Host City: Lexington, KY
Venue: Lexington Center
Date: March 14-16th, 2014
Three years ago, Lexington Comic & Toy Convention(LCTC from here on out) debuted in the Lexington Center. It was a one-day event that drew around 4,000 attendees and used only a fraction of Heritage Hall. Year Two was two days and expanded into all of Heritage Hall, but also saw an uptick to 10,000 attendees. I don't have much personal interest in the comics side of geekery, but this con is on my turf, yo - and in a city of middling size like Lexington, a show that draws a crowd as big as 5% of the local population is kind of a big deal.
Enter Year Three.
Final attendance tallies put the attendance this year at around 19,000. In case you're curious, the only other show I do that gets numbers like those is GenCon Indy, and that show is in Indianapolis, more than double the attendance, and far larger in terms of space. Keep that in mind - it'll be on the quiz later.
First, let's talk a little about the location. We sports and concert pretty hard here in Lexington, so if you've been here there's a good chance you've been to Rupp Arena. What you might not be familiar with is the attached Lexington Center, beyond anything more than "the entrance to Rupp." But you should be. It's snazzy, gorgeous, attached to a beautiful Hyatt, and a good place to poke your head into if you're walking around downtown. It's also the home of Heritage Hall, an expansive event space facing Triangle Park, which only serves to make it an even swankier location for shindigs of all types. Like, say, a vendor hall or artist alley.
So now the question you're likely asking is "20 thousand people in downtown Lexington for something that isn't sportsing? What the hell for?!"
To answer that best requires at least two important pieces of information:
- Lexington sits as a hub to a good number of large cities with comic shows, yet has lacked its own substantial offering in that category until the past few years.
- The guest list. SO MANY GUESTS.
If you're a geek who has lived in Lexington for any significant amount of time, 1) above probably doesn't surprise you. At times, it can feel like there isn't much around here for people who aren't sports fans, so Lexington has a huge geek community that has been largely under-served in big events for far too long. LCTC boasts a gigantic collection of vendors who specialize in comics and toys(who'da thought given the name, right?) including some very rare stuff that's incredibly hard to find elsewhere. Among said vendors were The Playroom, A+ Comics, Collectibles, Etc., d20 Hobbies, Heroes' Realm, and more. There were so many that they packed the middle swath of Heritage Hall like a Roman military camp, only with books and toys instead of Legionnaire arms.
And in some cases, Legionnaire arms too, probably. Seriously, there's all kinds of stuff for sale at this show.
However, 2) is a more surprising piece of the pie. The guest list for LCTC has gotten impressive: this year, the headliners included George Takei, William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, and Lou Ferrigno, and also Power Ranger alums Walter Jones, Jason David Frank, and Amy Jo Johnson. Of course, that just scratches the surface of folks who came out to see their fans(even of just Power Rangers actors, of which there were many) - there were also the actors who gave us Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, and Goldar, Roger Jackson and Tim Kaine(I know them best as Mojo Jojo and Professor Utonium from the Powerpuff Girls), Theodus Crane(a.k.a. Big Tiny from The Walking Dead, who is a cool dude you should say hello to if you ever get the chance), wrestling icon Mick Foley, legendary cartoon voice actor Jim Cummings, cosplayers Ani-Mia, Nicole Marie Jean, Soni Aralynn, and LeeAnna Vamp, and the 501st Legion, the Star Wars costume club also known as Vader's Fist. I could talk on and on about the guests, but I'll just list 'em here so you can get a sense of how amazing this show is.
Note: there's a *crapton* of people on this list. I've tried to organize them roughly by genres, but some of them work in multiple areas of entertainment, of course.
