Comicpalooza 2017
I was still feeling energized from my last Anime convention, and I was looking forward to my next con. Fortunately for me, my entire family enjoys going to comic conventions too, even though it’s been awhile since we have all been able to go at once. Since they all missed out on the last one, they were definitely looking forward to going to one again soon, luckily Comicpazoola was just around the corner. The last time any of us attended the Comicpalooza specifically, was back in 2013 so we were long overdue for a returning visit. At first my wife and son planned on going for just one day so I booked two single day passes and two weekend passes for my daughter and I. As the event neared though, both of the single day passes were upgraded so we could all attend for the entire weekend.
Comicpalooza kicked off on the Friday, the start of a full three day event located in the George R. Brown convention center in Houston. I waited at work to be picked up by my wife, saving a trip home to pick up the family, and to avoid paying for twice the parking! As soon as we arrived, I rushed to one of the panels I already knew I wanted to attend, since it was specifically about photography. My family roamed around the convention floor to get a feel for what was going on, with my wife and daughter in costume the entire time, as Alice from Resident Evil, and Catwoman respectively. As soon as my panel wrapped up, I met back up with them again on the third floor, where my kids were LARPing in the provided battle area. Afterwards we checked out some of the various gaming setups that were there. Since we hadn’t arrived until dinner time, it was getting already getting late so we only had time to explore a little more before they closed for the night. My kids ended up with some bags of various goodies collected from some of the booths in the exhibit hall, so they considered the day a success! I walked around snapped a few photos as we made our way out. Afterwards, we headed into town to grab a late dinner before making the trek back home.
Saturday. I didn’t have any specific plans on my schedule, other than one specific panel on cosplay photography, so we got a late start and arrived at noon. This time I was convinced by the family to get into the cosplay spirit of things. It was a simple costume, but I ended up dressed as the newer Superboy, complete with the black shirt, red “S”, boots, and jeans. I did get noticed by one fellow comic fan, but other than that, by this crowd’s standards, I was pretty inconspicuous. I checked out a few of the different activities and panels throughout the convention, as well as several of the vendors, all while getting some shots of the great outfits of fellow con-goers.
There was a lot more people present than the previous day, it seems like many fans had decided to skip the Friday night, but they had come out in large numbers for the weekend. I ran around, going back and forth between different areas of the con, but spent most of the time on the first floor where the arcades, LARP-ing areas and kids play area were. Of course the more recent movies and shows inspired many of the cosplayers for the con, there were several Deadpools, Harley Quinns, Guardians of the Galaxy characters, Star Wars characters, Spider-Mans, and some Ricks (Rick and Morty). Even though there was several Ricks there, I didn’t manage get any pics of them… (next year!). I was happy to see the many different variations of Harley, not just the latest “Suicide Squad” version. After being there for about six hours, I got the memo that my family was ready to go for the day, so got back into our “Cosplayer Delivery-mobile” for the drive home.
Sunday. I returned with my daughter only, she was sporting her kangaroo onesie and she convinced me to wear my classic Superman suit, (my “muscles” are a little bigger this year, but I got it to fit anyway). We made our way to the third floor so she could play some games before making our way down to the exhibit hall. The last day’s attendance was a bit lighter than expected. At most cons I have attended, Sunday does usually have a lower attendance along with shorter hours, but competing with Mother’s Day this year, Sunday seemed light on crowds even by usual Con-Sunday standards.. One character in particular seemed to be a popular choice with the fans on Sunday, as I saw several Riddlers walking around the convention center floor. We made several rounds and made a few purchases from the vendors before heading back home early to celebrate Mother’s Day at our house. I definitely need to work on a schedule for these cons, as I missed some of the activities I wanted to attend, but the two panels I was most interested in, I did manage to catch, so I wasn’t feeling like I missed out on too much.
I though I took a decent amount of images, but there was so many more cosplayers I missed out on. After seeing some of the other photos from the con, there were some really great ones I missed. Hopefully next time I will be able to capture more. Now I wait for the next con to attend!
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