A Day At Comic Con Finland 2024

I woke up last week (at the time of writing) to a message from my friend asking if I’d be going to Comic Con since it’s pretty close to my house, which in turn raised more questions than my sleep-addled brain could handle. The loudest of this shouty bunch was, “THERE’S A COMIC CON?!”, which was the starting pistol for me to try and get myself into this, the historical moment of Comic Con touching down in my home country for the very first time! A few days later, I found myself in line bright and early, waiting to see what this almost mythical convention had in store for me.

I started my day by buzzing about the stalls in the main area, which was full to the brim with all kinds of merchandise spanning the nerdy spectrum, from comic books to anime! There were t-shirts, pocket watches, replica swords, mystery boxes (my one weakness!), and even on-site tattooing, of all things. If it were up to me, I’d have spent the entire day emptying my meagre savings to buy all the statues, swords, and retro games I could carry, but I was here on a mission: what new and interesting things could I find? This line of questioning first took me to the artist alley, which had even more lovely artists and pieces on sale, such as a friendly ocarina seller with whom I travelled to the venue — talk about a small world. My eventual meandering did, however, lead me to the first of the day's big events: a Q&A with Natalia Tena!

As I’ve never watched Game of Thrones, Natalia Tena will always be Nymphadora Tonks to me, and it felt somewhat surreal to see her live. However, she seemed to have changed little with the years, still as energetic and happy as ever and eager to answer the fans’ many questions. While this was going on, I had a look at the other guests Comic Con had up their sleeves and almost fell out of my seat: Misha Collins, of Supernatural fame; the legendary Donald Duck artist Don Rosa; comic book artist Phil Noto, and even the Bastard of Winterfell himself, Kit Harrington; among others! While I would regrettably miss some of these great sessions, I was pleasantly surprised by both the “level” of guests, as well as how they represented the different forms of media we nerds like.

While waiting for the next big event to start, I meandered around the venue trying to find something cool to buy, some amazing cosplay to see, or generally something to drink; the amount of people at the event made an otherwise cool day seem like the height of summer! During this meandering, I saw a few upcoming films that were being advertised as well! The new Garfield movie had some presence, with a “spin to win” challenge for hopefuls, as well as a giant Garfield roaming the halls, seeking both lasagna and anyone to selfie with. He regrettably evaded my attempts to snag a picture. Another very fun activity was a Lightsabre workshop, where padawan were taught the basics of the weapon’s use in combat, with many a youngling having the time of their life!

The two movie promotions I was most impressed with were Joker: Folie à Deux and
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, with the former taking me an embarrassingly long time to recognise! Imagine walking into a big venue and seeing, like, a big flight of stairs leading to a small stage. I, having not seen the famous dancing scene in Joker, logged this as a general photoshoot area or just an area to rest tired feet. Only on my last pass next to the area did I notice the subtle nods to the movie and the Joker’s name plastered on the stage itself! My favourite, however, was for Furiosa, as the promotion was in two parts. First of all, they had a huge wall displaying the movie and some key scenes, accompanied by another spin-to-win challenge with some fun prizes. The second, and most appreciated part, was an honest-to-goodness make-up station to help cosplayers! This practical, fun, and visibly catching display had even me, a known indifferent to the series, wanting to see the movie out of appreciation.

Though the crowds were suffocating, the venue loud, and the drinks pricey, I think the first Comic Con in Finland was a success! There is a lot to learn about the location, foot traffic flow, and ingress, but otherwise, the guests were solid, everyone was very helpful, and both the stalls and guests were great! I hope to see the event make a return to us again next year!