By Mark Rodriguez
This past weekend I got to check out the Steelcity Con in Monroeville PA, which I haven't been to in a few years. The Steelcity Con is often referred to as PA's premiere comic con and it is awesome. This con also happens more than once a year! The SteelcityCon usually hits PA in April, August and December, making it for 3 awesome times to get cool merch and also meet an ever-changing list of classic celebrities from your childhood.
The con is full of possibly the largest collection of goodies of things both new and old. You can find old He-Man and TMNT figures, as well as modern day Funko Pops and WWE figures. Sadly this weekend was not my paycheck weekend so I had to fight against myself to not get blind boxes and M.U.S.C.L.E figures based on He-Man. I had to buckle down and go for what I was really after, a Steelcity Con shirt, and an autograph and pic with Kelly Hu. The autograph prices vary so I was making sure to save most of my spare cash on that autograph and picture. Kelly Hu was in such movies like Surf Ninjas, Friday the 13th, X2 and was the voice of Karai for the whole 2012 TMNT run.
The celebrities this year were quite a good collection this year. Aside from Kelly Hu, we got George Takei, of Stak Trek fame, Gates McFadden, (Dr Beverly Crusher), Ernie Hudson, one of the original Ghostbusters, and Kane Hodder from some of the Friday the 13th movies (such as Jason goes to Hell and Jason X). We also got Ron Perlman from the Hellboy series, Ray Park and Lea Thompson. Wrestlers X-Pac and the Honky Tonk Man were also there. While I went on Day 2 Saturday, Chuck went on Day 3 and got his picture taken with Tobin Bell of the Saw series.
I did check out one of the panels, namely the Friday the 13th panel, with Sean Cunningham himself (creator and director of the movies) alongside Kane and Kelly. They discussed how they used practical effects and how certain things like the guy that was shot with the arrow to the neck in the first film was made. People got to ask things like what their favorite Jason kills were and how they feel about modern day effects which is mostly CGI. Kane made a funny comment on how a modern day actor might have some flames on while the rest of the fire of CGI, while he had to wear a suit and be set on fire and actually risk a few burns back in the 80's. I did ask Kelly on her experiences on voicing Karai and portraying Lady Deathstrike as well. It was a fun panel.
Afterwards I decided to shop around with a tight budget. I did get my SteelcityCon shirt, and I also found a booth selling tons of classic Topps cards. Stuff based on the Rocky movies, the Keaton Batman movies, the TMNT cartoons and movies, Gremlins 2 The New Batch and tons more. Recently we've been getting these TMNT card packs in our TMNT sub Boxes, so they seem to be making a comeback for collectors. My question is, did someone raid an old Topps warehouse and find all these old cards? How are people finding all of these unopened card packs from the 80's?
I also decided to give the indies a chance and bought some comics called Tapdance Killer. I got to talk to the writer Ted Sikora as he explained the premise of the main character Nikki St.Claire, a character who spun off of another one of his series named Apama. I grabbed the first 2 issues and I plan to review them soon, so stay tuned for that.
I also checked out Sub-Zero ice cream, one of my favorite stops in which you see them prepare some amazing ice cream with a blast of liquid nitrogen. It is always fun to watch them make it. I did enjoy some mint chocolate chip ice cream as I walked through the heavy crowds. I did have to avoid Wild Bill's. If you remember my review on LVL Up Expo, they would have to drag me away from the Vintage Vanilla if I ever got some. Also, had I known they were gonna be there, I would have brought my mug.
Finally I do want to mention the Cosplays. There were lots of great Cosplays and even though I didn't stay for them they did have costume contests for kids, teens and adults. I did like the Chewbacca csoplay, mostly cause even though you know he's on stilts, he was so well done, you couldn't easily tell he's on stilts. He was such a huge hit, everyone was lining up to pose with him as if he was one of the celebrity guests.
Overall it was a fun day and I enjoyed myself. I went with a friend, but he mostly enjoyed the food and the Friday the 13th and Ernie Hudson panels. We both had a blast and we'll try to see if we can make it for the December con. One thing for sure... I hope it falls on a payday weekend.
