More Than A Comic Convention

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Those who attend the inaugural ChaseCon Expo next Saturday, April 25 at the Saratoga Springs City Center should expect more than just comics. Indeed, a broad cross-section of today’s pop culture in all its forms, utilizing a variety of media will be on display. You may not know where to go first!

“To my knowledge, no one has ever put on a pop culture expo.” Said Samuel Chase, the organizer of the event. “We’ve taken the popular ComicCon format and enhanced it with many other things to broaden the appeal to the entire community.”

Comics are certainly still a major centerpiece of the expo, with vendor tables and scheduled appearances by some of the leading artists (such as Mark McKenna, Paul Abrams, Kevin Conrad and sculptor Paul Harding) who have many credits from popular comic houses such as Marvel and DC Comics. But what makes ChaseCon distinctive are the additional range of subjects that the Expo embraces. Here are some of the highlights:

Celebrity Guest Appearances:

- Wrestling Superstar Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake – a former WWF world tag team champion. In addition to his appearance he will also participate in a panel discussion on the subject at noon.

- Erica Schroeder – a major voice actress whose work is heard on well over 100 films, TV shows and video games. She is best known for her work on Pokemon, voicing several characters in that series’ video games, TV shows and movies; and as the voice of Monkey D. Luffy in the One Piece multi-media series. She will host two panels: A “reverse Q+A” with the audience and an Animation Voice 101 seminar.

- K.I.T.T. – Car buffs will enjoy the famous tricked-out car from the popular series Knight Rider, which will be on display for inspection, gawking and photo ops throughout the show.

- Six internationally famous cosplay (short for costume play) actors and actresses, including Kathrine Zan and Negative Stacy will be performing and judging a cosplay contest in addition to having tables at the event.

Movie Theater Room

Included in your admission, ChaseCon Expo will show popular movies all day, including the Wolverine Extended version, Final Fantasy VII and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Of particular note is the showing of two episodes from the second season of Epic TV Saga: Season II - a local show that was filmed in Warren, Washington, and Saratoga Counties. These episodes feature video game, TV and film parodies.

Gaming

Attendees have the option of playing boards games such as Magic: the Gathering or Super Smash Bros. for free or can elect to sign up for a variety of tournaments (organized by Dirty Goblin Games of Queensbury) for a small fee.

Cosplay Contest

You can watch in the audience, of see if you have what it takes to be the best as you will be critiqued by some of the leaders in the genre in two categories:

            - Walk-ons – who will model an outfit along a runway and then answer the judge's questions

            - Skits – perform a two-minute mini show basically in character with judging based on performance.

The host of these contests is Ruby Rinekso. Scheduled judges are Kathrine Zan, Miggy Jagger, Undiesofwondy and Negative Stacey.

As you might expect, there will be a wide variety of memorabilia and other merchandise tables on the show floor. Franklin Community Center will also have a table to accept canned food and other donations. “This is one way we are trying to involve the entire community in our event.” Chase said. “We’re also hoping to have a major impact on the businesses in town that day. We have already had people buy admission to the Expo from as far away as Brazil, so we are optimistic that the entire community will benefit. 

Advance general admission to the Expo is $7, if bought online (visit chasecon.org) or $10 the day of the show. Special VIP ticket packages are also available at $25 and $50; both VIP tickets give the holder early access to the vendor/artist floor and other perks; the $50 VIP package also includes access to a special pre-event party at Bailey’s Café on Friday evening from 6 to 9 p.m. that is hosted by cosplay stars Kathrine Zan and Negative Stacy (non-VIP ticket holders can pay a separate $10 admission fee if space is available.)

“Even though we are providing a lot of entertainment, it was my priority to keep the ticket price down as much as possible,” Chase said. By comparison, he noted that the NYC ComicCon had regular admission prices of about $150, with VIP tickets in the $450 range.

The doors will open at the City Center on Saturday at 8:30 a.m., with activities running through 11 p.m. The show floor will open at 10 a.m. (VIP ticket holders will have access at 9:30 a.m.) through 7 p.m.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit chasecon.org