Convention Chaos: Fan Expo Chicago 2024
My full rundown and personal recap of Fan Expo Chicago 2024
Welcome to Convention Chaos. The rundown of who I met, what I did, and how much I spent (not really, I don’t want to know that) from the conventions I attended. For full interviews and other content from the shows - check out my HeartAsArt Substack.
FAN EXPO Chicago 2024 Rundown
Autographs
I went heavy on the video game autographs this time around. As much as I would have loved to have met Luke or Anakin Skywalker….. I don’t have the patience for that kind of line…. or you know have that kind of cash to toss around on one photo/autograph. No judgment at all if that is your thing, I totally get it, and trust me I was tempted, but didn’t end up doing it.
There was a pretty heavy Resident Evil presence at the show and as it is one of my favorite games series’ I jumped on the chance to get some autographs.
I had Catherine Discher (Jill Valentine - Resident Evil 3) autograph a poster I have of a lot of the Resident Evil games, I had Roger Craig Smith (Chris Redfield - Resident Evil 5) sign it as well. We also posed for a great boulder-punching photo. I also had Neil Newbon (Karl Heisenberg) sign a Resident Evil Village poster.
Keeping with the video game theme I also met Fred Tatasicore (Baird from Gears of War) and Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker in the PlayStation 4/5 Spider-Man games) along with Tara Platt (Yuri Watanabe/Wraith PlayStation 4/5 Spider-Man games). The Gears of War games were a huge part of my middle school and high school gaming life. Baid’s smart-ass sense of humor always was a highlight for me and Fred signing “The status is it sucks” with the autograph brought back some great memories.
Like many others, the Insomniac-developed Spider-Man games have been a highlight of the PlayStation 4 and 5 for me. As much as I enjoyed the first game and Miles Morales, the second game really put the series on the top of my list for the new generation of consoles. Meeting both Yuri and Tara was a highlight of the convention for me.
I rounded out the autographs with a Zach Aguilar (David Martinez - Cyberpunk Edgerunnres) autograph on an Edgerunners 11x17 print that I later got Emi Lo’s autograph on as well (more on that here). I also stopped at Artist Alley and had Nicola Scott autograph my Titans number 1 which she did the artwork for.
Speaking of comic book-related autographs…..Dan Riba who was one of the artists for Batman Beyond (my favorite Batman show) was going to be at the show I knew I had to do something big. I had him sign my box set DVD but I needed to get something else signed….
The original Batman Beyond helmet I made for my cosplay is too small for my head. It is still painted and finished with the lighting gels in the eyes and was actually used for a photoshoot. After I built a new helmet I wanted to do something with the old one. It is now a prop that I collect signatures on.
Riba signed it while I was in full cosplay. He was extremely complimentary of my suit and the photo we took is one of my favorites from the weekend.
The last autograph was one that I was extremely excited for. My dad had always been a big fan of the television show Seinfeld. I have great memories of watching the show with him when I was younger. When I heard that Larry Thomas, known for portraying the Soup Nazi would be there I, knew I had to get his autograph. My mom had bought my dad the entire Seinfeld series on DVD for Christmas when I was in middle school. The collection includes an episode guide that looks like a coffee table book, which is a reference to the coffee table book on coffee table books idea from another episode of the show. He signed the page about the Soup Nazi episode for me and posed for a photo.
By far my favorite part of the interaction was when he returned to his table after a short run to get his professional photos done. No one was sure if he was back for good or was just grabbing something. He yelled “NEXT” in complete character and when the next person walked up he grinned and said, “It works every time”. The scenario could not have been written better for getting his autograph. I had to hold back tears as I walked away, all I could think of was my dad joining me for the moment. I know he watched it all from above laughing along with me.
Shopping
I did some damage here…….(is it really a con if you don’t blow the budget).
I stopped by Game X Change and grabbed a few Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games I had been wanting to add to my collection such as Saints Row the Third, Tomb Raider 2013 (I had digital copies of both but wanted physical) as well as Resistance Fall of Man and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
I stopped back at Artist Alley and stopped at Sigma Comics to get a copy of Calico Street Math Collector’s Edition. The comic features an anti-hero character that takes down animal abusers and makes The Punisher look nice…..As a massive animal lover myself I had to snag a copy.
Cosplay
I rocked the Batman Beyond cosplay on Saturday for the photo with Dan Riba, I had quite a few people ask me for photos which is always a ton of fun. I didn’t do any photoshoots at this convention. I had a lot going on leading up to the convention with a job change and was out of town for training the week going into the convention. Just walking around the con floor with Batsuit was a great time. Shout out to Chris and Jakeup from My Anime Fig for holding stuff for me at their exhibitor table. They were lifesavers at the show!
Interviews
My interviews for this show were an absolute blast! You can see them all here.
Under the L Productions
First up was Danny Reyes and David Vox Mullens of Under the L Productions. They gave a sneak peek of their documentary - The Herro’s Journey - a documentary all about professional wrestler David Herro. After the documentary sneak peek I had the chance to talk with Reyes, Vox, David, and his son Kal. This was my introduction to Danny who later shot my Nightwing cosplay!
ANDCosplay
Keeping the wrestling theme going, I chatted with cosplay guest ANDCosplay about all things wrestling and cosplay. She was dressed as the WWE Champion American Nightmare Cody Rhodes complete with her handmade robe. We had a great conversation about her introduction to professional wrestling, cosplay, and how she made her robe.
I hope you enjoyed the version of “Convention Chaos”. Thanks for reading and happy creating! Be sure to connect with me at all my links here!