by Pia Thrasher, Reporter

This was my first time at WonderCon and I didn’t know what to expect, but boy, was it FUN! Last year I was all set to go, badge secured, but then I came down with the flu and couldn’t attend. So, needless to say, I was super stoked that WonderCon took place in Anaheim again (instead of San Francisco), making it much more affordable for me, because it’s just a drive up north from San Diego.

From what I heard, attendance has grown dramatically compared to last year. Getting around was still easy, though, and if there were any lines, they were short. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much cosplay. I think people who didn’t dress in costume were actually the minority!

Amazing cosplay everywhere you turn!

I had only planned for a few panels, mainly because I had no idea what to expect, how long the lines would be and how sidetracked I would get on the main floor. But my MUST ATTEND event for Friday was Netflix’s Hemlock Grove panel. Not only because Eli Roth is the mastermind behind it, but also because it was a Battlestar Galactica mini-reunion with actors Kandyse McClure and Aaron Douglas included in the panel. To my surprise, BSG writer/producer Mark Verheiden was there, too. Also attending were writer Brian McGreevy, actors Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård (who is a spitting image of his brother Alexander), Landon Liboiron, Freya Tingley and director Deran Sarafian. The mood of the crowd was already great…and then they showed a clip from Hemlock Grove that left the audience screaming in delightful disgust, shock and awe, so to speak. Let me put it this way: I’ve never seen a werewolf transformation done quite that way. I wouldn’t expect any less from Eli Roth. I can’t wait to see all 13 episodes, which are available on Netflix on April 19th.

Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove” panel with Kandyse McClure, Penelope Mitchell, Aaron Douglas and Eli Roth.

FanGirl side note: About 10 minutes before the Hemlock Grove panel started, I tweeted how excited I was about the panel, added the #WonderCon hashtag and included the handles of Kandyse McClure, Aaron Douglas and Eli Roth. After the panel was over Kandyse asked me how it was! Of course I replied, to all, how awesome it was and then she AND Eli Roth re-tweeted my reply!

Can you say NERDGASM?!? I know, I know…this is silly and it’s not the cure for cancer, but you understand, right?

 Another side note: To make sure I had a good seat for the Hemlock Grove panel, I sat through the previous panel, which was about how to get a job in the gaming industry. Oh the irony… (For those that don’t know – a few years ago, I worked in the international quality assurance department for a certain video game company for 2 years…about 1 year too long – but that’s another story).

Saturday morning, a friend of mine and I headed straight to History Channel’s Vikings panel and, again, had no problem finding a good seat. I miss those days. This truly does remind me of SDCC about 15 years ago… *le sigh*. We were shown a summary of what happened in the first 4 episodes and then a tense clip of episode 5. My friend, who hadn’t seen any of the show before, was sold for sure!

Vikings cast members Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick and George Blagden

The chemistry between the lead actors was charming and everybody seemed to actually have a great time being on the panel.  Lots of jokes and lots of laughter – the audience ate it up. I hope we get to see much more of these peeps!

RAGNAR!

Athelstan!

The main floor in Hall A and B offered so many goodies, I won’t even try to list them. I already have the attention span of a gnat and all these shiny objects everywhere kept pulling me from one booth to the next. So many distractions, so little time… Or should I say: so many temptations, so little money! I couldn’t resist this cute little thing, though:

MINE! Alien sculpture by Metal Souls – doesn’t it melt your heart?

After walking the floor, I spent some time eating delicious grub from the food court (3 tacos of your choice – beef, chicken or pork, for 7 bucks? Why, yes! Yes, please!) Not pricey, as I had expected, at all!  Also, great idea having a variety of food trucks parked right in front of the convention center! Are you listening, SDCC?

So, we boldly walked into the Arena and, guess what! No line! We caught the middle of James Wan’s panel for The Conjuring and saw a promising creepy trailer. Next up was Guillermo del Toro, who showed more footage for his upcoming Pacific Rim. Did I mention, we just walked in? No waiting in line for 12 hours for Hall H to see the Guillermo! I’m still stunned! Enjoy it while you can – I have a feeling that WonderCon won’t stay this ‘small’ for long!

Guillermo del Toro doing his thing and having the crowd in stitches. | Revolution‘s Elizabeth Mitchell being very gracious and engaging.

After that I barely had time for another quick round of the main floor, meet up with some friends and take a silly pic at the booth for the Star Trek Enterprise D Bridge Restoration. Give them a click – it’s a nonprofit foundation created to restore one of Paramount’s “Enterprise-D Bridge” sets from Star Trek: The Next Generation, to be displayed to the public and turned into an interactive museum attraction.

Yours truly in the yellow top, flanked by French horror film director Nicolas Simonin on the left and my convention partner in crime, actress Jenn Larson behind me, pushing the red button. I believe the guys behind us were booth volunteers. Or just more geeks like us.

I really wanted to see the Hannibal panel later in the afternoon, but I had to hurry off to meet a certain FX buddy of mine who just moved into a new shop in Riverside. That might be another blog sometime, because by then, he’ll be really famous!

WonderCon 2013 was truly full of WONDER (bad pun intended)! Will you attend next year? Till next time!

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