a good majority of Wheaton people you've got

Julie Benz who was Darla you've got Charisma

Carpenter who was Cordelia You know, I'm looking

at all these now, you know You got Brian Michael

Bendis one of the you know Great comic book writers

and that kind of stuff and I'm thinking these

lines are gonna be extremely long because these

people Are extremely famous, obviously. Rightfully

so. Mike and Laura Allred were there. Um, yeah,

like you said, Sean Astin, Sean Schemmel was

there. I'm really surprised that there wasn't

a big line for him. Okay. So the, the comic people,

like we decided not to get any signatures at

this con because CGC did not show up. Oh no.

The only grading company there was CBCS. And

right now, I don't know if you follow, they lost

like a truckload of comic books. Yes, I remember

you saying that in our ECC recap. Yeah. People

are not really... thrilled with them uh we decided

not to send our books off with them so uh we

didn't get any signatures this time around and

we'll just wait until cgc is at a con and we'll

send them off with them so that might have been

an issue for people waiting in line to get signatures

is that they also didn't trust cbcs um but uh

it also is kind of a price point at being so

close to ECC, people were not throwing money

around. Yeah, I mean we just did ECCC back in

August and now we have Rose City. I understand

having a convention a month, that's fine, but

spread it out. If you have, what was ECCC? It

was August. 18th to the 21st. I think was it.

Yeah Okay, so three weeks. Yeah The last year

Rose City was before in September with ECC was

in December that actually worked well Yeah, it

was far enough apart. Yeah ECC in December was

beautiful. It's second first week in December

Everyone was buying gifts for people. It was

just a really good and it was Hold up there and

I loved it. Yeah Yeah, and my point in saying

this is to go to your point Matt of that. They're

too clear this year They were too close to each

other and I know you guys are not gonna go to

what I'm gonna mention but August we had Emerald

City September we have Rose City October is New

York Comic Con Like that's three months and three

different conventions that are all so close together

like People can't go to all of them. I mean unless

you know, they're one percenters Well the week

before Road or Emerald City was DragonCon. No,

sorry DragonCon was between Road City and Emerald

City. Yep So DragonCon, you know blew off in

Atlanta, which I know a few people from BTW went

and it was pretty pretty crowded there And this

week is Amazing Las Vegas, which usually has

a pretty good pool of celebrities like Eastman

and those guys that live down there. Yeah. Well,

it's Vegas. And as long as there's a pool, you

know. Oh, man. Actually, James is there right

now since that's his hometown. He reported it

wasn't overly busy yesterday. I haven't heard

anything today yet from him. The whining hasn't

started yet. No. I'll think he's staying busy

making that money. Because remember, people who

make money get to eat. Yes. Winners get dinner.

Yep. So what was the atmosphere for this convention?

