I am slowly expanding my comic con horizons! This weekend, Saturday specifically, I headed down to Columbus to attend my first ever Galaxycon!
And wow! This convention is much, much larger than I am used to. The line to check in had to be over a mile long, and though it did move quickly, I still missed out on Grant Gustin’s panel. Oh, well, it’s a time management lesson for the future. I was able to get my bearings much quicker than anticipated, but I sure did get a ton of walking in. It was a huge space with at least four main stages hosting Q&As. That’s where I found myself spending a majority of my time. Similar to Steel City Con, there were a ton of art and craft vendors, but there were also plenty of gaming areas, specific fan group meetings, leaning writing and other entertainment crafts, and even a tattoo area! Wild.
I sat through a decent amount of panels throughout the day starting with Steve Burns. The hosts ask some well-curated questions, with the best one teaching me that Burns has an insanely close relationship with The Flaming Lips! And he’s freaking fifty! My childhood – where did it go?! Like most Q&As, there were plenty of ridiculous questions I heard throughout the day, but I always appreciate the celebrities trying to answer them as honestly and kindly as they can. Another stellar panel I attended was for Noel MacNeal, mainly because of my friend who was obsessed with the show Bear in the Big Blue House. This man had quite an interesting career trajectory! He studied under Sesame Street before being offered a job there, and still has connections to this day! He really seems to still love what he’s doing.
I was most excited for the Boy Meets World panel and was not disappointed. Earlier in the day I had gotten a photo with Matthew Lawrence, though I wish I would have gotten one with Will Freidle, too! They were my favorite characters on the show, but it was great to see them reminiscing onstage together. They had a lot of really fun stories to tell, and I was actually quite pleased with the audience questions that came out of that specific panel. Other panels I attended throughout the day included Daredevil‘s Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, who both seemed to be having a really good time. They are also both very gracious to the fans, which always warms my heart. Harvey Guillen had a brilliantly entertaining panel, too – he’s effortlessly funny! Richard Dreyfus and Ron Pearlman’s panels were perhaps the most awkward of the bunch as they were very curt and sarcastic with their answers to the point that I had no clue if they wanted to be there. Oh, well. Can’t win them all I guess.
My most coveted interaction of the day goes to that of Todd Stashwick, who played Eli in the fourth season of my all time favorite show, Heroes. Now, that’s not at all what he’s most known for, but when he finally got back to his booth after a short break, he broke into a big smile when I pulled up my DVD to sign. When I told him I wasn’t sure where it should exactly be signed, he opened up the set and exclaimed, “well, it’s kind of perfect that there are five discs here. I think I have to sign them all!” Who am I to argue that logic? In case you were wondering, his character’s ability on the show was able to clone himself five times. Terrific. I asked if he had a good time on the show, to which he said he’s made some lifelong friends (Greg Grunberg, I’m looking at you!). I also asked him what it was like shooting scenes as multiple versions of himself, and he really just said that it was tiring because of having to reset things and start all over. So cool!
Overall, I was nervous for the day based on that registration line alone, but it turned out to be a really nice con! They had some excellent guests and the appropriate space to fit everyone. I hope I get to go back in the future!