Prepare for the upcoming Tidewater Comicon with this review of Richmond’s recent GalaxyCon.
Featured Image: The Richmond GalaxyCon was held from Friday, March 24 through Sunday, March 26. GalaxyCon Richmond on Facebook | Courtesy
Movie fans, anime enthusiasts and avid lovers of television shows flocked to Richmond’s Greater Convention Center for three jam-packed days of fun during the last weekend of March. GalaxyCon Richmond was full of nonstop excitement and long-awaited meet-and-greets. People traveled from around the country to visit Richmond and see their favorite stars in person.
The convention center was full of voice actors, comic book artists and tons of vendors selling their handmade works of art. For those who love anime, this is one of the best events of the year. This convention gives you the chance to meet people from “Star Wars,” “Doctor Who,” “Star Trek,” “My Hero Academia,” “Demon Slayer,” Disney and Marvel Universe movies and so much more.
GalaxyCon offers only four conventions each year in different areas for those looking to attend. Places including Columbus, Ohio, Richmond, Virginia, Austin, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina are home to these massive extravaganzas. If you’re lucky enough to afford the full three-day pass, the convention provides many special events besides the creators to fill your time. Each day’s itinerary is packed with fun activities like Fantasy Super Cosplay Wrestling, tabletop gaming, costume contests, question and answer panels and “After Dark” dance parties.
In Fantasy Super Cosplay Wrestling, trained professionals dress as popular legendary characters from comic books, movies, anime, television and video games. They travel through the multiverse and come together to battle it out to see who is the most formidable champion in the galaxy. This event is hard-hitting, highflying action at its best.
In the final show on Sunday, characters like Marvel Universe’s heroes SpiderGwen, Loki and Deadpool battled with Cartoon Network’s “Teen Titans” and Miss Trunchbull from the “Matilda” movie. A strange combination of characters brought to you by the multiverse allowed for a wild show. After many jumps from the top rope and matches from each character, the final match was an eight person fight with two people on each team. This resulted in Miss Trunchbull and her partner winning the Fantasy Super Cosplay Wrestling gold belt.
If you’re unable to catch any of these fun activities and shows, it might be because you spent extended periods of time waiting in line to meet your favorite character’s real voice actor. The dedication to the love of your favorite entertainers is no small feat to the faithful and committed fans. Some wait in line for hours to meet their number one celebrity. With some lines stretching across the entirety of the convention center, these actors have a lot of autographs and fans to meet.
Many of the popular voice actors and celebrities hold special photo opportunities for those who want to purchase a meet and greet ahead of time and not wait in the lines. These people also tend to speak at scheduled panels with their fellow co-actors for discussions on their shows and questions from fans.
“I like getting to meet them face-to-face,” Donavon Williams, a frequent comic-con attendee, said. “It’s even cooler when they’re a voice actor and you can hear them speak in that character’s voice.” Williams and his friends have attended GalaxyCon for the last three years in both Raleigh and Richmond. This year they decided to purchase special VIP passes to have shorter lines and enjoy more of the convention’s other activities.
“Oh it was definitely a game changer,” Jamal Butler, a friend of Williams, said. “We were able to spend not even a quarter of the time in lines than we usually did.”
By spending the extra money to upgrade to VIP, this group of friends spent more time visiting the smaller vendor booths that sold handmade art. Gwen Martinez, a local of the Hampton Roads area, owns her own small business called “That’s My Stitch” and attends both Richmond and Raleigh GalaxyCons. At conventions she is able to sell her handmade crafts.
Martinez creates small crocheted mushrooms and cacti, large incredibly soft hair scrunchies and mini desk rugs. While her online business tracks a lot of customers, selling at large conventions like this allows her art to be seen by so many more people.
“It’s really cool to meet people that usually wouldn’t see my stuff,” Martinez said. “It makes creating my art much more worth it.”
Whether you’re a huge fan of anime or just like shopping for small artists and businesses, GalaxyCon has something for just about everyone to enjoy. If you’re interested in attending an event similar to this one, Hampton Roads is offering the Tidewater Comicon at the end of May on a smaller scale.
They’ve begun releasing their special guests, including actors Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum from the superhero drama “Smallville” and actress Adrianne Palicki from the film “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” and are now selling tickets for the two-day event. The Tidewater Comicon will be held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center from Saturday, May 20 to Sunday, May 21.
By Kylea McCarel
ksmccarel@vwu.edu
