Terry Notary Dallas Comic Show August 2018

I attended a small ComicCon in Lewisville, Texas. My wish list had 2 people.  Terry Notary was NOT on that list. However, when I saw a fellow hound’s photo, I was slightly envious. I decided to stand in line and get the signature. 

You never see Terry’s face in the movies. He is the guy that is computer overlaid with a character.  He was the ‘Kong’ in Kong: Skull Island and ‘Rocket’ in the last two Planet of the Apes movies and Teenage Groot.

I love the photo and the color of the pen he used. It’s eye catching. He was friendly and enjoyed meeting fans.

AH

Ethan Hawke Angelika Plano August 2018

This was a nice ‘get’. Ethan Hawke had a movie he wrote and directed called Blaze. He came to Dallas and Plano to promote his movie. 

A few of us waited outside the movie theater in Plano for a couple of hours. When the theater people started getting excited we knew he was close. While we were looking for the typical black SUV for the celebs, he surprised us by exiting a red 4 door sedan. We wondered if he uber’ed to the movie.

Even thought the theater manager was insistent he didn’t have time, he paused and signed for the 5 of us.  He was relaxed and very down to earth and did not rush.

AH

Scarlett Byrne LeakyCon 2018

I actually know Scarlett Byrne from Falling Skies and not Harry Potter. When I re-watched Harry potter recently, I saw her but did not recognize her.

She was nice. I mentioned I enjoyed Falling Skies and she mentioned someone said that to her too. She seemed surprised that people at LeakyCon knew of anything she did outside of Harry Potter.

AH

Dan Fogler LeakyCon 2018

Dan Fogler was at SDCC a month before LeakyCon. He was late or didn’t show for the one signing I had time to attend. Slightly frustrating but that’s ComicCon. It happens and you move on.

So, he was on my want list at LeakyCon. I expected a long line for him. I got to the show early as I did not realize LeakyCon was so ‘intimate’ (meaning small).   

He was late but he did show up. He signed the photo I printed for SDCC. I told him I enjoyed Balls of Fury and he muttered a ‘thanks’ as I walked away.

Balls of Fury. I would have never watched that movie except Dan was at SDCC many years ago in Hall H and they ran a preview for the movie.  I loved the Walken line: What part of sudden death didn’t you understand? 

AH

LeakyCon Dallas 2018

I was surprised too but I guess I shouldn’t have been. There is a Harry Potter convention. It is called LeakyCon.  It came to Dallas in August 2018.

This is a fan con and it’s about hanging out with other fans and experiencing the Harry Potter culture and enjoying panels. If you are an autograph hound, this is something to skip.  Most of the celebs are people that had screen time but the casual fan won’t know the name. The casual fan won’t even remember some of them from the movies.

The Harry Potter nerd (nerd Is NOT used dismissively, I’m a nerd of other fandoms) will wonder how people don’t know that ‘x’ was in 3 of the movies and is a star in the UK and has 2 albums that has over 100 downloads.

As I listened to the VERY dismissive volunteers tell me (while I was NOT engaging them and did not ask but they droned on anyway) the Dallas show was actually too big and had to many celebs.  LeakyCon was better than others conventions (Creation, Walker Stalker, and even the EVIL SDCC) because you can have ‘quality time’ with the celebs.  FYI - This show really felt like a Creation Convention.

I’m not sure where that ‘quality time’ comes from as their guide book explicitly states autographs and photo ops are not a meet and greet and it is a quick encounter. My experience confirms that. My 2 autographs went very fast and while there wasn’t much of a line for either, it seemed that they wanted the session completed as quickly as possible. I’ll also mention I thought it was a GOOD idea to mention this reminder in the guide book. I liked that the line moved quickly.

This is a family-oriented convention. While 1/3 of the crowd was cosplaying in some sort (mostly robes or scarves), I did not see any sexy/slutty Slytherins walking in stilettoes or Hermoines with never-ending cleavage bouncing through the vendor aisles. Considering how many people have grown up with Harry Potter and those young people are now in their 20’s and 30’s, it was a pleasant surprise.

LeakyCon is coming back to Dallas for 2019. I think this is a fun show for fans. I think the attendees enjoyed it and would go back. I think the volunteers (who seem to have drank the LeakyCon Kool-Aid and are hard care fans) could be better. Considering how small the vendor area was (less than 100 vendors?) I was surprised at least 3 sold wands. 3 or 4 had scented soaps for sell.

 If they announce some guests before tickets sell out, I’ll think about going back in 2019.

AH