Convention Report- Dublin Comic Con 2016

I recently attended Dublin Comic Con at the Dublin Convention Centre in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. This was the fourth time the event was held and I’ve attended every single one of them. This years’ event is one I’ll remember for a long time though for a number of reasons, not least of which was the fact that it was the first Dublin Comic Con I attended with a press pass. The press pass definitely proved useful on the day that I attended (Sunday August 7^th) which I will get into more later on in this report.

Every year I’ve attended this event I’ve been amazed by how quickly it has grown into one of (if not the) most anticipated conventions in the Republic of Ireland. The event started off at the National Show Centre in Swords (where it was held for its first two years) before moving to the Dublin Convention Centre last year. The centre is a great choice for a venue because of the number of floors it has so everything (guests, interactive sets etc.) are spread out throughout the venue. The organisers also used another floor this year which helped the event feel even more spacious.

One of the highlights of Dublin Comic Con is the interactive sets. It’s highly enjoyable watching attendees posing for pictures with sets based on The Walking Dead, Star Wars and a variety of others. One of the new sets this year was a S.H.I.E.L.D car and Thor’s hammer based on the Marvel films. Fans could pose as if they were trying to lift Thor’s hammer (I’m very much wishing I got a picture like that as well). Maybe another time…

The likes of the Emerald Garrison also had a section of the floor promoting their group and allowing fans to pose on top of a Dewback. I think the reason the sets is one of the highlights of Dublin Comic Con is because it feels like it’s one of few conventions that give fans the opportunity to pose with sets like these nowadays, and the amount of work that goes into each set is clear to everyone.

One of the big draws for me at conventions is the celebrity guests and Dublin Comic Con had another fantastic line-up this year. The Walking Dead’s Scott Wilson and Tom Wlaschiha from Game of Thrones were among the guests signing autographs and meeting fans at the event. There were other great guests at the event, including other actors and artists that were located in the artists’ alley, but I’m going to focus on these two as they were the two guests I met.

I’d been a big fan of Mr. Wilson’s work for a long time (Hershel was one of my favourite characters on The Walking Dead) so you can imagine my excitement when it was announced that he was attending Dublin Comic Con. It was also a pleasure to meet Mr. Wlaschiha and I was able to get autographs and pictures with both of them.

This is where the press pass also came in handy. I’d spoken to Scott’s manager and Tom’s agent in advance ahead of the event and, when they weren’t busy and had no one waiting in their respective queues to buy autographs, I was able to record interviews with both of them. Both were great to interview and had great stories to tell and I’m looking forward to publishing the interviews online. We’re about to begin editing the interviews and hopefully it will only be a few more days before we put both online.

Other highlights of the event for me were the relaxed atmosphere (everyone seemed very happy) and the cosplayers. In hindsight I wish I was able to get more pictures of cosplayers so I’ll be considering attending both days next year instead of one. I only just about managed to get everything I needed from the event in one day. That list included the two interviews, autographs, video footage, pictures and taking a look at the stalls, for what it’s worth.

However, not every event is perfect (though I guess you could argue that nothing ever is) and I do have a couple of issues to bring up. I will preface this by saying that one of these is definitely out of the organiser’s hands and the other may or may not be. The first issue is that I felt that the merchandise being sold at stalls was a bit lacking. Some of the stalls I have been buying from for a long time were there which was good but it felt like some stalls were selling similar merchandise to others. This issue is definitely out of the organisers hands as it depends on the stalls that want to sell at the event and what they choose to bring but I would’ve liked to see more variety. I didn’t have any spare money to keep aside for merchandise so it probably was a good thing that (aside from some cheap older Star Wars figures) I didn’t have any spare money aside from money I’d set aside for the autographs in which to buy anything else.

The other issue is a trend that has been at overseas conventions and came into Ireland last year. Guests charging for you to have your picture taken with them at the table on top of buying the autograph. This is a very interesting topic because I know of some convention organisers (I’m not referring to the DCC organisers in this sentence) that have said guest prices are out of their control. Now, I don’t know how much control the DCC organisers have when it comes to what their guests charge, but I do know of other events where (not naming the events for obvious reasons as this is specifically a report on DCC) organisers do actually have control on prices and have stated that they won’t allow guests charging for pictures at the table. One of these conventions (again not naming names) is run by a business that is sometimes accused of looking to get as much money from fans as possible. Doesn’t sound like they really are, does it?

Now, the above point isn’t meant to sound like I have a problem with the Dublin Comic Con organisers. On the contrary, I think it’s admirable that they have built such a great convention out of their own money and amazed by its growth after just four events. As someone who has attended since the first event I feel like I’ve also witnessed its growth first hand. My point is that the trend of charging for pictures at the autograph table needs to be stopped or, at the very least, have a compromise made to it. If you’re already paying €30 for autographs from two people (€60) and expected to pay an extra €10 respectively (€20) just to get photographic evidence that you met them, you’re paying almost €100 (€80 to be exact) across two people. There are some people that might be worth paying that to, Mr. Wilson for example, is a veteran actor and someone I’ve greatly admired for a long time and I don’t mind doing that for him, but it feels like so many guests are doing it now and I think that needs to change, whether it’s in the form of fans not paying for a picture or the organisers asking the guests not to charge for table pictures.

I mentioned the idea of a compromise. My compromise would be that fans already paying for an autograph should be allowed to get a table picture for free as they’re already paying hard-earned money. However, this is where the compromise comes in, I think that fans not buying an autograph and only looking for a table photo should have to pay. The reason is because the guests are there to sign autographs yet I think it’s not right if fans are being asked to pay for both an autograph and a table photo. This compromise would also make sense as there are always fans at conventions trying to get a table photo without paying for an autograph. I respect if that sounds harsh to said fans but I think it would be the best solution as fans already paying for an autograph wouldn’t be as out of pocket.

Like I said previously, I’m not complaining about the organisers. Maybe they really don’t have any control over what the guests charge. However, I know some organisers of other conventions do so it’s a subject I’d be very interested in hearing more about.

In summary, I had another great time at Dublin Comic Con this year. It continues to amaze me how the event has grown so quickly in just four years. This years’ event is one that I will remember for a long time because of it being the first DCC I had a press pass for and getting to meet and interview Scott Wilson and Tom Wlaschiha was the highlight of the day for me. I’m looking forward to seeing what the organisers have planned for next year.

By Ruari Williamson

*The opinions in this article are those of the writer and do not represent the views of all of the Everything Geek Podcast staff*.

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You can watch our footage from Dublin Comic Con below: