Heroes and Villans Fan Fest- Nashville TN
Heroes and Villains Fest was at Music City Center in Nashville, TN on May 12-13, 2018. It was Mother's Day weekend. Whether that hindered or helped attendance is hard to say. The con seemed to have plenty of mothers with their kids. It was combined with Walker Stalker Con, which is owned by the same company. The whole con was in one large room. The vendors, autograph tables, and two stages for panels were all in one crowded space. The main stage had seats in an area that was roped off in order to control traffic. It worked pretty well, all things considered. It was very crowded, and it seemed like we had to walk out of our way to go in and out of the staging area, but it all worked out.
The 501st (a Star Wars cosplay group) had a fan table with awesome cosplayers, as usual. The whole con was basically a walking comic book store with all the superhero cosplayers. The costume contest was divided into two categories: heroes and villains. There seemed to be many more on the villains side than the heroes side. It's so much more fun to be a villain! And a lot of people cosplayed the same villain. Negan, anyone? LOL!
The vendors, which took up most of the space, had a lot of artwork, comic books, t-shirts, and other glorious geeky things. My favorite was a vendor who had photo albums of behind-the-scenes pictures from TV shows, such as Gotham and Arrow. There were also plenty of comic book artists signing autographs and showing their artwork. The main guests were actors from Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham and Battlestar Galactica.
Stephen Amell from Arrow did a panel with his wife. She is an actress too. She said, it doesn’t bother her when he does love scenes with another woman. She knows it's just acting. And she is a fan of Arrow. She thoroughly enjoys the show. The Battlestar Galactica panel with Edward James Olmos, Katee Sackhoff and Mary McDonnell was a highlight for me. They took questions, and of course, ended with a big "So Say We All" from the audience. Two Gotham guests were on a small stage in the middle of the big vendor room. There were no seats around that stage. Everyone was crowded around. Some of us found space to sit on the floor close to the stage. Drew Powell (Butch/Solomon Grundy on Gotham) was pretty cool. I didn't know he could sing and play the guitar. He sang several songs and had the audience captivated. Robin Lord Taylor (Cobblepot on Gotham) did a panel by himself. It only lasted about fifteen minutes, but it was good. He answered questions from the audience and seemed super nice and excited to be there.
John Barrowman of Torchwood and Arrow fame came on stage for his panel wearing a trench-coat, similar to his Torchwood days, and high heels. Then he took off the trench-coat, and he was wearing a dress underneath! He's such a hoot! His antics and flamboyance made him the most popular star there! But of course, those of us who have seen him always expect the dress. I was thinking, "I wonder what kind of dress he will wear this time!?!" He seems to favor Doctor Who dresses. Big surprise!
It was much more crowded than last year, probably because it was two cons combined. It was a lot of walking on a hard floor with no place to sit, except for the main staging area. So it can be pretty hard on your feet unless you leave the con area for awhile. They had a lot of the same guests from last year, which is a let down for those of us who go every year. I hope they get some different guests next year. Other than that, it was pretty awesome. All the main guests signed autographs and did photo ops. It was a great con to get autographs because the lines weren't as long as some of the larger cons. It was very kid-friendly, as long as your kids don't mind bloody zombies, which most of the kids there seemed to love.
