Silicon Valley Comic Con was in San Jose April 21st through April 23rd. I was not there last season so this event was all new to me. I can tell you that from all of the events I’ve been to so far, this is easily my favorite. This one was multiple times bigger than other ones I’ve been to, I haven’t been to San Diego Comic Con, it’s on the bucket list, along with other things but this is realistic and it will happen some day. Other events in this facility has filled one large room, this one filled the large room, two extended rooms, another area down the hall. Oh yes, I forgot, also things on two lower floors, panels across the street and an outdoor festival with booths, food and a stage.
I’ll recap some of my weekend adventures, the thing about this event is with so many things happening at one time you could not see or take part in everything that you wanted to do, so you have to make some concessions. One of the few oversights I saw was with the program guide. The guide for some reason didn’t have a list of the scheduled events through the convention! You either had to keep track on your phone on the website, or perhaps print something out ahead of time, I have no idea how many people weren’t aware of what was available.
Friday, I arrived early to get my press pass, and waited for the hotel check in time. Luckily I was able to walk around some general areas to see some booths before the 5 pm opening and ate an amazing meal. Upon opening I do what my usual ritual is, walk around like a snake to see what and who is at every booth. It took me over 30 minutes to do this in the main hall. I went back to buy myself some Ocarina’s, because why wouldn’t I? After this I bought a mystery box from another vendor which was total trash. Can’t win them all. We(me and some other contributors) left early to go to a media party.
The ocarina’s courtesy of STL OCarina. Check them out from the link, I purchased the blue tear drop one and a mystery bag not shown with 3 items, and yes I sound like a dying cat when I try to play. Photo Credit: Jon Hicks The Game of Nerds
Saturday was the big opening ceremony, instead of being out front like, seemingly everyone else, I put myself in position to be behind the action. I saw Steve Wozniak on his segway along with the droids ready for the opening. Who knows, perhaps we caught an exclusive look. You can notice a change from the prepping and the opening.
Steve Wozniak with a wonder woman cape before opening ceremonies Saturday morning. Photo Credit: Jon Hicks The Game of Nerds
Pictured, without a cape, Steve Wozniak welcomes everyone to Silicon Valley Comic Con. Also pictured pepper, droids, and probably all media besides me. Photo Credit: Jon Hicks The Game of Nerds
I ran around to get some stuff at some others booths, the best item, and one I am having buyers remorse, in the way that in hindsight I should have bought more. These would have been amazing gifts for friends and family, I only bought one. Check this transparent print out with the acrylic stand for $10! Yes only $10 at the event, like I said I should have bought more from Ryans Acrylic Design.
The Joker was not my first or second choice, but so amazing I had to leave with something. Photo Credit: Jon Hicks The Game of Nerds
At this point we decided to venture out and check out the free outdoor festival and the science walk. We checked out some booths and got a bite to eat from one of the reported 40 food trucks and made our way towards the stage. We decided we were going to make our way backstage so we can see some surprise guests in Rachel Bloom and Mayim Bialik. It was a wonderful experience, you can read much more about this from our fellow contributor Shannon who was there also and wrote an article specially on this event titled March for Science.
Mayim Bialik was amazing to all she spoke with. I didn’t opt for a selfie, you can public shame me in the comments on my folly. Photo Credit: Jon Hicks The Game of Nerds
One would think all this excitement is good for one day? Wrong, I also went in line to meet Adam West but I didn’t opt for an autograph. Doing some more runs around I checked an event I didn’t enjoy and left early, but I did reconnect with this group of people who just meet at events to cosplay. I met a number of these people at a previous event that I cosplayed at and have kept in touch with Superman(pictured) ever since. Seeing them all together and their faces beaming made me jealous I couldn’t this year but I had things to do.
Cosplayers include:Darth Benzar, Fluffy Princess, Crayton Family Cosplay, David Watkins, Dynamic Cosplay and unnamed others. Photo Credit: Jon Hicks The Game of Nerds
Sunday was the big day for Flash, Grant Gustin, and Tom Felton fans. This was the first time outside of San Diego Comic Con that Grant Gustin did a panel. We have another dedicated article all about this exciting panel, along with a link to the Facebook Live video we recorded of the entire panel. Flash Panel at SVCC with video.
With the long list of things I did, and some other things not interesting enough to touch on, I didn’t get a chance to see all the panels I wanted, like Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead, or seminars on cosplaying, or spent any time playing the vintage video games they had. Believe me they had a lot of arcade games and old 8 bit games, they were always occupied and I never sat still long enough. This event also added in a lot of science aspects, and people from Nasa that I didn’t even get a chance to scratch the surface on, I have plenty more things to still experience. The second year was more of a hit compared to last year from everyone I spoke to throughout the weekend, but still has some growing pains, the lack of direction for members of the media needs to be addressed in the future, or the announcement at the Flash panel that, “all seating is now available to anyone”, which created a stampede is just asking for trouble. I look forward to next season and to see what improvements they put into place for the junior season.
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