Sunday is always a little depressing at MegaCon, at least to me. It is the last day for another year. The crowds are a little smaller than on Saturday but still as big or bigger than the Friday crowds. I only had two panels I wanted to attend on Sunday so I spent some time in the showroom. This is the day I usually buy whatever I’m going to buy. I don’t typically spend a lot of money (the hotel and tickets are quite enough) and the videos I bring home are always my best souvenirs anyway. I always buy at least something though. This year it was a few X-Files and random other comics.
The first panel I attended was the Firefly panel with Summer Glau, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk. This panel was awesome like all the other panels I attended this year. They talked some about Firefly but also a lot about other work they have been doing. Firefly is one of those series I have been meaning to rewatch. When I think of Adam Baldwin now I think of ‘Chuck’ more than anything.
The final panel of the day and of MegaCon for the year, at least for me, was the Doctor Who panel with Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston. Again, it was an awesome panel. I’m a relative newcomer to Doctor Who but I enjoy the show and these actors. You might find a possible semi-spoiler or two in this one…
And that’s it for MegaCon 2015. Next year MegaCon is moving to Memorial Day weekend and adding an extra day (Thursday). I certainly hope to be there!
Saturday is historically the busiest day at MegaCon and this year was no exception. Despite the record crowds (93,000+ this year vs. 80,000+ last year) however, there was far more space to move around in this year. The aisles in the showroom were wider this year which made a huge difference and being back in the usual convention center building with more space reserved in general helped a lot too. The ticket pickup/lobby area was noticeably more crowded but things still seemed to run smoothly. I didn’t have to wait in line Saturday so I don’t know how the wait times compared but I doubt it was much worse than Friday and it was certainly much better than last year.
I didn’t have any panels to attend in the morning so I spent some time looking around the showroom floor. Saturday is always the busiest day and it was certainly crowded but thanks to a larger showroom area and wider aisles it lacked the claustrophobic “help, we’re all going to die in a fire” feel of last year. Here’s a lengthy video walking up and down most of the aisles:
The first scheduled item of the day was the Universal Costume Contest. This contest includes categories such as Movie/TV Character, Super Hero/Villain, Star Wars, Video Game Character, etc. Pretty much everything except anime which has its own costume contest later in the day.
After the costume contest it was just about time to get in the line to see Michael Rooker. Michael Rooker has starred in Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead, Jumper and the list goes on. Most panels are taken up by audience member questions and answers. Typically lines of people interested in asking a question will form on each side of the stage and the host will alternate between the two lines. This panel was no exception. In most cases, time runs out before everyone that wanted to ask a question gets to. Michael Rooker solves this problem by doing a speed round when time is almost up. From a few comments I have seen here and there it seems some people think he is a jerk because the answers to the speed round questions are short, comedic, and often sarcastic, particularly when it is a long or open ended question that there is no short answer to. However, this is just a way for everyone to get to interact with him that wanted to. He’s really not a jerk (at least I didn’t get that impression).
The final panel of the day for me was the Flash Vs. Arrow panel with Robbie Amell, Danielle Panabaker and David Ramsey. This was a panel that was not originally scheduled but MegaCon managed to add as a replacement for some of the cancellations they had (Good job MegaCon!). This panel started almost immediately after the Michael Rooker panel so I was at the tail end of the line. If this had been last year I would have had no prayer of getting in but since they had much larger rooms available this year it was no problem. There was plenty of room for everyone even if I did have to sit in the nosebleed seats. Before this panel I actually had not watched Flash or Arrow but I have since binge watched season 1 of arrow and several episodes in season 2 with Flash still to be watched. Nevertheless, I still found the panel very entertaining but beware, there are a few spoilers here.
After this, I went back to the hotel room, had dinner, changed clothes and walked back to the convention center for the Geeks of Comedy show at 10pm. They have been doing a show at MegaCon for at least the last several years but this is the first time I have gone. It was definitely worth it and I recommend you go see them next year if you never have before (assuming they come back of course).
