Salt Lake City Fan-X 2014, Part One
 While most of the Fanboy Planet crew trekked to Anaheim for the traditional Wondercon, it turned out that the rest of the country was playing, too. Over in Washington, D.C., Easter weekend saw Awesome Con (which advertised heavily in comics), and in Utah, another player entered the game -- Salt Lake City Comic-Con, which itself launched in 2013, offered its inaugural "Fan Experience." Not too shabbily, it drew over 100,000 attendees.
So as the Convention season opens, and everybody wants a taste of the Comic-Con magic, it seems like the regional cons are going to be the future. But at 100,000, that doesn't feel so quaint and regional. And when you see the talent Fan-X drew in, well, it's clear that having competing Cons means studios have to rethink their strategies. Where is it going to be crucial to send people? Is it crucial at all?
We had an intrepid new photographer at Fan-X (held in the Salt Palace), Yong-Chan Kim, whose photos and experience show that at least in Salt Lake City, this is more and more about the fans, which is a good thing. However, like with Wizard World, we're getting tiered experiences and access is becoming a have and have not thing. Yong paid an extra $160 for the VIP experience, which gave him great access at panels, and as you will see, great access to celebrities.
Which brings me to a thought expressed by Nathan Fillion on the Nerdist podcast -- and I am paraphrasing -- "I am not paid for the job I do, but for the life I can't have as a result of it." When we're paying to get photos with celebrities as if they were family portraits, well, it says something that I'm not quite sure what yet. Somebody prod at me (Derek) on the Facebook page.
Regardless, Fan-X seemed like a great show, and thank you to Yong for the pictures and the jealousy they inspired. They'll be hosting a more formal (?) Comic-Con September 4-6 of 2014.
| |
Okay. If this man shows up outside your windown in that thing... I don't know. But join him on THIS journey....
|
|
I've never seen an artist's gallery this relaxed...
|
|
Closer to the madness we nkow... but it looks pretty well-behaved...
|
|
Wait... what's this long line for?
|
|
What? Nathan Fillion went to Fan-X and not Wondercon?!?
|
|
Fan-X had a little tribute to TNG, allowing people to sit at a recreation of the bridge...
|
|
A pretty detailed facsimile, too...
|
|
It included Brent Spiner...
|
|
...and... Patrick Stewart, who dropped in to join his TNG pals rather than his X-Men pals at Wondercon...choke...wheeze...
|
Next, the cosplay, a staple of all conventions. And some really cool displays that prove it's the fans driving it!
|
