Far as I could tell, Regina’s first major comic, science fiction and fantasy convention had a well-attended, sharp and professional first day. Oh yeah, and it was fun too. After a morning media scrum where we spoke to cosplay star Kay Pike and famous actress Tia Carrere followed by breakfast and a quick expedition to ComicReaders for Free Comic Book Day, me, Carl Johnson and Aidan Morgan returned and wandered the showroom floor to look at all the interesting, shiny things and people. Later, we hit the WolfCop panel.
This is the droid I’m looking for.
Here are a few scattered thoughts and observations.
-Aidan took tons of photos, some of which will land on Dog Blog over the next few days. They will be great. Among his subjects: the oodles of people who came out in costume. We saw hobbits, stormtroopers, jedi knights, starfleet personnel, video game heroes, manga and anime characters (including Savannah Hagin as Tyki Mikk from D.Gray-Man), a few superheroes (mostly Marvel, with Iron Man, Thor and Captain America especially well represented), and this one dude in an amazing He-Man costume. He had it all: the face,big muscles and yellow hair, the fur shorts and (minimal) armour, and the perfect shade of orange tan. Great costume. If it was a costume.
-If WolfCop does well enough to justify a sequel — and I’m guessing it will — it probably won’t be filmed in Saskatchewan. Sounds like the team behind the movie had to bend over backwards to shoot their furry labour of love in this province because the Saskatchewan government’s cancellation of the film tax credit makes shooting any feature film here near impossible. As predicted, that political decision wiped out the industry. Everyone’s moved away now. Game over. Slow clap.
-Tia Carrere is exuberant, ridiculously beautiful and absurdly gracious. She asked me, repeatedly, for a copy of Prairie Dog. Hope she found something to enjoy in our silly paper.
-I want a pet R2 unit.
-I’ve never before had a conversation with anyone who looks like what Kay Pike looks like as Jessica Rabbit. It’s somewhat weird. Still, we’re nerds. She’s a nerd. It worked. Also, turns out Pike’s been through Regina before — and she raves about Wonderland on Broad St. Another typical example of an out-of-towner recognizing a Regina treasure that’s inadequately appreciated by locals? Yup.
–The food options were an embarrassment. Only two flavours of pizza: all-dressed and ham and pineapple? No veggie burgers? What about people who don’t eat meat? Your options for them are “French Fries”? Are you kidding? This is unforgivable in 2014. Total, classic, epic Regina 30-years-behind-the-times failure. Fix it!
-Related: Regina really needs a downtown convention centre for events that don’t involve trucks or livestock and are attended by people who might want decent food. Sigh.
Overall? This thing is great! You should probably go to it tomorrow.
