Grand Rapids Comic Con

 In the spring Ledger and I attended the Kalamazoo Comic Con and had a blast! Keep in mind, Ledge has absolutely no interest at all in comic books, he is only there to wear a costume, see others, and be seen. Just like his love for Halloween, he loves a good dress-up! After that con, I told him that there was a much bigger convention in the fall in Grand Rapids. He said that he was definitely interested in going to it and I could see the gears in his head already turning as he was plotting and planning on what character he wanted to dress up as for that one! As we got closer and closer the date, he settled on what he wanted to go as: Chris, one of the characters from Deltarune. It was a pretty straight forward costume, brown pants, a green shirt with one stripe, hair covering his face, and a red heart. Easy enough. So we began gathering up all the parts we needed and found a great shirt that was exactly what he wanted!

The day of the convention we drove up to Grand Rapids, just the two of us, found a parking spot and walked to the convention center. Already, before we even made it there, Ledger was getting so excited seeing all the different people dressed up in the streets on their way to the con. Initially he was a little bit concerned that there wouldn't be many people who would recognize his costume or other costumes that he would know. That was quickly alleviated as soon as we stepped into the comic con! There were dozens and dozens of people dressed up as characters from some of his favorite games and shows, everywhere we turned he would grab my arm and say 'Dad- check out that one!' and explain to me who they were dressed up as. Most of our day was filled with people stopping Ledge to take a picture, or Ledge stopping others to get their picture! He kept getting people smiling at him and complimenting him on his look- he was in heaven!

As we made our way up and down the many aisles of nerdy stuff, it became very clear to me that this is no longer the comic book conventions of my youth. Back in my day, the rows were filled with comic books and toys based on those characters. It used to be made up of about 80% comic book stuff, 19% nerdy tv shows and cartoons, and maybe 1% anime. Well, dear reader, that is no longer the case. Now it is about 60% anime, 35% video game stuff, and maybe 5% comic book stuff. What a change! I wore my ol' standard Captain America hoodie, but I was in a very small minority of comic book characters. Other than Spider-Man (who's popularity will probably never wain), I think I counted 3 other people in that whole sea of nerdom who were dressed like superhero characters: one Deadpool, one Batman, and one Wolverine. That was it. But there were about 15 Hollow Knights from Elden Ring... I guess even nerdy things can become outdated. Kids these days aren't as thrilled with X-Men and Spawn like we were. I think that's probably a good thing. Let my interests age with me and let the younger generation create their own interests. I don't always get the things he loves, but that's ok because he doesn't always get the things I love either.

Check out the rest of our fun at the convention here: prep, the venue, and costumes!

His First Con

A week or two after his last birthday, Ledger wanted to have a little talk. I was a bit concerned, unsure of what heavy topic he wanted to discuss. Turns out it wasn't anything heavy at all. He said that he loves playing different video games so much that he wishes he could dress up like the different characters and walk around pretending to be them. 'Is there any way I can do that, dad?'.  Well, son, you are in luck! There are these little things called 'conventions' and you are allowed to cosplay at them! Well, he was thrilled that such things exist. 'Wow, really? Can we go to one?' Of course, son. I have been to dozens before! He's never really been interested in superheroes or comic books, so I figured he would never want to go to a convention. Turns out I was completely wrong! He doesn't want to go as a superhero; he wants to go as a video game character! I did a little digging and realized that there was actually a comic book convention scheduled for the next weekend! What luck!

He picked out the character he wanted to be, and we made quick work of assembling his costume. He decided on a character from the game Regretevator (I have no idea, don't ask me). So we made a list of what he needed to create the costume, then headed to the craft store to see what they had. We got a shirt, some paint, and everything else we found and ordered online. We worked together to paint the shirt and made it looked like what the character wears and assembled it all together when everything arrived- just in time too, the last parts didn't show up until the day before the convention! He was super pumped with how it turned out- just like it looks in the video game! He was really excited to wear the costume and play the part of the character, but he had one lingering reservation: what if no one else knew who he was dressed as? He figured there would be a ton of different superhero costumes, but maybe he picked a character that was too obscure. He was concerned that he would only get blank stares or confused looks.

Saturday we drove down to Kalamazoo, about 45 minutes from home. As we walked from the parking lot to the convention center, his worries were put to rest. Even before we got inside, someone from across the parking lot pointed at him and yelled out 'You're from Regretevator!' His face lit up he excitedly waved back at them 'You're right!' they shouted back 'That's so awesome!'. We basically could have left right then and there, and he would have been glowing for a week! Over the course of the afternoon he was recognized eight to ten times, with one person even asking if they could take their picture with him.

