MegaCon 2015 is over for another year. Anybody who went last year knows what a mess it was in terms of organization and crowd control. There were a few reasons for this. First, they were in the North/South building at the Orange County Convention Center instead of the East/West building where they have been every other year except one. That building does not have as much room and is not set up quite as well for such a large number of people. Second, there were significantly more attendees than they originally expected. Finally, there was at least one other major convention going on at the same time. At any rate, crowding was horrendous to the point that it was difficult moving around anywhere, especially on the showroom floor, and line control for the panels was virtually non existent. Many people waited for hours to see the Walking Dead panel and did not get in because people simply rushed the doors. It was not a pleasant experience.
I am happy to say that this year was significantly better and in fact one of the best MegaCon’s I have attended in the 16 years I have been going. MegaCon was back in the East/West building and more space was reserved. Line control was excellent for the panels with lines being set up in empty rooms and other empty spaces well ahead of time. The showroom floor had wider aisles and though it was crowded, especially on Saturday, it was never nearly as bad as last year and there was always room to move around.
This year was the first year I attended a full three days. The last couple of years I’ve been there Saturday and Sunday but only part of the day on Friday. Before that I usually only went Saturday and/or Sunday. Next year MegaCon has an extra day so I hope to go four full days.
On to the Highlights:
Unfortunately, we did not arrive early enough Thursday night in order to pick up tickets so I had to wait in line to pick up advance tickets on Friday morning at xam. The good news is that once they started distributing the tickets the line went very fast. I was only in line maybe 15 minutes and most of that was because the person in front of me was having issues of some sort. This was another massive improvement from last year.
After picking up tickets and hanging around the area for a little while taking pictures while waiting for the opening, we were off to the main entrance (to the showroom floor anyway):
Upon entering, the first place you come to is a sort of giant room used as a holding area until the showroom opens but even in here there are a few things including R2 builders, a lego display, GameStop, and some of the other Star Wars groups. I didn’t spend any time in showroom on Friday though. The main reason I go to MegaCon is for the panels and my panel schedule started early Friday.
12:15p-1:05p: Saturday Morning Cartoons
First up was the Saturday Morning Cartoons panel. This panel was hosted by Marc B. Lee, a long time host of panels at MegaCon, DragonCon and beyond and is always a part of what makes the panels so entertaining. This was basically a panel to reminisce on the time when Saturday morning cartoons existed with an emphasis on the early years. From the program:
“From Space Ghost to H.R. Pufnstuf, from Thunderbirds to Smurfs, The Great Grape Ape or Electra Woman and Dyna-Girl. We all remember and yet wish it was like that now. Relive your Saturday mornings with Marc B. Lee and his hindsight on what was classic.”
This was an awesome way to ease in to MegaCon for the weekend.
Almost immediately following the end of this panel came the Milo Ventimiglia panel.
1:20p-2:10p: Milo Ventimiglia
For those that don’t know who Milo is, he is probably best known for his role as Peter Petrelli on Heroes (at least he is by me) but he is quite a prolific actor and discussed much of the work he has done in this panel. He really seemed excited to interact with the fans. From the program: “Join Milo for a Q & A about his time on Heroes and his new role as Ogre the arch villain on Gotham.”
4:00p-5:00p: Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes was originally scheduled, then cancelled, then MegaCon fortunately got him back some how. Cary Elwes told some great stories about Andre and working on The Princess Bride as well as many of the other projects he has done. My favorite panel of the day!
After the Cary Elwes panel I finally got a chance to walk around on the showroom floor for a few minutes. Didn’t really shop around much or stay very long…that would come later in the weekend.
Finally, Friday night, after having a swim at the hotel and eating dinner, I attended the Super Strip Burlesque.
9:00p-11:00p: Super Strip Burlesque
It was quite popular but I though it was a little dissappointing. Lots of scantily clad women which is always a plus (and a couple scantily clad men as well) but the show itself wasn’t that great. No cameras were allowed so you won’t say any pictures or videos here. From the program:
Pleasure Pixels Burlesque are a prominent nerdlesque troupe that have featured shows all across the Tampa Bay area. Some of these shows include: Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Madoka Magica. Come be entertained by our Super Smash Brothers edition, and make sure you bring an ID – our show is 18+…”
More to come…
