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Take a good look at the Anaheim Convention Center, It might be the last WonderCon sees of it.

By Nick Eskey

For the three years that WonderCon has been in the Anaheim convention center, I’ve been very fortunate to attend it. I say fortunate because compared to my local San Diego Comic Con, this one is much more relaxed. Replacing the large media influence and the sardine-cramped spaces, there is ease and Fandom. Easily one of the industry’s conventions that is more beloved by fans.

The convention itself is very well run, usually smooth-as-silk. A few hiccups that occurred this year were the downed elevators used for celebrity talent (which was of course not the fault of WonderCon) and the last minute change of entrances for badge pickup (my press email said Hall H, only to find out I had to go all the way back to A). I did like the addition of the turn-styles at the entrance of the fountain. This did add a redundancy in checking badges, but it kept the people who were passing out advertisements and postcards away from the main doors.

I can’t really say how long I walked the convention sales floor, I just know my feet got a workout. Artists, independent publishers, and exhibitors inhabit much of the booth spaces.
Though the right side is designated as Artist’s Alley, the far left also seemed like a secondary one, with people showing off their original comics or sketches for sale. Quite a few booths were also selling handmade “geekery” like cartoon-inspired dolls, 3D printed figures, and even tentacle kitty plushies. I spent most of my allotted money on art prints (and said tentacle kitty plush).

I really do wish there was more in the way of panels this year. Last year there were a few big movie announcements shown in the Arena area, but for this one it was all smaller panels on the 2nd and 3rd floors. This is where I think SDCC is far superior. It always has the big talent and over the top showings. It is still nice to have the “how to get into the industry” or documentary panels, but a dash of excitement here and there definitely would add considerably to the lineup.

The big announcement was of course that WonderCon would not be in Anaheim next year, but in LA. From what was told at the talkback panel on the last day of the convention, lack of availability surrounding that time period forced the hard decision on the board. As luck would have it, LA’s convention center had a cancellation, and welcomed WonderCon to fill the spot. We all might be a little spoiled in how the Anaheim convention center sits in between two large hotels, as well as being in walking distance to and from Disneyland Park, but isn’t that part of the fun?

LA does boast a collection of hotels and other attractions, but come on; Disneyland. DISNEYLAND!

I’ll still be heading to WonderCon 2016, believe you me. The convention survived it’s San Francisco birth, and flourished in its Anaheim move. Because of this, I am optimistic that it will become even better in this next move. After the explosion of SDCC, CCI has learned that they need to build on WonderCon piecemeal.

Who knows, 2017 might have the convention back in Anaheim. As of now, nothing is set in stone for the far future.

The San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog reports:

In the Talk Back panel, which closes out the convention annually and where attendees can ask Comic-Con International officials questions and offer feedback, a fan asked if the convention would be returning to Anaheim next year.

And the answer, it turns out, is no — likely due to planned construction to the Anaheim Convention Center and its expansion, which breaks ground in October. Instead, it will be moving to Los Angeles, specifically to the Los Angeles Convention Center. No word on dates yet, though unofficially, we’ve heard Easter weekend is likely again.

The expansion, the center’s seventh, is scheduled to commence this Spring, with a tentative completion date of 2017.  Estimated to cost $190 Million, the city has authorized the selling of up to $300 Million in bonds. As with many such expansions (including San Diego), it is because of big shows contemplating moving elsewhere.  In this particular locale, the National Association of Music Merchants (96K attendees) and Natural Products Expo West (60K).  The annual $15 Million payment would be financed by a special 2 percent hotel tax on nearby hotels.  Of course, a possible taxpayer lawsuit is possible/probable.

The project, sited to the east of the arena and north of the Hilton, on the northern edge of the convention center, will produce two floors, each with 100,000 square feet of exhibition space, with the top floor being column-free.  (By comparison, Hall H in San Diego is 64,842 square feet.)  In addition to 1400 parking spaces, there will also be a connecting bridge to the existing convention center.

Here’s a video showcasing the architecture:

(Nice touch with the Disneyland fireworks!)

Where does this place Anaheim on the big list of convention centers?  Well, it’s already the largest on the West Coast.  Total space, it would tie with New York City and Houston for 13th place.  By exhibition space, totaling 1.015 Million square feet, it ranks…eleventh?

The Los Angeles Convention Center is about 100,000 square feet smaller, but WonderCon only used 524292, square feet of exhibition space this year (Halls B-D, and half of Hall B was used for the “stockyards” queue hall), so there should be plenty of space for exhibits in L.A.  WonderCon has experience with changing locations, as this will be the fourth city to host the event, which started in Oakland in 1987 before moving to the Moscone Center in San Francisco in 2003.  (It was the renovation of the Moscone which forced WonderCon to move to Anaheim in 2012.)