The actual convention and booths? Eh, he said they were fine, but in reality, he wasn't actually interested in any of that. This was all about getting to be the character for the day and he absolutely loved it! We did check out all the different booths, seeing the cool artwork and toys. He found a plush alien that he liked, as well as a handful of enamel pins from The Amazing Digital Circus. I found a super good deal on an Avatar Banshee toy, so I was pleased. Overall, we both had a great time and are already making plans to go to the Grand Rapids Comic Book Convention in the fall!

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BSG Con

It's been a few years since they held a Stargate convention, much to my despair, but I happened to notice a few months ago that instead they were holding a special convention for Battlestar Galactica. Now, I had never actually seen the show before, but I knew Jon absolutely loved it and was obsessed. So I had a little talk with him to see if he would be interested in attending the BSG Con in the fall, and he almost exploded with excitement at the very notion!

With our tickets purchased and our hotel room booked, I had some homework: I had to actually watch the show! Over the next month or so I made my way through the mini-series, 4 seasons, and 2 movies. After watching the first few episodes I am relieved to tell you that I totally loved it! What a relief, how much would it suck if I didn't like the show and still had to go to the BSG Convention and pretend like I did?

Finally, October came around and it was time to head off to Chicago for the weekend and nerd out! Jon picked me up and we made the long trip. We scored a pretty good hotel room at the hotel it was being held at, so that made it so much easier for the rest of the weekend. Before we could settle into our hotel, we got to attend a few events with the special guests who were there for the convention. Turns out it was basically every single main cast member of the show! It was awesome to see them in person and hear their great stories about their time on the show and what other projects they have been up to since then.

I know there are a ton of attendees who take this whole show and convention really seriously, but that's not how Jon and I do it. We are super laid back, attend the panels we want to, otherwise we wander around the merch room or wander down to the seven eleven and get a slurpee or something. 

That night we walked over to the bar and got some great Chicago style pizza and hung out. I wasn't able to stay up too late that night. All this messing around with my sleep schedule had me a bit loopy and I zonked out pretty quick. By morning we were both up and ready for some more Battlestar Galactica love!

After two full days emersed in all things BSG, it was time for us to pack up and go. We had a total blast- a chance to leave our family worries behind and just be really nerdy. I loved it!
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First Stan

First snowfall always means one thing: Ledger will start grilling me wanting to know when we get to go out and make a snowman! We got a little snow recently and Ledge started asking. We had so little and it was too soft to make one, but that didn't stop him. He grabbed the Snowman Kit we have with all the pieces for building one, and headed out. Donning his snow pants, gloves, and hat, he made the most of what little snow we had.

The finished product wasn't as grand as some of them he has made in the past, but this little fella sure is cute!

gatecon '19

I eagerly await this weekend all year long: its time for GateCon! I think this is the seventh GateCon I've attended. The first one was back in 2010 and I've been going every year since. There were a couple years that they didn't have one, but due to popular demand, they brought it back, baby! The first one I went to by myself, but by the second year I had roped Jon in to the nerdy fun! by the 4th year we got Jeffery Lee to come too (he was never really interested in Stargate, he was just up for the adventure). This year is now the first one since we lost Jeff, so it was a little bittersweet. Jon and I made the most of it and had a grand old time! The speakers were great and the merch room is always fun to poke around in. This year I planned a head and brought extra money so I could splurge on a few extra Stargate items!

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gatecon fun

ah, another successful gatecon in the bag!  we got to see a bunch of different speakers, including parker lewis!  we got to wander around rosemont and get some pizza that totally wrecked all of our stomachs, i got some great stargate merch, and we had a blast!  its unfortunate that this will most likely be our last time attending one of these.  they are having one more next year but i think this is going to be the end of the line for us.  i guess stargate will have to live on in our hearts... and earlobes...

gatecon loot

the guest speakers are a big part of the convention, but the other fun part is going and checking out the stargate merchandise!  each year it seems like there is less and less to choose from.  this might be because the show has been off the air for 9 years, but i'm not sure...  this year though, was an exception!  there was a new booth in the merch room and they had some really rad stuff!  usually when i come to the convention i don't have much money to waste on merch, but i actually planned ahead really well for this year and had almost a hundred dollars extra to squander on stargate stuff!  i got all kinds of awesome stuff- a few new books, a cool wall mirror, and a couple stargate lego sets (ok, they are lego knockoffs, but they are still pretty rad!).  jon got a few things too, so we were having a blast in the ol' merch room!
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gatecon cant loose!

there were a lot of fun guests this year, we went to the con on sunday, so the main people we saw were...  oh, who am i kidding?  corin nemic was there!  that's right, parker lewis was at the convention!!!  i guess i hadn't really looked very closely at the schedule, because i had no idea he was going to be there until we got there.  i totally loved the old show 'parker lewis can't lose' back when it was on, and i also really loved his character jonas from the season where daniel jackson was gone from the show.  i'm pretty sure i'm in the minority on that one, but i thought his character was awesome!  jon strongly disagrees, but what does he know?  he's only been to four gatecons, its not like he's an expert on stargate or anything!
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gate con begins!

