Starcom 2015
Summer has started so it’s time to visit conventions! Starcom was held in the International Convention Center in Ghent, Belgium. It was the first time this event was organised and it looked very promising. The focus was simple: Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Comics. Let’s find out how the first edition went!
Starting from the beginning, of course we had to wait in line for a bit to get on to the convention floor. People in line were friendly and you could see quite some cosplayers showing off their costumes, as well as a saxophone player playing some of the most iconic music from movies and games. However, an extra cashier station would have helped to make entry quicker and more fluid, this will definitely be important in upcoming years if more people decide to attend the event.
When we made it inside after about 30 minutes, people were being greeted by some excellent Star Wars cosplayers and some impressive Star Wars Lego’s to immediately set the Sci-Fi atmosphere. The convention spanned 2 floors, one on the main floor and the one above, which was easy to access with an escalator or you could use the giant ramp to get up. Apparently, there was talk that paperback Starcom gazettes would be available, either they were gone really quickly or there weren’t any at all, which made it quite hard to know when and where the events took place.
Starcom was separated by a couple of little categories. On the ground floor you had the Comics Relief and Toy Heaven, on the first floor there was the Japan Corner and Fanvillage. On the ground floor you could also get a free hipster haircut, sign up for the cosplay competition, get a variety of drinks including Belgian Trappist, take a look at the DeLorean from Back To The Future or even check out the local pirated radio station and some other stuff as well.
When you got to the first floor, you were greeted by a nice bar which also served sandwiches and some cocktail tables to enjoy your drink. For warm food, you could go to the fastfood trucks outside, which apparently had delicious food. Besides the food, there was also an awesome lounge with a fairly good view. There was also the opportunity to play some board or card games that were displayed or you could watch a veteran paint his miniatures. Also on the first floor was a gaming zone, where you could play games from the past 35 years.
As far as shops went, there was a nice variety of products at a reasonable price. As the categories suggest, you could buy comics, toys, Sci-Fi articles and much more. The shops were decently spaced and you weren’t overwhelmed by them. It was easy to navigate and pleasant to walk by as you didn’t have to push people just to pass them, which probably had to do with the fact that there weren’t an overwhelmingly amount of people, which can be a real turnoff at events like these.
When it came to events, there weren’t a whole lot of them, but they were there nonetheless. There was of course the cosplay contest, some live acts, live radio and the Pikachu competition! At a random time, people at the convention center would announce that the golden Pikachu hunt was on. In order to win this contest, you had to enter the park surrounding the convention center and find a golden Pikachu. There were 3 Pikachu’s hidden and the prizes were vouchers of 100, 50 and 20 euro respectively for first, second and third place. You could use this voucher at 1 dealer of choice. Other events included a superhero burlesque, but apparently this was in another location and without the gazettes you couldn’t really know where it was. It would have also been nice if the cosplay contest was expanded a bit with a real show and maybe a catwalk where cosplayers could show off their costumes, but that would have made the convention kind of cramped.
Conclusion
All in all, Starcom 2015 was a successful first edition. Sometimes, an event doesn’t have to be huge to be enjoyable, and Starcom succeeded at that. It wasn’t too busy so you had plenty of time and space to roam the convention floors and have a nice drink alongside it. However for next year, it would be better to give people a heads up that some events also take place outside the main convention building. Having more and expanded events will definitely help as well, since it was pretty hard to fill the whole day with the current events.
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