ECCC Part 2: Panels

Panels

The panels started at the top of each hour and were supposed to run for 50 minutes or so, but a lot of them ran over which screwed up the schedule.  And because many of the panelists were booked at back-to-back panels, they sometimes showed up late.  I think the whole show could have benefitted from running the panels on tighter schedule.  But regardless of that, all the panels we attended were fun and educational.  The first panel we went to we missed because it filled up before we could get there.  After that we learned to show up early.

The second panel was How to Edit Comics.  I've done film/tv editing and I know the role of a literary editor, but I didn't know the first thing of what it takes to edit a comic book.  Turns out the editor is like a ringmaster at a circus, coordinating between all the different artists (pencilers, inkers, colorists, etc.) to make sure that the book hits all its deadlines.

The third panel was Pint O' CB where fans got to ask any questions they had for Marvel Comics' Senior Vice President of Creative and Creator Development, C.B. Cebulski.  Since this was a Marvel panel and we were dressed as Kitty and Colossus, I decided to go up and ask a question in character.  The panel didn't release any groundbreaking news, but it was fun and we all had a some good laughs.

The fourth panel was Starting a Successful Kickstarter.  Kickstarter is a website where people can raise funding for their projects.  It was a very informative panel and I encourage any creative types with a good idea to go take a look.

The fifth panel was Oh My, It's George Takei.  This panel was held in a huge hall with probably a thousand seats.  We lined up 30 minutes early and still had to wait to get in because so many people had stayed in the hall after the previous panel.  It was worth the wait.  George Takei is very funny and he had the whole audience going with all of his funny stories.  However, the moderator was Danny Bonaduce.  He got a few laughs out of me, but I mostly just thought he was an ass.

The final panel we went to was the Star Wars Radio Play and it was my favorite.  The panel consisted of famous voice actors from Futurama, Pinky and the Brain, Finding Nemo, Teen Titans, etc.  Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell, and Rob Paulsen did a reading of New Hope while there were randomly assigned different voices by the moderator.  My favorite combo was Futurama's Bender as Princess Leia performed by John DiMaggio and Power Puff Girls' Bubbles as Darth Vader performed by Tara Strong.  I love doing impersonations and voices, so I was enthralled and inspired by the talent on stage.

The panels were all very interesting and entertaining.  We would have liked to have gone to more, but we were also busy showing off our costumes.  Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it.

ECCC Part 1: The Booths

After months of planning, yesterday my girlfriend and I went to the Emerald City Comicon.  In short, it was amazing!  It took over the whole convention center and spanned four floors.  The panels were hosted in rooms on all the levels, but the comic-centered booths were only on the fourth floor and the gaming booths were on the first floor.  There was a huge crowd of people (many of whom dressed in cosplay) from all ages and areas of interest, which made for a really fun atmosphere.  The show ran from Friday to Sunday, but we only went for Saturday.  There is so much to say about the con, so over the next few days I'll break it into three easy to chew pieces: the booths, the panels, and of course the costumes.

Booths
The fourth floor was the main floor where they had a huge hall set up with lots of booths.  There were booths of artists, shops, and organizations.  When most people think of comic books they picture super heros like Batman (DC Comics) or Spiderman (Marvel Comics), but there is a vast world of comic books that cover all kinds of genres.  There were little kid comics, historical comics, graphic novels, LGBT comics, web comics and more.  Comics are a great artistic way to explore a lot of rich worlds.  We had a fun time just going around and looking at all the variety.

On the first floor they set up all the gaming booths.  There were card games, an arcade, a Guitar Hero contest, and demos of the latest Star Wars game for the Kinect.  They had a really cool R2D2 Xbox with a C3P0 controller.  The gaming section booths looked great and had a lot of stuff, but since the area was pretty small it was packed with people.

The artist booths were my favorite.  Their artwork covered original material as well as personal takes on well known subjects like super heroes or television shows.  The artwork was not just limited to drawings; there was a lot of comic-inspired figurines, crafts, and jewelry.  Many of the artists were there doing sketches at their booths.  It was cool to see the artistic process first hand.  And since most comic book artists are freelance the show is a great way for them to get fans and find work.

There were also a lot of shops set up with really cheap comic book deals, toys, tshirts, etc. but we didn't bring any extra money for shopping.

The booths were interesting, but it was hard to get a good look at them since we were in costume and everyone was stopping us to take pictures (including the people running the booths).  We mostly just used walking around the booths as a time filler while we waited for tomorrow's subject: panels.