its my favorite time of year- its time for the annual stargate convention!  this is my fifth year of going to the con and i'm usually able to round up a friend or two to join me.  this year jon joined me for the 4th time, and jeffry lee tagged along for the second time.
granted, the show has been off the air for a long time now, but that hasn't lessened our passion!  there were a bunch of guests who came to speak, i spent way too much money at the booths, and we had an awesome time!

gatecon- day 2

and so we headed into an unprecedented second day of stargate love!  the convention itself has always been an all-weekend event, but we've never felt compelled to throw in our lot for more than one day until this year.  it was long heralded as the last year they would have the convention, but over the weekend it was announced by the promoters that, due to the overwhelming response from fans, they would actually have one more.  i have mixed feelings about this announcement.  on one hand, i'm glad that i can look forward to going again next year, but on the other hand, jon and i both felt a little bit cheated by their claims that this was going to be the last year...  oh well, we figured we would just kick back and enjoy ourselves and worry about next year when it happens.
again there were some great guests who came to share and talk about all their stargate memories and what they are up to now.  we stopped by the merch tables one last time.  i had a little bit of money left, so i fixed that problem immediately!  we headed out right away at the end of the day so we could hit the road- we both had to work the next day and our homes were a time zone away!
i have a feeling that if they want to keep having conventions, jon and i will keep showing up...
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a knight to remember

with the con over for the day and nothing else to do, jon and i decided to head over to schaumburg for the evening and see what was shakin.  one of the attractions around there is medieval times.  I had never been there before but jon had and was totally up for going again.  he even offered to spring for my ticket as a belated birthday gift.  well, ok, twist my arm!
i kind of knew what i was in for, but the reality of it is so much cooler than i expected.  about the only experience i've ever had with it is what they featured in that jim carrey movie 'cable guy'.  they mocked it pretty mercilessly, so i didn't really take it very seriously.  we got in there and wandered around in the lobby for a while, it was pretty cool, the whole place was decorated like a castle and you could go look at the horses or wander through the 'dungeon' and see different torture devices from the era.  as the showtime got closer, the king and princess came out, heralded by the trumpets, and proceeded to announce different birthday parties- even knighting the birthday boys and girls!  finally, they called in the different groups for their seating areas, and the magic began.  like i said, i knew it would be kind of neat to see the horses and their riders, and i knew it would be kind of fun to see the whole presentation play out, but i was surprised at just how awesome it was!  at the beginning we were instructed to clap for the knight from our seating area, so i did, politely.  but by the time the jousting and hand to hand combat was underway i was swept up in it and cheering and screaming for our guy!  it really draws you in!  the food was good and we had so much fun watching and cheering along to the two hour show!  i am definitely going to have to come back with ledger and diana sometime soon!
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gatecon krispie

on our way to the hotel we stopped at a convenience store to get a few treats for the night.  jon, who always has a flair for the extreme, decided he would get the biggest treat there ever was: a huge rice krispies treat!  he was so thrilled about his find that it became the source of hilarity through out the rest of our weekend.  as you can see by the picture, he was very proud to be the new owner of the most ridiculously large rice krispies treat ever...  sure, i like them just as much as the next guy, but come on- that thing is absurd!  i told him he had to eat the whole thing and he claimed that wouldn't be a problem.  yeah, we'll see...
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gatecon- day 1

we got an early start on the day so we could arrive at the convention before the first scheduled event.  we knew we couldn't check into our hotel room, so we just went straight to the venue and wandered around the merch room for a while.  as the first guest was getting on stage we found our seats, eager for the days' festivities to commence.  there were a bunch of fun actors from the different shows who had come to share some great stories and answer fans' questions.
one of the things that always surprises me about these conventions is the people who attend them.  now, i would assume that i know the type of people who would go to a stargate convention; initially i would picture a 35 year old fat white guys who still live with their parents (...oh wait, this is hitting a little too close to home), but the reality is that its filled with many different kinds of people!  the majority of the people attending are actually women, couples, and kids too!
jon and i attended a few of the speakers, walked over to macs for lunch, then got to hear a few more sessions.  eventually though, we were both too excited about the hotel that we ditched the last one and headed out to check in for the night.  the closest place we could find available and cheap was about 4 miles away, so we headed out and started planning out our night.
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last gate con

 i look forward to it all year and its finally here: gatecon!  i've been obsessed with the show 'stargate' for many years now and five years ago my obsession took its ultimate form- by attending a convention dedicated to stargate!  (yes, they actually exist...) and i happen to live close enough to one of the only ones in the world, chicago.  since the last stargate related tv show has been off the air for over three years now, the guys that put the convention on had declared that this year would be the last one.  after this, no more conventions.  well, when i heard that i knew i needed to make sure this one went out with a bang!  jon has gone with me to the con for the past couple years, so i asked him if he wanted to make a whole weekend out of it and go for two days instead of just the usual one day.  his response?  of course!  so we made our plans and booked a hotel room so we could stay the night.  then we patiently waited... finally the big event arrived and we were thrilled!  jon came down to pick me up and we were on our way!