We know it was, but it wasn't crowded. It was

kind of spread out and whatever. Were there too

many things there or was there not enough I'll

let you go first Chris I've really loved Rose

City for one main reason it's basically one main

floor for all your needs from the artist alley

to the vendors To the different events. It's

one floor. You're not going different buildings

at different floors It's very accessible and

for anyone going the first time to a Comic Con,

Rose City is a very good con to start with. Being

a medium sized con, I'm actually kind of rolling

the smaller size now because the after COVID,

but still medium layout. There's a lot of convention

space for their panels and the panels are separated

in different sections and their main stage floor

has a lot of room. So when there's a big name

up there, there's plenty of room for seating

for the people who want to attend. Handicap accessible

it is very handicap accessible Which helps a

lot for getting around there a lot of places

to sit now I will gripe There's not enough coffee

places they have to and they really need to have

five and this building to make it work And they

closed down one of the main restaurants on the

main floor, which kind of hindered a lot to the

other restaurants around there on keeping their

service up to somewhat usable standards. So that

was a little bit of disappointment. There are

food vending being cut back or at least got some

food trucks out in the main area would have been

helpful. And that's a recommendation. I definitely

want to push them. There were some hangry people

on Saturday. So one of the booths that me and

Chris always go to, it's kind of our souvenir

booth, is Wild Bills Soda. And you buy a cup

for them and you get an all -you -can -drink

pass. And when you're a vendor, you get it for

the entire weekend instead of just one day. And

you get free refills on soda from the tap. And

it was right next to the food booths. And on

Saturday, as I was waiting in line to refill

my soda, somebody was walking down and told people

that were waiting in line. Just so you guys know,

the people that have already ordered food just

got told it was going to take an hour and a half

for them to get their food. And you guys haven't

even ordered your food yet. Oh, no. And there's

a lot of little kids there. Like, if you've got

a four -year -old, no. The kid needs to eat now.

Yeah. So what they didn't tell people because

ReadPop is incapable of communicating any useful

information because, hey, we have an app. Up

on the main floor when you first walk in, because

it's kind of a sunken convention center, when

you walk in, there was this big open hall where

there was like a a stage for a panel. It's supposed

to be the cosplay area, so professional cosplay

costumes were there that were pretty neat. They

had the cosplay repair center there. What they

also had up there off to the side that you'd

actually have to walk into the room and look

over, they had the beer garden in there. They

had the pretzel cart. which is normally downstairs

by where our booth was supposed to be, that wasn't

downstairs, that was up there. They also had

a curry place and a mac and cheese place off

to the side there with hardly any lines because

nobody knew it was there except if you were a

cosplayer. Wow. Yeah. Why wouldn't they at least

put sign up by like like the entrance or whatever

like food this way or food around the corner

or you know something like like you said if you're

and well Chris your kids are grown right like

you don't have okay so imagine this is Rose City

40 years ago let's say or whatever one of your

kids were younger Four years ago before they

were born whatever It's an example damn it I

Remember going to like small conventions when

I was six or seven back in the 80s and if we

didn't if I didn't have a water or A soda or

something. There was no way my mom was gonna

get me to walk anywhere You know So yeah, I mean,

you need to have things at least, you know, point

people in the right direction. Don't just say,

Hey, welcome to the con. Everything you're looking

for is this way. And they point you in the direction

of the main hall or whatever. I don't know. Which

is basically what wizard world is very famous

for. Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead, Matt. Sorry. This,

this is why last, uh, last. Podcast we did I

said like bring snacks. Yeah bring snacks to

every con because the lines for food are Ridiculous

and you need to have a snack before you even

get to your food because it can take so long.

Yeah Absolutely, it's it's just one of those

things where conventions are a, even if you just

go for a day pass, if you just go for a Friday

or a Saturday, like you're not there every day,

but if you're just a regular person that wants

to experience it, let's say, because I don't

have the website pulled up right now, but let's

just say you want to see, and I don't know if

they were all there on the same day, so I'm just

using these as examples. Let's say you wanted

to see Billy Williams, Charisma Carpenter, Julie

Benz. Brian Michael Bendis, Terry Brooks, whoever,

like, you pick the day that you want to see the

people you want to see and you go that day but

you still bring your, like, you know, conventions

are not like movie theaters as far as I know.

They don't, like, you even said back in episode

301 that you brought food and water and whatever

and you were running around to people. It isn't

like a movie theater, like, oh my god, you can't

bring in outside food. Oh my god, it's going

to take away from our bottom line because we

have to sell you $10 popcorn that's like three

ounces or whatever. I don't know, movie theaters

or whatever. So yeah, I mean, you have to treat

that as a day -long event. And you should be

bringing water and small snacks and things like

that. Because like you said, The food lines are

going to be outrageous, especially with having

anything over 10 ,000 people. The water stations

were fine. They have lots of water stations all

over that you can refill your water bottles.

The bathroom lines were non -existent. Lots of

bathrooms to use. It's just food. That was probably

the longest line in the entire con over any celebrity.

Any booth that had some kind of killer deal.

It's the food. Wow. That kind of sucks. It was

sex last year. I don't recall being horrible

coming back off pandemic. The lines move. I mean,

just mean people are a little more skittish about

buying food locally, but, uh, it was better managed.

