FanX 2015!

Comic Con. Two words that bring out the nerd and geek sides of most. It involves almost anything to do with pop culture. It’s a way for fans to interact with their favorite celebrities. It’s an experience.

Urban dictionary defines it as: “The world’s largest and most kickass annual 4-day nerd fest in sunny San Diego, California featuring comic books, games, arts, movies, and various pop culture. This is where you’ll find the coolest and the hottest actors/actresses as well as the biggest dorks and geeks in the world under one roof. You will occasionally see some hotties in slutty costumes as well.”

The comic con in San Diego is by far the most famous of the conventions. But the one that I went to was in Salt Lake City, Utah. Technically, this event wasn’t called Comic Con. It was actually called FanX. FanX is essentially the same though, as Comic Con, it’s just slightly smaller with the same idea. But when FanX is mentioned, no one has any idea what that is. When it’s called Comic Con, most people answer with an exclaimed, “Oh! I know what that is!” or something along those lines.

So. To start.

I originally thought that I wouldn’t be able to go to the event. Tickets can be pricey. I was already struggling financially. Like really struggling. I barely have enough to pay rent each month and all of my bills. Plus for my food/gas/essentials. So I didn’t think I would be able to go.

I had never been to the event before, even when I was growing up in Southern California and when I would go to San Diego. But it’s something that I had always wanted to do.

And then they announced one of the first guests: Tom Felton.

Growing up, Harry Potter was, and still is, a coping method for me. It’s my escape, that world of Wizardry and Witchcraft. And Tom Felton portrayed my favorite character. When he was announced as a guest, I was absolutely devastated. I wanted so desperately to go. But like I said, I had no way to get a ticket, let alone the photo shoot and/or autograph. (The prices of those can be even pricier, depending on how “big” the guest is.)

I decided to push FanX to the back of my mind. I wasn’t going. There wasn’t any use in dwelling on it. I wouldn’t meet my favorite actor. There was no use in being upset over.

A few weeks go past. It’s now my birthday in December. My roommates Sara and Courtney [and my dear friend Amanda who is basically my roommate] and I are having this little mini party for me. We start discussing the even again because Amanda was going to be one of the volunteers.

Sara gets up and goes to her room and comes back with a card. In the card, there are pictures of Tom Felton. The card essentially said “Happy birthday, Katy! Get ready for Comic Con next month!”

They had pitched in together to buy me a three day pass for the event. I began to get emotional. They went out of their way. They knew how much I wanted this and got it for me. It was incredible. And I still can’t believe they did that. I am so incredibly grateful towards that kind action.

The event was held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City on the dates of January 29th until January 31st. Thursday,  Friday, and Saturday.

Once I found out about going, I immediately called my work and put in a request to get those days off. I was pretty confident that I would at least get one or two days, but I wasn't sure about all three. In the end, I only got Friday and Saturday off, but that's okay. Not much really happens that day anyway. Tom Felton was going to only be there Friday and Saturday anyway, which was the main reason that I was going.

When I got the tickets, I skyped with my parents. They talked between themselves for a bit and decided to call me back. They called me back a few hours later and said they would buy me the photo-op session and the autograph because it's a once in a lifetime chance.

Now I was not only going to the event, I was going to meet my favorite actor. I could barely wrap my mind around it. Amazing, actually.

So, to the event.

So Friday morning, my roommate Sara and I took the frontrunner up from Provo to Salt Lake City and then we took the Tracks up to the Salt Palace. My other roommate, Courtney was going to meet us there later because she had classes during the day. As soon as we got there, I immediately went over to "Celebrity Row." That's the area where all the celebrities have there tables and sections where they can do meet and greets and autographs. All you had to do was look around for the celebrity's banner so it was easy to find them.

Behind Celebrity Row, there's this closed off sort of sections behind these curtains for the photo-ops. I immediately walked to the General Admissions line and I was only second in line for it. Of course,

the VIP line gets to go first, so I still had to wait awhile. The line was very long, but because I was so close to the front, it only took maybe an hour or so to get to the front of the line.

The section of the room where Tom Felton was closed off, and they only let a few people into the area at a time. When I finally got to the front, he turned to me saying, "Hey, lovely, how's it going?" I of course, smiled and nodded. He then noticed my shirt and saw that it said "everyday I'm Slytherin" on it and laughed. And then we took the photo-op and I had to leave. It was very quick because of the long line.

