Follow the Yellow Brick Road

In all the years I have lived in the great Emerald City, this was the first time I ever attended the Emerald City Comicon, or ECCC for short. Why, I have no idea. I've never shy'd away from attending conventions or any sort of gathering (including midnight showings) that involve dressing up and a bunch of adults acting like children in kindergarten geeking out about trivia and discussing their favorate aspect of whatever the sci-fi/fantasy flavor of the day is.

A week before ECCC I didn't even know it was happening (I know, epic Nerdy Girl fail). I had just totally mind wiped it existed and amongst all my geeky friends, not one posted anything about it on Facebook. How was I to know? I found out a week before that it was happening. And to my dismay, it was almost impossible to get tickets at that point. What made it worse is when I had a moment to read the guest list. Luck had it that a friend was able to score extra passes because she works at the of the sponsors. SUH-WEET. Not only was I going, but I was going for free! Which in this economic climate is uber-sweet.

I chose to attend Saturday since it was the longest of the three day nerdfest and seemed to be the most eventful. Because I love such a wide range of sci-fi/fantasy show.s and movies, it was impossible for me to do everything I would have wanted without cloning myself or using Hermione's Time-Turner. Driving into the city near the convention center we could spot the nerds from the non-nerds. The excited looks on even the attendees not in costume distinguished them from the every day city dweller. Of course, it was obvious where Darth Vader, rebel fighters, stormtroopers, and superheroes were going. Although, for you non-Seattlites, we do have masked heroes even when ECCC isn't running. That's right. We have a team of superheroes. Leave it to Seattle. So if any of you are thinking of causing chaos in the Emerald City, beware. Phoenix Jones is here to protect the citizens! I mean, for a city that has naked bike rides does it really surprise anyone? Legend had it there was a gentleman running around one of the neighborhoods dressed like Link, hero of the game Legend of Zelda. Oh Seattle....

ANYWAYS....back to the awesome day I had. When I got inside the center with my friend it was a sight to behold. Like I mentioned before, I've been to events dedicated to either one show or movie, but never a mixture of all things I hold awesome in my geek heart. There were stormtroopers, SG1 team members, a Witch King and Gimli (odd couple), Klingons, vampires, zombies, Batmans....errr....Batmen? Every superhero was present...I mean everything was there. I even saw people pimpin' Labyrinth t-shirts and Red Dwarf shirts. AHH! I also saw a troupe who do the live action while The Rocky Horror Picture Show plays behind them in full costume!

The guest list also was a great representation of my favorite things. William Shatner, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner representing my Trekkie love (and my fav is TNG just FYI). John Noble had a piece of my Lord of the Rings heart. And from one of my favorite shows Buffy: James Marsters (favorite character!) and Nicholas Brendon (named one of my cat's after Xander) were there! Also there was Felicia Day (I loved Dr. Horrible & Legend of Neil!!!). It was truly overwhelming. I think I must have had a smile on my face the entire time.

This event also marked the third time I have taken food from a stranger. Yeah...I'm one of those. Ironically, the first time was when I was in a line to go to a book reading Sean Astin was doing about his experience filming Lord of the Rings...this little girl overheard how hungry I was and when her dad came back and stated he had extra burgers from McDonalds, the girl pointed to me and said, "Daddy, she is really hungry!" It was after I had seen Supersize Me and had sworn off that place...well I guess you can see that protest didn't last long. So again, I got hungry while in line. And someone took pity. Obviously, not one to decline free food, I gladly accepted.

Despite the unorganized mess and the heat of the stuffy center, it was a blast. Wandering around was pure entertainment. I've found that attendees at these events tend to be the most friendly (my mom joked because they have no other friends LOL). You can just stop and start talking to anyone and they will gleefully chat back. I think it's because we all know we are on the same level. We love make-believe. We aren't ashamed of costumes and declaring our obsessive love for our favorite stories, characters, movies, and so on and so on.

I saw Normon Reedus walk by me and although I didn't know who he was I knew I had seen him before. I quickly exclaimed, "God that guy looks familiar! Where have I seen him?!" Apparently he had stopped right behind me waiting to see if I would figure out but I was oblivious. Later on I realized that although I didn't know him from The Boondock Saints, I did know him from The Walking Dead. Dang it! Also another miss was not knowing Felicia Day was in the bathroom with me...Ok that sounds wrong. Let me restate. She came out of the ladies room right before I did and I had been totally unaware. Double DANG IT!! Not that I would have done anything. Nothing says creepy like cornering a celebrity in the restroom. That is one boundary I wouldn't cross...maybe...

Things I did get to do:

• Get a retarded looking picture of myself with Jonathan Frakes (RIKER!) and Brent Spiner (DATA!). They talked to me so of course I got flustered and made some sort of special looking face when the camera snapped. Oh well...Regardless, I have loved Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was little. I grew up on that and my love for it and appreciation for it grew as I did. It has and will always remain one of my favorite shows of all time.
• A slightly less retarded picture with James Marsters. I absolutely loved Spike on Buffy (haha that term can be taken quite literally). He was such a sweet guy but I was shocked at how small he was. He wasn't much taller than me. I guess by comparing how much taller he was than Sarah Michelle Gellar I should have known, but since Buffy is the main character, they of course filmed it at her level. It's easy to forget film/tv does that. You lose perspective of how small/tall actors are.
• We went to the Buffy panel. It was fun to hear Nicholas Brendon and James Marsters tell stories from the set. Also there was the actress that played Glory in Season 5.
• After the convention we also got to see James Marsters perform at the Hardrock Cafe. Nice way to end the evening! It was also nice waiting in line for the concert visiting with fellow convention goers and commenting on one horror we all noticed one lady who should not be rockin' the Princess Leia slave costume.

Things I missed:

• Having more time to browse all of the stands and possibly by some items. We did stop at an interesting booth...I wasn't too sure what it was about but it had a cut-out of a boxer with Charlie Sheen's face on it...so obviously, they were WINNING! DUH!
• There were other panels I would have loved to sit in on but it was such a pain to get into the Buffy one and the others were during the times I was nerding out with the actors we just couldn't do it. Max Brooks had one, The Guild had one, and Star Trek had one. Oh well...always next year which happens to be the 10th one!
• Taking more pictures. The attendees alone were pure entertainment and some of them had quite elaborate costumes. One man looked very much like an older Ewan McGregor and yes...was dressed as a very convincing Obi-Wan.
• Of course more time to meet the other actors mentioned at the beginning of this blog. It's a hard job being such a nerd and I love way too many things to keep up with it all!

All in all it was a blast and I can't wait to do it again. I am unashamed of being a nerd and have embraced it. We are the most fun, creative, and entertaining group and we like good stories and not the made up pseudo-reality show crap!