My kids are now old enough to visit cons and participate, so we decided to give Terrificon a try this past weekend. We were not disappointed.
View attachment 76857
Terrificon bills itself as:
The first thing you notice when you arrive at Terrificon is that it's at Mohegan Sun, a casino. This has several benefits a few downsides. First, the benefits: parking is free, kids get in free, and there's restaurants and restrooms within easy walking distance. I can't emphasize how much this matters as a parent. The restaurants offered everything a kid could want (french fries for my son, pizza for my daughter), the bathrooms were well-maintained, and it was all enclosed in the giant social experiment that is a casino.
That's also the downside. You have to walk through the casino to get to the con (this is on purpose), and on the way you get to sample the horrors of older folks who have lots of free time and money to blow. Yes, there's definitely a parallel between a kid playing a video game and an oldster playing a slot machine, but the kid at least has a manic enthusiasm. The old folks looked bored out of their minds, endlessly pressing a button on slot machines. Also, there's smoke. Because you can smoke indoors, the stench of cigar smoke is everywhere, so if you have asthma you'll need to prepare accordingly.
We asked questions of the Terrificon staff on three different occasions, and not one of them was able to answer anything, including the basics like where rooms were in the layout. I'm not sure why this is, but it seemed the staff wasn't familiar with their own con. On the other hand, security was very friendly and super chill. To leave and return to the con for lunch, we were given green wristbands. There wasn't even bag checks, so moving around in the con was very easy with virtually no bottlenecks. I assume this is because Mohegan Sun has cameras everywhere and its own security staff -- another advantage of having a con at a casino.
One of the things Terrificon -- and indeed, all comic conventions -- struggle with is the desire to accommodate kids who are a rising market for comics, and the adult males who've been collecting it for ages. This dichotomy is visible in the dealer's room, with cute stuff for kids in one aisle across from comic covers of female superheroes in painted-on outfits. Eventually the industry will figure out how this is going to work, but for the short-term it's the superhero world we have to live with to enjoy cons that are trying to be all things to all audiences.
My son dressed up as a magician (complete with trick top hat) with a red cloak. He looked a little bit like a young Dr. Strange...if someone had only been given a vague description of Dr. Strange. My daughter dressed as "Frozen Fever" Elsa, which is a very specific brand of Elsa.
We browsed the dealer hall and picking up all kinds of LEGO figures, a plush Princess Peach for my daughter, and a photo op of my wife with Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon!) who didn't charge for the picture (the only talent who didn't). Mr. Jones, who appears much taller in person, was a pleasure to meet.
There are many awesome cosplays at Terrificon, not the least of which being the Hulkbuster armor. My daughter was terrified of the "giant robot" until she saw the person inside of it wearing just the legs, which helped drive home the point that it's just a costume. There was also a free photo op at an Attack on Titan set; that's me in the photo above.
My kids greatly enjoyed the magic show by Bryan Lizotte. My son asked me to buy Bryan's DVD to do his own magic tricks (natch!) and my daughter was thrilled that she got to pet a live bunny. We took pictures with awesome lightsabers at CT Jedi, hung out in the video game room and played Tetris and Super Mario Bros., and then we moved on to Kids Comic Con.
Kids' Comic Con is in one room, and given the number of kids I saw at the Con, the hard-working staff didn't get the attention they deserve. There needs to be someone keeping an eye out for kids at the information desk and pushing this section, because it was well worth it (and free as part of admission!). At most there were maybe eight kids participating, but there should have been way more.
I can't praise the Kids' Comic Con staff enough. The room is set up perfectly: booths are along one wall, with a small stage and tables arranged classroom style. It's a self-contained mini-con, with each member of the staff conducting a seminar for kids. My son really enjoyed Alex Simmons' Sci-Tech Heroes workshop, and sketched out some crazy animated furnace that throws lava balls. Alex, along with puppeteer Noel MacNeal and artist Mike Lopez, worked overtime to keep things running smoothly.
Our family is big My Little Pony fans (see our ongoing D&D campaign, My Little Pony vs. Princes of the Apocalypse), so it was a blast to meet the talented artist Diana Leto. My daughter greatly enjoyed Diana's drawing workshop -- and she nearly won a large drawing of Pinkie Pie from Diana herself, but we couldn't remember a name of one of the breezies (hint: it's not Summer or Spring Breeze). That didn't matter though because Diana then drew my daughter a picture of Rainbow Dash for free! Also, I'm pretty sure Diana is an incarnation of Pinkie Pie -- she has the perfect upbeat personality to work with all the kids.
By 5 p.m. the kids were exhausted and it was time to go. My wife got her picture and autographed Flash DVD, my son got his Pokemon LEGO set complete with Pikachu, my daughter got a plush Pusheen in a cup, and I...got a Jabba the Hutt LEGO figure for my Star Wars D&D 5E campaign. A success all around and a well-run con.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, and communicator. You can follow him at Patreon.
