That's a photo of the folks who bring you Groo the Wanderer — top row, Stan Sakai and Tom Luth; bottom row, Sergio Aragonés and Your Obedient Blogger. The pic was taken yesterday at a panel we did on Day One of WonderCon 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Walking to the panel room, it felt like the con was there and our panel was back at the Anaheim Convention Center. As I've probably said here more times than you need to hear, I do not like the Los Angeles Convention Center. I'm quite sure it was designed by the same guy who lays out airports where I have to make connecting flights and puts the gate where I arrive as far as possible from the gate where I depart.
The parking there is also dreadful but I got around that my going to and from the con via Uber car, as I will again today and tomorrow. You see, I like WonderCons…like them a lot. How much do I like WonderCons? I like WonderCons enough I'll even go to them at the Los Angeles Convention Center. That's how much I like WonderCons and believe me, that's a lot.
Once I got inside the Exhibit Hall, things were fine, though I wish the L.A. Convention Center would pay their electric bill. I'm not used to conventions with romantic mood lighting inside…and believe me, it didn't make any of the exhibitors look better.
A lot of folks were talking about the convention's introduction of RFID badges. RFID stands for Radio-Frequency IDentification and it means that your badge has a little computer chip in it that validates it's not counterfeit or expired. Periodically as you walk about the convention center, you have to pass through set-ups that look like subway turnstiles without the turnstiles and you must "tap in" or "tap out," tapping your badge where specified. It's not a hardship, though those of us who are over six feet in height have to stoop a bit to make the tap. I am wondering if in addition to verifying that your badge is valid if it also yields info about how long you remained at the con, where in the building you roamed, etc.
I didn't stay long yesterday; just picked up my badge, said hello to some people, hiked eleven miles to my panel, did my panel and then fled. Today and tomorrow, I'll be there all day. Hope to see lots of you at Quick Draw! (10:30 in room 403AB) and the Cartoon Voices Panel (4:30 in the same place). Right now, my Uber awaits…