I attended my first Comic Con at Bangalore today and it was a great experience. I followed the last year’s event closely, but couldn’t visit due to unforeseen circumstances (mostly laziness).

It was not as spectacular as I’d imagined it to be. Still, quite interesting to see so many like-minded geeks and nerds assemble under a single roof.

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You’ll be greeted with lots of catchy graphics like these at the entrance.

Just boggles my mind to imagine the amount of work that has been put in to create all these artworks (even if all of them are derivatives (they’re not) and not original).

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Cosplayers doing what they do best: pose for photographers.

There weren’t many cosplayers around at the time I entered the venue, but they started cropping up here and there soon enough. Most of them weren’t worthy enough for me to bother taking a picture.

Some cosplayers had really put in a lot of effort though. There were also a couple professional cosplayers from Japan who were invited as guests.

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Cool Heisenberg poster. There were many more interesting designs to choose from.

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CollectorsHeritage.com had some amazing merchandise on offer.

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Knives and Bobbleheads. What could go wrong?

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This one looked really slick.

As you can imagine, there were dozens of such stalls put up. Almost all of them were apparels or merchandise (most of them targeted towards the geeky crowd gathered here).

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Castlevania cosplay? She won the grand prize for the day. You can see Ghost and Jesus in the background too.

She was the first cosplayer to have caught my eye. Glad that she won. The prize was an all-expenses-paid-trip to Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo 2015 and an Xbox One (which is being launched in India on Sept 23 this year). Lucky gal.

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The professional cosplayers from Japan.

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They enjoy posing a lot. After all, they are paid for it. The Stormtrooper approves this pose too.

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I like Naruto’s face in this.

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T-shirts, t-shirts, everywhere!

Seriously, there were like twenty or more stalls just selling t-shirts. Not quite sure what their margins are and how they stock up.

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Pramaan 3-d printer by Sylar. It’s based on RepRap. They were selling it here for Rs.40,000/-.

This 3d-printer was quite good. It was printing Batman’ upper torso while I arrived here. Takes around 3-5 hours to finish the complete model.

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Some of the parts printed by this 3-d printer.

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This is supposed to be Steve Jobs’ head. Not sure what Batman is whispering in his ear though.

They had one more model which was priced Rs.70,000/-. It could print faster and at a higher resolution. I should learn how to build one of these some day.

Some highlights from Comic Con India twitter stream

The main stage where all the cosplayers would assemble to fight for the grand prize.

What about the villains? And anti-heroes? And…you get it.

Cool lightsabers. Star Wars Episode VI promotion in full swing. Disney is going all in for the new episode of Star Wars (which is apparently still months from being released).

This looked interesting from the outside, but once you enter inside, it’s boring. Just a few books and TVs here and there to drain your time away.

Yep, there were many more like these. Like I mentioned earlier, the creativity experienced here is spell-bounding. One of the main reasons I think everyone should visit these kind of events.

The 3-d printed parts I showed earlier. Here they are neatly arranged for a shot.

Rob DenBleyker of Cyanide & Happiness fame. The kind of comics he writes, you’d expect him to look wilder. That’s the secret of all the crazies: they all look normal.

Pramaan, the RepRap, in action.

Scarecrow and? Not quite sure.

Khaleesi had come fully prepared. She even spoke in Dothraki (though I think it was High Valyrian; not quite sure about that).

Venom, with high heels. She won the Cosplay prize in Comics/Graphic Novel category.

Yes, there was Neo too.

Jesus, man.

Assassin’s Creed and Harry Potter characters were also witnessed.

Robocop was quite cool. The outfit was made entirely out of cardboard. He could hardly move his hands, and barely see what was in front of him. Won the prize in Sci-fi/Fantasy category.

The cosplay competition in full swing. Joel from The Last of Us and Wonder Woman can be seen standing on the left.

Cyanide & Happiness. Never fails to disappoint. And did I mention Rob from C&H was here too? He was missing after making an appearance in the afternoon though.

The grand prize winner standing beside Jesus. She was blessed indeed.

It’s Hit-Girl actually. Big Daddy won the prize in Movie category. Both of them had come all the way from Delhi just to participate here.

These trio were funny.

Dastan from Prince of Persia speaking about his costume.

Awhooouuuuuuu…he was actually howling while this pic was taken. Doctor Who was a decent cosplay too.

The Ironman kid was cute. He was hardly 3-years-old I presume. Well trained to use his hand blasters though.

The audience and the stage. The crowd was amazing.

Mystique in a 3-year-old girl’s form.

The Q&A with Neil Gaiman. I can be seen in the crowd, but you’ll have to strain your eyes trying to find me.

The Q&A was the highlight of the show for me. Neil is an amazing personality. His insights regarding art and why one must strive to pursue “good art” were quite enriching.

That was it for Comic Con Bangalore 2014 Day 1. Hopefully, Day 2 will be more awesome.