Wizard World Chicago 2017. Photo by Marielle Shaw.
While Friday is the second day of
Wizard World Chicago, it's also the first full day. Cosplayers and pop culture lovers had a glorious seven hours to roam the floor, attend panels and grab a walking taco as Wizard World headed into the real meat of the con. As expected, the crowd was cranked up over Thursday night's, and the cosplay was everywhere, making for a great time to see and be seen. The addition of the entertainment stage to the main entryway at Donald E. Stephens meant more people milling about and enjoying all the entertainment.
Unfortunately, it wasn't all fun and games. Con-goers were shocked and disappointed to discover that David Tennant, famous for his role as the tenth Doctor in
Doctor Who as well as his roles in
Jessica Jones and
Broadchurch, was going to be unable to make it to Chicago for his Saturday appearance. This left many "Whovians," as fans of the show dub themself, quite sad. It was unavoidable though, as Wizard World
would later announce that it was due to one of Tennant's immediate family members suddenly becoming ill. Overall, as disappointed as fans were (including this journalist and avid Whovian) the feeling on the floor was more one of concern for Tennant and his loved ones. Tennant would later go on to
post a video on Wizard World's Facebook page apologizing for not being there and saying he hopes to visit Chicago as soon as he possibly can. Wizard World made a valiant attempt to make it right for those who'd travelled to the con specifically for the Doctor Who star, refunding photo ops and autographs as well as providing free admission to cons for those with the VIP experience. If you're someone who had a photo op, autograph section or VIP Doctor Who experience purchased, contact Wizard World directly- we were happy to see them being incredibly responsive to upset fans via social media and on site. Meanwhile, not all the Doctor Who fun is gone, since Alex Kingston, Catherine Tate and Jenna Coleman will still be appearing and doing autographs and photo ops.
Wizard World 2017. Photo by Marielle Shaw.
Bad news aside, we had a great time at the con, starting our day out learning a little about cosplay with the Cosplay 101 panel. Each of the ladies had fantastic tips, ideas on how to get started and hilarious tales of cosplay gone wrong, and were more than happy to help audience members understand the do's and don'ts as well as encouraging them to go for it and explore the wide world of costuming.
Thomas Ian Nicholas at Wizard World Chicago 2017. Photo by Marielle Shaw.
Next on our list was the panel with
Thomas Ian Nicholas. He was gregarious as ever and discussed his roles in the
American Pie franchise as well as our favorite of his roles,
Rookie of the Year. Nicholas never outgrew his Cubs love and heads to Wrigley once a year to throw out the first pitch. He pondered his lack of World Series ring, gave us a teaser for "something special" he's going to do at Wrigley on July 8th, 2018, and told us an amusing tale of an acoustic show in Bloomington/Normal that was interrupted with shouts of "You suck, Rowengartner!" It was a fun time and we look forward to some of his upcoming indie movies, including
The Lost Tree, which he hopes will play in Chicago at The Music Box, and
Living Among Us, out in January.
Wizard World 2017. Photo by Marielle Shaw.
We stopped upstairs and caught some lightsaber dueling which was a lesson in legit fencing, and laughed as we watched people duke it out in Battle Balls.
Wizard World 2017. Photo by Marielle Shaw.
We also spent more time than we expected at the Entertainment Stage, where we caught the pancake art fever with the very talented crew of
Dancakes and took in a little
Second City Improv later in the afternoon.
Saturday's another full day, and we look forward to more panels, battles and baubles. Stay tuned to
our Twitter page for tweets live from the floor and check out our day-by-day coverage, including
Day One's fun, and don't miss Monday's cosplay gallery!
