Book Authors, Gamers, and Merchandise: My First Ever Comic Con!

A comic con, or comic convention, is a place where fans of comics and all things related to fandoms, entertainment in the form of games, movies, shows, and books, gather together and have fun. This convention happens all over the world all throughout the year, and I was lucky enough to discover one nearby: the Dutch Comic Con, Winter Edition, held in Utrecht, the Netherlands on the 18th to 19th November.

Located only 5 minutes by foot from the Utrecht Central Station, my boyfriend and I set off at around 11 am to have a quick lunch at the station’s Bistrot Utrecht Centraal, a large and cozy restaurant with a lovely warm atmosphere. I ordered a warm beef burger with fries, and my boyfriend had a sandwich with jamon. Both were delicious and gave us enough energy to prepare for the excitement ahead of us.

Even while we were walking towards the event location we could sense the presence of similarly excited Comic Con visitors, mostly because of what they were wearing. Because one of the unique things that you can find in this convention that you will not find in any other occasions is how the visitors can come dressed up in costume as their favourite characters from the series, movies, or fandom they love – also called cosplaying. People with paint in their faces, weird and out of the box costumes loitered around the building, and all we need to do is follow one of them to find out where we should go.

This Dutch Comic Con is located in a large area, and divided into different sections. Right when we pass the ticketing, we are invited by a lovely corner where people can sit and hear famous people: authors, actors, gamers talk. Another section is a huge hall filled with rows and rows of stands of people selling amazing merchandises: from T-shirts, Funko pops, action figures, to costumes and swords. It was a hustle and bustle of people, some dressed regularly like we were, others dressed amazingly as Hogwarts students, queen of dragons, Disney princesses, monsters, warriors, superheroes, and various other character I can hardly recognise.

Cozy corner talk about bookstores, readers and writers

Mr Poopybutthole from Rick and Morty

 

We spent a whole day exploring the convention. Our feet were sore after we visited merchandise stands for hours trying to decide what to buy, listened to a talk about bookshops and writing (that includes a wonderful cast of writers, including Jen Campbell and Jeannette Ng), saw people playing PS games on stage, listened to Carolina Ravassa talk about her experiences as a voice actor, and basically had a blast.

Me and Jen Campbell!

Highlight of the event: meeting Jen Campbell and getting my book signed by her! Also buying a really cute Harry Potter related T-shirt that involves cats – adorable.

   

Photos taken by my boyfriend Dimas – thank you so much! 🙂