I was so excited for Supercon (see a few posts below). The line up was completely epic, and I knew it was going to be packed, so I bought my tickets weeks in advanced, figuring that they would have sold out - which they should have. We obtained weekend passes, and after almost blinding myself with fake eyelash glue (it was my first time trying that stuff, and I have no idea how people do it on a daily basis) and getting all costumed up, we headed out on Saturday. We got there at about 11:30am. Parking was full, and they wound up sending us to The Park and Fly to be shuttled over instead. My brother was about five minutes behind us time wise. We got parking - he didn't. They had no idea where to send people after that, and my brother was so fed up, he just left. I couldn't blame him. Parking just in itself was a mess. It took us an hour and a half to get parking, get shuttled, and get inside. I barely made the first writing seminar. The line was around the building for people who still needed to buy tickets. Many of the volunteers were highly rude, screaming at people, and just being nasty.
The writing seminar was an hour long - and about the only thing I enjoyed. We went down the escalator, and and just got slammed into a wall of people. They were screaming at us to keep moving, but there so no where to move! People were packed like sardines in a double stuffed can. There was elbowing, shoving, strollers blocking aisles, and we couldn't get to half the booths. Forget trying to sit for the Q&A's. There were people holding seats since the doors opened at 10am. The place was way over max capacity. We only stayed for two hours the first day and then we dipped out, because it was just ridiculous.
We returned Sunday. Not nearly as crammed. George Takei was the big celebrity on Saturday and he drew a massive crowd. The Miami Convention center was not prepared. So, we're cool with Sunday, but both my husband and friend are sore and hurting from the impromptu mosh-pit from yesterday. We decide to start walking around to see the booths, vendors, and media guests.
I was giddy meeting Billy Yost from the Power Rangers. He wants $10 for a picture. Every celebrity there wanted cash for me to snap a photo with my camera. Not a professional photo shoot, but just a quick snap. I was not amused.
When I went up to Adam Baldwin's booth his agent told me that we couldn't even take a photo with him unless it was at the professional photo shoot. Maybe this is the norm for things like Comic Con, but Supercon was not like this last year. Everyone was personable, awesome, and sure you had to buy an autograph, but they were appreciative that fans came to see them and were all to happy to take a photo.
Last year, I went to Supercon and everyone was wonderful I met Michael Hogan at the Cosplay Con at the same Convention Center a few months after Supercon last year. Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh from Battlestar Galactica) was there. That man was awesome! He pulled me right up, put his arms around me and was like, "Go on take a picture of us!" He was so personable, so nice, and of course I forgot the memory card for my camera, so the picture was forever lost in ether.
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| This guy right here is AWESOME both on and off the screen. |
It's not cheap to buy tickets for Con's in the first place - especially for people like me who have been the only source of income for their family for the last two years. It was something I was looking forward to for weeks! Between work, school, bills, and having only pennies left over, something like Supercon is rare for me to be able to attend. Overcapacity building, rude volunteers, impersonal media guests, everyone sore from trying to just walk through the crowd the day before - it just wasn't fun. Needless to say, we didn't stay the entire day. It was a disaster and a disappointment. I'm sure those with deeper pockets than me enjoyed it, but this year, they didn't make it easy for the average waged household to have a good time.
