- stormtrooper
Every year Philadelphia is host to the “Pioneers of Pop Culture” Wizard World. Nerds come out and celebrate everything they love from obscure indy comics, to major motion pictures.
Just to clarify I use the term “nerd” with nothing but respect, being a 27-year-old man who still really wishes some sort of radioactive disaster would happen resulting in me gaining superhuman abilities, I couldn’t use it any other way.
If you have never been to Wizard World Philadelphia, it’s just like any other convention only full of artists, film makers, proprietors of Comics and figures, celebrities and of course Cosplayers.
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for “costume play”, is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea.
This year Wizard World was (I’ve been told) a lot bigger than years prior. The booths were bigger, the space better filled, and the celebrities more “high-profile”
I attended the show for 2 of the 4 days it was running. Friday morning I arrived about an hour after the show started and to say the least it was a bit underwhelming. Usually at events like this you are shoulder to shoulder with an aging Wolverine, and an overweight Princess Leia, but this day I had at any given moment, about 5 feet between me and any other patron.
This was nice
I was free to gawk lovingly at things from my childhood and different artist interpretations of characters that have been a part of my life for the better part of 2 decades.
- Delorean
Saturday however was Con-business as usual. Long lines, shoulder to shoulder traffic and as is par for the course, more cosplay. While I didn’t get a chance to photograph all of the wonderful costumes that made an appearance, here are just a few so you get the idea.
- Carnage
- There was a guy in this at one point..just not at this exact moment
- lydia from beetlejuice (cosplayed by our friend Joanna from Geekadelphia)
While the regular joe dressed as a Stormtrooper is awesome and all there is more to Wizard World than a bunch of adults playing Halloween in June…There is a chance to meet your favorite Si-Fi actor or actress…some of this years honored guests were…
- Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, William Shatner, & Patrick Stewart
- Stan Lee -Co-Creator of Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk, Ironman, Thor, Captain America (dude’s a big deal)
- Dean Cain – Superman/Clark Kent “Lois and Clark”
- James Marsters – Spike “Buffy”
- Chris Hemsworth – Thor “Thor”, “The Avengers”
- Shannon Elizabeth – “American Pie”, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”
- Anthony Michael Hall – “Weird Science”, “Warehouse 13″ “The Dark Knight”
- Peter Mayhew – Chewbacca ”Star Wars”
- Norman Reedus – “The Walking Dead”, “Boondock Saints”, “Blade II”
- Bruce Campbell – “Army of Darkness”, “Evil Dead”
I could go on for days..
for the full list, follow this link http://www.wizardworld.com/home-pa.html
Overall the experience was not far from what I’m used to being a regular attendee to the New York Comic Con that is held every October, Wizard World was a nice, significantly smaller, change of pace. There were tons to see and talk about, mostly which figures, books, and art I couldn’t justify wanting to buy.
and trust me…I wanted to buy it ALL
Batsuit
Action Figure Wall
Tardis
As the day came to an end I lumbered back to Market East Station with a belly full of food from Redding Terminal Market, and a head really wishing I could teleport because my feet really hurt.
with that said
Vote for Dot Com….
Kevin Brown - Dot Com "30 Rock"