As for the reason(s) for moving…well, NAMM, which is even bigger than WonderCon (the meeting rooms on the Second and Third Floors are utilized as exhibition space!) is scheduled to return to Anaheim in January 2017, so construction might not be the reason.  It won’t affect the building that already exists, as the site under construction is a parking lot to the north of the Hilton hotel.  The convention center calendar shows nothing scheduled for March or April 2016, so space appears to be available.

More probable?  CCI is using this to test the market (much like they used the construction at the Moscone to move to Anaheim). When cities first began courting CCI:SD in 2010, it was reported that Los Angeles was offering events free rental of the center.  If this is true, that’s another important consideration.  While the rental for the San Diego Convention Center would have been $410,850 in 2014, CCI paid a discounted rate of $150,000.  Of course, CCI isn’t hurting for money (approximately $12 Million in reserve), and each WonderCon show seems to not only be profitable, but expanding as well.  (This year, the entire Anaheim Convention Center was reserved, although Halls A and E were not utilized.)  If they can fill the entire building at Anaheim, they can do the same in L.A., and get free rent, which would cover any potential loses.  If it’s a successful show, then CCI brands it and adds it to their calendar (Fall?).  If it’s a colossal failure (unlikely) or not as lucrative as hoped, then CCI can return to Anaheim with little damage to their brand, allowing the media and Internet commentators to recycle the current criticisms about the center downtown.  (But consider that Anime Expo has been located in L.A. since 2008.)

Of note, CCI has trademarked the terms “Los Angeles Comic-Con”, “Anaheim Comic-Con”, and “San Francisco Comic-Con”, back when cities were courting CCI:SD.  Given the first two, might we see an event in San Francisco as well?

A cautionary note before you start reacting… read this post from 2011, especially the comments!  A bit funny, in retrospect…

UPDATE!  Beat operative Nick Esky attended the Talk Back panel, and reports that the reason for the move is that Anaheim did not have dates available.  Which raises the question… an annual show… it’s successful… they can’t plan dates two-three years in advance? (Other non-profits can schedule large events for the next decade…)  Or was it something else?  Costs?  Does it hurt the brand to see it constantly on the move?

Disnery Master Teachers teaching the crowd about Life Drawing

When someone thinks of the name “Disney,” many things can come to mind; Some may think of their theme parks. Some their animated films. Some may look back on fond childhood memories. And others might think of a cartoon mouse that wears pants, gloves, and shoes. But when I hear “Disney,” my first thought is that of “quality.”

Disney has been pushing the boundaries of films, animation, and attraction technologies for many decades. But the one thing that ties them all together is the detail that goes into them. Take for example the movie The Little Mermaid. Before then, animated movies still hadn’t found a spot in the mainstream of feature films. After seeing that film, no one could deny that it was something great. The animals and characters alike were so well done, just as the sceneries.

Life drawing is the practice of using a model and drawing/sketching it out. Disney has done the practice consistently for many years. They’ve been known to have models come to the studio so they can sketch them and see how they move. Even a baby elephant or two has made it to their studios for study. And what of 3D movies? John Lasseter of Pixar and Disney Animation used a small camera to understand how things looked from a small perspective in his second Pixar feature A Bug’s Life. With this, he was able to have artists do preliminary drawings to later get the three dimensional effects to look realistic.

The current masters of Disney teachers pass on the importance of the practice to the next generation of Disney designers and animators. The four that showed for the panel today held at beautiful WonderCon Anaheim were Bob Kato, Karl Gnass, Mark McDonnell, and Dan Cooper, moderated by Fast Company’s Susan Karlin. Each of these artists have been doing what they do for a number of years, and have a number of books published on the practice of life drawing.

After a brief hiccup where an audience member (who in my personal opinion was celebrating 4/20 in hard fashion) kept interrupting to say how much he respected these men, Susan Karlin led the collective through their thoughts on the subject of life drawing. Karl Gnass explained that, “Life drawing is based understanding. When a show is over, that is your resource to go back to.” Bob Kato added, “Drawing is a language. A show may need a certain style, and you need to be able to speak it.”

The panel then further went into that life drawing allows the artist to understand how someone can move, can bend, how it ultimately works. Art ultimately references real life in its core. “If you’re designing without a foundation, you’re designing a lie from a lie; Something from an abstract idea. And the further you get from the truth, the more it gets distorted. Like the telephone game.”

