Barbara Dunkelman is the Director of Social and Community Marketing at the production company Rooster Teeth, Program Director of the RTX gaming and internet convention, and voice of Yang Xiao Long in the web series RWBY, Cosmos in Fairy Tail, and ORF in X-Ray and Vav.
Her live-action acting credits include roles in Rooster Teeth Shorts, Immersion, Day 5, and Ten Little Roosters, as well as the upcoming Blood Fest.
**Writer’s note – I apologize for the sound quality on this video. The press conference area was open to the sounds of Phoenix Comic Fest going on around us. There was also a live podcast booth right next to the press conference area. **
Phoenix Fan Fest 2018 held a press conference Sunday morning to cover the Fire Alarm System malfunction Saturday night and an announcement for 2019.
The Fire Alarm System malfunctioned at approximately 7:30pm Saturday night. Safety protocols were followed and the venue was vacated. Technicians worked through the night to identify the problem. The system was repaired and extensively tested by early Sunday morning.
All Sunday Phoenix Comicfest activities are expected to run as scheduled. They are rescheduling as many of the cancelled Saturday night events as possible for Sunday. Please check the Phoenix Comicfest site and social media for the latest rescheduling information.
It was also announced starting in 2019 the event will be called Phoenix Fan Fusion (PFF). This is an effort to avoid litigation with other trademarked event titles.
It was a strange weekend for comic cons. Phoenix Comic Con had a guy bring in guns & knives and said he wanted to kill Jason David Frank. As a result Phoenix Comic Con banned ALL cosplay props
Alamo City Comic Con didn’t ban props but they decided to ban ALL backpacks as a preventive measure after the Manchester bombing.
Over the ocean at London Comic Con there were reports that Sam Jones (Flash Gordon) and Lou Ferrigno (Hulk) got into a verbal altercation in front of fans. They both later denied this claim and said the report was much ado about nothing.
A lot of other upcoming comic cons announced prop bans/limitations this weekend as well. All of this caused a huge controversy in the cosplay community. The events of the weekend should prompt plenty of conversations about the trade-off between security and cosplay. I believe over the next few big events a reasonable middle ground will be found.
Cosplay is not a requirement to have a good comic con, but it definitely adds to the experience for cosplayers and attendees. I personally look forward to seeing the great costumes, the more imaginative the better. Until you see a “running of the Willrow Hoods” (go ahead and look it up) you won’t know what I mean.
Now that we’ve talked about the elephant in the room, let’s talk about Phoenix Comic Con. Phoenix is one of my favorite cons. They always bring in great guests, lots of vendors, and more panels than you can possibly attend.
By Saturday they had a system that got your bag checked, your body wanded, and into the con in less than 15 minutes. My only real complaint is the third floor “Hall of Heroes”. With the vast multitude of featured guests there were only 2 photo booths.
The lines were so long for photo ops that the schedule inevitably got behind once the big names were in the booth. I don’t remember this being an issue last year. Maybe another photo booth or two would keep the schedule relatively on track.
Overall, I was happy with my Phoenix Comic Con experience. It is a big con with lots of guests and plenty activities to take part in. Best part is tickets are very accessible. If you get a chance to attend this con you won’t be disappointed.
El Paso Herald-Post El Paso News & Opinion
