My Weekend At Wizard World (Pics Included)

When I was chosen to represent 1428elm at the inaugural Wizard World: Louisville I knew it was going to be huge, but I didn’t know HOW HUGE !

Day one:

I arrived around 4 O’clock Friday afternoon. I instantly sensed a feeling of belonging. There was just something in the air, letting me know this was going to be historic. I found the registration area, received my press pass and took the elevator to the second floor of the Kentucky International Convention Center. I followed the crowd and entered through the door to the show room. I was instantly overwhelmed by the sight of all these people with interests just like mine. I’m not sure exactly how many people where there, but it easily had to be over a thousand. At first I just wandered around from booth to booth looking at various merchandise. Toys, comics, table top games, video games, shirts, it was all there. I felt like a kid again. After I browsed for a little bit, I made my way over to the autographs area to get in line for Sean Astin.

I sat there talking to a friend who was there, also in line to meet Astin. Soon I felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard a voice saying “Excuse me, who is everyone waiting for?” I turned around to tell the person, I didn’t have to…. It was HIM! I swear I must have come up a few inches out of my wheel chair. Here is someone who I’ve watched as a kid in a movie that to this day is still a favorite of mine (The Goonies in case you were wondering, yea I’m a bit older than the Lord Of The Rings movies. I like them too, but for me it was all about The Goonies, why? Because…. Goonies never say die!) I waited patiently, but anxiously with my copy of The Goonies 25th anniversary blu ray in hand. When I finally got to him he was still so nice and humble. I asked him a few questions, he answered them to the best of his knowledge. My day had started off kind of crummy, but it started to go better from there.

After that I went back to the vendors, and to pick up some merchandise. I came away with a Freddy Krueger figure (a not burned variant from Freddy’s dead). I wish I had more money, but that isn’t the convention’s fault it’s mine. I wasn’t prepared. I wandered around some more, admiring the costumes. The time, and dedication these people show toward this is amazing, as you will see in some of the pics. I lost count of how many Doctor Who inspired costumes I seen. I knew the fandom was huge, but even I underestimated it. Silly me forgot to take pictures of them. I was so busy just getting my feet wet as a recognized member of the press and was stunned (I did however get a pic of a functional Dalek.) To end the evening I met a childhood hero, Jason David Frank: Tommy Oliver the original green and white Power Ranger.

Day two:

By the time I got to bed, I was wore out. So much so I overslept, and missed getting to the Con as it opened. I arrived an hour or so after on a dreary rain soaked day. I was shaking off the cold as I entered the elevator again to start my second day of Wizard World Louisville. I was thinking to myself it couldn’t possibly be bigger than it was yesterday. Boy was I wrong! My jaw almost dropped as I seen the amazing number of people. I won’t even try to guess how many people were actually there this day. I didn’t meet any celebrities this day sadly, but I did go back to the vendor and bought the burned version of the Freddy’s dead figure, and a Punisher figure. I spent most of the day just going around and taking pics with all the people in costume,introducing myself and telling them why I was there.  Below you will find pics of the various Cosplayers that were there, and this wasn’t even one percent of them. If you see yourself please feel free to tell me in the comments, and save the picture of us, since I was so overwhelmed I forgot to ask for people’s names!

I didn’t realize the Dalek was actually a costume at the time. I thought it was a prop, so I didn’t ask if I could take the picture, once again I’m sorry, and if this was you and you want me to remove it just ask.

Finally since this IS predominately a horror based website here is a picture of some awesome masks from Sinister FX

I had an unbelievably great time. One of the best times of my life. I can’t wait to do it all again next year if the good folks at Wizard World will have me again. I hope this is the first of many times I get to represent 1428elm in a public setting. Wizard World was very well run, easy access to know where to go, and a friendly helpful staff. We here at 1428elm would like to thank Wizard World for bringing such an amazing thing to Louisville, Kentucky and hope that it will now be a long standing tradition in Louisville!