Attending J1-Con in Philly!!

I will be attending J1-Con which is an anime convention located downtown Philadelphia. This is the first year for this small convention and I hope it grows every year. I have seen small conventions come and go in the heart of Philadelphia. However, I want this one to be a success because of its location. Voice actor Vic Mignogna, who is noticeable for his roles as Edward Elric Full mental Alchemist, Tamaki Suoh Ouran High School Host Club, Broly Dragon Ball Z, will appear as a special guest.

J1-Con will be hosting gaming tournaments, cosplay contest and throwing a killer VIP party at 9pm. However, you have to be 21 and older to attend the VIP party. I am assuming alcohol beverages will be served for the age restriction.

The tickets to the convention if purchased online will be $20. VIP tickets which includes the VIP party will be $25. Children tickets are $10. If you purchase your tickets at the door, the prices will go up by $5.

If you like anime, games, cosplay and want to have a good time, come to J1-Con.

For more information Click Here.

J1-Con is September 14, 2014 downtown Philadelphia.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis

Buy New York Comic Con Tickets at Midtown Comics!!

Yes, here is your chance to acquire New York Comic Con tickets that are already sold out on NYCC website. Midtown Comics will be selling tickets downtown in New York City while supplies last. If you really want to go to New York Comic Con, I would say camp outside extremely early before these stores open. For more info Click Here.

Ticket Sale Hours on 8/9:
Midtown Comics Downtown: 8am - 8pm

Tickets Sale Hours on 8/08:
Midtown Comics Downtown: 10am - 8pm
Midtown Comics Times Square: 8am - 12am
Midtown Comics Grand Central: 11am - 9pm

New York Comic Con is October 9-12 at Javits Conventions Center, NY. Can't wait to see you guys soon.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis

The Maze Runner New Trailer!!

If you are not into this trilogy, you should be. The Maze Runner by James Dashner is a heart pounding book to read with a mysterious dystopian world of teenagers trapped in a dangerous maze with no memories of their previous life. Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) will stop at nothing to break free from the Maze and regain his memories. Watch the new trailer and welcome to the Glade newbies.

The Maze Runner in theaters September 19, 2014.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis

Mockingjay Teaser Trailer!!

I'm extremely excited for Mockingjay since Catching Fire was a superior movie over the first movie, The Hunger Games. Francis Lawrence, the director of Catching Fire, changed this franchise around for the better. I hope he can continue to work his magic on Mockingjay part 1 and part 2.

In the trailer, they did show the slums of the suppose to be destroyed District 13 and Katniss finally excepting the job to take on the Capital. It's going to be interesting how much darker Lawrence is going to go with the last book. I really hope he does not leave any punches and make the movie as gritty as he can, with a PG-13 title.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 November 21, 2014.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis

Teen Wolf Season 5 Back to 22 Episodes!!

Teen Wolf has been renewed for Season 5 as it was announced at San Diego Comic Con this week. Although Jeff Davis said in the beginning of this year that he wanted to go back in keeping the seasons 12 episodes again after season 3. He felt that he wanted the actors to do other projects and come back to Teen Wolf project refreshed to shoot the new season. Well that didn't last long. Season 5 will go back to season 3 formula of 22 episodes split in half. Side A in the summer and Side B in the winter.

A lot of fans has mixed feeling about season 3, especially since a few main characters that said farewell to the Teen Wolf world is not around anymore. Then again we said that about Kate Argent and now she is back as a werepanther in season 4. Some fans stress their concerns of how Jeff Davis handled season 3's two separate story lines of stepping away from what made Teen Wolf from the beginning. Some thought this had to do with the pressing urge of establishing a full season in which season 3 was the first for Teen Wolf.

It will be a very interesting experiment again to see how Jeff Davis will handle another full season. The good news is, he has the time to write out season 5 since season 4 of Teen Wolf ends in August.

In my opinion, I enjoyed Teen Wolf short seasons because it's less fillers and more meat for the story. However, the way Jeff Davis did season 3, it felt like Side A and Side B for Teen Wolf was two different seasons, but being labeled as one season. I prefer this formula then how majority of TV shows keep the same plot for one season. If Davis stick to season 3 two different season type formula, I can handle a full season again. I just hope it is not as rushed like it was for season 3.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis

Doctor Who Season 8 Premiere Coming to Big Screen!!

Get your group parties together Whovians, season 8 premiere of Doctor Who is coming to the big screen Saturday August 23, 2014 around the world. The new episode is called Deep Breath. Stay tuned for more updates on theater showings.

Tyler Hoechlin Coming to Howler Con!!!