Whether you draw, design, or whatever, you have to put the time into understanding what you are doing and how you want to convey that. “There are no shortcuts,” says the panel almost in unison. “There needs to be skill, life in it. You have to have an understanding of the infrastructure.”

Ultimately what it comes down to is that no matter if you’re going to be a 2D artist or a 3D one, life drawing helps to teach one how to give their creation life and emotion. Having this particular skill in your artistic toolbox will keep your work real.

~Nicholas Eskey

Still upset that that movie you absolutely loved got such negative reviews? Fuming that it got a pretty rotten status on Rotten Tomatoes? Posting an angry rebuttable on a message board will just illicit people calling you a “noob,” and perhaps some other more colorful names.

Returning to the convention is the always popular Your Opinion Sucks: Rotten Tomatoes Critics vs. Fans. The critics comprised of Tim Ryan, Christy Lemire, Scott Mantz, Alynda Wheat and Alonso Duradle, with Matt Atchity as moderator. Trolls and fans alike can argue with the panel of critics either for or against a movie of their choice, with the audience readied to voice their own opinions with paddles that say “fresh” on one side and “rotten” on the other.

This year, the movies ran the gamut of Ender’s Game, Black Hawk Down, Frozen, and even Grave of the Fireflys. One of the movies that shocked me greatly was when The Goonies was brought up, and half the audience gave it a “rotten” status. The critics too were torn with the movie: Half for it, and half against it. I thought though that the general atmosphere kept a fun and lighthearted vibe. This type of panel is known to create one or two heated debates that almost threaten the removal of somebody, but things remained rather civil.

Most memorable would have to be the first to voice their opinion; a small boy by the name of Gabe. The movie he so passionately argued for was Transformers, saying that the action was outstanding. He then proceeded to demonstrate the action sequences by making shooting motions with his hands and then bomb explosions, all of course complete with ample sound effects. Scott Mantz in particular tore into the boy (with good humor). When given his 30 second rebuttal, Gabe simply said to Scott, “You have no taste!” Gabe as it later turned out is the son of moderator Matt.

Most bizarre was the last person up to pose a movie argument. Standing at the microphone, in what I can only describe as a black muumuu with large red stripes running down the sides of it, was a man who wished to be called “master.” But we’ll call him Zack for this article. Zack wanted to argue against Star Trek: Into Darkness, going as far as to say that the movie was “the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” The crowd pretty much cried in uproar, with a few people in rotten agreement, including a couple of the panel members. What ensued was a discussion on how remakes on pre-existing Star Trek movies shouldn’t happen, alternate time lines, and action sequences. Definitely a fun note to leave the panel on.

It was enjoyable to hear the arguments that each person presented for, or against, a particular movie, even if some of them weren’t as sound as others. Thank you critics of Rotten Tomatoes for making an enjoyable evening of not-so-witty banter, and I can’t wait till next time.

~Nicholas Eskey

(Some minor spoiler ahead)

Located in the Arena of this year’s Anaheim Wondercon, Warner Bros. treated us to a sneak peak of three upcoming movies that will be hitting the big screen in the next few months. On June 6^th, the 70^th anniversary of “D-Day,” Edge of Tomorrow will hit theatres nationwide. Starring Tom Cruise and Bill Paxton, this futuristic world on the edge of ruin has Tom Cruise’s character waking up in handcuffs on what appears to be an army training base. He is then approached by Bill Paxton’s character, an army official. It is explained that Tom Cruises character was charged with impersonating an army officer, and is told he is going to have to join the fray for his punishment. As a surprise guest, Bill Paxton himself emerges on stage of the Anaheim Convention Center’s Arena to outcries of cheers. “My character decides that [Tom Cruise] will be reborn again through battle,” says a grinning Paxton. “It’s his nuts and his life on the line.”

Through the trailer, we are led to believe that Earth has come under an attack from a mechanical alien threat, and that this army base is one of the units brought together to fight them back. “I head a unit called J unit, a rag tag collection of men and women,” says Paxton. Along with some heavy duty weapons, J unit comes complete with exoskeleton like armor suits that the characters run around in for what I imagine is for increased strength. “I had just arrived on set, my first day, and Tom was running around in a prototype of the suit. He yells at me, ‘Hey Bill! Have you been working out? Cause these things are heavy.’” Paxton said that the suits needed to be aided by chains because of how heavy they were for the actors. “It was Brutal.”

But what is the ringer for this movie is that Tom Cruise’s character dies in this movie. A lot. Every time he does, he wakes back up in the past, finding himself again in handcuffs. This Groundhog’s Dayish loop adds an interesting twist to this Sci-Fi flick.

