Tidewater Comicon: Review & Highlights

On Saturday morning I anxiously squirmed in the passenger seat as we headed toward the Virginia Beach Convention Center. From the photos and video Tidewater Comicon posted, I knew this was going to be the biggest show I'd ever done. When I first stepped into that huge room- YEP. I WAS RIGHT! The Dealer's/Artist Alley hall stretched on for forever! Load in was extremely easy. We drove up to a gate with a guard, she checked my name off a list, and then she directed us where to park. Easy peasy! Attaining badges/wrist bands was just as easy! Before I knew it, we were setting up my booth(^-^)

The Layout

It honestly was very strange to me that the dealers and artists were together. The setup was such that the artists were in the center of the hall surrounded by dealers. Being on the outskirts of the Artist Alley setup, people constantly thought my items were mass produced! I thought it was obvious that my designs are original and handmade, but when I told people that I had made everything their eyes got huge and they usually exclaimed, "Really?! Wow!!" It also seemed like most people didn't realize that the center of the room was full of artists, since there were no signs anywhere to differentiate between the dealer's section and artist alley. I think it would make a lot more sense to have the dealers on one side of the room and the Artist Alley on the other side of the room.The good thing is the aisles were very large, so even though TWCC had a large attendance it never felt too crowded. The venue itself is beautiful and nicely designed. The ventilation system worked perfectly, and it had a comfortable room temperature. There were ample amounts of restrooms and friendly staff.

Highlights

• While I was setting up on Saturday morning, Chloe Dykstra and Sam Witwer walked by and she stopped and said how cute my Merdogs are. I also got to say good morning to them...And yes, I am probably a nerd for being excited about that lol!
• The amount of people who said they would come back after they'd walked around the whole hall and Actually Did Come Back AND purchased something!! That is so cool!
• The amount of people who told me my booth was their absolute favorite(*-*) (Now I'm getting emotional lol)
• When someone would spot one of my original plushies for the first time and their whole face lit up! They also sometimes made strange squeaking noises haha Totally made my day Every time!!
• Meeting so many cool, talented people. There were several that I've been in contact with online and this is the first time we finally met in person!
• Seeing so many familiar faces who were actually searching for my booth, because they wanted to come visit me and support my work(^-^) (Getting emotional again haha)
• Having a man walk up on Sunday to tell us that he had purchased one of my plush the day before for his daughter, and she wouldn't let it go for the rest of the day/night!
• Having a soon-to-be father tell me that one of my plush will be his new baby's very first toy! T.T
• Tidewater Comicon was the most successful show I have ever done in my five years of doing shows!!!

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Post-Con Plans

My plans for this week are to add some brand new items to the shop, including Leaf Kid, my new clear acrylic Merpug and Mercorgi charms, and some super adorable chibi hero magnets!I'm also extremely excited to announce that my Merpug prototype arrived today!!! I will soon be releasing the Merpug Plush Kickstarter launch date. I can't even describe to you how many different emotions I have right now! I'm just so happy(^-^)