Ottawa ComicCon 2014 – Day 1 Recap

Sully couldn’t make the trip up north to cover Ottawa ComicCon, but that didn’t stop the Fu from getting you the lowdown on #OttawaCC, eh!  No sir.  The Nerd Fu honorary North Chapter (comprised of Matt S, Blair K & Travis G) banded together and tackled Day 1 of the con like seasoned veterans.

Ottawa ComicCon 2014 – Day 1 Recap

written by Matt S (nerd & brother to a certain Nerd Fu founder)
photos by Travis G (nerd & co-owner of Owly Design)

The Ottawa Comiccon started off with a big bang. It wasn’t destruction of Alderaan big, but the star wars themed opening presentation set the nerds on fire just the same. Deluxe and VIP pass goers were treated to a Ray Park-esque light saber choreography, storm trooper escort of the speaker as prisoner, and a remote control droid that skittered around the stage.

Cheers for the lineup were consistent but the clear winners were Karl Urban, Robert Englund, and Bruce Campbell, who seems to be the face of the 2014 con. He’s featured, in illustration form, on the VIP badge and a limited edition print of Tony Moore’s Ash fighting the undead in Ottawa (I grabbed an autographed version, 57/250, and plan to have Bruce pen it as well on day 2.). A Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash photo booth is scheduled for tomorrow.

Schwag was good, with three T-shirts to choose from and what looked to be six available con specific comic exclusives, the Archie ones eluded us.

Cosplay

Costumed attendees didn’t disappoint and we saw everything, from steampunk to full motion and sound R2. Walking the massive 220,000 square foot warehouse space was He-Man, Loki, various Pokepeople including a sexy Pikachu, lords and ladies of GOT, Starfleet ranks from pilot to captain, Hellboy, Janes, Mals, both a male Hit-Girl and female Thor, and about a dozen Harley Quinns.

Show Floor

Booths were plentiful, covering a spectrum of interests, from jewelry and leather armor to graphic artists, collectible vendors, and traditional comic shops with key inventory on display.

Featured displays were the Star Wars corner with lots of photo ops and characters. The sand people really do ride in single file to mask their numbers. I could only see one the entire time. Dr. Who was represented well with the TARDIS and multiple Daleks, static and mobile, available to pose with. Then there was the auto show: The Doc’s Delorian and the ECTO 1 were big draws, the BTTF booth set up primarily for donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Panels

Celeb panels for day 1 were Charisma Carpenter and Giancarlo Esposito and didn’t start until late in the evening. With little chance for “intimate Carpentry lessons” or free Pollos Hermanos meals distributed T-shirt gun style to the crowd, the group and I chose to leave the majority of our paneling for Day 2.

Day 1 was solid and we look forward to Day 2. Our interview with Jan Kozlowski, Canadian game developer at breakfall.ca to come soon.