Next up for Warner Bros. they have Into the Storm. Directed by Steven Quale, this New Line Cinema collaboration puts the audience in the middle of a fictitious small town as it is relentlessly hit by what seems like wave after wave of tornados. The film style switches between the use of traditional filming and handheld cameras, creating a more authentic like experience. Some of the actors which were present here at Wondercon were Max Deacon, Jeremy Sumpter, Arlen Escarpeta, and (brace yourselves) Richard Armitage. Yes, Thorin Oakenshield of The Hobbit movies.

After the crowd recovered from their near fainting spells, the director and cast discussed how it was to be on set. “We were in the middle of one hundred-a-mile fans, not to mention strewn debris and falling water,” says Richard. “The water was freezing,” added fellow cast member Max Deacon. Into the Storm will be out this August 8^th.

And lastly for this presentation Warner Bros. showed what is undoubtedly one of this year’s most anticipated movies. Ever since the teaser at last year’s San Diego Comic-con, fans of Godzilla have been waiting patiently for its release. As it was announced to the audience, the name elicited cheers from everybody, including this reporter. Director Gareth Edwards was also greeted by equal praise. After showing us about five minutes from the movie where Godzilla meets with an almost equally tall but winged creature, Gareth talked about the overall experience of working on the film.

“I thought that out of everything, designing Godzilla was going to be the easiest part. Cause everyone has an idea of what Godzilla looks like. But it actually was the hardest part, because everyone has an idea of what Godzilla looks like. It took almost a year for his design.” Gareth had the idea to do the designing from silhouette. “Silhouettes are all easily recognizable for what they are supposed to be. I thought we should start with that. We started with a Rubik’s Cube like shape, black on white background. We prodded and pulled each piece, rotating as we went, till we felt we got it.”

Though all three movies do look quite promising, by sheer gauging of the crowd’s reaction I would have to say Godzilla is the most anticipated. The Warner Bros. and Legendary collaboration will be out May 16^th of this year. I have faith that director Gareth Edwards with his love of monsters will do it justice, and wash from our collective mouths the bad taste left by its predecessor.

~Nicholas Eskey

(Spoilers ahead: So if you wanted to watch the movie first, then I suggest you turn off the computer or mobile device, sit in the corner, and wait like a good boy or girl.)

This year DC Entertainment is celebrating Batman’s 75th birthday. “Nice pecs for an old dude,” you might be saying to yourself. Or is that just me? Anyway, aside from this momentous occasion, there are a few things in the works for our favorite caped crusader coming out this year. In October we’ll be seeing a third and final video game for the Batman Arkham franchise (fourth if you count Batman Arkham Origins, which was not done by Rocksteady Studios), and this month we’ll be seeing the release of the animated film Son of Batman. However, this reporter got to see the early screening here at beautiful Wondercon.

Assembled for the exclusive showing of Son of Batman at the Anaheim Wondercon were DC producer James Tucker, director Ethan Spaulding, character designer Phil Bourassa, dialogue director Andrea Romano, Jason O’Mara (his second time voicing the iconic Batman/Bruce Wayne), Stuart Allan (voice of Damian Wayne), Xander Berkeley (voice of Dr. Kirk Langstrom), Sean Maher (voice of Nightwing), and guest moderated by Rich Sands.

For those who aren’t familiar, Son of Batman is a loose adaption of the 2006 comic story arc written by Grant Morrison, which has come to be known as Batman and Son. In this, we discover that Batman had a drugged up tryst with the curvaceous and deadly Talia al Ghul, which leads to the the Dark Knight never knew he had. Being raised by Talia and his grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul, Damian has been trained all his life in the League of Assassins to later become it’s heir. After an attack on the compound which leaves the league in ruins, and leaves Ra’s beyond the help of a Lazarus pit, Talia sends her son to live with the father he’s never met.

The movie’s animation first made me feel like I was watching an episode of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, which would make sense because the director, Ethan Spaulding, worked on its precursor, Avatar: The Last Air Bender. After two minutes in however, when the bodies start hitting the floor, I realized it wasn’t going to be a light hearted cartoon. The movie’s dialogue was comedic at times, but in a good way. It was the action however that kept me going. The fight scenes and violence left nothing to be desired, intense and fully fleshed. And any time you can work in “bat-men” and “bat-guerrillas” into an animated movie, what else do you need?

I think DC Entertainment hit it out of the park with this straight to home animated movie. Batman fan’s who either are or are not familiar with the Grant Morrison comic can appreciate the story and action that went into this feature. Son of Batman will be available for digital download on April 22nd, and available on DVD and Bluray May 6th.

~Nicholas Eskey