It's just we saw the Emerald City to a couple

of the places like normally there They have a

couple of subways that are built one within the

column one just outside They were both closed

which was really odd I understand the whole COVID

thing, but it's such a loss in sales. It's an

important thing that the con should be working

to make sure people are fed and coffee is a staple

of our life and there should be multiple coffee

stands there to keep the flow of people in and

out faster. You want them on the floor. You don't

want them standing in line for an hour for a

coffee. Get on the floor to buy stuff there.

Well, last year also they had Food booths mixed

into the exhibitor area. They had like a soft

serve like ice cream vendor there in the middle

of the exhibition or exhibition exhibitor hall

There was like snack booths in the exhibitor

hall So there was so many different places that

you could get food that would spread it out through

the con instead of This one side of the building

is the only food Everybody go there. Yeah with

the oris cafe on our side. They closed the main

one by us and then the dragon uh Dragon boat

that was the main food that was the bulk of all

the food. That's where that hour and a half wait

was Was that dragon boat area? Yeah Wow All right,

so Know you guys were working the booth for for

James, but did you guys get to see any of the

celebrities? Well, we're not really celebrity

people Chris likes panels Every celebrity for

the most part that I've met has been a huge disappointment

and has ruined my childhood So I tend to steer

away from the celebrities. Okay. Okay Michael

Bay I saw a couple of small panels. I put my

head in listen to them more on creative processes

again little light on the panels most of the

panels are they had was more Hey, we're all inclusive

now. How's the industry changing to any LBGT?

Platform alphabet soup thing and that's what

a lot of the panels are and it's it wasn't directed

at the creativity building of artists, writers,

and creators. And that is a little sad to me.

I understand they're trying to get the all -inclusive,

feel safe in a con. That's great and all, but

really, this should be a place where young creators

come to learn tips in the trade. And they get

to talk to people that have already done the

work. And they're the next level of stories,

which is going to lead us into another part about

AI stuff we're going to be talking about. Oh,

geez. Yep. But the true actual creators out there

and I've saw a lot of young cosplayers this year

Which I was thoroughly impressed by there was

a squirrel girl that came by it was just that

was amazing She did a great tale and the whole

and she had a little tippy with her Loved it.

I saw a couple xenomorphs, which were pretty

awesome. Like uh, I guess two brothers They were

just up the xenomorphs. Those were pretty good.

There was the she hawk. That was really good

She was really good And then who was the big

old of the gal from Resident Evil? Yeah, the

new boss the one in the white dress Yeah, there

was a cosplay gal there and I thought she was

on stilts. No, she's just that tall She was made

for that role. Yep, and I could have sworn I

saw her at Emerald City, too But she was there

Great cosplayers again. I love sitting there

because in the morning while they went around

the booth I waited a little bit watching the

people come into the con and it's great seeing

that sheer excitement of being the character

that you love and meeting other people who love

that character as much as you do and It doesn't

matter what level detail you have of your cosplay

outfit Everyone loved everything other people

did and it was great empowerment. It wasn't because

of you know Who you are your status in society.

