Our favorite con of the year has come and gone, and though our lives be crazy right now, we all made the pilgrimage to Anaheim to geek out over our favorite fandoms. WonderCon is a cosplay haven (but more on that later), a gathering of geek culture, and above all, a place to spend your money on things you love (namely: art and comics). Here’s a few things we absolutely loved about this year’s convention: 

Shipping It With Britta Lundin

I’ve been following Britta Lundin on Twitter for a few years now, and I’ve watched her go through writing her screenplay “Ship It” to become a Big Deal Writer for a little show called Riverdale. I was very excited to hear her speak about her writing and how she did the thing that we all want to do: make money doing what you love.

https://twitter.com/nerdwrldprblms/status/977321151306244096

She talked about the hustle that writers face, and making the time to write even when you have a full-time job to pay your bills. It’s all about working hard to get what you want, but Britta is so personable that she made the entire room laugh even when detailing how hard it can be to get your break in the business. She truly was a delight to listen to, and I for one walked out of the room with a big writer crush. Unfortunately, I always managed to just miss her at her publisher’s table (the curse at being at a sold-out convention), but I did preorder her book so I can read it and squee about it even more.

You can preorder “Ship It” here! It’s out next month!

Crowd Management

In years past, it seemed like WonderCon was just a con of lines. Lines to get in, lines to pick up your badge, lines for weapons check, lines for panels, lines for autographs, lines for food, lines for lines…you get the picture. This year, however, the crowds–although quite large–were mostly outside of the convention (or really wherever the cosplayers were congregating), and the inside was blissfully line-free. Sure, there were crowded areas in the exhibition floor, but there was one, shining, beautiful moment when I ran into three friends in the food court on accident and we actually found seating.

Whatever you’re doing, WonderCon, keep it up.

Art, Art, Art

A huge perk of attending conventions is Artist Alley. We’ve written about art here before, on multiple occasions, discussing the amount of stuff we’ve purchased and the amazing artists we’ve met. Did that stop us from going back for more? Of course not. This weekend, there were a few particular art perks, including running into our faves Kalgado, Mia Araujo, and ArtingGrace, not to mention meeting new artists like nooligan.

But another great highlight for me was having the chance to talk about badass women with the one and only Karen Hallion. I’ve met Karen on a few other occasions, as I’ve been a fan since she first started sharing her work on Facebook. Usually, her table is insanely swamped and conversation is cut to a minimum, but on Saturday we actually got the chance to talk about her passion for drawing strong female characters, particularly Star Wars heroines. She complimented my Padme Amidala picnic gown, and I gushed over her art nouveau Leia. And her Leia Hamilton. And her Rebel Han Leia. Long story short, I got more prints from her to add to my collection, as well as a conversation about agency and characterization that I won’t soon forget.

PS: If you know of any artists who’ve created pieces inspired by The Princess Bride, please let us know! There’s a piece we saw and then lost, and we’d really like to track it down.