Connecticon Rocked us Again

Okay so I spent three solid days in Hartford two weeks ago, and they were amazing. I took Lauryn—our youngest reporter and my younger sister—with me for her second con ever, and we both had an amazing time. We posted our pre-con schedule before heading out for the weekend, and it was chock-full of great events that had us totally pumped. The convention halls did not let us down.

The first thing I noticed that has changed since the last CTcon is that is has grown exponentially. Two years ago almost all the events were contained in the convention center. This time around they took place not only in the convention center, but spread out over the hotel ballrooms and halls, as well as throughout Hartford itself. There were even con-sanctioned pub crawls on all three nights.

Something that continues to strike me as remarkable about CTcon is the way that it magically blends the grassroots feel of a tiny con with the star power and professionalism of a huge show. This year was the same; if anything about the balance has changed it is even more remarkable for attracting bigger stars and somehow retaining that backyard barbeque feel.

Connecticon is the Multi-fandom con for the ages. This year’s special guests spanned video games, television, and film. Webcomic artists, writers, and voice actors drew crowds from all over. The cosplay competition filled up the main ballroom, and a League of Legends tournament lasted for several days. CTcon was and continues to be a little slice of nerd heaven.
Over the course of the three days, we attended press junkets and Q+As, panels and special events. There was very little time to rest, and even if there had been we were so excited that we fairly hopped from room to room, only stopping to take photos of the amazing cosplayers that filled the spaces like bees in a hive.

Some of the best things we learned at CTCon:

Ellen McLain and John Patrick Shanley met on a touring production of Showboat, where Ellen was acting and John was in the orchestra. The first time they met Ellen asked for assistance playing the guitar by asking John, “Have they told you how pitiful I am?” Ellen got into voice acting when John insisted she send out a reel. Her major objection was that they didn’t need women.

Tim Buckley is rebooting his Ethan/Lucas/Lilah storyline in the next few months. When asked where he got the title for his webcomic, he told his audience “I stole it from Bill Gates.”

If they could make any episode of Invader Zim, Richard Horvitz and Rikki Simons would create a musical episode. Richard suggested “Les MisZIMrables, and sampled some ideas he had for original themed songs at the Invader Zim panel.

Walter Jones is not Wayne Brady. He is still immensely proud of his work on the Power Rangers, and he learned to jump by playing a game he calls “let’s jump over each other” when he was a kid. He also took the idea of being a role model for kids to heart, and he is very upset that we are all taller than him. Last but certainly not least, he’s down to dance battle anyone that challenges him and salsa is his shit.

Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarch are adorable together and really miss working on Pinky and the Brain. When asked about the orientation of Pinky, Rob Paulsen said “I don’t like thinking of myself as gay so much as ‘ecstatic’. REALLY gay.” Rob can still perform the entire ‘Nations of the World’ song.

Janet Varney loves her castmates and sometimes has them call her cell when she is doing a panel. She’s a huge fan of Korra, and an adorable nerd about her show.

Noah Hathaway recommends that if you want to learn about life, you should travel. He also says an important part of life is “You just have to not wanna be a piece of shit.” He revealed that on the set of Battlestar Galactica the computers had games on them, like the guy playing Galaga on the bridge of the helicarrier in The Avengers.

Jennifer Hale is trash at video games.

Keep an eye out for more photos, especially the cosplay gallery, and videos on our facebook and youtube!

Jen Schiller
Staff Writer
@jenisaur