Wizard World Philadelphia (June 11-13, 2010)

What: Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con 2010
When: June 11-13, 2010
Where: Philadelphia Convention Center
Attendance: ~40,000

Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con (previously just "Wizard World" -- there must've been a merger) is held each June in the Philadelphia Convention Center. DelVaLUG exhibited there in 2007 and 2008; we got in for free, with four to six exhibitor badges. (As I expect a number of fan groups did, such as the Star Wars costumers from the 501st Legion Garrison Carida.)

It's a comic book/video games/CCG/anime/pop culture expo, so we picked a city layout stocked with comic book characters, mostly drawn from those summers' movies -- Cafe Corner-type buildings, plus customs, plus thematic structures like Wayne Manor (Tim Caffrey), Hall of Justice and Baxter Building (both Roy Cook). Roy and I both made a slew of custom minifigs (I printed decals, he used very narrow colored tape) -- JLA, X-Men, Fantastic Four. It was a train layout, based on Jim Foulds's philosophy that a moving feature attracts attention. (The preceding is not an exclusive list of contributions.)

We were allocated a 10x10-foot parcel and used Tim Caffrey's Fleske-type tables; in 2008 I custom-fabbed a set of blue skirting with Velcro. The 2009 show (which I attended solo) was light on exhibitors; we probably could've gotten a 10x20 if we'd been there and had asked.

Huge quantities of foot traffic, lots of kids, lots of costumers (we got some corresponding-minifig pictures). We handed out AFOL-info-flyers (out of date now, but we've had an oversupply since 2005). Very noisy; bring earplugs.

I had originally proposed Philadelphia Wizard World Comic Con as an outlet for short-range members -- anyone who didn't attend BrickMagic (May 8-9, Raleigh NC) and doesn't feel like attending BrickWorld (June 17-20, Wheeling IL). But there was no on-forum interest before and since we're only a month out, it's probably too late to get space (or maybe not, if the con's anything like last year) and possibly too late for people to plan and build things (depending on how many standard city buildings you have).

So, is anybody interested?

And what would we use for tables? Somebody should contact Tim Caffrey, since he has the Fleske-type modular tables. Maybe me.

If anyone goes we'd probably need a place to crash (free). I can't afford another hotel expense right before BrickWorld.

Any volunteers to have house guest(s)?


-Mike Tighe

"There is no such thing as too much LEGO."

I'm pretty much tapped out too. I anyone is interested in going, I could send some classic space with them for the table. Even have some Doctor Who stuff too they could take. Just let me know before the June meeting.

PS Phillip, I think you live close enough to me that we could hook up one day after work. I am in Coatesville.

Uniblab wrote:If anyone goes we'd probably need a place to crash (free). I can't afford another hotel expense right before BrickWorld.

Well, the point of exhibiting somewhere nearby is that:

(A) You don't need hotels; you can commute. The con's hours are 10:00am - 6:00pm, more or less; and it doesn't really have after-hours activities. Philadephia's inconvenient for the Lancaster-Harrisburg-York contingent, obviously, but some of us are in the King of Prussia-Coatesville-Philadelphia triad.

(B) It's an opportunity for members who have chosen not to attend the distant shows. There are enough of us now that we can divide our forces. And this has been done with as few as four people; two in-booth answering questions, another two "off-shift."

Similar arguments (plus or minus ten miles) apply to GameX, Philcon, VGXPO, and Zenkaikon.

(Okay, this is indented strangely for no clear reason.)

And coming from the other direction -- I'm still on Wizard Entertainment's list of exhibitors, and an email arrived today (11 May) inviting exhibitors. So yes, they're still looking to fill space. Exhibitors/vendors were a bit light last year -- economic downturn, y'know -- but there were still plenty of attendees.

I've sent a reply tentatively requesting space. I'll see if they give it to us free again. They might, just to fill space.

So c'mon, all you members with addresses in the 18000 and 19000 ZIP codes! Philadelphia, King of Prussia, Coatesville, West Chester, and possibly but less likely (given my thesis of commuting) Chalfont and Quakertown. Warning: there will be comic book geeks at this show. But also lots of wide-eyed kids-in-tow.

It turns out the Philadelphia Comic Con coordinator, Peter Katz, is very keen to increase the amount of LEGO content at the show. I've worked with him before; he's amenable to our special requirements, so I'm seeing what kind of concessions I can negotiate. Not like KidsFest, I expect, but something.

Show hours are longer than I'd thought:
Friday, June 11: 12 NOON - 8pm
Saturday, June 12: 10am - 7pm
Sunday, June 13: 10am - 5pm

Ran into Rob B. at the KoP store yesterday. He's amenable to contributing now that he understands the foundation is City, not pure SF. Who else? The May meeting is the weekend before (in Harrisburg), and BrickWorld is the weekend after (I'm not going), so if anybody would like to loan something, it would have to be something that's not going to Chicago.

Photos of DelVaLUG's past efforts. None of them give a good overview of the layout, but it's the corner of a 3x3 grid of Fleske-tables.
2007
2008

I wish you well with this event. I'll be unable to go due to work and my TEFL course. Plus, the vast majority of my MOCs for display are with Cale now. hehe

Status: I was unable to line up definite commitments from anybody, and certainly not a critical mass, so I've sent an official apology/regret message to Peter Katz of Wizard World. <Shrug> No skin off my back.

I don't know how many of you (for whom Philadelphia would've been a practical venue) are going to BrickWorld the weekend after (June 18ish), but that's a perfectly valid reason to avoid doing anything strenuous the weekend before (June 11ish).

So, who wants to consider GameXpo (Apache test page? that ain't good) (late October in Oaks) or VGXPO (probably October, probably PCC) later this year?

Oh, crap. Sorry I didn't get back to you on that. I would have been happy to contribute my city for layout. D'oh! Oh well, maybe next year.

As far as promotion goes, Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con 2010 was successful. Philcon (with several other fannish organizations and cons) had a fan table (in a good spot, as such things go) all weekend. I was there Saturday, with my blue modular tower (from 2008) and superhero minifigs, which served as an eyecatch. Very few people recognized my Na'vi and Ikran figures without prompting; it's probably a context thing (they need to be associated with jungle and floating rocks).

I was able to distribute ~20 business cards for PennLUG to adults (and to families with kids who wanted a reminder of the existence of brick fests). I mentioned BrickWorld, Brickfair and Kidsfest. Unusually, nobody asked "Have you been to LEGOLAND?" or "the LEGO Store in Orlando?"

Several people who dropped by mentioned the DelVaLUG layout (two years ago) and how they missed it. So yes, there is good reason for us to appear at this venue!

Later, I'll post photos and my version of the business card.