Latest / Project Geekology / Florida SuperCon 2026 Press Pass Recap And What Fell Flat

Transcript

Florida SuperCon 2026 Press Pass Recap And What Fell Flat · Project Geekology

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another mini episode of Project Geekology.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I am one of the hosts, Anthony, and this week it is gonna be just me.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then also a little bit of an update.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a bit of a schedule shift with our episodes.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So honestly, the episode that you are getting this week is the most recently recorded episode.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have a couple episodes out there in limbo that need to be edited, and we will get those out to you.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, as of recording, Dakota and his wife, Jen, they are now celebrating the birth of their son.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So congratulations to them.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am extremely happy for them and I wish nothing but the best.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So they will not be around for probably anywhere from two to three weeks, maybe a month.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Dakota will most likely come back before Jen.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know that they are getting acclimated and they have a child, so now their things in their life are gonna be changing.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: They will always be in our minds.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: But with that being said, the next couple episodes that do come out, you will be hearing them because they are episodes that were recorded previous to this episode.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit of a just kind of catching you up.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Those episodes are gonna have things that were weeks ago.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be discussing things that happened in our lives weeks ago.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you hear anything that seems to be a little bit old, that's why.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And with that being said, I want to get to the main meat of what this episode is about.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not gonna talk about what I've been up to because that's what this episode is about.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Florida SuperCon 2026.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: In one of the previous episodes that we were recorded, I said that I got press passes to Florida SuperCon.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for you listeners.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it wouldn't be possible without the existence of you all.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for that.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm using this mini episode as a bit of a buffer until we can get those other episodes edited and released out to you all.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, Florida SuperCon.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: This year, you know, before I dive into any gripes, I will always say, look, Florida SuperCon is always gonna have a place in my heart.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've been going to this convention for many, many years.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've gone, I would say within the past 10 years, 10, 11 years, I have maybe missed two Florida Supercons.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: One due to family stuff, and the other I think was COVID.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that they even had one that year.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I think I'm pretty sure that every other year I have gone.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: This year, unfortunately, I was only able to go two of the days.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to go on Friday, couldn't get that time off.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I still got two action-packed days.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to at least go on Saturday and Sunday.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, those days are always jam-packed.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so Florida Supercon.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know I keep saying that.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Florida Supercon, I've I've talked about it before.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've really dived deep too much into it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've spoken about it in the year in the past years, but and I've done many episodes covering my time there, but Florida Supercon is the largest South Florida convention.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the quote unquote San Diego Comic-Con, the New York Comic-Con of South Florida, but not nowhere near that scale, though.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nowhere near that scale.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I would say it's probably it's not a small convention, it's a big convention, but nowhere near the even even megacon in in Orlando's a lot bigger.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But still, you know, it's it's important for us in South Florida.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a lot of nerdy people down here.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in an age that were it seems like we had Otaku Fest.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I remember I would talk about going to Otaku Fest.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Otaku Fest now has moved up a couple hours north.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I had Animate that I went to last year that didn't come back this year.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So really, Florida Supercon is the only major convention that is down here.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a couple smaller ones that are sprinkled in here and there that I've gone to before in the past that you know just kind of startups.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So there's not really, you know, much traction going on with some of those.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: The thing with Florida Supercon, they're owned by Reed Pop.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna say, and I'm just not gonna say Florida Supercon anymore.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna say Supercon.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I just keep on saying that.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, so Supercon is owned by Readpop.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Readpop owns New York Comic-Con.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been to New York Comic-Con and I've seen how large New York Comic-Con is.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that same energy is not, it just doesn't translate over to Supercon.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like the guy who it's still, it's almost like the guy who owned it before still owns it, but a bit of the heart has gone away, which kind of upsets me a little bit.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because some years I feel like they they go really out, they go all out.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like they do their best to get it, to get good guests in.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I remember a couple years back, they had all a critical role.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: They had several uh Baldur's Gate voice actors and actresses.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: They I think just about the entire, you know, main cast of the core group in Baldur's Gate, give or take, maybe a couple that you know that were there or not.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: But that year, I was like, oh my gosh, like I really felt like it was on the up and up.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then last year was fun, but didn't really feel too memorable.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: This year felt a little bit of a step down, too.