Are Conventions... Vacations?

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“This is the best part, getting to do this with all of you,” quipped actor Alex Brightman. With an impossibly charming smile on a panel alongside Brandon Rogers for Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, he explained that the casts of the various productions he’s been a part of, both on the screen and the stage, are his family. So, too, are all the people he meets at conventions. That’s when a chorus of “awwws” mewed out from the audience of Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC).

Considering at least a third of the audience was dressed up as demons, those awws were certainly not hard-won. We understood. For convention-goers, these crowds of like-minded individuals are family — at least for a few days. 

When we travel, so many human stories emerge. In everyday life, we rarely talk about traveling for fandoms or attending conventions despite the fact that for many of us, attending events like Comic Con takes us all over the country and the world.

Cons are glossed over as something to be ignored, or worse: gawked at. Even so, the few Cons I get to visit during the year are events I look forward to for months. These adventures introduce us to new places and new faces under the comfortable umbrella of something we already love. 

That’s the beautiful part about cons — you can be in and out of your comfort zone at the same time. It’s a bit like going to a Disney park. There is a feeling of safety, a warmness you’ll rarely find anywhere else, not to mention the dozens of oversized costume characters. Where else would you find a giant Blathers — the owl from Animal Crossing? 

Just like a Disney park, cons mean waiting in line. The vast majority of attendees couldn’t lock in reservations for the highly anticipated Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) panel. Instead, we waited in a long standby line — more of a cattle herd — for more than 90 minutes.

Sitting on the concrete floor surrounded by hundreds of eager fans, I wondered if this waiting was worth it. My companions and I pointed out cosplayers as they wandered in to pass the time; most in this bunch were from BG3. “There’s another Astarion!”

I pointed out several, mostly because he’s my favorite character, and also because the costume identification helped alleviate my anxiety about getting into the panel. 

All at once, the sort-of line was rushed into the main stage area. My group hustled to find the best spot, wondering if we’d be able to see over the crowd in the single-level ballroom. The moment the panelists were introduced and took the stage, the crowd erupted with a shared love for the video game and the fandom community. All my nerves melted away the moment I saw an actor I adore: Neil Newbon, who provided the voice and motion capture for Astarion the BG3 series. 

Newbon and Devora Wilde, who played Laezel, riffed off of one another alongside Jennifer English, the actor behind Shadowheart, and Aliona Baranova, Performance Director for BG3 and the voice actor behind Corinna and Xeph. These artists roared with belly laughs, sarcasm, and joy while fans reveled in the chance to see them as they really are — people who truly love something. None of us are so different from one another, after all. 

That’s a large part of the beauty of these conventions. As attendees, we get to interact with people in the real world with whom we’ve journeyed far and wide in fictional lands.

Suddenly, people with whom you’ve traveled all over Faerûn in BG3 or escaped zombies with in Evil Dead are more than you ever thought they’d be, and they seem to enjoy conventions as much as the fans. From the up-close perspective of the video screens, Newbon’s small collection of probably fan-made friendship bracelets was visible on his wrists. It’s those details that make these far-removed experiences feel so intimate. 

Convention centers are like cities unto themselves, providing the rest spots, photo-ops, food, and caffeination stations necessary to make it through a long weekend. Wading through artist alley crowds like salmon swimming upstream and walking back and forth between buildings will make you feel like you’ve run a marathon. I promise the spare deodorant you threw in your backpack will be worth it. Tens of thousands of people in a building will raise the temperature even in the chill of an early March in Seattle.

While cons make excellent vacation destinations, you must build in time to see the city you’re visiting, which is something I did a terrible job of this time around. A mid-morning or early afternoon respite is a terrific opportunity to get outside a bit and explore. Maybe you’ll come across a food truck and sample local eats. Admittedly, I passed on the Seattle Dog — a veggie-dressed hot dog on a bun slathered in cream cheese. As a Chicagoan, it felt like the ultimate betrayal of my city. I kept my Windy City pride and ordered a Chicago Dog instead, though it wasn’t quite the traditional variety. Poppy seed buns, celery salt, mustard, and pickled sports peppers are needed, too, people! 

Travelers are generally not likely to stop someone they don’t know and tell them how much you love their outfit. Exploring the city streets during Comin Con, however, will bring you community when you travel — or at least a story to share. At ECCC, it’s not uncommon to stop someone in their tracks just to admire their costume.

Walking back to find a seat with my sort-of Chicago Dog in hand, I saw an Yzma taking a smoke break, Snorelax taking a rest without his head, and a Beetlejuice ready for a mid-afternoon coffee to bring him back to life since no one will say his name three times. For the rest of the city dwellers, these costumed wanderers are just a part of Seattle at this time of year. For the Comic Con-goers, it’s a signal that they are one of us. Between our getups and badges, we know these fellow fandom travelers are potential friends, or at least friendly strangers. 

Who could simply walk by a drag queen Wolverine? Not me. I had to compliment the creativity and panache, plus the hundreds of rhinestones adorning the costume. That’s just how it is at Comic Cons: you get the wonderful travel experience of meeting new people with one big leg up — there is already something you have in common!

As Brightman said, convention-goers are a type of family, too. You may never see one another again, but you now share a special memory. Whether you visit a con in your own city or one far away, within them, everyone is a traveler. We straddle the worlds of reality and fiction, blurring them for one magical weekend at a time.

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