The Game of Nerds made the fourteen hour venture from our city by the bay out to the Emerald City. We didn’t come alone, we brought our favorite life size pop cosplay, Poppin’ Hopper. It was safe to say he was a huge hit with fans, vendors, and Funko. But first, let’s talk about the convention as a whole.
Photo Source: Shannon Parola For The Game of Nerds
ECCC was split into two different venues this year. The Washington State Convention center where the show floor, vendors, panels, and artists were. Then the Hyatt Grand Regency was where the celebrity photo ops and autographs were as well as the Pokemon Gaming Area. To be completely honest having two venues was horrible. Getting in and out the convention center was hard enough with security, but pair that with a two block walk to the Hyatt seemed ridiculous. Plus there was no security check at the Hyatt which seemed extremely odd considering there was a lot of talent in the area. There was Security guards in the autograph area yelling at fans to not use their cameras since photography and videotaping was strictly prohibited even for press, but no official security check point to go through.
The Washington State Convention center was so massive that even in the 3 days of us being there, I’m quite sure there were things we missed. The place was packed with cosplayers from all over the world and tons of fans! There were plenty of vendors being talked about from artists, authors, and even huge brands like Funko, Fig Pins, and Tiny Ghost. Funko’s lines were the most talked about thing of the convention. Lottery tickets for purchasing pops went out before the convention even started. If you were lucky enough to get a lottery ticket, you had a great chance of getting everything that was available. There was though a opportunity to purchase pops after all the lottery ticket people went each day for those who weren’t so lucky. It was said that this line would start at 3 pm. Joke was on everyone else. The line was started at 10 am when the convention opened, yes that’s what everyone was running too. By 11 am the line had been capped and you were stuck waiting there for the entire day until it was your time to pick pops. If you were lucky, nothing was sold out yet, but for most only a few things were left. In my honest opinion, waiting all day from 10 am till past 3 pm seems a little over the top to us.
We did get a chance though to hang out with Funko. Check out the interview right here…
The autograph and photo op areas at the Grand Hyatt were very well spaced out, but the way they had fans snake lines often had people confused. Most celebrities were on time and ready to go for their sessions. We heard rumors that the Boy Meets World cast was always running late. Rupert Grint aka Ronald Weasley was also the other big headliner there. His lines end up being capped to Pre-Paid only because he was in such high demand. This was his first USA convention ever so we know why Harry Potter fans were excited. The Stranger Things kids were also in attendance! They were truly amazing to interact with and took their time with each of the fans. They really loved our Poppin’ Hopper and even offered to sign the back of his box even though they aren’t technically on there. It made our Hopper’s day! When we set out to attend ECCC this year, we thought we would bring the Hopper Box as a fun thing. We had no idea how much Funko and the rest of the ECCC fans would love it. We ended up actually wearing the box for multiple days.
Photo Source: Shannon Parola for The Game of Nerds
All in all, as someone who attended ECCC for the first time, I loved the convention feel. I just wish the two venues were closer or had been combined. The security at the convention floor plus traffic just made it really hard to get to two places at once especially with a giant box behind you being asked to take photos every 2 feet. 😉
Don’t forget to check out all our ECCC coverage from interviews, reviews, and updates on TGON!