Yes it is confirmed. Tyler Hoechlin who play Derek Hale on Teen Wolf is coming to Howler Con as a bonus guest. For those that are unsure what a bonus guests means, photoops, meet & greet, and autographs are only included in Super Moon and Blood Moon packages. Other packages you have to buy everything separately. The tickets to buy his photoops, meet & greet, and autographs will not go on sale until 5pm est today July 22nd. I have this funny feeling his meet and greet will sale out quickly. I might have to live off of oodles and noodles to meet Hoechlin personally.

Don't wait around people. Buy your tickets NOW!!

Howler Con is November 12-16, 2014.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis 

The Purge: Anarchy Non-Spoiler Review

Let me just say, I really enjoyed The Purge: Anarchy far better then I expected. In my opinion, I think it was a far superior movie then the first one. Don't get me wrong, I did like the first movie for bringing this disturbing concept of future America to the movie screen. However, the acting at times made me cringe when it came to the Sandin children. Running away from their parents while a possible murder was in there home, it made me want to slap them like what are you thinking.

Luckily the acting was more ironed out in the second installment The Purge: Anarchy. It was more believable and down right scary to see The Purge on a bigger scale then the first movie. Underneath everything about The Purge idea, money somehow makes it all goes around. The rich gets richer and the poor gets brutally murdered. Kind of sound like our current society today but rated G compared to this movie.

Sergeant made this movie badass by keeping the group together to survive The Purge, even though he had his own agenda that night. Whether good or bad, I wouldn't blame his reason behind his own Purge, because of how the law is so screwed up in our society. However, unforeseen events made him contemplate his judgement throughout the movie, which lead to his decision at the end of it.

Carmen, Cali, Shane and Liz, the others cast members, opened the movie up to keep the plot going. Their interaction with Sergeant showed how the government was more behind The Purge that meets the eye. This is actually the plot probably moving forward to the third movie how this movie Anarchy ended. My only complaint is they don't turn this type of franchise at this point into a freedom for all America movie. If they are, please let it be the last movie in the franchise. Let us enjoy the purge movies humans killing each other every year (wow that sounds bad) before we said we had enough.

My rating for The Purge: Anarchy is 7/10.

I would recommend people to see the first movie The Purge to understand the entire concept behind Anarchy, before asking your best friend in the movie theater who, what, when, where, how. Please don't look too deep into this movie. It does what its suppose to do, entertain us in a very disturbing way that makes you think twice about driving next to a huge colossus truck on the streets.

I also recommend people to cosplay as The Purge characters. It would make a great Halloween costume. If you want to scare some people in your area, create a scary mask hopefully from the movie, and bass out the Purge commencement alarm as loud as you can. That's pretty much something I hope to do in the future.

The Purge: Anarchy is in theaters near you. Get on The Purge bandwagon people.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis  

Going to PAX South in San Antonio, TX!!

Waiting to do this for a long time, I will be attending PAX South gaming convention January 23-25, 2015 in San Antonio, TX. PAX South convention will be making its debut in January joining the PAX line up along with PAX East, PAX Prime, and PAX Australia. PAX stand for Penny Arcade Expo put together by gaming culture and webcomic site Penny Arcade.

I love games. I have been playing them since birth and grew up around the old consoles such as Nintendo being my first gaming console (the good old days). Since I love going to conventions, I have been waiting to attend a gaming convention in my line up for a long time.

I have been to one gaming convention which was in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania convention center a couple years ago. It wasn't the greatest one when I attended that year. I think the time I went, the convention was finished at that point. I thought it was going to be a great convention like it was previously. However, the next year it was a dud. I was really disappointed in it as a whole. After that, I have been very cautious of going to any gaming conventions in the future. I decided, if I was going to dish out the money, I wanted a well organized big gaming convention.

My gaming friends was pushing me to go to PAX South. At first I was unsure because I would have to buy a plane ticket which was my biggest concern. After thinking about it for two months, I decided to go for it. I miss gaming conventions and PAX South fits the bill. I wanted to go to PAX East which was located in Boston, a closer convention, but majority of my gaming friends wanted to attend PAX South. I was very happy I was able to pick up individual passes when I could for this convention. The 3-day passes was sold out in a day.

Can't wait to attend PAX South in January. I just need a little help from mother nature to make it perfect to leave and come home to Philly without any delays.

If anybody is attending PAX South, hit me up. I would love to hang with other game congoers at this convention.

PAX South Info

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis  

Upper East Coast Walking Dead Fans here you go Walker Stalker Convention!!

Walker Stalker convention is a fan run convention created around The Walking Dead show. This convention is not just located in one place, it is located across America to give everybody a chance to meet their favorite cast members from the show. If you live on the east coast near major cities such as New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia or Baltimore, this convention is up your alley. Held at Meadowlands Exposition Center NJ, purchase your tickets right away through Ticketleap. Hotel information will be announced soon. 

For more information on Walker Stalker in New York/New Jersey please Click Here.

Walker Stalker Convention is December 13-14, 2014.