It's just you love this. I love it too. You look

great Thanks for coming and showing me what you

could do and it was it was happiness It was great

seeing that as they walked through the into the

main con with that I saw it when I was at the

booth too, seeing the people walk by, just giving

them a quick compliment on their outfit and just

how they light up, because they put a lot of

work and time into this, and a lot of them were

really passionate about the role that they're

in, and it was great to see. And this is one

reason I love being at these Comic Cons, is seeing

that. whole side of people it's you know no political

no you know mission statement of this or that

or what side you need to be on this is just fandom

at its greatest when it's done right and without

prejudice that being said there were a lot of

very angry parents because i guess uh the new

thing is for uh attractive young uh female cosplayers

to carry around signs that have, I will step

on you for $5, I will slap you for $5, or I will

sit on you for $5. And although we found them

absolutely hysterical, and we had one of them

step on Chris' son and take pictures in front

of our booth, the forums were very upset about

Guess they didn't realize how dirty and perverted

a lot of comic creators and comic book fans are

Yeah, I was gonna say it depends on where the

slap is. Yeah One actually called it cosplay

prostitution. Yeah So we asked the girl that

we paid to go over and step on Chris's son We

we said damn like it's Saturday. Like is this

profitable? Like have you how many of you done

or is it just like kind of funny and people,

you know, whatever and she's like, oh This is

at the end of Saturday. She said that she had

made about $400 Hey On stepping on dirty old

men. I mean as long as she's not hurting them

As long as she's not like hurting them as long

as it's not like What you would normally do if

you're going to someone like that in that other

profession kind of thing Yes, but it's one of

those things where if it's just for a pose You

know, hey 400 bucks for quote unquote stepping

on people. Hey, that's a nice shiny book to take

home right there. Yeah, that's a good day. Yeah,

exactly. That's like I just made a rent payment.

She was dressed as Raven, by the way. Oh, wow.

That's Saturday. Send me those pictures so I

can put them in the post, dude. That's awesome.

Saturday there was that was probably the most

of those girls that were carrying around the

sign So that's competition on top of that and

she still made $400 It wasn't like it was like

a Friday and she was the first one to do it like

no Saturday had the most of the sign characters

and they and she still pulled 400 well, and I

also think it depends on the character like Not

everybody is gonna go for a Raven, not everyone's

gonna go for a Batgirl or a Supergirl or a Wonder

Woman. It depends on, you know, the character.

Yeah. So, I mean, the fact that she... And Raven's

pot, don't get me wrong, I like Raven. Raven's

cool. I actually... Was it once or twice? No,

it's twice now. I've actually talked to Raven

twice, Tara Strong. I've interviewed her twice

in the past 13, 14 years. The second interview,

I think she was at the hair salon when we did

that. That was really strange, but it worked.

All right, let's see, what do we got here? What

was, you can each obviously answer this, duh,

but what was your favorite part of this year's

Rose City? Matt, you can go first on this one

for Tom. For me, it was the competition that

we entered James into behind his back. He doesn't

like the spotlight being on him like that, so

he usually avoids big group things unless he's

drunk. And we didn't have to get him drunk. And

Chris signed him up, and he took second place.

Sweet. When he should have taken first place.

But that's a totally different reason. But yeah,

$500 consolation prize. That ain't bad, right?

No, not at all. First or second place is great.

At least it wasn't just a participation ribbon.

Yeah. So I guess I should elaborate what happened

here. Because that was one of my favorite things

in the con, was this. The night before, artists

are invited to the WAPCOM studios. They actually

have a facility here in Portland. One of the

main headquarters is downtown Portland. So we

ended up going there, speaking with other artists,

testing out some of the new tablets out there.

Well, they happen to mention about, well, we

have a contest where two of our main pros will

go against with two amateurs. And, you know,

cheering, there'll be four rounds and then there'll

be a semi and a final round. So now this is a

style of my cartooning. This is the answer of

quick art. This is cartoonist art But when we

got there, they have one spot open so I threw

James in under the bus on this Mike James you

gotta do it He's not really understanding what

he's signing up for is that all just it's drawing.

No problem. Sure James great So we get there

you gotta tell yourself whatever you tell yourself

so we get there and the first he has the four

artists up there And they get a random generator,

which is like a noun, a verb, and an adjective

that line up. And it kind of gives you this little

thing to draw. And you have five minutes to draw.

Now, cartoonists like myself, in five minutes,

can direct to ink, sketch out characters doing

certain things. James is not a cartoonist. He

is an illustrator. So he's very detailed. He

has to do his basic lineup, his perspective,

his orientation. the sizing, and then you draw.

