GalaxyCon came to Richmond this weekend March 24-26 2023 with a huge array of stars, wrestlers, comic creators, Authors and Voice
Actors, to fulfill ANY geeks delights. This is also the biggest Con that myself and Ashley Grant have ever covered., I mean the crowds are Huge, the number of guests, are huge, the number of vendors are huge….well you get the idea…..This Con is so big, they are holding it in 2 buildings of the Richmond Convention Center. We arrived at the Con, and the line was wrapped around the building(3 of the 4 sides), we found a staff person, and told them we were covering the Convention as Press, and that allowed us to skip the line and go right in to pick up our badges. The badges are actually very nice looking.
Since it was the first day, we started looking around and identifying where all the guests were, and deciding who to interview, who to get photos of, who to purchase autographs from(I am still a fan of a lot of stars). One thing I noticed was most of the guest stars did NOT take credit cards, some did, but most did not. There are plenty of ATM’s in the building, but with the amount of people realizing they needed cash, they were constantly running out of money, multiple times a day. The vendors ran a wide range from anime Vendors to MEGO Action Figure Vendors, Sword Vendors, DnD Dice Vendors, Steampunk Creators, Toy Vendors selling “Mystery boxes”, Comic Vendors and even Clothing Vendors. While I liked the way the exhibition hall was set up, I really wish they wouldn’t put oversize tables for some creators, right in the middle of the floor space, It makes navigating the aisles more difficult than it should be. Guests Included David Tennant, John Cleese, William Shatner, Johnathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Steven Amell, Charlie Cox, Vincent D’onfrio, John Rhys-Davies, Barry Bostwick, Steve Whitmire, Corey Feldman, Sarah Douglas, Comic Creators John Romita Jr, Chris Clairmont, Scott Hanna, Josef Rubenstein, Voice Actors Paige O’Hara, Sarah Notochenny, Amanda Miller, Marty Grabstein, Dana Snyder, Authors John Jackson Miller, Mark Altman, Emily Andras, Pro Wrestlers Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, Lex Luthor, Scott Steiner, Britt Baker, Kiera Hogan, Matt Hardy and many more. If you couldn’t find a guest who made you stop and talk or even better make a purchase, you were in the wrong place.
The Lobby Area was well set up and run with plenty of tables for those people who pre-registered for the Con, They had a big Merchandise area set up in the lobby, along with a place for VIP check in and prop check.
Cosplayers came out in force on day 1, here are some of them
We also had both a Delorean and KITT-2000 car in attendence
Hampton Roads Droid Builders had a variety of Droids set up and running around the Convention
There was a really cool plushy stand that I had to take video of because it had all kinds of plushies
The Vendor Hall looked amazing from the second floor
Ashley spent some time talking to Marty Grabstein who voiced “Courage, the Cowardly Dog”. He was hilarious as he was greeting people while doing the voice. Ashley got a signed first episode script, and photo, along with him agreeing to do a short interview on Sunday. I am doing an interview with Josef Rubenstein on Sunday among others I have set up.
I did spend a few moments talking to Lex Lugar, the former pro wrestler whose Paralyzing Spinal Cord issues have left him in a wheelchair. I was the first one to buy his newly released book titled “Wrestling with the Devil”, and I recommend it to all wrestling fans, or even fans of redemption stories.
Day 1 is in the books, Day 2 is already sold out, so we expect even bigger crowds to be there, plus their are panels that both Ashley and I want to cover, and report on.
Stay Geeky!!!!!
