Tidesiren Tackles Salt Lake City Comic Con

Hey you guys, Tidesiren here! I had the opportunity to check out Salt Lake City Comic Con this year and I have to say, it was worth the 6 hour drive through 3 states to get to after a full day of work! As a convention that happens partially during the week, it is unlike most conventions that occur Friday and then the weekends. With Salt Lake taking over the Salt Palace Convention Center, each hotel in a 5 mile radius was booked solid with attendees flocking to the event Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

As someone who works during the week, I was able to get into town late Friday night to attend Saturday only, but the experience was enjoyed just the same. Saturday morning, I woke up, pulled out my costumes, and intrigued one of my cousins! So guess who wore Black Widow out for the first time in her first cosplay at her first con while I wore my Supergirl!

Getting downtown to the venue was easy and parking, though expensive, was actually not as sold out as we had thought it would be. Convention settings happening near malls seem to be becoming a trend as attendees ranged from cosplayers to people just curious and looking to get a peek inside. The indoor outlet mall stretched along the convention center and for that weekend, was never not inhabited by those in cosplay! It was a rather humorous sight seeing Costumes like Hawkeye and Thor walking through Nordstrom’s shoe section to get to the food court on the opposite side.

The convention floor was shaped in a large L. The outside of the con floor was lined with panel rooms, ballrooms, and so much more. The floor was large enough to hold horror movie sets, a Subaru sponsor display with a WRX, STI, BRZ, Impreza, the new Crosstrek, and a big toy box for visitors to take photos in. This floor had a huge amount of vendor booths and the artist alley spanned the whole back wall. On the opposite side of the convention floor lined up convention guests varying from celebrities, to artists, comic book writers, actors, cosplayers, and authors. I have never seen such an array of guests not only in numbers, but big names! Even I admit to having been a bit starstruck walking by legends like Jodi Benson, Elijah Wood, Jewel Staite, Paul Wesley, Zachary Levi, John Barrowman, John Cuzak, Milo Ventimiglia, and Stephan Amell. The second level of the convention center held more panel rooms, meetup stairways, and hallways with photoshoot opportunities as well as the wall of windows looking over the convention floor. You can see the magnitude of this convention in the photos I was able to snag!

Being in an unfamiliar town held the challenge of recognizing and getting to know fellow cosplayers in a single day as well as see all there was to see! There were, however, several people I recognized along the way such as Alina Masquarade, Flyingfrog productions, JamonRed, and Dawn McTeigue all from Arizona!

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Those local that I ran into were the familiar, friendly, AND local faces of Nerdvana and Salt Lake City Harley Quinn! It was so cool getting to see them in their element and to be apart of their event!

A remarkable moment I will never forget would definitely be getting to meet Viva Wonder Woman and the beautiful people of Heartfelt Heroes! The other would definitely be when Michael Rooker pulled the gun from the holster of the Black Widow cosplay my cousin was wearing all before dropping it and breaking it! IT’S OKAY, MICHAEL! I FORGIVE YOU 🙂

Con staff were nothing short of friendly! After taking so many photos most of the day, my phone battery was at a scary low and con staff kindness came through in the willingness of several people willing to assist me in getting my battery charged a bit so I could last the last few hours of con!

Cosplay dress codes were surprisingly flexible and the weapons policy was the most weapon friendly I have ever experienced! Instead of ugly, tight, and sometimes sharp, zip ties on weapons, we were given a “Salt Lake Comic Con” sticker that would be easily removed at the end of the day and also kept as a cool souvenir! Other cons need to get on this as this is way more friendly to fragile, painted, or even photo shoot props! Plus it definitely doesn’t hurt that the weather was nice and rainy, making it incredibly comfortable to wear those huge armor builds or cosplays that consist of several layers.

My complaints for this convention are small and totally redeemable! Most cons send their attendees into the event with a badge and sometimes wristbands too. Salt Lake City did come up short in that department by only supplying their con-goers with wristbands with codes required to scan in and out. Scanning is smart, but not being able to take a badge home as a souvenir was sad and honestly, a bit disappointing.

My last complaint that I plan to remedy next year is definitely to attend more than one day as I immediately went through withdrawals come the end of the conventions hours, wanting to be able to come back Sunday for another day of cosplay and adventure, but knowing I couldn’t with the con being over.

At almost $60 just to attend the con for a single day, it is more expensive, but has trumped several other cons I have attended in the past for full events. I would be completely content with dropping the extra dough, and maybe even splurging on some celeb merch, come Salt Lake City Comic Con 2018 and highly recommend you add it to your lists too!