Wizard World 2016 a bigger attraction than the Arch

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Submitted by Dennis Russo on Tue, 04/05/2016 - 13:08

This past weekend, Wizard World descended upon Saint Louis in an epic blaze of glory that had this nerd and the throngs of nerd-dom far and wide in 7th Heaven.

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This the 4th year of the event in Saint Louis, and to me their lineup of guests, panels and vendors was the best so far--even the Cosplayers seemed to have stepped it up a notch this year.

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With a guest lineup of superstars that included the likes of David Tennant and Matt Smith, two of the most beloved Doctors in history; Billie Piper aka Rose Tyler, one of the most popular companions the Doctors have ever had; the indomitable William Shatner; WWE Superstar Paige; and others too numerous to mention here, Wizard World brought the A-listers from the worlds of TV, Movies, novels, comic books.

Panel lineups covered everything from how to write and create your own comic books, to creating worlds for novels, to how to create costumes, to discussions on what would happen on the season ending episode of THE WALKING DEAD, to falconry--yes, falconry, with live birds of prey!

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Because you never know when you will need help in staving off Medusa!

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My own personal favorite was getting to listen to Legendary cartoonist Tom Cook talk about how he got started in cartoons, starting in the very early days at Filmation studios working on HE-MAN and talking through all the steps it took in those “golden days” to create and bring a cartoon to fruition.

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The only regretful thing I can say about all the panels was that there were too many good ones starting at the same time, or overlapping, so you might not have been able to go to all that you wanted to.

And what would a Comicon be without the vendors!? This year it seemed like all of the vendors belonged (unlike last year when I remember a house gutter vendor being there). The only one that might have been a bit of a stretch was the hot/cold wrap, but since it worked by what seemed magic it was okay in my book. Besides, some of us aging geeks have sore bones and muscles nowadays!

My greatest treasure that I got was to talk to one of my cartoon/comic book heroes, Bob Camp; and I was able to procure an autographed comic, too! A true highlight for me, for sure!

And then there was all the Doctor Who merchandise and cosplayers in attendance. For an old Whovian like me, it was Nirvana. It was funny, though, that while as expected there were many David Tennant and Matt Smith look-a-likes, I was pleased to see just as many Tom Baker Doctors--even K-9 was there!

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I was surprised (and I shouldn’t have been) at just how popular the artists from Epic Ink and others Tattooists were. People were lined up to get tats and to watch.

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Another hugely popular segment of the show was all the gaming events that went on throughout the weekend. Some video games, some card playing games--there were even some video game cosplayers playing video games!

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If I were to sum up the entire weekend into one word, that word would be comradery. Comicons are the only events I know of where a group of people this large can get together and there are no fights! Think about it. Everyone I saw was happy to be there and happy to see everyone else too. I can’t tell you how many times I saw vendors talking to other vendors. Cosplayers seeing other cosplayers (that they would compete against later on) would run up to each other and ask if they could take their picture or have their picture taken with them. And it is not only for adults but for kids too. I saw families dressed together in theme! I saw a stroller made up as a Tardis! So much fun, so many good times.

Wizard World put on one heck of a show this year, and I can hardly wait now until next year's show. My only suggestion would be to schedule some of the panels more than once in the same day, so that if someone misses one in the morning because they are at a different panel, they can make sure to see it later one.

Great Job Team Wizard World, and thanks for the memories you helped make.