Despite having attended fandom conventions for over a decade now, I’ve never actually been to an “official” after party. Sure, I’ve been to the unofficial ones, but never something like what I experienced this weekend. On Friday and Saturday nights, I headed over to The Trocadero, which is a really fun theater venue just a two minute walk from the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Even though I moved to Philadelphia from Orlando just over two years ago, I had never gotten around to attending the Philadelphia Comic Con (typically referred to as “Wizard World Philly”). I had heard from those who had attended the convention for many years that it was on a bit of a downward spiral, and that attendance was dwindling. Perhaps in an effort to jumpstart the convention, some really big name celebs were brought in for Wizard World Philly 2010 (namely Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, and James Marsters, along with …

This past weekend, the Alltern8 / Convention Fans Blog team went out to The Steampunk World’s Fair in Piscataway, New Jersey (USA). Billed as “the first East Coast event to welcome Steampunks, Neo-Victorians, Retro-futurists, Gas Lamp Fantasists, and any and all others who consider themselves part of steampunk into a weekend long festival celebrating all things steamy,” I am happy to say that it was that and much much more.
The Steampunk World’s Fair (hereafter known as SPWF) turned out to be an event that combined the best elements of a …

This past weekend I ventured out to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (USA) for the 2010 National Halloween and Haunters Convention. It was held April 29 – May 2, 2010 at the Valley Forge Convention Center. This event aimed to strike a balance between industry only expo shows, and fandom conventions geared towards the public. Did it succeed? Well, for the most part, yes!
Before I dive into the particulars of the convention events and programming, I want to comment on the location. Believe it or not, picking the right (or the wrong) …

There is no doubt that PAX East 2010 was the convention to be at this past weekend if you are a gamer on the East coast. Those of us who haven’t been able to make it out to the original Seattle based Penny Arcade Expo, known as  PAX, have been eager for an East coast iteration. But did PAX East live up to expectation? Well, for the most part that answer is “yes.”
Before I get into some of the problems we encountered at PAX East 2010, I do want to …