Well, in five minutes you don't have time to

do all those steps. You have to skip step one

and two to get to step three. So it was kind

of interesting the way he would sketch these

out and he would rush to ink them. And some of

them were absolutely fantastic. He blew the other

people out of the water because just the sheer

orientation of how he did his drawing was just

amazing. So round one, he just, he kills the

other three are even the pros pizza pants off

the pros. Now it does help because they're judging

about how loud the audience is. Matt and I are

out in the audience because my son booth and

we are very loud when we cheer. So semifinals

come up and then they're on The main tournament

was on Saturday semifinals the morning of Sunday

We get up there and he up but he's up against

a couple of really established artists But they're

all pretty much, you know amateurs and this is

one of two semifinal rounds and I'm sorry semifinals

just the last four because it's four down to

two the we get there we get established ones

One gal I've never seen before another ones a

guy I've seen at multiple cons. He does robots

and by George I can't remember his name, but

his old comic card is robots. That's That's all

he does which is gonna be his downfall in this

and then lo and behold at the end spot is Katie

cook As you see you even know who she is. Oh,

yeah Katie Cook is not an amateur phone. She

is a published pro and So she's up there and

it's it's a little disheartening. It's like crap.

I really love her work She's a great artist,

but she's really funny, too She is funny and

it's just like okay. It's challenges. Just get

to this the final round James whoops up Wonderful

pieces really actually rivals Katie at this point

I blow up my voice cheering for James at this

point. So we get done and she's already figured

out, okay, the win, I need an audience. She has

big signs at her booth, basically telling people

come cheer me on at this time for the finals.

And of course, when the finals show up, she pulled

a much larger crowd. to cheer for her, then we

could muster up for James being the local favorite.

And it was a fight, but James did get hit a little

bit because the tablet was crashing, which is

it's a new 24 inch tablet, which was what the

first place trophy was, was brand new 24 inch

tablet. I am sad to see that 24 inch tablet kept

crashing Photoshop, which is probably not good

on them to be showing everybody that it can't

run simple programs. I'm in the booth because

my voice is blown out Andrew and Matt and several

other friends went to cheer James on but couldn't

quite against her now the The person who's running

the event she was doing her best to really give

the emphasis of what James is creating Versus

the stuff that Katie was creating. So her first

semi in the semi round She did really good really

good artwork is full pitchers But I guess a lot

more disappointment in the finals where she would

do a small picture But try to tell this wordy

story around it to try not drawing not drawing.

Yeah But again, it wasn't about what you drew

is about how the audience responded and she won

that And she didn't need it Andy. I love you,

but you didn't need that 24 inch tablet You have

like a 32 in your office you post online Yeah

So he ends up a second which only means Rose

City Comic Con 2023 that James has to get up

there to get first place. So Absolutely Most

definitely but it was a fun event. I really enjoyed

that that really made the highlight of the For

how sales were kind of flat for us. This was

a good release and this was actually the comic

-con He actually relaxes that we didn't do a

lot of commissions at the booth But he did sell

a few main pieces We had a special a very special

RCC exclusive which was Gambit throwing a Charizard

card And also shiny picture shiny it was beautiful

sold out We once we put it up there exclusive

out the door. It was gone We sold those out faster.

So we know we're gonna tweak that one up with

a couple different cards next year I sold several

of my books how to be a pallet or what pallet

am I? That went up went out pretty good And so

it was his con to relax. He wasn't focused on

his commissions for this one as much as he enjoyed.

He actually got to walk around the con. He met

other people. And this is where we should break

into the next part of this. Yeah. He knows it's

coming. So as we talked about in Emerald City

Comicon, the advancement of the new AI art, AI

art generation based upon things you type into

a search engine and it creates AI art. Now we

talked about this in the podcast live episode

where AI art recently won an art contest at a

very prestigious art studio, I think in Atlanta,

Georgia. And that came to the discussion of,

is AI art really art? Now, we talked about it

as a joke. It's really neat and all, but now

people sell it. And a week before Emerald City

Comic Con, one of the people we know that do

rendering work is actually creating AI art and

pretty much passing off as his personal art.

