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taluminSo, we braved OzComicCon day two. This was mainly because we wanted to see Corin Nemec and had already paid for the whole weekend.
We got there especially early today, which meant we only had a ten minute wait to get inside the convention centre. Of course, since we showed up so early, we had 90 minutes until we were due at the Jason Momoa panel. We wandered around and stopped by the All Star Comics booth - have I mentioned that they're awesome? Got a few comics there and then wandered around more. There was a great stall with a heap of board games - we didn't buy any, but definitely wanted some. They had the Discworld Ankh-Morpork game and a couple of others I really liked. We also ran into a Fourth Doctor cosplayer I had photos with at Supernova - not sure if he recognised me out of the Doctor Horrible costume. Maybe I'll run into him next convention and we can commiserate over this one.
Jason Momoa was amazing. He was friendly and enthusiastic and does a surprisingly good Australian accent. The panel had a cameo from Mitch Pileggi and overall was very impressive, discounting the poor seating arrangements. There were a lot of people standing when there were chairs free, but no one moved along to free up sections (we did, as far as we could). Anyway, after we left, that's where the fun began.
We made the mistake of leaving the convention hall to get lunch. Since there were two hours before the Patrick and Daniel Stewart panel, we thought there'd be heaps of time to eat and get in line to go into the panel. Of course, it was only AFTER we left the convention hall we discovered that ticket holders still had to queue to get back in. And that the queue had ceased moving. And there was a two hour scheduled wait. This was distressing to both of us. We got lunch anyway and when I went to join the queue again, I discovered that since we had weekend passes, we got to jump a large portion of the queue, but we still ended up waiting about twenty minutes to get back inside. This was fortunate, as after The Girl got some Wonder Woman signed by Nicola Scott, we joined the line for the Patrick Stewart panel.
The line was absolutely huge - as was to be expected. However, there was no indication of where the line went, and it ended up encroaching on the token purchase line. Volunteers showed up and started arranging things once the token booth complained, but that's a little too long, really. The panel started at 2pm and I don't think they started letting people in until just after 2 (don't get me started on ending panels EXACTLY when the next panel is supposed to start) and we didn't end up being admitted until 2:20. We missed the first 10 minutes of the panel and by that stage it was standing room only. In addition, we were only around the 3/4 mark in the queue, so there was still a huge amount of people waiting to get in. I don't think people stopped entering until around 2:30. Since the panel only went until 3, people were standing and had already missed half of the show. I ended up giving up my seat to a young girl with her dad, because it seemed unfair to make kids stand the whole time, but I still don't think she could see very well.
The panel itself was outstanding. It was really interesting seeing father and son interact on the stage because they were able to play off each other and keep the conversation moving when it lagged between questions. I can see why they tried to jam as many people in as possible, because it was a fantastic panel. There were people four or five deep in the aisles.
I don't even have the energy to be irritated any more. There's been a heap of negative feedback for the con on Facebook and Twitter - I'm more disappointed by the poor organisation than anything. They didn't have much choice to stick with the venue once it'd been chosen but so much more could have been done to deal with the situation. The volunteers did a great job with the information they had, which didn't seem to be much.
We also saw Corin Nemec and Sharon Taylor. They were both awesome and funny. We saw Corin Nemec a couple of years ago at Supernova and he has an enthusiasm for conventions that makes him a joy to watch.
I'm hoping the slight nausea I'm feeling right now is just exhaustion and not a bad reaction to the hot dog I ate at the convention centre, or irritation churning in my stomach. Back to work tomorrow!
We got there especially early today, which meant we only had a ten minute wait to get inside the convention centre. Of course, since we showed up so early, we had 90 minutes until we were due at the Jason Momoa panel. We wandered around and stopped by the All Star Comics booth - have I mentioned that they're awesome? Got a few comics there and then wandered around more. There was a great stall with a heap of board games - we didn't buy any, but definitely wanted some. They had the Discworld Ankh-Morpork game and a couple of others I really liked. We also ran into a Fourth Doctor cosplayer I had photos with at Supernova - not sure if he recognised me out of the Doctor Horrible costume. Maybe I'll run into him next convention and we can commiserate over this one.
Jason Momoa was amazing. He was friendly and enthusiastic and does a surprisingly good Australian accent. The panel had a cameo from Mitch Pileggi and overall was very impressive, discounting the poor seating arrangements. There were a lot of people standing when there were chairs free, but no one moved along to free up sections (we did, as far as we could). Anyway, after we left, that's where the fun began.
We made the mistake of leaving the convention hall to get lunch. Since there were two hours before the Patrick and Daniel Stewart panel, we thought there'd be heaps of time to eat and get in line to go into the panel. Of course, it was only AFTER we left the convention hall we discovered that ticket holders still had to queue to get back in. And that the queue had ceased moving. And there was a two hour scheduled wait. This was distressing to both of us. We got lunch anyway and when I went to join the queue again, I discovered that since we had weekend passes, we got to jump a large portion of the queue, but we still ended up waiting about twenty minutes to get back inside. This was fortunate, as after The Girl got some Wonder Woman signed by Nicola Scott, we joined the line for the Patrick Stewart panel.
The line was absolutely huge - as was to be expected. However, there was no indication of where the line went, and it ended up encroaching on the token purchase line. Volunteers showed up and started arranging things once the token booth complained, but that's a little too long, really. The panel started at 2pm and I don't think they started letting people in until just after 2 (don't get me started on ending panels EXACTLY when the next panel is supposed to start) and we didn't end up being admitted until 2:20. We missed the first 10 minutes of the panel and by that stage it was standing room only. In addition, we were only around the 3/4 mark in the queue, so there was still a huge amount of people waiting to get in. I don't think people stopped entering until around 2:30. Since the panel only went until 3, people were standing and had already missed half of the show. I ended up giving up my seat to a young girl with her dad, because it seemed unfair to make kids stand the whole time, but I still don't think she could see very well.
The panel itself was outstanding. It was really interesting seeing father and son interact on the stage because they were able to play off each other and keep the conversation moving when it lagged between questions. I can see why they tried to jam as many people in as possible, because it was a fantastic panel. There were people four or five deep in the aisles.
I don't even have the energy to be irritated any more. There's been a heap of negative feedback for the con on Facebook and Twitter - I'm more disappointed by the poor organisation than anything. They didn't have much choice to stick with the venue once it'd been chosen but so much more could have been done to deal with the situation. The volunteers did a great job with the information they had, which didn't seem to be much.
We also saw Corin Nemec and Sharon Taylor. They were both awesome and funny. We saw Corin Nemec a couple of years ago at Supernova and he has an enthusiasm for conventions that makes him a joy to watch.
I'm hoping the slight nausea I'm feeling right now is just exhaustion and not a bad reaction to the hot dog I ate at the convention centre, or irritation churning in my stomach. Back to work tomorrow!
