Hello again fellow Skkaw fans!
Ray here to share my Day 2 and 3 experience at WonderCon2023! This is a two part post, and if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you check out my WonderCon 2023 Day 1 post here. Thanks again to Skkaw for the opportunity to share my experience at WonderCon 2023. So what are we waiting for? Lets get into it!
Day 2 Activities
For Day 2, I donned a shirt full of cinema icons showing: “let’s go watch horror movies!” This one was a bit less subtle from my shirt on Day 1, but it defines my personality. I proceeded to meet up with fellow SoCal con nerds – Justin, Berto, Mike, and that’s me at the end, to the right, in the above pic.
Most of Day 2 was full of wandering through the main convention hall, and I’m reminded why I love monsters, aliens, and horror stuff… For me, it’s the artists that create, build, and expand the worlds that get lost in my head.
So, I followed my nerd buddies and we ended up at Kit ‘n Rivet booth… I didn’t realize it at first, but after looking closely at the art at the booth I realized I had already bought art from this booth before. I spoke to Chris, the artist of Kit ‘n Rivet, and said “I bought this from you before!” It was his “Vader lifting up the Death Star” that caught my eye previously, it’s a rendition of the Greek Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders Darth Vader style. It apparently is one of his most popular piece of art, it even sold out. I do count my blessings when I get my hands on stuff that have become rare. Then, I noticed amongst his work he did a “Full Metal Jacket” rendition with Star Wars droids. I hesitated for a moment, but liked it so much that looked at Justin and said “I’m gonna get it!” Follow Kit ‘n Rivet: @kitnrivet
I’ve attended enough cons where I’m bound to bump into people I’d met before. For example, when we bumped into Victor Chi on the exhibit floor. Victor and I didn’t recognize each other at first, and then we realized that we had met before via a common friend: Clint Jung. Clint Jung was an actor, great friend, who always threw parties with his movie-making network of friends. I’ve crashed at his place many times, after parties that never ended. Unfortunately, Clint had passed a couple years ago. He was last seen in shows like “Man in the High Castle” and “Mayans”. Clint is surely missed. Through Clint, I got to meet some good people like Victor. Victor is known for shows like Shameless, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Blackhat. Check out Victor’s work: IMDB
Next, we ended up taking a lunch break, at the nearby Hilton hotel, with other fellow con friends – some fan attendees, some podcasters, and some creatives. That’s where we met Derick McDuff. Derick is a freelance writer for WatchMojo. When he told me that, I was like: “hey, I watch that stuff!” Derick writes top 10 lists like “Top 20 Greatest Sword Fights In Movies”. He also runs the Underrated Podcast, where he reviews movies. Check out Derick’s work: linktr.ee/derickmcduff
Sitting in the same booth, next to us, was a woman dressed up as Lollipop Chainsaw, the character from the video game, of the same name. We chatted a bit about the chainsaw, and how it would be messy to put prop blood on it. We had a great conversation, all part of what makes cons fun! Follow @lollipopHeidi13
I headed over to my buddy, Steven Yu’s, booth, and there, I met him and Dan Hale. I’ve known Steven from for a while and from smaller cons. We chatted a lot about achieving our dreams. He’s got good advice on his social media and newsletter about going through the grind and struggle, to create your art. I caught him mid-drawing a Robocop, for one of his fans, and noticed a comic titled “Half Breed” by Dan. Follow Steven @stevenyudesigner and Dan @danhalecomics
Regrouping with my buddies, we ended up at the booth of Patrick Ballesteros! It may seem like I know most of the people at the cons, but these guys know Patrick. He’s one popular artist that I’ve been in long lines to check out before. I highly recommend you check out his work. Follow Patrick at: @patrickballesteros
Phew Day 2 was another adventure, onward to Day 3!
Day 3 Activities
On Day 3 the final day of WonderCon 2023, I had only one main goal: to submit some of my comics for comic grading. If you follow SKKAW.BLOG, you’ll know this is something that’s been shared here before.
For me, this is was my first in-person drop-off! I first I wasn’t aware how different the process would be from the online process. Let’s just say I had to scramble from one place to another get all the pieces I needed together but it all worked out. It can be a lot to do in person, but definitely worth it.
Upon arriving at the comic grading booth, Certified Guarantee Company (CGC), and presenting my comics, the team member at CGC exclaimed: “ooh, John Wick!” So yes, I’m getting my John Wick origin comics, also some Conjuring, and Transformers vs the Terminator #1s graded. Now, you have an idea of what kind of nerd I am of, with what things I have in my collectibles.
After that, I had a little time left to get photos of cosplayers at the con. See below:
But that’s not all. . . I also made a video of my experience! Check it out below:
Wow, as you can see, WonderCon 2023 was a lot fun! I do hope you enjoyed my tale of attending this con. Thanks to SKKAW.BLOG for inviting me to write this post, and thank you, readers, for taking the time to read it. Until the next con!
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