And he sold it at the con as art. One of the

people one of the other artists that kind of

follow up took one of his pieces that wasn't

bad But he took it out and improved it did dramatic

changes to it But the foundation was still the

original piece and of course that guy turns around

and goes you stole my art Oh, no It's like you

realize all you're doing is stealing art when

you're doing your process, right? It's just deals

art from images that were from other people and

puts together like So I saw I forget I don't

and again, you know I mentioned this all the

time now because I've been watching them for

a couple of years You guys ever watch MKBHD Marques

Brownlee at all. He's a tech YouTuber. I've seen

a couple of his pieces Okay, so he did I'll probably

embed it in in the post for this for this episode.

He did a video all about the I forget what it's

called but it's one of these AI art machines

where you type like Apple or car or whatever

and it just draws it and I'm not so sure I want

to have artificial intelligence anything like

I know we have Google Assistant. How do you get

Skynet? Yes yes yes we know. We're way past that

anniversary at this point. But yeah, I don't

know, man. I do not want to see an age where

a comic book cover is done by an AI machine.

I want to see my favorite artists, Andrew Griffith

or Alex Milne or Livia Remendelli or whomever.

It doesn't matter who it is. I'm just pulling

those names out of my ass right now. Like I don't

know about this AI stuff. It's just I Feel like

it's it's one step away from us all having What

oh Sonny's it you know in our houses we're all

gonna have Robots for my robot Yeah, yeah, like

I I don't know man. Just just weird so overall

how was Okay, so the as far as some of the negatives

go obviously where the food was that it was just

in one area that was a problem because of lines

and whatever else but overall how was the feel

of of the entire weekend for you guys and Not

as workers for James for the booths or anything,

but just being at the convention so I had a problem

with the exhibitor area they so when you do cons

you kind of do the shopping grocery store where

you go up one aisle and circle around and go

back down the next aisle and you kind of do a

loop they didn't have the line that the ends

of the exhibitor area like finished so a lot

of people were not going to the very end to the

wall and then coming back around because there

wasn't anything on the end cap There wasn't anything

down there. So they just kind of poked their

head and said, oh, it's just an art booth and

continue on and so Where artist alley was great

because it's all open and people were doing that

Over the in the exhibitor area if you were on

one of those ends You did not get foot traffic

you had to have like flashing lights You really

needed to get people to come down and see what

you were doing Because they were not going to

give you the benefit of the doubt and continue

on that extra You know ten yards to see what

you have to offer Dang Well, I'd like to say

a shout out one of the other artists a lot of

big artists that I follow did not show up to

the show because that being how close it is and

a lot of Merge are choosing to hit New York For

their finances and I really wish them well going

to the New York But the one artist that I had

a lot of fun with and I guess I've gotten to

known over the years and indeed Supports is the

creators of Beyond the Western Deep Alex and

Rachel They were over there off the T section

by the webcom stage and They dear phenomenal

artists and they'll be doing their Kickstarter

here soon for their next book for chapter 3 of

Beyond the Western Deep but they actually did

a picture of Morton Moose in one of the styles

of the one of the nations there of Sun Grove

and it was one of the It was a great Morton Moose.

