This past Saturday was my second experience at a Comic Con! This time it was Wizard World hosted in Cleveland, and it was just as fun as my time at Steel City Con this past December.
A friend and I started our journey bright and early so we were able to attend the Outlander panel/Q&A. While a majority of the hour and a half long panel was dedicated to lead, Caitriona Balfe, some other co-stars, Richard Rankin and Duncan Lacroix joined towards the end. Caitriona’s interviewer was quite awkward, but she managed to deliver interesting answers with finesse. Once Duncan and Richard joined the stage, Freaks and Geeks alum Samm Levine took over hosting duties and played a few rounds of fans vs. cast to see who knew Outlander best. Overall, that panel was very fun, and I imagine it satisfied all Outlander lovers.
The other show centric panel we attended was for the CW show, Supergirl. In attendance were Superman, Tyler Hoechlin, and James Olsen, Mechad Brooks. They talked all about Supergirl, which sadly is another show I don’t watch. I do try and read to keep up with whats’s happening and I was surprised more audience questions didn’t stem around the much-hyped Crisis on Infinite Earths special. Either way, both men gave very methodical and well-crafted answers to all the fan questions. It was interesting to hear their different experiences since Mechad has been a part of the series since the beginning and Tyler joined later on.
Other panels we were able to attend included Cary Elwes, Wallace Shawn, Phil Lamarr, and Emily Swallow. While both Cary and Wallace attended Steel City Con to focus on The Princess Bride, Samm Levine’s questions were geared toward their entire career catalogs, which I really enjoyed hearing about. Both men were so kind and they seemed to really enjoy talking about everything they’ve been a part of. And there were wonderful on set stories! Emily Swallow had the luxury of being a part of two enormous franchises: Supernatural and The Mandalorian. She was very down to earth and just generally excited about her experiences on both series. A little outside of my realm of interest was listening to voice actor Phil Lamarr discuss all the series he’s been a part of like Samurai Jack and Futurama. He would morph into various voices throughout his conversation which was really neat to hear! I was also fascinated with the amount of people who wanted to ask him questions. He’s clearly made an impact on a lot of people with his work.
Aside from all the panel action, there were hundreds of vendors on the floor that were selling food, drawings, collectibles, Funko Pops, video games, and comic books. I guarantee there was something for everyone at this convention. There was also lots of very impressive and wide range costumes from attendees, but most popular seemed to be the Star Wars universe. And for the video game lovers, there were various tournaments taking place towards the back of the venue. Personally, I picked up some artwork from Nate J Designs that takes your favorite characters (I picked up David and Alexis from Schitt’s Creek along with Batman and Joker) and replaces their faces with a memorable quote.
With all that, the highlight of the day for me was getting to meet four actors from one of my all time favorite shows, Teen Wolf. Khylin Rambo, Dylan Sprayberry, Ian Bohen, and Tyler Hoechlin were all in attendance, and my friend got to watch me fangirl pretty hard before I went and got their autographs. I had season 4 in hand and chatted with each of them for a short bit before letting them get on with their day, but they were all incredibly sweet, and I was on cloud nine! I even got a selfie with Tyler (*swoon*). Sadly the Teen Wolf panel was being held on Sunday, so my individual interactions would have to suffice, and they totally did!
I would say if you’re even a little bit of a nerd, you have to carve some time out of your life and attend a con. Admission is generally cheap and the panels are free! It’s an exciting time to get intimate with entertainment that you’re passionate about. I had a blast and can’t wait to attend another con hopefully soon!