Matt's Day at Wizard World 2014

Comic conventions tend to be a thing you look forward to every year, like Popeyes chicken half-off day (actually a real thing) and Justin Timberlake's yearly SNL appearance. While every person is different in their motivations for going to a con, mine skew towards discovering new art and seeing great cosplay. Of course, my POP figure hunt for Groot was also a priority. Alas, I did not succeed on that front, but no reason to be a downer. Here is my day at Wizard World Nashville in a nutshell.

FUNKOS ABOUND!

When I say I was searching for Groot, I wasn’t kidding. I walked around that floor at least 6 or 7 times over, just hoping to catch a glimpse of the ancient tree god, yet somehow came up empty. I found every other POP figure I could have possibly wanted, but not Groot. I even entered a raffle to grab a homemade Groot, but lost out on that too. Sigh, I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

Nice Setup Greg Horn

Seriously, he took up like 3 tables worth of space. Now Horn’s art is a bit hit and miss for me, but I have to give props to the slick Batman you see above, as well as to the straight out of a pack of fleer Ultra 95's Wolverine and Deadpool. The Spiderman shot is lovely as well, just based on its interesting perspective alone, though it would be nice if he wasn’t leering at a half naked woman, and if you have to go that route at least make it his wife. Before you ask, yes, I am aware he isn’t married in the Marvel Now Universe, but in my mind ONE MORE DAY never happened, and the whole thing is a sham. Oh, and I also have lunch on a regular basis with THE Treat Williams and ride to work on a Stegacorn, so things in my world of make believe are doing just fine thank you. By the way, that is a stegosaurus unicorn, just in case you were wondering. You probably weren't, but just in case. 

Sunset Overdrive

Well, never let it be said that Microsoft is subtle, as they parked their Surface-mobile right in the middle of the arena. I will say it is a pretty ingenious setup though, and allowed me to get some hands on time with Insomniac’s new title Sunset Overdrive. The game really does feel like Ratchet and Clank and Jet Set Radio had a baby, then fed it tons of Skittles and Starbursts. The control takes a bit of getting used to, and the jumping never really feels spot on, but once you are attached to a rail everything just comes together in a wonderfully fun and over the top way. 

Awesome Cosplay Abounds

While I'm still upset that I missed the full on Groot costume (complete with stilts from what I hear), there was still lots of great cosplay on display. Here are just a few examples, but the Captain America family down below kind of stole the show.

Don't lie, you know you want that Shield. I too was envious, but even more so of the Halloween town key blade located on the far right. 

While perusing for a birthday gift for a friend, I happened upon the utterly stylish art you see above, created by Chris Hammer. His style is inherently unique, and I could have bought way more of his work if I actually had wall space for it. The Groot and Batman rank among my faves, but he has tons of other work, which you can find on his website

Speaking of unique, I think the term applies to Andrew Heath as well. The Popsicle series brings back memories of buying stuff from the ice cream man, where I would have tackled a kid to get a Mega Man bar. Andrew also has some sweet Nintendo based pieces, which you can see below and on his website.

My Groot obsession extended past just Funkos, and since I had no luck with those I decided a homemade Groot would have to suffice. Sadly this also didn't happen, so again, I was left Grootless. Grrr..

Alright, let's bring it around back to happy town. I got to speak to Tom Bancroft while I was there, one of the multi talented artists who worked on Alladin, Mulan, The Lion King, and many others Disney films. My wife's birthday happened to be around the same day, so I couldn't pass up getting a sketch of her favorite princess, Jasmine. It came out perfect, so a big thanks to him for sketching it, and make sure to check out his newest work, Opposite Forces

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