ECCC has been a convention that I've had a love-hate relationship with. It seems like I keep on complaining about it, and yet I keep on going back to it. I keep on saying next year I won't go, but I've been every year since 2012 (except for the obvious one). Maybe it's just that it's my excuse to visit Seattle. Or maybe I just won't let go of my glimmer of hope that one year, we'll see this convention finally live up to its full potential.
This year, the guest lineup was as good as it had been in years. Maybe as good as it has ever been. And, the biggest issue of the past two years (featured guests with no panels) was
mostly rectified. Only Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright didn't have panels, but they weren't heavily advertised. All the main guests had panels, and the best part about this year that rather than panels being exclusively single-actor Q&A (or somewhat awkwardly random double-actor Q&As) we had full, meaty panels with multiple cast members of established shows, past and present, and in most of these cases the cast featured multiple members in combinations that made sense and featured the lead actors/actresses. And there were LOTS of them - Scream, Our Flag Means Death, Twin Peaks, Buffy, Arrow, Mandalorian, and Clone Wars. And the main stage solo panels were
really big names, Mark Ruffalo and David Tennant. Twisted Toonz came back, and while that one didn't have big names, it did turn out to be one of the more hilarious ones I've seen.
Furthermore, I noticed the return of something this year that ECCC used to be good at pre-2016, but not so much in recent years, and that's replacing guests that cancel. Emily Bett Rickards (Arrow) had to cancel, but they replaced her with Juliana Harkavy. Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks) canceled, but they replaced her with Harry Goaz and Kimmy Robertson. Although Sheryl Lee's character was bigger, I appreciated that they probably realized that, so they brought in two people to replace her. (Plus both of those two were really entertaining!)
Also, we saw the return of actual nighttime programming. They didn't place a random low-attendance panel at 6 PM, charge $20 for it, and call it "ECCC After Dark" like they did in 2019 (yes, really.) This year's night programs actually made sense and included Pub Quizzes, Karaoke, Drink & Draw and Bingo. This year's feature After Dark event was a shadowcast (where they play the movie and actors act along with it in person) of the Rocky Horror Picture Show by the Tacoma Bluemouseketeers.
I also found two smaller panels that were interesting; Herne Hill, the VFX studio that worked on Cabinet of Curiousities, and Jeff Smith (creator of Bone comic and some others.) Programming wise, the only thing that was realistically a disappointment was that they had no music content. The PNW has a great music scene (including nerd rock), so I do hope they bring this back in the future. That said, I took advantage of the great PNW music scene and walked across the street on Friday to see Vance Joy at the Paramount and then back to the convention for the last hour of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and then ventured to The Crocodile on Sat/Sun for The Freakout Weekender, an indie/local/punk/avant garde music festival taking place the same weekend.
Exhibitors were a bit weaker than previous years. The most obvious omission was Funko, but none of the really big national exhibitors were there except for Bluefin. Figpin and RSVLTS were other known names with small booths. Tokidoki, BAIT, and Hallmark skipped. That said, I wonder if Funko's omission actually worked in favor of getting bigger guests. The Funko whales did not buy up all the tickets, so ReedPop had to find other ways to sell tickets such as announcing a much better guest lineup. If this was the case, then I consider it a fair tradeoff.
My favorite discovery in the exhibit hall this year was the Materia Store, which sold a variety of video game related vinyl records. They were here in 2022 but I really got to take a good look at the booth this year and picked up the Sonic Spinball Soundtrack on vinyl and a lo-fi Yoshi compilation.
Merch was pretty standard. I was a bit disappointed that they had no flannel, scarf, or plushie this year, but I did finally pick up the Monsters & Dames art book because one of my favorite artists, Priscilla Wilson, designed the cover. Then, I ended up getting 2022's M&D book in the grab bag I purchased for $15 (see previous post), along with a whole host of other goodies with no filler!
As always, Artist Alley was excellent. I picked up a limited edition ECCC Soonay Pin from Priscilla Wilson & a couple Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain magnets from storyboard artist Keith Tucker who worked on the shows.
Finally...I loved the new convention center. It retained most of what I liked about the previous one (multiple floors with interesting staircases, big scenic windows) and is more spacious. The smaller panel rooms were much cheerier in the new building than in TCC. The only thing I missed was the exhibit hall across the skybridge. The placement in the basement was a bit awkward. It could work with the proper signage and spacing, but it wasn't 100% on point this year. Most likely they'll make the proper adjustments moving forward.
Before it was pulled, 2020 looked like it was going to be the best ECCC ever. We didn't quite get that, but what we did get is the ECCC that we needed. This year felt like a reset. Not just a pre-2020 reset, but a pre-2016 reset. It was good for the same reasons that I started going to this convention in the first place - excellent guests and panels, and low-key quirky local atmosphere. They were very good at replacing guests who canceled. Just like the early years, it did lack some of the more name brand exhibitors that we started seeing the past few years. But I found that that didn't really bother me as much as I had thought it might. I was too busy enjoying myself watching panels, which is something I really hadn't been able to do much of at ECCC in recent years. Of the 11 ECCCs I've been to, this one easily is a Top 5, probably in the #3-5 range.