What it’s like to experience C2E2 from a first-time con goer (Day 3)
C2E2’s final day had some of the biggest Marvel panels and a big celebrity. It also had some tough lessons for this first-time con goer.
Sunday marked the very last day of C2E2 2018. There weren’t quite as many events to go to, but that didn’t mean that it still wasn’t a big day for this first-time con-goer. (It’s technically my third day. I’ve also written about day 1 and day 2.
Today started with perhaps the biggest mission for me personally, because it’s a pretty normal thing to do at a con. Get a celebrity to sign a thing for me, ponying up a significant amount of money to do so. (It was $60 per thing.)
The celebrity of my choice? Charlie Cox of Daredevil fame. The item of choice? A season 2 Pop! of Daredevil. Naturally, I wore the most appropriate shirt I had. Yes, it was a Defenders shirt. I was in line five; he started signing things at 10:30. I did not get out of line with my signed item until just before noon.
But Charlie Cox called me “my darling” and asked if I’d just eaten a lollipop because my tongue was blue. Did I know why my tongue was blue? Absolutely not. I told him I’d been chewing on a pen recently.
In other words, worth it:
Daredevil season 2 Pop! signed by Charlie Cox. Image taken by C. Wassenaar.
After that, I was free for about an hour, so I gave myself a challenge: wander the booths and don’t buy anything. (Hey, I’m doing this on a budget!) Did I succeed? Well, almost. The only thing I bought was my lunch, which I got and hurriedly carried to the next major panel of the day: a Marvel Cinematic Universe design panel. I did end up buying something, though — right before I left, I saw a particularly cool cover for the first issue of Vader Down.
I was powerless to resist the lure of the Force, even the Dark Side.
Variant cover to Vader Down #1, purchased at C2E2. Image taken by C. Wassenaar; via Marvel/Lucasfilm/Disney.
Back to the Marvel (although Marvel also publishes the Star Wars comics anyway).
Designing the MCU panel at C2E2. Image taken by C. Wassenaar.
That ran a little late — about five minutes — just because Ryan Meinerding has worked on the MCU since Iron Man. Fortunately, I was on the same floor for my last panel of the day and the last Main Stage panel of C2E2: a Charlie Cox panel.
View of the Main Stage for the Daredevil panel at C2E2. Taken by C. Wassenaar after panel ended.
But I also learned a lesson: Not all panels are necessarily interesting. I won’t name names about which panels I dropped in on that I didn’t enjoy. But I did learn that it’s possible that they all can’t be winners.
Next: Ricky Whittle and Yetide Bataki talk American Gods at C2E2
Do I want to go to another con? Yes.
Do I recommend watching how much weight you carry and making sure you have good walking shoes or insoles? Yes, because I wouldn’t have been able to handle this last day without the help — and I’m still sore.
Do I definitely recommend a budget? Absolutely. There was a lot of temptation.
On the whole, though, my experience with C2E2 showed that it’s not so scary to go to cons! There’s a lot to enjoy there — whether it’s cool panels, just having conversations with people or seeing what you can buy.