Philadelphia Comic Con 2014: Day 1

Faith D’Isa ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Marketing Officer
Friday was the first full day of Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con, and Emertainment was on the scene to get some of the first impressions of the con floor.
The con itself was fairly well organized; upon arrival early, there was already a healthy line of guests ready to see what the convention had to offer, waiting in line to gain access to the main hall.
Although traditionally, Friday is a slower day at conventions, Philadelphia had plenty to offer in the way of guests and dealer’s room, leaving attendees with plenty of promise for the next two days!
The show floor was filled with cosplayers of every fandom, age, size–you name it. From an entire pint sized cast of Star Wars, complete with Chewbacca, Darth Vader and Obi Wan, to heroes of the upcoming Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy, everyone was wearing their costumes proudly to show off to the crowds.
Crowds who certainly were not limited to other attendees–the entertainment guests were out and about, taking advantage of the smaller crowd that came with Friday attendance. Curtis Armstrong (Revenge of the Nerds) and Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) were among guests spotted walking around the show floor. Gillan and Doctor Who co-star Matt Smith were not scheduled to attend the convention today, but it seems as a result of popular demand, Smith and Gillan signed autographs right next to local Doctor Who cosplayer Brian A. Terranova’s life-sized TARDIS and did some VIP photo ops, chatting with fans.
And they weren’t the only ones–James Marsters, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame had his panel and did some autographing Friday. Marsters had a bucket of candy he handed out to each guest to come up to his table, and even took some time afterwards to sit down and chat with a couple of Buffy fans cosplaying in Double Meat Palace uniforms. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer spoilers ahead!) Marsters took a couple minutes to tell them about when he discovered in the script that his character, Spike, hooked up with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s titular Buffy, and was absolutely confused as to the reasoning. Marsters said he sees Sarah as his little sister, making it an odd pair in his eyes. However, he continued to tell the story about how, seeing her in the uniforms that the fans were cosplaying made her seem so determined; “And that was the moment I fell in love with Buffy–not Sarah, Buffy.”
Tomorrow has plenty of promise; Matt Smith and Karen Gillan of Doctor Who have a dual Q&A panel in the morning, and Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan have a panel regarding their involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Emertainment will be on hand to bring you any news and info we get, straight from the source!