Convention Connection: Escondido’s NerdCon 2016

Post by S. M. Metzler

Escondido’s Nerd Con is coming up late August 26-28, and our book reviewer and manga expert Hannah Heath and myself will be attending all three days, representing Constant Collectible with live podcasts and plenty (plenty) of pictures. *holds up camera* This post will briefly go over exactly what Nerd Con is, what to expect, and which guests, artists, and cosplayers will be there. Now, time to educate myself …

What is Nerd Con? First of all, Nerd Con is not as huge or formal as the big Comic Cons going on in the big cities, such as San Diego, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Denver, you name it. It’s a convention that’s meant to be friendly and safe, arranged and organized by nerds no different than ourselves who just want to have fun celebrating nerd culture. I would say that it’s unique in that way, and I hope there are no big crowds, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed

Where is it held? There’s a lot of cool vendors going on. On the website, there’s a lot of pictures of where the convention is going to be held, outside and in at the California Center of the Arts, and it’s really beautiful there.

Which guests will be there? The featured guest is Neville Page, a concept/character designer who worked for 20th Century Fox, Planet of the Apes, X-Men 2 and 3, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Star Trek, to name a prominent few. Another guest who seems to be interesting is Flint Dille, a screenwriter and story editor for animation productions. He was even a main writer for Transformers: The Movie and is somehow involved with Pokemon Go. So I’m slightly pumped for those two; I’m all over it if it’s someone who works in the film industry.

Another guest that I’m very interested to hear is a band called “Random Gibberish.” Kudos to whoever thought up that name. Anyhow, they are a Geek Rock and Musical Comedy band, a genre I have never heard in my whole life, so I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to hear them play. The band features performances with band members Matt Sernaker, Dave Kitsberg, and a “special guest appearance” Jon St. John, who did the voice of a popular game character …? Go figure.

Now for the cosplayers! I have a feeling this will be one of my favorite things to see. First up is Harley Kat, who does a lot of Marvel/DC villains, and then there’s D-Lo Cosplay who does anything steampunk Star Wars, so that will be an interesting mash-up. Reel Guise is a group of cosplayers who are referred directly by the Skybound Entertainment. And then Amber Arden is a Disney cosplayer and fashion designer; I’m interested to see if she’ll be dressed up as Snow White, her favorite cosplay project. Ashlynne Dae looks like a cool cosplayer; her featured picture is a very realistic-looking Merida from Brave. I wonder if these people are the ones who get hired for the Disney parades?

There are also the guest “groups,” including “The Video Games” and the “San Diego Star Wars Society” (woot woot!).  Another guest is a YouTube group of directors, actors, cinematographers, cosplayers, and gamers called “Killers and Company” (hint: The Joker).

The Artists look pretty awesome too. KimCHI (Linda Nguyen) is a local artist and cosplayer who began painting using only her hands and recycled items, usually Star Wars, Marvel, or DC themed. She has a gallery in San Diego which seems really fun to check out. And then there’s the Nerd Chik-fashion guests, all of whom are female. You may or may not get too much information about that (I personally could care less), but stay tuned on the NerdCon website page of guests.

So, that’s about it on brief info for the NerdCon. Will you be attending? Look out for two two people with Constant Collectible logo shirts. We’d love to meet our readers in person if you happen to be there. If you’re in the local area and are thinking about going, don’t forget to get your pass! The convention will be up and going on August 26, 27 and 28, with badge pickup on the first day. Stop by the site http://www.nerdcon2016.com/ for more information. Thanks for reading! Cheers to you all.