As seasoned convention goers, my husband and I have been active attendees and participants in the California Convention circuit since the 1980s. We’ve seen them come and go – Phil & Ed’s Excellent Convention, which lasted only 1 year and Babscon, whose last year is next year. We’ve attended the long running ones that are still going strong – Anime Con, Baycon, Loscon and Gallifrey One.

But when you say “Comic Con” to most convention goers in the United States, one of their first responses is going to be San Diego Comic-Con, the largest media convention in the United States, if not the entire world.

We attended SDCC for many years – starting before the 2001 renovation of the San Diego Convention Center which literally doubled it in size, up until about 2010. We saw it hit first the 75,000-attendee mark, then the milestone of 100,000 and finally max out because the center just could not hold any more than that plus the army of fans that run it.

Somewhere between those golden numbers of 75k and 100k, it also obtained many other impressive yet unfortunate distinctions. It was now too crowded, too overwhelmingly large to do in a single weekend, too far from Los Angeles to be practical for us to go every year anymore, and worse, too expensive. Hotels and parking centers in the area were now gouging out of town guests to the point where it strained our budget to the breaking point.

And several years before any of these became a factor, health caught up with me as the endless walking for hours, then days on end in the dealer’s room and from one end of the convention center to the other, then out to dinner in downtown every night, killed my feet. After several years of this where my feet were literally blistered and bleeding, we began to rent a wheelchair, then a scooter.

That was it. We were done.

These were sad years in the wilderness of no SDCC where we would hear fantastic tales of media previews, amazing guests and exclusive merchandise. My husband misses it more than I, but we resigned ourselves to the fact it was just not doable.

Then we got wind of a new game in town in Southern California – Comic Con Revolution Ontario. This is a newer Comic-Con – only 7 years young this year. It had all the added bonuses that we had lost over the years going to San Diego; it was closer, less expensive, less walking, fewer people and is close to my niece and her family out in the Inland Empire, (so we get the opportunity to see them). 

We had hope again.

At a mere 20,000 attendees, (which sounds like a lot, but after the hundred thousand plus crowd at SDCC, it really does seem small), it was now only pleasantly full without a feeling of being on the old series Star Trek planet Gideon, crushed in on all sides by the seething throngs.

Comic Con Revolution Ontario is held at the Ontario Convention Center, next to Ontario Airport, (which is now known as an “international” airport – who knew?)! It is set conveniently in between – believe it or not – FIVE major Los Angeles freeways and has plenty of inexpensive parking at the center and just across the street.

This year was only our second year attending. Last year we went for one day to check it out and see if it was worth making a yearly staple in our desire to herd with and socialize with other pop culture fans. We are amazed at the large number and wide variety of vendors, cosplayers, guests in our favorite genres; voice acting, animation, Star Wars and Star Trek. Twenty twenty-three immediately convinced us we needed to get a full membership this year for the weekend and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

We saw only a small portion of the large stable of stars there, but we did get to see everyone we wanted to with only two exceptions (we missed getting the wristbands to get in on the Star Wars Clone Wars reunion panel, which included Ashley Eckstein and Dee Bradley Baker). We did, however, get to see all the others we came for and, in some cases, even talk to them one-on-one. We saw;

Voice actors Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios) and producer Greg Weisman at the panel, “A Look Back at Star Wars Rebels”, hosted by Star Wars Thrawn author Timothy Zahn. Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus) was slated to appear, but had to cancel due to a family emergency. The panel was wonderful and fun, and in the case of Steve Blum, it was our first time seeing him in person and yes, he is as nuts as Dee Bradley Baker and his real-life voice is almost as deep and scary as his character’s Zeb’s!

John DiMaggio in his self-hosted panel “Life of a Bender”. The voice star of Futurama and Adventure Time talked about these and his work since those highly-popular shows, as well as his other, lesser-known works in gaming and animation. As he wrapped up the panel, it was the highlight of my convention to get him to say his most well-known line, “Bite my shiny metal a$$!”, one that the crowd cheered as he added in some of Bender’s other well-known rants.

Adrianne Palicki, the star of Agents Of SHIELD and The Orville (interviewed by, of all people, her brother!). They had lots of fun doing this panel, you could tell.

Star Wars novel writer Timothy Zahn, who hosted, “Inside The Mind Of Grand Admiral Thrawn”, a panel delving into the history of his greatest character contribution to the Star Wars universe. There he shared stories of creating Star Wars favorite animated and now live Imperial Grand Admiral. Starting off in Zahn’s three trilogy novel series, Thrawn went on to be featured in the animated, Star Wars: Rebels series and live in the form of Lars Mikkelsen in the Star Wars: Ahsoka series. The character is also slated to appear in the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu Disney movie, set to open in May of next year.

In addition to all this, there were some other convention staples that offer plenty of entertainment for all; a Kids Costume Parade, Dungeons and Dragons Tabletop Gaming, a HUGE Artist’s Alley, a fannish-oriented Comedy Hour, panels on Starting a Podcast, the Business of Cosplay as well as Weathering & Shading Techniques on Props and Costumes by well-known cosplayers. Basic Sewing for Beginner Cosplayers, Cosplay Over 30, all sorts of comic book panels behind the scenes, Marvel and Star Wars comic discussion panels and publishing and self-publishing in the industry.

As if this weren’t enough for a mere two days, they have something which has puzzled us but draws a big crowd — that of a large number of pro wrestling notables including Samoa Joe, Amy Dumas, Honky Tonk Man, Greg The Hammer Valentine and more. In fact, now that I look at the lineup of wrestling guests in retrospective, it now makes sense why among the number of famous cars that appeared in front of the convention center was included the infamous evil clown ice cream car from the video game Twisted Metal (due to guest Samoa Joe being there).

As a final note, my husband and I realized how greatly relaxing an experience this convention was while sitting at lunch outside the convention center amongst the food trucks Comic Con had brought in to feed the masses. There were no long lines for food, mostly reasonable prices for food truck fare, plenty of seating and pleasant, Southern California weather under the shade trees. We also had no panel conflicts amongst overpacked schedules, plenty of seating in each room and time enough in between to take care of food and bathroom needs. All of this and more is why we will be making Comic Con Revolution Ontario a regular, yearly event and in my case, one that ticks off all the boxes for the perfect substitute for the mega conventions that have overpriced and overstressed the average fan in Southern California for the past 20+ years.