Awesome Con 2015 was held on May 29-31 at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in Washington DC. This was the first time I have covered the same convention two years in a row and it's nice to compare the differences from year to year. As always, I like to look at guests, programing, vendors and overall feel of the Con. Now Awesome Con covers everything pop culture, so it's not just about Dr Who. This is not a Dr Who Con, so you have to take that in consideration, when discussing Awesome Con. For this review, I am just looking at the Dr Who component of the Con.
Guests:
It seems like every year Awesome Con makes a splash with a big time Dr Who actor and this year was no exception. Alex Kingston, who played River Song, and Arthur Darvill, who played Rory Williams, headlined the Dr Who section of Awesome Con. Now originally, they were to be joined by Karen Gillan, who played Amy Pond, was to join them but had to back out at the last minute. This was unfortunate, but it happens with actors. Projects come up and they sometimes have to make a choice. Alex Kingston & Arthur Darvill were still big enough stars, that even with out Karen Gillan there, it felt well, "Awesome". I don't think I heard anyone upset that Karen could not make it. All I heard was excitement about meeting Alex & Arthur. I never realized how huge the following that both actors had in the Dr Who universe. Both Alex & Arthur were delights to meet and were very personable with all the fans.
There were two other Dr Who related guests. James Marsters, who played Captain John Hart, on a couple of episodes of Torchwood and JK Woodward, who drew the Star Trek / Dr Who crossover comic book were also on hand at Awesome Con. Jason Marsters is more known for his role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel, but his time on Torchwood was memorable. I was able to sit down with Mr. Woodward and talk to him about his work and will be posting that interview in the near future.
The thing that Awesome Con does so well with Dr Who fans is that they don't have the normal Dr Who guests you see at other conventions. They go for more recent actors and try to hit a home run with their guest lineup. Last year we got to see Billie Piper and this year we got Alex Kingston & Arthur Darvill and almost got Karen Gillan added to that. These actors are hardly ever seen at most Dr Who cons and is what makes me come back every year to Awesome Con.
Programing:
Arthur Darvill's Q&A session was pretty much the same thing as Alex's but with a more normal dressed host. There was not as many Dr Who questions as I was expecting, instead he spent time speaking about his role on "Broadchurch" and his upcoming role as Rip Hunter on "Legends of Tomorrow"
Both sessions were held in the main hall at the convention center, so there were plenty of seating for everyone. There's nothing worse then not being able to attend a session, because of a lack of seating. The only drawback to using the main hall was the sound. The acoustics were horrible in that room. The room is not designed to hold sound very well and it was a major drawback during both Q&A's. It was very hard to hear both the questions and the answers. I think they need a louder PA system.
Vendors:
This year the main floor of the convention (vendors, autographs, photo-ops) was held in a much bigger space. Last year, one of my complaints was that it was so crowded and hard to move around. This year that was all fixed. Even on Saturday, which is always the busiest day of the con, there were plenty of room to move around and it didn't feel like Black Friday shopping.
Overall Feel:
Lastly, we come to my overall feel of Awesome Con. I think it was actually better then last year. They improved their autograph area, that I thought was a disaster last year. They had better knowledge of when the guests would be signing and I didn't have much of a long wait to meet Alex Kingston & Arthur Darvill. The convention floor space was enlarged and made a major difference in the feel of the Con. It felt bigger and better. Their volunteer staff were better equipped to assist convention goers. They even had people stationed right outside the Metro stop (Washington DC's public transportation system) to direct people where to go.
The negatives were far and few in between. I already mentioned the sound quality of the main programing area. I hope they invest in some more speakers and that will hopefully get rid of that problem. The other major problem area was the Photo op area. It was hard to know what line was for what and the people organizing everyone had a megaphone that no one could hear. Sunday was the worst, when we trying to find the line for the Alex Kingston photo op. One of the staff members even got rude with us, when we were just asking where the line started. Once we got past the disaster of finding the line, everything went smoothly.
Overall, I give Awesome Con 2015, a 4.5 out of 5 Tardis's. Great guests, great space and an overall "Awesome" experience.