Tuesday, March 31, 2015

WonderCon April 3-5 and Star Wars Celebration April 16-19


Get ready your lightsabers and superhero outfits! Wondercon and the Stars War Celebration will be coming this April to Anaheim! Just a week apart, the conventions will be filled with foot traffic of fans in costumes from Star Wars and huge variety of films and TV shows.


WonderCon
April 3-5
Anaheim Convention Center
800 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92802Starts at $16, three-day and Saturday badges sold out

Get the details here, think of it as an easier going Comic-Con...near Disneyland.


I love the idea of the Star Wars Celebration, but right now it sounds like it's only saving grace will be the likely huge amount of cosplay at the event. Even /Film's The 25 Coolest Things To Do at the event should be more like the only 25 Things To Do at the event.

A friend wrote to me on his thoughts of the first event, "Wondercon is an event that gives the socially awkward a chance to socialize, if they weren't so awkward around each other in the first place." I couldn't disagree more as an attendee whose gone to WonderCon for years now. Fellow fans strike conversations and have a place to get deep into conversations about their favorite series. Many from LA come to find others to help with their own series in mind. Others come for the special guests. Here are just a few of them:

Felicia Day, Jessica Chobot; the cast of iZOMBIE with Rose McIver (Masters of Sex), Malcolm Goodwin (Breakout Kings), Rahul Kohli (newcomer from the UK), Robert Buckley (One Tree Hill) and David Anders (Once Upon a Time); The Last Man on Earth team with Will Forte (Nebraska, Saturday Night Live), and directors/producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street).

There's more panels for television with Gotham, The Flash and Cartoon Network's Teen Titan's Go! . TNT’s The Last Ship, The Messengers, American Dad and Orphan Black will also have their cast and crews telling you what you can look forward to this season.

For comic fans Image Comics will be having panels with comic greats on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday panel, Image Comics: Where Creators Own Everything, has Ed Brubaker (The Fade Out), and  Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), in attendance. Marvel television and film won't be attending, but the comics division will be out in force. Writers will be telling you some early info on Secret Wars, setting up the Marvel Universe for big action starting in May.

Big exhibitors include Nintendo and Capcom for gaming. These game companies pull of some amazing booths worthy of taking photos at. This year Capcom will have For comics you Image, Boom and IDW. Look out for the returning We Love Fine, they'll be offering an exclusive Lumber Janes Holy Kitten, and Nerdist booths. The Warner Bros booth will be taking up some decent floor space too.

Saturday sees the world premiere of Batman Vs. Robin, the brand new straight to VOD film from Warner Bros Animation featuring Batman fighting his own son, Robin!

Be sure to find everything and schedule it with the MySchedule app provided free. You can see what events and guests you wanna go after.

Warner Bros Television is coming with it's top shows from all over TV.  Gotham's Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Robin Lord Taylor and executive producer John Stephens will be in for a Q&A session and special video presentation; Saturday April 4, 3:45pm. The Flash streaks in with Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, along with executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg for their own panel; Sunday April 5, 1:30pm. Join the cast of iZOMBIE with Rose McIver (Masters of Sex), Malcolm Goodwin (Breakout Kings), Rahul Kohli (newcomer from the UK), Robert Buckley (One Tree Hill) and David Anders (Once Upon a Time), and executive producers Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) and Diane Ruggiero-Wright. The show has Rose play Olivia “Liv” Moore, a young women who becomes a zombie who has to maintain some sort of life at the morgue. When she munches on brains, she also gets visions from the memory of the person she's eating; Saturday April 4, 2:30–3:30pm. For little fans, Teen Titans Go! will have a panel with Greg Cipes (voice of Beast Boy) and Scott Menville (voice of Robin) along with producers Michael Jelenic (Batman: The Brave and The Bold) and Aaron Horvath (MAD). All of the panels will have special video presentations.

The Warner Bros booth will be taking up some decent floor space too.

Marvel television and film won't be attending, but the comics division will be out in force. Join Editor Wil Moss, Sam Humphries (Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex), Greg Weisman (Star Wars: Kanan—The Last Padawan), Rick Remender (Avengers: Rage of Ultron), and other secret guests on the “Marvel: Next Big Thing” panel; Saturday, April 4, 4pm-5pm. The panel will take questions all the big events and crossovers happening in Marvel over the next year. “Marvel: Breaking Into Comics the Marvel Way” has Wil Moss, Sam Humphries (Black Vortex), Cullen Bunn (Magneto), and other Marvel writers and artists explain how to break into comics, the Marvel way. Sunday, April 5 11am-12pm.

Image Comics will be having panels with comic greats on Saturday and Sunday. The panel Image Comics: Where Creators Own Everything has Ed Brubaker (The Fade Out), Eric Stephenson (They're Not Like Us), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Becky Cloonan (Southern Cross), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), and Rick Remender (Black Science) in attendance and telling you how precious owning your own work is; Saturday April 4, 3:00pm. Image continues with criminal acts in the Image Comics: Where Creators Own Crime panel. Talents like Ed Brubaker (Criminal), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), James Robinson (The Saviors, Heaven), and Darwyn Cooke (Revengeance), will discuss how they tell their grim tales; Saturday April 4, 6pm.

TV Guide magazine returns to WonderCon Anaheim with an all-star panel of TV's hottest showrunners. Moderated by TV Guide magazine executive editor Michael Schneider, the session brings together top producers for a look behind the scenes of your favorite shows. Panelists (subject to change) include: Natalie Chaidez (12 Monkeys), Kerry Ehrin (Bates Motel), Adam Goldberg (The Goldbergs), Dan Harmon (Community), Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls), Peter Horton (American Odyssey) and Graeme Manson (Orphan Black). Saturday

Saturday sees the world premiere of Batman Vs. Robin, the brand new straight to VOD film from Warner Bros Animation featuring Batman fighting his own son, Robin!

Big exhibitors include Nintendo and Capcom for gaming. For comics you Image, Boom and IDW. Look out for the returning We Love Fine, they'll be offering an exclusive Lumber Janes Holy Kitten, and Nerdist booths.

Sunday we see some fun with the Honest Trailers and ScreenJunkies crew panel for some laughs you can get in person instead of on the internet.

Moving on to Star Wars, well you do have some fun guests.

The Force comes to SoCal with The Star Wars Celebration a weekend later. This event brings together the Star Wars community with special and gues you'll find no where else in the galaxy. JJ Abrams, the writer/director and Producer Kathleen Kennedyof Star Wars Force Awakens will be making a special appearance to kick off the event. Mark Hamil, ya' know Luke Skywalker is in attendance. So is Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher; Lando Calrissian aka Billy Dee Williams and C-3PO whose Anthony Daniels inside.

Star Wars fans will be treated to the world premiere of Star Wars: Rebels Season 2 Premiere with cast and crew in attendance.

You'll be able see the props and costumes of Star Wars in featured panels and around the convention.

Sneak peaks into what will be happening to Disney Parks with the future of Star Wars into 2016 at the Disney Parks & Star Wars Merchandise – This is Where the Magic Begins panel.

A huge exhibition hall will have everything and I mean everything Star Wars from kitchenware to customizable phones.

If your a fan and want to get the latest little bit of news on the upcoming film, you'll want to be here. Or if you want to see babies dressed as Yoda.

sources: Official WonderCon, Star Wars Celebration