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yes, we had Hayden Christensen and we had Rosario Dawson at Charlie Cox.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't see any of them.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Don't know where they were.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think they were might have been.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you that have gone to conventions, and when it comes to like major stars that are not on Celebrity Row, where do they hide them?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Do they tuck them into like an enclosed area that you can't see them unless you're like paying to take a picture or get a uh photograph with them?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I know they were there somewhere.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: The defenders were there.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: What was it?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Michael Coulter, Kristen Ritter, Finn Jones, and obviously Charlie Cox was there.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: There was a panel with three of them, uh Michael Coulter, Finn Jones, and Kristen Ritter.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was pretty cool.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: There was a was it Bam Margera was there from Viva La Bam, Jackass, got to meet him.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: I met Deborah Ann Wall, who was in Daredevil, and you know, pretty much there she was like mixed in with all of those Netflix Marvel shows.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it was Rosario Dawson, she was in there too.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that I mean, so there was that mix, and then you had Rosario Dawson, who's now in Star Wars, mixed in with uh Hayden Christensen, so that's pretty cool.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I really do feel like, and I don't think it's not them that that they're not trying to bring in uh voice talent, although I do feel like they've done a little bit of a better job in the past, and I I do think that their artist alley is pretty cool, but I don't know the utilization of the space wasn't the greatest.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I really felt like there wasn't as many like vendors.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like in the past that there were so many vendors that I felt like I was, you know, like you you're you're just kind of like, you know, where do I go?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Where do I go?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's just so much to see, which there's still kind of there still is a bit of that, don't get me wrong.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot, you know, there's still a lot of people, there's still a bit of vendors, but I do I feel like I'm starting to see less and less over the years.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um Artist Alley, like I said, I feel like it's grown a good bit, which I'm glad for, but I don't know if it's people getting priced out, you know.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have a buddy who owns a local store uh called Otaku Comics and Games.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was able to get a booth.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh I knew a couple of artists that were able to get there, and you know, those booths aren't cheap.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think in like Otaku Fest, their their tables were sub-1,000.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the smaller ones were you know sub-1,000.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would expect you going 1500 plus once you start getting to places like you know, New York Comic-Con, maybe Planet City Comic-Con in Kansas City, which oof, that's that's one that I haven't got in many years.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just wondering if these vendors are getting priced out, and that's why we're seeing less.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: The was it Flynn's Arcade was there, and they usually have this amazing elaborate setup in one of the halls upstairs where you know it's a bunch of uh they have a bunch of consoles, they have a bunch of gaming pieces set up there, and then there's an area where there's board games and stuff.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Flint's Arcade setup was on the first floor, on the main show floor, and in an area called uh the side quest.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think essentially once the main show floor closed, I think that area was closed off too, but the flint the gaming uh area setup was so lackluster.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what happened?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I that gaming area is like one of my favorite areas to go to.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: When I've been walking on the show floor all day, and I want to sit down and just relax for a little bit, I always go to that game area because one, it's nice and cool up there.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Two, it's usually a little dark, so you can go there to play to game.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And three, you know, like it's just you get to to gather your thoughts, play some games anywhere from retro to current-day consoles to PCs.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: But no, not this year.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: They had some consoles here and there, uh, some cabinet games, some gotcha, gotcha pa machines, and that was it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know if that if they're if that was on Flynn's arcade or if that was just what they could swing this year, but I just felt a little upset about that.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was really, really surprised that their main stage was in the main hall area, was in the main the exhibition floor.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So while so you had panels like the defenders, and you're trying to hear what they're saying, and you have all the traffic and everything else that's happening at the convention, all that that noise pollution that is pretty much in you know hitting you in that area.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: So you I I don't know what that decision was.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why they decided to make the main stage there.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's panels in other areas, but I don't know why.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: There they have three main ballrooms.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Two of them were taken up by areas that definitely didn't need that much space.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: For some reason, like the Flint's arcade didn't get that space, but some medieval area that really was not utilizing that space well at all.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: There was so much open space, didn't make sense.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, like I said, and then the panels, I felt like there was not really that many panels.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what happened.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was looking around, I like, I I did find, I mean, there were some panels, like I said, there was a Daredevil panel, there was a Defenders panel, there was a was it like BAM, you know, there were some panels there, but for from what I know, and and I even looked like in the main stage, I didn't I don't think that there was a Star Wars panel.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hayden, pretty sure he didn't have a panel.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Rosario Dawson, don't think she was she had a panel.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have to go back, but I remember, if I remember correctly, looking at some of these schedules, and I that surprised me.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: That genuinely surprised me because, like, in the years past, like, Critical Role when they were there, they had a panel that was massive.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Baldur's Gate, they had a panel.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know what happened this year.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I genuinely don't know what happened.