Coming off a convention weekend always involves a lot of winding down and reflection for me. This year’s Denver ComiCon is no different. As always, we purchased a three day pass and attended every day. We went to a handful of panels, walked around a lot, and had a great time. I even got a little frivolous and bought a few things from artist alley (all for Monster, of course).
Due to threats at another convention last year, there were a few modifications to the regular convention flow. The goal was to make the event safer, even if it wasn’t convenient for everyone. Some of the cosplay rules changed, stepping up the modesty level and detailing acceptable props. Prop check was stringently enforced (they checked my metal water bottle but wouldn’t let us prop check Monster), they checked bags (which, to their credit, was a very fast and efficient process and I thought worked incredibly well considering how many people they had to process), there was only one entrance, and everyone in the center had to have a badge. Unfortunately, with the world the way it is lately, this was all just to keep us safe.
I personally didn’t mind these changes, but there were a lot of people who were upset at them. Saturday is always the busiest day, and we know to get there early or plan to stand in line in order to get in. We stood behind one woman who felt it was necessary to take out her frustration at missing some panels on a volunteer. She had a terrible attitude and complained for at least five minutes. When I confronted her, she claimed it wasn’t as bad last year. I was there last year – yes it was. It always is on Saturdays. Get in line earlier or be flexible and plan to miss the first few hours of panels. Someone else was complaining about the cosplay rules. Something about them changing from Friday to Saturday. I don’t have a lot of props and while I cosplay, it isn’t usually anything elaborate, so if there was any truth to his complaint, I don’t know about it.
Other than a handful of people though, everyone that I ran into was mostly positive. DCC was very kid friendly (although for me, not very stroller friendly). Everyone loved Monster in their little outfits. There was even a semiprivate place to breastfeed, though I never used it and I’m not sure how many people knew it existed.
The panels were a diverse spread. There were a few that I wasn’t able to get into, but I have a grudge against waiting in lines if it means missing something else, so I knew that might be the case at times. I had a full schedule every day, although I ended up only going to a few since I was with friends, people watching, and meandering through the Show Room. Their guest spread was pretty awesome and my bestie even got a selfie with Felicia Day (who is apparently as down to earth and awesome as we suspected she would be, not to mention gorgeous).
I personally didn’t have a lot that I was disappointed in. I missed having the front half of the convention center, near the big blue bear. That was all closed off. Also, a lot of the men’s bathrooms and a good handful of the women’s bathrooms didn’t have baby changing stations. This made changing Monster’s diaper more of an adventure than it really needed to be. This was especially upsetting to me on Sunday when I was alone and Monster had their first blow out and it took me almost an hour (the restaurant we were at when it happened didn’t have a changing table either) to get them cleaned up and calmed down. Even when I did finally find a table, it was missing a buckle so I had to hold them while I tried to wash my hands and arms. That would be on the convention center though, not the convention. Also, because everything worth leaving the convention center for was on the mall, having the entrance where it was took a long time to get to sometimes. I noticed on Sunday that signs pointing people to an exit as well as a closer entrance were offered. I don’t know if they were there on Friday and Saturday and I just missed them, but they helped as the convention wore on.
Overall, I was really happy with the convention this year. I know some things changed, but I felt they did a great job warning attendees in advance (at least if you receive their e-mails or look at their web page). The spread of panels had a little something for everyone and I learned a lot. As always, the cosplays were amazing and most of the people were friendly. I’m excited to go again next year when Monster is over one and walking!
