CHI-TOWN CONVENTION CHAOS

Comic cons, horror cons and mostly any type of genre conventions have been around for decades.  Like all things they evolve over the years and grow and change.  I remember in the early 90’s going to the Fangoria conventions and the Hollywood Collector shows in Chicago and the crowds were always small and it would make you wonder how these things even stayed afloat.  But then it seemed in the early 2000’s this stuff became pop culture and soon the average person started going to these conventions.  When The Lord of the Rings movies hit and then the Marvel movies it really took a huge upswing with bringing in more people to the conventions.  While it was cool to see, it also changed all the things I loved about going to conventions.

There are two conventions that I still go to each year.  Flashback Weekend which is a horror convention on a smaller scale and I have gone back to Fan Expo which used to be the old comic con Wizard World but now this one has shifted focus to more of a celebrity autograph show and cosplay stuff than comics.  While each have some great things within them there are also things I see that bother me but I always do love going to conventions to buy stuff, go to panels and people watch.  So let’s get to the meat of this article and talk about these two long running conventions in the Chicagoland area.

Flashback Weekend has been around for a couple of decades and it is held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont.  The focus of this convention is mostly horror movies.  They do a great job of bringing in some classic horror movie celebs and some current as well to get both types of fans excited.  What I love about Flashback is it is never so over crowded that you have a hard time getting around and also the fact if you want to quickly talk to a celeb you are mostly able to wander over and ask a question or two.  Some of the higher end guests have long lines so this isn’t always possible.  The main room is filled with rows and rows of vendors selling everything from shirts, toys, dvd’s/blu rays, posters and artwork.  A lot of the Blu Ray labels like Severin Films, Vinegar Syndrome, Synapse Films and Terrorvision show up each year and sell and you can really get some great deals.  There are panels with various celebs always happening and high end photos shoots you can get with celebs as well.  For a smaller show there is a bunch always happening.

I have been only going for the past five years.  I always wanted to check it out over the years but I was kind of conventioned out for a long time.  But a while back I jumped back into collecting physical media and really getting back into movie stuff I started checking out this convention.  This con is one that is family run and has the feel like the old conventions from the early 90’s which I love.  It has a very laid back vibe and never tries to nickel and dime you for stuff.  You really get your money’s worth here.  The panels are always well done and the host of the panels always knows their stuff and I have yet to see a panel that I have not enjoyed here.  It is easy to get a good seat too.  The one downside of this con is the lack of places to eat.   The food they have at the hotel is beyond edible.

They do a lot of cool reunions like “Night of the Creeps”, “The Warriors”, “Re-Animator”, “The Thing”, and so many other classic 80’s horror movies.  The one downside for me is they really focus also on stuff like “Terrifier” and the “Scream” movies alongside the nonstop barrage of “Halloween” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” sequels.  Sadly this is what brings in the crowds so I get why they have this stuff there.  Without trying to be a snob or elitist, you can tell the two different types of fans there.  It seems the fans of the underground stuff are there looking for rare stuff like posters and movies while the current modern day fan is there for the high end photos and autographs and mostly never heard of some of these more obscure movies.  And if you think I am just making it up, go and stand next to any of the vendor tables selling movies and watch some of these types look at the movies and look totally clueless on some of these classics.  They will buy the 18th “Halloween” movie on disc but not try a classic from the 80’s.(Much less the REAL classics going back to the 30’s–Dr. M)

I always enjoy going all three days and walking around and checking out panels.  I have never been an autograph guy or one who pays for photos with celebs.  While I have paid for a couple but it is very rare.  I do love sitting and watching the panels.  There are so many great stories to be heard.  If you are a fan of movies, it is great to just sit and listen to all of this in person.  There are some days at the con I will just sit in the room and check out each one even if I am not a huge fan of the movie since you get some great inside scoop on stuff.  One thing the convention does every year is a huge costume contest hosted by Chicago Legend Son of Svengoolie.  It is amazing year after year how this guy has zinger after zinger with each person who gets on stage with him.  It is really something to see.  This is always a highlight of the convention and usually the one thing you have to get there early for to get a seat or you will be left out.  Some of the costumes are amazing.  He really makes it a lot of fun.

I think my only downside of this con is that it does lately focus on too many of the modern horror stuff but that is what sells now so I get it.  It is really depressing to see Joe Dante sitting there with no one talking to him and then a few tables over is a huge line for a Youtube movie reviewer.  I saw this happen last year.  I highly recommend this convention.  If you are a fan of horror movies and in the area of Chicago, you can’t not miss this next year.  While not a huge convention it has a lot of character and is run by some amazing people who do a great job and also they are always around making the stuff happen for everyone.

