Taking place in the University of Wrexham, the first Wales Comic Con of 2019 had some impressive famous faces meeting guests throughout the weekend, including Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, as well as cast members from Game of Thrones, The Umbrella Academy and Gotham.
It definitely felt like people had travelled far and wide to meet their favourite pop culture stars, because it was crazy busy. This was my first Wales Comic Con, and I would definitely have to rethink my strategy for next time in order to get close to doing/seeing everything I wanted to.
The Sunday hours were 10am – 4pm, which is a pretty short day when there’s so many people to see and things to do. I’ll be honest, because of how busy it was, and the timings of everything, I missed all the panels. I was really looking forward to the Ron Perlman and Marvel Universe Q&As, as well as the Cosplay Masquerade, and didn’t get to see the Gaming Zone.
Queuing for almost two hours just to get into the building where signings were taking place (before you queued again for the signings themselves) wasn’t really how I wanted to spend my day. The actual signings were reasonably priced though, and didn’t feel at all rushed. I enjoyed chatting with Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead’s Abraham Ford) about what it’s been like directing episodes of the show, before getting his autograph and a selfie.
Other than the signings and a photo-op (which again was reasonably priced, but as usual with photo-ops at cons, did feel a little rushed) the only thing I got to see was the Vendor Hall. Set up in huge marquee tent, the vendors on display had everything from vintage action figures to jewellery made from silver spoons. I managed to pick up a Funko Pop! Vinyl I’d been looking for for a while, and some cool Avengers posters.
Some of the artwork on display and for sale was amazing. I snagged some brilliant Gotham prints from The Zero Room, and I loved the incredibly intricate drawings of famous movie/TV houses and locations from Cult Locations Ink, as well as the gorgeous Pokémon terrariums from Patrick’s Art Room (only available at conventions, but check out his other great art here).
The cosplay turnout wasn’t as high as I thought it would be, but some of the costumes I did see were great. The 501st Legion were in attendance, greeting fans and posing for photos. Klaus Hargreaves from the Umbrella Academy TV series was a popular cosplay, with many girls clad with fake beard, pink feather boa and his ‘HELLO’ ‘GOODBYE’ hand tattoos.
The TV and movie cars were a nice touch, making another fun photo-op, even if the Jurassic Park vehicles were a little drowned in the crowds around the signing building.
While the venue/layout is far from my favourite con site, and I would definitely have to go in with a very different action plan next time around, I really enjoyed the day. The signings and photo-ops were a great way to meet your favourite actors, and the vendor hall certainly made it easy to spend the cash in your pocket. Let’s see what the next Wales Comic Con has to offer in December!
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