I attended Tampa Bay Comic Con on a one day pass Saturday, August 1st 2015.  This was my second TBCC, and I had some issues with the way the con was run last year that seem to have been, unfortunately, not resolved this year.  Let me lay out my criticisms, before I get to all the positive things I have to say about the con, which are many – I don’t want you to think this is all complaining, but there are a few things that must be pointed out and I hope corrected for next year.

I’ve been to many conventions, some bigger and some smaller than TBCC.  It’s amazing how the bigger conventions seem to be more orderly, more structured, and have more professional and enthusiastic people on the floor.  I don’t know TBCC’s process in hiring and training their staff, but I have to say the people working the con were confused, sullen, and at times even rude.  It never ceased to amaze me that when I would ask a staff member what a line was for, which panel was currently going on in a room, or where I was supposed to wait for a later panel they simply would not know.  The con attendees were helping each other, passing information down the line and deciphering the schedule and relaying rumors / information about why this celebrity wasn’t at a signing at a designated time, etc.  We did get to our panels on time and we did figure things out, but I couldn’t for the life of me understand what the volunteers were even there for if they weren’t acting as guides for the attendees.  While waiting in a line for Carrie Fischer’s panel, for instance, I asked the volunteer to make sure it was the correct line, and she shrugged her shoulders and smiled, saying simply, “I don’t know.” The people in front of me confirmed that they believed that was what the line was for, and a few others said, yes, this is the line for Carrie Fischer.  The line happened to make itself stretch down to the front of a set of doors for Room D, and when the doors were just opening to let the previous panel out, the volunteer suddenly started, as if she didn’t know that the panel was ending, and then frantically yelled to those of us in line, “Make room please!”  It was very last minute and created a moment of chaos where those of us on the floor – (many of us had sat down and were eating, talking, etc.) had to sweep our stuff up and move to avoid being trampled, and the people leaving the panel were exiting into a mob of people that created a bottleneck situation that lasted about ten minutes as people slowly trickled out / pushed their way through throngs of people confused about where to go and with no guidance or organization to get them moving.

My other complaint was actually how we were allowed to move through the convention center.  There were two floors and the access to the escalators could be a little tricky, depending on which way you exited from the vendor room.  At one point we ended up back at the entrance area of the con, and attempted to get on the escalator from there.  We were stopped very rudely and told we would have to go all the way around, which was literally circling the entire room to end up back where we were, on the other side of the con volunteer.  I said, “We have bracelets, we’ve been here all morning. Is there a reason I can’t walk past you to get to the escalator?”  The man scowled and said, “You can’t come through here.”  I was absolutely frustrated.  “This makes no sense.  Why do I have to go around?  I have a bracelet.”  He turned to me then, making eye contact for the first time and said gruffly, “GO AROUND.”  I was absolutely heated.  It seemed like a pointless security stop, with no legitimate reason behind a barrier to the escalator.  In either case, to be that rude was unnecessary.

Now, on to the positive things about the con.

The MC for the panels was great.  He was entertaining, funny, and to the point about getting people seated in the auditorium and laying out the ground rules for interacting with the celebrities.  Sometimes people need to be reminded not to ask good looking celebrities to take off their shirts, or ask inappropriate questions, and so I’m always glad when con staff let con newbies know the rules, and re-iterate for those people who might need reinforcement about appropriate behavior.  I went to the Carrie Fischer panel first, and she was really great.  She was entertaining and told some great stories about her time on set on Star Wars, and even mentioned some moments from one of my personal fave movies, The Burbs.  She cleverly avoided giving anything away about The Force Awakens and was very entertaining with self deprecating humor and quips about her sexual conquests.  She brought her dog with her to the panel, which was really cute.  I went to get her autograph at 3:50, however, which is when she was scheduled for her second signing of the day, and she was nowhere to be found.  Again, the staff had no idea what was going on, but I walked up to people in the line and they told me they had been waiting there since 8:30am(!!!), when she was doing her first signing, because she had taken frequent breaks and didn’t get through the first line.  I have short patience for waiting around and didn’t want to miss the other panels that we were excited to go to, so I sacrificed the opportunity to get her autograph and moved on to continue enjoying the con.  I was a bit disappointed that things weren’t flowing on schedule, but I wasn’t going to let it get me down when there was so much other great stuff to see and experience.

The next panel we went to was a small panel on ghost hunting, because my friend Carol is really into that kind of thing.  It took place in one of the smaller rooms and was somewhat interesting.  It was a perfect time to do some snacking and take a break from walking, shopping, and more walking, which is what we had done for the first few hours of the con, prior and after Carrie Fischer’s panel.  It was great, because after that panel the very next one was one on Welcome to Night Vale, which I am absolutely obsessed with.  If you don’t know what that is, go subscribe to the podcast and listen to it immediately, before the secret police send the helicopters to take you to the dog park.  Anyway, the panel was an interesting history of the podcast, and a general set up for those who might not be familiar with it.  It was a blast and the crowd was really into it.  There was at least one Cecil cos-playerin the crowd and lots of fans, it was a great experience!

After those smaller panels, we went back down towards Room B to get in line for the Sand Snakes panel.  Yes, KEISHA CASTLE-HUGHES and JESSICA HENWICK were there, two actresses whose characters on Game of Thrones are part of the formidable and sexy Sand Snakes, the daughters of Oberyn Martell, grieving and thirsting for vengence.  The girls were super cool, and had a lot of stories about the set, and about their own moments of being star struck and silly on set, which was absolutely adorable to hear – CELEBRITIES, THEY’RE JUST LIKE US!  AMIRITE?  The panel was great and the crowd was great, and again The Force Awakens questions had to be fielded by Jessica Henwick, as she has a role in the film that is as of now, unknown.

So, there were many other panels we could have attended, including Jena Malone, Billy West, Freema Agyeman, Lea Thompson, Matt Ryan, and the venerable Linda Hamilton – but I was with some con newbies and they were exhausted, and we had been living off of goldfish and trailmix and warm bottled water, so I took pity upon them and agreed to head back to the floor for one last round of shopping and then out to find some real food.  I’ll say here that the selection of vendors and artists was wonderful.  There was variety, competitive pricing, so much to see and so much to BUY!  We went in with backpacks full of snackage and left with backpacks full of merch, and my brother carrying The Keyblade around on his shoulder.

I’ll mention the cosplay here and include a few of the better photos I managed to get:

Great cosplay, kind people – really, TBCC is a great con.  I think that some common sense changes to the way the staff is prepped and trained for the con could make it a better experience for everyone.  I’m sure when those volunteers are asked about something and they don’t know, it’s not a good feeling for them, either.  They want to do their job well, we want to enjoy the con in an organized way and feel like our needs as fans are being met.  TBCC, you can do better!  Manage lines, give your volunteeers good info about what’s going on in their designated area, and get a clear idea of how people are supposed to be moving around the convention area, but do it in a way that streamlines the traffic, not a way that makes it more confusing and creates more crowding.  With these simple changes this con could go from being good to GREAT.  I know I’ll be attending next year, my third year in a row, and be bringing my friends in tow.  You should bring yours, it’s a great time for everyone, big or small.