Con-Man: ScareLA

It was a late night out seeing Fantastic Four so Sunday was a bit of relaxing before we headed to Pasadena for ScareLA, the convention for horror and Halloween. The convention center is in a great location with plenty of parking and a few restaurants nearby. It's just very quaint and clean then there was a giant pumpkin outside waiting to greet/eat you. Walking onto the exhibition floor you immediately realize that this ain't a comic-con. There's smoke, fake blood and skulls everywhere, on everything. But like a con, plenty of creative and imaginative folks were displaying their wares. Many booths focused on do it yourself make up and were holding demos showing you how to apply prosthetic facial features, wounds and the like. Several peeps in zombie cosplay complete with lumbering body movement, boils, dead eyes and clothes torn to shreds. I couldn't help but laugh at the level of dedication.

I was hoping for some horror themed treats and was not disappointed. Hollywood's Sweet! does custom chocolate bars with design it yourself wrappers. They had one dark chocolate bar with "blood" filling and the ScareLA artwork adorning it so I grabbed that. Not far was a vendor who did scary cakes, one with ribs and guts spilling out, yummy! There were several movie and memorabilia booths hawking old horror comics, posters and magazines like Fangoria along with toys and statues. Of course you can't go to a con without seeing a Funko and the guy was also selling lighters, two with Kurt Russell's likeness on them! We ran into the good folks at Whedonopolis and chatted for a few then continued to walk the packed if not super crowded floor. Next door on the main stage there were panels on voice over actors, Disney's Haunted Mansion, all of the big horror attractions around LA like the Haunted Hay Ride, Universal Studios and Knott's Berry Farm and a The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Retrospective. There were also several mazes and attractions set up and the lines weren't too long to get in. I didn't feel like being scared though so we didn't try one...

Across the street we wandered into the Pasadena Antique Mall where there was everything from old Image comics to Disneyland match books to dining sets and suitcase typewriters. I kind of wonder how places like that do in today's age of online shopping but hey, it was an interesting place to wander around. Thanks ScareLA and Pasadena for a lovely afternoon and screw you West LA and Ciclavia for closing down so many streets on our way home. See you at D23 expo!