Awesome Con 2014 was held this past weekend at the Walter E Washington Convention in the heart of Washington DC. I was there the Saturday and Sunday at the Con covering all the happenings. I was highly impressed considering this was only the 2nd year of the Con. The variety of celebrities was very impressive. Billie Piper to Ernie Hudson to voice actors to multiple actors from the Walking Dead. This Con had something for everyone.Now before I tell you the negatives of Awesome Con, I want you to remember this was only their 2nd year and what they pulled off in only their 2nd year was pretty.......well, Awesome. My major complaint was the autograph structure. There were no set times for autographs. You just had to wait in line to hope the person you wanted the autograph from was coming back. I waited over 3 hours on Saturday in line for Billie Piper and the volunteers had no clue when she would be back to sign autographs. I did finally get my autograph on Sunday, when there was less people at the show. This was a problem only with the major stars like Billie Piper. Some of the other lesser known guests, were a lot easier to get their signatures. But it would be nice to know when they would actually be signing.
The other negatives about Awesome Con are just minor. The attendance for the show was incredible on Saturday. Which met lines for pretty much anything you wanted, panels, food you name it and you were in line. Maybe a cap on Saturday should be in order. Lastly, the number of dealer stands needs to be increased. For some folks, this is there one chance a year to buy merchandise that their local comic shop doesn't carry.
I was also impressed with the number of volunteers helping out at the Con. For the most part they were pretty knowledgeable about what was going on. The venue was superb. It was big enough to house all the attendees on Saturday and I didn't feel overwhelmed, except when I was waiting in lines. Lastly, I was impressed with the panels. Every guest had a Q&A and the major guests had a Saturday & Sunday panel. I was only able to attend 2 panels, Richard Horvitz and Simon Fisher-Becker. The audio was great in the panels and the seating was comfortable. I wish I would have been able to attend more panels, but I was not leaving their without adding Billie Piper's signature to my collection.
Now just looking at Awesome Con as a Dr who fan, having Billie Piper there was like the Holy Grail for some fans. I knew she was popular, but the number of female fans of hers really stood out to me, She looked very tired, but was as nice as nice can be. My highlight was meeting Simon Fisher-Becker and being able to sit down and interview him for the site. We was such a pleasant man and if you ever get the chance to catch him performing "My Dalek has a Puncture", you have to see it. His story and background was sad, but inspirational. There was a good selection of your usual Dr Who merchandise. It would have been nice to see some Big Finish audio cd's, but we can't have everything we want. The other Dr Who item I want to highlight was the Tardis photo booth. I had never seen them at a con before and was impressed. For a fee you got to step into the Tardis with a green screen behind you. You got to select the background you wanted and then got pictures taken, like at a photo booth. I will try and post my pictures on our Facebook page.So to rate Awesome Con 2014, I would give it a 4 out of 5 Tardis's. They have the beginning of a great Con, that's actually on the east coast. I want to thank the staff at Awesome Con for having me and a special thanks to Simon Fisher-Becker for allowing me to sit down and interview him.
See you in 2015!