gatecon guests

the three of us headed out on time and got to the con with plenty of time to spare.  when we first got there we wandered around a bit in the merchandise room, but quickly headed over to the main hall to check out this year's special guests!  they had a really great line up for us: three of the original members of the stargate sg-1 cast!  each one came up on stage and shared some fun stories about the show and talked a bit about what they are up to these days.  jon and i had a great time hearing all about their time on the show and the anecdotes they shared.  jeffry lee, who is not so much of a fan, didn't seem to bored...  by the end of the day i was very pleased with the great time we had listening to the guests and getting some good loot at the merch tables!  before i knew it we were on our way home.  another great gatecon in the books!
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gatecon '13

its that time once again, that time i most look forward to all summer: gatecon!  every year for the past four years i have attended the stargate convention in chicago.  its a weekend gathering of all the local stargate nerds where actors from the show come and regale us with funny stories, answer questions, and just chat about stargate and life in general.  as a huge stargate fan, this is heaven!  the last couple years i've roped jon into coming along with me.  it wasnt too tough, considering he loves the show too!  well, this year he did a little sweet talking, and convinced jeffry lee to tag along as well!
the two of them came into town nice and early, which gave us a chance to hang out together for a while.  we got ourselves some chinese food and had a blast just catching up.  the next day i had to work, so the two of them went out and wandered around town till i got out.  we picked up a few pizzas and watched ourselves a dumb movie.  it always seems like the worse the movie is, the more fun the three of us have watching it!

gate con is a great con

by the end of the day we had seen and heard from a bunch of actors involved in one of my favorite shows, got to joke around and be goofy with brains, and even picked up some new stargate merch.  all in all, a pretty awesome time!  cant wait to do it again next year!
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shanks for the answer

the main draw of the stargate convention this year was michael shanks, the actor who played daniel jackson in stargate sg-1.  i had seen him there the first year i went to the con, but it was really great to see him again.  the first time he was there it was good, but obvious that it wasnt his best day.  either he was too tired or just not interested, last time he wasnt all that good.  this year though, was different.  it was apparent that he was having a great time, enjoying the chance to see fans and share some stories about what he has been up to.
as he was talking and answering questions, i thought of one that i wanted to ask him.  having been emboldened by my first trip up to the microphone, i got up the nerve to go up and ask him a question.  this time it was a serious one.  i could see out of the corner of my eye as i was in line at the microphone that the guys who run the convention were staring me down, wondering if i was going to try that shananigan a second time.  dont worry, i wasnt.  instead i asked michael shanks about the stargate audiobooks that he had narrated and what that process was like.  i've got a few of them that he did and was curious what it was like behind the scenes of making them.  he was very nice and shared some interesting facts about the process and what goes in to putting them together.  it was pretty neat to have him directly address me and respond to my question!

gate con '12

the con didnt start until about 11am, so brains and i took our time getting ready in the morning.  after getting in some good quality ledger time, we headed out around 9:30am over to rosemont to find the convention hotel.  we got there and this time it was nice and relaxed, both of us had done this before, so we were comfortable and able to really just hang out and enjoy the guests and merch!
as the speakers came up we had a lot of fun just listening to the stories and the question and answer time.  when david nykl, the actor who plays dr. zelenka on stargate atlantis was on stage, brains leans over to me and says 'i'll give you twenty bucks if you go up there and say 'doctor zelenka rules!  can i have a high five?'.'  never one to back down from free money, i take that challenge.  i went up there and asked just like brains dared me to, and david nykl laughingly agreed!  i walked up to the stage and he gave me a big high five!  i dont know what anyone else in the crowd thought about it, but i could see brains in the back just laughing hysterically!  twenty bucks, please!

brains and my boy

its that time again, that most exciting weekend at the end of the summer where i get to go all out nerdy and attend my favorite nerdy activity: the stargate convention!  i've been going for the past couple years and love it!  last year brains came down for the weekend and went along with me, and he was totally up for it again this year.  he got here in the afternoon the day before the con so we had a bunch of time to hang out as well- always a bonus!  there was one big change this year compared to when he came last year- this year we've got a baby!  brains knew what he was in for, and actually rather enjoyed spending a little bit of time with our little ledger!  i hope brains didn't teach him too many new bad things...