Okay so I spent three solid days in Hartford two weeks ago, and they were amazing. I took Lauryn—our youngest reporter and my younger sister—with me for her second con ever, and we both had an amazing time. We posted our pre-con schedule before heading out for the weekend, and it was chock-full of great events that had us totally pumped. The convention halls did not let us down.
The first thing I noticed that has changed since the last CTcon is that is has grown exponentially. Two years ago almost all the events were contained in the convention center. This time around they took place not only in the convention center, but spread out over the hotel ballrooms and halls, as well as throughout Hartford itself. There were even con-sanctioned pub crawls on all three nights.
Something that continues to strike me as remarkable about CTcon is the way that it magically blends the grassroots feel of a tiny con with the star power and professionalism of a huge show. This year was the same; if anything about the balance has changed it is even more remarkable for attracting bigger stars and somehow retaining that backyard barbeque feel.
Connecticon is the Multi-fandom con for the ages. This year’s special guests spanned video games, television, and film. Webcomic artists, writers, and voice actors drew crowds from all over. The cosplay competition filled up the main ballroom, and a League of Legends tournament lasted for several days. CTcon was and continues to be a little slice of nerd heaven.
Over the course of the three days, we attended press junkets and Q+As, panels and special events. There was very little time to rest, and even if there had been we were so excited that we fairly hopped from room to room, only stopping to take photos of the amazing cosplayers that filled the spaces like bees in a hive.
Some of the best things we learned at CTCon:
Ellen McLain and John Patrick Shanley met on a touring production of Showboat, where Ellen was acting and John was in the orchestra. The first time they met Ellen asked for assistance playing the guitar by asking John, “Have they told you how pitiful I am?” Ellen got into voice acting when John insisted she send out a reel. Her major objection was that they didn’t need women.
Tim Buckley is rebooting his Ethan/Lucas/Lilah storyline in the next few months. When asked where he got the title for his webcomic, he told his audience “I stole it from Bill Gates.”
If they could make any episode of Invader Zim, Richard Horvitz and Rikki Simons would create a musical episode. Richard suggested “Les MisZIMrables, and sampled some ideas he had for original themed songs at the Invader Zim panel.
Walter Jones is not Wayne Brady. He is still immensely proud of his work on the Power Rangers, and he learned to jump by playing a game he calls “let’s jump over each other” when he was a kid. He also took the idea of being a role model for kids to heart, and he is very upset that we are all taller than him. Last but certainly not least, he’s down to dance battle anyone that challenges him and salsa is his shit.
Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarch are adorable together and really miss working on Pinky and the Brain. When asked about the orientation of Pinky, Rob Paulsen said “I don’t like thinking of myself as gay so much as ‘ecstatic’. REALLY gay.” Rob can still perform the entire ‘Nations of the World’ song.
Janet Varney loves her castmates and sometimes has them call her cell when she is doing a panel. She’s a huge fan of Korra, and an adorable nerd about her show.
Noah Hathaway recommends that if you want to learn about life, you should travel. He also says an important part of life is “You just have to not wanna be a piece of shit.” He revealed that on the set of Battlestar Galactica the computers had games on them, like the guy playing Galaga on the bridge of the helicarrier in The Avengers.
Jennifer Hale is trash at video games.
Keep an eye out for more photos, especially the cosplay gallery, and videos on our facebook and youtube!
Jen Schiller
Staff Writer
@jenisaur
Fair Warning: if you are potentially triggered by discussions focusing on Old White Guy relationships, this may not be the article for you. Like Gandalf and Saruman (who was a nice guy in all those other Tolkien books that you haven’t read), for instance. Saruman was understandably jealous of the trail of happy, clapping halflings that I imagine trailed behind the Mithrandir everywhere he roamed. Theirs was a friendship doomed to fail, as are curiously many others that are loved and lost our most beloved books, movies, and shows. Hell, like most things, there’s even a whole page dedicated to the Evil Best Friend trope. Why is this trope so popular though? Just because it’s a guaranteed way to tug at our heart strings? Or is it because we relate and remember that our best friend in middle school became that bitch/bastard we hated in high school?
To examine these relationships further, let’s look at another common role: the Eccentric Mentor, here we have our grey and bearded Dumbledores and Obi-Wans. Something beyond facial hair they have in common? Former best friends that went to the dark side.
Wouldn’t it fuck you up to have to kill your friend? Worse, what would happen to the failed hero, when they realized they couldn’t quite defeat their frenemy and the world spiraled in to darkness because of it? You’d probably live in a cave and tell everyone you’re a wizard like Ben Kenobi, too. Our kooky mentors are always far more interesting when it is revealed that their dedication to guiding young heroes is driven by wanting to see their proteges succeed where they ultimately failed. The hero, then, must also take in to account that the big bad and symbol of all that is unholy, was also a person, friend, and child. This kind of humanization of both good and evil characters creates a way more relatable and heartrending conflict.
