MegaCon - Day 1
- Doug Ennis
- Mar 24
- 6 min read
MegaCon used to scare the crap out of me. The 2024 event was the first one that was on my radar, as I only started collecting horror autographs the previous October. There were lots of people I needed at that event, but I was too chicken to go. So I got my friend Eric at Category Five Autograph Consignments (look them up on Facebook, they're great) to get a bunch of autographs for me. In the leadup to the 2025 event, I decided to put on my big boy pants and attend myself. I still had Eric get a couple of the bigger names for me. But there was a guest I really wanted to get a photo with, and one of my all-time favorite directors was going to be there as well. So Alicia Silverstone and Mike Flanagan were the main reasons I attended MegaCon 2025 in person. Spoiler alert: They both canceled.
I made the best of it, but that was a huge bummer. There were still a couple of guests I was excited to meet. Carla Gugino and Nicholas Hoult, especially. And at the last minute I decided to get a photo op with Mel Gibson. I know he is a problematic figure, and I certainly don't condone some of the things he has said and done. But the man was one of THE icons during my formative years as a movie fan. So I got the photo. Fast forward to 2026. I was leaning towards attending, but hadn't fully made up my mind. Then they announced John Carpenter, Dean Cundey, and several other Halloween peeps. That made the decision to attend an easy one. I met John Carpenter once before, at Steel City Con in 2024. I got ten things signed there, but several of them got smeared by a clueless volunteer. The convention (and Davina, my now friend that runs the volunteers) did what they could to make the situation right, but it was still a pretty disheartening experience. I'd never met Dean Cundey, though. He was really the name that sealed the deal for me. I did still chicken out of getting Liv Tyler's autograph myself, though. Eric at Category 5 came in clutch again on that front. But I got everybody else I wanted myself. I was unable to attend on Thursday and Friday, due to a massive work convention in Anaheim and some personal stuff. So I made the hour long drive pretty early on Saturday morning. I arrived at the Hyatt across the street at 6:55am. My room obviously wasn't ready, so I just walked directly over from the Hyatt parking garage. I got to the convention center at about 7:15am. My buddy Bobby and I arrived at the exact same time, and got to hang out for a bit in the re-entry line. I also got to say hi to a few other convention friends. I was limping pretty badly, unable to put much weight on my left leg. I hurt it during the work convention a few days ago. I brought a cane from home, but was able to mostly use the cart I bring to hold my items as a sort of walker. I was really worried how I'd be able to handle the long MegaCon lines. Some friends convinced me to try to get an ADA sticker on my badge. So I went ahead and did so. MegaCon doesn't really have a set way of handling ADA guests. But I figure it couldn't hurt. I only planned on trying to use it if there was a line I truly couldn't handle. I had to leave the re-entry line and join the regular ticket line to get the ADA sticker. Luckily I had some friends in that line, so I wasn't too far back. Eventually they let us inside. I grabbed my ADA sticker, and we waited for the convention to open. At approximately 9:30am, they let us in. The three biggest names I was hoping to get today were John Carpenter, John Boyega, and Lena Headey. I decided to go for Boyega first, as Saturday was his last day. I ended up fifth in his line. He arrived at approximately 11am. He is very cool, and has an awesome British accent. I asked if he could write his character name "Moses" on my Attack the Block poster. He replied "Oh I'm gonna write more than that!".
Once I finished with Boyega, I noticed that John Carpenter's line was very short. So I went there next. I needed Carpenter on several items, but decided to split them into multiple small batches. The Steel City Con incident I mentioned earlier really scarred me lol. So I started with three items.
Carpenter was his usual grumpy self. I paid for inscriptions for 2 of the 3 items I was getting signed in the first batch. When I asked him to write director on the first item, he said "You know I directed the damn movie, why do you need me to write that on there!?". That's the John Carpenter I know and love lol.
I would have gotten Dean Cundey next, but he wasn't at his table. Cara Buono's line was pretty short, so I got her next. She was very nice. I meant to talk to her about Mad Men, but I totally forgot.
Next I decided to go check on the line of the last big name I had on the agenda for today, Lena Headey. Well, she had a massive line. So I decided to try my luck with ADA. The volunteer running Headey's line took care of me, and I didn't have to wait very long at all.
You'll notice I haven't gotten many selfies at this point. I simply couldn't afford to get all of the autographs I wanted to get, and get photos with everybody. I did get a few photos with people that had affordable combos, or had selfies included with the autograph, but other than that I had to skip most of the selfies this weekend.
Next up was Jodie Whittaker. Her line had been quite long first thing, but had gotten much shorter. There were two people with awesome Dalek cosplays getting them signed. When I got to her table, she told me it was her first "Attack the Block" item of the day (or the weekend, I wasn't sure). She saw Boyega's autograph and said "Oh, of course John wrote brap" lol.
John Carpenter's line was really short again, so I got a couple more items done. As I handed him my items, I said "I paid for inscriptions for these. Sorry, I know you hate doing them". He replied with something like "Aaaargh, I'll do them".
At this point Heather Graham had pretty much no line, so I met her next. It's amazing how different a celeb's line can be from one convention to the other. When I met her at Steel City Con in 2024, she had a pretty massive line at all times.
She complimented the system I use for posters. Then she started laughing when she saw Linda Blair's "Obnoxious Reporter" inscription.
Jake Connelly's line had finally died down a bit, so I hopped in it. He's pretty quiet, but he seems like a good kid.
Dean Cundey and the rest of the Halloween people weren't at their tables again, so I decided to just get them on Sunday. I had to leave early because I had a special event to attend on Saturday night. More on that later! My first day of MegaCon went quite well. I did make one big mistake, though. I totally forgot to get Wyatt Russell to sign my Overlord poster. And he isn't there on Sunday. Oh well!
Here are the stats for MegaCon: Day One! The Stats:
CELEBS MET: 7
PRO PHOTOS: 0
ITEMS SIGNED: 9
TOTAL AUTOGRAPHS: 11
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