Chicago Walker Stalker Con and Heroes & Villains Fan Fest 2019

Apr 30, 2019

2 min read

Walker Stalker Con (WSC) / Heroes and Villains Fan Fest (HVFF) are both annual pop culture conventions. Walker Stalker is a horror con mostly focused on the Walking Dead TV series. Heroes and Villains Fan Fest started a few years after Walker Stalker to broaden the appeal by having guests from other TV shows and movies (mostly it is actors from the CW). It is also run by the same team as WSC.

This year, the attendance was very low. Unfortunately this was likely due to the convention falling on Easter weekend, and the weekend after Star Wars Celebration Chicago, which drew a lot of convention goers who would normally attend this convention.

A weekend pass for this con usually goes for about $50-60 for the three days. This year, the convention runners offered major sales with deep discounts. Tickets were on sale on Goldstar.com for $10.00. On their site they were having a deal - Buy one, get three free!

Despite the major discounts and decent celebrity guests, the attendance was still low.

Several vendors, long time volunteers/employees, and members of the press expressed fears that this may be the last year for this convention. WSC have already canceled several appearances all over the nation. They made major changes to their site that strongly suggest this maybe a reality.

The cosplay scene at this con is small. This is more of an autograph convention. People come to meet their favorite celebrities, get photos and autographs, and listen at the panels. One criticism is this year they had their biggest panels on Friday (the slowest day and it only ran from 4-7pm) and on Sunday (Easter).

WSC for many years, offered great guests at a decent price. It will be unfortunate if they do not continue in the future. Larger, established conventions such as C2E2 and Wizard World provided some stiff competition, and hopefully Walker Stalker and Heroes & Villains Fanfest can continue to keep up.