Rhode Island Comic Con (RICC) 2019

By Elder Geek Tiberius Stark

The Rhode Island Comic Con, also known as RICC, held its 1stevent back in 2012 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. The first event was two years in the making before it debuted. It was a big show in the smallest state drawing an attendance of roughly 16,000 people.

RICC website: https://www.ricomiccon.com/

Seven years later, RICC 2019 had its three-day event over this past weekend at the Rhode Island Convention Center and Dunkin’ Center in Downtown Providence, Rhode Island. RICC once again filled the both (connected) venues, spilled out onto the sidewalks and streets, and jammed every corner with wall-to-wall fandom, geekdom and pop culture sights, sounds and experiences. It was a great show, throbbing with life. It was like Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars, the tavern where people from many worlds, walks of life, and time periods collide – the green skin aliens and futuristic weapons, steel claws and robots, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, Goth and Middle-earth. It's every genre imaginable coming together and reforming into something completely new. It was chaos, but glorious as it embraced the freedom of imagination that I wish there was more of in everyday life.

For the serious fans to fully enjoy this event, you need to attend all three days, where you use Friday as your recon day to find out where things will be located so you can plan the best schedule for you to attend panels and events, meet celebrities and creators, play games, visit vendors, and cosplay with others.I highly recommend buying a VIP pass if you can afford it. The only way you will get into the Con an hour early is with VIP, this VIP pass gives you more time, allows you to beat the lines outside and miss the unpredictable New England weather. It also puts you at the front of line for autographs and photo ops (not all celebrities have VIP lines, but most do). The main reason I like the VIP pass, as a father of a family that loves going to Cons, it gives me 2 days for myself and a day with the family. This means Friday is recon, Saturday is panels, celebs and cosplay, and Sunday is family day.

Unfortunately, this year I was only able to attend 1-day on Sunday, but that one day was another wonderful experience at RICC. In this one day, we walked the entire venue, had photo ops and signings with several celebrities, meet and chatted with cosplayers, visited many vendors and met some friends. But with sadness, I didn’t get to attend any panels, nor did I get to cosplay myself – ☹.

That one Sunday brought many memorable moments.

In the Dunkin Center, we visited every vendor. So many cool things! Yes, we did get some cool stuff. Then we made our way into the RI Convention Center where we were first meet by the Ghostbusters where we registered to win some very awesome gifts. After we visited other cosplayer tables. I was able to meet up with the Rhodes Stay Puff and the Invisible Heroes of Tomorrow – they are a cosplay group that does a lot of charity work for kids. Checkout there Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/invisibleheroesoftomorrow/

After going by the cosplay tables, we made our way upstairs to meet some of the celebrities, artists and creators.

We met so many but here’s a few memorable moments for our family:

– Nichol Nichols, an actress, singer, and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting. Nichols is best known for playing communications officer Commander Nyota Uhura aboard the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek television series.

– George Takei, an actor, author, and activist who is best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the television series Star Trek.

– Bill Hargreaves, the amazing prop maker known for props in Star Wars

– Corbin Bernsen and Tom Berenger from the funny movie Major League

– Mark Dobson, the great voice actor of Star War’s Salacious Crumb and Niima Scavenger, as well as, the Gremlins

– Charles Andre Martinet, an actor and voice actor who is best known for voicing Mario in the Super Mario video game series

We completed the day by entering the main floor in the RI Convention Center, where there were tons of vendors, more celebrities, artists and creators, as well as a lot of people dressed up. The costumes this year were great and had a wide variety from anime, heroes and villains to movies and comics. Here are some of our notable costumes:

• Predator

• Batman

• The McFly family from Back to the Future

• The Riddler

• Mortal Combat

• Rhodes Stay Puff

• Star Trek Klingon, Martok

• Red Hood

• Venom

• Spider-Man

• Alvin and the Chipmonks

And many others…

So, if you’re new to the convention scene, I highly recommend RI Comic Con with the following words of advice:

• Wear comfortable shoes.

• Be prepared for sensory overload.

• Plan ahead before the event. Look at the schedule and figure out exactly what you must see.

• Be prepared to wait in lines. If it's a panel, get in line at least 30 minutes to an hour before it starts

• Bring snacks and water. Sometimes it's impossible to get to food if you're waiting in line or running from one place to the other.

• Bring a poster tube for pictures and autographs. If you’re collecting comics a comic book protector.

• MOST IMPORTANTLY, Enjoy yourself and make friends!! My experience at Cons over the years has become more fun because now I run into people I know. If there's something you are a huge fan of, hang around the booth a while and talk to people. Get cards. Give cards. Talk to people while you're waiting in line. It is a huge gathering of geeks if nothing else, and you can always find someone who shares your interests.

Thanks, RICC for another great convention! See you next year.