Steel City Con - April 2014

Steel City Con is a toy, memorabilia, and pop culture convention that is hosted in the Monroeville Convention Center.  It happens three times each year.  Last year we only made it to the Spring convention, so we hadn't been in a year.  It would seem that this small and unassuming convention suddenly exploded while we were away from it!  At this season's event, they hosted several celebrity guests including Brent Spiner (Star Trek: Next Generation's Data), Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: next Generation's Commander Riker), comic book artist Neal Adams, and Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man).  They have also hosted WWE talent and Star Wars actors in the past, as well as other celebrities. 

When we arrived around 1pm, the line for entry was wrapping around the parking lot!  We have never seen a line for a Pittsburgh convention that long.  We only had to stand in the line for a short amount of time because they had staff members watching for people with disabilities or small children.  We were escorted in and basically got to line-jump (sorry everyone who had to wait!  We really weren't expecting such a crazy line and will purchase tickets online next time!!).  This was really appreciated because, as much as it was a nice day out, Wiggle could easily have gotten sunburn (well, me, too, but I wasn't as worried about me!).

Wiggle, asleep on the way home with his present from Con.

As long as the lines were, the Con was not super crowded and we didn't have any issues with having the stroller take up a lot of space or not being able to get through anywhere with it.  People were considerate and were paying attention to their surroundings.  Wiggle even got to see Brent Spiner when we got his autograph as a birthday present for my boss.  He was really nice and enjoyed having small conversations with the fans.  Overall, his line didn't seem to be ridiculous throughout the day.  Lee Majors was the celebrity with the crazy line for this Con.  My husband needed to get a signature from Travis Love who played Shumpert (AKA the Bowman) on The Walking Dead for his show poster.  He basically was able to just walk right up to him.

I do wish that they had put up more tables and chairs for people to take a break at!  We were lucky and scored a seat at one of the four or five tables they had and only had to share it with two approximately-ten-year-old kids when Wiggle was ready for his bottle.  If there had been more adequate seating, I may have felt more comfortable with breastfeeding.  We attend Pittsburgh Comic Con in the same space every year and they always have more tables set up.  As for those 10-year-olds, they were pretty amusing, but had no parents in sight.  While I wouldn't say that this is a big convention, I still wouldn't recommend letting your kids just walk around it by themselves because they could easily get turned around or miscommunicate to you where they are in the building.  To me, it is the same as allowing your child to wander around the same area's mall unattended.

Wiggle loved watching all of the people at this convention and everyone was really nice to him.  Overall, I would say that this is a convention that is great for all ages!  There were tons of cosplayers, more than I have seen at our local Comic Con, and it made me very happy to see so many people having fun!

Photo Courtesy of Auntie Bren!  Left to Right: Auntie Bren, Mommy, Another Cool Lolita Girl

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