My Day at Comic Con Finland 2024 — Gaming Edition!

I recently had the opportunity to check out the very first Comic Con in Finland! While the majority of the event was reserved for both the comic book and movie scene, there was still a noticeable gaming presence to be found! The convention was, after all, powered by the 15th anniversary of Angry Birds! Check out the companion article in our Moving Pictures category for more on my experiences with the former. Otherwise, join me in my first-ever Comic Con experience.

What grabbed my attention the minute I walked into the grand hall of the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre were swords. Swords for days. I’m not sure if this is a common thing for Comic Con, but the display and selling of any kind of edged weapon is a bit of a nono, with even wooden replicas being a bit of a grey area — foam swords are fine, and they had them too! But here I was, in the middle of a veritable wall of armaments from anime, literature, and games! Being the gaming glutton that I am, I even recognised a fair few and was tempted to add some to my wall… but the idea of lugging one around all day made the decision for me. In addition to pointy implements of slashing, videogames were a prominent fixture both in terms of merch being sold, ranging from T-shirts to fanart and other collectables, and in the outfits the convention-goers were wearing!

While I cannot share all the lovely images I got during the con, I did meet, chat with, and appreciate the many cosplayers roaming the halls. While there were the occasional Wolverine, Deadpool, Snufkin, Deadpool, Spider-Man, Time the Enchanter, and Deadpool, the vast majority of the cosplayers that I saw represented their favourite gaming characters. HELLDIVERS had a respectable amount of divers securing the area, Elden Ring had a fantastic Ranni, complete with four arms, but Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail were the clear winners if this were a competition! This is no surprise, as both games offer a plethora of characters with unique styles to fit most tastes, but the overwhelming amount in both merch and cosplayers was commendable!

In terms of actual booths, Nintendo was miles ahead of the competition: comprising of a fairly large section of the venue, Mario and the many games attributed to him were in full swing, with families playing Mario Kart, some exploring Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, while others tested out the new Princess Peach: Showtime! In addition to gaming fun, the Nintendo section offered fun photoshoot options with a warp pipe pedestal and a cameo from the Mario Bros. themselves! The only other major gaming area seemed to be reserved for playing HELLDIVERS 2, though the few computers allocated were understandably full, so I never got a chance to check out what the game actually was, which wasn’t helped by the lack of signage. There was an impressively sized screen showing the vastness of space and what I assume are the ships the Helldivers pilot, but I cannot be sure.

Among the booths and stalls vying for attention, the only gaming-related developer I could spot was a largeish area reserved for a company called Metacore; while that was cool, I honestly gravitated to it because they had seats, and my feet were killing me! With my aching feet now temporarily relieved of pain, I got to chatting with the representatives there! Metacore is a Finnish mobile game developer with one released game under their belt, Merge Mansion. I won’t get into the game itself here (though be on the lookout for a short article on that as well), but it’s a fun enough distraction to keep you busy while, say, waiting around for an autograph.

One of the most impressive things about Comic Con was the caliber of guests lined up for both panels and autograph signings, such as Kit Harrington, Misha Collins, and Natalia Tena. However, movies and television weren’t the only media with stars on stage, as both the voice actresses for Tracer (Cara Theobold) and Mercy (Lucie Pohl) were on the scene! Both women were absolutely lovely in the way they interacted with the fans, radiating good cheer and humour. Along with these amazing voices, another media titan was on the stage, as Nolan North himself made an appearance!

Nolan, or Uncle Noly as some know him, is one of my favourite voice actors and there was a time when you were hard-pressed to find a game without him in some role. Still looking as young as ever and having not lost his casual charm, it was a pleasure meeting the man live. Being the rouge he is, he also tried in vain to compel the overly lawful Finns to go ahead with the autograph signings while we waited to have our tickets scanned.

Comic Con 2024 was a fun experience, though the crowds were enough to drive me stir-crazy! Gaming isn’t the focus of the event as such, so the fewer shows dedicated to it is understandable, but I was happy with what I saw and had a blast seeing the voices behind some of the more iconic characters interact with us awkward Finns. While I may reconsider going on the busiest day next time, I’m definitely keeping an eye on how this industry titan finds its footing in the land of a thousand lakes.