Rhode Island Comic Con
RI Convention Center
Providence, RI
November 6 – 8, 2015

Rhode Island Comic Con is back for the 4th year, bigger than ever! Last year, as we covered, organizers ran into capacity issues, having oversold tickets and entrance being closed by the fire marshall. This year, the convention expanded to not only occupy the Convention Center, but the Dunkin’ Donuts Center next door as well. The event was also expanded to a third day, now adding Friday into the mix.

Overall, things ran much more smoothly than last year. Friday night was an enjoyable time walking around the exhibition hall and vendor booths set up in both venues, but it was overall much more low-key. Very few people cosplayed and there were no panels being held Friday night.

Saturday morning we arrived around 10 am, the time the doors were scheduled to open, with the first panel scheduled for 11. We arrived to see a line of people that stretched literally over half a mile away from the doors to the arena, and took us over an hour to get inside. I was sure we would have missed the start of the first panel, but it didn’t start until 11:15, so we walked in just before it started. Saturday was sold out, and while they never were over capacity like last year, the crowds were gigantic. The only entrance was through the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, and to get to the Convention Center floor, you have to pass through a walkway of about 6-8 feet in diameter. This walkway was usually crammed full of people traveling in both directions, with a line on either side, requiring you to give it some thought as to if you really wanted to pass between the buildings.

Despite the large crowds, they did not inhibit us from having fun. We were easily able to move around the exhibition hall and the vendor floor at the Dunk. Sunday morning the lines were long, but not as long, and it was much easier to move between buildings.

I attended three panels over the weekend, the Star Trek panel with Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden and Michael Dorn, from The Next Generation, and Terry Ferrell from Deep Space Nine, the Voice of Batman panel with Animated Series and Arkaham game series voice actor Kevin Conroy, and Batman Beyond lead voice actor Will Friedel, and the Spongebob voice panel with Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, the voices of Spongebob and Patrick, respectively. All three panels were well attended, and the guests were entertaining. I wanted to attend the Cinema Sins panel, but it happened right as I was needing lunch. Third hand reports I got from other attendees said that some of the panels in the smaller ballrooms were full, and maybe would have been better off in the larger ballroom. One panel I had been looking forward to was Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia, however just before the con she postponed due to an illness, and intends to be here in 2016.

Saturday and Sunday saw some fantastic cosplayers, constantly raising the bar from one year to the next. The cosplay contest is always an entertaining panel, however it felt like it was much later in the day this year than it was last year, not starting until 7:30, and the group I was with was worn out before then.

Rhode Island Comic Con will return in 2016 from November 11th-13th, and you can count on us being there again!