Nicholas Dye (Staff Writer/Podcaster)

On December 19, I ventured down to Ontario, California for the 2021 Comic Con Revolution, held annually at the Ontario Convention Center. I was curious to see how they were going to approach Covid protocols and I was greatly impressed with their forward thinking and planning. For those who were vaccinated, a simple check of your vaccination card was required. For those unvaccinated, they required a negative test within 72 hours of attending. Here was the best part…they had a testing facility on site where you could have a rapid test administered for $40. For those of you who would balk at that price, our local hospital charges $100 for rapid tests so I was quite impressed.

Outside of the venue, you were greeted by some of the most iconic vehicles from film and television including KITT from Knight Rider and the DeLorean from Back to the Future. Inside the venue, the badge pick up was run with impeccable efficiency. I was able to pick up my press pass and my daughter’s daily pass in a matter of moments. A QR code was displayed that gave you the entire layout of the convention center as well as autograph alley and the seminar rooms.

Staff was on hand at frequent intervals to direct you and answer any questions you might have. The only comparison I can give this is to that of the Disneyland staff. No convention worker left me without an answer to a question and they seemed as genuinely excited to be back as we were to have them back.

Autograph alley offered several opportunities to meet voice actors from shows like Avatar The Last Airbender and Naruto as well as the original Flash Gordon, Sam J. Jones. Legendary writer Chris Claremont of Uncanny X-Men fame was there and had a massive crowd. The highlight for me was Timothy Zahn. Zahn is the author of The Heir to the Empire saga of Star Wars novels which introduced us the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn has been featured in the animated Rebels show and will be making a live action appearance in the upcoming Ashoka Tano series on Disney+.

We here at NOWHERE CALIFORNIA will be looking forward to attending next year as well and will leave you with these pictures from this year‘s Ontario Comic Con Revolution.