After I picked up my photo and digital copy, I immediately went to the South Ballroom where Tom Felton's panel was going to be. The line for this panel was also very long, of course, and Sara and I were waiting for a good half hour or so before we were let in. We seemed to be towards the front of the general admissions line and we were still unfortunately seated towards the back. But that's okay.

The whole panel was a lot of fun. The thing that I enjoyed was that Tom knows that he's only ever going to be known for Harry Potter. And he still works it. And he works the whole 'Draco Malfoy' persona, even though he's not really like that. As in, he these sarcastic jokes and one liners with the audience, which was funny.

I didn't record the following video, but I wish I had taken some video of my own. Here's a recording of the full panel:

After the panel, Sara and I met up with Courtney, and we just walked around and looked at some of the vendors. I bought two Pop! figures of Dean and Sam Winchester from Supernatural. I tried to find one of Castiel, but I couldn't find one anywhere.

Around 5 o'clock or so, I went to wait in line for my autograph. This line wasn't nearly as long as the line for the photo-op. But it took about twice as long. Why? Because Tom was sort of rambling and really talking to each guest, which was totally okay with me. Besides, I was just hanging out with Amanda until it was my turn, so it was still awesome.

And finally, about 7 or so, I was at the front. The girls in front of me had brought their Harry Potter books and had him sign those. I wish I had thought of that. But that's okay. I had him sign my photo-op.

When it was my turn, he smiled and said, "Oh hi, Katy!" One of the volunteers had written my name on a sticky note over the picture for him to sign. Then he continued to grin widely and said, "Oh this turned out great! You look really nice!" And he then asked me about how I was enjoying comic con, and stuff like that. He also asked me more about my shirt, and liked that the back was supposed to be a quidditch jersey. He asked me what position I played, to which I responded, "Seeker. Naturally." And with that, he signed my photo, and it was done.

After I found Courtney and Sara, we then left the Salt Palace and went to Courtney's grandmother's house that was in the Salt Lake area to spend the night. But before we went to bed, we went to meet Amanda after she done with her volunteering for the day to go get dinner at Five Guys.

Following dinner, we went back and the four of us ended up staying up until like 1 AM just talking. But eventually though, we finally did fall asleep, because before I knew what happened, I was waking up for the next and finale day of Comic Con.

We got to the Salt Palace around 11:30ish. Today was a lot busier with a lot more people than the day before, but that was okay. I didn't really have any specific panels or anything that I wanted to get to, so I was in no rush.

When we finally got there, Courtney and Sara went to a Star Wars related panel while I walked around to look at more of the vendors. At this time, I bought a small Supernatural poster, which I convinced the seller to shave off the price by like $10. Score.

And I also had fun going around and looking at all of the creative cosplays that people had. I honestly wish I was that creative. Even Courtney dressed up, as an Ewok from Star Wars.

After looking around the people. I realized that I still had money to buy a photo-op with another actor from my favorite show, Switched at Birth. RJ Mitte. He's also in Breaking Bad.

His line wasn't nearly as long as Tom Felton's was. So we were able to talk in line for a minute when it was my turn. When I went up, he smiled and asked my name. When I answered Katy, he offered his hand and said, "Hi, Katy! I'm RJ. It's a pleasure to meet you!" And I got to say how much I appreciated his work in my favorite show. And then, the picture was taken. And that was that.

Following that photo-op, I went back to the vendors and bought quite a few items, things that I had me eye on for a few hours: another Supernatural Poster, a Keyblade, Voldemort's wand, and a Spiderman umbrella.

After buying all of the items above, I found my roommates again, and we just walked around and enjoyed ourselves. Courtney and I somehow found ourselves in Celebrity Row again and we were able to walk up to some of the celebrities and just say hi because their lines were short (like only two or three people). We got to go shake Brandon Routh's hand (he's Superman in Superman Returns and he also stars in Arrow) and we got to talk to the voice actor, Jim Cummings.

Following that, there wasn't much else to see or do. It was almost closing down anyway, so we finally left around I think, 7:30. Overall, my experience at Comic Con was amazing. Incredible. And I cannot wait until the next one in September.