- William Shatner
- Melissa McBride
- George Takei
- Nichelle Nichols
- Lou Ferrigno
- Black Stone Cherry
- Robert Carradine
- Curtis Armstrong
- Amy Jo Johnson
- Karan Ashley
- Blake Foster
- Walter Jones
- Jason David Frank
- Nakia Burrise
- Catherine Sutherland
- Steve Cardenas
- Barbara Goodson
- Kerrigan Mahan
- Robert Axelrod
- Brandon McLaren
- Veronica Taylor
- Jim Cummings
- Tom Kane
- Roger Jackson
- Mick Foley
- Honky Tonk Man
- Big Van Vader
- Jim Cornette
- Jason Faunt
- Erin Cahill
- Jessica Rey
- John Dugan
- Jett Lucas
- Mike Quinn
- John Morton
- Daniel Logan
- Eric Walker
- Tim Rose
- Ralph Brown
- Glenn Morshower
- Jeff Parazzo
- Kevin Duhaney
- Paul Schrier
- Jason Narvy
- James Hampton
- Raphael Sbarge
- Carlos Alazraqui
- Christopher McDonald
- Felix Silla
- Naomi Grossman
- Noel G
- Theodus Crane
- Jeremy Ambler
- Drew Curtis
- Paris Themmen
- DJ TRE
- Chris Blair
- LeeAnna Vamp
- Nicole Marie Jean
- Ani-Mia
- Soni Aralynn
- Jim Steranko
- Denny O'Neil
- Bob McLeod
- Doug Sneyd
- Janet Lee
- Allen Bellman
- Tim Seeley
- Mike Royer
- Larry Elmore
- Robert Venditti
- Jim Mahfood
- Bob Hall
- Justin Castaneda
- Darryl Banks
- Mark Kidwell
- Gary Kwapisz
- Billy Tackett
- Stuart Sayger
- Jay Leisten
- Jeremy Whitley
- Craig Boldman
- R.D. Hall
- Damion Scott
- Sean Forney
- Nathan Thomas Milliner
- Sam Greenwell
- Chad Lambert
- Tommy Patterson
- Jamie Snell
- Kimberly Dunaway
George Takei signing my Adventure Time DVD would have made my weekend, even if nothing else awesome had happened. Of course, there was plenty of additional awesome to go around. I had a conversation with Mojo Jojo about keeping my eye on the mad science ball. I took a picture with Ani-Mia. And I got to shake Walter Jones's hand. That's how my weekend went. But I'm kinda getting ahead of myself, so I'll slow it down a little and give some more detail.
Since there were so many people to meet, getting to them all would have been a feat of strength beyond my capacity at present(particularly with as packed as the venue was). So I'll focus on a few I did get to speak with below.
My dad has an impressive collection of the original Star Trek series that would have been pretty hard to avoid, growing up in my house. I'm not a big Trekkie, in the interest of full disclosure, but I definitely have a spot in the depths of my heart for it. However, I don't think you need a reason to want to meet George Takei. So I did. I don't often get star-struck anymore at these events, but George has long since surpassed being just a "geek icon," and has moved quite comfortably into the role of "full-on cultural icon." But he was every bit the amiable, easy-to-talk-to person you probably picture him to be. And now, the voice behind Ricardio has graced my Adventure Time DVD with his signature. It's seen some battle damage, but that's what happens when you run with Finn.
One of Roger Jackson's most well-known roles is Ghost Face, the iconic serial killer from the Scream series(fun fact: Ghost Face's lines were delivered live, and without the other actors seeing who was speaking, to get their actual reactions on camera. But if you have the LCTC 2014 program, you probably knew that). My favorite Jackson role though was the incomparable genius and eternal nemesis of the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo. It's not often that you can spend ten minutes getting pointers on how to take over the world from one of the greatest minds of all time. Curse those wretched Powerpuffs!
Situated just a short distance from my friends at a Punch in the Art(link) was the cosplayer and model Ani-Mia, whom I first ran across and have become familiar with over the past year or so. I had been browsing the guest list idly in the weeks leading up to the convention, but I had missed her name. So seeing that she was going to be one of the judges for the costume contest, and was going to be so close to one of my partners-in-crime, was a pleasant surprise. I'd never met a professional cosplayer before, but she was very approachable and super-friendly. Give her Facebook page a like, if costuming is your thang.
