From the Desk of an Idiot: 6 Things I Should’ve Known about Salt Lake Comic...
Events
1. Wear some good walking shoes, dummy.
The convention floor has a square footage comparable to the equatorial layer of the Death Star. I have blisters from my flip flops.
2. It’s basically an Arts Festival.
This one is especially stupid of me. What did I expect, really? There is so much cool nerd shit in there I almost had a heart-attack. The little consumer I bury deep down inside came bursting through my chest cavity and ran rampant. Believe me, you will want to buy something.
3. Get all your shopping done on the first day.
I thought, this item is amazing but I should wait ‘til the last day to be sure I want it. That was dumb. Don’t be dumb like me. Today (the last day) I spent twenty minutes in line at a booth that was empty on Thursday only to find out he had sold out of the thing I wanted. I am Jack’s disappointed man child.
4. Cosplay is the norm.
I knew to expect lots of fans dressing as their favorite characters—what I didn’t realize was the extent of this tradition. Easily more than half of all those in attendance were in costume. I felt like the odd man out in my stupid flip flops and t-shirt. Spring for some face paint at least! Get in the spirit!
5. Everyone and their mother is here.
These days, everyone is a nerd. This weekend the convention center held what was possibly Salt Lake City’s most demographically diverse human group. On an average day SLC may be 75% run of the mill white folk like myself, but Comic Con is an awesomely nerdy human rainbow.
6. Eating well is NOT a primary concern.
Everything at Salt Lake Comic Con is infused with passion and quality. The costumes, the booths, the people; everyone and everything is done to the nines; every effort has been spent to make everything as awesome as possible…and then there’s the food. Pizza, hot dogs, lunch line mexican piles—all of it cafeteria quality, all of it overpriced and very very underwhelming. If you have special dietary needs, you’re vegetarian or if you just like to eat healthy—for god’s sake pack a lunch.