I was thoroughly impressed by it was very good

And she was cool because she was doing these

little I would say three inch by three inch cardboard

watercolors for $20 or twenty twenty thirty dollars

depending on how much detail you wanted But she

did real well. She was actually kind of busy

and she was one of the few people doing actually

active commissions I met with a couple other

artists in the area and There were not doing

commissions are mainly pieces artist alley still

was done. Well, they added two extra rows Compared

to last year a boots. It's a lot more artists

Matt was right more of the vendor layout the

other problem I didn't like about it. If you

notice Matt is they weren't road Straight it

was actually cockeyed in some of the areas off

-center And I don't know if this helped break

some of that cross traffic blow up but it just

offset when you're trying to do a proper pattern

to see everything. And I wasn't impressed with

that kind of layout. Interesting. They did have,

I have to mention the, why the booth of the Western

Bill is they had an escape room. And actually

watching that from people trying to do the escape

room was kind of funny. I thought it was pretty

entertaining. Cool except the location of escape

booth was also right next to the food. So it

caused a huge pile of They need to move it. They

need to have it but they need to move it Yeah,

they should have put it over in the child the

children's area since all they had back there

was a climbing wall. Yeah Yeah, see that and

I don't know what it goes into playing the space

for the convention but all as I can see is something

like Chris how big is Lloyd Center? Do you know

off the top of your head? They utilize the majority

of it. That's the two hundred and twenty thousand

Square feet is into 20. Oh, no 240 ,000 that's

pretty much, it's not the Lloyd Center, what

we have is the Convention Center. Right, right,

right. I understand that, but I'm saying like

some place like these sports arenas, like if

the teams or whatever aren't playing and it's

more like, we used to have, in Louisville we

had, it's still there, Freedom Hall, there was

a section of it that was separate from the basketball

section. They do all the cows and all the farm

stuff and tractors and everything else and various

other conventions. So they had this big giant

space. My thinking is with any convention, not

just Rose City, with any convention, if you have

let's just say 220 ,000 square feet, map it out

in a way where it's gonna make sense. Like you

said, the escape room was right by the food.

Well, that's gonna be like either you're gonna

go to the escape room or you're gonna go to the

food like or You're all gonna like like you guys

said it's all gonna traffic jam into each other

like if you have that much space You should be

able to figure out How far apart to put some

of the stuff so it doesn't intersect with each

other? Yeah, we have a lot more room to grow

for this one. It can it can still handle I said

we were at 70 ,000 for coven It wasn't horribly

packed but it was starting to get a little crowded

But they do have room on the edges to read map

those to be a little bit more traffic friendly

And on top of that, vendor friendly. So you actually

get people to go out into those end caps and

leap around. So there's potential for a lot of

growth in that area for the city. Still for layouts,

one of the better of the Comic Cons that I've

here, because of the single floor layout, we

don't have multiple buildings to deal with. Yeah,

that's why I think all conventions need to be

in something like. A basketball arena or so,

you know convention like one floor can like you

don't need six floors For ecc like that No, it

must be going to the new convention center, which

is 400 000 square feet of convention space It's

mainly going to be i'm right two main floors

on that um, and then Yeah, yeah much better.

Um, so but these floors are They're 240 ,000

alone. The building is very large and the parking

is built within there too in the lower levels,

which is going to be really nice. That's awesome.

Very awesome. Very awesome. All right. Final

thoughts and what other conventions are you guys

going to this year, Matt? I think we're done

until January, February, at least me and Chris

are. I know James has got New York, and I think

there might be another one after New York. But

for the most part, I think it's coming up to

a close for most of the con season. Yeah, it's

usually November, December holiday time that

they take off. And like you said, usually January,

February, depending on, you know, weather and

everything else, depending on where the convention

is and everything else and holiday hangover and

all that. And there's a couple of small comercons

here in Oregon that are popping up in February

that we might be mid -con, which is in Eugene,

we might take a crack at. They're kind of announcing

that. It's a second year con in the Eugene area

that we might go and jump on. Tables were very

reasonable. And for the pricing, we can definitely

get away with it. But we're probably going to

be hitting that one. And of course, we'll be

right back in Emerald City in March at the new

Convention Center. So a quick turnaround for

us on that part. So are they so they're doing

Emerald City's doing it in March next year that

is its normal time, okay? They do spring break

Okay, but it got all goofed up because of the

pandemic and then they started getting desperate

for money And that's why they kept jumping it

around. I wish they'd just keep it in December

because Then I do my Christmas shopping, too

Convention Christmas shopping. It's actually

great It's a wonderful idea because there's so

much people love and there's a lot of things

you can buy. It's unique Yeah, no, absolutely

Like there's nothing like going to a convention

and getting something for somebody That like,

you know Say your favorite character is insert

whatever Batman Superman Iron Man spider -man.

