Seattle Bound: Day 1 - Emerald City Comic Con
Seattle is the city of innovation and technology. If not , I would definitely cosign and say that this city is so forward in their thinking that New York could definitely learn a few things about this place. With numerous buildings under construction, dilapidated areas are giving rise to newer versions of themselves in more modernistic styles and aesthetics. Being here for the first time, I am absolutely taking in the fact that Seattle is nestled in a valley surrounded by large snow capped mountains and observing the people, they are very calm, relaxed and easy going.
With Seattle’s beauty, creativity and ReedPop’s inventiveness, their creation of Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC) is now Seattle’s premiere Comic Con drawing in thousands of followers as they display themes of pop culture in comic book, manga, digital & print form, and cosplay. As this is Region 99’s, first attempt on reviewing the northwest coast we came to see what, when and how this con, nestled in the valley of technology, coffee (Starbucks was founded here) and innovation, was able to see how it functions.
Nestled in the Washington Convention Center, Day 1 of Emerald City Comic Con gave way to thousands of participants as they navigated what appears to be a map similar to a Resident Evil Game. Between three buildings; The Hyatt Regency, Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) and The Conference Center (TCC); ECCC expanded their con to offer patrons so much more. In the WSCC, they offered patrons Cosplay Central which encompassed a repair station, a workshop and a changing room. For the TCC, it dealt with all manner of gaming; Offering free access to playing the latest and greatest on either the PS4, Xbox One, or PC to table top gaming; ECCC has really thought out the pop culture environment as they are catering to all for this event.
Show Floor
The show floor was immense with vendors from the northeast area and other familiar faces from the east coast as well. Reed Pop’s creative planning allowed both the vendors and the participants to freely walk through the con as supporters splurged their hard earned dollars living their childhood dreams. As I navigated the floor, there was one vendor that I have to mention here because their merchandise were too good to be true.
The Face of Toy Temple Owner
Toy Temple
Toy Temple, based out of Arizona and Southern California was definitely the ‘Plug’ so to speak in regards to getting those exclusive Funkos. Having the exclusive Power Level 9000 Vegeta -$150, Jiren (limited quant) - $40 and Sauske (Cursed Marked-Limited Quant) - $40. I definitely cringed at the price points based on the quantity he had. As for me I grabbed a Sauske and a Jiren!!!
2.5d: Dioramas and Displays
Imagine this… you see a pixel display of your favorite video game character, now imagine that same character in a 3-d environment with a background and foreground with additional characters in still life. My words do not give these vendors the respect they deserve as 2.5d totally rocked with their video games referenced pixel characters in their corresponding environments. This vendor absolutely blew my mind with their artwork. Sure, I’ve seen pixelated characters in a stance at comic cons but never like this. At this point, I decided I will order this for Christmas.
Artist Alley
My next traveling adventure was to artist alley to check out the locals and the new and up and coming. There was one artist that I saw whose work had a definite quality about it: MauArtist: The Art of Mauricio Abril. His work had a reflective quality to it as he utilized themes of the past and the future to create illustrious images of nostalgia. Two pieces that I absolutely love was the Princess Leia (with the children running around and the Black Panther Child print with him imagining himself as the official Black Panther. For me, there was power in these prints as reflection gave way to reality.
Venom Costume Cosplay
Cosplay
As with every con one of the major highlights of them is the cosplay. For Seattle, they seem to have a handle on ‘cosplaying’ as they came out in full gear. Because there are too many to discuss, some great Thursday finds are on the Instagram portion of this piece. However, one notable cosplay for the con that is making a come up is the shared body of Eddie Brock from the movie Venom. Easily done, yet still complex, one participant certainly took his cosplay to a decent level in a modest way.
Thursday’s End
Thursday’s adventure was a great introduction to the ECCC. With today marking the initial day of Region 99s venture to the west coast, the local artwork, indie and professional cosplay here certainly kicked butt with ReedPop once again setting up a fantastic con. Looking forward to Friday and Saturday.