This will be a last minute decision to attend this convention. It all depends how my money situation will be because I will be attending HowlerCon, a Teen Wolf convention, in November. If I do attend Walker Stalker, I will keep you guys informed.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

~Artemis   

Stephen Amell coming to NYCC!!

Stephen Amell is coming to NYCC only Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Amell plays the popular DC comic superhero The Green Arrow on the CW show called Arrow. Arrow has been CW most popular show for the past two years and continue to grow in fanbase each year. Comic congoers will love this treat, as many hope in a ripple effect The Flash actors will make an appearance at NYCC as well, since Berry Allen (The Flash) was featured on Arrow in season 2. Here is hoping for more Arrow cast members to join Stephen Amell at NYCC.

New York Comic Con is October 9-12th at the Javits Convention Center in NYC. If you are trying to buy tickets to this convention, the only tickets available are Thursday on their website. Unfortunately, many guests mostly attend conventions on Saturday and Sunday. However, NYCC will soon announce comic stores who will be selling weekend and day tickets.

Stay tune for that information. 

Official full length TV launch trailer - Doctor Who Series 8 

And here we go. Can't bloody wait. Doctor Who season 8 starts August 23rd. 

Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con Review

Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con has come and gone once again as this year was my first time attending this convention. Yes, I do live in Philly but I was more of an anime convention congoer before I branched out last year into comic conventions. For the many conventions I have been too, I really had an fantastic time at Philly Con. I had a specific agenda for this con, no photoops or autographs. This method allowed me to have more time to take pictures of cosplayers, buying items from vendors and attending panels.

Pros
I was surprised I attended many of the panels I had planned. I think largely of that have to do with the size of the Pennsylvania convention center. Unlike Javits Convention center rooms for New York Comic Con which are really small for the amount of crowd that con attracts, Philly Con rooms were bigger. The grandball room was gigantic that probably could fit over a thousand congoers. Also, the best part about the grandball room, they didn't care if you recorded or took pictures. Some cons frown on that behavior, which is ridiculous at times.

Majority of the panels I attended, I recorded and already uploaded on Fort Fandom Youtube page. Karen Gillan, Christopher Lloyd, Ralph Macchio, Martin Kove, Eddie McClintock, Dave Batista and Eliza Dushku panels was extremely fun to attend as they talked about there movie projects, career and answered the fans questions.

The waiting in line was very surprising for panels. Each panel I attended I waited 45 minutes or less. That has to be a record for a big con. Also what contributed to that, the staff was not clearing out every panel. Luckily the room I was in had the best line up so I didn't have to leave the room period. Normally I would frown on people camping out in panels for one celebrity 4 panels down the road, but I knew all the guests that was in those panels, so I didn't feel guilty that much.

The cosplayers was the main attraction at Philly Con. The creativity, design and humorous cosplayers, was all fantastic. The children dressed up as my favorite characters, was extremely adorable. I congratulated on some parents saying keep up the great work. I love encouraging the parents to keep bringing their children to conventions and get them into cosplay. It's fun, a positive atmosphere, and the children can dress up awesome besides Halloween. If you want to see any cosplays photos I have taken at Philly Con, check out our facebook page.

Cons
Although I didn't experience it at the con, however my friend who attended the con with me said the photoops and autograph lines was not managed properly. She was frustrated along with many others as I witnessed it when I kept checking on her while doing other activities. This was one of the main reasons why I didn't forgo photoops and autographs for Philly Con. I predicted the lines for these celebrities was going to be ludicrous and I didn't want to spend my entire time at a convention grueling through those lines. At conventions, you have to choose your battle on what you want to do. If you want photoops and autographs, be prepared to wait in extremely large lines.

Philadelphia Comic Con 2015
In no doubt in my mind I will be attending Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con next year. The date is May 7-10 2015 which is cutting it close with my other conventions like BookCon or Awesome Con. If you are coming to Philly Comic Con, buy your 4-day tickets as soon as possible. I heard many people had no choice but to buy the downgraded less expensive VIP passes when 4-day passes was gone along with Saturday tickets. To avoid that headache, purchase your tickets early and you won't have that problem.

Make sure you follow Fort Fandom on twitter, facebook, and youtube.

Whovians Doctor Who Tour Date for NYC!!

Okay, we finally have a date for Doctor Who: World Tour in New York. It is Thursday August 14, 2014. We don't have the time or place yet but we will keep you guys posted. So excited!!

Doctor Who NYC Tour

Howler Con Tickets are on Sale!!

If you don't know or forgotten, Howler Con tickets went on sale July 1st. If you are going, I recommend buying your tickets now. New Moon package is the cheaper package out of the four packages. Blood Moon is already sold out, so three packages are remaining to purchase. If you are waiting for single day tickets when they become available closer to the con, I have that funny feeling single day tickets will be close to $70+.

