Last week I had the fortune to spend several days not only attending GalaxyCon in Raleigh, North Carolina, but I worked as an exhibitor, which basically means I helped Heroes in Action set-up a booth, sold items to customers, and then spent a late night taking down the booth and loading it and the remaining goods into a truck. It was tiring, but it was also a lot of fun.
At the booth we had plenty to offer con-goers. We sold light sabers, jewelry, patches, comic books, pins, autographed photos, and plenty of collectibles. We offered items from many genres and franchises, including Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, My Pretty Pony, Princess Bride, Marvel, DC, and … wow, my mind boggles at all we had available.
It wasn’t all work. I did get to spend a little time walking the exhibitor floor, where I purchased from the folks with Misty Mountain Gaming a set of very nice wooden dice and a large 20-sided die made of bone. I even got to see a few celebrities, such as Giancarlo Esposito and Tara Reid, plus more than a few writers and artists.
Whether working or just walking around, my favorite part of GalaxyCon was all the people I got to meet, most of them in costume. Most times I never knew their real names, but I would recognize them by their costumes.
There was one fellow dressed in a movie-perfect Deadpool outfit, and to the joy of many he even had Ryan Reynolds’ voice down just right. There was a young lady dressed as the Thirteenth Doctor, and she was one of my favorites, looking just like a younger Jodie Whittaker. Then I got to see a man in a fancy southern dress and an umbrella, along with his thin beard and mustache, making him a perfect Klinger from M.A.S.H. Another costumed con-goer was a fellow dressed as one of the Sandmen, basically law enforcement, from the movie LOGAN’S RUN, complete with a Sandman gun holstered at his side.
There were plenty of others in costumes, so many I couldn’t have seen them all, but those mentioned were some who stood out to me. Though I can’t forget spotting The Dude from The Big Lebowski walking alongside Fat Thor. And, of course, the horror genre was represented by versions of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and plenty of others.
So, I spent much of four days working and walking among fictional heroes, and no few villains. But there were also some real heroes present, members of law enforcement acting as security and members of the U.S. Army who had their own booth at the convention.
That was the first time in four years I had been to a convention, and the first time I had ever worked at one, and I have to say the experience was interesting and fun, but also a lot of work. Will I do it again? Darn tootin’! I don’t know if I’ll have the opportunity to work at a convention again, but I would jump at the chance to do so once more, and even if I don’t, I can always attend, and that might even be just as much fun.
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