I've mentioned these guys in passing here and on my Facebook page a few times, but if you aren't familiar with Vader's Fist, they're a Star Wars costuming club with branches all over the US(and the world, in fact). If you're a Star Wars buff - I'm not, but I do research - then you probably know that the costumes used in the original trilogy were largely put together from scrap, grit, and positive thinking. The 501st has all of those things, and on top of that has professional-quality know-how and materials that lead to amazing results. And it's not just the costumes themselves - it's the attitude and style. It's one thing to see a group of people in Storm Trooper outfits. It's another entirely to be present when a squad of Storm Troopers comes marching into a hall in formation and lock-step as an honor guard to Darth Vader, while still being cool guys who will just spend time idly talking to you even when they're swamped with people at a crowded convention. On top of that, they do a lot of charity work, which really puts them into a higher tier when it comes to fan organizations. So keep an eye out for them, and go say hello when you see their booth. They're always recruiting for new members of the Fist, after all.
Soooo next up is the artist alley(not to be confused with Artist Guests like Larry Elmore and Jim Steranko). Frankly, this section was kinda nuts - there's always good stuff in these, but our creative types really brought their A+ game. And they filled as much of the hall as anyone else. For the sake of brevity, here's a list of just a few of the booths you could find at this year's show:
- Bardic Kitty - My base of operations, safe behind a wall of chain mail.
- A Punch in the Art - Frequent con buddies, real-life buddies of mine, and lair of the Sharktopus(and also the Big Mac).
- Sew Peach - Maker of the softest hats ever.
- Jenny Stead - One of our alley neighbors, artist of Ninja'd, and dangerously awesome.
- Cute-Loot - The name says it all. Just look at this Attack on Titan parody.
- Weaboo Warehouse - Hoodies and flower crowns. Her Attack on Titan Corps hoodies caught my eye first, and she also has a line of Sailor Senshi ones that are fantastic.
- Kentucky Geek Girl - One of my blogger contemporaries, and a page I often turn to to stay informed on geek issues in this area.
- Beaucoup Pop - Pop-culture podcasters extraordinaire.
- Daunt - Artist with an eye-catching, colorful style wh-SHE DID AN ART NOUVEAU RED LANTERN CAT AND I LOVE IT.
As for the rest of what there was to see, I'll let my usual assortment of photos give you an idea.
Unfortunately, even with all of this cool stuff - and there was a lot, as you can see - no show is without its issues, and LCTC's major issues were apparent to anyone who made it onto the grounds: space and line management. Heritage Hall is just not equipped to handle almost twenty thousand people; autograph lines for the headliner guests stretched from the tables at the rear to halfway through the hall, and all-too-frequently rubbed up against the lines for the guests on the sides of the hall, as well. Which, with the already somewhat-cramped quarters thanks to the sheer number of attendees and the number of booths and tables, combined to make shopping around the edges of the hall a harrowing experience. And that was if you made it inside; the line for registration snaked back from the ticket office inside Heritage Hall itself through multiple areas all the way into the food court, criss-crossing with the ATM line and leading to several people I know just giving up and leaving. Now, those are likely just growing pains, as this is a very young con, and its attendance has skyrocketed in a short time, but they're issues that can lead to significant attendee frustration. The convention staff will have to address those carefully but thoroughly in the coming years.
Well, now that I've gone through that, it's time to wrap this bad boy up. In summary, LCTC is a great mid-size con with a very promising future. It has some issues, but shows have survived far worse, and if it can get those worked out, it will be well-poised to provide an exciting new draw for people to visit Lexington. And I'm not just saying that because they gave me free entry they sought me out and asked me to attend they paid me to teach Ninja 101 I purchased a VIP badge.
Hey, what can I say? I dig these folks.
Until next time, this is your Sentimental Buddy Ro. Peace.
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