Happy Autumn Equinox! It's almost time for the Emerald City Comicon ticket sale, which happens Wednesday, 23 September, at Noon PST / 3 pm EST.
I've already waxed lyrical over my love for this Con, so I'll spare you any further rhapsodizing. This will be a utilitarian post. Mostly.
How to participate in the sale
Go to their site Wednesday at noon with your favorite credit card and wait for the sale to go live. There's no hotline you can call; this is online only.
Should you panic?
Nah. I think the Special Access tickets will go quickly because the Deluxe passes went lightning fast (3 minutes) last year. But you can and will get a full badge if you want one and act promptly. I don't think the 4-days will sell out in 5 minutes or anything. But it's worth noting that tickets have gone faster and faster every year. For context, 2014 full passes took 5 months to sell out; 2015 full passes sold out in 7 weeks. So if attending is important to you, scrape together $100 and buy your ticket soon.
If you're an SDCC-only attendee who's taking their first trembling steps into another Comicon, you might be expecting a digital maelstrom of a badge sale, with servers melting down and nerd screams echoing across the land. That won't happen. This will probably go quite smoothly. You'll also be able to book an excellent hotel room without any fanfare but I'll post more on that later.
What you can buy and how much you'll pay
Limit 4 tickets per type:
- Single day ($20 for Thursday, $35 for Friday and Sunday, $45 for Saturday)
- 3-day ($85 for Friday-Sunday)
- 4-day ($95 for Thursday-Sunday)
- Child ($15 for ages 6-12; Friday-Sunday only)
- Special Access: $200. First access to the Exhibit Hall, free t-shirt, exclusive variant comic, 15% discount at the merch store and 2 private autograph signings with comic guests.
- Celebrity Fast Pass Package: $295. Same as above (mostly) but also priority line access to photo ops and celebrity and voice talent autographs.
Should you go?
Yes. I mean, you're only reading this because you're at least thinking about it, right? Wondering why ECCC gets so much love and praise, and if you'd be happy there, and just what the hell is so special about it anyhow? Again, read my last paean to this Con to see if it sounds like a fit - but if you are looking for a fun Comicon that is comic-focused, with great cosplay and an environment that manages to be exciting and emotional without being stressful, this is your destiny. And Wednesday is your badge sale.
I'll live-blog the sale, but I doubt there will be any serious developments to note. See you then.
ETA: Apparently Emerald City veterans think I've undersold the Hollywood talent that goes to ECCC and focused too much on comic talent. So I'll say that while this Con is NOT going to offer the same quantity of starpower you get at SDCC, it will offer up similar quality. Is that better?
You can check out last year's guests if you want an idea of what to expect. Overall, there were cast members from Firefly, The Walking Dead, Buffy, Agents of SHIELD, Game of Thrones, Agent Carter - you get the idea. So if this plays into your ticket buying decision, I'd go ahead and buy on the safe assumption that ECCC will bring you satisfying Hollywood guests. And they'll often be more accessible for photo ops and autographs than they would be at San Diego. You might even run into one of them chilling outside the convention center and talking to attendees some night, like Scott Walker last year.
Finally, be aware that you can request the guests you want to see. ECCC tries to rotate guests instead of having the same ones in all the time, so go ahead and ask for your wishlist. So far I've seen multiple requests for the casts of iZombie, Penny Dreadful, Once Upon a Time, X-Files, Star Trek, Twin Peaks, In The Flesh and Sense8. One thing the Emerald City team does well is listen to their attendees, so don't be shy - tell them who and what you want to see and just maybe you'll get it.
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