Vegas: Zappos Fandom Friday 2016-03-25

On Friday, March 25th I was lucky enough to participate in Zappos Fandom Friday event! Zappos, for those not in the know, is an online retailer based in my quaint little home town of Las Vegas, Nevada. On top of being a successful company that ranks as one of the best in country to work for,  Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has taken a very active role in helping to revitalise downtown Las Vegas, leading the way in it's resurgence as a popular tourist & local hipster destination. And yes, if you read the Wired article I linked there, it's true; there is a giant praying mantis that shoot fire in Downtown Vegas, located in front of the Downtown Container Park. Thanks, Tony.

As a participating artist/vendor at the event, I got to hang out in their lobby area and partake in all the nerdy goodness afoot! There were many super talented artists, groovy vendors, cosplayers, banging DJs, and even some llamas. 

Yes, llamas.

Gosh they're cute! 

And really, it was a very cool event to attend. If I'm not mistaken, this was the first ever Fandom Friday thanks in no small part to Rogue Toys! Rogue Toys partnered with Zappos to get the gears rolling on this event and I'm so grateful they did. It's always great seeing new opportunities and events pop up for the artistic community in this city! And what a fun event this was; there were dancing storm troopers, amazing cosplay, fantastic original art, live performances by Decaying Tigers, arcades games free to play, food trucks, and fun and games for all involved!

I came out with some limited edition Batman Vs. Superman prints in honour of the new movie. Have you seen it? Antho and I had already watched it by the time I went to the event, but I made sure not to give away any spoilers...but I didn't really get much opportunity as almost everyone I asked about the movie admitted to being less than excited to see it...womp womp. 

Even so, I managed to sell a few of the prints. ^_^ I'm thinking of putting them up on Etsy, but I have a few Superhero events left here in town first so I'll see how they do. The nice thing about prints is once they're made you have them, so even if I didn't sell out of them at the event I'm glad to have gone! 

How often do you get to encounter random llamas or dancing Storm Troopers, after all?

This is going to be an image heavy post, so be forewarned ye of sluggish internet!!

Also, if you see yourself or anyone you know and want me to include their name or remove photos, please contact me ASAP and I'll be happy to oblige! 

Vegas: Las Vegas Valley Comic Book Fest 2015

Did you know that Vegas has the 2nd most video game stores per capita?

Atlanta beats us, but we also rank high up there in number of comic book stores, 2nd only to Seattle if my source was correct. Either way, we've got quite a robust and healthy nerd population!

Between the Consumer Electronic Show in spring and all the other conventions throughout the year, there's guaranteed to be something for everyone. While the Star Trek experience has sadly gone dark, there's still plenty of good geeky fun to be had.

Las Vegas Valley ComicBook Fest 2015 is one great example!

Once a year, on the first Saturday of November, Clark County library opens it's doors to the arts community and hosts the festival. All ages are welcome and the event is free to attend!  

This year I was posted up with Critical Care Comics, a brilliant non-profit organization that has Superheroes deliver comics to children in hospitals. It's always a great honor to work with them and I had a blast attending the event! They're so cool, in fact, that Kevin Smith gave them a shout out recently during his show in Vegas. Right on, good sir!