And when we finally get that long awaited Lion King direct-to-video prequel, I bet we find out that Rafiki was bros with the evil Koba from the most current round of Planet of the Apes movies. Of course the story doesn’t end there, or usually even start there. We first meet these characters as they attempt to take on the polarized conflict that arose out of their crumbling friendships by looking toward the next generation to succeed where they failed. Often the teams that they assemble are questionably young, but determined and righteous.
Is this fair? Wouldn’t it been nice for the world if Avatar Roku had handled his own best friend before he went all empire building and killed off all the poor dragons? Sure. Yes. Should have tried that out, Roku. But, story-wise, occasionally bestowing pearls of wisdom to the ragtag band of misfits divinely selected to clean up your mess is a far more interesting way to go. There’s a reason why season 3 of Buffy is the best season (couldn’t just talk about bros for an entire blog piece) and why by season 22 of the comics, we’ll see the disciples of the two best slayers duking it out while Buffy and Faith cheer from the sidelines. This trope naturally produces two stories and two sets of protagonists: the fall, in which worlds fall in the wake of the ruined friendship and the fix, in which a new crew is burdened with the mistakes of the past. This is the shit that gets Hollywood salivating at the prospect of turning trilogies into unnecessary quartets along with bonus prequels and origins swill.
The conflict then, is is more than just good versus evil, it’s about the next generation solving the problems caused by those before it, and often it’s done through unity and healing, rather than just straight forwardly chopping at evil with a sword/saber/wand. This type of story is different then and acknowledges that the Xavier’s of the fictional world didn’t just fail to stop evil, they failed to save a friend.
To properly mourn and appreciate, here’s a slide show of my favorite shattered friendships.
Kaitlyn D’Agostino
Staff Writer
Image Comics has announced that there will be exclusive releases from Image, Top Cow, and Skybound at San Diego Comic-Con 2014. Many of the creators will be on-hand for signings throughout the convention–keep an eye out on the Image Comics site or the SDCC events site.
These releases will be available at the Image Comics and Skybound booths (#2729), and Top Cow booth (#2629), depending on their publisher. See below for more details on specific issues that will be made available.
Image Comics Exclusives:
Issues
– LOW #1, by Rick Remender & Wes Craig, $10
– THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #2, by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie, $10
– SUPREME: BLUE ROSE #1, by Warren Ellis & Tula Lotay, $10
– CHEW: WARRIOR CHICKEN POYO #1 (Foil Cover) by John Layman & Rob Guillory, $10
– NAILBITER #3, by Josh Williamson & Mike Henderson, $10
Paperbacks:
– GIANT SIZED KUNG FU BIBLE STORIES, Edited by Erik Larsen & Bruce Timm, $20
Hardcovers
– DEADLY CLASS, VOL. 1, by Rick Remender & Wes Craig, $35
– ROCKET GIRL, VOL. 1, by Amy Reeder & Brandon Montclare, $35
T-Shirts
– “I ♥ Comics” M/W S-XL, $20; XXL, $25
– “I ♥ SDCC” M/W S-XL, $20; XXL, $25
Skybound Exclusives:
Issues
– MANIFEST DESTINY #8 (Connecting Cover), by Chris Dingess & Matthew Roberts, $10
– THE WALKING DEAD #129 (Connecting Cover), by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard, $10
– TECH JACKET #1 (Foil Cover), by Joe Keatinge & Khary Randolph, $10
Hardcovers
– INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM VOL. 2, $100
– MANIFEST DESTINY VOL. 1, $30
– WITCH DOCTOR VOL. 1, $30
– THIEF OF THIEVES VOL. 3, $30
Top Cow Exclusives:
Issues
– APHRODITE IX / CYBER FORCE #1, by Matt Hawkins & Stjepan Sejic, $10
Paperbacks
– APHRODITE IX: REBIRTH, VOL. 2, $20
If you’re headed for SDCC, what are you looking forward to the most? Stay tuned for all our adventures in San Diego!
Jen Schiller
Staff Writer
@jenisaur
Jen and her roving reporter sister are returning to Connecticon after a sad one-year hiatus. This year they are arriving armed and ready with a full schedule ahead of them! You will notice they sometimes have more than one event scheduled for a specific time slot. We are an ambitious group here at S-C, but we haven’t mastered time travel quite yet. Multiple panels for one time slot just means we have a back-up plan, or can’t decide between two excellent-looking panels!
Want to hit up our writers? Here’s where they’ll be: (more…)