Con Review - Steel City Con

Hello Peoples!!

So here I am writing my first convention review and since I'm better with my park reviews that's how I'm going to write this.

Disclaimer: I went on my own, I was not invited by the Con.  Heck, I didn't even contact the convention since it's pretty cheap to get in.

Date Visited: April 12, 2014

Review Team: Just me :)

Support Team: My older sister Amy and her husband, John

Location: Monroeville Convention Center

Prices: $15 for a Single Day Pass
             $30 for a Three Day Pass
             $25 for a Three Day Advance/Online

I had never been to this convention but, of course, living in the Steel City I had heard of it before but since they've never had any guests I've been interested in I never went.  (Except last year when they got Karen Allen of Indiana Jones but they held it the same weekend as Tekko and I was not leaving Tekko).  This year though Nicholas Brendon was attending and as a BTVS fan I had to go.

So this year the guest list was quite impressive: Lee Majors, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Nicholas Brendon, Cindy Williams, and more.

So onto my review of Steel City:

• We arrived at around noon and we hit our first issue: no good signage to say where parking is for the con.  We ended up having to park under the old Expo Mart and had to cross a really busy street leading into the Mall (Not safe people!!).
• Once we finally made it, safely, to the convention center we got stuck in a line that was circling the building.  We had to wait about 45 minutes because "we weren't expecting this many people" according to the line staff.  There were two lines coming from both ends of the building and it was slow going.  Only once attendees reached super close to the door did the lines divide into Cash Only and All Forms.  Now, I can't and won't blame the staff for the slow connection when running credit cards, there is no service in the convention center at all, I will advise everyone to BRING CASH.  Just make your life easier.
• So we when finally entered, much to my sister's happiness (she really hates waiting, lol) you start in the dealer's room.  There is so much to see here and it's set up wonderfully too.  A midway straight up the center with tables on both sides and then each aisle had tables on both sides so no matter where you turned there was stuff to look over and possibly buy.
• Now since I was only there for one purpose, Nicholas Brendon, I headed straight for the Artist's Alley/Celebrity Guest room leaving my sister and brother-in-law to fend for themselves.
• Now onto my biggest grip/complaint for the whole day: the Celebrity Guests weren't set up in the best of ways.  There were two entrances to this area but good luck using the one since it was clogged with Trekkies waiting for Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner.  You couldn't even get to the artist's tables beside the line.  So the set up started on stage left with Lee Majors, followed by Star Trek, the two other tables (one of them was The Walking Dead gentleman), followed by Nicholas Brendon, then the two Star Wars guests, and the others in no particular order.
• This would've benefitted so much had Frakes and Spiner been at opposite ends of the room.  Everyone was so focused on only stage left that stage right got completely forgotten, I felt really bad for those guests.
• So also in Artist's Alley was the original Batmobile from the TV show and the Delorean from Back to the Future.  This made for a really cramped space and it seems, in my opinion that the Artists suffered.  Small aisles and too many people made it very hard to give each table their due.
• So I waited about 20 minutes for Nicholas, since he was off doing official photos when I stood in line.  I swear I probably freaked out his people since I'm really good at zoning out with my eyes opened.  So, he was really great because he signed all six of my Buffy DVDs (the ones with his picture) and I got a free hug!

 My 2 biggest complaints

• No pictures allowed at all.  Seriously, I couldn't even take a photo of the Dealer's Room.  The security people came up and asked me to stop, which is why I don't have any photos to share with yinz.  I can understand not taking pictures of the guests and the cars but I think no photos at all is silly.
• Everything was Cash Only.  All the Dealers, Artists, and Guests had no way to take debit/credit cards.  Now since I'm an avid con goer I always bring cash, but with Square and other such apps more and more attendees don't.  So, I hope that at future cons more sellers will start to use Square or have some way to take cards.

So overall we really enjoyed the Con and what it had to offer but unless there is a celebrity that I really really want to meet I probably won't attend again.  The vintage toys are great if that's what you're into from the Dealers and too many of the Artists focused on Star Wars and Star Trek for my taste.

So I'd say that if you get the chance to go then do so especially if there's someone you want to meet (but remember that the Celebrities do charge for signatures!!) and enjoy the quaintness of an actually comic convention.  But remember your CASH, lol.

So as always: any comments made are to be polite and without malice.  If you're nice to us then we'll be nice to you.
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