Rhode Island Comic Con took place on November 2 - 3, 2013 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in downtown Providence. Headlining guests included an all star line up of Power Rangers alumni (Catherine Sutherland, Jason David Frank, Barbara Goodson, David Yost, etc), the cast of Batman (Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, etc), Kobra Kai from The Karate Kid, the cast of Weekend at Bernies, Danny Glover, Vernon Wells, and more. Rhode Island Comic Con was greatly focused on nostalgia from the 80s and early 90s. The average convention goer was in their late 20s and early 30s. This was our first time at Rhode Island Comic Con; we only spent Saturday over there. However, there was much to see and do at the smallest state's largest pop culture event.

Rhode Island Comic Con 2013 Gallery

The convention center was four stories of nerdy nostalgia bombs from childhood. There were vehicles of things from our childhood; the delorean from Back the Future (complete with the Libyan terrorist van), two replicas of the ecto-one from Ghostbusters, the General Lee from Dukes of Hazard, and several replica pieces from the 1960s Batman series (including Bat Boat). Plenty of companies were giving away from swag - Dave and Busters and Gino's Pizza to name a few. You just had to show up early enough to grab free stuff.

The dealers hall was the main draw for Rhode Island Comic Con. It really takes a day to see everything. According to a few convention goers, the dealers hall doubled in size. It was nice that each part of the dealers hall had something different. I enjoyed going through the artist side - it was nice to buy prints from my favorite artists; Sarah Richard and Chrissie Zullo to name a few. I even liked the section that had booths that focused on the paranormal and strange. You could even get your fortune told by Psylocke.

Other parts of the dealers room also included New England's 501st squadron having a giant Rancor in the middle of the hall and a life size Jabba the Hutt. This would be Jabba's last tour in the con circuit. Jabba would be finding his new home with Steve Sansweet. You could also interact with e-famous cosplay models such as Destiny, Riddle, and Nicole Marie. Those were really big draws for twenty-something men. However, I also enjoyed going through celebrity alley. I was quite surprised Rhode Island Comic Con was able to get a hold of as many people from the original Power Rangers as they did. I got to meet David Yost in person. Additionally, I also got to talk to Vernon Wells about working with Eddie Garcia and Dina Bonavie. You could really get up close and personal with celebrities here. While Adam West and Jason David Frank got huge draws from the crowd, you could talk to someone like William Forsythe about Dick Tracy. If you are a celebrity chaser like me, this was the place to go!

We decided to go enter the cosplay contest on a whim. I was not quite sure what to expect since I was unfamiliar with the celebrity cosplayer judges' masquerade history (other than Riddle from Heroes of Cosplay). However, I felt a bit of relief when I knew that the craftsmanship judge was from Anime Boston. Comic Con cosplay contests are very different from anime con masquerade. Unlike doing a quick walk on or a masquerade act, the MC will ask you questions and you have to answer in character. Meaning, the MC can throw anything at you; judges look carefully how you present your answer.

We had about 60 cosplay contest entrants. I loved the variety of fandoms represented - DC and Marvel, Spawn, Disney, Soul Calibre, Game of Thrones, Dracula, Miyazaki, Transformers, and more. I liked how prizes were diversified according to the type of genre you were representing (ie: animation, comic, movie, etc). Prizes went out to The Hulk, Clayface, Bumble Bee, Ivy from Soul Calibre, Daenerys, Belle, Mina Murray, etc. It was a very quickly done contest - final judging was done in almost less than five minutes! However, I did have fun being on stage and talking to other contestants backstage.

Though I did feel kinda bad for nerd speed dating - the cosplay green room was sharing the same space! One of the critiquest for Rhode Island Comic Con is that it's very disorganized. In its fifth year, certainly there are some kinks to iron out. I respected that the cosplay organizers did that they could to work with what information they were given at the last minute. However, Rhode Island Comic Con is not the most disorganized event I've attended. I wish there was a printed schedule, but I did like the fact that the dealers hall made announcements when what panels were being run.

It was worth it to forge through crowds of Red Sox fans to take the commuter rail from Boston to Providence for a day trip. Our first Rhode Island Comic Con was a surprisingly delightful experience. If you're in the area, or close to it, I highly reccomend checking out Rhode Island Comic Con, particularly if there's a celebrity that you are dying to meet. Lines are not as long, and most prices for autographs and photo ops are fairly reasonable. Events and programming need to be advertised just a bit more and the website could use some work (it feels like it's straight from the 90s). However, I'm looking forward returning next year. In spite of the event's disorganization this shows a ton of promise.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody . If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Odalisque NF. Many thanks to Dream Host, Adobe Bridge, MS Photodraw, Picasa, and Dreamweaver for making this site design possible.