Wizard World 2015

When I met David Ramsey at the C2E2 earlier this year, I overheard him tell the woman in front of me that Wizard invited him to the Chicago show later in the year and he wasn't sure yet if he would say yes. She told him that she had never attended a Wizard show. When I got up to him, I said that I had attended a few of their shows and I was not a fan. "It's too much of a meat market," I told him. There's a feeling with one of their many shows that they are doing a memorabilia show and not doing anything for the fans. There are no studio panels, there's just row after row of dealers selling overpriced books (For example, I wanted to pick up a few of the issues I am missing of Jack Kirby's amazing Kamandi comic. I want to give a big shout out to the dealer with the huge sign that said '25% off' and had all the issues at least double the going price. Sure, here's $18 for that issue I can get for $8 on eBay with buy-it-now) and people selling their autograph. You can attend other cons and have a great experience without paying a dime, but Wizard seems designed (like Creation) to take my money and not really care if I enjoy myself.

I haven't attended a Wizard show in a long time - I honestly think the last one I attended was 2006 when Kristen Bell was there. I originally planned to attend Saturday to get Stephen Amell's autograph. I have an 8x10 signed by Stephen that my friend Lew picked up for me (thanks, Lew!) but since then I have started to really prefer 11x14 pics, so I wanted to go down for the day and grab him on an 11x14 and add Brett Dalton to my Agents of SHIELD photo. I posted a help thread on the Rebelscum forum, people asked for help, and then I decided not to go after a debacle with the Amell autograph tickets.

I was a little (!!) bitter about it, but it didn't really matter since I did have his autograph already. However, my father-in-law called me because he could get a ticket from Groupon and would consider it a birthday gift. Amell was then added to Friday and I could get an autograph ticket for that day, so I asked off of work and decided to head down. I had to go alone because my wife had a 3pm staff meeting and I needed to be to the show by noon, so I left directly from work. I went to the autograph area after checking in, and went for the Amell line and tried to get in line. "Come back in 30 minutes. You already have your ticket, so you're guaranteed." I went back in 30 minutes. "Come back in 30 to 45 minutes. You already have your ticket, so you're guaranteed."

I decided to get Scott Wilson's autograph while killing time. I bought a Funko Pop! of his character on The Walking Dead and thought it would be nice to get it signed if it wasn't too expensive. The sign in front of his stall said $40 for an autograph, which is sadly about the entry level price these days. The line wasn't too long, and it was a roughly 45 minute wait. There was a dicey moment there when the handler said that photos cost money but that hugs were free, and sure as hell, he was hugging every single person. Anthony Daniels once forced a hug on me at a Wizard show, but I was not about to hug Hershel. Thankfully he signed the Pop! and apparently since I never mentioned hugging him, I was able to leave without the embrace.

Then back to Amell. "Come back in 45 minutes. You already have your ticket, so you're guaranteed." I wandered the sales floor and bought two Funko Pops! (Agent May from SHIELD and Agent Carter) and went to drop them off in my car. 

I get back and the line for Amell looks shorter. I see a guy with a blue volunteer shirt. Is this the end of the line? "It's done for today, no one else can get in line." I laugh, he laughs, I go to get in line and he stops me. "It's really done, we can't even get through the people who are in line." I walk straight over to the person running the line. They oversold the tickets. OF COURSE THEY DID. As long as there are dopes handing Wizard their money, they will sell you a ticket. You won't get anything in exchange for it, but they will sell it to you. I tell him I was told over and over again to come back. "Sorry, but I can promise you will get in tomorrow." I am not here tomorrow and I drove 90 miles for this, and bought my tickets a week in advance. "Well, if you come back at 5..." I don't want to come back at 5. How about you tell this guy I can get in line, and if he leaves before he can get to me, fine. But I am not leaving and coming back again. I ran out of things to do here. He agrees, so I get in the line. It was about 3 at this point, and he was signing until 5.

Thankfully Arrow has gotten pretty fast at signing and is cranking these things out. The line is moving so fast they start to let more people in, and I get close to the front. I snap a couple of photos and the security guard walks over and says "I let you have the first photo, but no more or I will have to remove you." Photo ops have killed the photos you used to be able to take of people signing. Right after this, Nathan Fillion walks over and shakes Stephen's hand before leaving, which was a nice moment. (A nice moment I don't have a photo of even though I was 10 feet from them!)

I finally get up there and have him sign a Pop! figure for someone I know on the Rebelscum forums. He reads the post-it note with the instructions and tells me he likes how specific it is. I then get him to sign my photo. I was going to ask him if he is going to sign trading cards for the next Arrow set, but instead I asked him about his winery. Then I shook his hand and left. I wandered around a little after that because it was rush hour and traffic would be terrible, so I looked for an Adam West Funko Pop! with no luck before heading out.

The good: Stephen is a nice guy. He seems to genuinely appreciate his fans. The bad: his signature has gotten much worse with time and it looks like he is initials only now. The ugly: Wizard shows are not fun. They are all about getting money from you, and not really giving you a great experience in exchange. I want to say I would not go back to one, but if they announce David Tennant or someone big from Marvel Studios next year? Yeah, I would head back. I'd make sure to get there early and never wander far from the autograph line though.