SEATTLE—Emerald City Comicon (ECCC), one of Washington State’s largest celebrations of all things pop culture, came to a close Sunday wrapping up another year of fun-filled geeky action.
The con spanned four days, from Thursday, March 7, through Sunday, March 9, overtaking downtown Seattle with exhibits and events in both Seattle Convention Center buildings – the Arch and newly constructed Summit building – as well as nearby hotels.
The event center opened its doors each morning around 10 a.m. and, even though the show floor closed at 7 p.m., late night activities continued throughout the night until early the next day.
These late night events included cosplay karaoke, parties (such as the Fantasy Ball and Grunge-themed Prom sponsored by 107.7 The End), live Rocky Horror Picture performances, burlesque shows, live music, drag queen bingo, comedy and trivia shows, and more.
For the 21 and over crowd, the con’s Tavern expanded from a single room (in previous years) to the entirety of the fifth floor of the Arch Building with bars, Dungeons and Dragons games, live music performed in the Ballroom, a mini-Renaissance Faire where the viral Jacque Ze Whipper performed, a free video game arcade, and more.
The exhibits consisted of several show floors including the main Exhibition Hall, Artist Alley, Writer’s Block, a pickup board game room hosted by Zulu’s Board Game Cafe, a Star Wars museum, and several panels and workshops scattered throughout various rooms from morning until night.
Vendors sold everything from toys; to books; to ttrpg materials; to cosplay costumes and props; to art; to video games; and, of course, comics.
Celebrity Guests
As is typical with ECCC events, a major draw is the star studded celebrity lineup where guests can opt to meet them at their tables, purchase autographs and photo opportunities, or attend their spotlight panels to hear some behind-the-scenes stories.
This year’s guest list included (but not limited to) the cast of Firefly/Serenity; the cast of Once Upon a Time; voice actors from Dragon Ball Z and other anime like Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventure, Sailor Moon, My Hero Academia, and so on; John Boyega (Attack the Block, Star Wars); Adam Savage (Myth Busters); Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Austin Powers); Adam Nimoy (son of the late Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek); Alex Brightman (Hazbin Hotel, Hellava Boss, and the original Broadway Beetlejuice); the voice cast of Baldur’s Gate 3; the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; the cast of Hannibal; the cast of Roswell; Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead); Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards (from Starship Troopers); Katy O’Brian (The Mandalorian); Tom Skerritt (Alien); and more.
John Boyega shared his experiences working with the legendary Harrison Ford and the late Carrie Fisher during his spotlight panel. Fisher, he said, always struck him as a free spirit. During the filming of Star Wars he shared that he was on a strict diet which everyone on set was encouraging him to stick with despite, after a particularly hard day, an unquenchable craving for a Snickers bar. When he returned to his trailer later that day he found that Fisher had dropped off a pile of candy.
As for Harrison Ford, Boyega’s favorite memory of him was taking him to “the hood” in London to introduce him to Nigerian food (Boyega, though raised in London, is originally from Nigeria). As they left the restaurant Ford wanted to change seats with Boyega so climbed over him to swap, which he said is a story nobody, at first, believed.
Boyega also shared a humorous story about unintentionally losing his Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker script when he was moving between apartments. The script later showed up on ebay and Disney executives had to track it down before the story contents within were leaked, he shared.
When asked by an audience member if he has any “hidden talents,” Boyega replied that he lays all of his talents out on screen but does do a “mean tax return.”
Sean Schemmel (voice of Goku in Dragon Ball Z) sat with Justin Cook (voice of Raditz in DBZ and Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho), dominating the conversation with his affable energy.
Bruce Campbell stole the show during his panel by animatedly sharing what it was like to “almost drown” in Sam Raimi’s blood effects during the filming of the Evil Dead, meeting William Shatner, and Tobey Macguire’s less-than-favorable reaction to his continual cameos in the Spider-Man movies.
The voice cast of Baldur’s Gate 3 shared the intricacies of recording more than 250 thousand of dialogue for the hit RPG video game based on Dungeons and Dragons.
Changes from previous years
This year’s comic con introduced some changes to years prior, namely a new reservation system to attend some main stage panels and workshops which was met with some criticism from fans.
Guests who had already purchased tickets were now required to reserve a spot for these highly anticipated engagements a month out, with some complaining that slots sold out quickly, and Reedpop – the event organizer – prioritized VIP members with a three-hour head start.
The decision was intended to reduce congestion of lines but even those with reservations still lined up early for a good seat, beside an additional standby line for those still hoping to get in.
In previous years at panels, guests could have the opportunity to ask questions to celebrity guests face-to-face but this year Reedpop introduced an online submission system where a QR code showed up on screen and questions were submitted through the Play ECCC app.
While some guests praised the efficiency of this new system, especially those who before were too shy to stand up in front of a crowd, other criticized it for severing the intimacy of speaking with a celebrity face-to-face. Others also noted how the spotty cell phone service in the convention center made it difficult, if not impossible, to submit a question at all.
Emerald City Comic Con returns next year from March 5 through 8, 2026.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
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