Long Island, NY’s Own Eternal Con, June 10-12

Eternal Con returned to Long Island the fourth year in a row at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. This year, the comic convention doubled down, offering fans that flocked to the three-day event more vendors, more celebrity guests, more panels and unique experiences. Eternal Con, we can’t wait to see you next year. #postcondepression

Here are some highlights from panels and peep the cosplay pictures below!

Friday

The convention kicked off with a fan made film festival on Friday, June 10, where 13 films were displayed in the IMAX theater. In case you missed out, we posted a listing of highlights from the inaugural event.

Saturday

Saturday morning shepherded in the masses. After combing through the crowd, I headed over to the IMAX theater for where the main panels were being held. The fist panel I caught was a no contest cosplay show, where cosplayers displayed their hard work and talked about the process of creating their costumes. The IMAX theater is a wonderful backdrop for this kind of event, with stunning multicolored lights and movie, video game and other pop culture music pumping through the sound system.

 

Jim Shooter

 

The next panel was a Q&A with legendary comic book writer and illustrator and former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Getting his start in comics at the age of 13 to help his family out, Mr. Shooter regaled the crowd with stories about Frank Miller, Wally Wood and Stan Lee, while offering advice and a behind the scenes look into the history of creating comics. He also spoke about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, joking with the television shows and movies his current job is cashing reprint checks.

Shooter was also known for making big changes to the business side of Marvel, providing employees with insurance, paid supplies and train tickets among other amenities.

 

Brent Spiner

After Jim Shooter, Brent Spiner, of Star Trek and Independence Day fame, spoke in a lighthearted and jokingly manner to the crowd. In between talking about his career, he entertained guest questions and even brought up one of his earliest gigs, as a contestant on To Tell the Truth. Spiner showed off his Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen impressions and poked fun at his feline costar during his time as Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

 

Spiner talked about having not seen most of the Star Trek episodes, and that during filming it felt like one continuous episode.

 

Elizabeth Henstridge

 

Eternal Con’s next main stage guest was none other than Elizabeth Henstridge, who stars as Jemma Simmons in Agents of SHIELD. The moderator led the discussion in what auditioning for a Marvel property is like and how she felt about certain plot points throughout the three seasons. Henstridge spoke sincerely to the fans about why she loves attending conventions so much and what the cast is like on the set.

Henstridge divulged that she wasn’t on set the day the cast found out about Ward’s turn during the first season and that she received strange texts from the other cast members, especially costar Iain de Caestecker (who plays Leo Fitz, she also mentioned that he never texts anyone). Additionally, she was sad the Skyeward ship didn’t get its chance to blossom and joked that if Simmons were to get a superpower it could just be crazy fighting skills that she would whip out of nowhere.

She also spoke of Mockingbird and Hunter’s departure from the show and discussed that at the time, while that episode was sad, there was also a lot of happiness connected to it, as they believed the actors Adriane Palicki and Nick Blood would be getting their own show, Marvel’s Most Wanted. Unfortunately, ABC did not pick up the show.

 

Karen Gillan

Another Marvel actor followed Henstridge’s panel, none other than Guardians of the Galaxy’s Karen Gillen. Also known for playing Amy Pond in Doctor Who alongside Matt Smith’s Doctor, Gillan gave details into future plans as well as talking about her two major roles. In GotG Vol. 2, Nebula is said to have a bigger role, and Gillan elaborated on it, joking that Nebula has “serious daddy issues,” and that Nebula wants to try and seek revenge on Gamora and that she might become a reluctant Guardian in the process. In addition, she stated that Thanos would not have a bigger role but he would be talked about in great detail.

She called her portrayal of Nebula as a mix between Marilyn Monroe and Clint Eastwood, poking fun at the husky voice she uses to voice the character. She admired the make-up team for managing to cut down her make-up time from five hours to two and a half, joking that Americans must be quicker now that Director James Gunn moved the production to Atlanta instead of London.

Gillan also expressed her interest in moving to New York and laments on something I know all too well, that it is too damn hard to get tickets to Broadway’s Hamilton. Unlike Gillan, I do have a Hamilton ticket, and I wish her the best of luck in seeing the show.

The Usual Rejects

The con ended with comedy troupe The Usual Rejects, giving a rendition of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom you won’t see anywhere. Local beer company Blue Point Brewery supplied booze for the show which added in the the fun.

 

 

Sunday

 

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger

Zyuranger’s (what woul be adapted as Power Rangers in the West) Yuta Mochizuki and Reiko Chan took the main stage to present never seen before behind the scenes clips of the filming process. With help form a translator they answered questions about the auditioning process, and about the impact Zyurangers (and Power Rangers) have had on the world. They even demonstrated their call-outs! Reiko Chan talked about how she snagged the role to which more than 1,000 girls auditioned for, and Mochizuki talked about his injuries such as an explosive that went off in the wrong area and hit the spot where the sun doesn’t shine…ouch!

 

Sailor Moon

Toby Procter (Tuxedo Mask), Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars), Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon) and Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter) all proved how alike to their characters they are with their high energy and hysterical panel. Full of jokes, how the recording processed worked and their reactions to the massive fan base Sailor Moon has. The best part was the in-character banter from the quartet that surely did delighted the crowd.