Up next is a convention that is right across the street usually a few weeks after Flashback Weekend.  It is a con that used to be Wizard World Chicago but now it is under the name and owner now called Fan Expo Chicago.  This is a huge con, like over 50,000 people a day or more.  This convention focuses on movies, comics, anime and more.  There literally is something for everyone here.  I only went back to this recently since they did some cool movie reunions that I wanted to see which we will talk about more later.  This convention has so many issues though which really gives me a love / hate vibe with it.

To start it of this one is very expensive and you are nickel and dimed at every corner.  The nightmare starts with entering the convention.  If you got your ticket online you stand in line to get your email scanned and you get your badge. You would think cool, now I can enjoy the con.  Nope.  Not yet, you have to go to the next room and pull out your phone and log into this site to register your badge and answer some questions first.  Now you have hundreds of people all trying to do this and slow internet as well. 

 Once you get this set after fifteen minutes, you then have to get a necklace thing to hold your badge around your neck.  Oh yeah…this is where it gets funny.  They have all these cloth necklaces all balled up on these tables where you can pull them apart to get one for free, but since they are all knotted up it is near impossible to get one out but don’t worry, they sell nicer ones for 5 bucks right next to it.  So you have the option to lose 20 min of convention time or spend money on something you never will use again.  Once that headache is done you can go to the next part. Now you walk down a long hall into the main room and then into the vendor room.

Now years back this was the ultimate place to get anything you needed and at great prices where you could haggle and get stuff dirt cheap.  Now this room has turned into a fancy Etsy shop and stuff at Ebay prices.  There is a lack of cool stuff to buy and most you can get online for way cheaper.  There are a lot of old comic book dealers there that I call the barren wasteland since no one is there buying books.  They are all in long lines to meet celebs.  The days of bootleg movies are long gone as well.  Now it is all 40 dollar t-shirts and over priced toys or crazy priced items to decorate your home with.   The food there is all over priced, get ready to pay 15 bucks for a water and hot pretzel.  There is a lack of places to even sit down to rest and eat.  Also in the vendor room is loads of photo ops you can do with fan groups who make these cool displays with Star Wars, GI Joe and many other themes.  They are normally free but some ask for a donation.  There is also an artist alley and most of the celebs are there as well.  It is a pretty packed huge room.

Now the celeb thing is the draw here for many.  Now unlike Flashback weekend, you just can’t walk up and talk to any celeb.  They have these people standing in the way where you have to buy your autograph at the cashier and then get in line to meet the celeb.  They even will yell at you if you try to take a photo of a celeb from far away.  The cheap prices are around 60 to 80 bucks for a photo or autograph and some get into the hundreds for a quick 30 seconds with a celeb as they sign something and you are pushed off so the next person can come in.  

Then there are many other things also happening during all of this as well.  You have two floors of various rooms of all sizes hosting all sorts of events and panels.  The main panel room is where you see the huge names doing panels.  I was lucky to see the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” panel, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, “The Goonies” and so many more.  Now for these panels you are normally sitting out in line for an hour to get a good seat.  They also have smaller panels which also fill up quick.  

The panels here are sadly hosted by people who really don’t know the movies or genre but are tv or radio talent so they get hired to run these.  I have been in some horrible panels here to the point of almost asking for my money back or yelling at the host from the crowd.  My fave was this idiot lady who had no clue what she was doing, she was some DJ from some Ohio radio station and she came out to host the Guardians panel.  They have these TV screens on the side of the stage showing movie trailers before each panel.  Now at the time the new “Jurassic World” movie was out already for weeks and the trailer was being shown.  She comes out and goes, I am like you all, you are my tribe ( huge cringe ), she goes, “I can’t wait for this new Jurassic Park movie to come out, I am a huge fan”.  Well if she was a huge fan she would have known it was out for weeks already.  She went on to ask the worst pointless questions to the stars who looked utterly confused being up there with this clueless person.  This past year the guy they had was not as bad but still painful to watch.  This year was the first year they had you pay for better seating for the Kurt Russell panel.  It was 55 bucks for silver and 70 for gold.  This starts the slippery slope of showing people will pay for this and how much more till they charge for more panels and better seating?  Soon it will become the norm.