If you want to do Meet & Greets there is only 25 tickets per guest. They will be gone really soon. If you are trying to figure out a method to buy everything and have the money to do it all before tickets are sold out, follow this method.

Howler Con Formula
Buy package> Book Hotel> M&G> Photoops> Autographs

For a convention like this, I would strongly recommend doing the entire weekend to space your time to attend panels and meet other congoers who are also Teen Wolf lovers.

I will be attending this convention and I can't wait to cosplay a Beacon Hill lacrosse player. Maybe we can put together a Teen Wolf Cosplay gathering so people can take pictures and all that good stuff.

I will keep you updated when tickets are sold out. If you follow me on twitter it will be posted there faster.

Howler Con Tickets

BookCon Review 

BookCon Saturday May 31, 2014

Happening the same week as the awesome BookExpo America (BEA), BookCon established itself becoming a very successful first year con. It was exciting, many different genre of authors attended, free books, and always a hoot to meet other book lovers such as myself.


Pros
Always the highlight at conventions for me is going to the panels. The ones that I could attend, I already recorded and posted them on Fort Fandom Youtube Channel. Please check those out when you can.

I had a fantastic time meeting Cassandra Clare twice in one week. I met Cassandra at West Chester Philadelphia for her City of Heavenly Fire book tour on Friday May 30th and Saturday at BookCon. It was just a fantastic TMI weekend, and I got the famous Shadowhunter Tarot Cards done by Cassandra Jean at Cassandra Book tour (screams!!).

Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Maggie Stiefvator

The Epic Storytelling panel with Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles), Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments Series) and Maggie Stiefvator (Shiver Series) was hilarious. All these lovely ladies was sharing funny stories together, discussing their books, future projects and answering the audience questions. At the end of the panel, all of the fans walked out with a signed copy of The Magisterium Series: The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, and also Sinner by Maggie Stiefvator. I have read The Iron Trial and wrote a non spoiler review on the blog. Just click here and it will direct you to that blog page.

Veronica Roth, Danielle Paige, Marie Lu, and Alaya Johnson

Another panel I attended was Dystopian future panel with Veronica Roth (Divergent Series), Alaya Dawn Johnson (The Summer Prince), Danielle Paige(Dorothy Must Die) and Marie Lu (Legend Series) as they talked about there books in the Dystopian world fandom. Although I have only read the Divergent series which was amazing, after this panel I'm definitely going to pick up all the other authors books in the future. The more they kept describing the different aspect of their books, the more I needed these book like yesterday.

Cons
BookCon had it's fair share of hiccups dealing with lines, staff and overcrowding. With my con experience, I already knew I had to get in line two hours in advance to acquire good seats at these panels. Many new comers attending this convention were getting frustrated over the panel line issues. It was understandable, but at the same time, this is what happens at conventions.

Another issue I had at BookCon was staff understanding the convention rules. On the website they stated that they wasn't going to clear out every panel. When I asked to confirm this information just to be on the safe side, the staff members had no clue. One staff member said they was going to clear the panels after every guests and then another said they was not. That frustrated many of us congoers waiting in line for two hours wanting to get good seats.

In addition, I had an issue with staff handling crowd control. There needs to be a better way to control the lines then being pushed around like cattle in a pen. Also, the staff need to be more vocal on what line people are standing in. Some people didn't know they was waiting in line for Cassandra Clare panel thinking they was waiting in line for Stan Lee. I know this is a first year con, but I hope staff become more vocal, maintains the lines better and follow rules as a collective group for next year.

Furthermore, the autograph section was the biggest issue at BookCon that seriously needs to be addressed next year. The lines was ridiculously long and it overcrowded the show floor area of being unable to walk around comfortably. I really hope BookCon move the autograph section off the show floor area completely. The two suggestions I hope BookCon take into consideration, is move the autograph section either downstairs where New York Comic Con (NYCC) had their autograph section or where the Artist alley was for NYCC as well. The autograph section can not be on the show floor area next year or overcrowding will continue to be an issue.

Next Year BookCon 2015
BookCon will expand into a two day event in 2015. BEA will run from Wednesday May 27th to Friday 29th and BookCon will run Saturday May 30th to Sunday May 31st 2015. Since 10,000 attendees showed up for BookCon this year, I think this was a wise decision. However, I wonder how the layout is going to work on a short time frame to dismantle BEA section since that had the biggest area at the convention. Or, will they keep it up and transition BookCon over into BEA territory. It would be interesting to see how they figure this out when the time comes next year.

With all the negatives from BookCon, I will attend next year convention again. I love books, NYC is close to Philly, and I want to see the improvements they do with this convention. I hope BookCon is around for many years in the future because it is very rare to gather many of my favorite book authors in one place.

BookCon will be May-30-31 2015.

BookCon Website