Last weekend was Montreal Comiccon which took place in downtown Montreal. 65,000 geeks decended on downtown Montreal near Chinatown and took over the place for 3 Days of geeking out over video games, tabletop games, collectibles, sci-fi, anime, and all things part of geek culture.
Some people came to just shop! Some came to see the guests and invited celebrities that were there for photo ops and autographs. Game enthusiasts came for the card tournaments that were held there. Many came for the cosplayers and the cosplay masquerade competition. This convention had everything for everyone who loves geeky things!
I myself was an attendee of this convention before I became a vendor back in 2010. I went there to meet some guests, get some autographs, and buy some geeky figurines or art that I fancied. Now as a vendor, I get to do this in a different way and be part of the convention itself.
For conventions, I usually start my day the day before everything opens, during setup. I arrive early in the afternoon to get my passes, find my booth to set up, and meet my fellow vendor family. Having done conventions for so long, all of us vendors know each other well and have become one big family. We get together to see each other during set up and take down at these conventions!
The type of vendors you would find in the Dealer's room would be people selling merchandise based on favourite anime and TV shows. There are some vendors selling figurines from a recent anime, alongside others selling movie posters based on classic TV shows, as well as more recent movies. Of course, one must give a mention to respected vendors like Fire & Steel, who sell prop weapons and replica fantasy swords! If you're looking for specific merchandise based off one of your favourite fandoms, you will find it in the Dealer's room!
Then you have Artist Alley. Artist Alley is filled with creators and makers of art, merchandise, and all handmade items based on different geeky fandoms, be it science fiction, fantasy, horror, anime or anything geeky in general. Whatever you're looking for, you can find it here and support handmade creators.
Thursday evenings are when I set up my tablespace and my hardware, such as my tables and lighting, and any furniture I need to build for my booth. Early Friday morning is when I finish my setup just before all the attendees descend upon us!
What do I look forward to when I go to these conventions? I get to meet my fellow fans and we can geek out about anime and video games, past customers who have become friends to catch up on what's happened since last time we saw each other, and of course try and snap pictures of all those amazing cosplayers that pass by my booth!
This year the vast majority of the cosplayers I saw were from more recent video games like Borderlands. We had some people cosplay the vastly popular game Geishen Impact. One of the most recent crazes has been Hazbin Hotel and Hellova Boss, which has taken fans by storm! There were also some others, some of my favourites was a classic Strawberry Shortcake cosplayer, as well as some ladies dressed up as humanoid black and white dragons who turned out to be guests of honour of the convention!
Did I see any celebrities? Nope! To be honest, I don't get around much once the convention opens! I'm lucky to even get bathroom breaks! So unless a celebrity is walking by my table, I'm not seeing anybody!
To be honest, I thoroughly enjoy the fact that I have one central location so people can find me versus me trying to find them! Of course I run across those situations where even with knowing my booth number, they still can't find me! And in some cases they don't find me until the very last day! But such is life as a vendor at a convention.
Do I love being a vendor? Absolutely I do! I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't! For me this is the perfect place for me to meet fellow Geeks and be able to show some amazing jewellery that I've made to share with fellow Geeks. Then they buy it so I can make more cool geeky things for them!
Of course, the downside is the physical and mental exhaustion of three days of hustling to take care of all my customers. Because after convention I need two or three days to recover what little spoons I have left! But I will do it all over again, because I love what I do!
Thanks for reading,