I also want to give a special shout out and congratulations to Nate and Stacie from 819 comics who couldn't make it Saturday due to their newborn baby wanting to make her debut. I'm not sure if they returned Sunday or not, but hey, congratulations!!
This past weekend I got to check out the Steelcity Con in Monroeville PA, which I haven't been to in a few years. The Steelcity Con is often referred to as PA's premiere comic con and it is awesome. This con also happens more than once a year! The SteelcityCon usually hits PA in April, August and December, making it for 3 awesome times to get cool merch and also meet an ever-changing list of classic celebrities from your childhood.
The con is full of possibly the largest collection of goodies of things both new and old. You can find old He-Man and TMNT figures, as well as modern day Funko Pops and WWE figures. Sadly this weekend was not my paycheck weekend so I had to fight against myself to not get blind boxes and M.U.S.C.L.E figures based on He-Man. I had to buckle down and go for what I was really after, a Steelcity Con shirt, and an autograph and pic with Kelly Hu. The autograph prices vary so I was making sure to save most of my spare cash on that autograph and picture. Kelly Hu was in such movies like Surf Ninjas, Friday the 13th, X2 and was the voice of Karai for the whole 2012 TMNT run.
The celebrities this year were quite a good collection this year. Aside from Kelly Hu, we got George Takei, of Stak Trek fame, Gates McFadden, (Dr Beverly Crusher), Ernie Hudson, one of the original Ghostbusters, and Kane Hodder from some of the Friday the 13th movies (such as Jason goes to Hell and Jason X). We also got Ron Perlman from the Hellboy series, Ray Park and Lea Thompson. Wrestlers X-Pac and the Honky Tonk Man were also there. While I went on Day 2 Saturday, Chuck went on Day 3 and got his picture taken with Tobin Bell of the Saw series.
I did check out one of the panels, namely the Friday the 13th panel, with Sean Cunningham himself (creator and director of the movies) alongside Kane and Kelly. They discussed how they used practical effects and how certain things like the guy that was shot with the arrow to the neck in the first film was made. People got to ask things like what their favorite Jason kills were and how they feel about modern day effects which is mostly CGI. Kane made a funny comment on how a modern day actor might have some flames on while the rest of the fire of CGI, while he had to wear a suit and be set on fire and actually risk a few burns back in the 80's. I did ask Kelly on her experiences on voicing Karai and portraying Lady Deathstrike as well. It was a fun panel.
I also decided to give the indies a chance and bought some comics called Tapdance Killer. I got to talk to the writer Ted Sikora as he explained the premise of the main character Nikki St.Claire, a character who spun off of another one of his series named Apama. I grabbed the first 2 issues and I plan to review them soon, so stay tuned for that.
I also checked out Sub-Zero ice cream, one of my favorite stops in which you see them prepare some amazing ice cream with a blast of liquid nitrogen. It is always fun to watch them make it. I did enjoy some mint chocolate chip ice cream as I walked through the heavy crowds. I did have to avoid Wild Bill's. If you remember my review on LVL Up Expo, they would have to drag me away from the Vintage Vanilla if I ever got some. Also, had I known they were gonna be there, I would have brought my mug.
Finally I do want to mention the Cosplays. There were lots of great Cosplays and even though I didn't stay for them they did have costume contests for kids, teens and adults. I did like the Chewbacca csoplay, mostly cause even though you know he's on stilts, he was so well done, you couldn't easily tell he's on stilts. He was such a huge hit, everyone was lining up to pose with him as if he was one of the celebrity guests.
Overall it was a fun day and I enjoyed myself. I went with a friend, but he mostly enjoyed the food and the Friday the 13th and Ernie Hudson panels. We both had a blast and we'll try to see if we can make it for the December con. One thing for sure... I hope it falls on a payday weekend.
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| This is probably my favorite Marvel Hero Cosplay line up so far. I'm really glad I was in the are when they were posing like this. Let's hope we get to see an Avengers/X-Men crossover like this someday on the silver screen. Even though they'll have a hell of a time explaining Jack Sparrow. |
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