Yeah Whatever if you go and you get a for this

person you go and get an autograph from say Kevin

Conroy or George Newburn or any of the actual

writers or artists like Mike and Laura all read

or Brian Michael Bendis or any of these people

like that's a cool gift That's a unique Christmas

gift for whomever that's you know for whomever

you're getting that for that They can't just

go back and return it You know what I mean? You're

stuck with it. Not that you're stuck with it,

but again, it's unique gift -giving. It's not

just socks and sweaters from Sears or, you know,

whatever. Oh, you wanted a red Ryder BB gun?

I got you a green Alpha BB gun. Like, you know,

I don't know what the hell, but you know what

I mean? It's not just those everyday kind of

gifts. So, awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, convention

season is coming to a close, and man, 2022 is

kind of packed. Between, I think as we're recording

this, isn't Fanex Salt Lake this weekend? Next

weekend next weekend. Okay, it's some time like

I kept seeing ads for that obviously New York

is in October New York Comic -Con and but man

2022 the conventions came back with a vengeance

man and I'm more apt to just sit here and talk

to you guys or talk to whomever I'll talk to

anybody that's gone to any of these things like

if you know somebody says hey I went to New York

Comic -Con and I had this experience Come on

the podcast tell me the story kind of thing because

I think that's cool I think that's the easiest

way for me to experience it without having to

leave my apartment James can come on goes. How

would you see to eat you and I cried? Yeah, oh

No, oh boy I don't know. That's just crazy. Any

other final thoughts from you guys before I send

it to an ad break and then close it out? No,

just go visit. When you give these comic cons,

please visit and support the local artist. Absolutely.

Local artists. Yep. Bring snacks, bring water.

Just imagine you're an Uber driver except you're

walking or running. Yo. I see it now. Go for

Matt. That's pretty much what I do. Oh, James,

you need food? OK. Go get food. Yep. Yep. Absolutely.

All right. We're going to send you a quick ad

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Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Alright folks,

we are back here on Geekcast Radio. This is episode

304. Chris, Matt, thank you guys for coming on.

As always, I love doing these con recaps with

you guys because it's one way for me to experience

the convention without actually having to be

at the convention. And Facebook stock. Wait,

what? You don't Facebook stock us and all of

our posts that we put up of all the cons that

we go to? No. I thought that's why you wanted

to be my friend on Facebook. I'm too lazy for

all that. No, I just wanted to be your friend

on Facebook so I can tell you how awesome Funko

Pops are. Anyway, Chris, any final thoughts?

Anything you want to promote? Just remember,

2023 is around the corner. We will be at Emerald

City Comic Con. Also mentioned, we will be at

Summer Con for sure, 2023. For sure. 23rd, 25th

in Pallup, Washington. fourth year for the con

our third going to it and uh very very good comic

con outside in the convention center and i know

those are the two that i know that matt and i

will be at uh mid -con probably in february and

eugene but it's not confirmed yet 23rd to the

25th of what month for summer con oh uh june

june 23rd all of the all the months Not December

we can have people at conventions during Christmas.

What are you talking about? Matt any final things

any any any promotions you want to do? Not, not

really. Uh, it was pretty much the, the same

from, from ECC just, uh, come and support local

cons. If you see a small one, that's like a one

day show, go check it out. It's they're a lot

of fun. Even if you're only there for an hour,

you don't have to be there all day, but they

appreciate the support and you never know. Like

that's what Rose city was supposed to be just

kind of a one, two day show. And now it's this

massive thing. So, uh, support local. Absolutely.

Alright, thank you for joining us here on GeekCast

Radio. If you'd like to get in contact with us,

we'll leave feedback for this show. There are

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indeed podcast All right, you can find us on

Facebook at geocast radio network. So we're over

there as well Matt any socials you want to promote?

Nah He's very anti -social folks. I try not to

do social media stuff But we force you anyway,

yes We hope you enjoyed this episode of GeekCast

Radio, as you'll join us next time as we will

be finally getting to the Royal Albert Hall,

y 'all. And that's right, Terry Smith from Music

Talks Podcast is joining me in episode 305 as

we talk about Blackstone Cherry's concert at

the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. For

now, I am TFG and Mike with Chris and Matt. Thank

you for listening. Until next time.