Family

When people are born they are dealt a certain hand of cards. I was dealt a particularly good hand.  One of those cards was having a very loving family.  I was always supported in whatever pursuit I chose.  Sports, music, education, etc. When I moved to California for school, I had some relatives from my mom's side of the family to help look out for me.  My aunt, uncle, and cousins made me feel at home.  I also had my friends from my school.  I never missed out on the family atmosphere even though I moved 2000 miles away from where I was born.
When I was laid off from THQ and decided to move to Washington, I had a much smaller friend circle and no blood relatives around.  I was fortunate enough to have my girlfriend's family take me in; I will always owe them for the generosity they have shown me.  But I will be candid with the fact that I was unsure of my future in the area.  Not having a job began to weigh heavily on me and I unconsciously put up emotional walls to protect myself just in case things did not work out and I had move away.  I started to think the encouragement I was receiving from my local companions was to mostly protect themselves from me freeloading off of their generosity.  I was still in contact with my immediate family, but without face to face contact, their sincere encouragement only went so far.
Today, I got a job.  It's not in the game industry like I had hoped but it is a good job and I am more than happy to have it.  The outpouring from my family was one of relief and excitement.  They worry about me being so far away and now they have the piece of mind that I am gonna be alright.  My kin's reaction was not altogether surprising to me.  However, the affection from my Seattle coherts was.  Their excitement was abundant and genuine.  I realized today that my emotional barriers had blurred my perception of their concern.  They were not merely worried about how I might affect them, but they were truly concerned about my well being, my future, and my happiness.  Just like my family back home.
I was under the impression that I made the move to Washington where I didn't have any family.  I am happy to admit that I was wrong.

Exploring Washington: Count down to ECC

Last fall, long before I moved to Seattle, my girlfriend, Lauren, and I decided we wanted to go to the Emerald City Comicon in full Cosplay outfits.  I was onboard from the get-go.  My girlfriend was the first to decide on a character. She called me one day and was very excited to tell me she had decided on Kitty Pride from the X-Men (she is the girl that can walk through walls).  I laughed at her and asked why she picked an xmen from the b-list and she had a simple answer: she has red hair. I told her that there was plenty of other way more iconic women from the Marvel Universe with brown hair. But then I started looking and I found out that really isn't. All of the women have jet black, fire red, or bleach blonde hair. And since she didn't want to buy a wig, Kitty was the best choice.
So then I picked Kitty's mutant boyfriend, Colossus (the big Russian guy that turns his skin into liquid metal).  My first thought was how awesome of a character that is for a Cosplay costume.  But then I started to realize just how much work it was going to be. Nonetheless, with ECC this weekend, I am happy to say that Kitty and Colossus will be there and we are very much ready to go.
I encourage you all to go check out the details of the costume making on Lauren's blog: Cosplay Update: Ready for Con

Game Review: Draw Something

Two weeks ago I saw some people playing Draw Something on their iPads.  I downloaded it on my phone and started playing the modern-day Pictionary game for myself.  I've had a lot of fun playing it so I thought I'd write a good review for the world to see.  It's a turn-based social game where players take turns drawing and guessing pictures.  The game revolves around a central mechanic that records your drawing and plays it back to the guesser.  It connects you and your friends through Facebook and is available on iOS and Android platforms.

One of the reasons I really like this game is because it is so accessible to people.  It's really simple, you just pick your prompt then draw your picture.  The game gives you three prompts, an easy, medium, and hard word.  After you pick your prompt you can draw whatever you want to get your point across.  This opens the doors for boundless creativity.  I like seeing the creative side of my friends and family.  I'm not playing with any da Vincis or van Goghs, but it's fun to see everyone's artistic ability no matter what the level.  Though today, I had really hard time figuring out a drawing of what was allegedly a bed.  The best part about playing with friends is using inside jokes in the pictures.  Playing a Twilight drinking game a few weeks ago turned out to be great material for one of my proudest masterpieces.

But the game isn't without it's problems.  The biggest let down is the small amount of words to choose from.  I've had words repeated against the same people in less then ten moves.  One time my friend drew an Ewok and the next turn the hard prompt I got was also Ewok.  I understand that the game makers want people to buy the full version to get more words, but I thought that was just a little ridiculous.  However, this is just a small complaint against an otherwise very fun game.