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was almost like they did everything last minute.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know that there were there were and there were a couple celebrities that that dropped out.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know that um Kingpin, I think Vincent was supposed to be there.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: The voice actress of Kim Possible.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I think her last name is like Romano.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like she was supposed to be there if I remember correctly, and she ended up having to drop out.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if that was you know for personal reasons or if it had anything to do with the actual convention itself, but you know, it kind of sucked.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, I really do feel like this year wasn't the best.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I really I'm not too sure about what you know what what it is, but I really do feel like read pop, if they really just kind of inject a little bit more money and inject a little bit more life.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of us here in South Florida that, you know, there's a lot of us nerds.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we love going to SuperCon, but we definitely, there's, you know, I've gone online, I've seen on Reddit and you know, posts on social media that of people disappointed.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't want to be disappointed, especially with the fact that, you know, we're in a in an area where we don't really have many opportunities for conventions or many options for conventions, you know?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And especially where it seems like, you know, some came to test it out, decided not to come back.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the one and another one of our major ones that were down here, as I mentioned before, a Taekwest grew out of there, out of the Miami Airport Convention Center that was there before and was still too small for the Miami Beach Convention Center.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So they ended up having to leave.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we want to go to SuperCon.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it's hard to justify over a hundred dollars for a ticket for a convention that felt like it should have been maybe 70 for the weekend.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know things are getting expensive, but I really don't believe that is an excuse for not putting, you know, putting in those resources.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, it doesn't even have to be celebrities.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: I remember one year there was some sort of he they had some sort of collaboration with Crunchyroll, I think a couple of years ago.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that might have been the same year that they had critical role.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what they did, but that year, that critical role year, that year was bumping.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was 2024.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: That year was bumping because like the traffic was insane.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was so insane that I missed the critical role panel that I had I had to go back and watch online.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said, I don't want to hound on it.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: There are some redeeming factors of it.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's always amazing people there.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: I always meet amazing people there.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people that are trying to make it as artists.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are that created something and they're trying to sell it.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or taking an idea and selling it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff like that I respect.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And people go to spaces like SuperCon and other conventions to really strike out on their own.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate that spaces like SuperCon kind of encourage that.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you know, you you're paying for a table fee, but generally, you know, space is limited in in these conventions.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people, I'm pretty sure quite a bit of people apply to to go to these conventions.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people who go to ones like Otaku Fest, and they have to apply months ahead and wait to hear back.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I do appreciate that this space or Supercon does exist for these people to pretty much put their hearts out there, you know, put their dreams out there.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, and I'll always say this forever, the Miami Beach Convention Center, once you're there, is beautiful.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: But getting there sucks.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know that Miami Beach and South Beach and all that stuff to tourists is some amazing place.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: But when you are somebody who actually lives here, it's not amazing.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, unless you that's you what your life is about.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: You like to go to the beach, you like to party and all that stuff.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a lot of us that one, we either don't have the time to do, or two, we just don't care to do it.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm I exist in both.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't have the time to do all that, and I just don't have the desire to do it, which is probably a little bit more of the second one.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to end this episode with I did have a good time, don't get me wrong.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I had fun.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: I got to see friends, I bumped into people that I didn't expect to bump into, which is what made it fun.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was a little sad because I had friends that usually go every year that didn't go because the tickets were too expensive and they just really couldn't justify the price, which I don't blame them.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll just leave it at this.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Next year, when I go to apply for the press pass for 2027, and if the person who is giving out the press passes, if they listen to this, please, let's try to let's try to inject the heart back into Supercon.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to what made it amazing.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, the industry and this the celebrities, that's cool.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: But the community and the people and the vendors and all that stuff, it just it felt flat this year, and I just hope that it's better next time.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry to end this on a sombre note, but thank you for listening to this mini episode of Project Geekology.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to the show notes for all of our socials, and please, please, and you know, I gotta I gotta do this because Dakota and Rich will probably hear this.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Please leave us a nice and juicy five-star review.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: This weekend I had this margarita at the convention.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Very nice and cool and juicy.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Had a lot of alcohol in it, very strong.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Couldn't finish it.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, let it be that juicy.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let that review be that juicy.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good week.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Bye y'all.