What an eventful convention this December! I believe this is only my second time attending Steel City Con’s winter date, but it was certainly one I’ll never forget.
Something different I tried out this time around was going on Friday. Mainly that was because of other weekend plans, but I know I wanted to see enough people that splitting the time between two days would be the smarter move. That means Friday afternoon was spent in panels and waiting in line to meet the cast of Cobra Kai (totally worth it). Some excellent panels I saw that day belonged to Jon Heder, Steve Burns, and of course, Cobra Kai. It was really neat hearing all the behind the scenes stories from Heder about his time with Napoleon Dynamite. I was never really a fan of the movie, but it was cool to hear how small this independent film really was. And I don’t know that I ever knew it premiered at Sundance!
Similar to The Princess Bride back at my first time at Steel City Con, I was shocked at the amount of fans there to see Steve Burns, or as kids of the 90s might know him, Steve from Blues Clues. Crazy. Listening to him answer crowd questions coupled with an in-depth interview I just read a week ago, it was a really neat and somewhat surreal experience. The Cobra Kai panel was obviously packed, but I liked that there were a mix of questions for both the old and new cast members. While a sixth season hasn’t been announced yet, this appearance gave me hope in Netflix (don’t let me down!). I was also tickled that I got the chance to meet Xolo Mariduena and Jacob Bertrand (Miguel and Hawk, in the show). I got my drawings signed and then also a photo with the two who were so sweet and complementary of my work.
After the excitement on Friday, I took a day off and made the trek back on Sunday. Wow, what a busy day! I’ve felt a little claustrophobic on Saturdays at the con before, but this was on another level. And I never even went to the main convention center! Most of my day was spent making friends in line at the conference center in the hotel right behind the convention center. This is where they were housing all the “big name” celebrities for autographs. These lines were bananas! But honestly, totally worth the wait. Elijah Wood was so kind and also complemented the drawing I brought to have signed. What really made the day though was my interaction with Charlie Hunnam.
Even though his line was insane, he took the time to really interact with the fans, myself included. That means that when I set my drawing down and said hi, he immediately asked if he could take a photo of it. And that was before he knew I drew it! After learning that he talked about potentially collaborating on an upcoming project featuring original artwork. Uhhh….yes! With that whole conversation I am shocked I didn’t spontaneously combust. I’m always happy that anyone likes my artwork, but that experience was beyond anything I could have imagined ever happening. And even if nothing does, it was still wildly cool to talk about.
With that, I can’t wait for the next Steel City Con!