Then between panels you can wander around the two floors of rooms and play videos games at Galloping Ghost arcade for free, watch Bizzaro Pro Wrestling with various super heroes and video game characters squaring off in the ring, enter a foam weapon battle, read books, play games, bingo, trivia contest and more.  It is actually pretty neat with all that is going on there in these rooms.  This past year I spent more time there than in the main vendor area.  You can spend a whole day just doing stuff in these rooms and almost all of it is free.  One of the few free things at this con.  Also a side note, they scan your badge wherever you go so you can feel like Big Brother is watching you while you are trying to enjoy yourself at this convention.  

There are loads of volunteers who literally have no clue what is happening or how to control a line.  There are hundreds of people walking in all directions so you will get bumped into tons of times and my favorite is when someone in a costume stops in a busy intersection so someone can take a photo with them, causing everyone to come to a halt.  You think New York traffic is bad, try walking in the vendor area at peak hours.  It is really amazing how this even runs with so many people not knowing what is going on even.  I am also not saying every aspect is awful, I do have some fun here but you have to make the most of it.

It is hard to compare the two conventions since they are on both sides of the spectrum of what they offer.  I have had some great experiences at both but Flashback really gives you more bang for the buck.  I have been able to meet and talk to many celebs without being forced away within minutes.  I saw Joe Bob Brigg sit and talk to a few fans for 30 minutes.  It is a very fun laid back atmosphere that is rarely seen nowadays.  You also have a better chance bumping into celebs at the hotel and around it during the day.  When I was getting snacks in the little food shop I ran into Malcom Danare who played Caesar in the 80’s comedy “Heaven Help Us” and was in “Christine” as well.  We had a great chat about “Heaven Help Us” and this is something you don’t get at Fan Expo.  Flashback is a more personable time and more hands on so to say.  It is also great to chat it up with other people there.  I have had some great conversations with random people about movies.  It is the one place where everyone at least has the same interest as yourself.  The prices at the vendors are also not insane.  I have gotten so much great stuff at great prices as well.

Fan Expo is your more mainstream affair.  If you want to see great cosplay, star power and the glitz and semi glamour of the convention circuit, this is your place to be.  I told myself this past year that I would never go back but then they had Kurt Russell who was doing his first and only convention appearance so I could not miss it.  You can never be bored here. There are a million things to do and a rule I always do for every convention is write down everything and the time and room number it is happening in on paper so you can quickly reference it.  Fan Expo is always running behind as well. This past year every panel started 15 min late.  The Sam Rami one started 25 minutes late and then he pulled the no photos allowed in the panel as well.  Shocked his ego could fit in the smaller room he was in for his panel.  But to make the most of a con this size you really have to plan ahead and make sure you know what is going on all the time so you don’t miss out on stuff.  Sadly a lot of the panels cross over with time slots so you will end up missing some cool stuff.

Overall I will never get tired of checking out conventions.  I love people watching, buying stuff and watching panels to much too ever stop going.  For me, I love Flashback since it is more laid back and not as crazy and they do an amazing job year after year.  I hope to never go back to Fan Expo, but I have a feeling they will pull some cool stuff off making me want to go back.  So if you never been to a convention and only see videos online or seen TV shows having characters at a convention,  I highly suggest checking one out one day.  They are a lot of fun and you will come out with a lot of stories and great memories for sure.  It is sad to see how the convention circuit is changing so much and basically becoming a second job for celebs to make money rather than what the conventions are supposed to be about, the celebration of the genre.  I see more and more conventions popping up and getting a lot of the same guest as other ones.  Prices keep going up and up and eventually it will hit the roof and people will stop going.  Or will this geek love fest die out where things will go back to how they were in the old days?  Who knows?  The larger ones are almost becoming the same price as going out of town on vacation.

I was talking to a friend who I used to go with to Wizard World Chicago every year.  The first few years it was what you would expect a huge comic con to be.  A lot of nerdy guys, not many girls, back then they even had as we called it, the Skid Row of the con.  It was a dark area where there were porn stars and X-rated material.  It was funny walking by and seeing people wanting to go over there but too scared to be seen there.  It was so fun to watch the creepers there.  It was right when Wizard World became more family friendly and they got rid of Skid Row along with a lot of weapon dealers and bootlegs.  You would walk out of that con spending a few hundred bucks but have piles of comics, statues, figures and so much more.  Now that few hundred bucks will get you one autograph or a few hot dogs from the concession stand.  While things will never go back to the glory days of the convention circuit, it still is a fun time but nothing like how it once was.  I guess the name Flashback works well since it is the best way to flashback to the glory days of old.