View attachment 76857
Terrificon bills itself as:
The comic and sci-fi convention for fans of comic books and their creators, actors, films & television programs, pop-culture memorabilia, gaming, and cosplay!
The first thing you notice when you arrive at Terrificon is that it's at Mohegan Sun, a casino. This has several benefits a few downsides. First, the benefits: parking is free, kids get in free, and there's restaurants and restrooms within easy walking distance. I can't emphasize how much this matters as a parent. The restaurants offered everything a kid could want (french fries for my son, pizza for my daughter), the bathrooms were well-maintained, and it was all enclosed in the giant social experiment that is a casino.
That's also the downside. You have to walk through the casino to get to the con (this is on purpose), and on the way you get to sample the horrors of older folks who have lots of free time and money to blow. Yes, there's definitely a parallel between a kid playing a video game and an oldster playing a slot machine, but the kid at least has a manic enthusiasm. The old folks looked bored out of their minds, endlessly pressing a button on slot machines. Also, there's smoke. Because you can smoke indoors, the stench of cigar smoke is everywhere, so if you have asthma you'll need to prepare accordingly.
We asked questions of the Terrificon staff on three different occasions, and not one of them was able to answer anything, including the basics like where rooms were in the layout. I'm not sure why this is, but it seemed the staff wasn't familiar with their own con. On the other hand, security was very friendly and super chill. To leave and return to the con for lunch, we were given green wristbands. There wasn't even bag checks, so moving around in the con was very easy with virtually no bottlenecks. I assume this is because Mohegan Sun has cameras everywhere and its own security staff -- another advantage of having a con at a casino.
One of the things Terrificon -- and indeed, all comic conventions -- struggle with is the desire to accommodate kids who are a rising market for comics, and the adult males who've been collecting it for ages. This dichotomy is visible in the dealer's room, with cute stuff for kids in one aisle across from comic covers of female superheroes in painted-on outfits. Eventually the industry will figure out how this is going to work, but for the short-term it's the superhero world we have to live with to enjoy cons that are trying to be all things to all audiences.
My son dressed up as a magician (complete with trick top hat) with a red cloak. He looked a little bit like a young Dr. Strange...if someone had only been given a vague description of Dr. Strange. My daughter dressed as "Frozen Fever" Elsa, which is a very specific brand of Elsa.
We browsed the dealer hall and picking up all kinds of LEGO figures, a plush Princess Peach for my daughter, and a photo op of my wife with Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon!) who didn't charge for the picture (the only talent who didn't). Mr. Jones, who appears much taller in person, was a pleasure to meet.
There are many awesome cosplays at Terrificon, not the least of which being the Hulkbuster armor. My daughter was terrified of the "giant robot" until she saw the person inside of it wearing just the legs, which helped drive home the point that it's just a costume. There was also a free photo op at an Attack on Titan set; that's me in the photo above.
My kids greatly enjoyed the magic show by Bryan Lizotte. My son asked me to buy Bryan's DVD to do his own magic tricks (natch!) and my daughter was thrilled that she got to pet a live bunny. We took pictures with awesome lightsabers at CT Jedi, hung out in the video game room and played Tetris and Super Mario Bros., and then we moved on to Kids Comic Con.
Kids' Comic Con is in one room, and given the number of kids I saw at the Con, the hard-working staff didn't get the attention they deserve. There needs to be someone keeping an eye out for kids at the information desk and pushing this section, because it was well worth it (and free as part of admission!). At most there were maybe eight kids participating, but there should have been way more.
I can't praise the Kids' Comic Con staff enough. The room is set up perfectly: booths are along one wall, with a small stage and tables arranged classroom style. It's a self-contained mini-con, with each member of the staff conducting a seminar for kids. My son really enjoyed Alex Simmons' Sci-Tech Heroes workshop, and sketched out some crazy animated furnace that throws lava balls. Alex, along with puppeteer Noel MacNeal and artist Mike Lopez, worked overtime to keep things running smoothly.
Our family is big My Little Pony fans (see our ongoing D&D campaign, My Little Pony vs. Princes of the Apocalypse), so it was a blast to meet the talented artist Diana Leto. My daughter greatly enjoyed Diana's drawing workshop -- and she nearly won a large drawing of Pinkie Pie from Diana herself, but we couldn't remember a name of one of the breezies (hint: it's not Summer or Spring Breeze). That didn't matter though because Diana then drew my daughter a picture of Rainbow Dash for free! Also, I'm pretty sure Diana is an incarnation of Pinkie Pie -- she has the perfect upbeat personality to work with all the kids.
By 5 p.m. the kids were exhausted and it was time to go. My wife got her picture and autographed Flash DVD, my son got his Pokemon LEGO set complete with Pikachu, my daughter got a plush Pusheen in a cup, and I...got a Jabba the Hutt LEGO figure for my Star Wars D&D 5E campaign. A success all around and a well-run con.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, and communicator. You can follow him at Patreon.
