Trekkies, Gamers and Fans Flock to Anaheim for WonderCon 2018
Written By: Nicole Hakim
From March 23 to March 25, the newly-renovated Anaheim Convention Center housed WonderCon, a four-day event filled with celebrities, workshops, cosplay and shopping. “Teen Titans Go,” “Agents of Shield,” “Black Lightning” and more held panels that weekend and fans were able to see (and get autographs!) from the cast, ask questions and learn where their favorite shows are heading. Fan-favorite Nathan Fillion took to the stage at the “Series of Unfortunate Events” screening and discussed his role in the upcoming season with attendees.
As always, the cosplay at the convention was a sight to behold as attendees could expect to find cosplayers from movies, TV shows, video games and comic books. This year’s popular costumes included characters from the video game “Overwatch,” Disney princesses and even Elisa from The Shape of Water.
Trekkies could find anything they could ever want in the Exhibit Hall, including Nichelle Nichols, best known as Uhura in “Star Trek.” Though Nichols was not ready to talk about her new project, “Noah’s Room,” a series which focuses on an African American family taking in a troubled white youth, she did discuss her reputation as popular role model for young women. “I think they’re very smart to pick out someone that they aspire to be. If it’s not me, it’s someone. To envelop themselves around what is wonderful to them, that’s a wonderful thing. It helps young girls, and I like that.”
Fans could also visit the Feisty Pets booth, a line of cuddly plushies that turn into snarling creatures. Creator Mark Forti talked about his inspiration behind the popular toys. “I’ve always been impressed at [how] dramatic an expression can change just from a slight change in eyebrows,” he said.
While Feisty Pets weren’t popular at first, things changed quickly after Forti and his kids uploaded a video of the sweet-but-scary stuffed animals to YouTube. “It got 8 million views in two weeks, and everyone was buzzing. All of a sudden, we had 15 containers on order, and I went from four to 14 characters.”
When making new products, Forti takes prototypes to his 24 nieces and nephews for review, but it’s not only kids that love Feisty Pets. According to the posts on Instagram, the biggest buyer is adult women.“This lady in New York makes a video of showing Glenda Glitterpoop, the unicorn, to her bravest boy. He’s terrified. He falls off his seat.” The video got 110 million views, started a war between moms on Facebook and caused Glenda to become the most popular Feisty Pet.
WonderCon
Anaheim Convention Center
200 South Anaheim Blvd
Anaheim, CA 92805
714.765.4311