All in all, I would recommend this game to anyone who has a compatible device.  It's free, it's fun, and any can play it.  So what are you waiting for? Go Draw Something!**


**(I'm more than slightly ashamed for that, but I couldn't help myself.)

Discussions with Devs: The Plan So Far

For a while now, I've been tossing around the idea of doing Skype interviews with Indie game developers.  I've mentioned it to a few people and they all seemed to like the concept.  If you're interested, here are some details about the project:

• The title of the project is called "Discussions with Devs"
• They segments would be 5-10 min video Skype interviews
• We would talk about the studios, what inspires them, how they got into it, and their latest game of course
• The objective is to have fans get to know the developers behind their favorite games, get the developers some free publicity, and offer insight into the Indie community and the future of gaming
• My girlfriend, Lauren McLaren, wrote the theme music

Here is the title intro for the upcoming segment:

  A few weeks ago, I discussed it with Richard Williams, a former coworker of mine from THQ, and he was nice enough to put me in contact with a guy named Chris Wright.  Chris, is starting up a business in Melbourne, Australia called Surprise Attack that does PR and marketing for Indie devs, so he seemed like the perfect person to talk to about my idea.  Yesterday, I chatted with him via Skype and got some very good pointers on working with Indie developers and where to start searching for good studios.  After my talk with Chris, I finally feel prepared to start sending out feelers to potential interviewees.  However, the whole gaming industry is on hold right now due to GDC, so even though I've already heard back from some people they won't have an answer till next week.  But that's OK, cause I still have some issues to iron out.

There are some websites that are doing similar work, including toucharcade.com.  That website follows all the different games and trends in the world of mobile developers.  They even do a weekly podcast that I've been listening to.

All-in-all I'm really excited for this project.  If you have any suggestions for my show, or ideas for potential interviews, post a comment below or email me at ryanjsuter@gmail.com. And thanks!

Exploring Washington: the Star Wars Shop

This weekend, I went to visit my girlfriend in Aberdeen, Washington (birth place of Kurt Cobain).  While there we went to visit, Sucher & Sons Star Wars Shop, a little store that sits on the main drag in Aberdeen.  Actually, "store" doesn't really do the place justice, it's more of a curiosity shop.  Our adventure began with a quick a picture with the Darth Vader mannequin standing outside.  We looked down right before we walked in and saw a very unfortunate Han Solo (not only encased in Carbonite but also concrete) screaming up at us from the sidewalk.  That's when I knew I was going to love the place.

When we walked in, I was overwhelmed by all the toys, posters, clothes, TVs, and ad campaigns in the store.  There were collectibles sitting on the floor, on shelves, and hanging from the ceiling (including a five foot long replica of the Millenium Falcon).  The store was not set up like a store, more like a toyroom.  After we walked in we saw an umbrella holder that was filled with lightsabers.  There were TVs playing movies (the actual series, plus Family Guy's and Space Balls).  And only the Lego sets (pre built and on display) and high-dollar items had signs that said "Don't Touch!"  The Star Wars Shop was also like a museum with items spanning the whole life of the franchise.  Some of the toys were even set up to recreate scenes from the movies.  The most impressive was a giant glass case where you could rotate a recreation of the Ewok village built from 3 different 1970's Ewok village playsets!  Besides a toyroom and museum, Sucher & Son's really took the extra step to make the place a temple for Star Wars fans.  Not only did they have licensed paraphernalia on display, but they also had fan-made materials.  There was an AT-AT walker made from plywood and plexiglass, so you could see into all the compartments, that I thought was cool. They even had a TV with bulbous speakers on top made to look like Jar-Jar that was playing Episode 1 (which I thought was less cool).

After a while, a man came in by the name of Don.  I'm not sure on the history but I think he was the one that started the store (judging by the frequency of his appearance in the photos on the walls).  He was an older guy with a well worn Family Guy Star Wars t-shirt.  He was delighted to meet us and started talking to us about our Star Wars knowledge.  Then he disappeared for a second and returned with post-cards and flyers for us to take with us.  On our way out, he encouraged us to sign the guest-book. Definitely a curiosity shop.

As we walked back to my girlfriends place, I started to think about what it takes to run such a shop.  I have a hard time believing that it could be making a lot of money.  Especially, considering its niche audience in a small town.  My guess is tourists and pilgrims are where they get their bread and butter.  But besides the economics, how can someone be such a fan of the Star Wars franchise that s/he goes to work everyday selling the same stuff and watching/listening to the same movies?  The reality is Don isn't just a fan, he's a fanatic.  He loves Star Wars so much that he has dedicated his life to it.  It probably isn't easy or lucrative, but it is his labor of love.  And that gives me encouragement to keep working so that one day, I can have my own Star Wars Shop*.

*Metaphorically of course, cause I'd rather have a barcade (half bar, half arcade, all awesome).

I found this footage on Youtube of the Sucher & Sons Star Wars Shop.